CBS’s Tracker season two episode five finds Colter (Justin Hartley) in Prior, Kentucky, taking on the case of a missing 16-year-old girl. The episode opens with Emmaline walking through the woods, communing with nature, and talking to a snake when she gets spooked. Suddenly, a man appears on the cliff above her.
When Colter gets the case, Emmaline’s been missing for a full day. Her brother, Jasper, put up a $5,000 reward, all he can afford since their parents died and he’s caring for Emmaline on his own. Velma (Abby McEnany) realizes it’s way less than their usual fee, but she feels a special connection to this case. Colter’s close to the area and completely understands Velma’s feelings.
Reenie (Fiona Rene) also understands as she’s picked up clues about Velma’s background. Velma reveals she never knew her dad, and her mom was locked up in a mental institution. Her sister stepped up and raised her, so this case really hits home.
Colter arrives at Jasper’s house and learns the community dislikes them. They’ve had numerous dead animals left on their doorstep, including a dead coyote just a day before Emmaline disappeared. They moved here just six months ago after Jasper got a job doing mine safety and inspection. That’s not a popular occupation with locals, and maybe one of them took it out on his sister.
The local cops think she ran off and aren’t looking into her disappearance. Colter discovers plastic from a turn signal in the coyote’s fur and thinks a car hit it before someone dropped it at Emmaline’s door. Colter promises to do whatever he can to help find Emmaline.
Bobby (Eric Graise) investigates who picks up roadkill for the government in the area on dates Colter provides and comes up with Jim Wheeler. Jim was working all three days and, it turns out, is working today. Colter confronts him at work and asks if he knows Emmaline’s location. He admits to dropping off roadkill and says they don’t need “her kind” around here. Jim claims not to have anything to do with her disappearance.
Colter shows up at Emmaline’s job and learns she was fired last month. Her old boss, Tess, believes Emmaline is into witchcraft and wants no part of that. However, one of Emmaline’s co-workers thought she was nice, although she did like to walk around talking to plants. She also reveals that Emmaline got the job after her former co-worker Shirley was fired, and Shirley’s husband, Travis, recently came in and cussed out Emmaline. It was enough to make Emmaline cry and right after that, Tess fired her.
Colter’s next stop is at Travis’ place, and Travis makes the mistake of attacking Colter with a hammer. After Colter disarms him, Travis reveals he owes everything to Emmaline. His wife, Shirley, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and Emmaline said she could heal her. That angered Travis because he didn’t want Shirley to get her hopes up, and he confronted Emmaline at work. He warned Emmaline to stay away but then realized he was wrong. His wife is now pregnant, and the doctor can’t find any sign of cancer. “That girl, she’s a miracle worker,” says Travis.
Emmaline hasn’t even told her brother she’s a healer, but it’s possible her secret got out. Travis confirms that Emmaline foraged all the ingredients for her cure in the local mountains. One ingredient, chicken of the woods mushrooms, grows on dead-fall oak, and Travis says he used to mushroom hunt along the creek behind Emmaline’s place. But no one goes there anymore because it’s the Drells’ land; everyone knows to stay off of it. However, Emmaline wouldn’t have known that.
Colter heads to the woods and spots a broken glass jar near chicken of the woods mushrooms. He also spots broken branches and follows a path to a remote cabin. Although much of the cabin is in disrepair, someone has clearly been using one room recently. It contains jars, paperwork, and drawings of plants. Colter calls Jasper to come have a look, as this stuff clearly belongs to Emmaline.
Jasper looks around and suggests Emmaline kept this a secret because their mother was a healer. Some people were so scared of her they wanted her dead. Jasper believes someone who thought his mom had the devil in her set the fire that killed his parents.
Colter notices there’s a spot where jars should be and finds a letter on the ground. It’s from Emmaline’s mother’s journal.
Colter looks around outside and finds blood and tire tracks leading away from the cabin. He believes someone took her away on an ATV. Jasper says the Drells live off-grid but aren’t survivalists. They used to be into growing weed, but now they’re into “darker stuff.”
Colter barely stops Jasper from stepping on a bang stick. It appears the entire trail is booby-trapped.
Colter drives up into Drell land and is told to turn around by one of the sons who’s standing in front of a quad. Colter acts like he’s leaving, but parks nearby and covers his truck before walking into the woods. He continues to follow the blood and broken branches to the Drells’ complex. Colter sees Emmaline being held at gunpoint outside the big house and then continues to look around. People are cooking drugs in one outbuilding, while nearby, the man who kidnapped Emmaline says he’s okay if they need to kill her since she’s seen too much.
Colter sneaks into the main house and discovers a critically ill man in one room. He can’t talk but points to a door, and Colter follows his directions and finds Emmaline. She refuses to leave because she’s helping take care of her kidnapper’s father. Emmaline confirms they took her because she’s a healer.
Emmaline gets Colter to hide seconds before the Drells enter her room. The men take her to treat their father, and Emmaline places her hands on the sick man’s head. She pours a fluid down his throat and insists they need to wait to see what happens.
He convulses as she tells spirit to pass through her. The curtains blow, candles flicker, and the Drells drag Emmaline away from their dad, thinking she’s hurting him. The old man vomits, and as the Drells are ready to kill Emmaline, Colter shoots one man and grabs Emmaline. They race from the house with men in pursuit, and Colter’s forced to shoot two more.
Emmaline’s running when she steps on a bang stick and injures her leg. The quads need to go around fallen trees but will be on top of them soon, so Colter has to find some place to hide and bandage Emmaline’s leg. She recalls seeing an abandoned store and with Colter’s help, they make it inside the boarded-up building before the Drells catch up.
Colter takes time to bandage her leg while explaining that his sister used to make potions, but she did it to curse them when they were younger. They make their way to the backdoor, only to find it locked with a heavy-duty chain as they hear engines outside.
Colter and Emmaline hide as three men enter the building. Unfortunately, Colter only has one bullet left. The situation looks dire, and Colter tells Emmaline not to let panic take over. He deposits Emmaline in a hiding place (with a knife) and assures her he’ll be right back.
Colter distracts one man with a mannequin and then chokes him out. He races back to Emmaline and tells her to stay low and quiet as they attempt to leave the building. They haven’t made it far when Colter’s shot with an arrow in the stomach. Instead of finishing him off with a bullet to the head, the man who shot him wants Colter to die a painful death from bleeding out.
The two remaining men haul Emmaline away while Colter slowly breaks off the part of the arrow sticking out front. He then slides off the arrow lodged into the wall behind him. Colter binds the wound, now oozing blood, and slides a fire extinguisher in front of the men and Emmaline. He shoots it and spray fills the air, allowing Emmaline to slash one man with her knife and grab his crossbow. She slides the crossbow to Colter and Colter shoots the remaining man before he can squeeze off a bullet. Unfortunately, the man Emmaline sliced across the neck is only injured and Colter appears to be on the verge of death.
Their attacker’s brother arrives with news that their pop is going to live, thanks to Emmaline. She healed him, but they still won’t release her. Emmaline rises to her feet and holds her knife against her palm. She warns them not to do anything or else she’ll take away their father’s health and curse the entire family. They back off, believing she’ll do it and that Colter will die anyway.
After they leave, Emmaline calls 911 for help. She places her hand on Colter’s chest and assures him that he’ll be fine. He passes out as she’s saying, “Spirit, enter this place. Save this man.”
Miraculously, Colter is conscious and stable on the gurney shortly thereafter. He’s still weak but assures Emmaline he’ll survive. He asks about the curse, and Emmaline admits she made that up. She recalled him saying his sister tried to curse them and thought she could convince the Drells she’d do that to them.
Days later, Velma and Reenie are shocked when Colter checks himself out of the hospital, incredulous that he was shot with an arrow. Colter claims he’s fine and is on his way to pick up the reward. Velma apologizes for bringing him into this case, but Colter understands that it’s personal. It’s personal for him, too.
He pulls up to Jasper’s place and finds a note with the reward money wrapped around a jar. The instructions say to apply it twice daily. Colter enters the house, and it’s totally empty. Jasper and Emmaline have moved on. He nods, acknowledging it was the right move.
Episode five ends with Colter calling his sister and leaving a message to call him back.
- Tracker Season 2 Episode 1 “Out of the Past” Recap
- Tracker Season 2 Episode 2 “Ontological Shock” Recap
- Tracker Season 2 Episode 3 “Bloodlines” Recap
- Tracker Season 2 Episode 4 “Noble Rot” Recap
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