Tracker – Exodus – Assessment: Swamps, Saxophones, and Sacrifice

Tracker dipped into the bayou this week and introduced again one thing murky, mythic, and slightly bit unhinged. “Exodus” begins off feeling like a return to the present’s grounded roots — Colter monitoring a lacking teenage boy in a small Louisiana city — however then spirals right into a twisted, voodoo-tinged homicide thriller with cult vibes, face paint, and an immortality ritual. And relying on how you’re feeling about Tracker going off the rails a bit, you’re both going to adore it… or need to have phrases with somebody within the writers’ room.

Let’s begin with what labored: Colter being introduced in by Velma to assist Deion, a grieving, working-class father looking for his 15-year-old son, Anton. It’s a case that feels private. Anton is an solely youngster, musically gifted, quiet — the type of child who doesn’t at all times have somebody looking for him. Colter exhibiting as much as that trailer park with quiet compassion is what makes Tracker work. When the present faucets into its emotional core — the daddy who misplaced his spouse, the child who texts his dad after each bus journey house — it’s compelling.

However then issues get bizarre. And never like “quirky local crime” bizarre, however full-blown secret tunnels, ritual manuscripts, and cult magic bizarre. The invention that Anton crushed by classmates, rescued by a troubled-but-kind pianist named Sherry, and brought underground to cover from a deranged membership proprietor performing darkish “infinity” rituals? That’s… rather a lot. Not essentially dangerous, nevertheless it walks the road of believability the present normally manages to straddle higher. Hugo, the aforementioned membership proprietor, is doing human sacrifice rituals based mostly on “infinity” to attain immortality, full with a deliberate “wedding sacrifice.” This man went from jazz membership king to cult chief actual quick.

And but, Colter remains to be Colter — calm, regular, at all times one step forward. It was nice to see him paired up with Detective Veach, who has ties to the city, a heavy previous of her personal, and a honest want to guard youngsters who fall by way of the cracks. She and Colter have actual working chemistry- a shared understanding of what it means to crawl by way of another person’s darkness for the sake of justice. Detective Veach getting shot on the climax was a strong dramatic beat, and the ultimate church showdown felt like one thing out of a small-town horror movie. Creepy, chaotic, and weirdly satisfying.

“Exodus” – TRACKER, Pictured: Justin Hartley as Colter Shaw. Picture: Sergei Bachlakov/CBS ©2025 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

On the Reenie facet of issues, this new consumer, Leo Sharpe, simply screamed hassle. Burner telephones, shady contracts, and veiled threats — this man has “season arc” written throughout him. Reenie, as at all times, holds her floor, however the truth that she agreed to his off-the-books association raises main crimson flags. This might be the storyline that lastly ropes her and Colter collectively exterior of their normal long-distance dynamic, particularly if Leo’s secrets and techniques begin bleeding into Colter’s circumstances.

And talking of Colter’s previous — the place is it? We’re now 5 episodes away from a finale that guarantees to dig into his household secrets and techniques, and up to now… nothing. No breadcrumbs, no mentions, no emotional foreshadowing. It’s beginning to really feel just like the writers are saving all of it for a single dump within the finale, which might be an actual waste of a doubtlessly wealthy arc. The longer they wait, the more durable it’ll be to make these moments land with actual weight.

“Exodus” – TRACKER, Pictured: Marci T. Home as Detective Veach and Justin Hartley as Colter Shaw. Picture: Darko Sikman/CBS ©2025 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Nonetheless, the episode ends on a heartfelt observe: Colter refusing Deion’s reward cash and asking him to place it towards a neighborhood program. That’s Colter Shaw in a nutshell — the reluctant hero who at all times does the precise factor, even when it prices him. It’s a pleasant reminder that for all of the culty detours and dramatic twists, this present works greatest when it retains its ft on the bottom.

So yeah, “Exodus” was bizarre. It tried to do rather a lot. A few of it labored — Genie and Colter made an awesome group, and Anton’s story had actual coronary heart. However Tracker may want to chill it with the supernatural-like plot traces and give attention to what it does greatest: looking for folks, and the reality, in locations the place each are arduous to search out.