What happened to Russell? ‘Tracker’ Season 4 Episode 2 provides update on fan-favorite character
'Tracker' Season 4 finally updated fans on Russell Shaw (Jensen Ackles) in this week's episode. Episode 2, 'Switchback', starts with Colter Shaw (Justin Hartley) reaching out to his brother, Russell. His message goes straight to voicemail. "Hey, Russell, it's your favorite brother. Give me a call, just want to talk to you about, uh… Just been a while. Haven't heard from you. So, you know, give me a call if you get time. Hope you're well," he says in the message. For those unaware, Russell sets off in the Season 3 finale after McIntyre (Glenn Morshower) shows him a file detailing what their father did to Colter. To keep the information under wraps, Russell goes off to complete a job for McIntyre. He tells no one where he is going, not even Colter, but promises his brother he will be back with details.
Russell is on Colter's mind since then, seemingly. Things start to look up in the episode when Russell responds with a message that reads, "Sorry I've been MIA. Been real busy. Talk soon." Colter replies with, "Are you OK?" Three dots appear, implying that Russell is replying, but no message arrives. This makes Colter and fans more concerned about the situation. The episode also focuses on the murder of Mel Day's (Cassady McClincy Zhang) mother. She was killed at a rest stop back when Mel was 16. The perpetrator remains free, a fact that has haunted Mel throughout her life.
In 'Switchback,' Mel asks Reenie (Fiona Rene) for help. The assistant finds a lead and wants Reenie to look into it further. "I signed up for these text alerts whenever her name comes up online and it's usually just, like, podcasts, transcripts, and true crime forums, that kind of stuff," she explains to her boss. "It's probably nothing, but I came across the name of this military officer that my mom worked with in the weeks before she was murdered. … I just saw that he retired early. It was an honorable discharge, but it's just weird."
Eric Jeffries, the military officer in question, is hard for Mel to investigate, as his records are blocked. This could be a military clearance issue, but Reenie still promises to look into it with the help of a contact. The contact informs Reenie that Eric was not honorably discharged. She also got access to his file, which mentions "other than honorable discharge" as the reason. His status is listed as "absent without leave (AWOL), dropped from rolls." Reenie decides not to tell Mel anything about this.
The case-of-the-week focuses on finding the missing mother-daughter duo Leanne (Sarah Jane Morris) and Kayla Reilly (Mallory Bechtel). They disappeared on the Pacific Divide Trail, and Leanne's other daughter, Anya (Skyler Day), put out a $15,000 reward for anyone who finds them. This is what lures Colter to the case. Turns out the pair got attacked by a stalker named Jack Owens (Brandon Knabe). Jack took away Kayla, leaving Leanne injured. Colton manages to save Kayla in time, just when Jack's mother was about to kill her. Colter's efforts reunite the family. 'Tracker' Season 4 airs every Sunday at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.
