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

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5 days ago

Tracker dipped into the bayou this week and introduced again one thing murky, mythic, and just a little 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 are feeling about Tracker going off the rails a bit, you’re both going to find it irresistible… or wish 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 baby, musically gifted, quiet — the type of child who doesn’t all the time 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 experience house — it’s compelling.

However then issues get bizarre. And never like “quirky native 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 unhealthy, but it surely walks the road of believability the present often 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 ceremony sacrifice.” This man went from jazz membership king to cult chief actual quick.

And but, Colter continues to be Colter — calm, regular, all the time 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 children who fall by means of the cracks. She and Colter have actual working chemistry- a shared understanding of what it means to crawl by means 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.

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

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 to date… 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 probably wealthy arc. The longer they wait, the tougher it’ll be to make these moments land with actual weight.

Nonetheless, the episode ends on a heartfelt be aware: Colter refusing Deion’s reward cash and asking him to place it towards a group program. That’s Colter Shaw in a nutshell — the reluctant hero who all the time does the correct 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 toes on the bottom.

So yeah, “Exodus” was bizarre. It tried to do rather a lot. A few of it labored — Genie and Colter made a fantastic staff, 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 laborious to search out.