#coltrand

[thewickedbohemian]

Thoughts on the best Tracker so far all season where Reenie was notable-by-her-absence but that meant we got more focus on Colter/Randy dynamic duo, where Mel's motives are still questionable but her potential neurodivergence grows more evident each scene she's in, where the story didn't just feel like a "normal" procedural but specifically a bit of a High Potential homage and where we got the best spinoff-setup potential yet

where are we as those are some pretty houses

Indiana, not their usual territory and what the heck's going on here

oh a little crime scene cleanup in what if it isn't the house from High Potential S2E6 looks a heck of a lot like it

continuing the trend of all non-country needle drops but one (the one from the episode with Colter and Randy in the field) being diegetic

and Randy's hair keeps a-changin and his style kinda helps reinforce the show's motif of positive masculinity

maybe clean thyself before you handle the coffee

why is it always the mystery online boyfriends

so just like that High Potential it's got true crime girlies too

what is it with this season and phones (I know they always gotta have some tech for Randy to work his magic on but this-season-so-far in particular I think almost every episode's had something to do with unknown numbers or secret phones or w/e)

#whyisn'trandyaregularyet

wonder if Reenie's mystery client again is gonna be pivotal like Sharf was last season

Mel looking cute being neurodivergent still kinda arousing suspicion

"What you seek is seeking you" maybe also gonna come back

look in the trunk first

hello secret phone

let's play how much of Mel being weird is just her being nerdy as I'm still kinda waiting for the other shoe to drop

why do I get the feeling the calls out of the blue are kinda paralleling each other (even if it was indeed Reenie calling and not her just improving up an excuse on her end, why'd the dude cancel)

how many freaking phones are gonna be relevant here

and things just went from bad to worse (and of course the cops want him to shove off)

follow that "interesting" car

I guess partnering with Colter (not just saying that 'cause of my personal shipping of Coltrand (best I could come up with for a ship-portmanteau for Colter and Randy that didn't sound like shit) but because it feels like they've been closer than he and Reenie) is an all-hours job for Randy

Colter kinda looking a bit like a bad guy and just like the Night Movers in S2 we've got potential spinoff fodder as hello freaking "squint Lone Gunmen"

wonder if (either this episode or in any potential future appearances/spinoffs) it's going to be relevant that their bug guy (at least I think that's which one he was) claims to have premonitions given that the supernatural exists in that universe

down the stairs just like the High Potential murder

seriously this is sounding like a setup

mystery symbol leading to potential serial killer and Eddie really feeling like an Asian Hodgins

Criminal Minds brain already going with potential motives and Randy Garcias up what might be a horror reference (Vorhees) or a Brilliant Minds one with shady clinic

dude you're not gonna lose your license for that what are you hiding

now we've really gone full Criminal Minds please tell me we're not gonna go full Psycho

I guess when you're not a cop you can get away with some casual B&E

and unsub went Psycho one better

is he some kind of fellow true-crime fan or something even creepier

he's making her sound like Morgan Gillory except the Game Maker never went this full "we're not so different you and I"

there's the half of the motive I kinda called

the tethering in thing kinda symbolic of their partnership

again with Mel showing up with the save right before she gets a Reenie call (kinda feeling if she's sus it's same way Bellwether was in Zootopia)

so that's how the motive bits are connected

Colter maybe realizing he needs some field backup that isn't just the cops and feeling like he walked into someone else's story

meanwhile it seems unsub found their base but Colter found Margo

and even kinda similarity with method of attempted murder to High Potential (and I don't just mean Oz's I mean S2E3 having death-by-plastic-bag) while Colter goes full Elliot Spencer on his ass

and the thank yous go as expected except I was expecting him to say something about already having a team

and right from that to Randy bringing up him having no backup talk about laying foreshadowing groundwork

wasn't expecting the cliffhanger to be the existence of a secret rather than the secret itself

[thewickedbohemian]

Thoughts on a Tracker that was my favorite so far and not just because of the Leverage energy or Colter and Randy being field-partner perfection again proving why Chris Lee being a regular now means this kind of team-up needs to happen at least once a season minimum (in addition to more excuses for them to be together in the flesh their chemistry is amazing <3)

ooh gorgeous

so that's where we are

and there goes the ankle monitor...

Randy and Colter in the field yay

so we've got even more of a Hardison type

and Mel being a Parker about it

whole team in field?

digging the rest of Randy's fit but orange no not with his skin tone

that's gotta be hard for a kid like that

I'm not crying you're crying

I guess that answers the question of why the ankle monitor didn't start metaphorically screaming

I'm just trying to figure out what the hell is Randy's necklace (the medallion-looking one)

that's an anxiety-inducing amount of dog barking

okay not real dogs

I was wondering where he was while Colter was snooping around, right behind him

and this is why we need more of them in the field like this, y'know, opposite-yet-compatible buddy-cop-but-not-actually (enough so when they're together-in-the-flesh I'm surprised more people don't ship them y'know they fit the certain procedural trope)

what else does a guy on house arrest do

and now we have a second missing person

meanwhile Reenie's going full Sophie

at least another seed planted in Colter's mind (and gotta love Tracker playing with gender expectations, guys being vulnerable, girls hiding pain)

so this guy's just anti-hacker

never tell someone stay in the car, remember what happened the last time Randy was in the field with you

fucking knew it

good he realized the cover wasn't gonna work unlike last time

meanwhile why is nobody/nothing here

both investigating in their own ways and what's with the gadget

and even more drone parts

look out fucking behind you

meanwhile Colter with the save insert Librarian/Guardian joke here

oh so he just got dragged into this unwillingly

found where she was

whoa dude take a breath

I love how them and Reenie are having to prove he's a good guy

that's something new, the hack don't work

what are we not seeing

meanwhile Simon keeping being good samaritan

is this just 'cause he rescued her or does she like him

the friends together and how much has Randy bounced around (given both this and the last time we saw him in the field it was in two different states that aren't where he is now both of which he had a past connection too and speaking of Randy lore we still don't know if he shares his cousin's last name)

oh shit is she the bad guy

oh shiit that's what kind of rich husband

Randy's not gonna like what he finds and what the hell is Reenie gonna do

and more playing with gender as Bruna exploits the damsel in distress angle

and sometimes Colter's easy way is the best way

follow that car

wow that's a lotta guns and classic Tracker low lighting

let's see if Randy stays in the car this time

and more blood on Colter's hands

Randy makes the direct rescue, he deserves to, that's his guy

oh so it wasn't an attraction thing

good on him declining the reward

wonder if the wish for repayment was foreshadowing (and since I know there are people out there who ship Coltrand (and I'm not surprised, they do kinda Fit A Procedural Trope), there's things one could do for ship-adjacent fics with the kind of bond/debt that Colter saving Randy's life could be thought of as creating between them)

that hug was everything

thought they were gonna travel back together but I guess Randy needs to see his friend

"whatever happened to face to face conversation" yeah Colter take your own advice and take this job as a lesson, you deserve to not just have your support squad supporting you over the damn phone

I get the feeling if that was supposed to be a date it would have been more obviously framed as one and as not their first (as there was at least one other time they shared a meal together in another diner, that time that they had pancakes for dinner after Colter talked about the special significance of pancakes in his relationship with his mother)