CBS’s Tracker continues its second season hot streak with “The Grey Goose,” a fast-paced, emotionally-charged episode that brings back a familiar face, drops a major twist, and takes Colter Shaw into some of his most morally complex territory yet. It's a prison break story, sure—but it's also about family, betrayal, and the blind spots we all carry when it comes to the people we love.
We open on a frosty roadside in Aurora, Vermont—a quiet place hiding violent ambition. A prisoner feigns illness in a transport van. She pulls a blade from her mouth (yes, that level of commitment) and escapes, leaving one corrections officer beaten and the other—Rachel, Detective Helen Brock’s niece—gone with her.
The return of Diana Maria Riva as Detective Helen Brock is a smart move. Her last appearance in Season 1’s “Aurora” gave us a grounded, humanizing contrast to Colter’s lone-wolf persona, and here, she’s even better. Brock isn’t just another local cop calling in help—she’s family-adjacent now, emotionally entangled and reeling after her niece Rachel goes missing during a prison transport gone wrong. Riva plays Brock with a careful balance of guilt, stubbornness, and restrained grief. You feel her unraveling without a single melodramatic beat. It's no small feat in a show that moves this quickly.
The twist—that Brock’s niece Rachel isn’t the hostage but the mastermind behind the escape—is one of Tracker’s best narrative reversals to date. It’s not just shocking, it’s thematically rich.
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| “The Grey Goose” – TRACKER, Pictured: Justin Hartley as Colter Shaw and Diana Maria Riva as Detective Brock. Photo: Colin Bentley/CBS ©2025 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
The show has been quietly building this idea across the season: that danger doesn’t always come from where you expect it, and that the line between survival and sabotage is razor-thin. Rachel isn’t a caricature of evil. She’s a woman who grew up in chaos, saw an opportunity, and took it. Her decision to manipulate her aunt and weaponize family trust is a gut punch—and it lands because the show gave Brock just enough emotional grounding for that betrayal to sting. This isn’t a “twist for twist’s sake”—it’s a character-driven reversal, and the show earns it.
Sofia Pernas’ Billie continues to be a compelling wildcard. Her infiltration of the women’s prison could have easily fallen into cliché, but the show wisely plays it for tension rather than camp. There’s danger in every interaction. She’s walking a knife’s edge—and while the plot mechanics are a little stretched (does the prison really buy this setup?), Pernas sells it.
Her chemistry with both Reenie and Maria “Mama Roach” Barata gives the prison scenes texture. And when Billie gets jumped, only to deliver a swift throat punch and reassert control, it’s a fist-pump moment that reminds us this character is more than a love interest. She’s a survivor. And she’s playing the same high-stakes game as Colter—just with a different mask.
Also? That final moment between her and Colter—wine, tension, a kiss—is one of the more grounded, mature romantic beats the show has pulled off. It felt earned. Complicated. Human. But it adds a layer of emotional complexity. Reenie clearly harbors feelings for Colter, and when she tells Billie she can see why he likes her, there’s an unmistakable trace of jealousy in her voice. That undercurrent becomes even clearer in a later conversation with Velma, when Reenie admits that Billie put her life on the line for Colter—something she herself has never done. It’s a quiet but telling moment that reveals just how much Billie and Colter’s connection rattles her.
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| “The Grey Goose” – TRACKER, Pictured: Justin Hartley as Colter Shaw and Diana Maria Riva as Detective Brock. Photo: Sergei Bachlakov/CBS ©2025 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
One of the strengths of Tracker is its ability to stay within the procedural box while still coloring outside the lines. “The Grey Goose” gives us a full, satisfying story with a clear arc—from escape to capture—but it also plants deeper seeds.
Bobby’s absence is finally acknowledged, albeit briefly—he’s said to be grieving the loss of a close friend. It’s a reasonable explanation on the surface, but the way it’s handled feels oddly vague. The lack of clarity around his status raises more questions than it answers. Is this just a temporary pause, or is Eric Graise quietly exiting the series? Colter’s father gets another philosophical nod, reminding us that Colter’s moral compass is inherited as much as it is chosen.
And then there’s the quiet truth underneath it all: Colter wants to believe the best in people. It’s his greatest strength. That’s what makes this case—the betrayal, the manipulation, the family fallout—so resonant. It cuts against everything he tries to hold onto.
“The Grey Goose” doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it sharpens the spokes. It’s a tense, emotional episode that digs into trust, guilt, and survival instincts—both in the wild and behind prison walls. The character beats are strong, the pacing tight, and the twist satisfying without being sensationalized.
This is Tracker growing up a bit. Still accessible. Still grounded. But willing to hurt its characters—and let us sit in that discomfort for a beat longer than usual.
Bobby’s absence is finally acknowledged, albeit briefly—he’s said to be grieving the loss of a close friend. It’s a reasonable explanation on the surface, but the way it’s handled feels oddly vague. The lack of clarity around his status raises more questions than it answers. Is this just a temporary pause, or is Eric Graise quietly exiting the series? Colter’s father gets another philosophical nod, reminding us that Colter’s moral compass is inherited as much as it is chosen.
And then there’s the quiet truth underneath it all: Colter wants to believe the best in people. It’s his greatest strength. That’s what makes this case—the betrayal, the manipulation, the family fallout—so resonant. It cuts against everything he tries to hold onto.
“The Grey Goose” doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it sharpens the spokes. It’s a tense, emotional episode that digs into trust, guilt, and survival instincts—both in the wild and behind prison walls. The character beats are strong, the pacing tight, and the twist satisfying without being sensationalized.
This is Tracker growing up a bit. Still accessible. Still grounded. But willing to hurt its characters—and let us sit in that discomfort for a beat longer than usual.
