S01.E04: Mt. Shasta

[Trini]

Colter races against the clock to find the missing teenage son of Reenie's close friend Erika.

Airdate: March 3, 2024

[TheCathedral]

I had to use google to remember who's Reenie(the travelling lawyer) I wonder if there's a reward or if Colter is just doing a favor.

I just realized that I only know Colter's name, there's the hacker, the travelling lawyer, one of the handlers loves dogs and the other is Jane from Deadwood.

8 hours ago, Trini said:

Colter races against the clock to find the missing teenage son of Reenie's close friend Erika.

Airdate: March 3, 2024

 

[shapeshifter]

I lived in Mt. Shasta from 1978 through 1997.
My first night there I wound up sharing a small hostel space with a very upset family whose son had been lost while hang gliding on the mountain when a snow storm came up. It was July. Such surprise storms in July at the higher elevations were not uncommon; nor were deaths of hikers caught in them. 
Forest fires are another common occurrence in the area, including those started by lightning during droughts.

I wonder if weather will be a factor in tonight's episode.…

— 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘸𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘞𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘴 3.1, 𝘤𝘪𝘳𝘤𝘢 1993

[MarylandGirl]

5 hours ago, TheCathedral said:

I had to use google to remember who's Reenie(the travelling lawyer) I wonder if there's a reward or if Colter is just doing a favor.

I just realized that I only know Colter's name, there's the hacker, the travelling lawyer, one of the handlers loves dogs and the other is Jane from Deadwood.

 

I googled, too! I figured it was either one of the handlers with the dogs or the lawyer. I feel like they don't say the characters' names much, except for Colter, of course, with him introducing himself to people all the time. Though I tend to have this issue with shows. (And in real life!)

Seems like a favor is more likely, but who knows?

[emma675]

Wait, I just realized I don't know the lesbian couple's names! What are they?

[shapeshifter]

18 minutes ago, emma675 said:

Wait, I just realized I don't know the lesbian couple's names! What are they?

Teddi and Velma, the Bruins 🐻🐻‍❄️
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13875494/ 
🙃

Edited March 3 by shapeshifter

[AnimeMania]

Marley Shelton as Erika
Peter Bryant as Gilroy
Chris William Martin as Tom Ritter

Next New Episode (Possibly): March 17, 2024  

Edited March 4 by AnimeMania

[possibilities]

So, there was a cash reward. But he went along with Reenie cutting it down "with a family discount" without asking him first. 

If they don't say how much the reward is, it's probably better in the long run, because if the show gets watched in the future, the dollar amounts will be dated.

I thought the guy from the school, who went into the wilderness with Colter, was going to turn out to be "Ray" and would wind up shooting them both. I have heard too many real life stories about those kinds of sshools being hellhole torture and abuse operations, I guess. 

 

 

[Snazzy Daisy]

Wait, Colter is well-versed in blood spatter analysis too?

Impressive... 😱

[shapeshifter]

Just now, Snazzy Daisy said:

Wait, Colter is well-versed in blood spatter analysis too?

CSI writers penned the script?

So disappointed but not surprised that there were only a couple of background shots pasted in of Mount Shasta — too quick to even ascertain if the amount of snowpack was likely current.

Those opening shots of the dark woods were, once again, looking to be of the Vancouver Island area, with the telltale moss and lush evergreens. 
No high mountain desert.

But Colter is so damn sincere. 
He’s the Mister Rogers of martial arts-skilled trackers.

[Snazzy Daisy]

3 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Those opening shots of the dark woods were, once again, looking to be of the Vancouver Island area, with the telltale moss and lush evergreens. No high mountain desert.

Are we going to have forests/woods setting in every episode? 🤔

[Dowel Jones]

 (Colter)  "Noah was alone in the woods for 24 hours.  He was afraid.  He managed to elude his pursuer.  He managed to find water."

I understand now.  Shelter Stone is not a prison.  It's a training ground to help delinquents escape from prison!

[Featherhat]

I liked this one better than the 2nd one and this was originally supposed to be two right? They were quite similar in some ways with two characters "willingly" on or at least not kidnapped to a compound. I suppose they wanted to showcase a completely different style of case (one were the person involved didn't *want* to be rescued at all) asap. And had his mother in it I suppose. 

More Rennie than there was previously (and know I know her name!) but pretty minimal handlers and hacker. I'll say it again Colton running around places that look like Vancouver for 80% of an ep is going to get boring sooner rather than later. And whilst the guest characters have mostly been fine - good none of them are really developed in a way that makes up for the complete lack of supporting regulars beyond two scenes each and where they only interact with Colton on the phone. 

It continues to be hilarious that people always end up answering Colter's questions despite no official ID or even being part of a private company. Even the type of people who would shoot at Feds and local PDs are willing to back down eventually. They do try and have him reason with them but it's amusing it works 95% of the time. 

I guess Rennie actually had a reason to "be in the area" this week so that was good. Not really feeling the WT/WT between them yet but I suppose it's early days and it's not really a romance type of show beyond maybe hooking up with a few locals which hasn't happened since the pilot either. 

Glad there was very little Ongoing Mystery of Daddy Doom this week anyway. 

I loathe what I've heard of those wilderness schools. I guess parents do get desperate and the schools tell them a lot of lies to get the kids there but many of them are just outright abusive and incredibly unsafe. I guess this one did marginally care about Noah and they pulled back from the prison comment because hey, they taught Noah how to survive but I wonder how true that would be in the real world. 

Edited March 4 by Featherhat

[proserpina65]

11 hours ago, possibilities said:

I thought the guy from the school, who went into the wilderness with Colter, was going to turn out to be "Ray" and would wind up shooting them both.

I definitely thought he was up to no good.  Glad he wasn't, because that would've been a huge cliche.

This episode was definitely better than the one they ran as the second episode.  I have to admit, I have very little familiarity with the Mt. Shasta area so it looked fine to me, but I would appreciate Colter hunting down someone in a different terrain next time.

 

[Good Queen Jane]

I wonder if we are going to get a Survivalist Tip of the Week in each episode. Colter spent a lot of time teaching how to build a proper fire.

[TheCathedral]

I enjoyed the episode, it wasn't predictable, I was expecting the guy from the school to be involved somehow but he was just a good guy trying to be helpful, I'm glad he survived. Some nice twists and I think that the hacker's name is Bobby!

The only bad/boring episode so far was the cult one and I really don't understand why they changed the episode order, it was a bad move and I hope that it's not hurting the ratings.

Is Colter really willing to drive cross country? it would make more sense to just fly all over the place and rent cars, it would save a lot of time but that would hurt the big GMC ad in every episode.

[shapeshifter]

12 minutes ago, Good Queen Jane said:

I wonder if we are going to get a Survivalist Tip of the Week in each episode. Colter spent a lot of time teaching how to build a proper fire.

Kidding, right?
No mention of kindling — without which that would would not likely catch.
Or how to prevent the fire from starting one of the many fatal fires that destroy homes every year in the Mt Shasta Siskiyou region (but not Vancouver Island).
And I could not figure out what was the point of the red shirt playing with the pieces of wood like my toddler grandchild does, only not as successfully. Weird directing.

[possibilities]

On Poker Face, Natasha Lyonne's character travels all over the country. She's on the run, but still-- they do have her travel. I doubt that show has a bigger budget than this one, so if they want to keep up with Peacock, they need to have Colter travel. Plus, it suits his damaged loner characterization. And I really need to see that amazing Airstream on a regular basis. I have major Airstream Envy. Even if it's not real travel, make me think he travels, so they don't have to retire the Airstream and take away my glimpses of glory.

Thank you for pointing out that the IT guy is named Bobby.

This week, instead of Colter rescuing a Damsel, the kid he rescued was rescuing a Damsel. Gotta make sure there's at least one dude rescuing a damsel in every story. Maybe they put the cult episode earlier in the order so they could show he sometimes rescues a Dude, with no secondary Damsel Distress in play.

 

Edited March 4 by possibilities

[Unathletic Club]

1 hour ago, TheCathedral said:

Is Colter really willing to drive cross country? it would make more sense to just fly all over the place and rent cars

If he flies he can't take his gun. He seems to need it quite often.

Edited March 4 by Unathletic Club
quoted myself!

[Unathletic Club]

I am enjoying this show. Its new every week and I find myself looking forward to it. Colter would make a good teacher, he seems to have a way with kids. 

[possibilities]

If he flew, he'd also need to rent cars for the car chases. And it would be kind of a funny bit when he returns them every week, damaged. The show doesn't seem to want to be funny, though. It's more going for the "lonely but good hearted rambler" aesthetic.

I've been thinking about why they made him a tracker and not a P.I. 

He could be both, so why isn't he?

And I guess it's because of the "off-grid" nature of the rescues and his outsider persona? He's not James Rockford. He does a lot of his work in the wilderness. I guess you can't really bring the Airstream into the big city as easily, though we have seen him park it outside and then drive the truck where there's traffic. And he's not really usually prioritizing getting anybody prosecuted. He rescues and leaves that legal stuff to others. Take the reward, deliver the lost person safely, and move on. 

Maybe P.I.s need state licenses and that would limit his ability to travel? I don't really know how that all works.

 

[AZChristian]

People can take guns on airplanes . . . but they have to be packed for storage in the baggage hold of the plane.  And they have to be unloaded, with the bullets wrapped separately.

P.I.s are licensed.  Anyone can be a rewardist.

[emma675]

17 hours ago, possibilities said:

I thought the guy from the school, who went into the wilderness with Colter, was going to turn out to be "Ray" and would wind up shooting them both. I have heard too many real life stories about those kinds of sshools being hellhole torture and abuse operations, I guess. 

 

Same. I'm glad the twist was he was a good guy who actually cared about the students, just like the other guy who unfortunately died. 

As beautiful as the scenery is, I hope we get to see Colter in other cities at some point. And I'd actually like to see him meeting up in person with the hacker and Teddi and Velma. I'd also like to see how he met all of them and how they ended up working together. 

[Artsda]

I totally also thought the security guard from school was going to turn around and be the bad guy in the woods. 

Good by the show for not being predictable.  The school not being bad and the workers being good was nice twist. 

[KaveDweller]

8 hours ago, possibilities said:

If he flew, he'd also need to rent cars for the car chases. And it would be kind of a funny bit when he returns them every week, damaged. The show doesn't seem to want to be funny, though. It's more going for the "lonely but good hearted rambler" aesthetic.

I've been thinking about why they made him a tracker and not a P.I. 

He could be both, so why isn't he?

I wonder if it is just to be different. There are lots of shows about PIs but no other show about a "rewardist." 

If he flew he would also need to stay in hotels.

I would imagine they will avoid cities because 1) filming budget/locations, 2) Colter's skills seem more about finding people lost in nature/small towns, and 3) there may be more competition for rewards in cities.

[Unathletic Club]

8 hours ago, AZChristian said:

People can take guns on airplanes . . . but they have to be packed for storage in the baggage hold of the plane.  And they have to be unloaded, with the bullets wrapped separately.

P.I.s are licensed.  Anyone can be a rewardist.

I did not know that. But it does make sense. There are legit reasons to take a gun on a trip. I guess. I'm Canadian and we don't have many guns up here. 

[shapeshifter]

15 minutes ago, Unathletic Club said:

I'm Canadian and we don't have many guns up here. 

I’m American and am allergic to guns —
IRL —
not so much on TV.

 

[Dowel Jones]

I looked up Manhattan Kansas on the map, and Colter was right.  It's about 1700 miles from Mt. Shasta City.  How he knew that I don't know, but, figuring about 15 mpg at best in that beast of a truck and towing a trailer, that's just over 100 gallons of fuel.  I hope he cashed that reward check before he left.

[Daff]

18 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

I definitely thought he was up to no good.  Glad he wasn't, because that would've been a huge cliche.

I had those thoughts to begin, but dismissed them pretty quickly. I did have to laugh when (after vowing he wouldn’t slow Colter down) he was out of breath 5 feet into forested terrain. You just knew he was going to end up needing to be “rescued” as well. Possible plot device to convince us Colter is best left to do his thing solo.

[Daff]

18 hours ago, TheCathedral said:

I enjoyed the episode, it wasn't predictable, I was expecting the guy from the school to be involved somehow but he was just a good guy trying to be helpful, I'm glad he survived. Some nice twists and I think that the hacker's name is Bobby!

The only bad/boring episode so far was the cult one and I really don't understand why they changed the episode order, it was a bad move and I hope that it's not hurting the ratings.

Is Colter really willing to drive cross country? it would make more sense to just fly all over the place and rent cars, it would save a lot of time but that would hurt the big GMC ad in every episode.

Actually, there are tens of thousands (if not hundreds) of families in this country who live out of tow behinds and fifth wheels. They call themselves “full-timers”. The majority, if not retired, work via the internet from their mobile homes, have one designated state of “residence” (usually one that does not have a state income tax), and follow good weather. There are “RV resorts” that offer some upscale amenities, but many just park wherever it’s legal. Saves money, but takes planning for supplies, water, power, and disposal of refuse/sewage.

[TheCathedral]

1 hour ago, Daff said:

Actually, there are tens of thousands (if not hundreds) of families in this country who live out of tow behinds and fifth wheels. They call themselves “full-timers”. The majority, if not retired, work via the internet from their mobile homes, have one designated state of “residence” (usually one that does not have a state income tax), and follow good weather. There are “RV resorts” that offer some upscale amenities, but many just park wherever it’s legal. Saves money, but takes planning for supplies, water, power, and disposal of refuse/sewage.

I know and it sounds like an interesting lifestyle, always in motion but I was talking about time, he thought he was going to Manhattan NY, that's like 3000 miles away from Mt Shasta,, that's at least a 3 day trip! if it was a missing persons case that's a long time and what if the case is solved by the time he gets there?

I know it's a tv show and his truck is like a character but I was just wondering about the logistics.

[Featherhat]

17 hours ago, Artsda said:

I totally also thought the security guard from school was going to turn around and be the bad guy in the woods. 

Good by the show for not being predictable.  The school not being bad and the workers being good was nice twist. 

I have mixed feelings about that since IRL so many of those types of schools do seem to be literal hell holes that torture their students whilst lying to their parents and saying anything that they hear is wrong/lying. Kids have allegedly died or run away and after being found had massive signs of trauma. And the kid would have died or been killed had it not been for the Mom knowing Reenie and Reenie knowing Colter and they probably would never have told her the truth or even realised what happened until he was found weeks later (if at all).

That said it was a good twist for a TV show that they ended up not actually involved. 

One thing I would like to see is Colter being wrong or failing during a case. I know they won't do it this early when they are establishing his Action Main Main Awesome Main Character Skills but I think it would be interesting. 

Of course, as I said, I really want him to meet up with either Bobby or (checks IMDb) Velma and Teddi before the end of the season. Or at the very least have Reenie interact with them rather than just being called on the phone. 

[Daff]

12 hours ago, Dowel Jones said:

I looked up Manhattan Kansas on the map, and Colter was right.  It's about 1700 miles from Mt. Shasta City.  How he knew that I don't know, but, figuring about 15 mpg at best in that beast of a truck and towing a trailer, that's just over 100 gallons of fuel.  I hope he cashed that reward check before he left.

I think your mpg is a little bit high, but there are discounts/rewards plans. Most diesel drivers have several cards. 

[shapeshifter]

30 minutes ago, Featherhat said:

…IRL so many of those types of schools do seem to be literal hell holes…Kids have allegedly died or run away and after being found had massive signs of trauma. And the kid would have died or been killed had it not been for the Mom knowing Reenie and Reenie knowing Colter and they probably would never have told her the truth or even realised what happened until he was found weeks later (if at all).…

Good point!
Given that the kid would've died without the Mom and Coulter going against the school's rules, the warm farewells at the end seem unearned.

[TheCathedral]

1 hour ago, Featherhat said:

I have mixed feelings about that since IRL so many of those types of schools do seem to be literal hell holes that torture their students whilst lying to their parents and saying anything that they hear is wrong/lying. Kids have allegedly died or run away and after being found had massive signs of trauma. And the kid would have died or been killed had it not been for the Mom knowing Reenie and Reenie knowing Colter and they probably would never have told her the truth or even realised what happened until he was found weeks later (if at all).

That said it was a good twist for a TV show that they ended up not actually involved. 

One thing I would like to see is Colter being wrong or failing during a case. I know they won't do it this early when they are establishing his Action Main Main Awesome Main Character Skills but I think it would be interesting. 

Of course, as I said, I really want him to meet up with either Bobby or (checks IMDb) Velma and Teddi before the end of the season. Or at the very least have Reenie interact with them rather than just being called on the phone. 

I agree that Colter being wrong sometimes is really important, that's one thing i dislike about Blue Bloods, Donnie Wahlberg solves every case and Tom Selleck is always right, I love the show but there's no suspense.

Tracker is not predictable yet and I'm delighted with that! some good twists so far. I won't be surprised if one of the handlers goes missing and Colter saves the day tho, that sounds like the typical CBS plot.

[stonehaven]

I thought this was the best episode yet.  I'm starting to see Justin as Colter and not Kevin Pearson. Although, I am sorta disapointed there was no shirtless Colter scene. I felt like there was a mention in his contract(or network note) to get that shirt off by any means.....

[MarylandGirl]

1 hour ago, stonehaven said:

I thought this was the best episode yet.  I'm starting to see Justin as Colter and not Kevin Pearson. Although, I am sorta disapointed there was no shirtless Colter scene. I felt like there was a mention in his contract(or network note) to get that shirt off by any means.....

Hm, maybe that's why they held this one off to show 4th? They needed to get shirtless Colter in early on to draw people in!

[Featherhat]

19 hours ago, TheCathedral said:

I agree that Colter being wrong sometimes is really important, that's one thing i dislike about Blue Bloods, Donnie Wahlberg solves every case and Tom Selleck is always right, I love the show but there's no suspense.

Tracker is not predictable yet and I'm delighted with that! some good twists so far. I won't be surprised if one of the handlers goes missing and Colter saves the day tho, that sounds like the typical CBS plot.

I think one of the team being in danger is just as mandatory as the main character with the angsty, mystery past of doom in these type of shows. Also wouldn't surprise me if Colter went missing at one point (possibly because of his past) and the team had to spring in to action to save him, though it probably wouldn't be this season. 

[ALenore]

My husband and I both thought the school employee who went out with Colter would turn out to be a bad guy, and were surprised that they didn't go for that cliche.

One thing that bothered me was that Noah's girlfriend seemed to be alone in her house, with no parents around. I assume she was supposed to be under 18, was she living by herself? She didn't say anything like her parents were out of town.

[MarylandGirl]

2 hours ago, Featherhat said:

I think one of the team being in danger is just as mandatory as the main character with the angsty, mystery past of doom in these type of shows. Also wouldn't surprise me if Colter went missing at one point (possibly because of his past) and the team had to spring in to action to save him, though it probably wouldn't be this season. 

I could see that happening as a season finale, whether it's wrapped up or left as a cliffhanger (assuming it gets renewed). Would give an excuse for all the team to come together to look for him. Maybe something tied to trying to find the truth about his father?

[possibilities]

I assumed the parents were at work. Teenagers are able to be left alone sometimes, they don't need constant supervision. 

Edited March 6 by possibilities

[MarylandGirl]

5 hours ago, possibilities said:

I assumed the parents were at work. Teenagers are able to be left alone sometimes, they don't need constant supervision. 

At first, I thought maybe they were home and that one of them had given her the black eye, so that's why she was reluctant to let him in. And that maybe Noah had been trying to protect her from them. Obviously, I was wrong!

[possibilities]

28 minutes ago, MarylandGirl said:

At first, I thought maybe they were home and that one of them had given her the black eye, so that's why she was reluctant to let him in. And that maybe Noah had been trying to protect her from them. Obviously, I was wrong!

I thought the same thing, actually!

[KaveDweller]

7 hours ago, possibilities said:

I assumed the parents were at work. Teenagers are able to be left alone sometimes, they don't need constant supervision. 

I thought they could be at work too, but I did think it was weird they didn't mention them at all. I think it was even night at some point.

If she was at the school as recently as last semester, she must have been under 18 or just turned 18 and not able to afford that place she was living by herself. 

[possibilities]

I guess it was weird that they sent the missing kid's mom to sit with her, instead of calling her own parents.

[Trini]

I'm going to need a few lower stakes episodes, like as a breather; because so far there's been at least one dead body/murder in each episode.

Edited March 7 by Trini
Gah! dropped word, and spelling

[TheCathedral]

10 hours ago, Trini said:

I'm going to a few lower stakes episodes, like as a breather; because so far there's been at lest one dead body/murder in each episode.

I agree, it's the perfect time for a missing car/object episode, the show could use some light comedy too

[ALenore]

22 hours ago, possibilities said:

I guess it was weird that they sent the missing kid's mom to sit with her, instead of calling her own parents.

Yes, that was my problem. I think they should have had her say something like her parents were out of town, or that she didn't want to let them know what happened to her because they would be worried about her, or angry with her, but they weren't even mentioned, and none of the adults even asked her about her parents.

 

[MarylandGirl]

On 3/7/2024 at 12:18 AM, Trini said:

I'm going to need a few lower stakes episodes, like as a breather; because so far there's been at least one dead body/murder in each episode.

Agreed! The Closer was good at having the occasional light episode (even if a murder was involved), or at least including some light moments in a heavy one.

[possibilities]

I liked in the pilot when they opened with him rescuing a hiker who was going to be fine. But they only showed us the very end of that one, not the process!