The Storm – The episode opens with two storm chasers in a small boat off the coast of Oregon, prepping for what looks like an oncoming squall. After a bit of tinkering to get the equipment operative, Katie Hawking (Jenna Burgess) becomes focused on something far off in the distance. Whatever she sees just as quickly draws Dylan Fisher’s (Ivursyn Matthews) eye as well.
Colter Shaw (Justin Hartley) arrives in town several days later to meet with Lizzy Hawking (Jennifer Morrison). During the conversation, Colter learns that both Katie and Dylan are like fish on the water, and the local Sheriff, Woods (Todd Thomson) isn’t opposed to giving them a hard time. He also learns of Rachel (Michelle Creber), the third member of the team who wasn’t on the water that day.
Before questioning Rachel, Colter calls Reenie Green (Fiona Rene) to inquire about Russell Shaw (Jensen Ackles). Reenie says she hasn’t been able to reach him but has a friend looking into that mysterious firm he works for. Her friend either won’t share what he knows or doesn’t know anything about the Horizon group. Being that Reenie just handed in her resignation letter, she also offers him all the help she can provide after learning of his latest case.
Colter’s visit with Rachel turns out to be extremely insightful as he learns that she suspects there is more to the story than a capsized boat. When asked why she feels this way, she gives in a garbed radio transmission that came in 20 minutes before the storm hit, indicating that Katie and Dylan had plenty of time to get out of the area before the storm hit. After asking for a copy of the transmission, he also learns that the cameras are still on the buoys and Katie can track them. Tracking those coordinates leads to the discovery of Dylan’s body.
While hanging around to watch Dylan’s body get pulled for the water, Colter meets Sheriff Woods and Deputy Kelman (Jason Diaz). Although Woods promises to keep Colter informed, it becomes clear that Sheriff is being totally forthcoming. Colter notices it and mentions that Dylan’s dry suit was intentionally cut, indicating that someone wanted the body to sink. Despite Wood quickly rushing off with the excuse of needing to speak with Dylan’s parents, Colter later corners Kelman for a quick discussion. After some careful convincing, Colter gets Kelman to tell him about a recent dispute between Katie, Dylan, and the Sampson brothers. According to him, Dylan used to hang with the brother and the dispute appeared to be territorial.
Colter’s questioning of Bo (Lachlan Quarmby) and Xavier (Simon Arblaster) Sampson goes even worse than his meeting with the sheriff and quickly turns physical. Colter does manage to learn that the dispute wasn’t territorial. The Sampson brothers felt that Katie was getting too cozy in their business.
By hits major pay dirt when he reaches out to Bobby Exley (Eric Graise). Bobby not only has the transmission cleaned up, but he provides Colter with a dock address that both Dylan and Katie’s phones pinged at days before their disappearance. The cleaned transmission reveals that someone else was out there with Dylan and Katie. The address leads to the discovery of a female body that is later identified as Haley Thomas. According to Kelman, Haley was a party girl out of Spokane, Washington who went missing three years earlier. Colter suspects that Katie was trying to find out who killed Haley because the cameras mounted outside the dock warehouse were the same ones on the buoys. The SD cards had been removed.
When Colter later shares his suspicions with Lizzy, she tells him about the swirling rumors of drugs and partying during the tourist season. Although Lizzy claims there were no secrets between her and Katie, she’s never heard the name Haley Thomas. The discovery of Dylan’s and Katie’s small apartment provides Colter’s next lead. Upon his arrival, he’s surprised to learn that someone has already visited. Despite this, they somehow missed the burner phone that Colter discovered. It takes a bit of convincing but Colter shares the discovery with Kelman when he unexpectedly shows up. They also discover a snippet of a threatening phone call that Dylan made to someone named Vince Talbot (Michael Benyaer). Kelman identifies Vince as a wealthy tourist who maintains a big house in town.
Just as Colter pulls into Vince’s driveway, he receives a call from Reenie with even more revealing intel on Vince. According to her, the man is filthy rich but no one, including her FBI contacts, knows how he earned his fortune. Vince is also supposedly currently under federal investigation. Although Reenie tells him that Vince won’t be home, Colter stages a break-in so that Bobby can piggyback off his phone and hack into the house’s Wi-Fi. Doing so reveals that one of the guards has been speaking with Xavier Sampson.
While Colter tracks down Xavier, Reenie attempts to intimidate Vince by outright accusing him of being involved with Hayley’s death and promising to take him down for it. When she later shares news of the meeting with Colter, it’s revealed that he’s watching Sheriff Woods meet with Xavier. After ending the call with her, he finds himself held at gunpoint by Bo. Much to Bo’s surprise, Colter appeals to him as being a decent guy and not only convinces him to let him go but also shares Katie’s last known location. Bo tells him that Katie was pretty banged up when he last saw her and she’s likely not even alive.
Colter soon learns that Bo is wrong when he discovers Katie taking refuge under the hull of a wrecked boat. As he tends to her leg wound, he learns all about how she came to be stranded and how Xavier shot Dylan. Their attention is soon drawn to a distant stirring which is later revealed to be Xavier. While Coter quickly subdues Xavier, Woods pays a visit to Lizzy. Under the guise of having news about Katie, he weasels his way inside and takes her hostage. Shortly after that, he makes a ransom call to Colter.
Much to Wood’s surprise Colter shows up at Lizzy’s house, but he doesn’t do so alone. He’s with Kelman who has staged a fake arrest. Kelman claims that Colter called him for help with Katie and a plan to take Woods down. After Colter is cuffed and placed by Lizzy on the sofa, Woods goes out to the squad car to deal with Katie. Instead, he finds Agent Homan (Sarah Johns), along with a whole procession of agents. After Woods is arrested, Colter thanks Kelman for the assist. When Katie returns home, Reenie gloats as Talbot is carted away by agents as well.
Colter learns about this later while speaking with Reenie over the phone. He also learns that Russell resurfaced at a bar in Argentina and actually invited her to dinner. After learning that she passed on the offer, Colter extends an offer for a visit to Oregon. She turns him down for a glass of wine and trashy TV.
Colter attempts to turn down Lizzy’s reward, but she won’t hear of it. As they reminisce over fond childhood memories, Colter learns some very shocking things about his family. According to Lizzy, Ashton Shaw (Lee Tergesen) and her mother were having an affair. The even stranger part is the files and research papers she discovered after her mother’s recent death. The discovery of the box also made her remember the night that Ashton dropped it off. Despite all this, he’s more stunned to learn that Lizzy sent the box to Dorian/Dory Shaw (Aggie Bell/Melissa Roxburgh).
Season 1 ends with Colter deep in thought on the beach.. After a short contemplation, he grabs his surfboard and heads into the water.
Tracker Review
I must say I am surprised at how lackluster the episode was for a finale. I very much enjoyed the episode and the whole storm-chasing/small-town corruption premise but I expected more from the finale. There were some big reveals and I felt that the episode did a good job of disguising Deputy Kelsman’s role. Despite Kelman’s ‘not so stellar’ performance, it was at times hard to tell whether he was genuine or working against Colter.
I don’t see why Velma and Teddi aren’t written out of the series. As it stands, they’ve probably only made a total of 10 to 20 minutes of an appearance throughout the entire season. I couldn’t imagine the budget and resources that would be saved simply by cutting them out. Plus, I can’t help but feel as if they are only there to serve an agenda. Just one man’s opinion! I’d give the episode a 5.5 out of 10, although I would have liked to see more of Russell and Colter together or at least learn more about the Shaws. Despite not being a fan of Reenie, I did find her sudden resignation a bit stirring and intriguing. I’m actually slightly excited to see where that leads.
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