Springland – The episode begins with Colter Shaw (Justin Hartley) stumbling on a missing persons case after stopping off at a Springland, Idaho Diner on his way to Cascade. A quick phone conversation with Teddi and Velma reveals that a missing vintage Ford Cobra awaits his attention in Cascade. During his meal, Colter’s attention is drawn to the parking lot where a young lady, Kira Stine (Anja Savcic) handing out missing persons flyers is accosted by a disgruntled male, Tom Tozer (Bradley Stryker. Colter’s confrontation not only leaves him with a flat tire but a nasty gash on his back that requires several stitches.
While getting the knife wound sewed up by local doctor, Beth Trainor (Gia Sandhu), Colter learns that the missing girl, Mia, was a bit of a nomad who lived out of her van and belonged to a group known as Van Life. Kira is also revealed to be the girl’s sister and suspects foul play.
Leaving Beth’s office, Colter not only formerly meets Kira but also the town’s sheriff, Gale (William MacDonald). Gale appears pleased that Colter doesn’t want to press charges after informing him that he had his tire repaired. Although he appears nice and helpful enough, Gale attempts to subtly uncover Colter’s itinerary while encouraging Kira to move on.
Over coffee, Kira tells Colter that she suspects it was their unique upbringing that inspired Mia’s nomadic lifestyle. Mia is also revealed to be a bit quick-tempered and Kira suspects that played a role in her disappearance. This is also when Colter learns about the Winslow family, and their quest to transform Springland into a resort destination. As it turns out Mia was living out of her van on a piece of property owned by the family. Although he agrees to officially join the search, he warns her not to get her hopes up, being that Mia has been missing for three months.
Colter’s next visit is to the property Mia was staying on, where he discovers a game camera. After calling the IMEI number from the camera into Bobby Exley (Eric Graise), Tom shows up, armed with a rifle this time. Tom doesn’t waste much time pointing out that he is well within his legal rights to shoot Colter while also claiming Mia to be trouble. After a bit of back-and-forth, Tom claims that Mia didn’t spend most nights in her van, although he has no idea as where she was.
Later that evening, Velma and Teddi confirm Colter’s suspicions that Mia was spending time with a guy. Her social media profile reveals that she spent a lot of time mountain climbing with a guy known as “Gecko.”
Armed with the new information, Colter uses his knowledge of climbing to develop inroads with a local climber (Sakura Sykes) that leads him to Gecko. Although Gecko doesn’t exactly run off, he refuses to come down from the mountain he just climbed to allow Colter to question him. This forces Colter to rely on his connection with Beth to uncover Gecko as Matt Winslow (Richard Harmon). She claims Matt’s had troubles over the years but is unlikely to have any kind of record because of the family’s connections in the town.
Colter’s new discovery sends him to the massive Winslow estate, where Matt does attempt to run away this time. Colter is not only able to stop but he gets Matt to reveal that he was involved with Mia until one day skipped out on him without explanation. She did apparently leave behind a note that he gives to Colter. When Matt’s parents Eric Winslow (Eric Breker) return, it becomes clear that they are unaware of Matt and Mia’s involvement, if they weren’t they likely would not have approved.
A quick scene with Velma and Teddi reveals that Velma reached out to her friend Lou to run a background check on Matt. Although it didn’t uncover anything useful, Lou discovered that Winslow’s Resorts has several been sued several times. After learning that was as much as Lou could uncover, Teddi suggests bringing in Reenie Green (Fiona Rene) to bypass the legal hurdles.
When Colter shares Mia’s note with Kira it doesn’t take her long to realize that it’s not Mia’s handwriting. A call phone from Bobby reveals that the game camera is networked with others scattered throughout Winslow’s properties. He was able to use the network to locate Mia’s van. Colter shares Bobby’s discovery with Kira but attempts to convince her to let him take her home. She refuses and they end up investigating the van sighting together. Although they do locate the van and discover it empty, they just as quickly come under fire. They manage to escape virtually unharmed.
Colter only manages to further irritate the sheriff when they visit the van sighting to discover that it is now missing. Returning to his Airstream, Colter contacts Bobby to see if he can shed any light on who might have moved the van. When Colter does make it to his Airstream, he discovers someone inside which turns out to be Reenie with a shocking discovery that Mia was named a key witness in a lawsuit against the Winslows. Colter becomes even more suspicious of the Winslows when Reenie goes on to reveal that the lawsuit never made it to court because the man who filed it, Nathaniel Orcutt, turned up dead shortly after. During their conversation, Bobby also sends footage of Mia’s van being moved.
After the shocking discovery, both Colter and Reenie find and confront Matt. It takes a bit of convincing but he reveals that he was there when Tony (Chris Casson) burned Mr. Orcutt’s barn. Matt shared this information with Mia, who then took it to Nathaniel and promised to testify. Matt appears to have heard and seen enough when Colter shows him the footage Bobby found of Tony moving Mia’s van.
This is when Reenie, Matt, and Colter confront Matt’s parents. After a bit of heated back-and-forth, it doesn’t take Colter long to uncover that Tony and Matt’s mother are the murderers. As it turns out, Matt’s father, Eric had nothing to do with it. The scene ends when the sheriff shows up.
While thanking Reenie for her help and saying goodbye, Colter reveals that Mia’s body was recovered on one of the Winslow’s properties. Reenie also says that she’ll be filing a civil on behalf of the Orcutt family. She also tells him that she’s been getting calls from someone named Russell (Matthew Nelson-Mahood). Colter tells her to block the number and reluctantly admits that Russell is his brother and he killed their father.
The episode ends with Colter visiting Kira and collecting the reward. She thanks him for the help and he encourages her to fix up Mia’s van and she appears to not only like the idea but mentions that she might even give the nomadic lifestyle a chance.
Tracker Review
Although the episode did reveal much about Colter’s past, I didn’t think it was too horrible. I do appreciate how everything is kept serious. In addition, I also find it clever how it seems that all the people Colter helps seem to share a similar past to his. I’d give the episode a 5.4 out of 10.
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