“Tracker,” CBS’s missing-persons procedural, returned Sunday with an episode steeped in small-town secrets and big-city baggage. In “Collision,” Justin “Colter” Johns (played with his usual weary competence by Justin Hartley) finds himself embroiled in the disappearance of Riley Adams, a one-time beauty queen who traded the runways of New York for the quiet – perhaps too quiet – life of Willow Creek, Michigan.
Riley’s mother, Susanna (a suitably frantic Brenda Strong), hires Colter after local law enforcement gives her daughter’s vanishing act the cold shoulder. Riley, it seems, isn’t the first young person to go missing in Willow Creek, a town once bustling with tourists but now struggling to keep the lights on, let alone its police department fully staffed. Adding a personal touch – and some much-needed urgency – is Detective Katie Douglas (Geraldine Viswanathan) whose younger sister was close friends with Riley.
The case hinges on Riley’s abrupt departure from New York and her modeling career. Susanna’s persistent – and resented – questions about her daughter’s time in the Big Apple created a rift between them, leaving Susanna convinced Riley is running from something or someone.
What exactly that something is forms the central mystery of “Collision.” Was it a stalker from her modeling days, a shady character, or something else entirely? As Colter digs deeper, the episode hints at a past trauma, a darkness Riley brought back with her to Willow Creek. “Tracker” airs Sundays at 8:00 PM ET on CBS.
