Colter Shaw (Justin Hartley), the resourceful searcher at the heart of “Tracker,” finds himself in Prior, Kentucky—a town as welcoming as a rusty bear trap—in “Preternatural.” His mission: locate 16-year-old Emmaline Trace (Alison Thornton), a missing girl with a “unique spiritual gift,” which, let’s be honest, is TV code for “can inexplicably heal people.”
Emmaline’s talent, inherited from her mother, isn’t just parlor tricks. She apparently cured a woman’s cancer, which drew both gratitude and the kind of attention that leads to kidnappings. Her worried brother, Jasper (Connor Price), hires Colter, clearly sensing the town’s hostility. The town of Prior isn’t exactly thrilled with the Trace family, and their brand of faith healing doesn’t seem to fit the local ethos.
Colter’s investigation quickly points toward the Drell Clan, a secretive bunch hiding in the mountains. Turns out, they’re less interested in Emmaline’s spiritual well-being and more in her potential to heal their dying patriarch. The Drells motives become clearer. This inevitably sets up a showdown between Colter and the Drells, where our tracker gets a bit more than he bargained for. The rescue mission leaves him seriously injured, but he still manages to extract Emmaline and escape.
“Preternatural” doesn’t reinvent the “Tracker” wheel. It’s a familiar mix of mystery, action, and a touch of the supernatural, but the hostile town and the slightly-less-than-subtle metaphors for faith and suspicion keep things watchable.
“Tracker” airs Sundays at 10/9c on CBS.
