What began as a pretty cool premise (tracker is paid a bounty to find people/things) seemingly ran out of ideas in season 2 and is stuck on repeat. In season one, Colter has a variety of situations and mysteries to solve, and brings us along on the ride. There is a back story about his family, and also one about the missing sister of his former ex girlfriend from a decade or so earlier. It was a good balance. One episode he goes looking for a missing horse, it wasn't always a kidnapping.
Fast forward to season two and it is nauseatingly repetitive, with the only variation between each episode are the ridiculous circumstances in which Colter has to find a missing person. Spies. Cults. Mob. I'm waiting for aliens next. More than once has an episode began where it feels like the first part of the episode was cut off, or was a continuation of another. One opens with him already at a crime scene. Another has him up in a snowstorm in the mountains with search and rescue. How and why he was there is never explained.
The writing has gotten lazy. Maybe because they are making more episodes than the previous season. Velma's partner just disappears in season two with no explanation. Maybe Colter can go look for her? Bobby leaves for about half of the season, and we are introduced to his "cousin" by way of Colter calling Bobby and the cousin answers and Colter says something like "Oh yeah, Bobby told me that you were going to cover for him while he is visiting family blah blah...". He's then gone for what must be several months in the show's timeline. Of course the cousin is also a super-hacker like Bobby is! Thank goodness, because seems like Colter can no longer resolve an episode without Bobby or his cousin hacking right into someone's security camera to catch the moment someone was abducted and also get a license plate. Or patch Colter into someone's locked laptop so that he can look at encrypted files. Or hack into someone's phone remotely and listen to voicemails, triangulate their last known location or see who they called last. Seems like any roadblock the writers might run into, just write in that the hacker provided the key to keep the story moving and give Colter a lead.
And what Colter can't get from hacking, he can just force his way into just about any home or office, where he's likely to find a dead body. Does he report the body after breaking and entering? Does he at some point become a suspect himself after a dozen or so dead body "discoveries"?
Then you have Reenie, who has access to sealed court documents, and can give background info on anyone. Velma's role has been reduced to about 3 minutes of story setup just to bring viewers up to speed. Rinse and repeat.
I've got 4 more episodes left of season two. I've got enough patience left for one or maybe two before I say goodbye to the series if they don't get any better. It really used to be great. I give it 8 stars for Season one, and maybe 5 stars for Season two.
