Tracker – Exodus – Comments: Swamp, Saxophone and Sacrifice

The tracker was immersed in Bayou this week, bringing back something vague, mythical and a little annoying. “Exodus” began to feel like returning to the roots of the show – Cote tracking a missing teenage boy in a small Louisiana town – but then the spiral formed a twisted, voodoo murder mystery with a cult-like atmosphere, painted face and immortal rituals. Depending on how you feel about the tracker, you either love it… or want to be with someone in the writer’s room.

Let’s start with something that works: Colter is brought to help Deion by Velma, a sad working-class father who tries to find his 15-year-old son Anton. This is a personal case. Anton is the only child, musical and talented, quiet-the kind of child that is not always someone looking for him. Colter showed up to that trailer park with quiet compassion, which made the tracker work. When the show pierces its emotional core – the father loses his wife, the child who texts his father every time the bus comes home – it’s convincing.

“Exodus” – Photo: Marci T. House plays Detective Veach and Justin Hartley plays Colter Shaw. Photo: Sergei Bachlakov/CBS©2025 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved.

But then things got weird. Not as weird as “weird local crime”, it’s a mature secret tunnel, ritual manuscripts and cult magic weird. Anton, defeated by his classmates, was rescued by a troubled but similar pianist named Sherry, and brought underground to hide a fanatical club owner, performing a dark “infinite” ceremony? That’s…a lot. Not necessarily bad, but it walks on the show that usually manages to span better credibility. The aforementioned club owner Hugo is conducting a human sacrifice ceremony based on “infinite” to achieve immortality, with the planned “wedding sacrifice.” This guy went from the king of the Jazz Club to the cult leader to the real quickness.

However, Cote is still Cote – calm, stable, always taking a step forward. It’s great to see him paired with Detective Veach, who has a connection to the town, her own heavy past and aspire to protect the kids who fell in the cracks. She and Colter have real chemistry – the meaning of crawling through other people’s darkness for justice. The detective’s shot at climax is an outstanding dramatic rhythm, and the final church showdown feels like something from a small town horror movie. Creepy, chaotic and satisfying.

“Exodus” – Picture: Justin Hartley as Colter Shaw. Photo: Sergei Bachlakov/CBS©2025 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved.

On Reenie’s side, this new client, Leo Sharpe, screams trouble. Burner’s phone, dark contract and veil threat – this guy wrote the “Arc of Seasons” on him. Reenie sticks to her position as always, but the fact that she agrees with his ready-made arrangement adds major red flags. It could be the storyline that ultimately tied her and Colter out of their usual long-distance dynamics, especially if the Leo secret starts bleeding from the colter case.

Speaking of Cote’s past – where? Now, we are expected to dig out his family secrets in the final, so far… nothing. No bread crumbs, no mentions, no emotional premonition. It starts to feel like the author keeps it all in a junkyard in the finale, which would be a waste of the truly affluent arc. The longer they wait, the harder it is to make the real weight of these moments.

“Exodus” – Photo: Marci T. House plays Detective Veach and Justin Hartley plays Colter Shaw. Photo: Darko Sikman/CBS©2025 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved.

Still, the episode ends with a heartfelt explanation: Colt rejects Deion’s reward money and asks him to put it into a community program. In short, that’s Colter Shaw – even if he pays the price, he always does the right thing, he always does the right thing. It’s a great reminder that for all cult detours and dramatic twists, the show works best when it stomps its feet on the ground.

Yes, “Exodus” is strange. It tries to do a lot of things. Some of them worked – Jenny and Cort formed a great team, and Anton’s story was real. However, the tracker may need to use supernatural plotline cooling and focus on its most effective way: looking for people and the truth, where both are hard to find.