3-mob.com 
The second episode of Deon Meyer’s gripping drama Trackers made its debut to African audiences on Sunday night.
This recap contains some spoilers from the premiere of Trackers
It wasted no time in picking up from the end of the premiere last week where a mysterious character is hi-jacked and runs after the thief into the Bo-Kaap. While it looked like he had lost him, the was chase continues until the thief is caught, ambushed really after seemingly having blended into the crowd.
The mystery man makes a call to Inkunzi (Sisanda Henna) and introduces himself as Lucas Becker (Ed Stoppard), an American citizen who needs the money stolen by Enock Mangope (Monelisi Magadla). Mangope happens to be one of Inkunzi’s associates. True to form Inkunzi tells Becker to ‘piss off’.
Before that call comes in, Inkunzi hires a man to find Flea (Trix Vivier) who is wanted for the diamonds she made off with.
We are then whisked off to Zimbabwe, Chinhavira Camp to be precise, where Lemmer (James Gracie) flies in to meet Zimbabwean John Ehlichmann (Louis Minaar). Can we say how disappointed we were with how the fella who meets Lemmer pronounces Chinhavira. Just saying…
Anyway, Lemmer, keen to get his hands on the gun that killed Lourens now in Flea’s hands, meets the eccentric-looking Ehlichmann who gives him a gun. After chit chat in which we find out how tough Flea is (she was attacked by baboons with her dog as a kid and has scars from their bite marks to show for it), he hands her address to him, wishing him luck.
Things are moving along at the Presidential Bureau of Intelligence (PBI) where Milla Strachan (Rolanda Marais), picks up that call between Inkunzi and Becker. She tracks a few more calls and while Jessica van Zandt (Avital Lvova) first dismisses it entirely, Milla believes the American has something up his sleeves. Jessica tells Milla to link up with him since they stay in the same area. At this stage we are still made to believe it recreational.
Head of the PBI, Janina (Sandi Schultz) with Quinn (Thapelo Mokeona) now pay Inkunzi a visit and reveal that they know about the plans around diamonds and Flea in particular. Janina is steely in her approach as Inkunzi keeps threatening before chasing them of his property. This is not before Janina leaves Inkunzi her card with an offer of a deal relating to Lourens’s death. He throws it away.
The plot is moving as Suleiman Dauod (Emmanuel Castis) and Osman (Brendan Daniels) meet again for an update. Osman tells Dauod not to worry and the latter gives him two days to get his act together. Dauod later tells his henchman that the authorities are kept busy looking one way when there is a lot more going on. We wonder if that terrorist plot is real then.
Milla comes across Becker on her way home and instead of carrying on, follows him to a cafe of sorts where she sits by the bar and orders white wine. Becker comes over to Milla and persuades her to have one drink.
The next day, he calls her for a date and the two go up to the Table Mountain where we find out Becker is watching Inkunzi’s house.
During the day Lemmer goes to Flea’s apartment and finds it ransacked but with no sign of her. He picks a clue from a cigar butt.
Now there are a couple of moving chess pieces here. Janina visits her mom and brother. And then tells Quinn to set up a meeting with the CIA to get intel on the terrorist plot.
Inkunzi goes to the club where Lemmer seems to have tracked him down and when he leaves, is followed by the latter in a cab. Inkunzi, all the while, seems troubled.
The tracking leads them to Inkunzi’s home.
Meanwhile, Becker and Milla are back at her apartment and they start hooking up.
Two scenes play out beautifully for dramatic effect.
Lemmer gets his way into Inkunzi’s house and confronts him naked while he takes a shower. He is holding that gun from Ehlichmann. When Inkunzi sits down after back and forth barbs, he pulls out a gun and shoots, grazing Lemmer’s right shoulder.
As the shootout continues, we have Becker and Milla disrobing each other in order to have sex.
And at the point of climax, a big death takes place.
What we liked about this episode is how the characters moved forward. They were dramatic moves but not so much that the leap forward is unnatural. Again the landscape shots are breathtaking as are the tight ones, with Marais mastering silent responses with strong expression on her face. We also quite like how Schultz owns her role as a strong figure with steely oversight but with a soft side when dealing with her mom and brother. Daniels’s aura is impeccable as the silent plotter at most times. He also does defer with a leaning towards authoritative figures around him.
The big death has major implications and with it connected to so many key characters, it is interesting to see where episode three takes this.
There are three more weeks to go… On M-Net, Sunday nights at 8pm.
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