Tracker Summary: Justin Hartley and Sofia Pernas show off their chemistry

Chemistry between Justin Hartley and Sofia Pernas was an all-time high when the pair reunited in Season 2 Tracker.

During the show’s latest episode, which aired on Sunday, October 27, Colter (Hartley) teams up with his ex, Billie (Pernas), as she tries to solve a case in her hometown. As a result, Colter is more about Billy — including which made her run away from her past.

“My mother took care of me and my sister alone. To make ends meet, she was a con artist. Sometimes she used us to help distract the store clerk while she shoplifted, and she even had us shake donation cans at Christmas once,” said Billie after she and Colter found the missing high school baseball star. “But her big trick was when she got a job at the city hall. She was an accountant and stole almost half a million from the treasury. The city couldn’t pay salaries and pensions that year, and people are talking. My name was ruined.”

Colter – tried to comfort Billysaying, “You were a child, it’s not your fault.” According to Billy, she was still punished for her mother’s actions.

“You’d think it would matter. My sister was already 20, so she left the city, and I was a senior in school, just holding on until graduation. I will never forget how cruel people were,” she recalled. “It didn’t matter that the FBI said I was a victim too, they still charged me.”

When Colter asked why Billie returned to a place where she wasn’t wanted, she said, “I know, but I wanted to do something positive and long-term here. … The thing is, I was young, but I knew what my mom was doing was wrong, and I didn’t stop her. I loved and hated her at the same time.”

The a deep conversation was allowed by Colter and Billy to bond over their “dark family” secrets. But when Billie asked what they should do with such trauma, Colter suggested they “don’t talk about it,” and the fictional couple drank in silence at the bar.

“They have a nice scene where she really opens up to him,” Hartley, 47, said TVLine during a joint interview with 35-year-old Pernas, about the main stage before appearing on the screen. “The way you played was wonderful. Your performance suggests that you never shared (this information) with anyone.”

Colter’s undeniable bond with Billy was explored in the show starting with season 1. According to Hartley, it was always the plan to bring Pernas with him in an important role.

“I just thought it would be a really cool idea. It was my idea from the beginning to have that character that you just mentioned,” Hartley explained. Deadline in May “I think it was in the second episode, there was a big car reward. There was a line that one of the women said, “The word on the street is that Billy’s running this thing.” And then Coulter seems to roll his eyes. If you really pay attention, you say, “Oh, he’s got a rival, this Billy guy.”

Hartley, who also executive produces the procedural, recalled the laying of the foundation for Pernas‘ before she appeared, adding: “My idea was to tease it and deliberately name the character Billy and then show that Billy is, of course, Sophia.”

He continued: “We didn’t get to tease it as much as I would have liked, simply because we were so pressed for time. But that was the intention. Then when she came in, to be honest with you, I’m not sure how much of that aspect of the character that she brought was actually written.”

But Billie is not the only woman in Colter’s life. During the Season 2 premiere earlier this month, fans were introduced to Camilla (Floriana Lima), who is involved in an open case that Colter has been unable to solve.

“I think the relationship has changed because of the trauma. That’s exactly what it is—trauma bonding,” Hartley said TVLine at that time “It’s very, very sad, but it’s like these couples who lose their child and they can’t be together anymore because they see their child in someone else.”

The more episodes to dig Colter’s past with Camillaviewers will learn more about him. “(That storyline) was built in such a way that when you look at it, you’re like, ‘Oh man, that was a pivotal moment in Colter’s life that changed the way he approached his work and his relationships with other people,'” – explained Hartley.

Tracker airs on CBS every Sunday at 8pm ET. New episodes air the next day on Paramount+.