Untitled

I found the man you saw on the cliff the night Dad died. Go on. His name's Otto. Mom's the one that sent him up there. So, Mom asked this guy to talk to Dad. I guess it wasn't the first time. I guess her plan was to leave Dad, take us. Dad wasn't having it. He went crazy. You remember. Yeah, it was like the worst I'd ever heard him. And that night, Dad snapped, Mom was scared. That's why she wasn't there, she went back to Otto, asked him to talk to Dad again. He went up on that cliff with him, tried to tell him Mom was leaving him and she was taking us. Things got physical. He threw Dad over the cliff. You believe this guy? I do. All this time, Mom's been lying to us about what happened that night. Did you know any of this? I already told you I didn't. I knew there was a guy up there, but I didn't know any of this. Look, I was just a kid, just like you. I just did what Mom told me to do.

TRACKER | 2024 — S01E12 ("Off the Books") S02E02 ("Ontological Shock") S03E01 ("The Process")

Jensen Ackles as Russell Shaw

Anon, you're so right. The show didn't really show as much of Leo and Mike's feelings surrounding the situation after Mike came back as one would have liked (understandably because this is Power Rangers, after all).

Leo was so devastated after Mike fell into the pit that it would feel like a natural course of events for him to resent Mike for leaving him, especially with the complicated relationship that the show gave glimpses of. I mean, Mike was ready to leave Leo behind on Earth and didn't tell anyone he even had family, so clearly, they weren't that close. But Mike still ended up saving him and leaving Leo again in the process.

Considering Leo's canon savior complex and reckless behaviors, it's not too hard to think about Leo believing that he deserved to go into the pit and not Mike. But guilt and self-loathing can turn into anger so quickly. I mean, Leo clearly developed some sort of survivor's guilt, but Mike was the one who made him a survivor.

"[Colter] himself believed that his brother, Russell, would emerge and they would resume their relationship from years ago."