Does it feel like the writers of Reacher are still doing a bit of table setting? Is anyone else getting hungry? We need a meal! Yes, the fifth episode of this third season did squash a couple of expendable characters—someone from the DEA and a member of the Beck house staff who turned out to be an undercover ATF agent—but those losses are really just in service of an extremely transitional episode that takes us from last week’s cliffhanger to another promise of pending action. We need a good Reacher fight! And we’ll probably get one next week.
“Saving the life of a good person is a pretty low bar for praise.” Both Duffy and Reacher say that to each other in this chapter, and it really does feel like a good way to capture the morality of the show. Reacher saves good people because that’s what you do. You don’t get extra credit for doing the right thing. You just do it.
The second half of this season kicks off right where the first half ended: with Beck’s guys about to catch up to Duffy and Villanueva. She finally answers the phone to get the warning that armed men are in the building, and shots ring out. Reacher gets there in time to hear the gunfire and save the day, but Duffy drops her badge in the shootout. That’s kinda silly, right? Reacher isn’t a show that always strives for pure realism, but Duffy doesn’t seem like an agent who would not only drop her badge but not notice it for hours until Reacher tells her he picked it up. Anyway, they escape and toss the laptop out the window just in time for Reacher and Beck’s soldier to find it. It would have looked suspicious not to and for Reacher to be the last man standing yet again. He’s always a step ahead.
One of the key moments in this episode comes when Duffy makes a speech to Villanueva about beating the odds and how good shit can still happen, which she gives to be optimistic about Teresa’s fate. While the show keeps implying otherwise, it feels to me like this means Teresa is still alive. You don’t give Duffy that speech and then have her fail in her mission. That would be crueler than the writing on Reacher typically is. If Teresa isn’t alive, they would have to devise a different kind of redemption for Duffy. She’s thrown everything into this rescue mission.
After a long sequence in which Reacher and Beck’s obnoxious soldier throw bodies off a cliff—foreshadowing!—there’s a funny scene between Reacher and a few Beck fighters in the kitchen. Reacher is startled to learn that his coffee comes from a “feline’s asshole,” but the character beat is that he again defends the staff against the macho jerks in the room. “The cream came from your mother, probably because she’s a big fat cow” is a good Reacher line.
Poor Steven Eliot. The third wheel in the DEA dynamic gets burned and stomped by the bodyguard that they’ve been keeping captive since the premiere. At the same time, the heat is rising on Reacher back at the Beck compound. Duffy knocks out the power as a distraction, and there’s a father figure showdown when Beck insists that Richard stay by his side. But Reacher counters that he should stay in his room. The kid listens to Reacher—I would too, even if I didn’t think my dad let my ear get cut off.
McCabe/Quinn calls down to the compound and orders a search of the entire staff, which leads to tragedy. After a tense scene in which it looks like Reacher’s cover might be blown, it’s revealed that one of the maids was an ATF agent. The gigantic Paulie punched her in the face, killing her instantly. His “oops” is truly gross. Reacher pretends to be pissed that they didn’t get any information, but he’s really just morally outraged by this monster. Reacher punches Paulie in the gut…and he doesn’t move. He strikes back with a fist to the face that knocks Reacher to the floor, leaving him in pain in a manner that we don’t usually see on our hero’s face. It’s a blow that would kill most people. The battle between these two is going to be like Red Hulk vs. Green Hulk. The Earth will shake.
The episode ends with another cliffhanger when Beck tells Reacher that they’ve been called to meet McCabe/Quinn at Bizarre Bazaar. What if they just walk in and get killed? What if Quinn recognizes Reacher? (Duffy reminds us that Quinn had amnesia from the last time he encountered Reacher, which might save the day.) The crucial detail here is defining the different missions for Reacher and Duffy. He’s looking for vengeance; she’s looking to rescue Teresa. What will happen when those objectives collide?
The episode ends with a line that hits home from our beloved hero: “I’ve been waiting for this moment for some time now.” We all have!
Stray observations
- • Cat-poop coffee is a real thing. It’s called Kopi Luwak.
- • There’s a nice thematic beat when Duffy calls Eliot’s dad to let him know about the death, noting that he was an “excellent agent.” Father and son dynamics are intertwined through this entire season, even in relatively tangential conversations like this one.
- • As far as needle drops, the episode ends with a good deep cut: “Plow You Under” by Scott H. Biram.
- • Duffy and Villanueva come out of a coffee shop called Dinky’s Joe And Go, which sounds super Northeast U.S. but may be in Ontario, where Reacher is shot. It sure looks like this place.
- • The best line in this episode captures how Reacher faces obstacles. Whereas most people would look at Paulie and run, Reacher says, “I’m not afraid of him—I just haven’t solved him yet.” It’s only a matter of time before he does.
