Reacher continues its annoying slow burn in "L.A. Story"

Then Reacher and Duffy get their trip to the City of Angels, where they pressure a money launderer named Darien for info on the weapons deal. They extort him by using his fraudulent handicapped placard as a threat, another interesting way that the writers of Reacher draw moral lines. Reacher would never take a spot for handicap people—that’s what the villains of this world do. It’s sometimes a bit black-and-white, but the show’s Old West morality can be pretty charming too.

Arguably the episode’s best scene centers a meeting between Neagley and Beck. (Anthony Michael Hall, too, gets his best material in the season to date here.) She tells Beck that he’s dead, and so is his son, if they help Quinn finish his plan. He’s burned families after getting what he needed in the past, and he will burn the Beck family tree. The long-awaited Beck birthday bash is still on, even as the buyers for the weapons deal are coming from Yemen. Will Beck be Team Reacher’s new man on the inside? He seems likely to get a redemption arc in the finale, but it’s also possible he will have to sacrifice himself to save Richard.

We also finally get to see Teresa. Quinn comes in to where she’s being held in a super-creepy mood. He talks about potential assault and then injects the former junkie with drugs. One quick question here: What’s the end game for Teresa in Quinn’s mind? She’s a “sweetener” for the weapons deal, but with everything collapsing and Quinn getting ready to burn everything and start over, would he really even keep her alive for the deal? Maybe he’s worried about doing anything suspicious to sabotage the deal, but it feels a little convenient to the plot that the man who plays Russian Roulette for fun hasn’t just killed her by now.

As the planning continues, Reacher and Duffy remind viewers what’s at stake. The weapons deal is happening stateside so they don’t have to be imported again, which means it’s not just a deal but the first phase of a terrorist attack on U.S. soil. Neagley understands the risk, but she’s in, as is Villanueva. This season’s four horsemen are going to ride into battle. 

Hall gets a good scene with his son about how he’s been a bad father since his mother died and how the Quinn situation broke their relationship even further. While his character is being softened, this season’s big bad is getting even more Bond villain-y, drinking hard liquor and scowling in his office full of guns. He insists that Richard has to stay until the party is over, using him as one final chip to get the deal done. 

Beck says that the deal is going down at Bullhead Salvage Yard during the party, which is the final piece of information that Duffy and Villanueva want to bring in the ATF. Reacher is mad, but they know they need more than four tough guys to take down an international arms deal. A tense meeting with the ATF follows at which Duffy gets reprimanded for how it’s been handled so far. It’s a scene that raises an interesting question as far as timelines: How long has the undercover ATF agent been dead? Not long enough for anyone to notice. Before she was uncovered, they were talking about Beck’s birthday party, which hasn’t happened yet, so it can’t be too long ago. In fact, how long is this entire season? It’s probably only been a few days since Reacher foiled a fake kidnapping.

Reacher is sulking after being pushed out of the case by the ATF, but he has his own way to fix the problem. As the deal is about to go down, he exits the ATF van to set a sniper rifle on Quinn when Neagley calls: She’s following the buyers, and they’re not going to the salvage yard—they’re going to Beck’s house. The deal is happening at the party. And that’s where this season is sure to end: at a very Reacher birthday bash.

Stray observations

• • Am I the only Reacher fan who just discovered that our favorite muscular hero was a contestant on American Idol back in season three? Yes, he can sing too! Drop what you’re doing and watch him croon “Sunshine Of My Life” to Paula Abdul.
• • Producers this season are into Thee Headcoats, dropping another track by the band on their way out of this episode, “Full Time Plagiarist”
• • Anyone predicting a surprise in the finale? It feels like they’ve been setting the table so long that we know exactly how the meal is going to be served. Duffy saves Teresa; Reacher has a showdown with Paulie and then kills Quinn. And then our Bruce Banner hits the road again. It would be nice if there was a twist in the finale, but Reacher isn’t really that kind of show. It’s about the details, not the drama.