Why, yes, I do occasionally watch some TV as well. Apologies for lack of any coverage, time is rarely on my side. But I was lucky enough to see the entirety of the new season of Reacher, which will be premiering the first three episodes on December 15th on Amazon Prime Video, so I had to talk about it. The first season was a very pleasant surprise, it felt like a throwback in many ways to the kind of action-oriented procedurals in the vein of something like Walker, Texas Ranger, but with enough of a modern twist, and one hell of a lead character, portrayed incredibly well by Alan Ritchson.
Adapting Lee Child’s 2007 book, Bad Luck and Trouble, the basic plot of this new season involves Jack finding out that members of his old team of special investigators are getting picked off one by one. Someone is targeting them, and no one knows why. So, he utilizes the help of other former team mates, Frances Neagley (Maria Sten), Karla Dixon (Serinda Swan), and David O’Donnell (Shaun Sipos) come together to figure out what exactly is going on, only to find out there is a conspiracy afoot that is far bigger than any of them could have possibly realized.
This season definitely has a different vibe from the first. The setting is a big contrast. The first season was largely contained within a small town setting, while this one is far more sprawling and taking place in bigger cities and suburbs. The scale in general is much more massive, almost feeling closer to a throwback to a 90s action movie than the small town mystery of the first season. And given Jack is no longer standing amongst normies like he was previously, his team mates are plenty capable, even if they’re not unfathomably giant, he feels less like this borderline supernatural force like he was. Not to say it’s bad, just different.
The new season is 8 episodes long, much like the first season, and the pacing is very well done. The creator, Nick Santora, and his writers did a terrific job keeping each episode packed with as much information as it needs to keep things moving along without getting bogged down in unnecessary details or superfluous detours. Everything moves, and the characters are able to develop alongside the action as opposed to being dragged by the action. If there’s any downside, it’s that maybe I found it difficult to connect with some of the characters in Jack’s unit who die very early on because we don’t get to spend as much time with them, so we don’t really feel the same pain that Jack feels.
Overall, this is a really strong season of television. It builds upon what makes the first season worked so well, and managed to do something different with it. Maybe the change in scale could be a turnoff for some, but I imagine lots of folks who enjoy this show are big action fans, and they are likely the kind of folks who would enjoy the kind of old school action movie this hearkens back to. Speaking of, major kudos to the stunt coordinators and fight choreographers who worked on this, their work continues to be exemplary. While I don’t think the gun play is quite as visceral as the hand-to-hand stuff, it’s still a ton of fun to watch these characters unleash total carnage on the baddies. Which reminds me, Robert Patrick and Ferdinand Kingsley are both delightfully sinister additions, and Domenick Lombardozzi shines in a small but important supporting role. If you really liked the first season, I think you’ll be quite happy to go on this journey. Bring on season 3, please and thank you!
The first three episodes of Reacher Season 3 will premiere on Amazon Prime Video on December 15th, and episodes will be posted weekly every Friday.