“You do not mess with the special investigators.”
Someone didn’t get the memo. The result is a second season of Reacher based on the Jack Reacher character found in a collection of novels by Lee Child, who is really British writer Jim Grant. We were introduced to Jack Reacher in the novel The Killing Floor. It would also provide the material for the first season of this Amazon streaming series. As the popularity of the books grew, it didn’t take long for the character to reach the box office, and while he didn’t resemble the literature character in any physical way, it was Tom Cruise who first brought him to life on the big screen. There have now been two feature films and 30 books released to carry on the exploits of Jack Reacher. Amazon and Paramount Studios have brought him to the smaller screen, and this time I think they did the character far better justice. The response has been quite positive, and now you can judge for yourself with release of Reacher: Season Two on DVD and Blu-ray. I had the opportunity to check out the Blu-ray, and it was a pretty good time, to be sure. Here’s what I found out.
Again, the first season of Reacher introduced us to the character and appropriately relied on the first published book to give us that introduction. The series pretty much reboots the character and shares no connection to the feature film universe of the character. Alan Ritchson takes on the portrayal of the character, and he’s a pretty solid choice. Of course, no one denies that Tom Cruise is a superstar, but he really never connected with the character in the Lee Child books. There was a fair amount of controversy over the choice, and Child himself came out supporting the casting and the first film. But I don’t think fans of the books really warmed up to the idea, and the second film didn’t really do that well at the box office. I think all of that has changed here. Reacher himself is pretty much the only main character. You don’t have an overall ensemble here, but there was a supporting cast of actors/characters throughout the eight episodes of the first season. The second season finds Reacher in a completely different place and situation with an almost completely new ensemble cast to support him. This season is based on the book Bad Luck And Trouble, which jumps ahead to the 11the book in the series.
The season begins with Reacher getting an SOS of sorts through an ATM receipt. It’s from one of his old comrades in the 101st Special Investigator’s team in the Army, Frances Neagley, played by Maria Sten. She’s a computer whiz who we did meet briefly in the first season. He finds her, only to learn that someone has been killing their former unit members. So they start to track down the surviving team members. They find Karla Dixon, played by Serinda Swan. She’s a numbers expert, and she starts to attempt to figure out what the first clues might mean. Next they find David O’Donnell, played by Shaun Sipos. He’s the tactical guy with a law degree from Rutgers, which plays out in a rather amusing scene during the season and might just be a nod to Ozzie Nelson, who had the same degree from the same school but got into entertainment instead. So the stage is set. We have four members of the old team,and they have to find out why someone is killing their teammates, and the evidence suggests it might be one of their own.
I liked this season better than the first because of this team. It’s a better ensemble in general, but there’s a ton of chemistry here, and it’s easy to buy that these four have been working together for a long time and have a bond that brings extra life to the series. We do get a cameo from Malcolm Goodwin as Detective Finlay from the first season. It’s short, and he doesn’t play much of a role here. Instead the season is populated with two rather extraordinary actors/characters.
Robert Patrick plays the main villain here. He’s Shane Langston, and he’s pretty brutal here. He likes to drop people from a helicopter, and that’s how a couple of the former special investigators met their end. Patrick is still a compelling actor, and there’s a rather nice nod to his breakout role in T2 when he tells one of his henchmen on the phone that he doesn’t care who Sarah Conner is. If you’ve seen any of the Terminator films, you know exactly where this comes from. If not? You’ve got some serious film watching to catch up on. Robert Patrick is a great bad guy here, and my only complaint is that I think he’s actually underused and doesn’t really share much screen time with Ritchson.
Another truly exceptional addition here is Domenick Lombardozzi as NYPD Detective Gaitano Russo. The man has played a lot of cops over the last 20 years or so, but I’m sure you’d remember him as Hurc from The Wire. I’m a huge fan, and honestly I would also have liked to have seen more of him. He had tight chemistry with Ritchson, and, man there should have been more of that.
So we’ve got the big bad and a rather standard plot of a really bad weapon that might fall into the hands of really bad people. It’s an SOP plot device, but that’s not quite where all of the action or story lines really come from. Reacher and his team are taking this personally, because … well … it kind of is. And it’s the drive and teamwork that make the season work.
Of course there are generous helpings of bad guys getting killed in all sorts of action/clever ways. There are also quite a few flashbacks that take us back to the very last case the unit worked many years before. The case isn’t really related, but it serves to strengthen what we know about the characters and their relationships and also puts faces to the now deceased members of the team. The case also provides an open window into Reacher and his team’s lack of respect for authority. There’s a reason Reacher doesn’t trust anyone else to get a job done. So it’s both educational and entertaining. Lee Child also gets another cameo in the season finale. He’s been in both films and the first season. He’s kind of the Stan Lee or Alfred Hitchcock of the Reacher Universe.
There is going to be a third season. At this point I don’t have any real details and the season finale doesn’t really lead to the “next” story. I hope the team gets back together again. Both seasons have had very strong antagonists. Robert Patrick here and another favorite of mine, Bruce McGill, in the first season. Can they get the hat trick in the next season? I’ll certainly be checking in. But hang with me, “This might take a minute.”
