Reacher Season 4 Review: Reacher fans, rejoice. I’m delighted to report that Season 4 of the one and only Jack No Middle Name Reacher, which has him up against a formidable pair of enemies, is a humdinger.
Based on ‘Gone Tomorrow’, Lee Child’s 13th novel featuring Reacher, it begins in a Philadelphia subway in which a woman kills herself. It catapults our hero, busy minding his business till someone makes it their business, into a breakneck adventure involving an assortment of characters, including bent cops, incompetent CIA agents, evasive US presidential candidates, and sundry others, all looking desperately for a missing pen-drive.
What’s so important on that drive that it needs to be found at all costs? How is it connected to congressman John Samson (Marc Blucas) and his fiercely protective wife (Kathleen Robertson)? What is it that two women from Indonesia, the attractive Lila Hoth (Agnez Mo) and her mother, Amisha (Anggun) are searching for? Why are people being killed in the most ghastly manner, with dismembered corpses strewn all over the place?
By this season, Ritchson has made Reacher so completely his own that we can’t imagine anyone else as the ex-US military cop, permanent drifter, used to being the biggest guy in the room, armed with an unshakeable sense of fair play, and a sense of humour so literal that when he does crack a slightly subtle joke, he seems overcome by his own smartness.
But wisely, he is not left too long to his own devices. Ritchson is absolutely unbeatable when it comes to devising imaginative and violent ways of killing the bad guys who come after him, or the ones he feels he is responsible for. But in between all those choreographed fights which keep the adrenaline rushing, you need for the show to breathe, and on that count, Season 4 has truly found the right beats.
That comes with the appearance of Christopher Rodriguez Marquette as Philly cop Jacob Merrick, stunned by the death of his beloved sister. And he’s not alone. In these 8 episodes, each weighing in at a solid 45-55 minutes, there are others who make you invested in what happens to them. There’s Tamara Green (Sydelle Noel), the demoted detective counting down to retirement, finding her mojo. Along comes freelance journalist Russell Plum (Kevin Weisman), introduced as a flaky conspiracy theorist who feels like he’s been thrust into the narrative strictly for laughs, turning into a character we begin taking seriously.
This unlikely trio joins Reacher in racing around Philly and DC, while being chased by varying sets of gun toting hoods. It’s when the knives come out that things get serious: for those who remember the villains from the book (I’m giving out no spoilers ), the description of how they torture and kill their victims is bone chilling. Their encounters with Reacher are high stakes stuff, vicious enough that for once you begin feeling worried for him, even when you know that he is invincible: he will always be the last man standing.
Of course, in all this attempted fast-and-furiousness, there are some slack moments. When the fights — taking place in a dizzying variety of places, including a library, a dock, a bar (one of Reacher’s favourite places for a brawl ), stairwells, hotel rooms, high terraces — seem to go on for just a little too long. When a specific scene is looped back upon itself – Green comes looking for a ride back to the same hapless garage owner, and by the second time around, it loses edge. Sometimes, the screenplay forgets that it has too many villains tumbling about, and things can get a bit confused. Plus, and this is something all Reacher seasons suffer from: sometimes the acting and the writing and the framing is just too basic for words.
But, and this is the thing. That basic-ness is actually so Reacher. It fits right in. One of my favourite things is to watch Reacher take down self-important suits. One snappily dressed officer says, do you think we are stupid? Reacher responds with just one word: yes, with Ritchson deadpanning it with the slightest of smirks. You can’t help smile back. And the lax bits are papered over by and an even faster spurt, and we’re off and away again.
So yeah, even as the basic bits can sometimes grate, any kind of sophistication or tarting up stuff will feel out of character: when your guy travels light, carrying only a passport, a credit card, and a toothbrush, he doesn’t need much, except to crack wise ones once in a while, and crack as many skulls as he can, as fast as he can.
And on that score, Reacher rules. No one does it like him. I binge-watched the whole thing, and had a blast, and I can’t wait for the fifth season. Bring it.
Reacher Season 4 Cast: Alan Ritchson, Sydelle Noel, Christopher Rodriguez Marquette, Agnez Mo, Anggun, Kevin Corrigan, Marc Blucas, Kathleen Robertson, Kevin Weisman Reacher Season 4 Director : Sam Hill Reacher Season 4 Rating: 3.5 star
