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Reacher Season 3 Review
Image Credit: Jasper Savage/Prime Video
Loading...Author’s Note: This is a non-spoiler review for Reacher Season 3 based on screeners provided to us by Prime Video.
Lee Child’s Jack Reacher returns with Season 3 of the action-packed television series Reacher. Based on Child’s novel Persauder, Season 3 finds the eponymous Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson) going undercover, behind enemy lines to bring down a dangerous criminal organization. As always, the stakes are high and things get personal, but that’s just another day at the office for the ex-Military Police officer-turned-drifter, Jack Reacher. Thanks to Alan Ritchson’s unique charisma, an intriguing central conflict, and generous helpings of old-school action, Prime Video delivers another fun, exciting season of the hit show.
In Season 3, Reacher is torn away from his vagabond life when he notices a phantom from his past while visiting coastal Maine. Soon, Reacher realizes that his phantom is connected to a rug business, Bizarre Bazaar, run by affluent businessman Zachary Beck (Anthony Michael Hall). Reacher joins an unofficial team of Drug Enforcement Agency agents, led by the spitfire Susan Duffy (Sonya Cassidy), and they concoct a scheme to send Reacher as an undercover operative into Zachary Beck’s organization to rescue the DEA’s informant whose time is running out. Reacher uncovers that Beck’s business is a front for a massive criminal operation, and nothing can stop Reacher from unleashing his wrath on those who have it coming.
One of the stronger novelties about the Reacher series concerns its ability to reset the format every season. Each season of the show is adapted from a single book in author Lee Child’s Jack Reacher saga, which calls for a new setting, a total refresh in its cast (other than series lead Alan Ritchson and perhaps one or two others), and a new mystery or mission. Although the series tends to repeat certain tropes, refreshing the setting and characters each season allows the writers to explore Reacher in new situations and conflicts. As a result, the series format constantly reinvigorates itself each season to keep the seasonal plots from becoming too stale or repetitive.
The fictional coastal, small town of Rockwell, Maine serves as the new primary setting for Season 3, which offers a unique charm and set of challenges for Reacher. Eventually, Reacher finds himself thrown into a veritable lion’s den, symbolized by Beck’s palatial oceanside mansion, where one wrong move means certain death, even for an individual as resourceful as Jack Reacher. Rockwell is a fun deviation that offers a unique setting from the past two seasons.
Once again, Reacher is part of a makeshift, ragtag team working with the DEA. Cassidy, as Agent Duffy, is the clear standout among the new teammates, and she shares an amusing, crackling rapport with Reacher. Initially, Duffy’s no-nonsense attitude clashes with Reacher, but they agree to work together. They both have a personal stake in the assignment because Cassidy is determined to rescue her informant, and Reacher has an old score to settle with a ghost from his past.
The setting and cast are not the only changes in Season 3, as the narrative format takes some interesting diversions as well. Viewers might recall the flashback narrative devices that ran throughout the previous seasons, depicting Reacher’s youthful upbringing in Season 1, and his time with the Military Police 110th Special Investigations Unit in Season 2. There are flashbacks in Season 3; but in contrast to previous seasons, they emerge unexpectedly, building for the reveals in a much more organic fashion. Additionally, the Season 3 opener features a unique opening prologue setting up the central conflict. The season premiere, aptly titled “Persuader,” features startling revelations, unpacking how Reacher finds himself in this season’s predicament.
One of the more compelling relationships in Season 3 finds Reacher bonding with Zachary Beck’s melancholy, artistically gifted son, Richard (Johnny Bechtold). Reacher’s assignment pits him as Richard’s new bodyguard. Richard feels imprisoned in his life and emotionally distant from his father. It’s interesting to see Reacher form a father-like Bond with Richard because the show has not depicted anything like that in the past, even when Reacher serves as a mentor to some of his friends and colleagues. Richard desperately needs a mentor and father figure, a role Reacher unexpectedly fulfills. Reacher forms a unique bond with Richard that becomes one of the more rewarding relationships in Season 3, displaying how Reacher is an attuned individual capable of understanding and nurturing young people. Jack Reacher might be a vagabond who likes his privacy and playing the loner, but he always lends a helping hand to those in need. Ritchson captures those ideals of the character exceptionally well.
The main drawbacks of Season 3 are similar to those of past seasons. It gets to a point where the plot becomes too overwrought, just to make sure the narrative takes eight episodes to complete. The story deviates from the main path with convoluted side quests and jaunts that play out in an unbelievable manner. It’s similar to when Reacher was forced to travel to New York City in the first season, or when the reunited 110th members were flitting across the country in Season 2. Season 3 works best when it’s confined to Rockwell. When the characters leave town, it risks of breaking the narrative’s immersion.
Midway through the season, another sloppy incident goes predictably bad. The plot becomes messy when the usually brilliant and meticulous Reacher fails to consider a potentially negative outcome of holding a dangerous individual indefinitely. These moments exemplify how the plot throws artificial monkey wrenches in the works to create suspense and drag out the conflict further. That said, the writers do a much better job addressing how the undercover operation is unofficial, which becomes more significant later in the season.
Aside from Reacher, the only other returning character in Season 3 is Maria Sten’s Frances Neagley. Neagley features a much smaller role this season; and considering she does not appear in the book version, she probably could have been replaced in Season 3. Still, it’s enjoyable to see Neagley reappear. Prime Video is gearing up a Neagley spinoff, so it’s clear they want her to stay at the forefront of viewers’ minds before she moves into her own show. At the very least, Season 3 showcases another side of Neagley’s life that has not been depicted previously, possibly hinting at the premise of her spinoff show.
Regarding the villain, the most exciting new character in Season 3 is the gigantic Paulie, portrayed by the 7’2″ Olivier Richters, a man who literally towers over Reacher. Paulie is the muscle of the criminal organization, and he represents a different type of threat than the thugs Reacher typically faces in the series. The handling of the Paulie and Reacher conflict provides the most entertaining moments of the season.
Season 3 maintains its throwback style action and shoot-’em-up sequences. They imbue the show with a classic 1980s/1990s action movie style of yore. Reacher Season 3 feels like classic action-thriller comfort food, bringing a modern style and production values to old-school action-thriller cinema sensibilities.
With Season 4 already confirmed and in the works, hopefully, series showrunner Nick Santora will continue to find ways to freshen up the main plot and peel back the layers of Reacher’s past. Later episodes provide some hints of future adventures. Oscar Finlay and his dog Jack should receive a spinoff series, too.
The first four episodes of Reacher Season 3 are streaming now on Prime Video. New episodes drop weekly on Thursdays, with the Season 3 finale dropping on Thursday, March 26.
