Reacher‘s third season has landed at the perfect time. When the news seems to be rolling over us non-stop and the world is stressing us all out, there is something magical to the series’ simplicity.
Season 3 may just be more of Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson) killing bad guys with little to no character development, interpersonal drama, or deeper thought, but that’s what makes it so great. It’s the right show at the right time for anyone just looking to not think and watch bad guys get taken out.
This simplicity was slightly up in the air as Reacher‘s second season chose to dive into the titular character’s backstory by pulling in an old flame. This time, Reacher finds himself embroiled in a criminal plot where he must infiltrate the secretive family of Zackary Beck (Anthony Michael Hall) after saving the life of his son, Richard (Johnny Berchtold). This brings him in contact with FBI agents Susan Duffy (Sonya Cassidy) and Guillermo Villanueva (Roberto Montesinos) as the trio works to uncover why a mysterious man Reacher thought was dead has reappeared.
To be fair, this season does connect somewhat back to Reacher’s past, but, much like the second season was to the first, there is absolutely no throughline to it all aside from the inclusion of Reacher’s ex-military friend Frances Neagly (Maria Sten). The season’s premise is set up quickly in the first episode, with a slight twist making it a bit hard to explain flat out, but very quickly we’re off to the races. The show doesn’t slow down from there, functioning as a tense nine-episode film that may have little to say about the thin line between good and bad but plenty to say about how those who cross that line will be brought to justice.
There is, possibly more so than any other season, some doubt about that inevitable justice as the series introduces someone who makes Reacher look small by bringing in the actor Olivier Richters, who plays evil bodyguard Paulie. One of the few issues with the first two seasons is that Ritchson is such a hulk of a man that almost no one feels like an actual physical threat. But with Richters, they’ve found a human who makes Ritchson look small, and the series plays it up incredibly well. A brutal fight between the pair near the end of the season delivers everything you could hope for and then some as the two mountains clobber each other.
Brutal might be the best description for this season. Reacher has never been very subtle in its delivery, but this season seems even more so with the character killing in some truly gruesome ways. At one point, it seemed that the show might even start questioning Reacher’s tactics, but thankfully, it veers away from such thought-provoking subjects to nicely nestle into the comforting folds of a black-and-white, good-versus-evil world. That’s not to say that there are absolutely no emotional stakes this time around, but the literal punches are far more important and impactful than the metaphorical ones.
Richston once again embodies a role he seems perfectly cast to play. Not only is he physically able to pull off the role (much better than Tom Cruise), but he delivers a nuanced performance that grounds a show that’s not so much concerned with it. As he did in the first two seasons, Ritchson seems to layer Reacher so that we see him not just as a righteous fist of justice but also as a complex character. It’s not the dialogue or story that does this, but his performance, which often shows moments of weakness or humanity behind the soldier’s gruff exterior. Ritchson’s eyes alone tell stories of who Reacher is far more than any flashbacks we see throughout the season.
Many series can start to hit lulls at this point in their run, especially shows with ongoing storylines. Reacher, obviously, avoids this problem by simply telling one story per season with absolutely no connection. Think of the series as a classic episodic TV show in the ’80s where broad character archetypes and themes are mapped out but no one really advances as people. That’s how Reacher works, and it makes for some of the best comfort viewing on streaming right now.
If we were going to poke holes, this season’s main bad guy feels a little thin despite his personal connection to Reacher. And while it seems silly to complain about Reacher’s disposable female love interests, as they’re part of what makes the show what it is, it is disappointing just how disposable this one feels. Aside from her strong Boston ascent, there’s not much to Agent Duffy. Her and Reacher’s painfully inevitable romance feels forced. There are better ways to get Ritchson’s shirt off to show off his abs than a love scene between two characters who have great professional chemistry but no personal chemistry.
In the end, we’re not tuning into Reacher for love stories. We tune in to see a large man dole out justice in a world where the bad guys deserve their gruesome deaths and the good guys are justified in meating that death out. In that way, Reacher delivers. It’s the perfect check-out television.
Reacher is streaming now on Prime Video.