Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Reacher’ Season 2 on Prime Video, Where The Big Fella Butts Heads With Shady Forces Targeting His Old MP Unit

“Reacher’s back,” the advance promo for the Prime Video hit declares, with a close-up of star Alan Ritchson’s vast deltoideus mass and considerable wingspan. And this time around the former military investigator-turned-truth seeking vagabond has another personal stake in the ass kickings he’ll inevitably dole out, because he’s tasked with determining who’s taking out the members of his old army unit. Season 2 of Reacher is based on Bad Luck and Trouble, the 11th novel in Lee Child’s long-running book series – season one adapted Killing Floor, which debuted the Reacher character– and showrunner Nick Santora (Prison Break, FUBAR) once again stays pretty faithful to that source material. Ritchson is rejoined by Maria Sten as his friend and former colleague Frances Neagley, and season two will also feature Serinda Swan, Shaun Sipos, Robert Patrick, and Domenick Lombardozzi.

REACHER – SEASON 2: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT? 

Opening Shot: A helicopter hovers over the Catskill Mountains a few hours north of New York City. As it twists into a counter-clockwise motion, a man is thrown from the aircraft. Helpless to stop his fall, he slams into the wooded, snowy expanse below. 

The Gist: It felt like we were just getting to know Margrave PD personnel Roscoe Conklin (Willa Fitzgerald) and Oscar Finlay (Malcolm Goodwin) when Jack Reacher (Ritchson) departed that small Georgia town and returned to his wanderer’s life. But that’s the nature of the game when a show’s protagonist abhors putting down roots. As season two begins, it’s been two years and change since the events in Margrave. Reacher’s minding his own business in southwest Arkansas, doing that thing he does where he purchases thrift store duds to replace his single set of existing clothes. And that’s when two things happen at an ATM. He senses the distress in the woman in front of him, calculates she’s being carjacked for cash, and quells that disturbance by punching out her assailant with his own pistol. But Reacher also receives a distress call from Francis Neagley (Sten) in the form of a specifically numbered cash infusion. 110, 10-30 – his old MP unit, and a radio distress call.

“I need you to come to New York ASAP,” Neagley tells Reacher over the phone. “Calvin Franz was murdered.” And not just murdered, but tossed bodily from a chopper so his killers could avoid ballistic evidence. Like Neagley, Franz (Luke Bilyk) had been a member of Reacher’s handpicked 110th MP Special Investigations Unit, and in flashbacks to their army days we meet a few others, like talky blade and brass knuckles enthusiast David O’Donnell (Sipos) and forensic accounting specialist Karla Dixon (Swan). But in the present, Neagley says she’s been unable to contact anyone from their old unit. It becomes evident that Franz had contacted Swan (Shannon Kook), Orozco (Edsson Morales), and Sanchez (Andres Collantes) for help. (It’s not like he could contact Reacher, who has no phone or address.) And now, all of those guys are either dead or missing.

Reacher’s team grows with the arrival of O’Donnell in NYC – “Who are we killing?” – but the group’s movements are also being shadowed by goons taking orders from a suit named Langston (Robert Patrick), and another man traveling under various aliases with the initials “A.M.” (Ferdinand Kingsley) seems sure to cause Reacher and his people trouble. That’s OK. Just look to the 110th’s old motto: “You do not mess with the special investigators.” 

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Will Trent (ABC) , which was also adapted from a series of novels, is more of a traditional procedural at heart. But just like Jack Reacher, Ramon Rodríguez’s titular state investigator sees things others don’t, and both characters have a tendency to be a bit pedantic. (Season two of Will Trent drops this February). And with the show’s second season expanding the team around Reacher, there are also echoes here of a previous production from Nick Santora, Breakout Kings, which lasted for two entertaining seasons at A&E and included Reacher players Serinda Swan and Domenick Lombardozzi.    

Our Take: Prime likes to tout Reacher’s robust streaming numbers, and good for them – the first season was a fun ride. But from a viewer’s perspective, a second go-round for Reacher completely solidifies the character in this format with Alan Ritchson playing him, and further demarcates the series from the 2010s Tom Cruise movies. Those films had their moments, but if anyone was born to play Jack Reacher, it’s Ritchson, who confidently carries the sheer man mountain-ness of the former military investigator and self-proclaimed hobo from page to screen and ably reveals his intuitive nature and unwavering moral code. “I’m also a man with a rule,” Reacher declares in season two to a dude he’s about to absolutely destroy, and we understand the resulting asskicking to be as much about a good scrap – which Reacher admits he always enjoys – as it is about upholding the fabric of society as he sees it. 

It was also wise of Reacher to adapt Bad Luck and Trouble in particular for its second season, since it puts its ultimate solitary man into a group dynamic that he explicitly trusts. As he interacts with his old colleagues, we’re able to learn more about Reacher’s decision to walk the earth free of possessions and anyone giving him orders. Plus, it’s fun to watch the team assume their old roles in the chain of investigation as they work toward resolution. And because Reacher and his group exist outside of any system or law, they’re also free to knock heads at a moment’s notice. Reacher has not lost sight of how important it is to put its signature giant guy in must-stomp situations. (Just ask the dirtbag whose window he punches out before pulling him bodily from a vehicle.) But here in season two, he’s got backup in the form of some also lethal old friends, as well as another personal score to settle. This series understands what it does best, and honors its source material by casting the correct version of its main character. 

Sex and Skin: Nothing in the first episode, anyway. 

Parting Shot: Presented with even more evidence that his old army unit is being targeted, Reacher makes a declaration. “I’m thinking there’s someone hell bent on taking out the special investigators.” A pause then, to lick his chops. “Good.” 

Sleeper Star: Maria Sten was a shot in the arm for the pacing of Reacher season one as Frances Neagley, Reacher’s former staff sergeant and full-time ride or die. The character was always a fan fave on the book series side of things, and having Sten back in an expanded role as Neagley certainly bodes well for Reacher season two.   

Most Pilot-y Line: “Life moves on when you’re away, big fella.” The second installment of Reacher is leaning in a bit on how the XXL do-gooder perceives his wandering lifestyle, especially when contrasted with the busy lives of his friends and fellow former soldiers.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Jack Reacher, with his sharp mind and giant meathooks embodied so well in Alan Ritchson, returns in season two with a little help from his old friends. They’re sure to get to the bottom of who’s killing their former colleagues. And along the way, if Reacher punches a car or drops a henchman into wet cement, well, that behavior is warranted and welcome.  

Johnny Loftus (@glennganges) is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift.