Monday, January 22, 2024

Reacher (season 2)

After beating a carjacker to a pulp, Reacher (Alan Ritchson) gets a message from Frances Neagley (Maria Sten) that one of their former comrades has been murdered.  Reacher heads to New York immediately.  Upon rendezvousing with Neagley, he learns that she has been unable to contact most of the Special Investigators, the Army unit that Reacher commanded, and she served in.  Only 2 of 6 members respond to efforts to contact them.  Visiting the homes of others provide stories of mysterious disappearances.  The history of the Special Investigators is told in flashback throughout the series, offering insight into the members who have been killed already.  In addition to Neagley, Karla Dixon (Serinda Swan) and David O'Donnell (Shaun Sipos) join Reacher to discover who is out to get the Special Investigators.  Is it blowback from their time in the military?  No sooner do they begin investigating the deaths than assassins arrive to kill them.

Alan Ritchson is once again terrific as Reacher.  He is particularly coldblooded when facing those who killed his former colleagues.  While Maria Sten was a late arrival in the first season, she is a main character and Reacher's righthand.  Serinda Swan's Karla takes over as love interest for the absent Roscoe.  Reacher never hooked up with her back in the day because he was her commanding officer; she points out that things have changed.  Shaun Sipos' O'Donnell is a womanizer in the flashbacks but a devoted family man in the present.  It is interesting that he is the only one who has settled down.

Robert Patrick plays the villain.  He is introduced with a humorous bit where he learns that Neagley used the alias of Sarah Connor.  Nice call back to Terminator 2.  Patrick is the final boss who sends wave after wave of assassins to kill Reacher and his meddlesome crew.

Another outstanding season of Reacher and I can hardly wait to see what happens next season.  Good popcorn fun and highly recommended.

No comments: