Plot: Based on the 13th book in Lee Child’s global best-selling series, Gone Tomorrow, in the fourth season of the action-packed series, when a chance encounter with a distraught stranger on a subway goes horribly wrong, Jack Reacher is drawn into a complex and deadly game that pits him against ruthless foes from the highest echelons of power.
Review: Since it’s first season, Reacher has been set on faithfully adapting the novels by Lee Child with each season focused on a different volume of the thirty novels published to date. The first three seasons have adapted the first, eleventh, and seventh books in the series with this new season jumping to the thirteenth novel, Gone Tomorrow. As with previous seasons, showrunner Nick Santora keeps the core structure of the story intact with shifts in characters and plot elements to maintain the mystery for hardcore fans of the books and those who are invested solely in the series. The result is yet another action-packed season of Reacher boasting another solid performance from Alan Ritchson and a new ensemble cast. As Reacher’s latest tale takes him from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., this season is full of brutal hand-to-hand combat and an intricate conspiracy that keeps you guessing through to the final episode. As each of the first three seasons improved on what preceded them, this latest season of Reacher is the best yet.
As with prior seasons, the new season of Reacher picks up with Alan Ritchson in a new locale, this time in Philadelphia on the subway. Reacher spots a woman in distress holding a bag and crying, but when he approaches her to diffuse the situation, she kills herself. Taken into custody by detectives Tamara Green (Sydelle Noel) and Shaun Docherty (Kevin Corrigan), Reacher learns the woman had high access to government documents. Connecting with the woman’s brother, New Jersey cop Jacob Merrick (Christopher Marquette), Reacher soon learns that the dead woman had something wanted by various groups including a congressman, John Sampson (Marc Blucas), as well as a young woman, Lila Hoth (Agnez Mo) and her mother Amisha (Anggun). Soon, Reacher is being played by multiple angles and trying to figure out if it is just a case of blackmail or something much larger and far more dangerous.
With the Reacher spin-off Neagley coming soon, this season puts the title character on his own without relying as much on old friends and prior connections. The partnership between Reacher with Jacob and Tamara is key to the overall season’s plot as well as with reporter Russell Plum (Kevin Weisman). The stakes are much higher this season than in the past for reasons I won’t spoil in this review, but it feels like a bigger and broader challenge than the small town locales of prior seasons. Set mostly in Philadelphia and Washington, DC, this season has a lot of urban locations that help expand the plot into bigger and broader set-pieces. The action remains heavier on the physical fights but there are plenty of guns and car chases to keep things moving at a brisk pace. As the truth of the mystery unfolds across these eight episodes, the intricacy of this season becomes more important to the plot than we have seen in the previous three arcs of Reacher.
I pre-judged Reacher before watching the first season as a series of big-dumb fighting stories with minimalistic plots and little to no nuance. I have enjoyed each season of Reacher more than the last and this new season finally showed me why fans of the books have likened Jack Reacher to James Bond. While both characters have spouted throwaway one-liners and bedded women regularly, James Bond has often been more restrained and elegant while Reacher has been more brutal and violent. This season gives us the sexiest season of Reacher with Alan Ritchson flirting more naturally and with more characters, some of whom are integral to the plot. The intelligence of Jack Reacher is also demonstrated regularly as his physical presence belies a massive intellect. Yes, this season is very violent and has no shortage of bone-breaking action, but it also shows Reacher is very human and not just an unstoppable superhero of a man. The final scene of the season finale also shows the softer side of Reacher and comes right after he delivers a very Bond-esque double entendre.
Showrunner Nick Santora keeps continuity between the seasons despite their standalone nature. There are subtle references to prior seasons and events that add to the sequential nature of this series while adapting to the changed order based on the published book sequence. There are quite a few changes from the novel Gone Tomorrow that keep the main thrust of the story intact but change it enough to fit with the television adaptation. Santora also makes sure to play to Alan Ritchson’s strengths as an actor which come through more this season than ever before. Ritchson’s physical presence is offset by the cool and calm demeanor he brings to Reacher who seems unphased by any situation, even if he is stabbed, shot, or eating a cheesesteak. Alan Ritchson has proven he can play characters that are dialogue-free or even broadly comedic, but his portrayal of Jack Reacher will likely go down as his definitive performance. This season once again outshines Tom Cruise’s big screen performance and gives me absolute confidence in what Nick Santora chooses to adapt next from Lee Child’s extensive library of Reacher novels.
Reacher continues to improve with each new season as Alan Ritchson finds more ways to deliver angles on the character we have not seen before. Since each season works as a standalone, anyone can jump right into this season without missing any details while those who have stuck with the show since the series premiere will continue to find nice callbacks and connections that add to Reacher’s backstory. With three episodes available at launch, Reacher will have audiences on the edge of their seat for the next couple of months as they try to figure out what challenge Reacher will face next and whether he will make it out unscathed. I look forward to seeing where this show goes next and hope that Alan Ritchson and Nick Santora are up to taking on ever novel Lee Child has published featuring this characrer.
Reacher season four premieres on August 12th on Prime Video.
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