REACHER - SEASON TWO (4K): Murder, Mayhem & Mercenaries

REACHER - SEASON TWO (4K UHD)

2023-2024 / 350 min (8 Episodes)

FROM PARAMOUNT

Available at www.MovieZyng.com

Review by Princess Pepper😺

Along with saving money on shipping costs during the holidays, Reacher was the main reason I hung onto my Amazon Prime account. Not only does its star, Alan Ritchson, embody the title character the way I think most fans of the novel envisioned, Season One established it as one of Prime’s best new shows. Smart, funny and unapologetically violent, Reacher was one of those rare TV shows where I felt compelled to watch the entire season more than once.

Season Two isn’t quite as good, mainly because I think it strays a little too much from what made the previous season so entertaining…a resilient loner who’s unwittingly dropped into a situation where everyone he encounters are either hopelessly outmatched and - friend or foe - at a complete loss at how to deal with his methods. 

Like Season One, these eight episodes are adapted from another Jack Reacher novel, Bad Luck and Trouble. Though the titular character is still the primary protagonist, he shares a lot more screen time with an ensemble cast…with Reacher’s former team of Army investigators reuniting after some of their own have been brutally murdered. Determining that someone is targeting them all, their investigation uncovers a nefarious arms deal involving a major tech company, advanced new missiles and a mysterious mercenary.  

No one reminded Reacher about Casual Friday.

The storyline is interesting, mainly because the narrative structure offers at least one startling revelation per episode. Along the way, there are amusing asides in which Reacher intervenes in crimes being committed against helpless victims. It’s during those scenes - when he’s simply a brute force of nature - that the character is the most engaging. His team, including Maria Syen’s welcome return as Neagley from Season One, is likable and an important aspect of the story, but seeing them repeatedly boast their camaraderie gets a little redundant…and sort-of detracts from Reacher’s persona of an enigmatic loner (as do the frequent flashbacks of the team at work during their time in the Army).

While the show does a good job establishing its main characters, it continues to drop the ball with the antagonists. Like Season One, they’re all basically standard-issue, one-note bad guys, starting at the top with Robert Patrick as Shane Langston, who spends most of his screen times threatening others over the phone. But overall, the second season of Reacher is pretty solid. Perhaps a little too meandering at times, there’s still plenty of action, violence, humor and Jack Reacher’s endearing eccentricities.