Reacher Season 4 Review: If It Ain’t Broke…

Warning: Spoilers for Reacher Season 4

Four seasons into Reacher, I think we all know the formula by now.

Reacher arrives somewhere. Something bad happens. He realizes that something much bigger is going on. He reluctantly puts together a team. People underestimate the gigantic human being standing in front of them. Reacher beats the hell out of a bunch of people. Mystery solved. Reacher moves on.

That’s basically every season of Reacher.

And you know what? I’m completely fine with it.

Despite all four seasons following a pretty similar formula, they’ve managed to make each one different enough that it hasn’t become stale yet. More importantly, the entertainment value hasn’t really diminished. Four seasons in, I’m still having fun watching Reacher do Reacher things.

I’m not huge on giving ratings because a lot of the time it just seems so hollow. I’ll just say this: I recommend watching Season 4.

The Best Supporting Cast Yet?

One of the things we’re probably going to have to accept with Reacher is that almost every season is going to give us a new supporting cast. Season 5 is already filming and appears to be continuing that tradition.

That’s a little disappointing this time because I think Season 4 may have given us the best supporting group the show has had.

Tamara Green, Jacob Merrick and Russell Plum all worked really well alongside Reacher without feeling like they were just there to follow him around.

There’s actually a pretty good argument for keeping some or all of them around.

The problem is that the finale gives each of them a pretty clear ending. Tamara gets her Medal of Valor and is back where she belongs in the Homicide Division. Jacob is left dealing with the loss of basically his entire family, while the show also hints that there could be something romantic developing between him and Tamara. Plum finally has the story that could make his career, along with the thumb drive and all the consequences that are probably going to come with publishing what’s on it.

Their stories aren’t necessarily over, but we’ve seen where their paths lead.

So how do you bring them into Reacher’s next adventure without forcing it? I’m not sure you do or can, because each season is an adaptation of a different book in the series.

But I wouldn’t complain if they figured out a way to make it happen.

Reacher Actually Got Played

Another season, another woman getting Reacher into bed.

This time, though, it actually mattered to the story because Lila was playing him.

Reacher spends most of the series being the smartest guy in the room. He’s constantly noticing the thing nobody else notices, figuring people out before they figure him out and being three steps ahead of everyone.

Not this time.

He trusted Lila, slept with her and got double-crossed. By the time he realized what was happening, a lot of damage had already been done, and it just happened to end with a knife quite literally in his back, amongst other places.

I actually liked seeing that.

Reacher doesn’t need to suddenly become an idiot, but it’s good to remind us that he’s capable of getting something wrong. It makes him a little more human.

And at least getting played eventually led us to one hell of a payoff.

The knife and hand-to-hand fighting in the finale was a really cool way to finish the season. Instead of another fight where we watch Reacher walk into a room and effortlessly destroy everybody, the finale gave him opponents who could actually hurt him. The knives also forced him to fight differently instead of simply overpowering everyone.

Was I worried Reacher was actually going to die?

Of course not.

But it was still fun as hell to watch.

The CIA Stuff Lost Me

Not everything worked for me this season.

The CIA storyline was interesting at first. The deeper we got into it, though, the less interested I became.

Secret operations, hidden laboratories, government cover-ups and biological weapons sound like exactly the kind of thing that should make a Reacher story bigger and more interesting. Instead, by the end, the CIA portion started feeling a little overdone.

The show treats the possibility of information about this operation getting out like it could practically bring the whole house down. I understand why the CIA wouldn’t want classified operations and a chemical weapons program exposed, but are we really supposed to believe there aren’t secret labs and questionable operations happening all over the world?

Especially when Reacher and company already contained most of the actual threat?

It just didn’t feel quite as earth-shattering to me as the show wanted it to.

The bigger problem was the CIA’s main representative. If you’re going to put someone across the table from Jack Reacher and expect me to believe this person is a legitimate threat to him, I need to feel it.

I never really did, especially because every time they met face to face the CIA operative always lost, even lost a piece of his body!

He just didn’t have the physical presence or intimidation factor to make me believe Reacher had finally met someone he should be worried about.

The Sampson Story Needed More

The John Sampson storyline was another part that felt a little thin to me.

Sampson’s sacrifice is obviously important to the finale, and his death stops the first planned demonstration of the chemical weapon. But the political side of his story sometimes felt like it existed mostly to push the idea that there are still ethical politicians willing to do the right thing.

Then there’s Elspeth.

The finale clearly leaves the door open for her political future, even having Reacher tell her she’d make a great president.

That’s fine if we’re going somewhere with it. But if she never appears in Reacher again, I’m not sure why I needed that setup.

Maybe it’s something they’ll eventually revisit. If they don’t, it feels like time that could have been spent developing something that mattered more to this season.

Final Thoughts

Overall, Season 4 of Reacher is good television.

That’s really what matters.

I didn’t find myself checking out very often while watching it. The story generally moves at a good pace, the supporting characters are entertaining, the mystery gives Reacher enough to figure out, and when it’s time for the show to get violent, it gets violent.

Four seasons in, the biggest question might be whether there’s actually anyone in this universe capable of dealing with Jack Reacher.

Probably not.

And I’m starting to think that’s perfectly okay.

There’s something enjoyable about watching a guy who is basically a gentle giant until someone gives him a reason not to be. Reacher isn’t always polite. He’s definitely not politically correct. His solutions aren’t always legal, and they’re almost never subtle.

But he generally knows the difference between right and wrong, and when someone who can’t protect themselves needs help, he helps them.

The final scene might sum him up better than all the broken bones and dead bad guys ever could. After everything that happened, Reacher gets back on a train, sees a woman who’s clearly having a rough time, sits next to her and quietly shares his cheesesteak with her.

No big speech. No recognition. Nothing in it for him.

He just does it.

A gentle giant who always seems to do the right thing, even when it isn’t necessarily the most politically correct thing, is still a hero I want to watch.

Bring on Season 5.