By AMIR GALBAN
Opinions Editor
“Reacher” is a popular series and story written by Lee Child, also known as Jim Grant. The popularity grew from the books, which first came out in 1997 all the way until today, with books ready to come out Oct. 2024. There are 28 total books in the Reacher series. The television series first came out on Amazon Prime in 2022 and season two in 2023. Created by Nick Santora, Jack Reacher the main character is played by Alan Ritchson, known for also playing Raphael in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Season one was Jack making his way towards Margrave, Georgia without a car or any money. A man with unorthodox life habits and a large mental capacity for all types of information.
Finding himself in Margrave, a small corrupt town with citizens who have been there since it’s been built. The characters are a focal point in season one like Roscoe and Finlay. While in Georgia we learn about his psychological abilities when he gets arrested, constantly signifying the details of the arrest and of the person he’s talking to from personal or obvious conclusions. A very analytical man who makes it aware that details matter. While locked up he is able to uncover the conspiracy behind his brother Joe’s death and the counterfeit operation Joe was trying to shut down. Reacher, with some help from his friends, used his military experience along with scientific approaches to find out who is behind the illegal operation and how the money was being moved and created. Reacher creates a personal connection with captain Finlay, who shows up briefly in season two, and a short romantic relationship with Roscoe.
Moving on to season two, we learn about Reacher’s backstory and the team led before season one. We learn he is a part of the 110th special investigations military police unit. Now we get to see Neagly, Dixon, and O’Donnel, 3 of the 7 members of this unit in action side by side with Reacher. The first scene for season two shows one member killed, known as Franz, a man who idolized Reacher on the unit, being thrown out of a helicopter and dropping to his death. Later we learn that an organization by the name of New Age Technologies is killing off members of the former special investigatior’s unit Reacher used to lead. One of the famous lines by them is “you do not mess with the special investigators.” Apparently somebody is trying to prove them wrong. This unit was a real part of Reacher’s family and we see countless flashbacks from episode one through eight of the relationships they’ve created and missions they encountered.
It was shown in episode two that a couple of the special investigators started to investigate a New Age deal that looked real sketchy. One of the members known as Tony Swan was said to be working with New Age, but brought in some of the team to look into it. The criminals behind New Age were working on an under-the-radar project to attain nuclear warheads that can take out a whole town, for the price of $600 million. The other members in the old unit tried to stop this plan and were killed one by one. It was skeptical that one of the members of the special investigators unit turned dirty, and that it was Swan. After chasing leads, working with a valuable NYPD officer, and killing lots of people as well as saving them, Reacher and his team end up together in the end. But not before otwo of the members (Dixon and O’Donnel) were captured and used as bait. Of course, Reacher being the unstoppable force that he is was able to save them in a thrilling fashion. We learn that Swan was killed due to trying to stop the terrorists, and all they needed was his eye and hand for fingerprints and scans to frame him.
This show is not for children and people with weak eyes and stomachs. It has gripping storytelling like the novels and more action than anyone needs. There are talks of a season 3 coming out, but that won’t be for a good while.
