Here’s the thing about the huge dude at the center of Reacher. It’s true that Alan Ritchson has the physique of an action figure, and his character is famous for “I must break you” action moments. But in practice, putting Reacher into action inside the conventional physical space of a small screen series also creates a unique incongruity. An example is Zachary Beck’s estate, and its surrounding grounds. The only other people populating this space are either obstacles or enemies. So when Reacher’s giant self – well, Ritchson as Reacher, or the stunt performer as Reacher, who does his best but can’t match Ritchson’s stature – shimmies down the wall of Beck’s mansion, or when Reacher’s inverted trapezoid of a form runs from the back door of the kitchen, past the carriage house, and onward to the rocks that face the Atlantic Ocean, he resembles not a guy in a show but a character in a video game, controlled as he moves through a floating landscape full of loot boxes and power-ups.
Here’s another example. Quick! Move your Reacher character to safety before he is consumed by the flames from a house explosion he caused!
It actually wouldn’t be too crazy if Reacher was based on video game IP instead of a book series, since this show does not take place in any kind of real world. Which is all the better for us, because that negates any reason for it to respect real world rules and regulations. In Reacher’s world, he can fold Angel Doll’s dead body into the space under a desk in an office, leave it there overnight, and trust that not only will he not be implicated in the murder, he will defer blame onto Zachary Beck’s enemies. “We need to find them and take ‘em out before they make their next move.”
Justification like this is how Beck and his security chief Chapman Duke, end up rolling with Reacher to an abandoned house in the middle of the woods. Sure, it’s actually an empty, DEA-owned safe house, the location of which Agent Duffy provided to Reacher. But for their purposes, it becomes the imaginary hideout of the criminal rivals who Beck believes tried to kidnap his son Richard. Reacher and Duke plan a two-man assault, Reacher gets the drop on Duke, and after the guy more or less admits to torturing Duffy’s informant contact Teresa Daniel, Reacher shoots Duke in the face. Cue the big fella’s video game-style sprint away from the massive fireball of an evidence-swallowing explosion. And cue more cluelessness from Zachary Beck as Reacher cruises to a security department promotion. “Something tells me you’re about to be my #2.”
A promotion is key, because it’s become clear that Beck doesn’t have final say in anything. By burrowing further into the command hierarchy, Reacher will get closer to the real boss, which seems to be his nemesis Quinn. Quinn (Brian Tee), who episode 3 reveals as Duffy and Villanueva conduct surveillance, and who is apparently known as “McCabe” inside this criminal operation. “The fact that he’s involved at all means I don’t want you coming in,” Reacher again warns Neagley. She called with intel on Paulie – dishonorable discharge from the army and a stint in Leavenworth military prison; Quinn/McCabe only hires the best people – and continues to wonder if her skills are required in person. “You throwin’ down with this guy, Boss?” But Reacher shuts her down again. Neagley can’t possibly stay in phone-a-friend mode this entire season. We expect her to fully ignore the order to stay out of it from her former commanding officer.
In the course of their action against Beck and Quinn’s operation, Reacher and Duffy are also developing a good bit of competitive sexual tension. When he swims his way free of the Beck estate to meet her a mile down the road, she gets the entire show as he changes into dry clothes. (Duffy, with a long look at Reacher in his skivvies: “Fuck. Me.”) And when they drive to the Bizarre Bazaar warehouse to search for Teresa Daniel – check out Reacher in his novelty “I [crab as heart] Maine” novelty T-shirt – but find only more henchmen, the only thing for a show like this to do is have an itinerant freelance bruiser and his off-the-books federal agent companion beat the fuck out of the goons and leave them to die in a shipping container. If Reacher really was a video game, this whole sequence would’ve unlocked a new level.
During a trip into town, Richard tells Reacher that his father’s “rug business” was overtaken by Quinn/McCabe because Beck had paid off the right people, guaranteeing clean shipping routes and customs inspections for whatever contraband is actually being imported. And though Zachary Beck is a rich A-hole, Richard still loves him, even if he simultaneously longs to escape his father and the Quinn/McCabe-designed criminal prison where they both spend their lives.
Like to totally disappear? Reacher knows how good that can feel. Get a load of how he describes his consequence-free life of wandering and random killings. “I go wherever I want, do whatever I want, answer to no one, and once the dust settles” – the killings? – “I put a few bucks in my pocket and I’m back on the road.” Reacher says he can help Richard achieve this, if that’s what the kid really wants. But first he needs to commit a few more blatant acts of assault in broad daylight on a downtown street – right in front of an ice cream parlor – as the big man snaps limbs and delivers concussions to a handful of locals who used to bully Richard in high school. Consequences? Not in this video game-ass series. You can give him a promotion or you can try to stop him, but Reacher will always keep coming.
Johnny Loftus (@glennganges) is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift.