The entire project of Reacher’s post-military wanderer’s existence is to have his internal monologue disturbed enough that he escalates things into self-styled vigilantism. But Duffy didn’t read the Reacher books. “How often do you do shit like this?” she asks. They just got finished blowing up Harley’s fishing boat with the Quinn henchman still on it – consequences – and before the blast, Duffy didn’t look very federal agent-like as she rained blows on him. In fact, like during the warehouse fight, she looked less DEA and more DIY. Or, closer to Reacher’s preferred lane. As any kind of jurisdiction for their actions continues to recede into the distance, Duffy should really be asking herself how often she does this shit. And how much she likes it.

That the sexual tension between them makes wreaking havoc and handing out beatdowns more exciting is not in question. But acknowledgement of their mutual bones-jumping compatibility had gone unstated until this week’s episode, when Duffy suddenly kisses Reacher during one of their surreptitious meet-ups. “What the shit?” she says just as suddenly, and declares it to be the first and last time. “I didn’t even know it was gonna happen once” is Reacher’s response, but without a workplace (or a home), the ramifications of a work-related romance don’t weigh on his conscience. Reacher even got flirty with Duffy as they stripped off the wetsuits they used to access Harley’s boat. “No peeking,” he said, as if they weren’t both peeking.

The whole reason they targeted the vessel was because Teresa Daniel, Duffy’s missing informant, used to be on it. Reacher’s first face-to-face meeting with Quinn has made two things clear. The gun-runner doesn’t remember Reacher from their previous confrontation – apparently he really did become amnesic – and the Quinn/Beck operation kept Teresa alive because the client in their latest arms deal is also into sex trafficking. Wherever Teresa is being held, it seems like she’ll be included in the transaction when the deal finally goes down, but it’s currently delayed as the product remains in transit. And while he was busy not recognizing Reacher, the guy who already tried to kill him once, Quinn was also trying to play nice with the Russian mafia, who will kill him for good if he doesn’t pay back the money he borrowed.

Quinn financed his Northeast gunrunning business with a black market loan from the Russians, and gained leverage on Zachary Beck and his established shipping routes by abducting Richard and hacking off the kid’s ear. But with the infiltration of an ATF agent onto his estate, Quinn has turned against Beck. A renowned sadist, he makes Zachary watch as Richard is forced to play Russian roulette. But since he’s also paranoic as fuck, Quinn additionally sent gunmen to snuff out any recent lookie-loos into his organization. Like current and former members of the 110th Special Investigators. 

Frances Neagley, this is your official welcome to the Reacher Season 3 chat. 

Neagley’s not going out just because some psychotic asshole sent two idiots to eliminate her. After the private detective returns fire and drops her first attacker, and finds the second guy bleeding out in the break room of her Chicago office, she nonchalantly prepares a bowl of Apple Jacks while the dying gunman whimpers for medical attention. Neagley! When his former master sergeant again calls Reacher, he again hangs up on her. An attempt on an ex-110th-er’s life means his own cover as Beck’s security chief, however weaksauce, is totally blown. And while we assume Neagley will now be on her way to back him up in person, for now Reacher’s gotta make tracks for the exit at Beck’s estate. There are idiots after him, too.

It’s a midnight clash in the woods around the estate as an unarmed Reacher has to either evade or eviscerate his pursuers. Paulie is out there among the trees, packing a pistol, which is a little funny because Huge Guy Law should dictate that Reacher and the XXL gate guard only scrap with fists. Nor is it evident where Quinn sourced a bunch of extra goons from, in addition to Paulie, or where they acquired ATVs. But in Reacher the series, unlike Reacher’s investigations with the 110th, details don’t matter. He finds a bulletproof tree trunk to hide his massive self behind. He goes into Rambo: First Blood Part II mode, and camouflages himself with mud. And while he does take out a few of Quinn’s guys conventionally, there’s no fun in that. Reacher, like Reacher, is better when things get crazy. So he also transforms the winch mounted on one attacker’s ATV into a deadly garroting device. How’s that for DIY?

When you come at the king, you best not miss, but that’s exactly what Quinn is doing. While he’s freaking out about the Russian mob and enacting more torture of Richard Beck just for sick thrills, Quinn has failed to kill or detain the biggest threat to his operation, which has always been Reacher. If he wasn’t such a psycho, Richard might have even shared with Quinn what he knows about the big man’s undercover op – the kid witnessed Reacher’s rendezvous and kiss with Agent Duffy. But as it is, with that cover blown, Reacher and Duffy and even Villanueva are now free of any relative boundaries on their activities. All that’s left is to destroy Quinn, his henchpeople, and his gun-running business, while they get Teresa back in the process.

Johnny Loftus (@johnnyloftus.bsky.social) is a Chicago-based writer. A veteran of the alternative weekly trenches, his work has also appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Pitchfork, The All Music Guide, and The Village Voice.