Reacher maintains its top spot by keeping its old school approach to standout
- Reacher
- Amazon Prime Video
- Full season now available
- Created by Nick Santora. Starring Alan Ritcherson, Sydelle Noel, Christopher Rodriguez Marquette & Agnez Mo
- Action
- TV-MA
Amazon Prime Video’s small screen series Reacher has always worked because it understands that sometimes people just want to watch a simple concept done well.
Based on Lee Child’s Jack Reacher books, and adapted by Nick Santora, the show and character are the modern version of an old western trope, the lone gunslinger.
The key to this formula is using the simplicity to your advantage.
Reacher perfectly distils this idea into a yearly formula I have enjoyed since season 1 first aired in 2022.
Season 4 starts out strong and continues the trend. Based on the thirteenth book, Gone Tomorrow.
This year starts with a fantastic and compelling opening scene. Reacher is in Philadelphia for a typically simple reason, to see a baseball player in his prime. As he gets on a late-night train, he has a chance encounter with woman in trouble. He goes to help but it results in her committing suicide. This leads Reacher being brought into a mystery that involves mercenaries, the police & CIA.
Reacher stories are made up of two types. Small scale mysteries taking place in heartland America or government conspiracies. This year’s entry firmly fits into the second category, with all the other interested party asking about a missing usb drive, while Reacher is simply motivated to solve the case to make up for not saving the woman’s life.
The premiere episodes of season four keeps the binge worthy blend of qualities that makes the show special. Thrilling story, hard-hitting action that you can feel through the screen. And charming (and villainous) characters that are simply drawn but engaging and easy to connect to.
At the heart of that is Alan Ritcherson, who has always made Reacher a likeable lead. This is important considering the character is very static and stable, growing through the characters he meets on his journeys.
The plot leans into the one-off characters of every season for the more traditional growth
This year’s supporting characters are good, but not very complex. Tamara, Jacob and Lila all do a decent job at keeping you engaged as the story unfolds and the actors Sydelle Noel, Christopher Rodriguez Marquette & Agnez Mo give fantastic performances. While they have fun dynamics with Reacher, they also fall too neatly into the generic roles that need filling for a thriller genre. This problem stems from the bigger story that the season is built around.
The bigger story creates more room for well written conversations between all the characters with the B-movie style and the constantly excellent action of the series. But comes at the cost sometimes, having to do a little too much for the time given.
However, the negatives never get in the way for long, meaning the show keeps quality overall.
While the start of season four of Reacher stumbles a bit at times, having to cover too much ground, the series stays true to itself and continues to deliver on the standards setup from the previous seasons. This creates a great show to watch anytime you want to sit down and enjoy a simple story done well.
