Everything You Need To Know To Watch Reacher Season 2
So-called "Dad Shows" don't get better than "Reacher" season 1. While we'll always have a special place in our hearts for Christopher McQuarrie's "Jack Reacher" film adaptation (the less said about its sequel, the better), Alan Ritchson's Reacher is the embodiment of Lee Child's original creation that Tom Cruise's iteration never could be. With his square jaw and strapping build, you could almost believe Ritchson's take on the ex-army detective turned ramblin' man sprang directly from the pages of Child's original books. The show around him moves with the same confidence as Reacher strutting from town to town, delivering a thoroughly compelling piece of pulpy crime fiction by way of power fantasy.
For season 2 (which Valerie Ettenhofer reviewed for /Film), the show will draw from Child's 11th Reacher novel, "Bad Luck and Trouble," after season 1 adapted his debut book, "Killing Floor." That suggests "Reacher" is taking the same anthology-like approach as Child's original novels — meaning, you should be able to partake in season 2 without knowing all the ins and outs of what transpired during Reacher's season 1 trip to the small (and, as it turned out, shockingly corrupt) town of Margrave, Georgia, where all he wanted to do was learn more about the life of Blues legend Blind Blake.
That being said, some lingering plot threads from season 1 will continue into season 2, along with select returning characters. And, of course, the better familiarized you are with Reacher and his world, the more meaningful certain developments in season 2 will be. So, whether you're planning to jump right into the pool with season 2 or need to — wait for it — reach deep into your memory to recall what happened when season 1 dropped back in February 2022, we're here to lend a helping hand.
Reacher's mama's worried
For as much as season 1 focuses on Reacher cracking skulls and taking names in Margrave, it frequently flashes back to his past, focusing in particular on his childhood. Besides fleshing out Reacher's backstory and revealing more about the events that shaped him, these scenes also shed light on his older brother Joe, whose murder lies at the heart of the quagmire of crime and conspiracy that Reacher unknowingly walks into upon entering Margrave.
As we see throughout season 1, the young Reacher and his brother were army brats who had a knack for getting into trouble. Far from bullies, however, the pair believed in using their brains and brawn for good. Unfortunately, when they pummeled the snot out of some jerks who were tormenting a boy with special needs, it landed their father in hot water — as one of the boys they beat up was the son of the Brigadier General at the U.S. Army base where their dad worked in Okinawa. After Reacher refused to apologize for his actions, his family was forced to leave the country, much to his and Joe's anger and confusion.
Under the guidance of their mother, Reacher and Joe came to accept that people who do bad things aren't always fairly punished for their misdeeds, and even they can't fix everything that's wrong with the world. However, she also teaches her sons that it's on them to decide how to best use their strength and know-how to help those in need. This informs both of their career trajectories well after their mother dies from cancer, leading Joe to take a job with the Secret Service — one that will ultimately get him killed when he investigates the corruption in Margrave — and Jack to solve crimes as an army policeman.
Ain't it a sin? Not in Jack's eye
If Reacher sounds too principled to be a cop, that's because he is. Reacher believes in punching up (not literally, he's too tall for that), but is only willing to bend or break the law when it involves powerful, shady people who are too well-connected to face justice for their unlawful acts. That extended to his time in the army, during which he confronted a group of men who were abusing some local children while stationed in Baghdad (as he recounts in season 1). The incident ended with Reacher killing the men after they not-so-wisely tried to take him out rather than turn themselves in, although it was mostly buried by those in the Army sympathetic to Reacher's way of doing things.
Reacher's righteous vigor would lead to him being recruited to oversee his own special team as part of the U.S. Military Police. He and his hand-selected crew would go on to become celebrated for their dedication to weeding out anyone and everyone who misused their power, with nary a case left unclosed. Having seen with his own eyes just how corrupted institutions and the people who operate them can be, Reacher elected to live as a wanderer upon retiring from the U.S. Army rather than, say, serve as a cop domestically (seemingly to avoid becoming ineffectual or limited in his ability to help others). Nevertheless, he keeps in fairly close contact with at least one member of his old investigation team: former U.S. Army Master Sergeant and Reacher's bud Frances Neagley (Maria Sten).
Mind you, taking down amoral and disreputable people for a living meant that Reacher, Neagley, and their peers also made a lot of enemies — an issue that will come to a head in season 2.
Reacher's got the Police Dog Blues
While it's easy enough to like Jack Reacher as a person, staying in touch with him is a whole lot more difficult. Even Joe hadn't seen his sibling for a hot minute before his death. For that matter, Reacher might have never rooted out his brother's killers or what was going on in Margrove, had Joe not pointed him in that direction by mentioning its links to Blind Blake (by which point Joe was already deep into his investigation of the illicit activities taking place there).
During his adventures in Margrave, Reacher strikes up a romance with local police officer Roscoe Conklin (Willa Fitzgerald) as they investigate Joe's death with Chief Detective Oscar Finlay (Malcolm Goodwin), himself an outsider who moved to Margrave following a personal tragedy. Their experiences are enough to convince both Roscoe and Finlay to quit the force at different points, with Finlay heading home to rebuild his life and Roscoe electing to try and improve Margrave by other means. Sadly, Reacher knows he isn't ready to abandon his nomadic lifestyle anytime soon (if ever), so he and Roscoe eventually go their separate ways.
As always, though, Reacher retains his knack for finding trouble upon leaving Margrave and there's always a chance he might reach out to an old friend in season 2 or the already-confirmed season 3. Neagley is one of the few characters who show up more than once in Child's novels, but nothing is preventing "Reacher" showrunner Nick Santora from changing things up a little in the series. In the meantime, expect to find the titular, broad-shouldered, no-nonsense vigilante on the road alone as usual when the second season picks up.
"Reacher" season 2 will premiere December 15, 2023 on Prime Video.