Fans have been ready for Reacher season 3 since the announcement it was in production. The premiere is here, and it doesn’t disappoint.
Caution: This post contains SPOILERS for the Reacher season 3 premiere
The episode opens with Reacher watching as a kidnapping attempt happens. It leads to Reacher shooting the kidnapper and a cop before rescuing the kidnapping victim. If you thought Reacher’s panic in shooting a cop seemed out of character, that’s because it was. And there was a reason for that.
Getting in with the Beck family in Reacher season 3, episode 1
The premiere episode has to set up the crime for Reacher to solve. In this case, we see him enter the hornet’s nest from the start. Saving Richard Beck from being kidnapped gives him an in with the Beck family.
It is a tricky situation, though. The Beck family already has bodyguards, and nobody trusts Reacher. Of course, when he’s given the test of Russian roulette and he pulls the trigger a couple of times, the men around him just view him as a crazy person.
He points out that the gun had a dummy round in, but one of the bodyguards quickly proves that’s not the case. It leads to a barrel of what looks like oil to be hit, spilling somewhere into the ground. And yes, into the ground. There is something underneath.
Reacher can’t check it just yet, though. He needs to head to the room he’ll be staying in, where he’s locked in for now. After checking for bugs and cameras in the room, he pulls out a hidden phone in his boot’s heel and calls someone saying “I’m in.”
I honestly think that the tiny cellphone in Alan Ritchson’s hands really makes this scene funnier than it should be. It also makes it iconic.
Flashback to days earlier in the Reacher season 3 premiere
So yes, everything about our titular character seemed off, and that’s because he was putting on a role. He had spotted someone—Brian Tee’s character—getting into a car. When he calls the 110th Special Investigators to get a favor, he ends up with the FBI on his doorstep. Tee’s character is connected to Beck, and the FBI is trying to get to Beck.
Reacher doesn’t initially want to help, but he’s the only one who can. He has the skill to get in. As for the FBI, the lead agent, Susan Duffy, she has a more personal matter to take care of. One of her informants went into Beck’s house and didn’t come out. Duffy wants to know what happened to her.
Reacher also has his personal needs. Tee’s character is called Quinn, who is working under an alias. It turns out he was a former intelligence specialist who sold details. He went missing and turned up with a bullet to the brain and various other torture marks. Someone tried to kill him, and this guy says that he doesn’t remember anything. That’s rather convenient! Reacher wants answers.
This leads to the setup of the kidnapping. The kidnapper and cop are both DEA agents playing a role. Reacher used a revolver with a mixture of fake and blank rounds to shoot out the fan and then make it look like he killed a cop and the kidnapper. Everything that we saw play out in the kidnapping and saving scene were all planned out for. This was Reacher’s way into Beck’s employ.
Reacher gets back into the shed
A locked door is never going to stop Jack Reacher. He ends up finding his way out of the room via the window and down the roof. I’m honestly surprised that a man like Beck doesn’t have guards outside at all times. It seemed a little too easy for Reacher to get to the shed again.
He does managed to see what’s underneath. Sure enough, there’s a bed, some half-eaten food, and an earring. This large hoop belonged to Duffy’s informant. She was definitely there and kept prisoner for some time. Where is she now, though? Why was she taken, and what happened to her?
Reacher will air on Thursdays on Prime Video. We’ll have recaps of episodes 2 and 3 over the next couple of days to give you time to watch all three episodes available now.
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