Tag Archives: Reacher

Neagley: Season 1 – TV Review

Posted on by
Reply

TL;DR – While it has a slow start, it sinks its hooks in as you desperately want to see the bad guys fail before the bodies pile up too high.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime service used to view this series.

Warning – Contains scenes which may cause distress.

Neagley jumping through the air.

Neagley Review Introduction –

One of Amazon Prime’s most successful series in recent years has been Reacher, and given its success, it was only a matter of time before someone tried a spin-off. But if you are going to spin off such a successful series, you need to have a good hook, and I think one of the most successful supporting cast members is a good place to start. Now, we have had the chance to watch the season, and it is time to dive back in to see if it worked or not.   

So, to set the scene, it is 2 am in Chicago, and a man walks out onto the train line tracks into oncoming traffic and is killed instantly. The man, Tommy Crane (Jhaleil Swaby), was an old childhood friend of Neagley (Maria Sten), who has just finished off a successful resolution of a kidnapping case with a little help from her old boss Reacher (Alan Ritchson). While she had not seen Tommy in years, him getting so high that he would walk out onto oncoming traffic does not sound like him, and so she must investigate. Now, from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

Continue reading →

Neagley: L Train [S1E1] – TV Review

Posted on by
1

TL;DR – This is a slow start to the Reacher spin-off, but you do see glimpses of something interesting in between the beatdowns.

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime service used to view this series.

Warning – Contains scenes which may cause distress.

Neagley and Reacher at a baseball game.

Neagley Review Introduction–

One of Amazon Prime’s most successful series in recent years has been Reacher, and given its success, it was only a matter of time before someone tried a spin-off. But if you are going to spin off such a successful series, you need to have a good hook, and I think one of the most successful supporting cast members is a good place to start.

So, to set the scene, it is 2 am in Chicago, and a man walks out onto the train line tracks into oncoming traffic and is killed instantly. The man, Tommy Crane (Jhaleil Swaby), was an old childhood friend of Neagley (Maria Sten), who has just finished off a successful resolution of a kidnapping case with a little help from her old boss Reacher (Alan Ritchson). While she had not seen Tommy in years, him getting so high that he would walk out onto oncoming traffic does not sound like him, and so she must investigate. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

Continue reading →

Reacher: Season Four – TV Review

Posted on by
Reply

TL;DR – A solid season that never evolves the manual but does show why it works as well as it does.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription that viewed this series.

Reacher looks out in concern.

Reacher Review Introduction

Another season of Reacher has come to a close, and thankfully it was a much better ride than what we got in Season Three. With that in mind, we will dive into what makes the series work as well as it does, and also what might be holding it back from really making a cultural moment.   

So, to set the scene, it is 2:18 am in Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. Reacher (Alan Ritchson) is taking one of the last trains for the night when he notices a woman in clear distress, her hands hidden in a bag. Fearing the inevitable disaster, he tries to talk the lady down from the coming disaster. But when he lies to say he is a cop, hoping that will stop the escalation, it has the opposite result. Reacher feels like he failed the woman in her hour of need, but worse, every department in the federal government is now very interested in a suicide on an early morning train. Now, from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

Continue reading →

Reacher: Bridge [S4E5] – TV Review

Posted on by
1

TL;DR – Reacher finds himself up a particular creek without any manual propulsion devices.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription that viewed this series.

Reacher falling through a trash chute.

Reacher Review Introduction

We have reached the halfway point of the season, and this is the point where things start falling apart. Well, Season Four has decided not to buck that trend and has leaned into it hard as the whole case gets turned on its head.

So, to set the scene, we left Reacher (Alan Ritchson) surrounded by a pile of bodies and the police banging down the door. It was a setup, because Lila (Agnez Mo) and Amisha (Anggun) are not as mild-mannered as they seem, and are in fact cold-blooded killers, favouring curved blades. This changes everything we thought about this case and more. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

Continue reading →

Reacher: City of Brotherly Love [S4E1] – TV Review

Posted on by
2

TL;DR – Reacher has a nasty habit of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription that viewed this series.

Warning – Contains scenes which may cause distress.

The Philadelphia skyline.

Reacher Review Introduction

I was captivated by Reacher in its first two seasons. Season One was a breath of fresh air in a very stale genre, and Season Two escalated that to new heights. However, I came off Season Three with a real concern that the wind might be going out of this franchise. Well, today, we will dive into the first episode of the new season to see if it can buck off the languishing legacy of last season and forge new ground.

So, to set the scene, it is 2:18 am in Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. Reacher (Alan Ritchson) is taking one of the last trains for the night when he notices a woman in clear distress, her hands hidden in a bag. Fearing the inevitable disaster, he tries to talk the lady down from the coming disaster. But when he lies to say he is a cop, hoping that will stop the escalation, it has the opposite result. Reacher feels like he failed the woman in her hour of need, but worse, every department in the federal government is now very interested in a suicide on an early morning train. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

Continue reading →

Reacher: Season 3 – TV Review

Posted on by
6

TL;DR – I am not sure if the formula is starting to feel repetitive or if this season falls flat for me, but I didn’t connect with it at all.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription that viewed this series.

Reacher standing by a road.

Reacher Review –

There are few people in the military fiction business with a bigger name than Lee Child. His novels, especially his Reacher series, are legendary in the space. So much so that having Tom Cruise be the face of the film adaptations was seen as a disappointment because he did not live up to the depiction in the novels. However, there was much rejoicing when the First and Second TV series came out because they captured the essence of what the book readers and the general public wanted, and that is a hard cross-section to nail. But now, after seeing the third season, I’m not as sure as I once was.   

So, to set the scene, poor Reacher (Alan Ritchson) always seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. This time, all he wanted to do was sell some old records to fund the next part of his journey, but when he looked out to the street, he saw a kidnapping happen right in front of him. Quickly dispatching the potential captors, he tries to get the potential hostage, Richard Beck (Johnny Berchtold), to safety, only to find one of the potential captors was a cop. Now a potential wanted felon, he takes a job with Richard’s father, Zachary (Anthony Michael Hall), while things blow over. However, all is not what it seems, and Reacher might be just where he wants to be. Now, from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

Continue reading →

Awards – My Top 15 TV Shows of 2024

Posted on by
1

This was an odd year for TV, with a bunch of shows that started strong and then just didn’t have the hold to keep me, but then we found a higher level of quality this year than many of the past, which has led us to a slightly longer list this year.

 
So this year, we will look at all the shows we reviewed last year, SEE HERE, and pick our Top 15 of the 35 shows we reviewed. For a show to count, it needed to end its run or season in 2024.  

Highly Commended – Buried, Citadel Honey Bunny, Doctor Who,The Gentlemen, Jurassic World: Chaos Theory, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters & Star Trek: Discovery

Continue reading →

Reacher: Fly Boy & Full Season 2 – TV Review

Posted on by
7

TL;DR – While the season might have had some pacing issues, the final episode sticks the landing.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription that viewed this series.

Langston pontificates.

Reacher Review –

Well, all things must come to an end, and for Reacher, that means the end of their second season, a season full of reuniting with their old team, fighting bad guys, and stopping terrorism. That is, if they can survive this final test where the bad guys hold all the cards. In today’s review, we will first look at how the final episode landed before exploring the season as a whole.

So to set the scene, things are looking bad for Reacher (Alan Ritchson). He has turned himself in because Dixon (Serinda Swan) and O’Donnell (Shaun Sipos) have been captured by Langston (Robert Patrick). They are being tortured, and Neagley (Maria Sten) is dead. Langston holds all the cards. Or he would if Neagley was actually dead. For you see, the bad guys have not captured Reacher. They are trapped in this building with him. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode and season as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

Continue reading →

Reacher: The Man Goes Through – TV Review

Posted on by
1

TL;DR – When Reacher is at his lowest is when Reacher is his most dangerous.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription that viewed this series.

Reacher gets reamed out.

Reacher Review –

There is a point in a series-long arc when you can tell, ‘Oh, we have entered the end game’. Well, for this season, that time is now as forces that have been building all season start crashing into each other, and with Reacher, that is not a minor collision.

So to set the scene, with the death of their only true ally at the end of New York’s Finest, well, things have gotten personal. It is clear that the deal is about to go down, and Shane Langston (Robert Patrick) is leaving no strings attached. There are limited options left for Reacher (Alan Ritchson), but if there are dirty cops everywhere, maybe we need to start introducing some of those dirty cops to the contours of his fist. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

Continue reading →

Reacher: New York’s Finest – TV Review

Posted on by
3

TL;DR – There comes a point when you are on the run where it is time to start fighting back.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription that viewed this series.

A pissed off Reacher.

As we start heading towards the pointy end of the season, there comes a moment when things have to start hitting the rubber. You can only prolong the inevitable so long before you start losing the tension. This week, we can see the start of that shift happening as the team decides not to play defensive anymore.

So to set the scene, at the end of Burial, we discovered just how brutal these people are as they use a tripwire IED to kill a sniper. Their opposition is trying to erase everyone from existence, even the people working for them. Now they see the lengths their opposition is going to. Well, it is time to take the battle back to them. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

Continue reading →