Reacher: Season Three review by Bobby Blakey
In 2012 writer Lee Child’s character Jack Reacher hit the big screen with Tom Cruise in the title role. This was followed up with a sequel in 2016 with Cruise once again reprising the role. In 2022 Amazon debuted an all-new series focusing on the character aptly titled Reacher featuring Alan Ritchson taking over the title role. The series captured the essence of the book and became a major hit now heading into its fourth season, already renewed for a fifth and spinning off the Frances Neagley character to her own series aptly titled Neagley. Now is the perfect time to revisit the third season when it comes home, but does it live up to the previous two seasons or is it reaching too far?
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Reacher follows Jack Reacher, a veteran military police investigator who has just recently entered civilian life. Reacher is a drifter, carrying no phone and the barest of essentials as he travels the country and explores the nation he once served. In season 3, Jack Reacher dives into a covert DEA mission based on Lee Child’s Persuader. After stopping a kidnapping in Maine, Reacher infiltrates the criminal empire of Zachary Beck by posing as his son’s bodyguard. His objective: rescue a missing DEA agent and dismantle a smuggling ring—while confronting Francis Xavier Quinn, a deadly adversary from his past.
I have never read any of the books and do really like the movies, but one of the things that was a constant issue I heard about was Cruise and his lack of really embodying the novel’s description of Jack Reacher. Ritchson is clearly closer to the large imposing stature that the character is supposed to have and does a great job with the character in this series. Once again, he brings great confidence and swag to the role that makes you believe that this Reacher can back up anything he says or plans to do and he wastes no time in cracking some skulls.
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Heading in I was a bit worried it might not have the same punch that I thought this character needed, but I had nothing to worry about and has maintained the power every season. This show brings everything you could want with a decent enough mystery for Reacher to get involved in, plenty of action and more humor than I had expected. This story felt less of a mystery this time around but isn’t without its surprises as well as finally someone as imposing as Reacher himself that lends to one of the best fights of the series so far.
They once again reunite Reacher with his old team which brings even more action fun to the mix complete with leading into the Neagley spin-off series that is debuting soon. While I like Reacher running solo it does give some humanity and depth to the character getting to see him interact with those closest to him even if only briefly. The history connected to Reacher made for one of the better villains from the series as opposed to the usual one note ones we had in the previous seasons.
This collection includes all eight episodes of the third season and while it doesn’t offer any bonus content, this time around the show alone is enough for it to be a must have for any fan of the series. Grab your copy of Reacher: Season Three when it hits Blu-ray and DVD on August 25th from Prime Video and Paramount Home Entertainment.