Reacher, Season Two, on Prime

In Lee Child’s novels, Jack Reacher is a decorated veteran, whose medals and citations include a Purple Heart after surviving the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing. Yet, he ultimately sabotaged his own career because he was more interested in justice than politics. Viewers will see his fateful last case as in the Military Police Corps through flashbacks when he learns somebody is killing former members of his fictional investigative unit in season two of showrunner Nick Santora’s Reacher (adapted from Child’s Bad Luck and Trouble), which premieres Friday on Prime Video.

Reacher is a blues-loving veteran, so everyone should identify and sympathize with him. After the military, Reacher took up drifting, essentially emulating the lifestyle of many of his itinerant blues heroes. Fortunately, his old Sergeant, Frances Neagley figures out a way to contact him when members of the 110^th Investigative Unit start to turn up dead.

At first, they only have one body, Calvin Franz, who always idolized the big guy, but soon two more are discovered. However, in addition to Reacher and Neagley, ladies’ man-turned-family man David O’Donnell and Reacher’s former work-wife and not-so-secret crush Karla Dixon are also present and accounted for. However, their former colleague Swan is missing-in-action. The question will be whether he stayed a friend or turned foe. The remaining 110th is lucky in one respect. Det. Gaitano Russo, the cop assigned to Franz’s case, might have a prickly personality, but he is scrupulously honest.

A whole heck of a lot of henchmen and assassins will be killed (mostly in self-defense, mostly) during the course of season two. Like the first season, each episode of Bad Luck and Trouble features plenty of gritty action and a satisfyingly high body-count. The only thing season one lacked was a strong villain, but season two rectifies that with Robert Patrick, who is appropriately ruthless as Shane Langston, the corporate head of security pulling most of the strings.

Alan Ritchson is still perfectly cast as Reacher (whose description in the Child books is nothing like little Tom Cruise). He still looks huge and has the same swagger from season one. Ritchson also quickly develops solid chemistry with Serinda Swan (from Coroner). Together, they deliver a lot more heat than the first season. Swan also shows off some serious action chops of her own that could make her the breakout star of season two.

One of the drawbacks of Reacher’s transience is it limits the opportunities to bring back memorable characters from the first season (there might be one brief exception), but the addition of Swan with Maria Sten as Neagley (who also appeared a few times in season one, but not as a featured character) and Shaun Sipos as O’Donnell compensate for their absence. The 110^th unit’s espirit de corps and rowdy camaraderie are quite appealing. Plus, Domenick Lombardozzi is terrific as the pugnacious Russo, who is somehow even credible when squaring off against the hulking Reacher.

Clearly, Santora understands why the Reacher books are popular. Instead of intricate plotting, they prioritize likable heroes and satisfying beatdowns (and not just from the “big guy”). Reacher continues to exemplify bingeable streaming, because each addictive episode flies by at warp speed. Highly recommended for fans of the books and payback-style thrillers in general, season two of Reacher starts streaming Friday (12/15) on Prime Video.