Reacher Season Three, on Prime Video

[Jack] Reacher looks a lot like Paul Bunyan, or his ox, Babe, but he is more of a lone wolf by temperament. He is also skeptical of bureaucrats and government officials, despite having run the Army’s special 110^th Investigative Unit. Nevertheless, he agrees to go undercover for the DEA. The circumstances involved are unusual, dicey, and embargoed. Regardless, Reacher takes on the dangerous assignment, but the bad guys will be the ones in trouble throughout the third season of creator Nick Santora’s Reacher, adapted from Lee Child’s novel Persuader, which premieres tomorrow on Prime Video.

As viewers of season one and season two know, Reacher often generates quite a high body-count, but he lives by a code. Fortunately, one of his initial duties for Zachary Beck presents no moral qualms for Reacher. He regularly serves as the bodyguard for Beck’s son Richard, who has no involvement in his father’s smuggling business. Just what Beck smuggles is not exactly clear. That is one of the reasons why DEA Agent Susan Duffy convinces Reacher to infiltrate Beck’s operation. She also hopes to rescue her informant who worked as a domestic in Beck’s fortress like mansion.

Recher also has personal reasons for agreeing. He suspects an old enemy from his past might be in business with Beck. Reportedly, his target has amnesia, so maybe he won’t remember Reacher if they even come face-to-face—or maybe he will. Obviously, this is a tough gig, especially since Beck has Paulie, a neanderthal henchman who is even bigger and stronger than Reacher.

For backup, Reacher only has Duffy, who is one of the good guys even though she is a Red Sox fan (try doing the math on that one), her soon-to-retire mentor Guillermo Villanueva (whose back, knees, and arches are on the verge of collapse), and Steven Elliott, the rookie who botched the paperwork for a warrant, landing them in the bureaucratic wilderness. Of course, Reacher’s old comrade Frances Neagley will always back-up her former commanding officer, but he wants to protect her from his suspected nemesis.

All three seasons of Reacher are rock-solid and reasonably faithful to Child’s books. In this case, Reacher’s complicated relationships with the Becks, father and son, elevate what might otherwise seem like a relatively simple infiltrate-and-bust thriller. Aside from the imposing Ritchson (who still convincingly looks the part of Reacher), Anthony Michael Hall most stands out this season for his surprisingly complex portrayal of Zachary Beck. He is not exactly what we assume, which adds considerably to the drama.

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.