Reacher Season 2's Penultimate Episode Lets Jack Reacher Break The Rules Again
This post contains spoilers for "Reacher" season 2, episode 7.
Jack Reacher has never been one to abide by the rules. In Lee Child's "Persuader," the seventh novel in the "Jack Reacher" series, Reacher goes out of his way to work for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to crack down on a trafficker, deliberately breaking a handful of official rules just to do the right thing. This kernel of dogged perseverance has always been an integral part of Reacher's personality in every iteration of his character, and "Reacher" season 2 continues this tradition by allowing him to break the rules yet again.
In "Reacher" season 2's seventh and penultimate episode, Reacher and his team — his colleagues at the 110th Special Investigations Unit years ago — are backed against the wall thanks to the machinations of Shane Langston (Robert Patrick) and the elusive A.M. (Ferdinand Kingsley). In the previous episode, "New York's Finest," NYPD detective Guy Russo (Domenick Lombardozzi) sacrificed himself for the cause, while Reacher learned more about Operation Littlewing and how close New Age is to arming the missiles that could kill thousands. While these developments mean that the team's morale is at an all-time low, Reacher is not the kind of person to just sit around and do nothing — a sentiment that is reinforced through flashbacks to his final days as Major of the 110th, in which he decides to disobey orders to see a drug bust through to the end.
In the present, Langston calls Reacher and informs him that he has his friends, Dixon (Serinda Swan) and O'Donnell (Shaun Sipos), and that he has no choice but to walk right into Langston's base. What will Jack Reacher do to save his friends? The answer is anything and everything.
Reacher has a history of defying orders for the right reasons
A major chunk of the episode outlines the events that went down during the final days before the 110th was dismissed from service after their investigation into Operation Kite Runner was brought to an abrupt halt. Previously, we saw every team member, especially Reacher and Dixon, work hard to track down the details of the drug deal. Still, Lt. Colonel Hortense Fields (Josh Blacker) stopped the operation right before they were about to bust it open. While Fields was initially supportive of the investigation and even congratulated the 110th on their efforts when they recovered 48 bricks of unadulterated heroin, he ordered them to stop as he believed that the case would interfere with the promotion of a high-ranking Army personnel.
Not one to leave investigations unfinished, Reacher rallied his team and gave them a choice: to either help him carry out one last mission unofficially or leave while still keeping their heads held high. Everyone backed him up in his decision, allowing them to crack down on the drug deal right before it came to pass while also recovering the rest of the drugs stashed inside the tires of combat vehicles. A tense confrontation ensued after the cartel arrived, and Reacher and Co. gunned down the criminals and completed their mission despite being officially ordered not to.
The Operation Kite Runner flashbacks not only cement Reacher's propensity towards not doing things by the book but also establish the unflinching trust that the 110th shared years ago. Reacher's team would follow him to the ends of the Earth to help him crack cases, no matter how dangerous they might be. And Reacher would do the same when Nixon and O'Donnell get kidnapped by Langston.
Jack Reacher is a terrifying one-man unit
Several instances in the Jack Reacher lore paint him as a man who is simply built different. For instance, in "Tripwire," Reacher is shot in the chest while protecting a friend, and such a bullet wound would have been fatal for anyone, given the lack of a bulletproof vest. However, it is revealed that Reacher had worked so hard to thicken his pectoral muscles while working as a pool digger (his day job to help pay the bills) that the bullet had not even pushed past his rib cage. As outlandish as this sounds, this is a quintessentially Reacher thing to do, and there are many instances in which he has pushed through with the help of brute strength and sheer willpower alone.
When Langston taunts Reacher that his friends will die at his hands if he doesn't show up, Reacher lies that Neagley (Maria Sten) is dead and that he will be entering the base unarmed. While this is a risky maneuver, given how fortified Langston's base is, Reacher makes this ballsy, split-second decision so that Neagley can be a valuable asset when the time comes. While Neagley points out that Reacher might die, he simply states that as long as living and dying is "done properly, there's nothing much to regret," and that he won't die without putting up a good fight.
At the end of the episode, Reacher enters the base with a single paperclip concealed in his hand as "Super Bon Bon" by Soul Coughing blares in the background. While there's no way to predict what might go down in the finale, it is bound to be badass, with Reacher at the nexus of it all.
New episodes of "Reacher" premiere on Fridays on Prime Video.