Reacher Faces His Biggest Threat Yet In Season 4, And It's Not What You Think [Set Visit]

This article contains spoilers for "Reacher" Season 4, Episode 4, "Karambits and Pieces."

Alan Ritchson's Jack Reacher doesn't just go around punching dudes. Every now and then, he beds one of his cohorts, typically whichever sultry cop happens to be helping him out on his latest case. In "Reacher" Season 3, it was Sonya Cassidy's DEA agent Susan Duffy, and in the debut season, it was Willa Fitzgerald's officer Roscoe Conklin. In Season 4, however, Ritchson's hero is smitten with the bad guy. That is, Reacher seems to have taken a liking to Agnez Mo's Lila Hoth, who, as revealed in Episode 4, looks to be the main villain of the entire season. /Film attended a set visit for "Reacher" Season 4 where Agnez Mo spoke about how Lila actually represents possibly the biggest threat Reacher has yet faced.

"Reacher" Season 4 is based on the Lee Child book with the most bonkers reveal yet, 2009's "Gone Tomorrow." Those who've read the book will know about Lila Hoth's nefarious aims and her true identity, which are revealed towards the end of Child's novel. In the show, that comes in Episode 4. The installment sees Lila and her supposed mother, Amisha Hoth (Anggun), confronted in their hotel room by a gang of henchmen. Instead of backing down, the pair draw their karambits (curved knives used in Indonesia) and take out the entire squad.

Lila and Amisha's true nature has been revealed, raising the question of what on Earth the writers have planned for the last four episodes of the season. According to Agnez Mo, it will be a heck of a challenge for Reacher, who for the first time might have found somebody he can care about beyond a motel room one-night stand. Unfortunately for him, she's a ruthless killer.

"Reacher" Season 4 sees Alan Ritchson play the hits. But if there's one wild card, it's Agnez Mo's Lila Hoth. The actor is primarily known in Indonesia for her music, becoming one of the country's biggest pop stars before transitioning to the United States where she recorded singles with the likes of T.I. and Timbaland. She acted throughout that time, appearing on multiple Indonesian TV shows before becoming a judge on "The Voice Indonesia." Now, she's returning to acting in her most high-profile role yet outside of her native country.

Lila Hoth was introduced in "Reacher" Season 4, Episode 1 as the daughter of Anggun's Amisha Hoth. Soon after, she claimed to actually be a journalist trying to take down Marc Blucas' Congressman John Sampson before he could become President. Along the way, Reacher appeared to take a liking to Lila. During a car journey together, Sydelle Noel's detective Tamara Green asks Reacher why he needs to visit Lila alone. "I have to go alone," he says while giving a look that says, "I want to go alone." Later, when Lila and Reacher check into a motel, we get the obligatory love scene. But this time, Reacher seems to have a deeper connection with his motel mistress.

According to Agnez Mo, the real threat comes more from that very connection. "What I like about the season is [...] you could see that [Reacher] almost falls for Lila," she said. "I think that's interesting, because it's almost like you didn't really see that in other seasons. It's always been like, 'Oh, it's physical attraction.' But this is almost like she's really pulling and pushing him into thinking that, 'Oh, do I actually fall for this lady?'"

"Reacher" Season 3 saw the show get its mojo back after a dodgy second season. By far the most memorable part of the eight episodes was when Alan Ritchson's hero engaged in a protracted brawl with Olivier Richters' behemoth of a bodyguard Paul Van Hoven, in what was easily the most brutal fight in "Reacher" history. (Ritchson even suffered a real injury while filming the finale fight.) Instead of trying to go bigger this season, however, the writers have confronted Reacher with a more subtle but potentially more dangerous threat in Lila Hoth.

As Agnez Mo explained during /Film's set visit:

"The past seasons have always been just 'strong man against another strong man.' And this one, there's emotions attached to the fighting. There's a reason why sometimes [Reacher] would pull back, because he remembers that 'Wait, this is the woman that connects with me.' And that's the crazy thing about Lila is that she knows that, and she knows how to play that. She knows how to play being the vulnerable woman, damsel in distress, and then she knows how to make him feel like she's the only woman that understands him."

In that sense, choosing "Gone Tomorrow" as the book on which to base Season 4 was an inspired choice on the part of showrunner Nick Santora and the producers. It allows them to circumvent the problem of having to outdo the Paulie fight from Season 3 by going in a completely different direction. Time will tell just how big a threat Lila poses, as there are still four more episodes to go. But things ain't looking great for Reacher at this point.