Television Series Review of Reacher on Amazon Prime 

I watched season one of the new Amazon Prime series Reacher. This series features justice and vengeance. No redemption at this point. I’ve not read any of the Jack Reacher books but have seen the Tom Cruise movies. In the books, Jack Reacher is 6’ 5” tall. Obviously, Reacher’s size was not a focus within the Tom Cruise movies, him being ten inches shorter than that. For this series, Alan Ritchson plays Reacher. He’s known for playing Aquaman in Smallville, and more recently playing Hawk in Titans. And Ritchson is a big man. He stands 6’5” like the fictional character and is muscular. Therefore, lots of “big” jokes / comments in this series.  

Reacher walks into Margrave, GA, a fictional small town, and he’s promptly arrested for murder. Why? Because he’s not known, big, and looks suspicious. There’s more behind it, but I don’t want to spoil anything. 

One small spoiler, the murdered victim turns out to be Reacher’s brother Joe. So, no, Reacher is not the killer. 

I liked Ritchson as Reacher. His comedic timing worked. I liked his half grin during difficult conversations. Again, I have no background in the books, but Ritchson played an interesting character. I thought he acted much like Cruise did in the movies. Same walk, same facial expressions. For those not familiar with either the movies or the books, Jack Reacher is a former military special investigator. Now, he’s a wanderer who gets himself into situations, but always tries to do the right thing. For those that have read the books, this first season is based mostly on Killing Floor, book one of the Jack Reacher series.  

One thing I like about this series is that evil is evil and good is good. It’s not hard to tell them apart. Reacher always does the right thing, even if that gets him into trouble, which is does frequently. Lots of fighting and action. Epic gun battle in the last episode. I also really liked Roscoe Conklin, played by Willa Fitzgerald. She’s a feisty hometown girl, now cop. One of the goods ones. Her and Reacher take a liking to each other. She’s also the only one that can really stand up to Reacher and get away with it. She’s fearless but green, but also a fast learner. 

Another thing I liked were the flashbacks to Reacher’s childhood and teen years. Gives insight into both him and his brother. 

This isn’t really a mystery. Not a who dunnit as much as a how dunnit and why dunnit. Who the bad guys are is evident early. There are a couple twists along the way as far as who all is involved with the criminals.  

As for content, there is some nudity. Not sure why these series’ feel it necessary to work that stuff in. For example, one scene in a strip joint wasn’t necessary. Reacher and pals were meeting some low life. They could have met anywhere. Though it did give Neagley (woman who used to be under Reacher’s command, now does side jobs with him) a chance to beat some guy who got too handsy with a stripper. 

The profanity level was lower than many streaming series. On a gauge where Star Wars is a 1 and The Departed is a 10, Reacher is a 4. Contrast that to Bosch, which is closer to a 7 or 8. There’s one character, the captain of detectives of Margrave, who refuses to curse. Well, most of the time, anyway. 

Plenty of violence. The body count is high. Some of the violence is off screen, but the results of that violence is shown and is gruesome. Not quite John Wick, but plenty of action for those that like that. 

Another bone for the Smallville fans. Lana Lang is back. Kristin Kreuk, who played Lana Lang, plays the wife of a man who gets involved with the wrong people.  

The only technical fault that jumped out at me was when Reacher takes quite a beating with a crowbar, warding off most of the blows with his arms, yet doesn’t sustain any bruises. I expected his arms to be black and blue. I’m sure there were others, but I’m not one to try and find them all. 

The season definitely kept me watching. I’m looking forward to season two.