Reacher season 2: a guilty pleasure that cannot be refused (review)
Jack Reacher still hits hard in an ever more explosive season 2, adapting the 11th novel in the saga. Do you have better things to do?
Season 1 of Reacher had surprised everyone on Prime Video. The series adapted from the saga of Lee Child had something comforting. Unlike the tormented or shattered heroes who abound on the screen (yes, we think strongly of Harry Bosch here), this Reacher had neither regret nor remorse, and never bothered with any conscience issues. He acted – or, to be more precise, threw a wrench without warning. And as if to accentuate its side old school, the series adopted a format that was disappearing: the episodic story.
After Tom Cruise’s failed attempt, Prime had just found the magic formula to do justice to the very dark and tight books of the Englishman Lee Child. Directed without embellishment, cool macho fantasy embodied by a supreme actor (Alan Ritchson), Reacher – season 1 offered crime fiction fans their badaboum shoot of violence and investigation.
Good news: season 2 begins with the same dynamic. The opening says it all: as he tries to withdraw cash, Reacher notices that the woman before him is sobbing in front of the zipper. Monologue as discreet as it is cryptic (“Is that the black van on my left?““Guns?“) and off we go: the mirror cabinet walks towards the car, smashes the window with his bare hands before killing the bad guy.
The three episodes we saw are of this level. Jack Reacher investigates a series of murders decimating his former company. Hardboiled but surprisingly left-wing (the army is a den of fascists or zealous types without brains), a little humor but zero irony: a guilty pleasure that cannot be refused.
Reacher season 2: 3 episodes available on December 15 on Prime Video, then one episode per week every Friday
