Bullet Points: Reacher (S1 Ep1) “Welcome to Margrave”
The new Jack Reacher series, simply titled Reacher, has hit Prime Video and after watching just one episode I am confident I’ll be watching the other 7 episodes in Season 1 and once I am done, I will not be surprised if I am asking when Season 2 will be available…
- What Kind of Pie Was That?: Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson) has arrived in the small town of Margrave, Georgia and is hungry for a piece of pie… but earlier the physically impressive man (sorry Tom Cruise) was seen near the scene of a murder and before he can enjoy his black coffee and peach pie, he has a couple of Margrave’s finest pointing their guns at him and arresting him as a possible murder suspect.
- Margrave PD: Two key characters are introduced once Reacher arrives at police headquarters, Roscoe (Willa Fitzgerald), the female officer who processes Reacher when he arrives and Margrave’s head (and only) detective Finlay (Malcolm Goodwin). It is obvious that Roscoe is impressed with the hulking Jack Reacher in more ways than one, especially after digging into his personal background. She also doesn’t buy him as a murderer.. Finlay seems more intimidated than impressed by Reacher, but stands his ground and does not cut Reacher loose even after Reacher’s alibi checks out and after another man, Paul Hubble , confesses to the murder… who the police track down after his name and number was found on a piece of paper hidden in the dead man’s shoe!
- Behind Bars: We get our first taste of Jack Reacher in action when he and Hubble are moved to the prison, while they wait to appear before the judge. Now they were supposed to be kept away from gen pop, since at this point they have not been convicted of anything, but that does not happen… which is bad for the prisoner who shows up sizing up the fresh meat that is Paul Hubble, but good news for action fanatics because Reacher steps in and diffuses the situation in a swift and violent fashion. Another incident in the shower room gives Reacher another chance to obliterate and bloody those foolish enough to step up to him… and when the prison guards break it up and are astonished that Reacher and Hubble were even in that part of the prison… Reacher quickly realizes there’s something rotten in
DenmarkMargrave. - Skin in the Game: The source of the rottenness is from the local rich guy KJ (Chris Webster), Reacher and KJ have a face to face after Reacher is released and finds himself spending some time in Margrave before he can catch the next bus out of town. Reacher leaving Margrave would be good news for KJ, but Reacher’s plans to leave town soon change after Finlay wants to see Reacher down at the morgue and that’s when we get the big reveal… the dead body has been identified as Joe Reacher, Jack’s brother! Now it is personal and Jack Reacher is going to burn whoever is responsible!
I am not sure you could have asked for a better premiere episode than the one Reacher provided. Alan Ritchson really brings it as Jack Reacher and his physical presence jumps off the screen (where his predecessor Tom Cruise relied on his star power). I had seen some of Ritchson’s work in the past, but seeing him in Reacher makes me wonder why he has not been cast as an action lead before this. There is definitely a relationship being teased between Reacher and Roscoe and a little “will they or won’t they?” never hurts. I also like that both Roscoe and Finlay are portrayed at being extremely competent at their jobs and not bumbling small town cops… although neither are a match for the experience and skills of Reacher.
At this point the KJ character is the wild card in the series… we only see him briefly in Episode 1 and the set up kind of gave me a bit of a Road House vibe. You don’t know how happy I will be if there’s a scene of KJ in his truck driving or more accurately weaving back and forth on a two lane road while listening to “Sh-Boom” by The Crew Cuts. Looking forward to seeing what KJ brings to the table as the main antagonist and just how evil he truly is…
If you’ve been looking forward to some Bonus Bullet Points, you’re in luck…
- Reading Rainbow: Jack Reacher is a character that was created by author Lee Child and featured in 26 novels. This season of Reacher is based on the novel Killing Floor.
- Familiar Faces: Willie C. Carpenter plays Mosley, Margrave’s barber and a source of information for Jack Reacher. I instantly recognized Carpenter from his work as Elijah Roper in the JCVD/John Woo classic, Hard Target… Kristin Kreuk plays Charlene Hubble, the wife of Paul Hubble, who may or may not know more about what kind of shadiness her husband has gotten involved in. I’ll always think of Kreuk as the lovely Lana Lange from Smallville or as the dirty girl that Scotty didn’t know about in Eurotrip.
- Flashbacks: There are brief flashbacks to Jack’s childhood as an Army brat which help establish Reacher’s origin story and that trouble always seems to find him.
