Every new season of “reacher“does nothing more than confirm that the people behind the adaptation of Lee Child’s novels to television are the right ones. And the team led by Nick Santora has delivered a 4×08 episode whose strengths are far above its weaknesses, so it will surely be – again – the most watched on streaming in the coming weeks.
As we have already said in previous reviews, season 4 of “reacher“begins with a climactic moment: our action hero is in a subway, in the cold early morning of Philadelphia, when he discovers a lady in a depressed state (Anna Merrick). As he approaches, the former military policeman tries to calm her down, and suddenly discovers that the woman is carrying a gun, but, in addition, she plans to take her own life.
What leads a woman to fulfill such a cruel destiny? Jack Reacher asks himself this more than once and thus decides to investigate what is behind that lady. Thus, she quickly discovers that she was a government official who, at the time, had access to a ‘State Secret’, which she protected on a USB memory and sent – for security – to her loved ones. The pressure unleashed by knowing what was finally inside the USB caused the woman (and her family) to be persecuted.
But not only the Government, through multiple security agencies, is behind this woman. There are also a pair of Indonesian hitwomen named Lila Hoth (Agnez Mo) and Amisha Hoth. Thus, throughout the first episodes of the season we learned how these dangerous assassins for hire were looking for the USB not for the reason that Reacher believed (a photograph of an American politician with presidential aspirations), but because in the background of the image a blackboard appeared with a formula to make a weapon of mass destruction.
After midseason, Reacher and his teammates — in this case Jacob Merrick (Christopher Rodriguez-Marquette), to Philadelphia police officer Tamara Green (Sydelle Noel), to journalist and eternal Pulitzer dreamer Russell Plum (Kevin Weisman) — have different interests beyond the USB. The former military policeman, however, is able to properly lead them until the season finale, when the confrontation with the Indonesian hitmen draws near.
Another detail that we have already mentioned in previous reviews is the way in which the team behind the series has been responsible – again – for accompanying the protagonist (Alan Ritchson) with a new and quite acceptable cast. Each one has a proper role and they all get along perfectly when it comes to finding the USB. Along with Jack, officer Tamara seems to have regained the joy of being a police officer (previously she only focused on her retirement), while police officer Jacob wants explanations for the crime of his sister and nephew and, finally, journalist Russell wants to publish the great report that will take him out of the blogs and catapult him to the major media.
Having discovered the real reason why the photography inside the USB matters (a dangerous formula capable of killing millions), Jack Reacher and his friends let Senator and presidential hopeful John Sampson know. Although with his political interests clearly defined, this character gradually reveals a singular honesty. Thus, already in episode 7, it is exposed: at a meeting to raise campaign funds, a kamikaze sent by the Indonesians seeks to kill the attendees. So, just opening the final chapter of season 4 of “reacher“We see how Sampson sacrifices himself, throwing himself at the kamikaze to end up in the sea, but with the danger completely deactivated. The initial satisfaction quickly gives way to a new concern: the Indonesians have in their possession the chemical that can expand the dangerous toxin. Thus, both force him to produce more, and threaten a criminal to spread it in a nightclub adjacent to their hideout. That’s as far as Jack Reacher has come, however.
Tamara and Jacob, great characters in this fourth season of “Reacher”.
Before the meeting, however, the retired military man along with Tamara and Jacob had to face a series of low-life hitmen, whom they defeated with a lot of trouble and suffering. Tamara suffered the consequences of seeing an explosion very close and Jacob ended up on the verge of being burned by a miserable murderer. Here it would be worth saying that, as has happened with previous seasons, it is always good when Jack’s companions (actually, Alan Ritchson) accompany him in combat and risky maneuvers. Not only because depending on others humanizes the giant hero, but because everyone can become a team, almost without knowing each other.
The final big task of episode 8 of season 4 is divided between Jack Reacher versus the Indonesian hitmen versus Tamara and Jacob trying to subdue the hitman who was going to spread the toxin in a nightclub. Director Sam Hill achieves a great job by presenting both contests interspersed. On one hand, reacher suffering cuts all over his body from the Indonesian blades. But beyond these ‘bladed weapons’, the entire fight scene between Jack and the two Asian criminals is perhaps the best thing about the final episode of this season 8. In a very ‘John Wick’ style, we see movements along several floors of an abandoned workshop that, in addition, is falling apart due to the fire. The choreography and stunt work, combined with Hill’s direction, give us a truly remarkable outcome.
Once the fights are over, we return to the topic of the dangerous toxin. After finishing off the villain who was going to spray her in a nightclub, Tamara and Jacob – who ended up getting together as a couple – go in search of Jack Reacher, who finds himself almost exhausted on the ground in front of the obsessive Foster, perhaps one of the most ruthless villains throughout the four seasons. Played by Dean Armstrong, this character proves to have almost seven lives and appears to exact revenge on our flesh-and-blood hero. Thus, when he is about to shoot him in the temple, Amisha Hoth (Anggun) appears, who, after eliminating Foster, ends up with Reacher at her feet. As he prepares to take revenge, the friends of the season: Jacob and Tamara, appear and save him.
With liters of blood spread on the track, dozens of assassins murdered, it is Jacob who has the predominant role: will he avenge the death of his sister and nephew executed by one of the two Indonesian assassins responsible? As if it were her conscience, Tamara looks at him from a distance and hopes that the man who has awakened feelings of tenderness in her will not let himself be carried away by revenge and resentment. After thinking about it and running one of his own blades across Amisha’s chest, the local police officer releases the blade. A touch of redemption and forgiveness to close season 8 of a series that always seems ready to take us from excitement to fear, and from fear to ecstasy, at the hands of an actor who, without a doubt, is the best representative of the action genre today.
