Following a hit first season in 2022, Prime Video's Reacher is back with Alan Ritchson returning in the title role as the ass-kicking ex-military policeman turned drifter, who investigates crimes, head-butts bad guys with his impressively-sized dome and comes to the aid of little old ladies as he wanders the USA with his sole possession (his beloved toothbrush).
Ritchson certainly looks the part – fans of the Lee Child novels were notoriously vocal when Tom Cruise was cast in the role for the movies Jack Reacher and Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, since Jack is supposed to be a 6ft 5in wall of muscle with a 50-inch chest and blonde hair.
In the first season, Ritchson proved he had the on-screen humour needed to play a role that isn't dissimilar to the 1970s kitsch series The Incredible Hulk, where Bruce Banner drifted from place to place helping those in need (of course, Reacher doesn't turn green before he pounds the crap out of people).
The downside of the first season – which was based on Child's debut Jack Reacher novel Killing Floor – was that it was just a bit dull, with the plot focusing on the corrupt lawmen, police and businessmen in a small town (yawn), and Reacher being accused of murder just because he drifted into the wrong place at the wrong time while wearing thrift store clothes. (Don't get us started on how unlikely it would be that this man mountain would find shirts and jeans in a second-hand store that would actually fit him).
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We got a bit of his backstory (murdered brother, dead mum, etc) and some impressive fight scenes (including one in a prison bathroom with a nice bit of eye-gouging), but not much character or depth – sorry, but we want our pulpy action heroes to have a bit of nuance nowadays.
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Happily, the second season of Reacher delivers what was missing in the first – but not by giving Ritchson more screen time or sharper dialogue.
Instead, we get more character, more humour, a more involving story and a far better season all around thanks to the addition of three characters – all former members of Reacher's Special Investigations military unit (the 110th) who get in contact with their former boss when one of their number is found brutally murdered.
It turns out the poor guy was beaten, tortured and then thrown from a helicopter, and with another ex-member of the 110th presumed missing, Reacher abandons his loner existence for a little while and reunites with his fellow special investigators: Karla Dixon (Serinda Swan), a forensic accountant, David O'Donnell (Shaun Sipos), a family man who is now a lawyer and private eye, and Frances Neagley (Maria Sten), an investigator with haptephobia (a fear of being touched) who briefly came to Reacher's rescue in the first season.
Together they decide to find out what happened to their friends – and we get some nice flashbacks of their time in the military as a team that reveal much about all of them, not just Reacher – as they realise any one of them could be the next target.
Watch Reacher season 2 on Prime Video
Ritchson himself has explained how Reacher-plus-friends makes for a much-improved second season.
"I think what's great about this is that you basically have, like, four Reachers running around working on this case," he said.
"They're all equally capable, they're all ferocious fighters. Everybody knows each other and there's a special banter – there's obviously a lot of history there.
"So that feeling of camaraderie, I think, is something that's gonna translate really well this year. Just the fact that everybody's so capable alongside him this time is gonna make it a lot of fun."
He's not wrong – the best moments in the new season are those that feature Reacher with his ex-teammates, who know him well enough to tease him about his drifter lifestyle (and his attachment to that toothbrush).
That doesn't mean there's any less action, however – based on Child's 11th novel Bad Luck and Trouble, season two delivers from the opening scene when our hero comes to the aid of a woman who has been carjacked (by punching out the perpetrator and smashing his head with the car door, of course) and doesn't slow the pace for its eight-episode run. In fact, the action sequences are bigger and better than in the first season, and the fight scenes are as bloody and fun as you'd expect.
It's got a couple of great guest performances too, from Domenick Lombardozzi as NYPD detective Russo, and Robert Patrick as defence contractor Shane Langston (listen out for a fun Terminator 2 reference from him in the first episode).
In the end, however, what makes this season so much fun is that it is all about the team, and two members of the group in particular.
While there is banter from O'Donnell ("Don't go getting a big head") and some steamy looks between Reacher and Dixon, the most enjoyable dynamic is the one between Reacher and his old friend Neagley, who knows Reacher better than anyone else.
It's Neagley who first contacts Reacher when their friend's body is found (by sending him a coded message via an ATM receipt because Reacher the drifter doesn't have a phone), and their relationship forms the core of the new season as they catch up, trade barbs and pummel bad guys together.
Ritchson and Sten's scenes provide the series' heart and all the best moments – to the point that we're really hoping Sten is signed up for the already-announced season three. (Neagley does appear in four more of Child's 28 – at last count – Jack Reacher novels, so there is hope we'll see her again even if the Reacher team remain faithful to the books as they have done so far.)
While we get that Reacher being a drifter is part of his brooding charm, Neagley's rapport with her former boss gives our muscular hero that extra depth that this punchy action series (now with added heart) really needed.
Reacher is available on Prime Video.
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Freelance film & TV writer, Digital Spy
Critic and writer Jo Berry has been writing about TV and movies since she began her career at Time Out aged 18. A regular on BBC Radio, Jo has written for titles including Empire, Maxim, Radio Times, OK!, The Guardian and Grazia, is the author of books including Chick Flicks and The Parents’ Guide to Kids’ Movies.
She is also the editor of website Movies4Kids. In her career, Jo has interviewed well-known names including Beyonce, Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, Kiefer Sutherland, Tom Cruise and all the Avengers, spent many an hour crushed in the press areas of award show red carpets. Jo is also a self-proclaimed expert on Outlander and Brassic, and completely agrees that Die Hard is a Christmas movie.
