Reacher season 2 ending spoilers follow.
It's been a tense – and very personal – season for ex-Army muscleman Jack Reacher, as members of his former squad (the 110th MP Special Investigations Unit) have been tortured, shot at and thrown to their deaths from helicopters by private defence contractor/bad guy Shane Langston.
His evil deeds are all connected to a $65 million illegal arms deal involving a hi-tech missile called Little Wing that can hit any target. And since Langston will go to any lengths to make sure it goes ahead, by the end of the penultimate episode he has got two of Reacher's team – Dixon (with whom Reacher has been having an affair) and O'Donnell – tied up in his warehouse facility. Outside, Reacher and Neagley – who Langston thinks is dead – approach in a car to try and save the day and their friends.
Their attack strategy seems to involve Reacher handing himself over to Langston and his goons while Dixon and O'Donnell helplessly look on, strapped to stretchers, and Neagley hides in some bushes. Which wouldn't seem like a great plan if we didn't know that Reacher could fell a large group of men with just some punches and a handful of steely glares…
Reacher season 2 ending explained
As he walks towards Langston and his men, Reacher has a lot of work to do as the final episode begins.
He needs to find the Little Wing missiles and the microchips that make them work before Langston has the chance to sell them. He also needs to figure out whether Swan, a missing member of the 110th who worked for Langston, is crooked or not, and locate him. And he has to rescue Dixon and O’Donnell from Langston's clutches, too.
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Now inside Langston's facility, it's time for the two men to have that final-episode chat where Langston explains his plan – and that plan seems to be to send Dixon, O'Donnell and Reacher on a one-way trip off the side of a helicopter without parachutes so Langston is left with no loose ends that could incriminate him.
Neagley, meanwhile, is picking off the bad guys who were unlucky enough to get the job of guarding the outside, while waiting for a private security team hired by Senator Lavoy (who is reluctantly helping Reacher to cover his own involvement in the scheme), to help her storm the building.
Is Swan alive, and is he crooked?
While punching Reacher about a bit, Langston reveals that it will be Reacher's ex-teammate Swan who will take the fall for the illegal deal, as his name, fingerprints and eye scans were used on all the documents, proving he was aware of the entire scheme.
So that means Swan is alive and a criminal, then?
Erm, not exactly – it turns out Langston had him killed but kept Swan's finger and eyeball in a jar for fingerprints and scans that would implicate the poor guy later, with Langston's plan being that police would assume Swan had just run off with the money from the sale.
Do any of Reacher's team survive the helicopter ride?
Langston loads Dixon and O'Donnell (still tightly strapped to stretchers) onto a military helicopter and then picks up all the incriminating evidence from the room (he throws away the gross jar of Swan bits), unaware that Reacher is freeing himself from his handcuffs thanks to a handy nail he removes from his boot, or that Neagley and her team are about to storm the building.
Reacher takes out a few bad guys, while Langston decides to abandon his fellow baddies and heads for the helicopter to make his escape. Reacher goes rushing after him, grabbing the helicopter wheel as it takes off.
If the laws of gravity were otherwise, Reacher would of course just headbutt the helicopter into submission, but up it goes. As it rises, Langston opens the helicopter doors, ready to send Dixon and O'Donnell to their doom, but Reacher uses the open back to climb into the copter.
He fights with Langston, shots are fired, and Dixon rolls towards the open doors on her stretcher. Reacher grabs it and finds himself hanging out of the plane, holding onto Dixon on her stretcher while Langston and his henchman pummel him.
Dixon frees herself and climbs in as the stretcher falls to the ground. Reacher throws Langston out of the plane – even though he is (sorry, was) the person who knows where the missile sale is about to take place – and the now-freed team threaten the pilot for information.
He reveals that Langston was planning to meet an engineer who knows how to put the microchips in the missiles, ready for sale – and he knows the location of the meet.
Sinister assassin 'AM' – who is the middleman in the arms deal – arrives at a remote farmhouse with a large briefcase ready to meet Langston, only to be greeted by Reacher and the team (who have sensibly left the pilot and the engineer in a nearby barn under guard). He thinks he can talk his way out of trouble, but Dixon, O'Donnell, Neagley and Reacher all fire their weapons at him, and leave him dead on the floor.
They let the pilot and engineer go free and the relieved pair head to the helicopter – while Neagley loads up the Little Wing missile in the barn and fires it, taking out the chopper.
"I guess Little Wing works," Reacher remarks as the chopper (and the pilot and the engineer) explodes in the sky.
Reacher and his pals turn around to discover Lavoy's team are pointing guns at them, as they have instructions from Lavoy to kill them. It comes as no surprise to Reacher, however, and Lavoy's plan is foiled as a team from Homeland Security show up and arrest them and another team go to Lavoy's office to arrest him.
What happens to the team – and the $65 million?
Reacher denies all knowledge of the $65 million (that was in AM's big briefcase, of course) to Homeland Security, and we next see him walking into a diner with his battered and bruised team – and the briefcase.
Reacher secretly distributes the money to those who need it, including Swan's family, the brother of cop Russo (who died helping the team), an animal shelter (in tribute to Swan's dog, who died after Langston killed Swan), Neagley's dad, who needs home help care, and to O'Donnell's kids and Dixon's business as well.
The four surviving members of the 110th meet at night on the beach and Reacher jokes that he will only spend enough to buy a new toothbrush. The four pose for a photo, in memory of the teammates they have lost.
Reacher has one final night with Dixon (who buys him a toothbrush), and the next day goes to the bus station with Neagley. She reminds him that the 110th are his family, and watches as he boards the bus alone.
"Where are you headed?" asks a fellow passenger.
"No idea," replies Reacher as the bus leaves the city.
And that's all she wrote – for now. If you were still hunting for a season one-style Lee Child cameo by the time the finale rolled around, you can officially stop looking.
"Lee Child had a wonderful cameo in season one in the final episode, where he bumps into Reacher in the Margrave diner and says, 'Excuse me', which is really cool, because it’s kind of like Dr Frankenstein meeting the Frankenstein monster," showrunner Nick Santora said (via The Hollywood Reporter).
"Although, I’m not comparing Alan Ritchson to the Frankenstein monster — he’s way cooler and too good-looking for that. But, in following seasons, it really all depends on Mr Child’s availability.
"He’s a busy guy. But if he’s ever around in Toronto and he wants to pop into an episode, I’m sure we can figure something out, because none of us would have our jobs if it wasn’t for him."
Reacher seasons 1 and 2 are available on Prime Video.
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.
