Diksha Sundriyal
Prime Video’s ‘Reacher’ returns for a third season, landing the protagonist into another storm of trouble. The story begins with Reacher seeing a young man in trouble and helping him. This isn’t out of character for him, as we have seen him do the same thing for people over and over again. This time, however, there is more to his good samaritan act. And it is an act, for sure. Over the course of its first three episodes, the season lays the ground for Reacher’s new mission, giving us a lay of the land. Still, a lot of details remain in the shadow, especially when it comes to the hero’s motivations. SPOILERS AHEAD
A Blast From the Past Leads Reacher to Make Strange Bedfellows
At the beginning of the episode, we find Reacher in a town in Maine called Abbotsville. Initially, it seems that this is just another stop to his drifter lifestyle, and nothing much has changed since we last saw him in the Season 2 finale. But then, he saves a college kid named Richard Beck from being kidnapped. He fights off the kidnapper in typical Reacher fashion, but then, he does something that seems completely out of character for him. He kills a cop. He confesses that it wasn’t intentional, and he thought that it was the kidnapper’s accomplice pulling out a gun to shoot him. But the Reacher we know rarely makes such mistakes, which raises a red flag.
Richard is grateful to Reacher, particularly because the last time he was kidnapped, his ear was cut off and sent to his father. He can only imagine what the kidnappers would have done to him this time. As a token of his gratitude, he takes Reacher to his father, Zachary, promising that he is a very rich guy and will be able to help him with the dead cop trouble. Even before he enters the Beck house, Reacher can see that Richard’s father is more than a simple businessman. On the surface, he is the owner of a company that sells rugs, but there is much more to his work.
As promised, Zachary is thankful, and after looking into Reacher’s background, he decides to hire him, even when he asks for nothing more than some money and new identity papers for a fresh start. He is set up in a room, and it is when he is left alone that the truth comes to light. Once he makes sure that there are no bugs in the room, he takes out the cell phone he had hidden in his shoe and calls someone to tell them he’s in. This someone turns out to be DEA Agent Susan Duffy. The whole kidnapping thing was a ruse to gain Richard’s trust and Zachary’s attention and getting hired in his crew was also a part of the plan. All this is because he and the DEA have the same goals.
Reacher Strikes a Deal with the DEA to Find an Old Enemy
For the agency, particularly Susan Duffy, the goal is to find dirt on Zachary and his operation so that they can finally nab him. They suspect that behind the facade of his rug-selling business, he is dealing with other stuff, especially drugs. However, he has been so efficient that he has left no traces behind for them to get to him. With their man on the inside, they hope to change that. Notably, this isn’t the first time they have had a CI in Beck’s business. Before Reacher, Duffy had a woman named Teresa who was perfect at her job. But then, one day, she went dark, and no one has heard from her since.
In addition to nabbing Beck, Duffy also wants to find Teresa. Things are also pretty personal for Reacher. He decided to help the DEA because he saw a man from his past who may or may not have a connection with Beck. In fact, Reacher first saw the man, identified as Francis Xavier Quinn, getting into a car in the middle of the street. He was shocked to see him because Quinn was supposed to have died. Apparently, he was shot and then jumped into a river where he should have died. But it turns out that he survived, mainly because the hypothermia that should have killed him prevented him from bleeding out and saved his life. Now, the man has resurfaced and Reacher cannot allow him to get away with his past crimes, as well as with whatever he is doing with Beck now.
It is yet to be revealed what exactly Quinn did, but the way Reacher talks about him, it is clear that this is a very dangerous man who is capable of doing anything. When he was in the army, he sold state secrets to make a quick buck, and his being in the drug business now does not bode anything good. He also had something to do with First Sergeant Dominique Kohl, who was Reacher’s friend, but the details remain out of reach for now. He makes the danger clear to Duffy, who already has enough on his plate, and even loops in Neagley, though he doesn’t yet tell her what exactly he is up to.
Reacher Climbs His Way Up Beck’s Inner Circle
To understand what Beck does and how he does it, Reacher needs to be there in the middle of the action. However, he finds himself being put up with mundane tasks that don’t serve his purpose at all. If anything, Reacher comes close to having his cover blown, which forces him to kill one of Beck’s men. In trying to clear up the mess, he ends up killing two more people. However, this also opens him up to a little more information. To begin with, he discovers that Beck is not the boss. All the men and security around him are not to protect him but to make sure that he does exactly what he is asked. There is someone else pulling his strings, and it is this same man, called Julius McCabe, who had Richard kidnapped and cut off his ear. It was his way to get Beck in line.
Later, surveillance leads Duffy to find Julius McCabe; only she doesn’t realize that this is the man Reacher has been looking for. Meanwhile, to get into Beck’s inner circle, Reacher stages a fight where he kills Beck’s number two. By now, he has gained the man’s trust enough to make him choose Reacher as his new No. 2. This decision is also facilitated by the fact that Reacher is the only man around him who seems to care about his son, Richard, and his well-being. To his credit, Reacher actually does care about the boy, which is why, perhaps, he would be much happier to get Quinn, aka McCabe, out of the equation and get the boot off of the Beck family’s neck.
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