Diksha Sundriyal
Prime Video’s ‘Reacher’ wraps up its second season by answering all the mysteries that were built up over its seven episodes. Reacher was called to New York by Neagley after the death of Calvin Franz, but soon, it was found that he wasn’t the only one from the 110th who’d been killed. While the deaths of Sanchez and Orozco were confirmed from the beginning, a question mark remained on the fate of Tony Swan, who turned out to be the one to start the chain of events that led to the brutal deaths of his friends. In the final episode, Reacher finally discovers what happened to him. SPOILERS AHEAD
Tony Swan’s Fate Was Sealed at the Beginning of the Season
While Tony Swan doesn’t appear in the flesh in the present timeline of ‘Reacher’ Season 2, his presence reverberates through the eight episodes, especially in the first half, where the team is still divided about his role in Little Wing and the death of the other members of the 110th. When Reacher and the remaining Special Investigators discover that Tony Swan was working at New Age, he immediately becomes a suspect. Neagley, Dixon, and O’Donnell believe that Swan is working with the bad guys and is missing because he is scared of confronting them, knowing they will kill him for betraying the team. Reacher, however, refuses to believe it because he knows Tony Swan, and he knows that no matter what it looks like, Swan could never do that to his friends.
Reacher also knows that even if Swan had turned to the dark side, he would never leave his pet dog behind. He loved the dog, and if he was running away from Reacher and the others, he would have taken his dog, too. The fact that his dog died inside the house of hunger and thirst means that Swan wasn’t in the position to run. This meant that either Swan was dead or was being held captive by the bad guys. The other three, however, disagreed until it was proven that Swan was one of the good guys.
Swan was brought into New Age by Marlo Burns, and soon, he discovered that someone was tampering with the chips in the missiles to make them look like they were faulty. He became more suspicious when he found evidence to suggest that the missiles labeled faulty would be sold to foreign forces, which would be a catastrophe for national security. He reached out to all the members of the 110th, except Reacher, because no one, except Neagely, knew how to find him. It turned out that he probably should have waited for a little more backup because he and his three friends died before they could expose Langston and New Age.
While the deaths of Franz, Sanchez, and Orozco were confirmed by their dead bodies, there was no sign of Swan. No dead body meant there was hope that he might be alive, which grew stronger when it was discovered that Swan’s retinal scan was used to sign off on the consignment of the 650 missiles that were to be sold to AM. Neagley and Dixon deduced that the scan couldn’t be taken if he was dead, which means that Swan had to be alive. It also meant that he was working with the bad guys, but later, when Marlo Burns told them the truth, they thought that Swan must be held captive somewhere.
In the end, it turns out that all their assumptions about Swan’s alive-or-dead status were wrong. He had been killed (most probably like Franz and the others, by being thrown off a plane) and had been dead all this time, as correctly deduced by Reacher. But the fact remains that his retinal scan was used to sign off on the illegal activities of New Age, and Langston explains how that happened. The villain reveals that while they killed Swan and did away with his body, they kept his one eye, which was preserved because it allowed Langston to keep his name out of the transitions.
In the end, even if the truth came out, it would be Swan’s name on the files, not Langston’s, and the latter could create a story about how Swan sold the missiles and ran away with the money. Once the deal was done and Langston had the money, he would do away with Swan’s eye as well and retire in peace. Unfortunately for him, Reacher and his friends enter the scene and completely destroy his plans, avenging the death of their friends.
