Reacher Season 3 Review: There’s Always a Bigger Fish, and Its Name is Paulie 

(This season three review is spoiler-free)

Alan Ritchson is back as everyone’s favorite large drifter for Reacher Season 3 on Amazon Prime. The latest season, based on Lee Child’s novel Persuader, is a return to the small town USA feel, as Reacher finds himself in Maine working with DEA agents while chasing a ghost from his past.

The opening to this season has you seriously questioning everything before things are made clear. A terrific misdirect, and escalation of circumstances find Reacher saving Richie (Johnny Berchtold, Gaslit) from an attempted kidnapping. What starts off, seeming like yet another example of trouble finding him wherever he goes, turns out to be something he’s very much seeking out. The rescue puts him in the good graces, and employment of, Richie’s father Beck (Anthony Michael Hall, The Dark Knight), something that is especially useful to DEA agent Duffy (Sonya Cassidy, The Man Who Fell to Earth) and her team working off the books to connect him to someone they believe to be a huge drug supplier. That person turns out to be Quinn (Brian Tee, Expats), someone Reacher believed he had killed in the past.

After Duffy’s informant posing as a secretary goes missing, she needs someone else on the inside to provide information to help them find the girl. While Reacher often goes out of his way to help those in need, his primary motivation here is simple revenge. Their common enemy took someone from him, and he’s willing to do all he can to earn Beck’s trust, find Quinn, and make sure he stays dead this time.

Some fans were disappointed that season two moved away from the character largely working alone, always being the smartest and most capable person in the room. Instead, last season, the story surrounded him with a fun bunch of his very capable former investigators. In addition to a larger team, the scale of the season had a much bigger action movie feel to it, and ultimately some fans loved it while others were critical. It was actually a great way to open future installments up to bring back a familiar face when needed.

There is one familiar face that’s always appreciated. Through each season there has been another constant, and that’s Frances Neagley (Maria Sten, Swamp Thing). Whether you want Reacher to seem like a one-man army or not, Frances is a great character. She makes him better and immediately elevates the show when she gets in on the action. It makes complete sense why Amazon recently announced a spinoff show centered around her and her confident persona.

While Frances remains great, not everyone from the newly introduced cast fits as well, and some elements of the story fall flat as well. The DEA trio of Duffy, Guillermo (Roberto Montesinos, We Bought a Zoo) – who everyone thinks should be retired, including him, and Eliot (Daniel David Stewart, Catch-22), who seems more like an out of place intern than an agent, are an odd grouping. It’s not a knock on the actors in the roles, but real DEA agents would likely be miffed by their representation.

Cassidy does well portraying Duffy as someone with a tough exterior from Boston (Bostonians will have to judge the accent), unwilling to take crap or play by the rules, but she also isn’t the most likable the series has seen. She did admittedly coerce her naive and essentially innocent criminal informant into going undercover in the first place, thus requiring her rescue and subsequent trail of carnage it requires. Aside from that, the romantic entanglement between her and Reacher seems more forced and unnecessary this time around. It doesn’t seem to suit either of them, but it does provide a few more opportunities to get Ritchson shirtless, so it was probably a means to an end for the writer’s room.

His developing relationship with Richie looks to provide some emotional depth, as he tries his best to mentor him a bit, and protect him both from bullies in town, and from the eventual blowback that’s coming once everything gets out in the open and he makes his move to take down Beck. Their interactions provide some comedic moments, as Reacher treats him respectfully but doesn’t mince words or coddle him, but ultimately it’s Riche’s relationship with his father that becomes more interesting to see play out. Anthony Michael Hall has the unique opportunity to portray all the typical notes of a powerful criminal, but also one that’s ultimately powerless. In terms of displaying range, his role provides the largest opportunity afforded to any character, and he rises to the occasion effortlessly.

The backstory of Reacher’s obsession with Quinn is explored for the majority of Episode 4, “Dominique,” named for his investigator protege (Mariah Robinson, Act Your Age) that Quinn tortured and killed. It’s a harrowing story full of tension that offers more insight into events that have shaped his life, and unfortunately one that left him mournful and regretful. It also left him a job to finish because he assumed he had killed Quinn once before but won’t leave anything to chance next time. Apparently shooting someone point blank in the head and having them fall off a cliff just doesn’t work like it used to.

The flashback driven episode slows down the current narrative that to this point was running at a frenetic pace, but it’s also the most compelling one that we get this go around. It’s an issue when the events condensed down to just one episode outshine the season as a whole, even if it’s all connected. It really feels like his time working with Dominique could have been a season of its own, and then there would have been some emotional investment to learning that Quinn was still alive in Maine. Ritchson is terrific though, and brings the stoic resolve and relentlessness required of him as he marches towards their final reckoning.

Now, the whole reason for the title of this review. The main attraction of the season is the inevitable showdown between Beck’s massive henchman Paulie (Olivier Richters, Black Widow) and Reacher. It’s teased from the moment they appear on screen together, and when it finally comes to fruition in the finale, it’s entirely worth the wait. Richters is one of the few humans that makes Ritchson look normal by comparison. Something that’s obviously absurd to fathom. The fight between these two titans is extensive, and takes place across multiple set pieces, with the brutality escalating throughout. In a season where not everything works, this does with muscles to spare, as does the finale in its entirety.

At this point you know what to expect from Reacher, it’s a fun action-forward show, with some underrated comedic moments that break up its more serious elements. Lee Child has written plenty of stories for the team behind the series to continue to pull from, and with Ritchson in the role, they have the perfect actor to bring them to life. A fourth season has already been announced, but for now, continue to check out new episodes releasing Thursdays on Prime.

Reacher Season 3 drops new episodes every Thursday on Prime Video.