REVIEW: Reacher – Season 2, Episode 7, “The Man Goes Through”

Television Reviews

“The Man Goes Through” is a great example of how intricately the second season of Reacher has been plotted. This episode is a setup for the finale, putting all the characters in place for the big showdown, but it doesn’t feel like it’s going through the motions. It’s highly entertaining and has satisfying payoffs, giving Reacher and Neagley some great moments as they make their way to Langston and his henchmen.

While Dixon and O’Donnell get Marlo Burns and her daughter to safety, Reacher and Neagley go after Lieutenant Marsh, Russo’s corrupt boss. Langston acquires an ace in the hole to play against Reacher.  A flashback shows the dissolution of the 110^th. A lecture on how catheters work is much more amusing than you’d think.

I’ve read some complaints on various sites about how the dialogue is bad this season, with Reacher having too many “corny” action hero lines; I swear, this generation doesn’t deserve cool stuff. One of the many great things about Reacher is how it harkens back to old-school action movies, and part of the fun is in Reacher’s many one-liners. As “The Man Goes Through” opens, the good guys are holed up in a hotel room, and they devise a way to hide Marlo and her daughter in Buffalo till everything blows over. In an attempt to reassure the little girl that she can get back to her normal life soon, Reacher says, “It won’t be forever; we just have to kill a few more people first.” Whether or not this makes you laugh is a good litmus test for your potential enjoyment of the show. But as with the best humor in a story, it’s not just funny on its own but speaks to Reacher’s character. Everyone else in the room knows this is a ridiculous thing to say to a kid, but Reacher – the furthest removed from children, family, friends, or anything resembling a normal life – thinks it will be comforting. The next scene has former goofball O’Donnell expertly comforting the girl by showing her how to break in a baseball cap. Since they left the military, Reacher and O’Donnell have switched roles, with O’Donnell being the responsible family man while Reacher is a free-wheeling drifter with no intention of being tied down.

*SPOILERS*

What hasn’t changed for either man or Neagley and Dixon is their sense of honor and responsibility towards each other, which was forged in the 110^th. The flashback, which is longer in “The Man Goes Through” than the ones in previous episodes, recounts the 110^th’s final mission, where they defy their commanding officer’s orders and take down the drug ring that’s been operating on the Army base. As with the line from Reacher earlier, the action is used to build the characters, in this case showing how well the 110^th functioned as a unit; each member protects the others and is, in turn, protected by them, with Reacher leading the pack in battle. But perhaps even more important  than the action scene is the moment when they all decide to go forward with the drug bust, effectively sealing their fates and destroying their military careers in the name of integrity. This is when they realize their bonds are stronger than official titles or commissions. The aftermath, when that bureaucratic colonel or whatever he is dissolves the 110^th, is when Reacher turns his back on the military, if not in action, then in attitude. It all stemmed from doing the right thing when those in power told them to turn a blind eye, and whichever roles they now fill in the social order, they’re all cut from the same cloth when it comes to honor.

That sense of honor permeates “The Man Goes Through.” Dixon tells O’Donnell he can leave to be with his family and no one will think less of him (just as Reacher did in the flashback), and O’Donnell looks almost insulted before laughing at the notion that he’d ever turn his back on them. When the two are captured, O’Donnell pays the price for his honor as the bad guys torture him and make him watch as they torture Dixon. When he learns of their capture, Reacher readily (well, sort of readily; he has a plan) gives himself up to Langston and his men, knowing torture and possibly death are coming his way as well. Neagley, whom Langston thinks is dead, could easily cut and run, but she stays, knowing she’s the only hope of saving her friends. And their honor is juxtaposed with the villains’ lack of it. Reacher confronts Marsh, a cop who sold out to the people he’s supposed to be arresting and who set up an honorable man to be killed despite his rationalizations. In the hospital, Reacher confronts the last surviving man from the ambush, and he gives up his partners rather than be tortured, in contrast to Reacher and his friends, who would die for each other. Senator Lavoy, whose offer to Reacher pays off this week, is caught in the middle of honor and dishonor, just as his character is not quite good or evil. Lavoy says that, despite lining his pockets like a thief in the night, he genuinely wanted to do what was right for his country.

There is plenty of Reacher’s righteous fury in “The Man Goes Through,” and he rewards each instance of dishonor he encounters with pain and death. He hurts Marsh and the wounded killer, makes sure he gets every drop of information he can out of them, then does away with them. The way he finally pays Neagley back for all the money she fronted him this season even fits into the honor theme; he doesn’t take all the money (which I totally would have), just what he needs for Neagley, making one of the people who forced him into this situation repay his debts. When he executes Langston’s man in the hospital, he makes sure the guy knows it’s revenge for Russo, repaying honor with honor. This one’s a bit of a stretch, but during the fight with the would-be assassin dressed as a doctor, Reacher kills the guy by dropping him onto the surgical saw, the weapon he was going to use to kill Neagley. It was an accident (“Damn, I wanted to interrogate him”) and was probably just a cool way to dispatch a bad guy, but considering how well the rest of the kills fit the theme, I wonder if there was something more intended with that. And Reacher’s response to Lavoy is appropriate for his duality; he offers neither forgiveness (“If you want absolution, talk to a priest”) nor the violent death he reserves for the wicked, just a chance to do right in the here and now.

And now, the stage is set for the final battle. Reacher is captured, but that satisfied grin on his face suggests he’s exactly where he wants to be. AM is on his way with a new cache of missiles, Langston is ready to install the guidance chips, and Neagley is gearing up to mount the rescue mission. I don’t want it to end (watching Reacher after something like Echo is such a relief), but I can’t wait to see how it plays out.