REVIEW: Reacher – Season 3, Episode 3, “Number 2 with a Bullet”

Television Reviews

Reacher’s three-episode premiere ends with “Number 2 with a Bullet,” a fast-paced, exciting, funny episode that moves the story forward so much that it makes you think you’re further along in the season than you really are. The fairly simple plot the first two episodes presented is not what it seems, and while some of Reacher’s undercover methods remain foolish, leading to some frustrating scenes, most of this episode is the show doing what it does best.

Angel Doll’s death complicates Reacher’s position in Zachary Beck’s outfit. Reacher must escape the mansion and help Duffy search the shipyard for Teresa Daniels while he covers up Angel Doll’s murder. Beck and his men gear up for a major shipment as Reacher is ordered to guard Richard on a shopping trip.

“Number 2 with a Bullet” immediately deals with the fallout of Reacher’s actions in “Truckin’,” which ended with Reacher brutally murdering Angel Doll and hiding his body under a desk. On paper, this is good; Reacher’s actions, however necessary, have consequences, and Beck is obviously going to wonder why Angel Doll is suddenly unreachable, especially after telling his bosses he has important information for them. And the blame would logically fall on Reacher, since he was the last person to see Angel Doll alive. Unfortunately, the writers have not cracked how to make Reacher’s undercover work make sense, so this leads to the worst scene in the episode by a mile. Reacher is brought to Beck’s office to explain to him and Duke what happened to Angel Doll and why there are elements of the attempted kidnapping that don’t make sense – the truck used by the assailant is registered to one of Beck’s rivals, but the driver matches no one working for him, for example. Reacher talks his way out of this, but once again, he’s too obvious in his questions and responses, clearly trying to get more information out of Beck. Not only does this make Reacher look bad at undercover work, which he shouldn’t be, but it makes Beck and Duke look stupid for trusting him. Worse, the show doesn’t seem to understand that Reacher is bad at this because it never comments on it.

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Fortunately, things get much better from there. Reacher has three big missions in “Number 2 with a Bullet,” and he shows much better judgment in all of them, which goes a long way towards making up for the clunky way his undercover work began. First, he has to sneak out of Beck’s grounds and meet up with Duffy so they can investigate Beck’s shipyard, where he left Angel Doll’s body. Once there, he’s able to cover his tracks with Angel Doll, hiding his body in one of the shipping containers that, he surmises, never get checked – and then hiding the bodies of two of Angel Doll’s associates who stumble upon him and Duffy and get a lethal dose of Reacher justice. Through this and a well-timed phony email from Duffy (by the way, the “Nomar4Eva” password reminded me of the “Boston Teens” sketch from Saturday Night Live back when it used to be a comedy show), Reacher sets up his third mission: a raid on what Beck now believes are the whereabouts of Richard’s kidnappers. Here, Reacher accomplishes several things: he convinces Beck that the kidnapping was legit; he establishes it as an inside job that Angel Doll and his missing associates were part of; he makes Beck paranoid about traitors in his camp; and he not only kills Duke but takes his place as Beck’s second-in-command. This is impressive for one episode, and it’s executed so much better than a lot of the previous undercover stuff. Now, Reacher embodies the title of this episode, and he’s even better placed to figure out what Beck is up to.

But Reacher isn’t the only one the title refers to, and the second job he’s given in “Number 2 with a Bullet” fleshes out the plot even more, giving us a new perspective on Zachary Beck. When Beck has Reacher escort Richard into town, Reacher coaxes some vital information from the boy (after saving him from a bunch of townies who don’t like the trouble his rich father causes them). Perhaps most importantly, he gets confirmation of what Angel Doll told him in the previous episode: Beck is not the mastermind of whatever criminal enterprise is going on at his estate. In fact, Beck is almost a hostage, being forced into operating as a front for the real bad guy, someone named Julius McCabe. McCabe was behind Richard’s first kidnapping, and the towering Paulie was the one who cut Richard’s ear off, all to keep Beck in line. I like this a lot; ultimately, Beck doesn’t even seem like all that bad a guy. He’s helping McCabe to protect his son; before that, he was only guilty of greasing some wheels to get his ships through customs easier. It also makes his promotion of Reacher more logical; even under the best circumstances, he can’t trust any of his other henchmen because they really work for McCabe. But Reacher works directly for Beck and doesn’t even know McCabe exists (as far as Beck knows), and he’s saved Richard twice while the others are the ones who kidnapped and tortured him. Details like this go a long way towards selling a far-fetched plot, and while Reacher season 3 has definitely stumbled in that department, it looks like it’ll get more believable from here on.

Despite moving so quickly, there are still questions “Number 2 with a Bullet” leaves open. Who is Julius McCabe? The obvious answer is Quinn, the traitor Reacher wants to find and pay back, and Duffy’s surveillance of the shipyard suggests this is true. But is this misdirection? Quinn is obviously involved, but he could be just a hireling like Duke and Paulie; maybe there’s another player who’s actually pulling the strings. Right now, I have no idea who that could be, so the smart money is on Quinn for the time being. What are McCabe’s men using Beck’s company to transport? Duffy and the DEA assume it’s drugs, but that’s not necessarily true. Consider that Quinn, who may be McCabe, was selling secrets to foreign governments, and Frankie is a former soldier as well; maybe it’s something bigger than organized crime, something with national security implications. And why are the bad guys keeping Teresa Daniels alive? Duke said they didn’t even know her real name, so it must not be about who she is. There’s plenty more for Reacher to learn in the next five weeks.

Other than that, “Number 2 with a Bullet” is a lot of fun, which is Reacher’s main draw. Reacher gets in some fights this time, killing two more low-level thugs before teaching some tough guys a lesson when they mess with Richard. It’s fun seeing an unstoppable force like Reacher deal some damage to thugs like this, and I’m also glad that, while Duffy can hold her own, the show makes it clear that she’s not some superhero who’s going to wipe the floor with guys bigger than she is; she needs Reacher to save her life. (I also got a big laugh out of her reaction to Reacher showing up in nothing but a Speedo after swimming to her from the mansion.) Reacher has some great one-liners here and there, and I enjoyed his assessment of ice cream, which reflects the simplistic, Spartan lifestyle he leads. And while she’s had limited screen time so far, it seems like a given that Neagley will be arriving to back up Reacher soon. I prefer the first two seasons so far, but season 3 of Reacher feels like it’s finding its groove.

Let us know what you thought of “Number 2 with a Bullet” in the comments!

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