Reacher the guyâs affection for cheap motels is a boon for TV production budgets, because Reacher the show can travel to âLos Angelesâ while its characters barely leave a drab gasâfood-lodging backdrop that could really be anywhere. Thatâs what happens here in Episode 7, the second-to-last installment of season 3, as Reacher and Duffy take LA in pursuit of something actionable on Quinnâs operation. They hook up with Darien Prado (Greg Bryk), the California-based drug dealer whose large firepower purchases first put Quinn on DEA radar. And while their pressure on Prado succeeds in his calling Zachary Beck to set up a âmeetâ â more on that in a second â the real hook-up is between Reacher and Duffy back at their tacky motel. Ainât no Villanueva on this trip. Itâs rug burn-making time.  Â
Reacher and Duffyâs mutual attraction is driven by their mutual affection for how they get shit done. Reacher likes Duffyâs selflessness and integrity on the job, and sees her commitment to saving Teresa Daniel as analogous to his avenging Dominique Kohl. Still, as she initiates, he briefly withdraws. Remember âWhat the shit?â They said they werenât gonna do this anymore. But the big lug revealing a sliver of emotional vigor has Duffy wanting to consummate their de facto office romance.
The point of using Prado was to regain vetted access to Beck after Reacherâs cover was blown. And once Reacher and Duffy are suddenly back in Maine â no scenes of Reacher offering his passport to TSA, or pedantically explaining his lack of luggage â theyâre joined by a new member of the team. Oh shit. Now Neagleyâs officially in this fight? Quinn and his lackeys hate to see her coming.
Itâs Neagley who meets with Zachary Beck. And as they watch from a distance, Reacher and Duffy note Beckâs new ear bandage. Itâs an indicator both of Quinn punishing him, and probably his intention to exterminate Zachary and Richard entirely. âReacher is your last hope,â Neagley explains to Beck. If he works with them to determine the location of Quinnâs latest arms deal, theyâll work to prevent Zachary and Richard from getting snuffed by the sadistic underworld operator who holds people hostage inside their own lives.
Zachary agrees. How could he not? Becoming Quinnâs pawn destroyed his relationship with his son, something he always knew â âI was a bastard,â he tells Richard â but finally sees with real clarity in light of recent events. Itâs a nice scene between Anthony Michael Hall and Johnny Berchtold, a father-son heart-to-heart that also galvanizes them against Quinn, a guy who deserves every single ounce of pain thatâs nearly certain to come his way. When Quinn isnât humiliating the Becks for his own entertainment, heâs telling Teresa Daniel â who is already his prisoner, and who is already under the forcible influence of his drugs â how he would personally harm her, if she wasnât about to be sold into sex slavery as the sick bonus on top of a black market weapons deal. This guyâs the worst!
The entirety of Quinnâs awfulness has also inspired Duffy and Villanueva to re-emerge as actual federal agents. The Reacher-Duffy alliance was giddily throwing blows on henchmen and operating entirely outside of official channels, but now itâs receiving pushback from an ATF higher-up. And Duffy called them. Somehow they didnât know their own undercover agent was murdered? There is a strange friction whenever Reacher runs its usual extralegality up against regulatory oversight, and itâs no different here. During a meeting at the ATF offices, Reacher fills a corner awkwardly while Duffy takes responsibility for the chaos and death her unsanctioned investigation caused. The ATF guy says his people will take point from here on out. (âClean up the rest of your mess.â) But that gives Reacher the kind of opening that only the warped reality of Reacher can make sound plausible.
âThe man behind this? Xavier Quinn? He was mine before he was yours. Or theirs.â Could a guy with no affiliation or jurisdiction beyond âformer military investigatorâ really hold this much sway in a meeting between two federal law enforcement agencies? He can just show up in his unwashed T-shirt and jeans, and inform the government that their suspect is his to kill? Itâs as awkward as Reacher looks, standing in the corner of that ATF conference room. But itâs even more awkward once theyâre out of there, because Reacher has gone pouty now that he canât whale on Quinn with impunity.
The shared compassion that laced their Los Angeles dalliance is on pause as Duffy defends her decision to bring in official reinforcements. Quinn has access to trained killers and military-grade weaponry. They need support beyond Neagley, and Duffyâs determined to not let Teresa meet the same fate as Dominique Kohl. What, she wonders, as Reacher lays on the bed and frowns. His intention to kill Quinn is actually the most important? Did he ever fully care about Teresa? In her anger is also an acknowledgement/dismissal of his usual go-to, the one-sided justification. âDonât pull Reacher semantics bullshit with me!â
But Reacherâs vengeance piece remains stronger than the governmentâs justice play. When Zachary Beck comes through with the location of the arms deal, Reacher bails on Duffy and Villanueva to set up on the convoy with a sniper rifle heâ¦acquired. (When did he have time to go to a âpawn shopâ? How did he pay for the gun? Itâs convenient, just like a barely-seen trip to LA.) He plans to fire on his nemesis the second he appears, despite Duffyâs protests and the ATF tactical team on the scene. But neither vengeance nor justice is gonna happen just yet. The meeting is a trap, false info fed through Beck to draw out the heat. Reacher, Duffy, and now featuring Neagley and the ATF: Quinn played them all again.    Â
Johnny Loftus (@johnnyloftus.bsky.social) is a Chicago-based writer. A veteran of the alternative weekly trenches, his work has also appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Pitchfork, The All Music Guide, and The Village Voice.
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