Spoilers forReacherSeason 3, Episodes 1-3.
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The newest season ofReacherhas arrived on Prime Video, andmuch to the delight of its fans, the series released Season 3’s first few episodes at once. Unlike previous seasons,Reacher (Alan Ritchson) is immediately thrust into the lion’s den. However, he enters it willingly. The newest season opens with an attempted kidnapping of a college student named Richard (Johnny Berchtold) that Reacher successfully thwarts. Unfortunately, the incident resulted in the death of a cop. Subsequently, Reacher sets out to flee the scene and start a new life, clearly an uncharacteristic turn of events for the show’s titular character.
Instead, Richard convinces Reacher to take him home, where his very wealthy father, Zachary Beck (Anthony Michael Hall), will be able to assist him with whatever he needs. Upon arriving at a heavily guarded compound,Beck enlists Reacher’s services, a job that Reacher doesn’t appear to have much of a choice in accepting. As the owner of Bizarre Bazaar, a rug importer, it’s obvious Beck’s dealings are a bit more nefarious, something Reacher isn’t usually a part of.
Once Reacher is alone and checks his new lodgings for bugs, he makes a phone call with a secret phone he was hiding in the heel of his boot. Viewers then learn that everything happening was his plan all along. In fact, Reacher staged Richard’s kidnapping with a few DEA agents in an effort to get inside Beck’s operation.Unlike other seasons, audiences learn who the villain is right away. While it’s still more complex than a run-of-the-mill adversary, there’s no secret as to who’s really pulling the strings. As such, the issue of well-developed villains might finally be resolvedwithReacher’sthird season.
‘Reacher’ Season 3 Reveals Its Villain Right Away
But It’s More Complex Than It Seems at First
From the onset ofReacherSeason 3, viewers know immediately who Reacher is going after and why. The villain isn’t shrouded in mystery, which means viewers can pay attention to the right guy from the get-go. However, the situation is more complex than viewers are led to believe at first. That being said,it doesn’t take long for the season’s true villain to be revealed.
After a DEA informant goes missing following her job with Beck, Agent Susan Duffy (Sonya Cassidy) enlists Reacher’s help. Because he saw an old foe, Francis Xavier Quinn (Brian Tee), whom he believed was dead, get into one of Beck’s cars, he agrees to assist with her off-the-books investigation. Their shared interests all point to Beck, which means he’s target number one, at least in the beginning.
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While Beck certainly has plenty of nefarious dealings, Reacher discovers rather quickly that he’s not the real villain pulling all the strings. In fact, those who appear to work for him are actually under the command of someone else entirely. He and everyone else are being controlled by a man named Julius McCabe, who hijacked Beck’s legitimate rug businessfor his own smuggling purposesyears ago. When speaking to Richard, Reacher learns the full extent of McCabe’s grasp, who controls nearly every aspect of the Becks’ lives, including where Richard went to college. McCabe even kidnapped Richard and sliced his ear off to acquire Beck’s rug business in the first place.The guy is nothing but bad news and is closer to Reacher than he realizes.
Quinn and McCabe Are the Same Person in ‘Reacher’ Season 3
McCabe’s Real Identity Threatens Reacher’s Cover
While Reacher doesn’t know it yet,viewers learn that McCabe and Quinn are the same person early on in the season, which is good. During a stakeout, Duffy puts a face to the name but has yet to reveal the information to Reacher, who remains deep inside Beck’s operation. Unlike previous seasons,understanding who the villain is right away undoubtedly allows for better character development. Furthermore, it gives viewers a chance to focus on the right things. Rather than trying to solve the riddle of who is pulling the strings, viewers can explore the what and the why slightly better.
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With Reacher undercover, his history with Quinn could sidestep his efforts, but he doesn’t know that yet, only the viewer does. It was easy for him to infiltrate Beck’s operation because no one knew him. However, with McCabe and Quinn being the same person, Reacher’s cover could easily be blown, especially if he continues to climb the ranks with Beck. At some point, he’s bound to cross paths with the man at the top, especially given how much control McCabe has over the entire business. Because Season 3 revealed its villains rather quickly, the tension of such an inevitable encounter is able to take center stage instead of the mystery surrounding who the bad guy might be.ReacherSeason 3 is now streaming onPrime Video, and new episodes arrive every Thursday.
