Reacher’s Greatest Strength Is The Show’s Greatest Weakness
Jack Reacher’s most useful asset somehow makes it more difficult for Amazon’s Reacher to consistently come up with compelling narratives.
SUMMARY
Reacher ‘s popularity lies in Jack’s deductive skills, but this poses challenges for creating compelling storylines for Amazon Prime’s show.
Season 2 introduced new dynamics with the 110th Investigators, dispersing the focus from Jack’s abilities, but this issue can return in Reacher season 3.
The challenge for Reacher is balancing Jack’s self-sufficiency with maintaining stakes in the storyline to avoid predictability.
There are several reasons why Jack Reacher is such a popular fictional hero, but his greatest asset makes it difficult for Amazon Prime Video’s Reacher series to come up with great stories. Based on Lee Child’s books, the Alan Ritchson-led show was an immediate hit when it premiered in 2022.
Reacher season 2 returned almost two years after it debuted. Its sophomore year wasn’t as revered as its predecessor, but the project continues to be popular enough for Amazon to greenlight season 3. By now, Jack is established enough that viewers are already familiar with his quirks.
The first two seasons of Reacher effectively laid out Jack’s backstory, which explains many of his oddities. One of the biggest draws of the show is seeing its titular character find its way out of dicey situations. This was heavily focused on during his time in Margrave, especially before he found his trusted allies, Oscar Finlay (Malcolm Goodwin) and Roscoe Conklin (Willa Fitzgerald).
Reacher season 2 introduced the 110th Special Investigations Unit, dispersing the series’ focus. Moving forward, however, Jack will only have to rely on himself. Luckily, he’s self-sufficient, although that poses some storytelling issues for the project.
Reacher Fits A Very Specific Kind Of Fictional Character Archetype
Jack’s ability to quickly piece details together makes him a great detective show protagonist.
As a protagonist, it isn’t difficult to root for Jack. He fits a very specific trope of a character that falls into the Sherlock Holmes archetype. He is very smart and can easily figure out his cases despite the lack of evidence or obvious connections.
This is one of, if not the biggest reasons why it’s so fun to watch him tackle mysteries. Couple that with his physicality and Jack becomes a formidable hero, well-equipped not to lean on others and function as a lone wolf. Interestingly, Jack is aware of his abilities and often puts them to good use.
Reacher’s Unrealistically Instantaneous Deductive Skills Do A Lot Of Heavy Lifting
Jack can be quick to solve a mystery, even with very little information.
Jack’s intelligence has been a convenient plot device for Amazon’s successful Reacher project. When he was introduced in season 1, he heavily relied on his ability to read situations and people to survive. It was gratifying to see him piece details together and solve mysteries.
Aside from that, however, it also allows Reacher to skip aspects of its storytelling, leaving the revelation to Jack. As revealed in the season 2 flashbacks, Jack doesn’t just have street smarts, he is also an intellectual, having a penchant for dealing with numbers. This was one of his commonalities with Karla Dixon (Serinda Swan).
Reacher writers are not mandated to fully lay out the specifics of the narrative, since its lead character has the ability to solve cases in an instant, whether due to his intellect or incredible instincts
In terms of storytelling, it can fully rely on Jack’s intelligence when writing him out of a situation, and the popular series has done that several times during its two-season run.
Reacher writers are not mandated to fully lay out the specifics of the narrative, since its lead character has the ability to solve cases in an instant, whether due to his intellect or incredible instincts. Meanwhile, the viewers need not be convinced that Jack has quickly figured out a mystery or conspiracy because Reacher has repeatedly shown that he is capable of doing this.
It’s A Problem When Reacher Suddenly Has To Be Blind Or Wrong To Drive The Plot Forward
Reacher needs to humanize Jack or it loses its stakes.
Overall, Jack is hardly an underdog hero. Even if the Amazon Prime Video series puts him in the trickiest of situations, he has proven time and again that he is well-equipped to get out of it.
Regardless if he’s alone or with an ally, such as his regular support, Frances Neagley (Maria Sten), there’s confidence that he will get out of a predicament unscathed. While it’s comforting to know that a protagonist can succeed, it can also negatively impact the show’s storytelling. Reacher cannot always use Jack’s intelligence to solve every crisis, otherwise, the show risks having no stakes.
The challenge is to find the balance between presenting Jack as a self-sufficient genius and someone who is not immune to danger. Admittedly, this is easier said than done without Reacher switching up the character’s capability levels based on the direction that the writers are trying to steer the series.
Because he was surrounded by the 110th Special Investigations Unit in season 2, this particular issue wasn’t that obvious. Having a solid team with him made it easier to go up against New Age, although that posed its separate narrative problems.
Moving forward, however, Jack will be on his own again. Reacher season 3 will be based on Child’s Persuader, which will see the hero go undercover to settle an old grudge.
While Neagley is confirmed to return, Jack will have to primarily rely on no one else but himself, at least before he gets new allies in the story. With that, the writers need to be more mindful when using the character’s intelligence when crafting Reacher season 3’s mysteries and resolutions.
