First Dance
Episode 2 of Reacher begins with Reacher on a mission to find those responsible for killing his brother. Roscoe convinces him to join her as they head over to see Paul Hubble. Only, he’s actually out, leading them to meet Charlie, his wife. Excusing himself to use the bathroom, Reacher checks out some of Paul’s stuff and notices cogon grass on his shoe. He also deliberates on what Charlie just told them about her girls, with emphasis on one of them wearing glasses. From this, Reacher deduces that Paul was the target in prison, with those giving the instructions using the glasses as a tell-tale sign. Given Hubble’s were smashed and Reacher took that man’s sunglasses from the other cell, it appears they went after the wrong man. The investigation continues, with Reacher heading out to the crime scene and retracing Joe and the killer’s steps. It appears the shooter wanted to be close, and it appears they may well have been a skilled marksman as well, given the kill-shot in the dark. Given Joe worked at Homeland Security, could this be a deciding factor and a reason for the death? We’ll have to wait and see. In the morning, another death rocks Margrave. Police Chief Morrison has been killed. The crime scene is gnarly, and in fact the victim is nailed to a wall. This is exactly what Hubble was warned would happen to him last episode. Not only that, Morrison’s balls are gone and presumably in his stomach. It could well be that the police are dirty, especially if the Police Chief was crooked and working with the killers. With a new chief in Teale calling an emergency meeting, Reacher urges the police not to call this in and get the FBI involved. They need to give some semblance of control for those running the shop and believing the ringleaders are still in control seems to be the best way to do that. Following Morrison’s death, Reacher deduces that Hubble is probably deceased too. Given he rang Charlie late that night to tell her he has going to sort out this “banking mess”, it’s safe to assume he’s probably been killed. At the town meeting, things grow heated quickly. With Teale deciding to appoint himself Chief of Police and accusations thrown around, it’s Mr Kliner who speaks up and vouches for Reacher, claiming he’s innocent and has a rock-solid alibi. With Teale sending Finlay off to “chase his own tail”, claiming Morrison’s death is not connected, it seems he’s one of the big dirty players here. Finlay starts to come around to Reacher’s way of thinking after this, suggesting he get a phone and ring the Atlanta Field Office himself, speaking to his contact Picard. This is all done in secret of course, and Reacher eventually shows up at Charlie’s place while she and the girls are packing their things. Picard takes them into witness protection, allowing him, Finlay and Roscoe to work the case properly. Reacher intends to head off and find Spivey, believing he’s the missing key to all of this. However, he’s blindsided by several assassins who happen to get there first. Although Reacher manages to fend them off, he does end up with a pretty nasty cut above his eyebrow, partly thanks to a stiff headbutt. He also has a nasty cut across his back too. Roscoe suggests he get stitches but of course, he sticks with glue instead. With things cooling off for a while, Roscoe and Reacher head to the neighbouring town to have a few drinks. After dancing a little, the pair hitch up at a motel together, thanks to the road being flooded from the rain that’s started to lash down. In the morning, the pair make it back into town, where they immediately notice someone has broken into Roscoe’s house. Whether the target is Roscoe or Reacher is unknown right now but an ominous carving of “See you soon” on the door seems to hint that this one’s personal. When Reacher sees it, he turns to Roscoe, “I’m going to need a gun.”
The Episode Review
Alas, the plot thickens. With the ringleaders behind all of this absolutely dead-set on their promises of nailing their victims to the wall, it seems like we could be in store for some pretty nasty people responsible for the murders. But why? What’s the motive here? It would appear that Mr Kliner is one of the more suspicious parties right now, with Teale potentially his puppet but we’ll have to wait and see if that holds any weight. As someone who hasn’t read this book, it’ll be interesting to see who the real killer(s) are behind this as those not familiar with the book play detective alongside our characters! This second episode keeps up the investigative work, with some nice details shared between Reacher and Roscoe during some of the quiet moments near the end. The rest of this series promises to be just as exciting though and it’ll be interesting to see what’s in store for us next.
