Reacher’s season 2 finale featured some tweaks to the original novel Bad Luck and Trouble, with one change oddly making Reacher look less heroic.

Warning: Major spoilers for the finale of Reacher season 2 below!

SUMMARY

 Reacher Season 2 made the character even more brutal, with the title character and his friends taking few prisoners and often executing their enemies.
 The finale changed the story from the novel by having the 110th kill the New Age engineer instead of saving him, which made them appear less heroic.
 Having the 110th save the engineer’s life would have been a much stronger ending, instead of adding him to the killcount.

The finale of Reacher season 2 made some key tweaks to the original novel, with one change actually making the 110th less heroic. After the first series introduced the almost alien-like Reacher to viewers via the grounded perspectives of Roscoe (Willa Fitzgerald) and Finlay (Malcolm Goodwin), season 2 adapted Bad Luck and Trouble, where he reunites with his closest friends. When members of his former 110th Special Investigators Unit turn up dead in bizarre circumstances, Reacher reassembles the remaining members to get revenge.

Over the course of the story, the 110th discovers the head of security for defense contractor New Age is behind the killings. Langston (Robert Patrick) was preparing to sell an experimental missile called “Little Wing” to terrorist arms dealer AM (Ferdinand Kingsley), and the murders were to cover up his involvement. Reacher season 2’s ending saw the 110th kill Langston and avenge their fallen comrades, before breaking apart once more.

Reacher & His Friends Kill The Engineer Instead Of Saving Him

Season 2 made Reacher and pals more bloodthirsty

Fans of the first season may have noticed Reacher was way more brutal during season 2. From drowning an assassin in wet cement to personally executing AM, the character took few prisoners throughout.

One of the stranger changes came with the finale, where AM drove to meet a “Little Wing” engineer for a demonstration of how the missile worked. In Bad Luck and Trouble, the engineer was being forced to cooperate, with his teenage daughter being threatened by the rogue faction within New Age.

Reacher season 3 is set to be more of a solo adventure for the title character.

In Reacher season 2, however, this engineer had no moral qualms working with Langston and claimed that he had “no idea” what the missiles would be used for.

The team then appears to let the engineer fly away with Langston’s helicopter pilot – before staging their very own demonstration of the missile. Neagley (Maria Sten) fires a “Little Wing” missile at the chopper, killing the pilot and the engineer inside.

Reacher Season 2’s Ending Following The Books Would’ve Been Better

Saving the engineer would have shown the 110th in a more heroic light

This change was likely made so viewers could see the “Little Wing” missile being used, which didn’t happen in Bad Luck and Trouble. Instead, Reacher was shown breaking the pilot’s neck after the helicopter had landed since the pilot was also part of his friend’s being murdered.

The 110th cut a bloody swathe through the villains during season 2 but in the novel, they were conscious of saving lives too. Like the show, they rescued New Age director Marlo Burns (Christina Cox) and her daughter, but cutting the engineer subplot out feels like a mistake.

The finale still could have featured Neagley blasting the pilot out of the sky, but considering the engineer – renamed Johnson (Jonathan Higgins) for the show – has a speaking role, it easily could have been revealed he was being forced to cooperate.

In turn, the team could have prevented the missile sale, stopped Langston’s plan and if the show followed the book, The 110th could have saved an innocent man and his daughter too. Instead, Johnson became another number on the 110th’s killcount.

The Engineer’s Death Highlights A Wider Reacher Season 2 Problem

Reacher season 2 went the vigilante route too often

It should be noted the 110th are seeking vengeance for their friends, who died in truly nasty circumstances. Their anger at New Age and AM is understandable, but the second season leaned into the 110th’s bloodlust too often. For instance, in the novel, Reacher let AM live so he could be captured by authorities instead.

Reacher viewed this as a more fitting punishment since AM would spend the rest of his life in captivity and possibly be tortured for information. In season 2, AM is instead executed in cold blood, which is less interesting.

The same is true for Reacher and the 110th killing the engineer, which feels needlessly dark and nihilistic. The unit have been played as antiheroes throughout the second season, and have been willing to torture or use people as bait to achieve their goals.

There’s been a lack of any real moral nuance to the way the team operated, where they bulldozed through the mission while rarely stopping to question the fallout from their own actions.

Season 2 played like more of a straight-ahead action movie, but part of the appeal of Reacher is that he has brains to go with the brawn.

By the last few episodes, he displayed little of the former, but storytelling tweaks like having Reacher save the engineer could have shown him in a more heroic vein. This didn’t ruin the second series but hopefully, Reacher season 3 won’t feel the need to change the source material for the sake of a few extra kills.