Reacher season 2 initially seemed to have some promising main character beats, but season 2’s finale kill has highlighted the main problem with them.

Warning: spoilers ahead for Reacher season 2’s finale.

SUMMARY

Reacher season 2 ends on a high note as the team successfully saves the day and overpowers Langston and his men.
However, the show’s main characters exhibit a flaw by making assumptions and meting out harsh punishment without considering other possibilities.
Reacher season 3 needs characters like Roscoe and Finlay to balance out Reacher’s aggression and provide a more nuanced approach to justice.

Although Reacher season 2 ends on a satisfying note, it reveals one problem with the main character group. After learning that Dixon and O’Donnell have been kidnapped by Langston and his men, Reacher formulates the ultimate plan to save his friends and stop Langston from executing his deal with AM in season 2’s penultimate episode.

He puts his plan into motion by willingly surrendering himself, while Neagley stays outside New Age’s office to secretly snipe some of Langston’s men.

Langston initially seems to have the upper hand and even manages to leave Dixon and O’Donnell severely injured. However, Reacher and Neagley soon catch up with him by gradually adapting to his schemes and taking a merciless no-holds-barred approach towards killing him and his men.

With this, Reacher season 2 closes on a high note when the titular character and his team save the day. Unfortunately, in all of these highs, Reacher season 2 exposes its main characters’ biggest flaw.

Reacher Season 2’s Pilot & Engineer Deaths Prove The Special Investigators Aren’t Heroes

The last 2 deaths in Reacher season 2 seemed unnecessary

A slam-bang showdown ensues between Langston and Reacher’s team in Reacher season 2’s finale. Although Langston initially seems to have the upper hand, Reacher quickly turns the tables with his displays of superhuman strength and courage.

In the end, Reacher proves that “you do not mess with the Special Investigators” by overpowering Langston and giving him a taste of his own medicine by throwing him off his chopper. Moments later, after ruthlessly killing AM, Reacher seemingly gives Langston’s pilot and engineer a chance to escape after they claim that they are innocent.

However, as soon as their chopper rises a few feet above the ground, Neagley shoots them down with the Little Wing missile. While Langston, his men from New Age, and AM undoubtedly deserved their Reacher season 2 fate, it is hard not to wonder whether the pilot and the engineer were actually unaware of Langston’s grand scheme.

Throughout the season, Reacher emphasizes how “assumptions kill” in an investigation. Yet, he assumes that the engineer and the pilot were active members of Langston’s plan. This proves that Reacher and the special investigators only stick to their principles when they favor them, making them less heroic and somewhat hypocritical.

The Original Book Makes Reacher Season 2’s Engineer Death Even Worse

One book detail about the engineer makes Reacher’s season 2 action questionable.

Reacher and his team made a similar assumption about Marlo and even threatened her, proving that their actions were driven less by the pursuit of justice and more by blinding rage.

Reacher season 2 never reveals whether the pilot and the engineer were lying about their innocence and lack of involvement in Langston’s plan. It also offers no backstories for these characters, making it easy for audiences to assume that they probably got what they deserved.

However, Lee Child’s Bad Luck and Trouble mentions that the engineer only cooperated with Langston and his men because they were threatening his daughter. One can give the show the benefit of the doubt and presume that the engineer had other motivations to be involved with Langston.

However, the assumption still does not dismiss the fact that both the engineer and the pilot might have had other personal circumstances that influenced their decisions.

They made a bad choice by joining forces with Langston and deserved to be punished. However, whether it was necessary for them to receive the same degree of punishment as Langston and his corrupt employees is debatable.

In an early episode from season 2, Reacher and his team made a similar assumption about Marlo and even threatened her, proving that their actions were driven less by the pursuit of justice and more by blinding rage.

Season 3 Needs Characters Like Roscoe & Finlay To Balance Out Reacher’s Violence

Season 2 proves Reacher is better off with characters like Roscoe, Finlay, and Roscoe

Reacher and his 110th Special Investigation team seemingly have their own radical sense of justice, where they not only prioritize the greater good over bureaucratic procedures but also see their enemies in black and white.

Anyone who is even distantly involved with the primary bad guys needs to be eradicated. Roscoe and Finlay did not adopt a similar approach toward criminal justice and acknowledged the gray areas in every crime. Their by-the-book methods not only contrasted Reacher’s aggression and impulsiveness but also balanced them.

Dixon, Neagley, and O’Donnell, on the other hand, amplify Reacher’s morally gray tendencies in season 2 by mirroring his rage and disregard for formal law enforcement. Russo, too, was initially preventing Reacher and his team from doing extreme “cowboy s**t.”

However, his death in Reacher season 2 further infuriated the Special Investigators, prompting them to double down on their morally questionable ways. Given how these grays in Jack Reacher’s personality make him less likable as a protagonist, Reacher season 3 needs more characters like Roscoe, Finlay, and Russo to balance him out.