(1,448-word review) This season has an uphill battle ahead, given that it's the second one: a follow-up to the first, which seemed to have luck on its side. It seemingly had perfect construction, writing, and structuring - a lightning-in-a-bottle, stars-aligned scenario in every sense of both phrases. And I wholeheartedly believe the characters of Oscar Finlay and Roscoe Conklin played a massive part in the first season's picture-perfect landing. But it's no secret that those two characters have made their entrances, already followed by their leave - though there could be a surprise cameo appearance by one of them by the end - and I'm skeptical about Neagley and the other recurring characters this time around (David O'Donnell, Karia Dixon, and maybe the bald guy who's keeping an eye on Neagley: Russo, as I know from his name being mentioned in the titles of clips on YouTube showing up in my recommendations when this season was airing) being able to fill in that gap and adequately filling in their shoes.
Depending on how that aspect turns out, other areas may have to step up to the plate and do some heavy lifting to make up for a potentially unsatisfactory or not up-to-par recurring cast of characters, at least compared to the excellent execution and successful incorporation of Finlay and Roscoe. In fairness, however, that only concerns the people besides Reacher. The overall plot of the adapted material here, Bad Luck and Trouble, already shows the potential of being more compelling and enjoyable with more investment attached to it than the plot of the previous season, adapted from Killing Floor.
But I suppose, on the flip side, some people, who could've felt slightly underwhelmed with the previous one, may've climbed on board immediately with this one due to more checked boxes already of the type of things they automatically gravitate towards - things that may not have been present previously.
On a personal note, I do believe this season has big shoes to fill if it's to rival or exceed the first season, with or without the specific elements from this show's beginning that seemed to do most of the carrying and subsequently propelling it beyond where it would've reached without everything synergizing to the extent they did.
Yet, even then, I do have to admit that it was still "only" mildly entertaining: one of those shows/seasons that does the basic job of being entertaining and enjoyable but nothing deeper/beyond that. That is a 'me' thing, though, and I am NOT using that sentiment as a subtle way of saying it was bad. This show is "good enough," and if this second premiere is anything to go off of concerning this continuation of the show, it'll likely continue down that route, which is beyond acceptable for me; don't get me mistaken.
I'm looking forward to continuing moving throughout this new season, from beginning to end. I know I'm a bit late, but better late than never.
I'm ending my ramblings here. It's time to talk about the premiere itself. It did its primary job of diving us right on in, subsequently presenting us with and introducing some new characters we'll be seeing more of throughout the season, the basic components of the plot we're getting with this one, and some plot-point crumbs to theorize about.
Firstly, the obvious one: Franz's death (what/who he was looking into, why he was looking into it/what exactly it entails compared to the counterfeiting operation in the first season, the possibility of his death having another cause besides merely investigating the "wrong" thing or person - also, Franz's actor sounded similar, talked similarly, and even looks somewhat similar to Ralph Macchio; Luke Bilyk would be an excellent casting choice for a family member of Daniel LaRusso in the sixth, final season of Cobra Kai, though it's probably too late to introduce someone like that at this point).
Secondly, the lingering question of why the deaths don't seem to end with Franz (suggesting there's something deeper going on if the other members of Reacher's "Special Investigators" unit are also being targeted) to this Adrian character (who he is, why Franz was looking into him/his aliases, who he works for - whether it's Robert Patrick's character or not - etc.) and Robert Patrick's character (the meta Sarah Connor joke, particularly his response to that name-drop, was good - spoiler alert, I've never even seen any of the Terminator films yet), who is presumably the primary antagonist - giving just enough to spark a sufficient level of interest and intrigue for you to want to see more, wanting to see it all unfold and be revealed to us.
Additionally, for some odd reason, I got this feeling that we may get a more action-y season compared to the further pinpointed, concentrated focus on the element of solving a case and the mystery surrounding it of the first season. I do think we'll receive some of that here to a degree, only it'll be distinctively less than before, with the added element of increased action/action-y moments. And that's not necessarily a negative thing. While the potent and palpable sense of mystery and overall tone of mysteriousness and intrigue was at the forefront of the various positives within the first season, a slight change of pace and toned-down intensity of that can be good.
I particularly liked the depiction of Neagley and Reacher's relationship/dynamic, and by extension, Alan Ritchson and Maria Sten's platonic chemistry here. There was barely any of that previously, on account of her character having little screen time. There were a few "breathable" moments with them beforehand, sure, but it seems like there will be way more opportune moments now for them to have interactions that showcase and add to the presentation and depiction of the dynamic and relationship of theirs we should be able to see and understand fully. Their conversation in the hotel room did exactly that. It was good. Moments like that accomplish a lot in terms of enhancing the overall enjoyment of an entire episode of a show.
I know some people have certain reservations regarding her character now, whether it's the fact that she wasn't in the novel being adapted or the sentiment that she's dull, maybe even poorly acted by Maria Sten. But, at the very least, most of the scenes with her and Reacher are good, in addition to keeping her character afloat, though Finlay and Roscoe landed from the get-go while Neagley does require some marinating and development to reach their level. That could very well happen throughout the season as it progresses.
The last thing I want to touch on is O'Donnell. I want to make my position clear, even though anyone who may read this likely knows the truth of this assumption of mine from already watching every episode: I've considered the possibility that he could be one of the "baddies." That henchman of Robert Patrick's character referred to Reacher by the nickname of "The Big One," and O'Donnell conceived "The Big Guy" nickname, which is similar enough; in all honesty, those two things likely aren't correlated in that sense. However, he conveniently showed up at Neagley's hotel room, and though he said it was ransacked when he got there, he could've done it himself and used his relationship with her and Reacher to play it off as if somebody else did it. Or he's an intentional red herring by the writers for the audience to expect that while another member of the unit is involved. But nothing of the sort may be the case, and nobody in the unit is involved.
I'm not 100% committed to any of those theories yet. I could very well be leaning toward him genuinely being on Reacher's side. That's because I've possibly had a glance at a Deadline or Variety article recently about (new) cast additions for S3, with one of the headshot photos potentially being Shaun Sipos, suggesting a return. Unless that vague recollection isn't quite like that, I think there's a decent chance O'Donnell is recurring in the Reacher novels like Neagley. All that's left is for me to watch the next seven episodes.
Overall, this was a decent start, and I'm interested to see what's in store. I'm just as interested to see the logically questionable, suspending-your-disbelief-required moments that supposedly start happening around the midway point to the end. I've seen a few comments bring up occurrences like that on r/JackReacher when these episodes were airing. I expect them to not detract much from the overall enjoyment and experience of each episode. There's one way of finding out which way that specific component leans - on to the next one.
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