Yet another episode of the second season of Amazon Prime’s Reacher gets spent in investigation and building up the upcoming conflict between Reacher’s unit and the combined might of A.M. Langston. With three episodes remaining in the season, the showrunners are bound to rush the action during the final confrontation, and we are hoping that doesn’t hamper the flow of the narrative as a result. In the previous episode, while investigating the systematic killing of their 110th unit comrades, Reacher’s team learned that New Age Technology received a contract for a high-profile defense project named Littlewing, which they obtained with the political backing of a certain corrupt Senator Levoy. The team squeezed Levoy’s legislative director, Daniel Boyd, who spilled out the truth about Project Littlewing, which is software that can allow anti-aviation weaponry to bypass any form of radio redirection security. New Age’s chief of security, Langston, tries his level best to stop Reacher and his friends from digging deep by sending repeated hits on them, only to fail miserably. The terrorist weapon dealer A.M. continues to move like a shadow to set his dastardly plan involving Littlewing in motion, which can threaten national security.
All the while, another 110th unit member, Swan’s possible role in the conspiracy, puts Reacher in a dilemma, as he wants to believe in Swan’s innocence, but his involvement with New Age indicates a rather troubling possibility of betrayal. NYPD Detective Russo, the chief investigator of the murders, assists Reacher to pry deeper into the conspiracy, but in his own eccentric ways, it seems Reacher is almost determined to test the limits of his patience.
Spoilers Ahead
How Does Reacher Plan To Get To A.M.?
The episode begins at the O’Donnell household, where David and Reacher are seen to be present. Their current mission entails the risk of getting their family members involved as well due to the fact that Langston knows their personal details, and therefore, David is ensuring his family’s safety by asking his wife to lay low with their kids for a couple of days. In the previous episode, after learning that the hardware (weaponry) to be used with Littlewing had been developed in New Age’s warehouse in Denver, Reacher assigned Neagley and Dixon to check on the situation out there while he and O’Donnell went to DHS (Department of Homeland Security) to learn more about this A.M. guy. Jack’s elder brother, Joe Reacher’s former colleague in DHS, informs Reacher that A.M. was previously involved in a nerve gas-related terrorism plot but managed to escape while his former crew were detained. They also learn that A.M.’s acts of terror are purely financially-motivated, and to ensure a secure transaction of monetary proceedings and have total control over them, he uses bearer bonds, which helps him keep his identity hidden.
Reacher surmises the previously mentioned 65 million dollars must have been the amount A.M. had bargained for Littlewing from New Age, and as using bearer bonds as payment methods means the holder needs to be physically present during the transaction, there is a solid chance for them to nab A.M. following the trail of breadcrumbs left by New Age.
What Did Neagley And Dixon Find In Denver?
Meanwhile, the female operatives of the 110th—Neagley and Dixon—reach New Age’s warehouse in Denver, and pretending to be government inspectors, they manage to bring out the supervisor. The duo learns that a substantial amount of missiles that can be synced up with Littlewing were shipped before their arrival in LA, and as they decide to follow their possible route, they find a bunch of hired goons hijacking the New Age truck and switching it with another, similar one. Unbeknownst to them, the goons were sent by A.M., as he had planned to send the missile shipment to New York, where it would be used by terrorists—and hijacking and switching the shipment would have allowed them to avoid suspicion until it was too late. However, their plan of switching gets foiled by the interception of Neagley and Dixon, and one of the goons drives the shipment away. Another shocking revelation is made as Neagley checks the shipment order to learn that not only is Tony Swan alive, but he had cleared the shipment order in the first place from New Age’s facility in New York. Neagley informs Reacher of her findings, who is still unwilling to believe Swan’s involvement in the conspiracy. Past memory of a drug bust mission undertaken by the 110th hurtles back to Reacher’s mind, and we learn Swan had taken a bullet to save Reacher’s life. It is understandable as to why Reacher had unwavering trust in Swan’s loyalty and why the investigation pointing out Swan’s involvement has left him in a conflicted state.
Later, Reacher is approached by a bunch of government agents sent by Senator Levoy, who escort him to a covert meeting with him. Levoy has managed to track down Reacher after hearing Boyd’s account of the interrogation, and he reveals that he knows everything about Reacher’s exploits in Margrave. Levoy assures him of his absolute support for Reacher in taking down the terrorist conspiracy. However, we do realize that, in reality, Levoy’s support is a calculated risk to save his own skin, as he had vouched for Littlewing in the first place and handed it over to New Age Tech. With the risk of things getting out of hand, which might endanger his political career, an off-the-books tactical group like Reacher and his team is the best option for him to clean up the mess he created.
Is Swan Involved In The 110th Unit Killing Conspiracy?
Reacher and his team reunite at Franz’s funeral and exchange the information they gathered with each other. Detective Russo is seen consoling Franz’s kid, and it is later revealed that his sympathy for the kid stemmed from his shared experience of losing his cop father, who was gunned down for his honesty. Reacher decides to lock horns with Russo once again, right on the spot, as he suspects him to be dealing with the enemy in secrecy and taking advantage of Franz’s widow. However, Reacher’s suspicion is misplaced as Russo reveals the truth about his past life—being a victim of a fate similar to Franz’s family. He further shares that most of the hotshots of New Age were ex-cops in the NYPD’s third precinct who were under investigation before quitting the force early. He implies that evidence points towards Swan being not only involved, but that his military expertise might have played an integral role in New Age’s terrorist conspiracy, thereby giving Reacher a taste of his own medicine. Before pointing fingers at others and calling them dirty, Reacher should check his own backyard.
During the funeral, during the first interval of the gun salute, Reacher notices a couple of hitmen and snipers aiming towards them in anticipation of the next firing round (which will allow them to cover the sound), and his timely alert results in saving the lives of many. Chaos ensues, followed by a gunfight between Reacher’s team and the snipers, and Russo escorts Franz’s family into safety. Neagley and Reacher tag team to take down one assailant, and Reacher partners up with Russo in a high-speed pursuit to chase down another one. Reacher forces the hitman into revealing the name of his employer, who turns out to be none other than Swan. The assailant reveals that Swan had instructed him only with targets and an address to receive payment, and later that night, Reacher’s team used the assailant as bait in hopes of flushing out the perpetrators and apprehending them. Reacher shares with Neagley that he is prepared for the worst possible outcome, i.e., Swan being as the orchestrator, but is still uncertain how he will be able to face him or his team thereafter. However, as the hitman enters the place designated in the address, the rigged house explodes ablaze, indicating that the employer wanted every potential link to be removed and that the arrival of Reacher and his team was anticipated, who only survived miraculously by not venturing into the place first. As the episode ends, it is clear that Reacher needs to put his indecision and hesitation regarding Swan in the backseat and bring his A-game back, as the lives of millions are at stake. There is a possibility that Langston and A.M. are working in unison to use Reacher’s trust as his weakness, and their deliberate misdirection has put him in a precarious situation. In any case, the remaining three episodes are likely to carry on the betrayal mystery until the very end and hopefully bring the two antagonists directly into the action soon enough.
