This article contains spoilers for Reacher Season 4, Episode 7
Reacher Season 4 has struggled to balance Reacher’s (Alan Ritchson) no-nonsense, logic-driven, detail-oriented approach to life with the new cast and story. The first half of the season felt like it was treading water, threatening to sink rather than swim.
However, building on last week’s episode, “Vote for Sampson” delivered a little bit of everything. The newest episode gives us more answers, action, and sacrifice, making for an entertaining forty minutes of television.
Reacher Learns the Truth Behind Project Mongoose
In Episode 6, “Plum Out of Luck,” both Reacher and Tamara (Sydelle Noel) are about to be executed in the woods by Leo Ahlquist’s (Shawn Doyle) mercenaries. Of course, we know this won’t happen; Congressman Sampson’s (Marc Blucas) head of security comes to the rescue after following them from Ahlquist’s company, where he saw them both loaded into a van.
Reacher catches up with Ahlquist by ramming his vehicle into Ahlquist’s. While the man is in pain and under threats of torture from Reacher, he spills what he knows, and he knows quite a bit.
The picture on the flash drive contains a hidden formula for a chemical weapon of mass destruction developed by a young Ahlquist and his team during a secret mission, “Project Mongoose,” in Indonesia. Ahlquist used a safe variation for his wildly successful company, which he, of course, wants to protect.
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The worst part is that all the components can now be found in the US to build this, and Ahlquist’s cries of innocence mean little now, even if his team was tasked with reverse-engineering this weapon for self-defense. Reacher, having little patience for men like this and knowing they just can’t leave him, snapped the man’s neck, so they could move on to what’s next.
Meanwhile, Jacob’s (Christopher Marquette) ride in the backseat of Detective Docherty’s (Kevin Corrigan) car comes to an end, and at this point Jacob thinks his life is over as well. However, it seems there is a lot more good in Docherty than he thought, and he lets him go.
Docherty praises his partner, Tamara, and knows that everything they said about her was nothing but lies. It was a great exchange between two cops at opposite ends of their careers, both trying to do the right thing when it really mattered.
Congressman Sampson Makes a Deadly Sacrifice in Reacher Season 4, Episode 7
The team discovers that Amisha (Anggun) and Lila (Agnez Mo) plan to auction the completed chemical weapon to the highest bidder. They first test it on an unlucky subject, and we see firsthand the devastating, rapid, and horrific way this chemical will kill. After their first guess at their target is wrong, Reacher calls Congressman Sampson for help, and Sampson quickly realizes the fundraiser he’s at will be the test target to drive up bidding.
It seems he forgot to mention that he was the one who killed General Putra in Indonesia after Putra used the training Delta Force gave them to commit terrible war crimes. Putra was also revered by Amisha, who saw Sampson kill him, and now this is a perfect way to exact revenge.
Sampson spots the suicide bomber, the man Amisha and Lila flew here for this task, and tackles him over a ledge into the water, where the detonation is dispersed, and no one is harmed except the bomber and Sampson, who is killed saving everyone. Reacher arrives too late, only to see the aftermath of what transpired, and now it will be a race to find the two women before they can try again.
It was interesting to see the show let Ahlquist deliver a massive exposition dump to explain everything that was going on, except for the part where Sampson killed Putra. It was effective, thanks to Shawn Doyle’s performance as Ahlquist, and helped move the story along, even though it was a long speech packed with information.
Reacher Season 4, Episode 7 was less about fighting and more about story and information, which worked for the most part. There is still a struggle to get on board with these new characters, though, as some moments and dialogue can feel awkward and fall flat.
With only the season finale left, the show is set for a massive amount of action and death. It’s been a struggle to get here at times, but the last few episodes have definitely improved. It remains to be seen whether they can wrap the season up on a high note.
Reacher Season 4, Episode 7, is now streaming on Prime Video. New episodes premiere every Wednesday through Sept. 16.
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