ONE
A sedan drives up to the police department, and Reacher climbs out and walks away. From the driver’s seat, Finlay pops out and yells after him.
TWO/THREE
When Reacher won’t listen, Finlay sends Roscoe to follow him. Roll credits.
FOUR
Roscoe inches her police car through a neighborhood, following Reacher who’s on foot. Nighttime. As she cranes her neck looking for him, he appears right at her front bumper, making her slam the brakes. After facing off with her, Reacher agrees to go with her to Hubble’s house.
Hubble isn’t home, but his wife welcomes them in. Roscoe is pleasant, but Reacher cuts right to the chase: Why did my dead brother have your live husband’s telephone number on him? They’re interrupted by two pre-teen daughters, announcing they’re ready for bed. One of the girls, the one “growing like a weed”, wears glasses. While Charlie Hubble announces she needs to tuck them in, Reacher asks for the bathroom. Once down the hall, he goes investigating. In the mud room he finds Paul’s dress shoes. Stuck to the laces is a kind of teazel — a wild seed pod. Giving Roscoe the high sign, he says goodbye and leaves the house.
Outside, Reacher is intense. The girls sparked an idea. Out of all of the daughter’s qualities, she’s identified by her glasses. In prison, the gang chose to confront Reacher because he was the one wearing glasses (the minion sunglasses). Paul’s glasses were broken earlier in the cell block attack, but the gang wouldn’t know that. That means Hubble was the target. He’s either on the run now, or already captured. Also, why would a banker have a teazel, something that grows in tall weeds, stuck to his dress shoes?
Cut to the field where Joe was killed. Reacher examines the wild grasses and Joe’s footprints still in the mud. It’s dark out, and Reacher recognizes that the shooter who took out his brother was a skilled marksman to make this shot. As he walks around, he pieces together the crime details. Roscoe asks some personal questions about Joe, which Reacher reluctantly answers. Joe worked for Homeland Security, although Reacher doesn’t know which department. They hadn’t talked in a while. And then, turning his back on Roscoe, Reacher starts walking. He’s off to find a motel and doesn’t want a ride.
Roscoe, with parking lights only, follows him to the motel. In the lot, four young men surrounded by empty beer cans wait to talk to Reacher. He ignores them, headed for his room. One of the guys beans him with an empty can. Hahaha! Close on Reacher’s slow-moving turn around. Roscoe in her car gives an “oh, crap”. He tells them what he’s about to do, then breaks the hands of three of them, leaving the fourth able to drive them to the hospital. While the moaning continues, Reacher goes into his room and shuts the door. Reaction shot from Roscoe, who’s seeing Reacher in action for the first time. Horrified? Impressed? Haha.
SWITCH
It’s still night as a car rolls up to a nice house and four men in hazmat suits head for the door.
FIVE
Dawn, and Reacher exits his motel room. Walking through a neighborhood, he spots a dog tied up in a front yard pawing at an empty water dish. He clears the picket fence, pets the dog, and uses the hose to fill up the pan. The owner comes out, lies about the dog’s water, and asks him to leave the property.
Cut to the police department as Reacher walks up. One of the cruisers, siren wailing, peels out past him. Roscoe, exiting, informs him that the police chief has been murdered. He climbs into the passenger seat, uninvited, and rides with her.
It’s the nice house, and Finlay is already on scene. As Roscoe and Reacher approach, Finlay, shaken, mentions that this crime scene is the worst he’s ever seen. Reacher asks, “Was he nailed to a wall?’
The coroner examines the chief. The room is bloody and gruesome. Jasper screeches and asks, “Where the heck are his testicles?” Reacher, studying the carpet footprints, says, “In his stomach.” (Yes, this is almost gratuitously horrific. That Reacher can remember a comment — Hubble last episode mentioned this punishment — and recount what happened is the important part.) Finlay calls Reacher outside to find out what he knows.
Hubble and the Chief must work for the same men, Reacher deduces. Who else on the police force is dirty? The mayor skipped over Finlay to promote himself acting chief, Roscoe informs them. That means that these three people — Roscoe, Finlay, and Reacher — are clean and trustworthy. Everyone else is suspect.
Roscoe and Reacher go to Hubble’s to check on Charlie and the girls. Paul called late last night but never came home. Okay, Roscoe will stay to protect them; Reacher will go to Finlay. But he needs to borrow their car. In the garage he rifles through their stuff until he finds a fishing knife he can use as a weapon.
Mayor Teale, now Chief, holds a town meeting to reassure people. Reacher arrives to find Finlay. The audience is . . . testy, lol. They blame that “Yankee cop” and that “big animal arrested in the diner and let go”. Order is restored by a man in a suit. It’s Mr. Kliner, the town money. He’s reasonable and slick, working the crowd. They applaud his reassurances. Across the room, staring at Reacher, are Kliner Jr. and KJ.
As the meeting disperses, Finlay approaches Mayor — no, Chief — Teale. He’s prepared to look for common evidence to solve these cases. Slapdown from Teale. The cases aren’t related. The former police chief probably was killed by someone he arrested. Finlay should sit at the desk and comb through paperwork. As Teale leaves, we see very briefly that he carries some kind of cane or walking stick.
Outside, Finlay tells Reacher, who responds, “Told you he’s dirty.” They go back and forth over what they should do until Reacher starts telling him. Finlay doesn’t like it, but he agrees. He has an FBI friend, Picard, he’ll call who can watch over the Hubbles.
After Finlay drives away, Teale approaches Reacher to apologize for the way he’s been treated. Again we see the cane, this time with a longer look at the glass ball head piece. (At this point, the cane is either a plant for later, or a character detail. It’s waved about ostentatiously.) Teale expects Reacher to leave town now and is stone faced when Reacher says he’s staying.
Reacher, as ordered by Finlay, purchases a burner phone. Mosley sits outside his barbershop, which is next door to the drugstore. He warns Reacher about two Spanish-speaking men who asked about him.
In the Hubble’s kitchen, Charlie wonders if she can trust Reacher. Yes, Roscoe answers. “He can help us.” Reacher arrives to tell Charlie to pack. Picard will take them into protective custody. It’s what Paul would’ve wanted. Charlie catches it: Why are you talking about my husband like he’s dead? Roscoe glares at Reacher, barely shaking her head. But Reacher just goes for it: Paul most likely has been killed. You can grieve later. Reacher steps outside to wait. Two girls’ bicycles laying by the front door catch his attention.
Flashback. The Reacher boys, riding double, bike up to a shack. Inside, the Bully Boys torment a younger child. Reacher stops them, ready for a confrontation. The child’s dad drives up, though, and the Bully Boys run away. Young Reacher turns his head at the sound of the car . . .
. . . And we’re back to adult Reacher turning his head at a car. It’s the threatening black sedan. The driver rolls down the window, and Reacher steps forward, daring the car. Up goes the window (we can’t identify the person) and the sedan pulls away. Coming back inside the house, Reacher tells them they leave. Now. Let’s move. As they approach the front door, someone steps in. Reacher takes Roscoe’s gun from her holster and aims. (Yes, he moves faster than the officer and completely bogarts her firearm. It’s smooth and impressive.) The stranger is Picard, FBI identification badge ready.
Since Finlay doesn’t want the FBI officially involved, Picard will take some personal days as a favor and move the Hubbles to a safe place. Now Reacher can start working the case.
Driving to the prison, he calls Spivey and asks for a meeting. (He pretends to be Finlay.) He arrives at night at the Blue Cat Bar and Grill. Spivey, having a dip of chew, waits out back. He knew Reacher wasn’t Finlay. Whistling, he calls over his accomplices. The black sedan pulls up, and two Hispanic men with guns indicate the trunk to Reacher. No, he responds mildly, it looks too small. Reacher jaws at them until he sees an opening and starts swinging. He’s got both men down when a police car, lights on, pulls up. Reacher runs, officer in pursuit.
Roscoe and Finlay, back at the police station at night, discuss the case. In comes Reacher, a fresh cut bleeding on his face. While Roscoe patches him up, Finlay chastises him. Ever calm, Reacher responds that the two men were South American military. He recognized a specific head butt move. Also, if they weren’t, he would’ve killed them in ten seconds. (His arrogance is delivered perfectly and comes off as funny. Again, he and Finlay have lovely annoyed-with-each-other chemistry.)
(Ha! This is a buddy cop genre show! I didn’t realize that before.)
Roscoe intervenes to tell him what she’s discovered: Joe was working for the Secret Services division of Homeland. They can’t know what that means; SS is involved in too many departments. Maybe counterfeiting because of Hubble’s connection?
Putting duct tape over the knife slice in his jacket, Reacher moves toward the door. He’s going to search Spivey’s house. No, Finlay will do that tomorrow. Well, then, he’ll get a beer.
SIX
They go back and forth, bickering, until Reacher leaves and Finlay sets Roscoe to tail him.
SEVEN
Exiting right after him, Roscoe offers to take Reacher to a nearby road house across the Alabama border where no one will recognize him. He agrees, and Roscoe goes home to change.
EIGHT
Roscoe, hair down, drives them in her truck. On the radio comes Blind Blake. At the honky tonk they take a seat and drink beers. Awkward silence, lol. When Patsy comes on, Roscoe takes the opportunity to ask Reacher to dance. Eventually she coaxes him onto the floor.
Sizzle.
They exit in the rain and drive back. The mood is relaxed until they see emergency lights in the road ahead. Reacher pulls the gun from the glovebox. Roscoe shows her badge to the officer who approaches. All he says is that the road ahead is flooded. Roscoe asks for the nearest motel.
Cut to Reacher wringing out his shirt in the motel bathroom. Roscoe wears underwear and a T-shirt. They eat vending machine snacks while Roscoe leans back on the bed. (With her legs bent, crotch pointing at Reacher. Maybe it’s in her character to be so casual, but it doesn’t feel like a true moment.)
Dissolve to later. Roscoe has the bed, Reacher the floor. They talk in the dark. She speaks of her family’s history in Margrave — they go back forever. A family friend, a second dad, taught her everything about being a cop. She drops a lot of details about Gray that seem random at this point.
Hold the overhead shot as they stay in their separate beds.
NINE
Then, a new day as Roscoe’s truck pulls in at her home. Her front door has been jimmied. Reacher switches open his knife and Roscoe retrieves her firearm.
Close on muddy footprints stamped on her entry runner. The space is clear now, though. Were they here to kill Roscoe, or Reacher, whose car is out front? Scratched on the inside of the front door is: See You Soon. “Looks like they plan on coming back,” Roscoe says. Reacher replies, camera in close-up, “I’m really gonna need a gun.” Roll credits.
CRITICAL NOTES
The beginning, the One, feels abrupt because this episode begins in the exact moment after the last episode ended. It’s a continuous scene, split between the episodes. We’re expected to keep up, lol. Personally, I could’ve used one more beat as a buffer.
And then we’re right into another rush, the Two combined with the Three. We know from the end that Roscoe is the Eight. The dance is indicated in the title as the theme of this episode. The Two, therefore, must include Roscoe. It does, but it’s smashed together with the Three. We know from the Six that “sending Roscoe after Reacher” is the mirror. It’s wonderful. Good job. A tiny beat, though, was needed to delineate the two numbers. A look from Roscoe as Reacher walks away — boom — would’ve done enough to nod at a Two. After that little misstep, the Enneagram holds together well.
My only other complaint is about the Eight. We’re shipping Reacher and Roscoe. No problem, kind of a standard plot choice. However, I don’t know what is motivating Roscoe. (Well, besides the shirtless hunk walking about her motel room, lol.) What does she want from him? Sex? Romance? Buddy friendship? The dance is the closest they get to heat. That’s clear. Then the scene gets muddy. I really find the bed scene an uncomfortable dump of exposition, backstory, and author’s message. I’m popped out of the show’s reality to wonder what’s going on. The showrunners needed us to learn about Gray. (His information will become important later.) It just feels so unnatural at this moment, contrived and at odds with the earlier tension.