LEFTOVER NINE
Again, this episode begins where the last left off. Roscoe paces in her living room, just after discovering her break-in. When Reacher tries to reassure her, she jumps down his throat for being condescending. (He did suggest she was afraid.)
ONE
She’s not scared, she’s pissed. Her family founded this town, she refurbished her house with her own money, and someone who thinks they’re untouchable invaded her home.
TWO
Reacher wants a gun, Roscoe recalls. She goes into her closet and pulls down a decorative wooden box. Inside is a cannon of a handgun. It was Gray’s. Reacher respectfully takes it. (Then he pops the magazine and clears the chamber, checking the gun. I appreciate this level of safety detail.)
As Roscoe starts to pack, Finlay messages. Meet him at the morgue.
Walking out the front door, Reacher turns to a stump in the yard and shoots it, making Roscoe flinch. “Never trust a weapon you haven’t personally test-fired,” he says. She gives a bit of an eye roll and follows him to the truck.
Roll credits.
THREE
Finlay waits outside as they pull into the parking lot of the morgue. Roscoe updates him on her house break-in.
FOUR
Jasper the coroner gives them the file on the body that was found with Joe. (There was a body found with Joe? Okay.) Trucker, lifelong, named Pete Jobling. His record holds one police incident where he was defended by Zacarias Perez, an upscale legal firm.
As they leave through the hallway, Roscoe gets a call from Secret Services in D.C. Someone named Molly Beth is returning her call. Reacher takes the phone and says hello. Immediately Molly Beth assumes she’s talking to Joe. (Brothers often sound alike on the phone.) Reacher must tell her who he is and that Joe’s dead. Molly Beth tries to hold it together, but this is a blow. They need questions answered, but clearly Joe and Molly Beth were more than co-workers. Eventually she’s able to say that Joe ran the Anti-Counterfeiting department. He’d stopped domestic counterfeiting and was chasing international criminal activity. She’ll make a hard copy of his files, which will take a couple of days, and tell no one in the meantime.
In the parking lot, the team brainstorms. Roscoe will go back to the station to appease Teale and pretend to look at the paper trail. Finlay will go to Spivey’s house, and Reacher, at Finlay’s insistence, will go check into the Perez lawyer. (Again, the buddy cops have a little tiff. Heh.)
Roscoe arrives at the station house in time for a dressing down from Teale. He wants her focused on the chief’s case. Stevenson comes up to her desk to ask about his cousin, Paul Hubble. He can’t get anyone to pick up the phone. Lying to his face, Roscoe says she knows nothing. The atmosphere in the station is tense.
Spivey’s house needs paint and a lot of yard clean-up. When Finlay knocks at the front door, no one answers. He doesn’t notice the neighbor watching as he (a Black man) breaks into the house. Gun drawn, he looks around. Dishes, clean, drain in the kitchen sink. Clutter, but nothing unusual. Finlay holsters his weapon. He scrolls through the call log on the bedside phone. Smack! He’s hit across the back of the head with a police baton and kicked when he’s down. Finlay tries to protest as the kicking continues and the screen goes to black.
Reacher, sporting a false name, meets with the attorney. Perez thinks he’s here for an auto claim against Home Depot. Instead, Reacher immediately admits the truth and demands the file on Jobling. Perez goes for the phone, and Reacher jumps around and strangles him with the cord. (Phones still have cords?) Perez prints out the file and Reacher stops choking him.
SWITCH
Sitting in a cell, Finlay wipes with a handkerchief at his bloody nose. He’s released by Bully Cop, who blames Finlay for the abuse he received. Waiting for him is Roscoe (who bailed him out or verified his identity). She’s ready to take a stripe out of the bully, but Finlay moves her on. The two of them will meet Reacher at the Chicken Shack.
FIVE
Outdoor picnic seating and a pit smoker. Reacher, sitting, watches them approach. Finlay still dabs at his nose. The waitress brings up a tray of the entire menu (lol, or so it sounds) for Reacher, a nice sandwich for Roscoe, and a green salad for Finlay. (In his three-piece tweed suit and horn-rimmed glasses, Finlay is very dapper and very urban. It’s a running joke.) Reacher tells them that Jobling worked for Kliner, who paid his legal fees. Finlay chimes in that Spivey’s phone showed multiple calls to Kliner. So Reacher will break into Kliner’s. Nope, nope, can’t do that. More buddy cop schtick until Roscoe threatens to treat them the way her Meemaw handled children, which breaks up the lunch.
Getting the ribs to-go, we next see Reacher feeding them to the waterless dog. Finlay, on the outside of the picket fence, asks him what he’s doing. And here comes the owner around the side of the house. It was his dead uncle’s barn dog, now it’s his, unfortunately. Finlay threatens to cite him for animal negligence and calls on Reacher to leave.
Kliner Industries. An automated metal gate sporting big “K”s opens for Finlay’s sedan. As they park, Reacher notices men loading heavy bags from the back of a delivery truck into a black pick-up. (It’s a two second shot. Blink and you missed it. Obviously, we get the beat, so it’s important, but the details are scant right now.) A secretary greets them, saying Kliner expects Finlay, and they’re escorted in. Along the way, Reacher comments about all that animal feed being loaded. Finlay shrugs. Everyone here has cows.
Inside, the secretary leads them down a hallway lined with stuffed and mounted big game heads. Strong beat on Reacher as he says, “A family of skilled marksmen.” Kliner joins them in his office, a very tidy, upscale room with a window and glass terrace door filling one wall. Finlay asks about Spivey and Jobling. Reacher just quietly watches his reaction. Kliner, very smooth, answers in a general way and then objects to being under suspicion. He sympathizes, he oozes, and he calls Finlay a Northerner. (It’s better than calling him a different “N” word, but the intention rings much the same.) He warns Finlay off this “evidence trail” he’s been following. Hahaha! Finlay, very calmly, destroys him. Reacher grabs at his lip to hide his smile, like a schoolboy snickering behind his hand. Kliner kicks them out.
In the car, Reacher is still smirking. He reassures Finlay he did the right thing. “Bullies need to be punished.” Close on Reacher’s face as he gazes out the window.
Flashback. Young Reacher and Joe sit beside the car tire in their driveway while the Military Police meet on the porch with their parents. “Don’t cry,” Joe warns. The officer confronts them. Curtis the Bully Boy had his cheek bashed in. He’s in the hospital getting sutures. They followed the bicycle tracks from Curtis’ house to this front yard. Joe takes responsibility and Reacher blanches.
Back to the car. Reacher instructs Finlay he needs to live in motels, move around, until they solve this case.
Roscoe joins them at Finlay’s apartment. Reacher pursues the question of animal feed and how much is necessary. When Finlay, packed, comes in, Roscoe gives him a hard time about how bare and undecorated his place is after a year of living in it. Finlay changes the subject to the case. They have three leads: Hubble, Jobling, and Spivey. Roscoe wants to pursue Jobling by asking his wife some questions. Reacher’s headed back to the Blue Cat to see what he can dig up on Spivey.
All three are preparing to live in motels. Roscoe goes to the quick market for essentials. When she comes out, Kliner Jr. waits for her, leaning against her truck door. His first words are jealous digs over Reacher. He mentions Baghdad, and that Reacher’s a murderer. Hey, he’s only looking out for Roscoe; he cares about her. (Ick.) She insists he move aside, and she drives away.
Finlay goes . . . somewhere. A nighttime party where he gives a fake name. He shakes hands with a woman who’s skeet shooting. Oh, it’s an Axis Financial gathering in Atlanta. (Is this Hubble’s company? I think so.) Yes, Finlay’s probes, to his surprise, reveal that Hubble quit the bank a year ago.
SIX
Later, he sits at a bar having a beer, spinning his wedding ring on the countertop. A woman, flirting, approaches. (This must be the Atlanta hotel where he’s staying overnight.) They chat, she makes a move, and he turns her down.
SEVEN
Cut to Reacher entering the Blue Cat. The place is busy. He approaches an older guy at the bar, noticing the man has a two dollar bill. Reacher calculates the man is a race track gambler, and offers him money for some answers. He mentions Spivey, and a large, bald man confronts Reacher while the gambler fades away. As is his style, Reacher chats until he finds the angle, then punches. The big man, talking through a bloody mouth, tells him that Spivey left town “with some Spanish guys”. Reacher leaves.
EIGHT
In the lot Reacher starts his car engine and the stereo. Howlin’ Wolf’s “Spoonful” begins and continues to play, over. In the rear view he sees car lights. Going back inside, Reacher walks through to the kitchen and takes a dish rag, then heads back out. He drives off, and the other car follows.
A storm kicks up with rain and thunder. Speeding, Reacher leads the other car. (“Spoonful” continues.) He squeals off the road and pulls out the hand cannon. Behind him, two Spanish-speaking men pursue. At some kind of farm or abandoned shed, Reacher dives from the car and lets it roll onward. The pursuit car stops behind it, the men exiting with guns drawn. They have flashlights, and the car lights shine, but otherwise it’s rainy and dark. Coming out of the corn field behind them, Reacher sneaks up and takes the shot. One bullet per man, in the back. The music is over.
NINE
Reacher picks his shell casings out of the dirt and puts on work gloves. He finds an envelope of cash in the dead man’s pocket. He drags one man to their car and opens the back hatch. Oops. Take a beat. Spivey, bullet hole through his forehead, is already in there.
Roll credits.
CRITICAL NOTES
Where to start? How about the Eight. The episode title, “Spoonful”, references the song that plays consistently throughout the climax. That seems a clear beginning and end point to the Eight, and I like it. Very tidy, very impactful. I also like the Two that references this Eight: Reacher gets a gun. He prepares in the Two, and he shoots in the Eight. Again, clockwork beats. Nice job.
The Three is not so clean. Looking at the overall episode and the timing, the Six becomes very obvious. Why are we spending time with Finlay at a bar? It isn’t directly related to the case or the theme of the rest of the episode. That’s because it’s the Six beat. Finlay’s mysterious marriage (at least at this point in the series) seems to be a recurring Three/Six theme. I like it! It’s a great choice. However, we needed some kind of nod at the Three. Currently we have nothing except Finlay’s presence. If only he’d, maybe, spun his ring on his finger. We don’t need much, just a reminder that the ring sits heavily on his hand. One insert shot, and we’d have been golden. This was a missed opportunity for more coherence. Sad face.
I’ve also chosen Finlay for the Switch. He seems to be a fulcrum point in the writing, which is fine. However, the Switch’s placement feels unintentional and random. The Four and the Five really aren’t that different in energy or movement. The Switch doesn’t propel a better understanding, or a tighter working relationship. So far, each episode is Four-light and Five-heavy. This is a little red flag for me. We’ll see how the Switch deploys as the series goes on.