Lol, I haven’t even started watching, but I love the episode already from its title. The problem introduced at the very beginning of the season — will Reacher get to eat a piece of that delicious peach pie — promises resolution here.
LEFTOVER NINE
Ah, lovely. We pick up exactly where we left off, with KJ pointing a gun at Finlay’s head. Reacher submits to Teale disarming him. Picard explains himself to Finlay.
ONE
Reacher asks about Roscoe, and KJ holds up a phone video of her, hands tied over her head. Teale agrees that they’ll all die except the Hubbles. The townspeople don’t like to see an innocent family killed. Well, no. KJ intends to torture Paul Hubble. He’s the last loose end.
Unintimidated, Reacher tells how much he knows about the Venezuelans. Pretty soon they’ll come for KJ and give him the “same necktie” they gave his daddy.
KJ responds, “I killed my father.” (YIKES. Reacher looks a little gobsmacked, too, lol.)
And now we know, as does Reacher, that KJ is batshit evil. We get a little proud monologuing as KJ claims responsibility for all of it. Holy crap, the long list of murders ends with, “I killed your brother.” Lol, take a beat on Reacher’s reaction to that.
(The casting of KJ is excellent, because all we want to see is Reacher decimate that little toad. And we know from his face here that KJ’s a dead man.)
Teale, just a low-level scumbag, sums up the plan. The Reacher brothers were working together with a bad cop (Finlay), or at least that’s how they’ll make it look to the community.
TWO
And now the threats and exposition are over and the story begins. KJ demands that Reacher use his tracking skills to find Hubble. If he doesn’t call by the morning, the Hubble women and Roscoe will die in unimaginably horrible ways.
Hold on Reacher’s face. Roll credits.
Reacher drives down a country road at night. In the passenger seat, Picard loosely holds a gun on him. Without a map and a place to think, Reacher has no chance of finding Hubble. Picard agrees to let him stop.
Cut to the diner and the pie waitress taking their order. Reacher asks for coffee and pie, which makes Picard raise an eyebrow. Using a crayon, Reacher starts marking up a map. After a look at the circles, Reacher states that Hubble’s in Augusta. Picard insists on an explanation. When Reacher details his thought process, Picard calls bullshit.
And then Reacher leans in and nails Picard. You have to kill me, but you’re not sure you can take me unless it’s by surprise. “Let me save you the trouble,” Reacher says. “You can’t. So, if I were you, I’d take me by surprise.”
THREE
The waitress delivers the coffee and pie. As Reacher puts his arm into his jacket sleeve, he knocks the coffee over, spilling it into Picard’s lap.
FOUR
In the ruckus, he pockets the tableware. On the way to the car, Reacher jams the fork into the rear driver’s tire. As he pulls away, we see the fork fall to the gravel. (Did it do its job? And how does an aluminum fork penetrate the sidewall of a tire? Shh, lol.)
Cut to Finlay, handcuffed, on the ground of a cell. Someone kicks him in the ribs. Oh, it’s that Dennis Hopper dude. Officer Baker. He’s enjoying himself. He punches Finlay’s jaw and leaves him bleeding on the cell floor.
Driving at night on the way to Augusta, the low tire pressure indicator goes off. Picard tells Reacher to ignore it. The sound of a flat tire is noticeable, and Picard has him pull over. They both get out. When Reacher opens the trunk he grabs one of the firearms he’d stashed in there during a previous episode. They crouch, guns ready, on opposite sides of the car. They need each other, though, so Reacher concocts a truce. Picard follows it, but Reacher, gun aimed upside down over the trunk, shoots him. The scene is murky, but Picard seems to have run off into the woods. Reacher leaves.
And here’s Reacher knocking on a motel room door within a search radius of the Augusta bus station. Paul answers.
Cut to hunnies being packed into Kliner air conditioner boxes. It’s the counterfeit warehouse. Roscoe, Charlie, and the girls are handcuffed to a pipe barricade. Teale comes over to gloat and to take the daughters away. He locks them in an office (so the women will behave) and waves the hand cannon he took from Reacher.
Back to the car as Paul asks how Reacher found him. They each drop some exposition, and Reacher makes it clear that none of them will just be let go. Then Paul reveals he was Joe’s contact. He apologizes for getting Reacher’s brother killed.
SWITCH
At the Hubble’s, Reacher goes in alone to get the keys to Dawson’s truck. Paul offers to help and Reacher tells him the house is a blood-soaked disaster. We get a few choice tough guy jokes.
FIVE
Close on an ice pack on Officer Baker’s hand. He’s relaxing at a desk, taunting Finlay. On another desk, Finlay’s phone buzzes. Baker, still swaggering, checks the message. He reads aloud, “Duck and cover.” Finlay dives under the cell bench while Reacher’s truck drives through the front glass doors and smashes Baker between the hood and the cell bars. He’s still alive when Finlay reaches into his breast pocket for the handcuff key. As he dies, the last face he sees is Finlay watching him.
Up drives Paul in the Bentley. They raid the police station gun locker and take everything. As they check weapons, Neagley walks in through the shattered door. (Yay!) She knew Reacher was in trouble by their phone conversation last episode, so she came.
Cut to Mosley as our group makes his barber shop basement their meeting place. He goes upstairs to brew coffee, and Paul sketches the Kliner Industries floor plan. Looking it over, Reacher pinpoints where the women would be held, and which office the girls will be in. He knows they’ll be separated. Standard psych tactics.
Warehouse exterior. They all hide in the brush while Neagley counts the guards through a pair of binoculars. Security is beefed up in preparation for trouble. On Reacher’s order, Neagley heads off with a sniper rifle. He gives Paul a handgun and siphons gas from the car’s tank.
SIX
Finlay removes his tweed jacket and folds it. Taking off his dress shirt, Finlay crosses himself. (So, he’s a Catholic and, in his undershirt he’s fairly jacked, lol.) Haha! Reacher notices.
SEVEN
Inside, Roscoe’s wrists bleed as she works at the handcuffs. Charlie sobs. Roscoe gives her a rough pep talk, telling her that there’s no way Reacher will just do what KJ says. He’s coming.
Back to Neagley who coolly snipes the two guards. Reacher sneaks up and takes out the third. Now they can approach the warehouse. The water jug of gas Reacher siphoned earlier is poured under the loading bay door. Reacher tasks Paul: your only job in there is to get your kids. Don’t let anyone stop you. As Reacher preps a match, Finlay stops him, takes the dead guard’s cigarette pack, and lights one up. After a blissful inhale, he tosses the butt on the gasoline.
EIGHT
Cut inside to Roscoe and Charlie looking around and craning their necks. KJ, in the office, rises. Smoke and fire draw all the workers over to put it out. In the commotion our crew sneak inside. Neagley goes high for a bird’s eye. Reacher and Finlay start shooting while KJ runs for his rifle. Paul on a balcony screams Charlie’s name. She yells back and motions at the girls’ location.
He’s got them, shooting a guard along the way. They’re safely outside.
Reacher’s on a pistol and Finlay’s using an automatic rifle he grabbed from a dead guard. Through the gunfire, Reacher finds the women and unlocks their cuffs. Roscoe, pistol out, leads Charlie away. From on high, Neagley covers their backs. (Ooh, someone goes hand-to-hand with her and she takes him down. Neagley!)
Charlie makes it outside to Paul and the girls.
So now we have Finlay, Roscoe, Neagley, and Reacher in a burning warehouse stocked with cardboard boxes of paper money. Picard, still alive, goes head-to-head with Finlay. Meanwhile, Teale attacks Roscoe and she wrestles on the ground with him.
Oh. Yikes. Well, that takes care of Picard. Eek.
And Roscoe, finding the hand cannon, shoots Teale through the eye. Ew.
The two of them join up with Neagley, coughing through the smoke, and escape out through the door. Realizing they don’t have Reacher, Roscoe wants to go back. Neagley pushes them onward.
Here it is, the showdown we’ve been waiting for. KJ stands over Teale’s body, the warehouse world burning around him. He calls out for Reacher, and they exchange gunfire.
Oh, boy. KJ’s monologuing. He killed a rhino on safari. As he speaks, he hunts Reacher through the smoke. (Apparently Reacher is the dumb, lumbering beast in this scenario.) Meanwhile, Reacher finds the animal feed and cuts open the bags. When KJ, coming around the corner, stops to look at the spilled feed, Reacher tackles him from behind.
Well, we knew it was coming. After a battle, KJ goes up in flames.
Reacher starts running for the exit as the fire surges. Outside, we see the entire warehouse explode. Money drifts through the smoke, and then Reacher walks out from the darkness.
Romantic reunion with Roscoe, which makes Neagley smile. Reacher announces to the crew, “It’s over.” And it is. Dissolve to Roscoe’s bedroom. She’s asleep and Reacher puts daisies in an empty Coke bottle by the morning window. A message on his cell from Neagley says she’s home. After reading it, he crushes the burner phone. He picks up his money clip from the bedside table. Close on the French military medal as he holds it on his palm.
NINE
A taxi parks on a street in Paris. In formal military dress, Reacher steps out and shakes a man’s hand. It’s Joe. They go in together to the — it’s a hotel or a hospital. All that matters is that their mother lies dying in a bed. As they say their goodbyes, Mom makes clear she always knew Reacher had done the beating in Okinawa. Joe goes to make a call (or, more likely, to cry), leaving Reacher with Mom. From under her pillow she pulls out her father’s war medal.
Outside at the taxi, Joe and Reacher share the ride. Joe gives Reacher permission to cry, and a tear that had been glistening throughout now falls.
Back to Margrave. Roscoe and Reacher sit together in a park gazebo. The evening is peaceful, with children on bicycles. Roscoe expects Reacher to leave, and he agrees he’s the wandering type. She gives him her phone number written on a folded Clark bar wrapper. (It’s a reference to their dancing episode.) She’ll help rebuild the town. He suggests she run for mayor. After a tender kiss, they sit contentedly as the camera pulls away.
Reacher approaches the diner. Looking out the window of a parked car is the abused dog from the picket fence yard. It’s Finlay’s car, and the dog wears a tweed collar. (Hahaha!) Inside, he joins Finlay who spins his wedding ring at a table. He warns Reacher that the Feds would like to interview him. The two men share one last round of charming buddy cop schtick, lol. After helping Roscoe, Finlay will head back to Boston. Time to “stop spinning”. Hahaha, he named the dog Jack.
Then Finlay signals the waitress. He needs to right a wrong. She brings over two pieces of peach pie. Wait for it, lol. Yes, Reacher puts a big bite in his mouth. Close on his face. “I’ve had better.” They laugh.
Rack focus through some wildflowers, and there’s Reacher at Joe’s death location. From his pocket he takes the French medal, scoops a hole in the dirt, and lays it to rest.
Start up the Blind Blake music track as Reacher’s boots head down the road. Thumb out, he keeps walking. Roll credits.
CRITICAL NOTES
Okay, lol, let me explain my reasoning. We’ve got some funky Story Enneagram choices in this episode.
First off, the end of this episode is also going to be the wrap up for the entire season. We’ll always be Eight and Nine heavy under those circumstances. The same for the Two. Although it specifically only points at this episode’s Eight, because the Eight will be laden, the Two has to expand and encompass the greater plotline.
The Switch is very standard. The team is formed. Reacher’s ready to rescue the members who are in trouble as they move into the Five.
The Seven accommodates many decisions because we have many critical characters. My favorite, though, is Finlay. His decision to have a smoke is something built over the entire season, and yet it’s so perfectly placed in the moment. (He’s a wonderful character, amazingly acted. I love that he gets this beautiful, resonant beat.)
Now, what about that Three/Six? Haha! Am I seeing a connection that doesn’t exist, simply because two characters fiddle with jackets? As has happened often, Finlay marks the Six. He has a stillness that’s very useful to the writers. Actually, I think this is a subtle and satisfying mirror. I just don’t think the showrunners had any conscious thought about the reference between the scenes. I mean, no one in Hollywood uses a Three/Six Mirror technique, but they do have other structural forms. This jacket thing didn’t even hit that. This is about as subconscious as you can get. That’s what makes it so thrilling.
Next time I’ll do a season breakdown and we’ll see how the entire arc stacks up.