‘Reacher’ – ‘What Happens in Atlantic City’ – Review
The investigation is in motion, and this time, it’s personal for the hulking avenger Jack Reacher in Season Two of Reacher. And he’s determined to find the truth…by any means necessary.
The investigation into Franz’s murder takes Reacher (Alan Ritchson) and the surviving members of his former Army unit to Atlantic City where the mystery deepens, danger awaits, and an old flame is rekindled.
Season Two of Prime Video’s Reacher started off with a bang, and a mysterious conspiracy is targeting Jack Reacher’s (Alan Ritchson) old army unit, the 110th Special Investigators of the United States Military Police. And Big Jack ain’t gonna let that slide. But this is no mere lone wolf mission, and Reacher’s got back up this time, being joined by former comrades Francis Neagley (Maria Stern) and David O’Donnell (Shaun Sipos). And their burgeoning investigation sends them directly to Atlantic City. And a whole heap of trouble.
But before they get there, Reacher and his unit find the final member of the team in the form of the vivacious and gutsy Karla Dixen, who the gorgeous Serinda Swan portrays. And she’s a pitch-perfect casting for the series and Reacher’s attention. A former member of the 110th Special Investigators, Dixon’s speciality is forensic accounting; she also happens to be the one who coined the phrase ‘details matter’. Smart, switched on, and damn sexy as well, Dixon is the perfect combination of beauty and brains, plus brawn, as this lady can hold her own in a gun battle, and she perfectly completes the assembled members of the 110th. Swan is effortless in her presence, and you instantly pick on the history and the sexual tension between Dixon and Reacher.
Episode Two of Season Two, ‘What Happens in Atlantic City’ takes the remaining members of the 110th on a road trip to Atlantic City, and its an opportunity for Reacher to reveal his life to his former comrades. While Neagley, Dixon and O’Donnell have all managed to transition from the Army to civilian life with relative ease, it hasn’t been an easy path for Reacher and his life is lost on all of them. It’s an interesting frame from which showrunner Nick Santora allows us to view Reacher and Reacher’s life on the road, and his loner path leaves a massive impact on his former comrades, especially Dixon. There’s a sense of what ‘could have been’ with these two characters, and this only heightens the emotional tension that is shared between them.
One of the coolest parts of the growing second season of Reacher is that we get flashback episodes to his time spent in the Army, and we get to see a different side of him. This side investigation sees Reacher and the 110th investigating a clandestine conspiracy that is taking place during the War on Terror, and it helps audiences to see how Reacher’s methods came to be shaped. Santora also throws some Reacher lore at audiences, particularly around the character of James Barr, a rogue former sniper and the antagonist of Lee Child’s One Shot, and Ritchson has a special look of glee on his face as he mentions having wrapped up Barr a year previously. It’s a fun call out for Reacher fans and the history of the character that they’re sure to enjoy.
But ‘What Happens in Atlantic City’ isn’t just all emotional callbacks and flashbacks. There’s a whole heap of action both in the streets and under the sheets. The shadowy conspiracy that is threatening the 110th is hot on the tail of Reacher, and he and Dixon go head-to-head with them in a meaty and violent brawl that will spike your adrenaline. While Ritchson hits like a Freightliner, Swan’s Dixon is a far more lithe, nimble combatant, and her intelligence and tricky fighting ability see her take out a host of bad guys. It’s a hell of a tag team match with Reacher and Dixon, and they put some bad people down hard. But it’s then that things really get hot, as that bubbling sexual tension boils over, and passions get heated and in the kindling of a relationship that will get your blood going.
The action of Reacher’s second season is starting to move at a fierce pace, and Reacher and the remaining members of the 110th are honing in on their prey.
Reacher is streaming on Amazon Prime NOW.
Image: Amazon Prime
