Reacher Season 4 Almost Lost Me, Then Episode 5 Changed Everything

Alan Ritchson as Reacher

A slow start, a lying source, and a twist that finally made Season 4 worth watching. Spoilers through Episode 5.

A rough start, if I’m honest I won’t lie, this season took its time winning me over. The first few episodes felt kind of weak honestly, and I almost checked out before it turned into something worth talking about.

The pitch that hooked me, then let me down

It starts off promising though. A character shoots herself inside a metro station, and Agnez Mo shows up as Lila Hoth, pitching Reacher this story in the park that genuinely pulled me in too. Then a couple episodes later it turns out she was lying, and the whole flash drive thing was actually about Putra’s connection to the Delta Force. That’s the point where my interest dropped a bit. It felt like the show was just stretching things out instead of actually moving forward.

Where it actually turned around

Amisha Hoth as Anggun & Lila Hoth as Agnez Mo

But then it picked back up. Turns out Lila and Amisha Hoth are both behind the killings, using a karambit, and once Reacher starts putting that together, it stops feeling like a mess of random plot threads. Agnez telling Reacher that Congressman John Sampson is actually her dad was honestly the moment that hooked me back in. That’s when the season actually started feeling like a mystery again instead of just vibes.

A softer Reacher, whether I like it or not

Something I keep noticing across the seasons, Reacher’s just not the same guy he was in S1 anymore. After S2 his friends basically told him to ease up, be less hard on people and on himself, and you can see that play out here, in how he handles the woman who shot herself and her brother, and in how he still chooses to trust Agnez even after she lied straight to his face. It’s clearly on purpose, I get why they wrote it that way.

Why I still miss Season 1’s Reacher

But I’ll be honest, I miss the S1 version of him. Harder to read, harder to trust, and somehow that made the show way more suspenseful. S1 is still the most thrilling and tightly written season for me, nothing after it has really matched that tension.

The parts dragging it down

Now the stuff that’s dragging it down. The investigative journalist (Russell Plum) just shows up out of nowhere with basically zero setup, like we’re supposed to already know who he is.

A liability calling out another liability

The victim’s brother is clearly been through a lot and I get that, but he ends up being more of a liability to the plot than anything, going to Agnez before Reacher and Tamara even get looped in, which is kind of funny considering Reacher himself said earlier that he can’t fully jump into the case because he’s become a liability.

And then there’s the CIA, again

And then there’s the CIA plot that just keeps resurfacing over and over, like the writers weren’t totally sure what else to fill the runtime with.

Where I’m at, heading into Episode 6

Anyway, Ep5 left me actually invested in the Lila/Amisha reveal and the Sampson twist, and Ep6 just released today so I’m hoping it tightens things up instead of throwing in yet another loose thread. Fingers crossed.

What did you think of this season so far?