Reacher Review

 

Several years ago, this blog used to run weekly "24" recap.  Well, "24" is long gone and most of television has gone to the streaming services. This means  you can watch a series in a day or two if you want. As you might expect, this makes recapping difficult.  However, this blog does not know the meaning of the word "difficult" or many other words. 

Anyway (the word Southerners used to indicate a new paragraph) I am reviewing "Reacher". There will be no "spoilers" unless I forget and put them in anyway.

 

How do you describe the Amazon Prime series "Reacher"?

Imagine if Magilla Gorilla was an action hero, that's "Reacher," except he wears tight t-shirts instead of a bow tie.

It is pretty apparent that this guy spends a lot of time in the gym. He has muscles on top of muscles. Whatever the name is for multiple six-packs is, he has that too. The series seems to find reasons for Reacher strip off his shirt.

A word of warning:  your wife may faint from the vapers during the t-shirt changing scenes.  At least, that's what I've heard.

Me and Reacher are practically doppelgangers.  I just need to grow another twelve inches, somehow acquire muscles, get a six-pack (Hey! I already have a keg!  Thank you, you've been fantastic and remember to tip the wait staff) and to somehow become an expert on how to punch people where they stay punched. 

Reacher walks into Margrave, Georgia, which is somewhere between Tallahassee, Florida and Nashville, Tennessee.  Seriously, it sounds like it is around LaGrange, Georgia because, in one episode, Reacher says they are an hour away from Atlanta. 

As he walks into town, he stops in at The Margrave Greasy Spoon which serves the "baist pa-cheeh pie in Jawja", gets a cup of coffee and is immediately arrested for being a big baboon and making the rest of the menfolk in town look bad.

He is taken to jail, where he meets the sheriff (an older middle aged white man), the city's lead (and only) detective (an African-American from the North) and the town's female cop ( a young woman with small bosoms, not that I noticed.)

It turns out that two people were murdered that same morning that Reacher came to town.  That's enough reason to hold Reacher in jail and it even made sense to the Head Detective. 

The detective wants to know why Reacher came to town. Turns out Reacher is a big fan of the blues; you know blues musicians like Nearsighted Johnson, Shorty Pickles, Blind Orange Jello, Barkin' Bob McGee, and Itch Barnes.

They set Reacher free, he takes off his shirt, flex his pecs, puts his shirt back on and walks over to the town's only barbershop for a shave and a good discussion of the Blues. 

The barber tells Reacher about the man who owns the town.  Reacher immediately suspects that this man is behind the murders despite having no evidence and just hearing that the man is rich.

Reacher notices two poop-heads looking at him in the typical small town Southern "Who's Your Daddy" way and it turns out to be the rich guy's son and nephew.  Reacher knows he is going to have to punch these two several times

Reacher and the Head Detective become fast friends despite the fact they hate each other and have nothing in common.

Reacher and the Female Cop become lovers even though Reacher's chest is more prominent than hers.

A lot more people are killed. The Sheriff is "crucified" naked and they cut his you-know-what off.  Reacher says this was a message.  The message I got:  leave Margrave.

It turns out the rich guy has developed such a diabolical scheme to make money, the only person who can figure it out is a gorilla that wears tight shirts. 

I cannot go further without ruining the show for those who have not seen it. However, here some things you need to know about the show

Language:  It is not PG, but it is not Saturday with The Sopranos either. 

Violence:  Lots and lots of violence. Reacher doesn't fool around with his punching. He just goes in for a full pounding. Lots of pow-pow with the guns. Most of the bad guys are killed with shots to the head.

 

Sex and/or Nudity:   Ladies, you get to see Reacher's backside and you would have seen "little Reacher" if it wasn't for a strategically placed towel. The female cop takes a shower with Reacher and makes what we called in the '70s "sweet love". A female former Army buddy of Reacher changes clothes in front of Reacher, but he doesn't seem all that interested even though she has a better body than the female cop.

 

 

Southern stuff:  The geography stuff is the thing that bothered me the most. Margrave is supposedly near the Alabama border and only two hours from Augusta, which is next to the border of South Carolina. Even without adding in Atlanta traffic, there is no way Augusta, Georgia, is two hours away from Margrave.

Most of the characters have the comical Southern accents we have come to expect. The female cop has an accent that comes and goes. 

One good thing is that the fine people of Margrave don't make a big deal about the Head Detective's race. However, they do call him a Yankee a lot. Baby steps, people, baby steps.

Other Stuff:   There are a couple of good one-liners. I liked the Head Detective calling Reacher a gorilla. I also liked that the Head Detective was a classic rock fan and not a neo-intellectual blues fan like Reacher. The Head Detective called the opening of "Carry On My Wayward Son" the best in the history of rock music. He ain't lying. 

Bottom Line:  "Reacher" is a fast-paced show that doesn't ask a lot from the audience, like the distance from a fictional West Georgia town to a town on the eastern border of Georgia. If you like shows where muscle-bound men beat up bad guys, then this is the show for you.