Like It Or Lump It: "Reacher" Season Two

  

Welcome to our feature "Like It Or Lump It" which reviews shows that appear the various streaming services.

When I was a teenager, there was a movie called "Billy Jack."   Billy Jack was a guy who would stroll into town and kick Republicans. They needed kicking because they were not nice to the hippie school teacher or the kids that went to the hippie high school.  I think. It has been over fifty years since I've seen "Billy Jack."

The point is that "Billy Jack" was a popular movie, and people liked seeing Billy Jack kick people who needed kicking.

"Reacher"on Amazon Plus is like "Billy Jack" except Reacher punches people regardless of political affiliation. 

Jack Reacher is a former Army MP who travels the countryside looking for people who need punching and delivers the punching. 

He's not a "hit man" (ha!). Nobody asks him to come to town and whoop up on people.  He strolls into town and notices that a bunch of people need the FIST OF JUSTICE, which he happily supplies.

Reacher is a massive man with six-pack abs and muscles on top of muscles.  He's basically a walking refrigerator.

The first season of "Reacher" finds him in Margrave, Georgia, which don't bother looking for on a map because it doesn't exist. For a place that is fictional, it was really corrupt. Spoiler alert! Reacher cleans out the town while becoming best pals with Oscar, the chief of detectives. 

Reacher even finds love in the arms of a blonde policewoman named Roscoe, which is a hoot because if this were an authentic Georgia policewoman, her name would have been Darlene.

Other facts about Reacher:  He likes jazz and was in Margrave to begin with to find out what happened to Margrave's famous jazz musician, Blind Lemon Jello. Shows like "Reacher" and "Bosch" use the love of jazz music to show how "deep" the character is. But let's be honest: how many people do you know listen to jazz?

Reacher travels light and buys his clothes at Goodwill-type shops OFF THE RACK.  How he can do this, I don't know. 

Season Two of "Reacher" begins with a man thrown out of a helicopter. The man was in Reacher's particular MP unit in the Army. There are several flashbacks where we see Major Reacher and his unit punching various Army personnel in severe need of punching.

It turns out that this man was part of a company that wanted to sell weapons to various countries that want to kill people.  The head of security for this company used to be a Terminator, which I thought would have raised a red flag during the hiring process.

There's a New York City cop who is the last honest cop in New York. He's a tough guy, but his heart is in the right place.

Reacher has two female co-stars who both can kick butt and take a stab wound in the arm.  Reacher has love moments with one of them, in which Reacher takes HIS shirt off.  You should skip this part because it will trigger your inferiority complex.

I liked Season Two of "Reacher" better than Season One.   Some of that is my bias against shows set in the South when it is pretty apparent nobody involved in the show has ever been in the South except to change planes in Atlanta.

Season Two had some comic moments, which helped it out. You have to level out some of the intense drama and punching with some jokes and quips.

My criticism is in the last episode, Reacher hops on a helicopter that is taking off by grabbing and holding on to its landing gear.   I don't care how crunches you can do I don't think that is possible.

Language: Many bad words but not quite at "Sopranos" level.

Violence: A lot of punching, kicking, shooting, and explosions.

Sex: Implied. Jack and the hot girl from the unit have a thing going on.

Plot:  Easy to follow, but doesn't make a lot of sense.

Unbelievable Parts:  The helicopter scene, Jack's ability to quickly set up LLCs for his sidekicks, and his ability to buy off the rack.

You never see:  Jack working out.  I guess he got his muscles from the muscle store.

Verdict: Like it!