As the fourth episode of Reacher begins, Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson) breaks the cellphones and searches the bag of the people he just killed. He takes a lighter from Spivey (Patrick Garrow) while leaving a can of skoal. He crams the two bodies into the trunk along with Spivey’s. To do that, he has to bend one man’s legs backward. He gets a call from Oscar Finlay (Malcolm Goodwin) who wants to know if he found Spivey, but Jack says it was a dead end. Oscar reveals Paul Hubble hasn’t worked at the bank for a year. There is also a potential lead on Joe’s rental car since a driver called in a burnt-out vehicle a few hundred yards west of mile marker 97. He confirms only those who need to know about the car know about it. Jack joins him a bit later with a snack that Oscar refuses. Oscar explains to Jack that a farmer chasing down one of his pigs found that car. Roscoe told Teale that the plates matched one of Morrison’s old collars to throw him off the scent.

There are no plates and someone obviously tried to hide the vehicle. Jack says Joe would’ve wanted an SUV for headroom so it might’ve been his brother’s. Jack takes a look at the car and immediately realizes the fire didn’t start in the engine or gas tank. Since the burn is darkest in the center and spreads out, they suspect it was started there with an accelerant and match. Roscoe (Willa Fitzgerald) joins them before they try to see if they can get a partial VIN from the vehicle. Jack shows them an old army trick of using ketchup and salt as a metal cleaner. He uses it to uncover the VIN. Oscar says he’ll get Picard (Martin Roach) to run the VIN since that’ll get faster results. Jack tells them that the South Americans got to Spivey before he did and he found him stashed in the trunk. He can tell Oscar where the South Americans are, but they aren’t going to talk to him. Oscar says there have been seven murders since Jack came to town although Jack says it is eight with Hubble.

Jack says he is going to get rid of the bodies because they’ll be flooded with state and county cops otherwise. They need to stay hidden until they find out who killed Joe to keep the investigation between them. Roscoe promises to keep an eye on Jack. When she follows him to the car, she finds out what Jack did to the victim’s legs. She notices the exit wound is on his chest and knows Jack lied when he told Finlay they charged him. Jack insists he only told Finlay what he needed to hear. She asks what happened in Baghdad. He knows that she has been talking to KJ, but she says KJ has been talking to her. She demands to know what happened in Baghdad since they’re going to see this through together. Reacher starts by saying it was a small village 40 klicks north of Baghdad. He was tracking an AWOL PFC when he saw a group of 10 and 11 years old that played soccer in a bombed-out hangar every day. They always waved and he waved back.

One night, it got real late yet they hadn’t returned. He went back to the hangar to ensure they wouldn’t have to walk back alone. Three men from the village were abusing the boys. He tells Roscoe to fill in the blanks. He sent the kids away and stayed to give the adults a chance to turn themselves in or answer to him. He knew they’d come for him. When they did, he was ready and easily killed them. He goes on to say the Kliners have money so KJ likely bought the information. Jack wants to know if she has a problem with him hurting people who hurt kids. Roscoe says no. They go to the airport to dump the bodies. Roscoe dumps the car, wipes it down, and steals a license plate. While Jack waits in the car, he watches a group of guys unload bags from a truck. When Roscoe returns, Jack tells her what Oscar said about Kliner being involved in trucking, real estate, and chemicals. He doesn’t remember Oscar saying anything about agriculture.

Although she says it is pretty normal around these parts, Reacher thinks it was a lot of animal feed. Once they reach the motel, they change the license plate on their vehicle. They go inside where Jack asks for a room from floors three to seven if possible. The only two queen room they have left is a suite. They take it with Roscoe telling the receptionist to put the room under the name Officer Eudora Welty. Reacher has a big stack of cash. As they ride up the elevator, Jack reveals he got the money from the men who wanted to kill him so they got paid well to try. Roscoe wonders if he paid with counterfeit cash since those guys were likely working with counterfeiters. He says that isn’t his problem.

He asks if she is a fan of Eudora Welty’s writing. He like short stories because they get straight to the point. He claims Welty is her go-to, but she picks Margaret Mitchell when she travels. She asks if he moonlights at a psychic phone network, but he says you can learn a lot about a person by their pseudonyms. Jack likes using the names of Yankees second basemen and forgotten vice presidents. If Roscoe knew that, she should’ve booked them in as Willie Rudolph. Reacher grabs a bunch of toothpicks from a food plate nearby. Reacher tells Roscoe they should go to Jobling’s address first thing in the morning to talk to his wife. Jack puts the toothpicks in the door hinges explaining they’ll give him a little more time to get his shott off. He also closes the curtains and moves the bad to ensure he doesn’t get hit by a sniper in the middle of the night. Molly Beth Gordon (Lara Jean Chorostecki) calls to say she tracked down a lot of Joe’s files pertaining to this case.

She’ll have it copied and collated by the morning with her flight landing at ATL at 5 PM. Reacher doesn’t want to be recorded being handed the files since they’re breaking the law. Roscoe tells Molly to take the train to Five Points station where there won’t be any real security. Molly tells Jack she can’t wait to meet him since Joe told him so much about him. Jack tries to end the call quickly, but Roscoe believes he should talk to her because she is flying all the way down there to deliver the papers. Molly tells him about Joe having the respect of everyone that worked there. Joe used to say Jack was too smart for his own good and a pain in his arse sometimes. Although Jack was his little brother, Joe often looked up to him. Jack says it was the other way around for him and Joe was the only guy he ever felt small next to. He says his brother didn’t take to people easily so he suspects Molly must be special. Once the call ends, Roscoe checks on Jack who says he is fine.

Roscoe sits down next to him and says losing family is a special type of pain. When her parents died, she was old enough to remember all of it, yet young enough to understand none of it. She knows Jack is hurt although he is still trying to comfort Molly Beth. She says Joe is right and he is indeed a good man. Jack decides to take a shower. He instructs Roscoe to shoot anyone who tries to come through the door. Roscoe joins him in the shower for romance. In the morning, Roscoe says they’re going to get pushback from Jobling’s wife because her husband is dead and there are no leads. She says what happened last night shouldn’t change anything because they have a job to do. They visit Mrs. Jobling (Nancy Palk) while pretending to be officers Welty and Rudolph. They’re surprised to learn that Pete Sr. (Larry Peloso) is back in the kitchen. Jack tells them that Pete is okay although there was a string of hijackings at his trucking company recently.

Mrs. Jobling reveals Pete has been living with his wife Judy in Brookhaven. Once they get his address, they leave. Outside, Jack says it would’ve gotten emotional and they don’t have time so he lied to them. Roscoe believes he wanted a breather from breaking bad news. Mayor Teale (Bruce McGill) invites Oscar into his office to ask him about harassing Mr. Kliner. Oscar tries to explain himself before Teale reminds him that Kliner is one of Margrave’s most important citizens. Kliner suggested removing Oscar from his job. Teale says that is ironic since Kliner’s donations helped them match Oscar’s bloated New England salary demands. Oscar is given an envelope of files for the criminals Teale wants him to investigate. Teale suggests his inflated paycheck can be pumped up a little more if he does what is asked of him.

Oscar is warned not to do anything without Teale’s approval first. If he steps out of line, he’ll be removed from the case. If he does it twice, he’ll lose his career. Stevenson (Jonathan Koensgen) interrupts to tell Finlay his father is on the line and it is urgent. Before Oscar steps out, he makes sure he has permission from Teale to take the call. When Oscar picks up the phone, Picard (Martin Roach) speaks to him using code about picking something up. Oscar has some friends in the area and he offers to send them over to pick it up. After the call, Picard tells Charlene (Kristin Kreuk) there is nothing to worry about although he needs to go relay some sensitive information about the investigation. He’ll be gone for a few hours, but it’ll be okay since nobody knows they’re hiding here. Picard gives her a gun and encourages her not to hesitate to use it. Charlene is warned that hesitation will get her killed.

Meanwhile, Roscoe and Jack meet with Judy Miller (Ali Johnson) who reveals she didn’t take her husband’s name. Judy explains she wanted Pete over and over that this would catch up with him and it finally did. She asks if they know any other truck drivers who can own a place like this and pay off their parents’ mortgage. He confirms her husband was stealing from Kliner. He was hauling AC units, but she doesn’t think all of them were being delivered for a reason. She knew he’d tick off the wrong person eventually. Jack says that person shot Pete in the back of the head and left him there. Jack says someone he cared about was killed too before encouraging her to share whatever she may have. Judy takes them outside to see the AC boxes. She admits she doesn’t know who called Pete on the night of his murder.

She didn’t report him missing because he went missing often and they’d fight when she asked about it. Judy intends to leave, live with her parents, and sell this place. She is finished with Georgia. Once Jack gets a call from Finlay, he tells Roscoe they need to go and she needs to change out of that uniform. As they drive, Roscoe says Jobling would need to sell a lot of ACs to afford that house. Reacher suspects he was only moving fake cash for Kliner with the bills being produced in South America by whoever employed the guys he killed and left in long-term parking. The money is shipped to Florida where Jobling picks them up with real air conditioners. The empty boxes are filled with phony cash. Before Jobling takes them to Margrave for distribution, he skims some of the money off the top. Jack hopes Joe’s files are going to confirm his theory. They head to the meeting point close to Picard’s office. He joins them and they walk to an alley for privacy.

He tells them that the VIN was registered to a Chevy Equinox owned by a car rental company. Someone picked it up last week before the plates were pinged at a motel 40 miles outside of Margrave. The car and motel were registered using the name Ron Hassey. Jack says that is Joe since he used the names of Yankees backup catchers. Picard gives them the motel’s address so they can check it out in case Joe left something behind. Picard pleads with them to hurry up and close this out because he is stuck and going to lose his job. When they reach the motel, they learn he left behind a suitcase and garment bag, but they were picked up about 20 minutes ago. They’re told the items were picked up by Ron Hassey who was about medium height and foreign. They might’ve been Hispanic. As they walk outside, Roscoe complains they got a 20-minute head start on them. Jack suspects his brother would put the field notes where they wouldn’t look.

He thinks the South Americans would keep the suitcase and drop the garment bag. They find the garment bag in the trash and a note hidden inside that mentions Gray’s Kliner file, Operation E, and Joblings’ Garage. A car pulls up and the occupants begin shooting at them immediately. Jack tells her to run in opposite directions when he fires. He starts shooting and they run from the vehicle. Roscoe manages to hide and lose them, but the car keeps chasing Jack. When the car gets stuck, Mateo climbs through the sunroom before he is shot and killed by Jack. The other guy gets out and comes after Jack. Soon, Reacher jumps from a roof nearby and attacks him. After a brief fight, the South American grabs his gun and holds Jack at gunpoint while complaining he killed his cousin.

He threatens to kill Jack before Roscoe shoots him in the head killing him instantly. She slaps Jack for making them chase him. She insists she isn’t some little girl who needs his protection. Jack says he was thinking that when Joe died there was almost no one left in the world he cared about. It felt bad until he met Roscoe who made it feel better. Once they change their tire and drive away, Oscar calls and they discuss things. When Roscoe asks how they got to the hotel first, Oscar says Stevenson took the call from Picard. He forwarded it to the main line and could’ve listened. Roscoe doesn’t want to believe Stevenson is dirty so Jack wonders if they listened in using parabolic microphones. Regardless, Roscoe slowly begins accepting that it could’ve been Stevenson. They agree to meet at an abandoned farmhouse to discuss what they’ve found. Jack knows Roscoe doesn’t need protection, but he went with his instinct.

In a flashback, Jack (Maxwell Jenkins) and Joe (Gavin White) listen as their parents learn about Joe pummeling a brigadier general’s son. Josephine (Leslie Fray) insists Bishop has always been trouble and her boy was only taking up for Billy. Stan (Matthew Marsden) is told he should be thinking about his career although he says it is a disagreement between kids. Since Joe is a minor, there isn’t much they can do to him. However, Bishop is likely going to take it out on Stan by demoting him, cutting his pay, and transferring him out of Okinawa. Stan thanks Butch for the heads up. Once Butch leaves, Joe admits it isn’t fair for Stan to get in touch for this. Stan agrees so Joe should’ve thought about that before he did it. Joe suspects his father hates him. Jack wants to take care of it, but Joe tells him he is only 12 and shouldn’t be involved. Joe says his instinct was to keep his mouth shut and it was the right decision. Jack is told to stay out of it. At the farmhouse, they see that the note says “E Unum Pluribus”.

PH is obviously Paul Hubble while WB hasn’t been identified. SC has a New York phone number next to it. Roscoe doesn’t get the part about Jobling’s garage or Kliners file. They’ve already been in the garage and didn’t find anything. Plus, Roscoe doesn’t remember Gray having a file on Kliner. They decide to call the numbers with Roscoe getting the mystery number. Oscar takes New York and Jack calls the Memphis number. Jack’s number leads to the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Roscoe returns and says WB stands for William Bryant who is an economics professor at Princeton. Oscar’s number went to the economics department at Columbia and SC stands for Professor Stephanie Castillo. Stephanie and William went to the European conference and will be back in three days. They try to figure out what is going on while Jack still believes the animal feed is suspicious.

They realize they can’t go to Tennessee since Molly Beth will be there soon. Jack knows a PI who can help and one he trusts with his life. Jack calls Neagley and tells her about his brother looking into counterfeiting in Georgia. Then, he tells her about his notes with JW next to the Memphis EPA phone number. Once the call ends, Oscar says they should get going since Molly will be landing soon. As they drive to the meeting spot, they try to figure out whether they’ll make it before Molly. They make it to the station and see Molly, but she doesn’t come up the escalator. Jack suspects something is wrong and tells them to split up. He goes down and spots the bag she had on the tracks so he jumps down and checks it. He runs through the tunnel and finds Molly bleeding from her stomach.

He holds her. Molly calls him Joe before the episode ends.

 

Reacher Review

It has taken some time to really get accustomed to Reacher and its over-the-top characters. The episode had some decent action scenes including the car chase, shootout, and Jack fighting one of the would-be assassins. The story is slowly unfolding with new evidence coming to light during each episode. It is a shame that they decided to do away with Molly Beth so quickly, but it makes sense because they’re added so many characters each episode.

Reacher is pretty easy to follow and the story is easy to digest. It is an escapist drama good enough to shut off your brain and just go with it. The episode scores a 7.5 out of 10. Reacher recaps are available on Reel Mockery here. Learn how to support the Reel Mockery project by following this link.