Spoonful

In the third episode of the Reacher series, Roscoe is angry and determined to get revenge after someone broke into her house. She hands over her family’s pistol to Reacher, who agrees to take it back once she’s satisfied. However, they leave together with Finlay and Jasper having identified the second victim. ..

Pete Jobling was driving his truck when he was pulled over for a traffic violation. However, the charge then turned into disorderly conduct and he was let off after being defended by Zacarias Perez LLP. It’s a pretty fancy firm and they don’t usually go for truck drivers.

Molly Beth, a secret service agent, called and wanted to speak to Joe. However, this is not going to happen because he has passed away. Molly Beth is distraught and begins to cry.

Molly tells Jack that Joe was the director of the Office of Investigations and that he was chasing something international. Jack is surprised to hear this and asks what it could be. Molly tells him that Joe may have been chasing something from South America.

Joe’s assignment saw him on a secret mission to Margrave and he even assigned the mission to himself. No one else knew about this, minus Molly though who was “close” with him. She agrees to keep everything confidential while collecting up the documents needed to find out what’s really going on.

The gang decides to keep up pretenses with Roscoe at the station. When she arrives, Teale is there waiting. He hands over a list of potential men to check out. Of course, all of this is just a front but she plays her part.

Finlay tracks down Spivey’s home address and shows up to talk. After breaking in, it seems no one is there. The place is a mess though, mostly through Spivey’s own devices, but he notices the man’s phone on the bedside table, with numerous calls to Kliner. However, cops soon break in and beat him down, believing Finlay to be a robber.

Reacher heads to Zacarias Perez’s office to ask for Jobling’s file. After threatening the lawyer with a phone cord, Perez hastily prints out the details needed and hands them over.

The trio reconvene at a little restaurant called Jolene’s. As they sit and eat together, Reacher confirms that the shipping company were contracted to Kliner Industries. Kliner even paid the trucker’s legal fees. This, combined with Spivey’s numbers reading Kliner, appears to hint that Kliner is the one responsible. So naturally, Reacher is going to “kick the hornet’s nest.”

Finlay and Reacher head to Kliner Sr.’s home, where they find that there are no security cameras outside. This is strange, as Kliner Sr. is known for being a ruthless businessman. They go inside and Reacher notices deer heads on the wall, which suggests that the shooters were skilled marksmen. ..

Kliner’s office is in a building with a lot of lawyers. Kliner says that he got a good lawyer involved because he wanted to keep his drivers on the road. He claims that he has no knowledge on what’s going on and takes offence to their questioning.

In a tense exchange, Kliner and Finlay argue about the evidence trail and whether it’s a dead-end. Kliner suggests they stop looking, but Finlay refuses to back down. He threatens to tell the police that Reacher is involved, which would likely result in his arrest. Reacher can barely hold his smirks in as he watches the exchange unfold.

Finlay is reluctant to leave, but Reacher is adamant. They don’t know who to trust and they don’t want to be in any danger. So Finlay packs his things and leaves. Reacher urges him to do the same, but Finlay is hesitant.

While this is going on, Reacher remains intent on finding Spivey. He deduces that he’s the key to all of this. In his absence, KJ shows up and sees Roscoe at the gas station, ruffling her feathers and calling out Reacher for being a murderer. Apparently he killed a bunch of civilians in Baghdad. Roscoe refuses to listen though and drives off, although KJ claims he’s just trying to “look out for her.” Yeah right.

Reacher learns that Spivey has skipped town with a couple of Spanish men but, realizing he’s being followed, takes the opportunity to get the jump on them first.

As the two Spaniards check the empty car that he jumps out out of just prior to this, Reacher sneaks up behind them and shoots the pair dead. Grabbing the gloves he picked up at the bar, he finds a wad of cash in their pocket. Unfortunately he also finds Spivey in the trunk with a bullet between his eyes.

The Episode Review

The third episode of Reacher sees all roads lead to Kliner but is this one big red herring? It seems like it could be Kliner but potentially KJ instead, who’s the real shady character here. It’s tough to know who to trust in this but there’s a really good mystery growing with every episode.

This chapter helps solidify Reacher as a competent player in this game and there’s a great use of humour interweaving around the more serious crime drama elements of this show. This works alongside some solid action and a lot of mystery that makes for an enthralling watch.

Reacher is a great read so far and the ending hints at even more danger to come. ..