Warning! This article contains major spoilers for Reacher 3.Reacherseason 3 ends on a high note, where the titular character faces one of his biggest challenges but still emerges victorious. Unlike the first two seasons of theAmazon Prime Video detective series,Reacherseason 3 begins on a strange note where theAlan Ritchson characterdoes not seem like his usual self. However, a twist soon reveals that Jack Reacher is undercover for the DEA and has been putting up an act to win the trust of a suspicious rug seller, Zachary Beck.
Flashbacks reveal that he only agreed to join forces with the DEA because his undercover mission allowed him to eliminate Xavier Quinn, the man who murdered his MP colleague, Dominique Kohl. Since Quinn happens to control Beck’s secret gun-running business, Reacher hopes to catch and kill him through his covert operation. However, Quinn proves to be one of the Reacher’s most dangerous adversaries. Despite facing many challenges throughout season 3, Reacher, Neagley, and the DEA manage to take down the bad guys before it is too late.
How Reacher & His Team Rescue Teresa & Kill Quinn in Season 3’s Ending
Reacher Takes On Their Biggest Challenge While Neagley & The Crew Handle The Rest
After the events fromReacherseason 3, episode 7’s ending, the titular character realizes that Quinn tricked them into believing that the gun sale was happening at the Salvage Yard. However, Jack Reacher and his two DEA allies, Duffy and Villanueva, still handle the situation by taking advantage of the crossfire between Quinn’s men and the ATF agents. With what follows, they even take control of two trucks that head to Beck’s mansion and safely enter the house’s compound without raising Paulie’s suspicions.
Reacher Season 3’s Main Villain, Xavier Quinn, Explained
Reacher himself described season 3’s latest villain Xavier Quinn as “the single worst person I’ve ever known,” but what is his backstory?
However, the season’s final arc begins when Paulie grows increasingly suspicious of the parking spot of one of the trucks and heads towards it. Realizing that only he can handle Paulie,Reacher asks Neagley and the DEA agents to head to the house while he prepares for his final showdown with the giant. In the house, Neagley disguises herself as a waiter, while Duffy sets out to rescue Teresa. In the meantime, Villanueva heads to Richard’s room to rescue him.
Soon after Duffy finds herself in Teresa’s room, Quinn’s buyer, Nasser, shows up, hoping to make the best of his time with Teresa. Duffy initially seems apprehensive about attacking him because it could raise an alarm and alert his men. However, she eventually throws her caution to the wind and kills the man. After a final battle unfolds between the heroes and the villains, Reacher almost gets Quinn. However, the Russian mobsters Quinn had loaned money from suddenly show up and try to take Quinn away.
Reacher using a shotgun to kill Quinn in season 3’s finale is symbolic in the sense that it shows how the character wants to ensure he kills the villain. He previously failed to follow his senior officer Garber’s advice of “doing it once and doing it right,” which is why Quinn survived. By using a shotgun, he ensures he leaves no room for assumptions and kills Quinn for good.
Neagley forces them to hand him back to them bynot only offering the money Quinn was going to earn from his buyers but also using a diffused grenade to threaten them. With this, the mobsters agree to leave Quinn behind. While Neagley and the DEA agents clear up the remaining mess, Reacher avenges Dominique Kohl’s death by first jogging Quinn’s memory of how he killed her and then shooting him dead with a shotgun.
How Reacher Defeats Paulie In Season 3’s Finale
He Uses His Brain And His Brawn
One of the most gripping scenes inReacherseason 3’s finale is when Alan Ritchson’s Jack Reacher sets out to take down Olivier Richters' Paulie. After building up to the fight scene almost throughout its runtime,Reacherseason 3 delivers a slam-bang fight sequence where Reacher nearly dies after getting thrashed by the 7-foot-titan. During their fight, the two characters even end up falling into the rock pit that was previously used by Quinn’s men to dump bodies in the ocean.
Paulie had two opportunities to kill Reacher: he could have shot him before challenging him to “fight like men” or kill him instead of hanging him. However, his ego got the best of him while Reacher used his wit to take him down.
Reacher seems to drown Paulie in the sea before heading out to the mansion, but, to his surprise, Paulie somehow makes it out alive. A final battle between the two characters ensues in the mansion’s guardhouse. Paulie again puts his strength on full display and tries to overpower Reacher. However,Reacher cleverly pulls the bullet from the gun’s belt and plugs its barrel while fighting Paulie. He then makes Paulie believe he has the upper hand by letting him stand behind the gun. As soon as Paulie tries to shoot, though, the gun’s barrel explodes in his face and kills him.
“You may be bigger and stronger, but I’m smarter.” -Reacher’s final words to Paulie.
What Neagley Means When She Says Reacher “Hates The Big Guy”
She Understands Reacher Does Not Always Have The Right Reasons
After Reacher and the crew save the day, Neagley says she finally understands why he does what he does. She claims he does not fight crime just to set things right and protect the little guy. Instead, he does it because he hates “the big, powerful sons of b**ches who think they can just get away with things.” InLee Child’sPersuader, whichReacherseason 3 adapts, Jack Reacher quotes the same line when Duffy asks him the same question.
By making Neagley steal Reacher’s line from the books, the show seemingly tries to establish that she knows him more than he knows himself. Neagley’s line also highlights that Reacher’s sense of justice may not always be driven by the right things. As Duffy responds in the book, he “produces the right results for all the wrong reasons.” Reacher, too, does not deny this, explaining why he asks Neagley how it took her so long to figure that out.
…Even though his reasons are often flawed, Reacher always ends up serving the greater good by punishing the bad guys.
The quote shows that Reacher is not a typical hero who always sets things right by doing what is morally correct. He is more of a morally gray anti-hero who leaves a massive trail of blood behind him and is often driven by darker motivations. However, even though his reasons are often flawed, Reacher always ends up serving the greater good by punishing the bad guys.
Why Duffy Parts Ways With Reacher Before He Does
Duffy Is More Like Reacher Than He Realized
InReacherseason 1’s endingmoments, the Alan Ritchson character had a tough conversation with Roscoe where he had to explain to her how his lifestyle would never let him pursue a long-term relationship. Roscoe let him go but wrote him her number on a Clark Bar wrapper, hoping that they would meet again.Reacherseason 2’s Dixon, too, was attached to the character towards the end, but she let him leave because she understood he loved the open road and his freedom more than anything else.
96%
80%
Based On
Lee ChildJack Reacherbook series
Fortunately for Reacher, Duffy does not try to complicate things for him. Before he can end things with her on a positive note,she comes up to him and tells him that she is not the “stick to you, make it last” kind of person. With this, she establishes that she is a lot like Reacher, especially when it comes to how she perceives romantic relationships. Reacher, too, is relieved that she gives him the same parting speech he usually delivers to the women he is romantically involved with.
Reacher’s Advice To Richard Beck Explained
Reacher Encourages Richard To Live His Life On His Own Terms
Richard Beck feels lost and clueless after his father’s demise. As he watches law enforcers swarm all over his father’s mansion, he realizes that he is about to lose everything. However, Reacher shows him the way by handing him the keys to a car and encouraging him to do the one thing he had always thought of: “grabbing a set of car keys, blowing through the gate, and disappearing.” He also asks him to grab all the cash from the house and leave before the feds find any of it.
Before following Reacher’s advice, Richard opens up about feeling bad that he did not get to see more of his father’s good side while he was still alive. Reacher, as always, says a lot by only sharing a few words of advice:
“In my experience, if you spend a lot of time thinking about your past…well, it’s probably not a good thing.”
When Richard asks him what he does when he cannot forget awful things from the past, Reacher says he finds the “awful” thing and kills it. With this, Reacher teaches him a valuable lesson:one must forget things one cannot control and take action to change what one can.
All Deaths In Reacher Season 3’s Finale Explained
The Closing Episode Features One Tragic Death
Many villains die inReacherseason 3’s finale. Thankfully, even though it looked like season 3 was foreshadowing Villanueva’s death, he survives the closing battle and happily retires from the DEA.Reacherseason 3 characterslike Paulie, Quinn, and Naseer meet the fate they deserved after the heroes shoot them dead. Unfortunately, even Zachary Beck does not make it out alive. Towards the end ofReacherseason 3, Beck redeems himself by agreeing to help the heroes and telling his son how he makes him proud.
However, Beck meets a tragic fate when he puts his life on the line to save his son, Richard. Although Richard Beck was initially established as one of season 3’s villains,his bond with his son and desire to change eventually made him likable. Owing to this, his tragic demise inReacherseason 3 is as sad as Russo’s from season 2.
How Reacher Season 3 Sets Up Season 4
It Won’t Be Long Before Trouble Will Find Him Again
Like its predecessors,Reacherseason 3 fully adapts the standalone story from an entire Lee Child novel. By walking through all the story beats in Lee Child’sPersuader,Reacherseason 3 ends on a conclusive note without directly paving the way for another season. Its ending, where Jack Reacher returns to embracing the open road, only promises that the Alan Ritchson character will eventually end up in a town. As always, trouble will find him, and he will somehow be in the crosshairs of another set of criminals.
Reacher season 4 has already been confirmed.
While only time will tellwhich bookReacherseason 4 will adapt, the main character will likely team up with a new set of heroes in the next arc of the series. Since Neagley has consistently appeared in allReacherseasons, viewers can also expect her to return in season 4. Since theNeagleyspinoff showhas also been confirmed, audiences have a lot to look forward to in the franchise.
Reacher
Reacher follows Jack Reacher, a former military police investigator, as he navigates civilian life. Without a phone and carrying minimal belongings, Reacher drifts across the country, experiencing the nation he once served, and encounters intriguing challenges along the way.
