Reacher
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Everything about the lengthy cold open of Persuader, the first episode ofReachers third season, feels off.
Were in Abbottsville, Maine, a town that looks as charming as it is fictional.
Havenhurst University, the (presumably) liberal-arts institution that anchors the town, is made up, too.
Rushmoresize back, is hawkingvinyl?
Theres a story reason for this, then theres the real reason:Reacheris ashow for dads.
So that knocks it out on principle.
He retrieves the kid, telling him, Im not going to hurt you!
Reacher then turns and fires reflexively, hitting a portly man square in the chest.
The dead-or-soon-to-be mans hand opens, revealing … a detectives shield.
Cop-killing suits Reacher even less than vinyl does.
His panic is unpersuasive.
To us, anyway.
Not to the kid, whom Reacher throws into his van before peeling out.
Reacher, newly a cop killer, wont go to the authorities.
Hell be grateful that you kept me from getting kidnapped again, the kid explains.
Reacher points out how improbable it is that Richard would be targeted twice.
Richards home is a brick seaside mansion surrounded by a fence with a guardhouse.
Reacher is canonically six-foot-five, and the guard who orders Reacher out of his stolen vehicle towers over him.
The mileage shows on his face.
Thats no small ask, Beck replies.
We just need to know who you are, Beck explains.
Im the guy who saved your sons other ear, Reacher tells him.
Reacher goes to check on Richard, who tells him his mom died when he was 4.
Her elision is a welcome change.
Richard is painting a landscape of the scene outside his window, notably minus the guardhouse.
The kid asks Reacher what he would paint if he ever painted.
Reacher has never considered this.
With his sons bodyguard apparently dead, Beck wants to bring this well-qualified man onto his security team.
Theres none of that here.
Then he does ittwice moreuntil Beck snatches the revolver back and hands it to Duke.
I know the bullet didnt have any powder in it, Reacher says.
Duke has to pull the trigger three times before the hammer lands on the live round.
Its unusual for us to see Reacher proven wrong!
Duke tells Reacher hes locking him in his bedroom until the next morning.
We back up, per another title card, to Days Earlier.
Reacher tells the would-be purse-snatcher he just scared/bribed straight to give him his phone.
He promises to call Reacher back with the result of the license-plate check Reacher requested.
At a dive called the Yorkie Motel, Feds pound on Reachers door.
A woman with a badge intercepts him.
This is Agent Susan Duffy of the Drug Enforcement Administration, played by one Sonya Cassidy.
Indeed, shes a graduate of the Royal Awcahdemy of Drahmahtic Ahhht.
the plainclothes cop Reacher killed.
We knew it was all aMission: Impossiblestyle ruse.
This opening fake out is a direct lift from the book.
It wasnt convincing in prose, either.
Dawctuhs figuh thuh freezing watuhsaved him, Duffy says, adding that the guy claimed to have amnesia.
The authorities could never identify him.
But from the wayyoueye-fucking him, I think you know his name!
This is the guy Reacher saw getting into that car right after he gave the would-be purse-snatcher a C-note.
This backfills how Reacher was able to play Russian roulette thrice without dying.
The 23-minute flashback ends, and were back in Reachers bedroom.
In the dirt, he finds one of Teresas earrings.
