The 2nd episode of Reacher Season 3 was about two road trips. In the 1st half, Jack and Angel Doll drove to the impound to take photographs of the pickup truck that the kidnapper had used and dump the minivan that Jack had used to rescue Richard and reunite him with his father, Zachary Beck. At the impound, Angel discovered the car that Richard was in, but since Duffy had switched its plates, Jack lied that it was a different car and Beck’s car was in a secure facility. Angel eventually saw through Jack’s lies; hence, Jack had to kill the guy before he revealed his secrets to Duke. In the 2nd half, Jack had to drive a Bizarre Bazaar truck all the way from Maine to New London to deliver a bunch of rugs, because Beck was in the rug-selling business. Jack suspected that he was being made to carry something illegal. So, he got it checked by Duffy’s friend from narcotics, Grunert, and his canine assistant, Pfizer, but they found nothing in there but carpets. Amidst all this, Jack found out that Beck wasn’t the real boss of this whole operation; it was probably Quinn. Additionally, Jack got in touch with his old friend, Neagley, and asked her to dig up some dirt on Paulie, Duke, and Angel Doll. Did Jack discover something substantial in the 3rd episode of Reacher Season 3? Let’s find out.
Spoiler Alert
Duke and Zachary Suspect Jack
Reacher Season 3, Episode 3 opens with Duke driving Jack from the Bizarre Bazaar warehouse to the Beck Palace. While having a conversation with Duke about how Angel Doll was hinting at sharing some important news with him (which would’ve been about Jack, but that info obviously died with Angel Doll), Jack notices that Duke is sort of insecure about the post he is holding. That’s something that’ll come into play later. While hanging out with the cleaner and the cook, Jack learns that there is a mechanic, Rusty, on the grounds that he hasn’t seen yet. He also finds out that the cleaner is actually studying marine biology, and she works for Beck part-time because the salary is good and helps pay the bills. All this banter is interrupted by Duke as he wants Jack to meet Zachary regarding a cryptic voice note from Angel Doll. So, apparently, before Jack poked a hole in his head, Angel did some research on the number plate of the pickup truck that the “kidnapper” had used and traced it back to a group that had done some business with Zachary in the past. However, the description of said “kidnapper” didn’t match with anyone from that group. So, Duke and Zachary insinuate that either the truck was stolen or Jack is lying.
Instead of choosing between those two options, Jack fabricates a tale about this group trying to expand, hiring new personnel (which explains the “kidnapper” being a relative unknown), and stepping on Beck’s turf by trying to kidnap Richard. Beck and Duke are convinced, but as soon as Jack tries to use this opportunity to learn more about Beck’s business, Beck shuts him down. Later that night, Jack gets a call from Neagley, who is concerned for him after looking into the past records of Paulie, Duke, and Angel Doll. She insists that she should help him out on this mission. But Jack makes it clear that he wants to deal with Quinn on his own; he doesn’t want to involve her because he won’t be able to cope with another associate of his getting murdered by Quinn. Jack assures Neagley that he’ll be in touch with her, but he won’t reveal his location. After hanging up on Neagley, Jack calls up Duffy (I have to point out how easily Jack is making calls, I have a feeling that he is being monitored by someone) and tells her to leave some clothes and a vehicle at a spot that’s to the south of the Beck household. Why? Because he needs to get into the Bizarre Bazaar warehouse and take care of Angel Doll’s body.
Jack and Duffy Hit a Speedbump
I don’t know if there’s an ocean, a sea, or a massive lake between Beck’s house and the highway, but Jack swims across it and finds Duffy waiting for him with his clothes and a transport, and she seems more than happy to see Jack wet and naked. I really like the title drop here because it sounds like Duffy is saying, “F— me, Reacher.” While heading to the warehouse, Jack says that he still doesn’t know a whole lot about Beck’s operation and Quinn’s role in all this. He briefly mentions that, apart from selling military intelligence to hostile nations, Quinn hurt Jack’s friend, Dominique Kohl, which is probably the main reason why Jack tried to kill Quinn and failed. Now, he wants to finish that job. For now, though, he has to deal with Angel Doll. Before dumping Angel Doll’s body, Duffy uses his fingerprint to get into his laptop and resets the password so that she can access it easily later. With that out of the way, Jack and Duffy begin searching the warehouse for anything that can be used against Beck, but all they get are carpets, empty boxes, and intermodal containers.
Anyway, they lock Angel Doll in one of those containers, throw away the key, and Jack takes his gun. While cleaning up the spot in the warehouse where Jack killed Angel Doll, two guys from Bizarre Bazaar’s New London branch show up, which forces Jack and Duffy to kill and stuff them in the container right beside the one Angel Doll is in. Duffy then drops off Jack at the spot where they met earlier, and they part ways, with Duffy telling Jack that she’ll keep him updated about what she finds in Angel Doll’s laptop. Jack swims back to the Beck household and gets into his room without setting off any alarms. The following day, Zachary and Duke complain about the fact that Ballinger and Squire (there weren’t any subtitles in the screener I was watching, so pardon me if I’ve misheard these names), the two guys who were supposed to help Bizarre Bazaar’s Maine branch with a big shipment, are missing. Jack obviously feigns ignorance and says that he is more than willing to cover for them because that’d allow him to see what Beck is actually up to. Beck probably doesn’t want a new guy to handle such a sensitive task, so he puts him on babysitter duty, i.e., taking Richard into town and entertaining him.
Richard Reveals a Horrifying Truth
Right off the bat, Richard gives up the name of the man who is really in charge of the operations: Julius McCabe. But when he tries to get some info about what McCabe and Beck do, Richard’s settings return to default and he says that they just sell rugs. Jack realizes that this is not going to be so easy, but if he plays his cards right, Richard might reveal something damning. So, he takes the kid to a gift shop where he buys a special kind of cap gun for his dad’s birthday. While he purchases the toy, Jack goes into the loo in the shop and calls up Duffy and tells her about the shipment that’s arriving and gives her Julius McCabe’s name. Duffy says that she and Guillermo are going to stake out the docks and see if they can find anything useful. Jack realizes that their operation is moving too slowly, and he needs to get into Beck’s innermost circle to speed things up. For that, he has to neutralize Duke. So, he tells Duffy to send an email to Beck from Angel Doll’s account with the address of a remote DEA safehouse in it, while claiming that that’s the last-known location of the group that sent the “kidnapper” to get Richard. Jack hopes that Beck and Duke will decide to hit the perpetrators there, and that’ll give him the opportunity to kill Duke.
Instead of waiting for Jack, Richard heads over to his car and is cornered by his bullies from high school. Now, to be fair, one of these bullies makes some fair points. He is angry that his father is out of a job because Beck bought the quarry to make one of his many warehouses. When the bully notices that Richard has a toy in his hand, he points out how different their lives are, because Richard has the luxury to buy stuff like that, while he and his family can barely make ends meet. Although this guy’s anger is justified and he is punching up instead of punching down, like bullies usually do, he is still resorting to physical violence instead of using his words. Therefore, when Reacher arrives to beat the living hell out of that bully and his enablers, I have to say that he deserved it. All this does get Richard to trust Jack a little more. So, he starts talking about his relationship with his father, how he loves him and hates him at the same time, and how he just wants to disappear one day, free from his father’s world.
Jack, being a certified drifter, says that he can help Richard with that wish of his if he gives him some top-secret info on Beck’s business. Richard genuinely doesn’t know what he does, but he is aware of the fact that McCabe is the guy who kidnapped him a few years ago, cut off his ear to threaten Zachary, and then took over Bizarre Bazaar. Apparently, Zachary was actually selling carpets way before McCabe entered the picture. After years of hard work, Zachary had built some important connections in customs, which allowed him to send his rugs anywhere he wanted without much in the way of complications. McCabe wasn’t interested in the rugs, but he wanted access to Zachary’s connections. And now he intends to keep Zachary and Richard under his thumb, with people like Duke and Paulie keeping an eye on them, for as long as he needs. To alleviate Richard’s mood, Jack agrees to allow him to roam around the town a little longer than he should before heading back home. At Duffy and Guillermo’s stakeout, they snap pictures of Quinn, except that they don’t know it’s Quinn; hence, they assume that he is McCabe. Duffy relays this information to Elliot, who is babysitting Beck’s driver, who is trying his best to catch Elliot off-guard so that he can escape from the cabin.
Jack Kills Duke
At the end of Reacher Season 3 episode 3, Jack drops off Richard at his house and runs into Zachary and Duke, who are heading out to the aforementioned address that’s been sent to him from Angel Doll’s email. Realizing that his plan has worked out, Jack rushes to get Angel Doll’s gun under the garb of going to the loo. While driving to the spot, Jack notices the extent to which Duke disrespects Zachary and Richard. Given how unresponsive Zachary is, Jack becomes sure that he’ll be more than happy if Duke dies. Upon reaching the outer boundary of the aforementioned safehouse, Zachary waits near the car while Duke and Jack go in for the kill. As soon as Duke turns his back towards Jack, he holds him at gunpoint and forces Duke to drop his gun.
Jack tries to get some info about Theresa from Duke, but he refuses to comply because he is more afraid of McCabe than he is of Jack. As soon as he starts running his mouth, Jack shoots Duke in the head. He empties Angel Doll’s gun as well as the one that Duke was carrying to make Zachary think that they got into a shootout with the group that tried to kidnap Richard and Duke died in the crossfire. He injures himself too so that it seems that there was a tussle as well. To make sure there’s no evidence of this fake shootout, he sets off an explosion with the help of the gas pipe and a bunch of metal cans in the microwave. By the way, that seemed like a real explosion and not a CGI one, and to make it more realistic, we see Jack running away from the blast instead of walking away from it in slow motion in the name of looking cool. After reuniting with Zachary, Jack spins a brand new tale. He claims that Angel Doll, Ballinger, and Squire were involved in the kidnapping. They killed Duke and then threw a grenade at him, which is when he escaped out of that house.
Given how all of these guys are (or were) McCabe’s men, and McCabe has kidnapped and tortured Richard before, Jack’s words resow the seeds of doubt in Zachary’s mind. Since Jack has saved Richard several times now, and Duke is out of the picture, Zachary gladly makes him his right-hand man, thereby giving Jack access to his most intimate details. Of course, Jack is going to turn Zachary against McCabe, create chaos, and use it to take down all the evil elements and hopefully save Theresa as well. I have a feeling that Jack knows that Zachary has nothing to do with Theresa’s kidnapping. So, maybe, at the end of the ordeal, if Zachary and Richard survive, Jack is going to give them a lesson about being a family and help them start a new chapter of their lives. That’s the best-case scenario. The worst-case scenario is that all of them are going to die, especially if Quinn is as evil as Reacher says he is. We’ll know more about this next week.
