In the 4th episode of Reacher Season 3, we got a ton of backstory on why Jack hates Quinn. Way before the 110th was even a thing, Jack teamed up with Dominique to take down an illegal intel trade that was being conducted by Quinn. Given how Quinn was well-connected, since he was a former U.S. military intelligence officer himself, it was difficult for Jack and Dominique to get dirt on him. But as soon as they got confirmation, Jack sent Dominique and Pvt. Frasconi to apprehend Quinn. Jack sensed that something had gone wrong because they were taking too much time bringing the traitor in. So, he headed over to Quinn’s secret base of operations and saw that, while Frasconi was killed, Dominique was brutally tortured and left to bleed out. Jack cornered Quinn, took him to a ledge, shot him in the head, and watched his body get swept away by the river below. But now, Quinn was back as McCabe and had sent his men to kill Duffy and Guillermo. In the 5th episode of Reacher Season 3, did Jack get to them in time? Let’s find out.
Spoiler Alert
Jack Helps Duffy and Guillermo Escape
The warehouse that Duffy and Guillermo are in—which they had located with the help of Angel Doll’s laptop, which was being tracked by Quinn—has no cell reception. So, Jack can’t warn them to get out before Quinn’s thugs start shooting. He calls up Eliot and tells him to send him the location of the warehouse that Duffy and Guillermo are in and also tries to warn them of the impending danger in case Jack fails to rescue them in time. And Eliot does a really smart thing. He calls on the landline in the warehouse, knowing full well that Duffy or Guillermo is going to find it odd that someone is ringing up on an off day. As soon as Duffy picks up the phone, Eliot tells her to grab hold of Guillermo and take cover. An intense shootout between the DEA agents and Quinn’s men begins. Duffy and Guillermo manage to hold their own until Jack gets there. Jack helps Duffy and Guillermo escape and even picks up Duffy’s badge that she had dropped during the chaos. He doesn’t kill Harley, the leader of the group of thugs that Quinn had sent, so that he has somebody to convince Quinn or Beck that he didn’t randomly show up at a warehouse to save a bunch of DEA agents.
Duffy throws away Angel Doll’s laptop. Jack picks up Harley in his car with the intention of going after Duffy and Guillermo, but he “mistakenly” drives into a ditch so that they don’t have to partake in a car chase. Harley obtains Angel Doll’s laptop, and they head back to Beck’s estate. Duffy and Guillermo have a brief tiff over whether or not they should pursue this case anymore because they nearly got killed, but Duffy manages to convince Guillermo that they can’t give up until they are absolutely sure about Teresa’s fate. Meanwhile, Harley uses Jack’s strength to dispose of the dead bodies of his teammates who were killed at the warehouse during the shootout. Also, he yaps a lot about hiring soldiers who have been dishonorably discharged and why the tide at the shores of the Beck estate is efficient at sweeping away dead bodies. The first part of the conversation is sort of irrelevant, but if you have seen the promotional material, you know that that second part is set up for Jack’s eventual showdown with Paulie.
Eliot and Annette Are Dead
Once Jack has gotten rid of Harley, he calls up Duffy to check if she and Guillermo are doing alright. Duffy informs Jack that she and Guillermo are going to hit some of the other warehouses that belong to Beck, whose addresses they obtained from the laptop, but Jack tells her to be careful because Beck and Quinn are going to be better prepared after the shootout. Jack also tells Duffy that he has her badge in his possession, which Jack is going to hide in a pillow cover in his room until he meets her again. Jack has to abruptly hang up because Beck beckons him to take care of the 2 men who have been sent by Quinn after the run-in with the DEA agents at the warehouse. Although Jack is supposed to quell those guys’ apprehensions about how Beck is running things, he knocks out the one who was passing sexual remarks at Annette. She leaves a “thank you” note and a pie in front of Jack’s bedroom for his act of chivalry, which he gladly accepts.
Tragedy strikes at the DEA cabin where Eliot is babysitting John Cooper, i.e., the guy who was driving Richard’s car when he was “kidnapped.” Cooper pleads with Eliot to give him a cigarette, and since Eliot is such a nice guy, he breaks protocol; he entertains his hostage. But when Eliot turns around to get the cigarette and the lighter, Cooper drinks from the bottle of rubbing alcohol on the desk, which Eliot was using to tend to Cooper’s wounds. As soon as Eliot ignites the lighter, Cooper spits out the alcohol, thereby setting Eliot on fire, and proceeds to stomp on Eliot’s head until he is dead. By the time Duffy reaches the cabin, Cooper is gone. Although she is heartbroken, she has the presence of mind to immediately call Jack because if Cooper gets to Beck or gets in touch with Quinn, he is going to expose Jack’s true intent. Duffy checks Eliot’s smartwatch to see when his heart spiked because that gives her an idea of when Cooper attacked him, when he escaped, and how far he probably is from Beck’s estate. Based on that info, Jack ascertains that Cooper is somewhere on the road leading to the house, and he needs to intercept him before he reaches his destination. Since Guillermo is close to the highway, Jack tells him to get to the location where they are going to kill Cooper. Meanwhile, Duffy goes to the nearby transformer and destroys it. That kills the power at the estate. Jack makes up a story that since he has killed Angel Doll and his associates, maybe they are looking to get revenge. Before Beck can question the authenticity of this tale, Jack rushes out to join Guillermo under the pretext of “making sure the perimeter is secure.”
Jack and Guillermo do manage to stop Cooper in his tracks and kill him, but, in the meantime, McCabe orders Beck to search his staff and make sure there aren’t any moles in there. While Quinn’s men don’t find Duffy’s badge in Jack’s room, they do uncover a secret phone (just like the one Jack has been using to communicate with Duffy) in Annette’s room. Yes, it turns out that Annette wasn’t just a maid; she was working for the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives). Jack hopes that he can save her or buy her some time by “interrogating” her, but he is shocked to learn that Paulie has killed her; first Dominique, then Eliot, and now Annette. This season of Reacher is pretty brutal. Jack squares up with Paulie, but he learns almost instantly that he is no match for the beast in a fair fight because he suffers a concussion from just a slap planted on his cheek by Paulie. Harley and Jack head out to dump Annette’s body, and since Harley keeps yapping, Jack takes out his pent-up frustration on Harley by giving him a punch that he deserves.
Jack Goes to Meet Quinn
At the end of Reacher Season 3 episode 5, Duffy calls up Eliot’s dad to let him know about his son’s death. Richard comes in to check up on Jack, who says that he isn’t afraid of Paulie and that he is never going to underestimate him. Jack then calls up Duffy to let her know about Annette’s death, and he informs her that an ATF agent’s presence in Beck’s estate means that McCabe is using Beck’s rug business to smuggle guns. I mean, the plethora of firearms all over the place should’ve been the biggest indicator, but since owning all kinds of guns is so common in the United States of America, it’s tough to accuse someone of being in the gunrunning business just because they have a massive machine gun at the entrance door. Anyway, the following day, Jack and Beck are summoned to the warehouse because there’s a massive sale that’s going to happen between McCabe and probably his Russian associates.
When Jack informs Duffy about this meeting, she tells him to make an excuse and not go for the meeting because if McCabe/Quinn is faking his amnesia, he is going to recognize Jack immediately and kill him. Jack, still shaken by Annette’s death, takes the risk and heads over to the meeting. We don’t get to see the outcome of Jack and Quinn’s reunion, but I have a feeling that the latter actually doesn’t have any memory of Jack. Think about it, Quinn saw Jack just for a few seconds on that fateful night after killing Dominique. It was dark, and Quinn was scared. On top of that, he took a low-caliber bullet to his temple. So, even if Quinn isn’t an amnesiac, because he clearly knows how to be the boss of a major arms smuggling operation, the trauma of his altercation with Jack must’ve caused him to suppress that memory. Hence, I think Jack is safe for now.
