Reacher Season 3 has been about the titular character’s rivalry with an enemy from his past, Xavier Quinn. Jack had caught him selling confidential U.S. Army intelligence to foreign forces and tried to arrest him back in the day. Quinn went on to hurt Jack by killing the latter’s protégé, Dominique Kohl. Hence, Jack retaliated by shooting Quinn in the head and throwing him off a cliff. Several years later, it was revealed that Quinn was alive and had no memory of his rivalry with Jack. And he was running a weapons smuggling business from Maine as Julius McCabe. Given how Quinn had abducted a confidential informant for the DEA, Teresa Daniel, Jack joined hands with Agent Susan Duffy’s team to save Teresa and bring down Quinn.
Jack managed to infiltrate the estate of Quinn’s subordinate, Zachary Beck, and leak all necessary intel to Duffy. However, Jack’s cover was blown by the end of episode 7, which forced him to run for his life. Since things had become serious, Duffy finally decided to inform the ATF, which caused her team and Jack to be sidelined during the mission to intercept the weapons transaction between Quinn and his buyers. By the time Jack realized that it was all a setup to get Beck killed, the ATF and Quinn’s men had pulled out their guns. Did Jack manage to save Beck and give Quinn the punishment he deserved? Did Jack finally have that showdown with Paulie that we’d been promised since the first episode of Reacher Season 3? Let’s find out.
Spoiler Alert
Reacher Kills Paulie
Episode 8 of Reacher Season 3 opens with a massive shootout between the ATF and Quinn’s men at the Bullhead Salvage Yard. Jack, Duffy, and Guillermo do their best to save as many of the ATF agents as they can by taking out Quinn’s men and, most importantly, getting Beck out of the mess in one piece. The ATF soldiers and Quinn’s men (except for one of the truck drivers who had brought Quinn’s men to the salvage yard) don’t survive the ordeal. Jack informs Duffy, Guillermo, and Beck that the actual deal is happening at Beck’s estate, and that Neagley is headed over to the place. Beck confirms the fact that Teresa is at the estate. So, they need to get there before the negotiation between Quinn and the Yemeni buyers concludes. Since the aforementioned truck driver is their only way in, Jack gets him to send a message to Quinn that the plan to kill Beck has gone down smoothly and that he is returning to the estate with his men. Quinn buys Jack’s ruse and gets busy buttering up his Yemeni dealers.
Jack, Duffy, Neagley, Guillermo, and Beck enter the estate in Quinn’s trucks. Jack kills the driver. Paulie arrives to investigate what’s going on while the rest sneak into the mansion. It’s really hard to describe the fight between Paulie and Jack. In my review, I said that it felt like a gritty and ultra-realistic version of the fight between Peter Griffin and Ernie the Giant Chicken. But, yeah, it’s one of the best hand-to-hand combat sequences I have seen in a show (or a movie for that matter). Jack obviously defeats Paulie, but it’s a really hard-fought win, and if you know anyone who hasn’t watched Reacher yet, just show them this. Regardless of whether they decide to binge-watch the series or not, it’s a win for everyone. Also, this is the 3rd time this month, after Invincible Season 3 and Severance Season 2, that a show’s season finale peaked with the protagonist fighting a guy twice his size.
Beck Is Dead
Neagley disguises herself as a waiter to keep track of Quinn and the buyers, Duffy goes looking for Teresa, and Guillermo goes to protect Richard (because Beck can’t be seen anywhere as he technically died at the salvage yard). Guillermo gets into a fight with one of Quinn’s men. It’s pretty gnarly, and it ends with Guillermo coming out on top and Richard finding Guillermo instead of the other way around. Duffy finds Teresa and shoots down the Yemeni buyer, Nasser, who was about to rape her, and then kills his henchman too.
Jack gets to the guns in the barn and begins shooting his way into the estate. Quinn realizes something has gone wrong. So, he shoots the Yemeni buyers and takes their money so that he can pay off his Russian associate, Taktarov. Almost everyone gets into a gunfight with everyone, and during this chaos, Quinn holds Richard hostage because he knows that the kid is his only way out of there. Beck, hearing all the commotion, comes out of his hiding place and confronts Quinn. He sacrifices himself to give Richard the chance to get to one of the many guns in his workspace and kill Quinn. Richard fails to put Quinn down, but he does manage to scare the murderer off.
Reacher Kills Quinn
At the end of Reacher Season 3 episode 8, Quinn somehow escapes from the mansion but is captured by the Russians. Jack, Guillermo, and Duffy surround the Russians so that they can’t get away with Quinn. It’s only after Neagley arrives with the money that Quinn had taken from the Yemenis that the heroes have a bargaining chip as they offer to give Taktarov the cash for Quinn’s life. Taktarov says that he’ll take the money and Quinn. So, Neagley pulls out a grenade (it doesn’t have the fuse in it, by the way) and gives him a counteroffer: leave Quinn alone and take the money or else, everyone dies. Taktarov’s common sense kicks in, and he takes the bag of moolah and leaves Quinn to his devices. And then everyone leaves Quinn and Jack alone so that the latter can settle his score with Quinn.
Jack simply brings up Dominique’s name, and Quinn’s memories come rushing back to him. It’s at that moment that Jack blows Quinn’s brains out with a shotgun. When the sun rises, the medics arrive to take care of Teresa. Duffy puts the blame of Quinn’s death on the Russians. Also, she puts an end to her romance with Jack in the sweetest and most pragmatic way possible. Later on, Duffy and Guillermo visit the Eliot household to meet the deceased agent’s family. Guillermo goes back home to enjoy his retirement with his wife, Maurene. Teresa reunites with her grandmother. Richard takes the cash that Beck had stashed away in a secret place and hits the road in his car to live the nomadic life that he has longed for. So does Jack Reacher, that too on a chopper that he takes from Beck’s garage. The end.
