The penultimate episode of the season seems an odd time to be leaving the scene of the crime and criminal. Even more strange since Reacher Season 3’s kicked puppy character, Richard (Johnny Berchtold), and his dad, Zachary Beck (Anthony Michael Hall), are currently overt prisoners of the Big Bad Quinn/McCabe (Brian Tee).
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But Reacher (Alan Ritchson) has a plan and having proven her leadership instincts just puts people in danger and gets them killed, Duffy (Sonya Cassidy) is all about backing him up. So, if he says they’re going to Los Angeles, they’re going to L.A.
Reacher, “L.A. Story”
In Boston (because Maine doesn’t have an airport with direct flights to L.A.?), Duffy drives Reacher to meet Teresa’s (Storm Steenson) grandmother, Mrs. Daniel (Nicky Guadagni). After breakfast chowder and insightful observations by Mrs. Daniel, they go to the airport with a renewed determination to find Teresa for her grandmother’s sake.
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In Chicago, Neagley (Maria Sten) ambushes a man in his bathrobe when he’s getting his morning newspaper. He’s Costopoulos (Michael Rhoades), the man who sent the killers after her at her office. He gives up Julius McCabe as the one who ordered the hit. When she names Xavier Quinn, Costopoulos blanches visibly and comments that there are very few people left alive who know that name.
Costopoulos explains he used to be Quinn’s fixer when he was set up in Chicago five years earlier. Quinn took over a family-run export business but killed them all when they wouldn’t bow to his demands. From Chicago, he moved on to Bizarre Bazaar. Costopoulos theorizes that if Quinn’s hiring hits, he’s cleaning up before moving again and he’ll take care of the Becks too. Neagley punches him out before leaving.
Los Angeles
In an L.A. motel room, Duffy and Reacher review the inadmissible footage of drug kingpin Darien Prado (Greg Bryk). All his competitors are dead, thanks to Beck and Quinn’s weapons. She tells Reacher that she and Elliot (Daniel David Stewart) tailed Prado for a few days and discovered he has a very established routine.
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Reacher sees something on the video and has Duffy enhance the image. He points it out to her, but she doesn’t understand what it means. Reacher insists it means they’ve got Prado.
He makes a phone call to a contact who is willing to help them out. Duffy’s excited to bust Prado finally, commenting that every con gets a face like her ex did when she showed him a screenshot of her Cousin Rhonda’s messages with him. She asks how this will help their situation in Maine. Reacher says that if it all works out, their odds of success go up to 25 percent. She asks if that’s for taking down Quinn or saving Teresa. Reacher assures her that having met Mrs. Daniel and knowing how Duffy works, he won’t put Teresa’s rescue at a lower priority than Quinn’s demise. He goes on to extol Duffy’s qualities.
She tears her shirt off and starts kissing him, saying that her previous protestations no longer apply because she knows who he really is now. They fall into bed together.
Darien Prado
Reacher and Duffy find Prado at a poolside club and convince him to go for a ride with them. They take him to his gallery. Prado insists the gallery is a legit business. Reacher cites 18 US Code Section 3559C, also called the federal “Three Strikes” law. It states that if someone commits three serious violent felonies, they get a mandatory life sentence. Since Prado’s got two strikes already, they just need to prove he’s got a third.
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In the surveillance video, Reacher noticed Prado parking in a handicapped spot after hanging a handicapped placard on the rearview mirror. He and Duffy tracked down the doctor who wrote up his certification for the placard. Threatening the doctor with physical violence if he didn’t document Prado’s severe knee arthritis is considered extortion. Extortion counts as a violent felony, and that’s three strikes.
Prado insists he never threatened the doctor. Reacher admits that’s what the doctor said, too, but after being threatened with having his medical license revoked, he’ll say anything they tell him to say. Prado realizes they’re the ones committing extortion. Reacher says he just needs to do them a favor, and they’ll leave. Prado calls Beck and demands a shipment of weapons. He tells him he’ll send a man up from Baltimore with the payment.
Hanging up, he tells Reacher and Duffy to get out. Duffy places a call, and a large DEA force enters. While Reacher and Duffy won’t pursue the fraudulent parking pass business, the DEA accountants plan to scrutinize the gallery’s books. Prado realizes he’s hooped, and Duffy cheers as she points out his “Cousin Rhonda” face to Reacher.
Rug Burns
Back in Portland, Maine, Reacher and Duffy reconnect with Villanueva (Roberto Montesinos). They stake out the exchange site Beck usually meets Prado at. When Beck arrives, he has a large bandage over his right ear.
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Neagley steps out of the other car, playing Prado’s “man” from Baltimore. When Beck approaches her, she tells him to act like they’re making a gun deal for the driver/guard in his vehicle. She informs him that Reacher sent her and that if he doesn’t play along, he and Richard are as good as dead.
She asks him for the time and place of the big buy so they can take care of Quinn before he kills them. He tells her that Quinn’s changed the plan and won’t share it with him. He’s been told to focus on his birthday party, which Quinn won’t let him cancel. Neagley decides he’s of no use and starts to leave. Beck stops her and insists they get him and Richard out. She points out he needs to help them help him.
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Beck shares that the buyers are flying in that day from Yeman to a private airfield. She hands him a slip of paper and gets in the car. Before she leaves, he makes it clear that Richard has had nothing to do with the crimes he’s committed. She assures him that Reacher knows and that Richard has nothing to worry about.
Hidden
Quinn drives up to an abandoned warehouse. Teresa’s captive in the basement. He tosses her some food and a bottle of water, telling her that people are looking for her. As he prepared drugs to inject into her, he tells her that if she wasn’t worth something to his buyers, he would’ve used her himself, chopped her up, and thrown her into the riptide hole. She listens to this without expression or reaction. She tries to resist when he comes close to inject her. Still silent, she looks defeated as he forces the needle into her arm.
This Is Our Team
In a motel room, Duffy hands out lunch to Reacher, Neagley, and Villanueva. They discuss the implications of the Yemanis buyers. Reacher concludes the weapons are for a terrorist strike on U.S. soil. Duffy plans to call around and find out what private flights are coming in from Yeman. Neagley indicates she wants to talk to Reacher in the other room.
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In the adjoining motel room, she asks how Quinn survived. Reacher explains. She points out this isn’t like Margrave (Season 1) or New York (Season 2), that Quinn’s men are trained for deadly force with a stockpile of insane weaponry. Reacher asks if it’s making her reconsider. She says she’s stating it for the record so he knows she knows the risks. When she tells him about tracking down Costopoulos, he realizes that she’d already known he was in Portland when he called her to be part of their sting.
Knowing that Reacher has feelings for Duffy, Neagley advises he have Duffy sit out the final firefight. He tells her there’s no way Duffy will let that happen. And Villanueva will be right by her side.
Gifts
Richard’s fixing the toy gun in his studio when Beck walks in and startles him. He tries to hide what he’s doing, but Beck’s worried he has a real gun and might do something stupid. Beck lifts the cloth and finds the toy. Richard explains it’ll take a day for the epoxy to set. Beck is stunned. He tells Richard how he used to play with his toy gun as a child. They talk about how Richard changed after his mother died, and Beck admits he was purposefully cold and cruel, believing that way Richard wouldn’t mind losing another parent. Beck apologizes for his mistakes and promises he’ll never let McCabe or his goons hurt Richard again. He tells Richard he loves the toy gun and putting it down, he hugs his son.
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At the airfield, Neagley watches the Yemenis get off their plane and into hired cars. Reacher checks in by phone. She confirms the buyers have arrived and are moving.
It’s Going Down
McCabe sits at Beck’s desk in his office, drinking scotch. Beck comes in to report the storehouse is ready for the buy. McCabe orders him to go count inventory as the trucks are being loaded. Beck asks where the trucks need to go once they’re loaded. McCabe tells him the buy is going down at the salvage yard at nine o’clock. He expects Beck to leave his birthday party to make the sale. There’ll be time for cake with Richard afterward.
Beck says Richard’s going to go out to the movies during the party, but McCabe grabs him by the one good ear he has left and makes it clear that Richard stays in the house until the buy is completed. He wonders why Beck wants Richard out of the house so badly and accuses Beck of trying to screw him over. Beck relents and agrees that Richard will stay in the house.
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Neagley tails the Yemenis’ entourage to their accommodations and checks in with Reacher. He tells her to stay on them so they can close in on both sides of this weapons deal. Beck calls just then and tells Reacher the buy is happening at nine at the Bullhead Salvage Yard.
Bringing in the Cavalry… Err, ATF
Duffy and Villanueva come in and tell Reacher they want to bring in the ATF for the buy at the salvage yard since there will be a lot of guns, and they’ll be outnumbered. Reacher’s reluctant because the ATF will try to keep him from taking down Quinn. He doesn’t want Quinn to face justice: He wants vengeance. Duffy is firm on this decision. She’s sitting down with the ATF. If Reacher doesn’t like it, she says, he shouldn’t come. Reacher leaves to get coffee.
At the ATF offices, Supervisor Doug Sears (Stephen Bogaert) is incensed that Duffy took so long to inform them their agent is dead. He takes the intel and determines that ATF will send a team. Duffy argues that they lost an agent, too, and her C.I. is still in danger. Sears agrees they can be on-site but only in the surveillance van.
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Reacher interjects and advises Sears that ATF needs to send people to Beck’s party to round up McCabe’s other men. Sears asks why Reacher’s in the room. Reacher describes the agreement he made to take down Quinn. Sears tells Reacher to observe the op from the van with Duffy and Villanueva. Reacher refuses and leaves.
Before walking out, Sears points out that he’s obligated to call the DEA to tell them about Duffy’s conduct. Villanueva tries to take the blame, but Duffy doesn’t let him.
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Villanueva and Duffy clear out the motel room while Reacher naps. While Villanueva’s packing the car, Duffy and Reacher discuss the situation. Reacher states he wants his Cousin Rhonda moment. She understands but her priority is rescuing Teresa.
It’s a Trap
At the storehouse, Beck leaves instructions with the foreman to finish loading the trucks. He’ll meet them at the salvage yard since he needs to get dressed for his party.
At the house, preparations are in full swing. Beck helps Richard with his bowtie. He tells him he’s stepping out for a minute and that he needs Richard to lock himself in his room at nine o’clock. McCabe interrupts their hug to tell Beck to get going.
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At the salvage yard, the ATF forces are in place. The trucks roll in, followed by Beck’s car. In the surveillance van, Reacher can’t take it anymore and busts out, saying he needs air. Duffy follows and finds him assembling a sniper rifle. They argue, but she backs down and returns to the van.
Reacher sets up and calls Neagley to let her know to go dark the second everything’s over. He sees the second vehicle drive up and tells her the buyers have arrived. She tells him she’s still following the buyers. They’re still on the move. She describes the road she’s on, and Reacher realizes the deal’s going down at Beck’s house. The salvage yard is a trap for Beck.
Reacher streams on Prime Video. New episodes drop on Thursdays until March 27.
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