The first season of this was really strong. It's not the most well-made television program ever, but it's definitely watchable, and main character actors are quite solid. Alan Ritchson is great as Reacher. For a character who can be monotone, he's quite funny, charming, and compelling in his nature. Willa Fitzgerald was an excellent choice as his partner this first season. Her acting ability covers a wide-range of ground, and she's as tough as nails as she is soft as silk. She really defined her character well. Malcolm Goodwin was also strong addition to the cast. He played a strong character who did an excellent job of looking outside of himself to find answers to a befuddling case. I also really loved Maria Sten in her role. She was tremendous as Reacher's only "friend." Although her part was limited in this first season, I'm hoping to see more of her in the seasons to come.
Overall, the script was interesting, as it intermingled many subtle layers to bring the story to life. It wasn't necessarily an original story, but it was told in a way that kept me engaged. I cared about the characters and what happened to them, and to this point, I liked that the writers introduced some side characters, who were the focus of parts of a few different episodes, that were designed to get me to care about them, which I did. In too many of these types of shows, these side characters are introduced, then quickly forgotten. In this show, however, these characters were introduced, and we were able to follow their progression through the remainder of the story to see the outcome of their character arc. I really appreciated that aspect of the writing, and I felt that it was the sign of a strong writer's room.
Review by LineageBlockedParent2022-03-08T02:37:04Z
While this show is entertaining but sometimes less entertaining at times, I think there's a lot of room for improvement, and that's not a subtle way of saying, 'It was bad.' That's simply optimism.
But while I'm on that subject, these are some things that come to mind of "needing" improvement:
The fight sequence aspect of things could use some work. Some of them are navigated and presented as an even playing field. Having Reacher barrel through most of his opponents like butter would be seen as "boring." Either have him do that or don't consider the aspect of leveling the playing field too important. I think the middle ground would be the most preferable.
While I thought the score part of the soundtrack was good, some of the actual songs could've been better. I think the ones that didn't "deliver" as much as others were some of the 'Blues-genre' songs. And I know that those songs were in there because of Reacher's love for that genre of music, but that doesn't mean I'm Reacher. At the very least, I feel like the first three or four episodes had a good selection/variety of songs. But when there's anything, there's also an endless road of improvement.
I hope the future antagonists will be better. I guess that depends on the novels/the ones future seasons of this show will adapt. It's down to the people behind this show to present them well. I thought our first addition of antagonists was underwhelming.
Lastly, I hope future storylines are more engaging, as this first one was a bit lackluster. Every beginning is slightly rough, I guess, and it seems evident that will be the case since there are plenty of novels; the future storylines will be more engaging, but you never know.
As far as "more positive," so to speak, aspects are concerned:
Alan Ritchson's performance as Jack Reacher was pretty decent, although I feel like Tom Cruise's portrayal was better, acting-wise, and how the character came across because of that, despite having only possibly watched the second movie. But that could be because Tom Cruise is 'that guy,' and I'm likely in the minority. I'm sure most people like this portrayal better; a huge part of that may be because Alan fits the physical aspect of the character a lot more than Tom. I couldn't care less regarding who's better and all that: both are decent.
The score was excellent. I mentioned it in my review for the first season. While the number of ones that seemed to resonate with me was "only" two, I don't think that takes a hit at the entire score. Even though determining how much a score/specific cues within it objectively impacted what you're watching is a hard thing to do, and I haven't done it with this show, there's no doubt in my mind that Tony Morales' score probably added a lot. Subtly and inconspicuously. So I hope he returns for the future of this show or someone as efficient.
There isn't much else to say. I think this show has the potential of a long life, as there are plenty of novels. This show is by no means 'excellent.' It's 'enjoyable.' And people seem to like it quite a lot already, even though the first novel to be adapted was probably one of the weaker ones; I don't know. If so, I imagine that's a good sign for this show's future, although the novel series probably doesn't elevate THAT far up.
Aspects like the storylines probably won't improve that much, but as long as the enjoyment is still there, that's enough for me. And I hope "lesser" aspects like the fight choreography, action sequences, cinematography, etc., will be consistently improved. The beginning of those aspects for us wasn't bad. It was decent. But the future iterations can improve even further.
Regardless of how all that turns out, I doubt the future of this show will ever be 'not enjoyable to watch.' The level of that may fluctuate back and forth: but disappear altogether? I doubt it.