2x05 Burial

(1,070-word review) Folks, you can pack up your torches and pitchforks. Or maybe not, as most people may not have even had this theory. If you've read my reviews for the first four episodes of this season, you'd know I found O'Donnell to be slightly untrustworthy immediately after his appearance in the hotel room in the premiere, followed by his possibly-coded phone call with his "son," looking behind them in the car with the crew, and the bikers knowing where they were, all in the previous episode. But now, those things have appeared to be shot down. The latter two instances, in particular, must stem from plot convenience.

It's looking like O'Donnell is on the good guys' side, given his family was shown to us – and right off the bat, too. To be honest, I never fully believed he may end up being the Picard of this season. I just found some things regarding him to be questionable, while I've been less distrusting of him than other characters amidst that. A large reason for leaning towards his innocence is due to me potentially seeing an article that the actor, Shaun Sipos, will return for the third season, which I've already mentioned a million times in my prior reviews throughout my viewing progression of this season.

There is still one thing that one might interpret as another detail intended to make you keep questioning his allegiance, and it's highly likely to be nothing; the writers probably didn't even notice it or thought some people could use this to construct a ridiculous theory. And it's the lack of reprimand toward that one son (Davy, according to the subtitles) who was hitting the other, contrary to what he said over the phone in the previous episode: "Hands are for helping, not hitting."

You'd think a parent who says things like that to their kids would also be saying it practically every instance the kids start getting physical with each other. Yet, O'Donnell didn't say a word about it when his actual family was indisputably present in the scene. Why say it over the phone but not in person? There's a high probability that it means absolutely nothing: the writers figured that scene was a little hectic with too much going on to include the "phrase," or they didn't think to include it. I thought I'd throw this out there to leave no stone unturned concerning my thought process and where my head is.

I'm 90% sure he's clean. The remaining 10% is because he wasn't present in this episode's flashback with the drug bust. Neither was Lowrey, but you never know. Surely, there's a deeper reason for telling us that storyline alongside the main storyline besides showcasing Reacher's past, his relationship with everyone, specifically the tidbit with Swan/how he took a bullet for Reacher, now that a conflict is brewing, and his overall personal and emotional ties to what has happened to the other members of the unit.

But one of the self-proclaimed "Special Investigators" must be dirty, and it's practically confirmed to be Swan unless a swerve is coming – either him being clean or an additional member of the unit is also dirty. If there was still any doubt present after what Dixon and Neagley told Reacher and O'Donnell about him (his digital thumbprint authorization for the missile shipment departure, and the fact that New Age's New York "base" has iris scanners on the doors, in addition to thumbprint locks on the computers, suggesting there's no way he was forced to authorize the shipment), the reveal of him giving the orders to the professional hitmen should be definitive enough. Or it was a different guy.

It's possible that someone else (one of Langston's men, most likely) used Swan's name to try and pit Reacher & Crew against him, whether he's involved (but got on Langston's bad side somehow) or not – and alive, of course. It is suspicious that we haven't seen him yet, which continues sowing seeds of doubt. Is he dead? Was he involved but taken out for some reason? Is he involved and still alive? Was he never involved but managed to escape and go on the run, possibly with the help of Marlo Burns? She's still an unsolved piece of the puzzle. Though, to be fair, now that Swan's actual involvement has seemingly been brought to light, he could finally make his grand, first appearance-in-the-present entrance in the very next episode, subsequently quashing that slight feeling of suspicion.

Additionally, the action sequence at the funeral caught me off guard. I didn't fully process Langston's "That plan's already in motion" to be able to make the connection of another attempt to kill Reacher & Crew being done during the funeral before it happened; it was an enjoyable, well-shot sequence, with a decent subsequent foot chase and car chase to boot. Reacher's right. This thing IS coming to a head fast, further shown by how the episode ended.

Other than the score cue playing in the background (which even had a particular, coinciding feel to this) of that scene and the song during the credits, there weren't any songs in this episode, almost as if to signify Reacher's heightened determination to get to the bottom of this, particularly his hell-bent desire to confront Swan – a near tunnel-visioned pursuit, leaving no room to enjoy music. For us, its purpose is so we can have the means to tune into his current headspace: no music to add subtle tones of lightheartedness to an otherwise serious centralized tone.

I noticed it was a shorter episode – perhaps the shortest one so far, and it was primarily focused on setting up and creating anticipation for the final three: less than usual to talk about in the review. We did get the reveal of Swan's involvement and Langston's act of desperation through the attempted funeral hit, with a slice of plot progression from the missiles being stolen, on their way to New York, and so is A.M., while Reacher & Crew are inching toward the cusp of blowing this whole thing wide open.

All of the pieces are heading to New York. You can see their imminent collision. A grand, epic climax is on the horizon, as there are merely three episodes remaining. I'm expecting them to be relatively quick-paced, with some balls-to-the-wall progression of the plot – and hopefully, an adequate amount of high-octane action, brutality, and carnage.