2x06 New York's Finest

Another great episode... seemed like it only ran for 15min.

Loved the fake out of the silencer... classic! People who haven't got firearms knowledge would get sucked in to that, just like in reality those unknowledgeable in firearms think that AR-15's sold in the US are military grade 'Auto Rifles', they are not... they only have similar cosmetic styling as an auto firearm.

Similarly why did Russo do what he did? In situations like that there would be an unknown time frame when he and the girl would be flanked. If there was only one or two shooters you could stay in the one place. I'm not sure if he is, or is not,... we shall see.

And why did Reacher stand in the middle calling out the boss? Because he'd already got rid of the shooters and now he was calling out the desk bound dumbass boss who is Not a shooter. And he had some idea where he was.

If you have situational awareness and some understanding of tactical, it would all make sense. Some may nit-pik otherwise but Reacher is a show that shows off the expertise in the writing of the show and that's why it's such a great show, and Season 3 is already in pre-production.

(1,620-word review) I'm starting to notice what some people were talking about concerning the second half of this season. I've seen comments mention how more apparent instances of a logically questionable nature end up occurring, possibly accompanied by a slight sense of a dip in quality as well, at least compared to whatever level at which you'd put the beginning of the season.

I can't pinpoint it, but this episode's "quality" felt lower than previous episodes. This one also had an ordinary, overall "basic" air about it in contrast to the unique individualistic identity this season has somewhat had, or seemingly had, at the start, up to this point. That came as a shock, given the stark difference here to the familiarization we've acquired by now with the similitudes of the on-the-surface facets within the presentations of every prior episode. It's like successfully holding something past the halfway mark of whatever you think fits appropriately in this terrible analogy, then suddenly dropping it. "Locked-in...ness" became unlocked. Houdini is alive, ladies and gentlemen.

There were also moments that, yes, you could point out in episodes besides this one (but were more easily excusable), that stood out a little brighter as a result: Reacher calling out to Langston instead of only calling his phone, then quietly but quickly heading to his location – instead, he called out to him, called his phone, then walked at a snail's pace a step or two towards that direction of the sound before the helicopter teleported close enough for him to magically hear, given he didn't hear it coming way sooner (though I suppose you can justify the first part of that whole sequence with the likely assumption of Reacher wanting to kill him slowly and one-on-one); then, he walked out into the open to shoot at the helicopter while being shot at for the first couple of seconds.

Followed by Russo's "heroic" (drawing symbolizing connections with him giving Mikey Franz a toy of a comic book superhero in the prior episode and the story about his father's death at the hands of dirty cops because he refused to lower himself to their level, adding another facet to an act of being a cop who dies a sacrificial, "heroic" death to protect a kid) entirely avoidable, last-stand of excessive foolishness by heading directly towards the guys shooting at him because the plot/source material said so (maybe that was written better in the novel), and the last guy wasting a couple of seconds to shoot out a one-liner instead of shooting Jane, as well as conveniently standing in the middle of the road, giving Neagley enough time to run him over – another instance of a character not hearing a loud noise until the plot allows them.

The biggest offender was Russo's death itself. There was this feeling that it was meant to be impactful; I mean, what death of a significant/semi-significant character wouldn't have that intention? But it didn't feel like that at all. They tried to gaslight us into seeing it that way, with the on-the-nose, "heroically sacrificial" score cue as he was "walking into the fire" – and as if that wasn't enough, they tried even harder to bestow a genuine sense of emotional weight through the moment shared between him and Neagley as he was dying of her forcing herself to grab his hand, going against her phobia (I read a comment by someone that she was strongly implied in the novels to have haphephobia) of being touched/touching other people as a Hail Mary attempt to get you to care about him dying if you weren't already on board.

We barely knew him; hell, Reacher & Crew, specifically Neagley, barely knew him, yet we're supposed to subscribe to the belief that she would fight against her phobia for someone she didn't know well, let alone nowhere near the extent she knows Reacher (and the others). You could say she did it, at the very least, for his sake during his final seconds of life, which is probably the case, though I'd say that would be forced reasoning for it in the sense of trying to instill any semblance of emotional attachment and investment in that scene.

Plus, why was he facing the wrong direction on the ground? He was facing Langston's men, then walked around his car. His body would've dropped backward, meaning his head should've been facing his car, but his position was the other way around. It's as if it was for convenience. Neagley and the team (minus Reacher) came from behind him. The only (non-existent) "downside" if his positioning was accurate would've been an extra few steps by her. That's barely a hindrance to the flow of the scene. My spatial awareness could've lied to me, though.

I feel like this overall show is at its best in one particular way, and that's when it fully utilizes the character dynamics, usually revolving around Reacher himself – whether it's Finlay and Roscoe's dynamic with him, or the supporting characters (Neagley, O'Donnell, Dixon) in this season and him. In truth, those three have greater potential to extract the most out of that element due to the deeper connection there from their history with him – at least more than Finlay and Roscoe managed to accomplish.

But it's starting to appear as if the writers are somewhat squandering that. The best episode so far was the one in Atlantic City, the second episode, which happened to emphasize these characters and their history; that's almost the sole reason for it being this season's high point at the time. Yet, it's still the high point. The theme of camaraderie and its depiction needs to be more front-and-center, akin to how it was in that episode. The trajectories of TV shows' quality or their season(s) should be gradually going uphill throughout its progression. And now, with this episode, the trajectory of this season seems to be noticeably shifting downward.

Regardless of all those things, I'm going to move on to different areas of discussion.

In my haste to inadvertently but somewhat intentionally catch potential "gaps" in the writing or disregard the possibility that one of those hypothetical instances will have a future explanation, I incorrectly designated the biker gang ambush two episodes ago as a plot convenience. But it wasn't. There was an actual narrative reason. Marsh, Russo's boss, knew about Reacher & Crew's trip to Boston and gave that information to Langston. I admit I was wrong.

Speaking of those two, the confrontation scene with Marsh and Russo was interestingly captivating, both from a writing perspective and specifically from the acting by Al Sapienza and Domenick Lombardozzi. Oddly enough, it practically came across as a scene from a different, higher-quality show. It didn't feel "compatible" with the totality of underlying quality this season has "procured" and mostly maintained. The writers may've put extra effort into it to attempt to propel Russo's character in the minds of the audience by adding further substance to his characterization to give his death more weight and impact, which didn't work for me. His death was already lacking in logic and sufficient connection to and investment in his character, increasing the workload of his scene with Marsh to accomplish anything worthwhile within the realm of making it meaningful.

Furthermore, it's been over half of the season in the making, with, in the meantime, back-and-forth dispersions of different possibilities, but we now have the most concrete information about what part Swan plays in everything. He was or is trying to take down Langston and his operation. We still don't have the full picture as far as his status is concerned – whether he's long dead or still alive but captured, or something in-between. He hasn't been shown on-screen in the present day, either. There could be a missing piece in the middle of whichever route the reveal of his status will go.

I'm almost on the team of wanting there to be another swerve regarding his character for the 100th time, now turning Marlo Burn's side of that story on its head, and he is or ended up on Langston's side, all from the reasoning of wanting that personal confrontation between him and Reacher, with Reacher's additional confrontation against himself and his impulsive, preconceived notions of an excessively unwavering, trusting manner regarding those he considers close – the inner conflict facet working its magic, resulting in a substantially beneficial character growth moment for him.

I also considered the cinematography to be an element that shined strongly. The lighting and general ambiance of the visuals from beginning to end were excellent. More importantly, two particular shots were fantastic, especially the first one: the shot of the gunfire going through the windows of the bus in a right-to-left, horizontal fashion, as O'Donnell and Dixon were moving through it, and the shot of the car with Langston and his guys turning to their right (our left) while the car with Neagley, O'Donnell, Dixon, and Burns turned to their left (our right). Bernard Couture, the DOP/cinematographer, did a stellar job.

One last thing: Reacher's "Can't believe you fell for that. It's a 16th-inch of plastic" line, while great (for the comedic reason but also the subversion of expectations/poking fun at that trope), did come across as a potential ad-lib by Alan Ritchson. O'Donnell/Shaun Sipos and Dixon/Serinda Swan could've broken character; his laugh seemed like it may've been genuine, and she cracked a bit of a smile/smirk, too. Another possibility is that the line was in the script but their reactions weren't. Those reactions did fit the scene – if there was something ad-libbed or unintentional, it makes sense why that part of the scene was kept in.