This fan-favorite hit show became Prime Video‘s #1 series worldwide, holding the rank for the last 4 consecutive days, and is the action thriller franchise’s best season yet. Although Rotten Tomatoes scores would suggest a slight decline after season 3’s near-perfect rating, the fourth season of this popular Prime Video series, based on one of the biggest bestselling book series of all time, is proving that the sky is truly the limit. After earning 54.6 million views in its first 19 days last year, this latest installment shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
Reacher season 4 is Prime Video’s #1 global smash hit right now, topping its worldwide streaming chart instantly after its three-part premiere dropped last week. While the news is unsurprising, given that every Reacher season ever made has hit #1 globally, it does provide some relief after what some viewers may refer to as a shaky, even disappointing, second season. Official Reacher season 4 viewership numbers are still to be determined, but after just four days on Prime, it’s already safe to say this is one of, if not the, best seasons in franchise history.
How Reacher Season 4 Avoids The Slump That Hit Season 2
Reacher season 4 offers Alan Ritschon’s Jack Reacher, the iconic ex-military drifter vigilante, at his most isolated and self-reliant point yet. With Reacher undergoing a complicated plot involving a mysterious flash drive and several powerful interested parties, Reacher is forced to rely more on his own unique skillset, judgment, and expertise than in any previous season. This is especially true of season 2, in which Reacher became one of several key characters in the Special Investigations Unit, which notably decreased Reacher’s signature lone wolf charm.
With Reacher season 4 adapting Lee Child’s Gone Tomorrow, Reacher is thrown back into the driver’s seat, taking command of the narrative and bringing the franchise back to season 1’s roots, even more so than in season 3’s undercover mission. Even just through three episodes of season 4, which begins on the busy streets of Philadelphia, Reacher is the most independent he has been throughout the entire Prime Video franchise. This aligns more closely to the core of everything the Jack Reacher character is about, which ultimately picks up season 2’s slack and rides the momentum of a strong season 3 outing.
Why Reacher Season 3’s Strong Momentum Wasn’t A Fluke
Reacher season 2 felt particularly focused on expanding Reacher’s backstory and shared universe with other supporting characters, namely David O’Donnell and Frances Negley, whose spinoff series debuts in September just weeks after Reacher season 4 ends. While this provided some interesting story elements and made Reacher a generally more dynamic protagonist, the heart and soul of Reacher,which was established by an explosive debut season in 2022, felt like it was wavering in season 2.
Reacher season 3 brought back most of the distinct qualities that Reacher season 2 put on ice by keeping Reacher front and center while also setting up further franchise expansion outside of the series itself. Reacher season 4 has the most stacked supporting cast of the series thus far thanks to Tamara Green (Black Panther, Glow), Kevin Corrigan (The Departed, Pineapple Express), Jacob Merrick (Barry, The Girl Next Door), Marc Blucas (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), and Agnez Mo, an Indonesian singer and superstar, but hardly takes the spotlight off Ritchson, which is exactly what fans want and expect.
Reacher season 3 was smart to bring the series back to its small-town setting, but season 4 is proving through its first three episodes that it’s not as much about where Reacher is as it is about what he’s doing. The conspiracy elements in season 4 are wildly intriguing, and Reacher’s moral character is already being thrown into more of a gray area than ever before because of it. This current story allows Reacher’s essential lone-wolf strategic characteristics to really shine through, proving season 3 set the course straight for season 4 to raise the bar even higher.
Reacher
8/10
- Release Date
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February 3, 2022
- Network
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Prime Video
- Showrunner
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Nick Santora
- Directors
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Omar Madha, Carol Banker, Julian Holmes, Lin Oeding, M.J. Bassett, Norberto Barba, Stephen Surjik, Thomas Vincent
