These Are the Most Intense 5 Minutes of ‘Reacher’ and Nothing Has Come Close Since
The hit Prime Video television seriesReacher has no shortage of intense moments and suspenseful sequences, especially since executive producer and showrunner Nick Santora has the original novels by author Lee Child to draw upon. Child is no stranger to putting his lead characters in perilous situations, where it appears all hope is lost and there are slim chances of escaping unscathed. Season 1 of Reacher, adapted from Child’s novel The Killing Floor, features multiple intense sequences along these lines, but it also depicts the darkest and grimmest moment of the entire series in the seventh episode, “Reacher Said Nothing,” where Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson) and Detective Oscar Finlay (Malcolm Goodwin) discover the bodies of Officer Stevenson (Jonathan Koensgen) and his wife Emma (Jorja Cadence) after they were brutally tortured. While the Stevensons’ bleak fate takes place off-screen, few moments in the series can compare to another scene in Season 1’s sixth episode, “Papier.”
Hitmen Target the Hubbells in ‘Reacher’s Most Intense 5 Minutes
During the first season, Reacher forms a ragtag investigation team with Sheriff’s Deputy Roscoe Conklin (Willa Fitzgerald) and Detective Finlay to expose a deadly counterfeiting operation in the small town of Margrave, Georgia. They later learn that the operation is being perpetuated by the Kliner Foundation, headed by the ruthless Kliner Sr. (Currie Graham) and his psychotic son, KJ Kliner Jr. (Chris Webster). The Kliners’ collaborators, unnamed gangsters from Venezuela, brutally silence anyone who gets close to their secrets. Among their previous victims are Reacher’s brother, Joe (Christopher Russell), Joe’s close friend and colleague, Molly Beth Gordon (Lara Jean Chorostecki), Margrave’s corrupt Chief Sheriff, Edward Morrison (Peter Skagen), and Conklin’s mentor and former guardian, Gray. The Kliners and their co-conspirators possess no qualms about killing innocent people, taking extreme and brutal measures to avoid any potential exposure of their crimes.
Early in the first season, Paul Hubbell (Marc Bendavid) confesses to the crime of killing a man who is later revealed to be Reacher’s brother Joe. While spending a week in a prison lock-up with Reacher, he attempts to reveal how he is essentially being held hostage to launder the Kliners’ accounts, blackmailed under threat to his family’s lives. After Paul goes on the run, hoping it will keep his family safe, Reacher and his team take the Hubbells into protective custody, keeping them in a safehouse in the woods provided by FBI Agent Picard (Martin Roach), an old friend of Detective Finlay. This sets the stage for the intense sequence in “Papier.” Conklin withdraws from the investigation after learning that one of the Kliners’ co-conspirators, Mayor Grover Teale (Bruce McGill), murdered her former guardian, Gray. She then goes to the safehouse to relieve Picard, assuming a watchful guard over the Hubbells while Reacher and Finlay continue their off-the-books investigation.
Unbeknownst to Reacher and his team, Picard is also corrupt and working with the Kliners, meaning they know exactly where the Hubbells are staying. Later in the episode, two hitmen working for the Kliners target the women. It’s only Conklin, Charlene Hubbell (Kristin Kreuk), and her two young daughters, so they are virtually defenseless against ruthless killers. Reacher alone would likely be more than enough to deal with any assailants, but he and Finlay are chasing down a lead while the safehouse scene takes place. They have no idea that the Hubbells’ safety is in imminent jeopardy. That raises the emotional stakes and intensity of the scene because Conklin and the Hubbells are on their own and at their most vulnerable, and Reacher is not there to ride in and save the day.
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Conklin Turns the Tables on Her Pursuers in ‘Reacher’
Things initially look bleak as the hitmen chase Conklin and the Hubbells through the woods. The terrified young girls hide with their mother while Conklin attempts to draw the killers away. Once again, Conklin proves to be a brilliant and capable fighter, as she manages to outmaneuver one of the assailants, shooting and wounding one. The other shooter attempts to prepare an explosive device, but Conklin’s exceptional marksmanship prevails, as she aims her own firearm at an adjacent tree. The debris blinds the hitman’s eyes, causing his explosive to blow up in his face. The sequence allows the moments of Conklin dealing with the captors to breathe, ratcheting up the suspense level, highlighting that one wrong move means certain death for these women.
Through these suspenseful minutes, Conklin proves to be one of the strongest and most resilient characters of the season, showcasing her sharp instincts and shooting skills, which also help assure the team’s victory by the finale. Considering how Conklin handles herself in a crisis, it’s no wonder she was previously recruited by the FBI and CIA. No other scene in the first season comes close to this intensity because it’s one of the few major action sequences where Reacher is not involved, so Conklin is on her own and has to rely on her skills and wits to save the Hubbells.
The scene in “Papier” works so well because it puts the most vulnerable characters in a dangerous situation, with no backup or assistance from Reacher on the way, which heightens the sequence’s dramatic tension. However, once again, Conklin comes through as a fierce, determined, strong, smart, and capable fighter, as she strategizes a way out of their predicament. It skillfully highlights that even though the series is called Reacher, it’s not a one-person show. From the beginning, the show exceptionally builds out its supporting cast thanks to wonderful performances from Fitzgerald and Kreuk, who hit it out of the park with their roles. Through this sequence and many others, Conklin also emerges as one of the most compelling characters of the first season, and it’s no wonder that fans would relish seeing the character make a potential return in a future installment of Reacher.
- 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
- Writers
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Cait Duffy
