I got a bit tired of the story. The endless gruesome killings didn't seem quite organic enough. There were too many bad guys. There were too many killings overall. The plot is coherent & the clues & plot development were good, but they explanations never really involved me, although a part of the difficulty is that whenever something is explained, it seems to be explained breathlessly so you'll only really follow what's going on if you're really paying attention. When we first meet Jack moreoever his mind work so quickly, Sherlock Holmes quickly, that it's very hard to keep up with his reasoning & while this does let up, it never did so quite enough to my liking.
Nonetheless this is a good series. The reason you will stick around is the characters are generally well-rounded and nicely portrayed. Our new Jack Reacher is the most obvious attraction here. You spend the first episode or so just wondering what it must be like walking around at that height level, looking like a - well Aryan more than Greek God, never being ignored or overlooked, capable of just bull-dozing through any situation, being absolutely direct, administer summary justice whenever something annoys or disturbs you. Jack could easily have become annoying or grating but Alan Ritchson characterisation is brilliant & far easier to take to than Tom Cruises portrayal.
Ritchson, manages to play Reacher as just the right level of ar*****e. He's a good man, with a burning sense of justice, who can just about laugh at himself. Basically Ritchson's Reacher is the Alpha force of nature that most of us have probably fantasised about being in ego-impaired moments in our life.
Willa Fitzgerald also plays Roscoe sympathetically. She's a fine actress who was great in the title role in Scream, the series, and in this she's great too in the role of what is something a little more than Reacher's love interest. Reacher, we know to be effectively indestructible - even though oddly he seems to screw up a fair number of his fights towards the end. Willa's Roscoe though is someone we can at least worry about. The killers are nasty. They kill horribly and indiscriminately & if we know Reacher will survive it's far less clear that anyone else will.
As the show develops Reacher's team, gets solid support from the very watchable Malcolm Goodwin & even Maria Sten's Neely (who initially I thought I'd dislike).
All together a good show, but it would be better if they condensed the format to say four hour long episodes. The last few episodes dragged & for that reason I'm in two mind as to whether I'll be tuning in for season 2, although I might do.
Nonetheless this is a good series. The reason you will stick around is the characters are generally well-rounded and nicely portrayed. Our new Jack Reacher is the most obvious attraction here. You spend the first episode or so just wondering what it must be like walking around at that height level, looking like a - well Aryan more than Greek God, never being ignored or overlooked, capable of just bull-dozing through any situation, being absolutely direct, administer summary justice whenever something annoys or disturbs you. Jack could easily have become annoying or grating but Alan Ritchson characterisation is brilliant & far easier to take to than Tom Cruises portrayal.
Ritchson, manages to play Reacher as just the right level of ar*****e. He's a good man, with a burning sense of justice, who can just about laugh at himself. Basically Ritchson's Reacher is the Alpha force of nature that most of us have probably fantasised about being in ego-impaired moments in our life.
Willa Fitzgerald also plays Roscoe sympathetically. She's a fine actress who was great in the title role in Scream, the series, and in this she's great too in the role of what is something a little more than Reacher's love interest. Reacher, we know to be effectively indestructible - even though oddly he seems to screw up a fair number of his fights towards the end. Willa's Roscoe though is someone we can at least worry about. The killers are nasty. They kill horribly and indiscriminately & if we know Reacher will survive it's far less clear that anyone else will.
As the show develops Reacher's team, gets solid support from the very watchable Malcolm Goodwin & even Maria Sten's Neely (who initially I thought I'd dislike).
All together a good show, but it would be better if they condensed the format to say four hour long episodes. The last few episodes dragged & for that reason I'm in two mind as to whether I'll be tuning in for season 2, although I might do.