Early morning, Jack Reacher walks out a bar with a bottle of beer in Reacher Season 4 episode 1. He looks around, and he walks to the store. He orders whiz wit. He walks along the street while he eats whiz wit. He gets into the subway station. He sees a rat eating on the floor.
Jack Reacher sits on the subway. He looks around. He notices that a lady is crying. Her hands are in her bag. In Reacher novel, it explains the lady meets most of the criteria of suicide bomber. Jack Reacher stands up. He walks toward the lady. Alan Ritchson’s acting is getting better and better.
Jack Reacher is really unlucky. He runs into bad people no matter where he goes. He tells the lady that he can see her hands. He wants to sit next to her. But she asks him to leave her alone. He says he cannot do that. She asks him to go away. He says there’s only a few people on the train. If she waited till rush hour, her plan would be more effective. He asks her to take out one hand. She says she cannot do that.
But he tells her that she can. What she has in there is very dangerous. The less contact she has with it, the better. He asks her to be easy. Don’t do anything she cannot undo. She shows him one hand. There’s nothing in her hand. He thanks her. But he asks her to show him what she has. He needs to see it.
She asks him to go away. He refuses to do that. Because he’s involved now. Whatever she’s in, he’s in it now. He asks her to take it out of the bag. The train shakes. She catches the chance to point her gun at him. He says that’s better than the bomb he thought she had. She doesn’t have a problem with him. She doesn’t even know him. She says it’s all over.
He tells her that he can help her. He’s a cop. She makes the decision after knowing he’s a cop. She says no one can help her now. She shoots her head. She lies on the floor of the train. Her head is bleeding. I think a cop threatened her.
Reacher sits in the room at the police station. Detective Shaun Docherty shows up with his partner Detective Tamara Green. They have a few questions for Reacher. Shouldn’t take too long if Reacher is honest and cooperative. He mentions he had a passport, but no driver’s license. Reacher doesn’t answer because it wasn’t a question.
Shaun realizes that they’re meeting an expert. He changes his strategy. He asks Reacher where he lives. Reacher asks Shaun what’s the address of the building? He’s living in the building. Shaun asks Reacher where’s his home? Reacher says he doesn’t have one. Shaun learns that Reacher is homeless. Reacher can tell why Shaun is a detective. Shaun is furious to tell Reacher that he has dealt with wise guys.
Tamara stops Shaun. She asks Reacher where is he before the subway? He says Uptown on Frankfort. Listening to music. She mistakes that he went straight to the subway. He says he got a cheesesteak. He did it because they taste good.
Shaun asks Reacher why he’s in Philadelphia. He doesn’t sound like he’s from here. Reacher says Phillies have a kid who consistently throws over 100. Wanted to see him play before he blows his arm out. Shaun concludes that Reacher blows a woman’s brain out. Reacher says he didn’t kill her. He doesn’t even know her. The only reason he approached her is because she had several of the behavioral indicators of a suicide bomber.
Tamara asks Reacher like what? He’s surprised that she doesn’t know them. Shaun says since 911, every city cop in American knows them. He asks Reacher how does he know them? Were they trivia questions on the back of a creatine box? Reacher says he was an MP. He saw a nervous woman, sweating, fidgeting, mumbling, possibly praying, looking straight ahead. Wearing a heavy coat for the time of year to hide explosives. Had a large bag. She was checking all the boxes.
Shaun says including the one where she kills nobody except herself. He asks Reacher if he knows what he’s thinking. Reacher says stupid things? Shaun thinks Reacher had something to do with it. Reacher says there were witnesses on the train. He asks Shaun to go to ask the witnesses. They saw what happened. Shaun says they did. But the witnesses didn’t see it. Some of them were asleep, others weren’t looking.
Reacher doesn’t believe four witnesses and no one saw anything. Tamara says three. He says there were four. A small Hispanic woman in her 40s, Black man in his 30s, both tired, both coming off a night shift. Balkan immigrant, mid-20s.
Shaun asks Reacher how does he know he was a Balkan immigrant? Reacher says coloring, height. People from that region are taller on average. He was putting ketchup on his pizza, which originated in Albania, and he was wearing a Colorado State shirt that was spelled with all “O’s.” Irregular shirts are given to charities, and he was wearing whatever hand-out fit. So, Balkan immigrant.
Shaun thinks Reacher is Sherlock Has-No-Holmes. But that’s three. Reacher says Caucasian male. Mid-50s. Far end of the car. Tan pants. Golf shirt. Tamara says there was no one there like that. He figures it out that the guy took off in the confusion. Guns, dead bodies, lots of reasons to run. Maybe he told his wife he was away on business, but he was taking the train to see his girlfriend. But he was there.
Shaun asks Reacher did he kill Anna Merrick? Was that his gun? Reacher mentions Anna was killed with a. 357 Magnum. He doesn’t have a drop of blood on him and he’d have gun residue up to his wrist. But when Reacher got here, Shaun followed him into the bathroom and let him wash his hands. He wouldn’t have done that if he thought he shot the woman. He would have fingerprinted and mirandized him. He’s stalling.
Tamara tells Reacher that he’s right. They’re holding onto him because they got a call some other people want to ask him some questions. He figures it out that it’s Feds from D.C. She asks him how does he know it? He says if it was FBI, they’d be questioning him already. Because they have a branch office here downtown. It’s got to be folks up from D.C.
Tamara reveals the woman who killed herself worked for the federal government. Somehow, that makes this all a bit more complicated, so she’s asking him nicely, if he could stay a while longer until they get here and things are cleared up. He says he will stay because the Feds might know something about why she killed herself, and he wants to know.
Shaun mentions what Reacher said that he didn’t know the victim. Why does he care? Reacher explains it to Shaun that because the victim was desperate and needed help and he didn’t help her. He feels so guilty. Tamara offers to wait for a while. As for all this, he was a cop. He knows they had to poke around, even though they know he had nothing to do with what happened.
Shaun says the lady wasn’t doing anything until Reacher ran up on her, got her all worked up enough to off herself. Seen a few mass-transit suicides. People jump in front of trains. Not one has shot her head. Sometimes people on the edge get pushed over that edge. Maybe Reacher were the pusher. He will stay here because Shaun is telling him to stay. Reacher asks Shaun if he really thinks he makes him do anything? Shaun leaves the room.
Reacher eats cheesesteak in the cop’s office. Tamara walks into the office. She thinks it’s a good breakfast. He notices the toy on her desk. He asks her what it is. She says it’s Gritty. Flyers mascot? He says he’s not a hockey guy. She says missing out. Perfect blend of speed, skill and physicality. Two guy got beef, they battle it out.
He asks her who she offended. She’s clearly smarter than his partner, but she’s stuck on the night shift, tasked with suicides. That’s incident reports, not police work. She tells him that it’s not his business.
The guy walks into the office. Tamara tells Reacher that the guy is Anna’s brother Jacob. Cop from Jersey. Reacher notices that Jacob is carrying himself like someone still in shock. Shoulders down and rolled forward, slouched. The primal instinct to protect himself. Tamara checks her cell phone. She tells Reacher that Feds will be here in a couple of minutes.
Reacher waits for Feds in the room. Those guys show up. The guy has a seat. He can tell that Reacher doesn’t seem very concerned that they’re here to question him. Reacher claims that he was already questioned by Philly P.D. He did pretty well. Figured he’ll only do better this time. He asks the guys what agency they come from. What their names are. They don’t leak their names. So Reacher calls them Snap, Crackle and Pop. He asks them what drags a bunch of B-Team boys out to Philly?
The guy asks Reacher what makes him think they’re the B-Team? Reacher says pulled out of bed to drive almost three hours in the middle of the night to question somebody they know wasn’t involved in a shooting. Because city cops already filled them in. They’re here so his bosses can put a little check in a little box that says they interviewed the last person to talk to Anna Merrick. If they had the juice to say no, they’d still be under their quilts. Maybe C. So, he wants to know why the government’s so interested in one of its employees killing herself.
The guy tells Reacher that the way this works, see, is he answers their questions. Why did he talk to Anna Merrick? Reacher says he thought she was gonna blow up the train. The guy mentions Reacher was military, highly decorated, but he left on not the best of terms. Any issues with the Army or the government? Reacher says tons. Another guy asks Reacher if it’s enough to do something about it. Like Treason. Reacher says it’s not his style.
The guy asks Reacher did he receive anything from Anna? Maybe she gave him something, and he ditched it, gonna go back for it later. Reacher tells Crackle that he was searched on the platform, and by now, he has already picked the subway clean. Checked the platform, looked under the seats, found nothing but gum and boogers. If he ditched anything on the train, he would have found it by now.
Reacher wonders what is it the government’s so worried Anna might’ve give him? What are the guys looking for? The guy says they’re here to ask the questions. Reacher is here to answer them. Reacher tells the guy Snap that not anymore. He leaves the room. He runs into Tamara. She mentions he was brought in for murder, out with no charges. She thinks he had a better day than she had. He tells her that it won’t be his last time.
Reacher walks out of the police station. He runs into two guys. One of the guys asks Reacher did the woman who died in the subway gave him anything? Reacher says nothing but hassle. The guy asks Reacher did he give it to the police? The flash drive. Reacher asks the two who’s their boss? He beats them and he walks into the cafe.
Jacob sits at the cafe. Reacher walks to Jacob. He tells him that he’s the last person to talk to his sister. He’s a former cop. He can help. Jacob tells the waitress that he wants to drink coffee. She asks him to counter if it’s just coffee. Reacher gives some cash to the waitress. So she leaves.
Jacob asks Reacher if he knows what happened. Reacher says he only knows what he saw. A distraught woman. Two men outside jumped him for some drive Anna was supposed to have. He asks Jacob if he knows anything about it. Jacob doesn’t know anything about it. He just knows that there’s no way that his sister killed herself. But Reacher says he saw Anna do it. Jacob says Anna was a happy person. She loved her job, she loved his nephew Ben. Everything was perfect.
But Reacher says Anna didn’t look like everything was perfect. She looked terrified. Jacob thinks it doesn’t make sense. Reacher asks Jacob if he knows why Anna was wearing a winter coat in summer? Jacob doesn’t know. Maybe she hid the gun in it. Reacher says gun was in the bag. He asks Jacob if he knows where his sister got the firearm? Jacob says before their father died, he gave it to Anna. Single woman living alone. He worried.
Reacher asks Jacob about Ben’s father. Jacob says the guy is dead. The prick took off as soon as the test showed two pink lines. A few months later, he wrapped his car around a tree with half a bottle of Johnnie Walker in him. Jacob helped raise his nephew. Paid for his braces when things were tough. Bought him his first football. Ben is a linebacker at Temple. Full ride. Jacob doesn’t know how he’s gonna tell Ben. Ben doesn’t know his mother is dead. Jacob cannot reach Ben.
Reacher thinks it’s not normal. But Jacob says Ben is a 20-year-old kid. He’s got better things to do than to jump when his uncle calls him first thing in the morning. Reacher mentions the Philly cops said Anna worked for the federal government. He asks Jacob which part? Jacob says Army Department, Human Resources, for some general. Reacher figures it out that it must be a branch of the Commanding General, U.S. Army, Human Resources Command. Personnel department. Paperwork and records. Nothing exciting.
But Jacob says it was exciting to Anna. Getting out of the Jersey suburbs, moving to D.C. He remembers how proud she was. They were both adopted. They never fought. He always thought he was so lucky. Out of all the kids in the world that needed families, he got her to be his sister.
Reacher looks out the window. He tells Jacob that the guys who came after him for his sister’s drive are back. He asks him if he knows them. Jacob looks at the two. He denies it. Reacher walks to the guy who’s using his laptop. He wants to buy his jump drive with 50 bucks. The guy wants to know the reason. Reacher asks the guy if he always asks questions when someone offers him five times the value of something? The guy says deal.
Reacher puts the cash on the table. He takes away the jump drive. Jacob asks Reacher what he’s doing. Reacher says those guys were willing to come after him because they thought Anna gave him something on the train. He’s gonna find out why. Jacob asks Reacher why does he care? Reacher mentions Jacob’s sister’s involved in something big enough that the federal government’s worried, and people are trying to work him over on the street because of it. So big she saw no way out of it, so she killed herself over it. He was the last person that could’ve possibly helped her out of whatever situation she was stuck in, and he didn’t.
Jacob wants to go with Reacher. Reacher goes against it. Because Jacob is in uniform. He’ll only complicate things. Reacher asks Jacob to stay here, keep trying to get in touch with his nephew. He might know something. Reacher will be back in 90 minutes.
Reacher walks out of the cafe. He shows the two the jump drive. He tells them that their boss wants it, and he wants some money and answers. They can set up a meeting, or they can try and take it, and he can beat them again. Either option’s fine with him.
The two guys take Reacher to the park to meet their boss. The boss is a beauty. She thanks Reacher for meeting with her. He says it was his idea. She agrees with what he said, but after her cousins crossed the line with him, she lost any hope they’d ever speak. So, thank him for not holding their behavior against her. They could be very protective of her and their aunt. She introduces her mother Amisha Hoth to him. She introduces herself then. She’s Lila. Her mother had her at 19, and it’s been just the two of them since then.
Reacher asks Lila does her mother wants the jump drive, too, or just her? She asks him to walk with her, she’ll explain everything.
Reacher and Lila take a walk. She asks him did he know they call this place the City of Brotherly Love? She likes that. He says their fans throw snowballs at Santa Claus. She doesn’t understand. He says it doesn’t matter. He just wants to know what’s going on. She says in the ’90s, her mother met a U.S. soldier named John. He was in Delta Force. She never learned his last name, but they had an affair, and he’s basically walking with the result of that union. He’s also walking with a very sick person. She has leukemia. He says the bruises on her arm?
She says her doctors say she needs a bone marrow transplant, but matches are hard to come by. And when she’s mixed-race, well, it’s near impossible. He asks her what about her mother? She says her mother has kidney disease, so, she cannot donate. He figures it out that her only hope is finding John. She admits it. She only knows John was stationed in Indonesia in ’98. So she has contacted the Army, veterans groups, military subreddits. Nothing worked. She eventually called the Pentagon, but just got passed from department to department until she finally got in touch with the most wonderful woman who worked in human resources. The woman is Anna Merrick.
Anna was adopted, so she understood the frustration of not knowing one’s full biological history. She worried if her son ever got sick, she wouldn’t know enough to help him. She promised to do all she could to find Lila’s father, and she did.
Lila asks Reacher if he has looked on the drive. He says no, but the Feds wouldn’t have been asking about it unless it was someone important. She says Congressman John Sampson, Representative from North Carolina. She asks him if he knows him. He says not really. Seen his name in the news. She says the frontrunner to be his party’s presidential nominee.
And his odds are good. He guesses the guy didn’t want to talk. She says none of her messages were returned. He figures it out that she’s gonna blackmail the guy with information Anna stole for her from the Pentagon. That’s what’s on the drive. She knows it’s distasteful, but she’s 29 years old. She doesn’t want to die. Anna had documents proving Sampson was in Indonesia when she was conceived. And along with her mother’s testimony, she’s hoping that creates enough public pressure to get him to take a DNA test. And if he’s a match, it would be political suicide for him not to donate his bone marrow to his own child.
He asks her why did Anna want to meet in Philadelphia? Anna said D.C. was the most surveilled city in the world, and technically, she was committing espionage by giving her these files. Lila was supposed to meet Anna at her hotel, but, of course, she never showed up.
Reacher tells Lila that Anna killed herself. She knows it because she saw the news. He asks her why Anna killed herself. She doesn’t know. But it kills her if what she asked of Anna somehow led to it. She says she doesn’t have much, but he can have all of it for the drive. She takes out some cash from her wallet. She wants to buy the drive with the cash. But he says there’s nothing on the drive.
Lila’s cousin takes over the drive from Reacher. He inserts the drive into his laptop. He checks the drive. He finds only sketches. Reacher tells Lila that he got it from an art student. He didn’t know her situation. He’s a former investigator. It’s his nature to want information. She figures it out that the police must have the drive. He thinks so. But if they did, the Feds wouldn’t have been asking if Anna gave it to him this morning.
She understands. She’s staying at The Carter Hotel on 10th Street until Anna’s funeral is arranged. Anna was a friend who died helping her. It’s the least she could do. She writes down her cell and her room number on the note. She asks him to let her know about it if he finds anything. She tries to hand over the drive and the note to him.
He asks her what makes her think he will keep looking? She mentions what he said that he’s a former investigator. It’s in his nature to want information. He takes over the drive and note from her. He walks away.
Reacher returns to the cafe. He tells Jacob that he gave the waitress 40 dollars. Jacob says it’s been over one hour. The waitress is going to get angry. He didn’t track Ben down jet. He asks Reacher did he find anything? Reacher tells Jacob that his sister may have stolen some confidential about Congressman John Sampson to help a woman prove he was her father.
Jacob decides to go to find out all he can about John Sampson. But Reacher tells Jacob that the federal government’s looking into this. He thinks a solo cop from a small town in Jersey cannot do anything. But Jacob says his sister died because she was trying to help somebody find their father. That’s exactly who Anna was. She never let anyone down, and he’s not gonna let her down. Reacher joins Jacob. He says he’s good at not letting people get away with things.
At the police station, Tamara finds out that the B-Team is checking her files. She scolds them. The guy says they’re taking their files. She grabs the file from him. She tells him that his files are in D.C. Her desk is right here.
Shaun asks Tamara to be easy. He tells her that those guys are taking over the Anna Merrick suicide. She asks him what’s there to take over? The case ended when the woman died. The guy asks her for the files. Shawn tells Tamara that the captain signed off on it. she has to give the files to the guy. The guy leaves with his teammates.
Shaun asks Tamara why does she care? Machine hit her sideways, she still didn’t learn? Punch in, punch out, hope the phone doesn’t ring in between. It’s about the income, not the outcome. She knows it. But still. They shouldn’t touch her stuff.
At the free library, Reacher and Jacob get the information about John Sampson. Jacob discovers that John Sampson is very clean. He goes to print them. Because it’s his background. But Reacher says he needs the guy’s military data. Delta Force records would be confidential, but there would be government documents that speak generally to overseas missions Sampson might have been involved in. Could shed some light on who the guy is. Reacher asks the Librarian where are their military archives? She says the old stuff is in the basement.
He goes to the basement. He tries to check the book. But the guy shows up behind Reacher. He asks him for the drive. Reacher refuses to give the drive to the guy. So the guy takes out a knife. He attacks Reacher with the knife. But Reacher blocks it with the book he’s holding. He kills the guy in the help of the shelf. Reacher returns to the library. He tells Jacob that they need to leave. Lila Hoth’s in trouble.
A police car drives on the street. Jacob is told that Reacher put a body into a coal bin. He claims that he’s a cop. He blames Reacher for doing it. Reacher asks Jacob to shut up. He calls Lila. He leaves a message to her that someone just took a run at him, they might be coming after her. He asks her to leave the hotel.
Lila is taking shower in the bathroom. She doesn’t hear the cell ringing. The guy is on the way to Lila’s room. He takes out a knife. Reacher and Jacob arrive at the hotel. They run to the elevator. Reacher finds out that those guys are at the top floors.
The guy gets in Lila’s room. But Reacher knocks the guy. The knife flies under the bed. He calls Lila. He asks her to stay there. He fights the guy. Jacob carries a gun toward the room. He tries to help Reacher. But he’s hit. He passes out. Reacher throws the guy out of the window. Lila walks out of her bathroom. Reacher looks downstairs. The guy is alive. He flees.
Reacher tries to go to chase the guy. But the guy’s accomplices show up with machine guns. They shoot Reacher and Lila. Reacher lies on top of Lila to protect her. She’s fine. Jacob breaks into the room. He points his gun at Reacher and Lila. His nose is bleeding. He says his nose is broken. Reacher says cops will be here any minute. He asks Lila to leave with him. But she says they’re the good guys. He asks her if she wants to answer questions about why she’s here. Blackmailing’s a crime no matter how good the reason. He asks her where her family is. He says they went to buy food. She will tell them not to come back here. He asks her to get dressed first.
Reacher takes Lila and Jacob to run out of the hotel. He asks the two to keep their heads down. Jacob needs to lose the washcloth. But he claims that it’s bleeding. Reacher grabs the washcloth from Jacob. He throws it away. They sit at the restaurant. Reacher sees a police car drive by. He tells Lila that hotel staff will be able to describe her. He asks her to go buy new clothes. Grays, dark blues, muted colors. Because she doesn’t want to stand out. And a woman like her stands out enough as it is. Go see her mother. Get a all-cash motel. Won’t be nice, but it will be safe. She asks him where’s he going? He says he got to go see a cop. He walks away.
Jacob contacts one of Ben’s frat brothers. The guy says a day and a half ago, Ben left a bar with some gorgeous woman and he hasn’t returned to campus yet. Jacob decides to let Ben have his fun. His whole world’s about to get rocked soon when he talks to him.
Reacher sees Tamara walking out of the police station. He walks to her. She asks him was he waiting for her? He tells her that he needs to ask her something. She feels sorry about Jacob’s sister. She says she just punched out. She thinks Reacher should’ve come in when she was still getting paid to deal with the public. He says wouldn’t have. Docherty doesn’t like him. Would’ve talked her out of doing him a favor. She says the old man couldn’t convince her.
She asks Reacher what he wants. He asks her if a jump drive turned up after he left. She tells him that the Feds are looking for the drive as well. She says she inventoried all the evidence and personal effects before they got there, and there was no flash drive. She asks him what’s on it? He says he doesn’t know. But people think Anna Merrick gave him one. Two people tried to kill him over it. He has been very busy.
One came at him at a library, one at a hotel. She asks him what happened to the two. He says they got away. Jacob asks Tamara is there any chance that the Feds maybe said anything about why they did it. She says all she knows is a woman killed herself on one of her subways. She was important enough that the Feds officially took over the matter.
Now Reacher says people coming after him for some jump drive. And she thinks he may have done some bad things to them. He claims the two got away. She doesn’t believe his words. Because his knuckle’s all jacked up, his face is bruised and he got dry blood behind his ear. He says blood’s not his. She says it’s not her business. He wants to run around like a cowboy, go ahead. She’s coming off a double night. She’s gonna head home, watch SportsCenter and hit the sack. He needs extra help? He got Barney Fife. She walks away.
Reacher decides to go to meet Sampson after the policewoman refused to help him. He asks Jacob to drive to D.C. But Jacob says he cannot take the cruiser. He will get in trouble. He got to bring it back to Jersey. He mentions there’s a train that can go to D.C. He will meet Reacher at the train station.
Reacher walks into the alley. Someone guys get off the van. They want to have a talk with Reacher. One of the guys takes out a tranq gun. He tells Reacher that it’s enough to take down a gorilla. Reacher wants to see it. He’s shot. He’s taken into the van. The van drives away.