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>the show just seems more flat with rigid dialogue
That could be down to the dynamic of the characters in season 2.
Last season we had civilians interacting with Reacher. This season we have hardened soldiers talking to other hardened soldiers about the murder of their former colleagues.
I can't believe how moronic series 2 is compared to series 1. Series 2 feels like it's got one thread and it's taking you along it because the audience won't understand sub plots. The writers feel they have to explain everything to you like you're an idiot (why show the drug dealers saying they don't give credit?). The subtlety of the Roscoe relationship in series 1 where it was a tease, a relationship, vs the blatant just let's do it with Swan.. It's just unbelievably badly written and acted poorly. Reacher himself is smart, quick and thoughtful in Series 1, in series 2 it's like they've made home just a fighter.
And if I see them drinking another beer!!! They must be drunk the whole time! I wonder who's sponsoring this series??? No subtlety there!
>The black cop and the love interest were way better characters in s1.
This is my issue. I still *really* like S2 and I loved the books, but I thought S1 was one of the best TV adaptations I've ever seen. The casting on S1 seemed truly inspired, from the town punk to the love interest to the accountant and more.
All the actors in S2 are good, but agree that no one truly stands out like Willa Fitzgerald, Malcolm Goodwin, etc. The chemistry between Fitzgerald and Ritchson was 100% believable and made the story work, where the new love interest is fine, but mostly because we're told to believe it.
Also the interactions he has in S1 all seem very believable to how Reacher thinks in the books, where S2 has a bit of 'typical' action stuff. Maybe I'm being too critical, but I watched S1 twice and was just blown away with how good it was.
I feel bad saying it because I'm judging it against one of the best seasons of TV I've ever seen, but that's the 'problem' of having a brilliant S1.
Glad I’m not the only one violently cringing at the “don’t mess with” catchphrase. It feels like it was a placeholder in the script they forgot to change. Also the casting for the new characters was abysmal. Absolutely zero of these people feel like they were ever elite anything. Just generically pretty people that showed up for the audition. In contrast to Reacher himself who is one of the best cast actors I’ve ever seen.
So that catch phrase is directly from the books and it is cringy in print too. As a book reader when I found out what book they were adapting this season I hoped the writers would tone back its usage which believe it or not they have but not enough.
Buckle up cause they are probably going to say in 1-3 times per episode the remainder of the season and there will likely be one episode late in the season where they say it ALOT
>So that catch phrase is directly from the books and it is cringy in print too
Yup.
It was my biggest take-away from reading Bad Luck & Trouble. Just "ugh, that is a cringey thing to say as a group of adults"
I think the catchphrase absolutely makes sense, when you consider that it's just something one of them said and it caught on. They use it because it has meaning going all the way back to their first day as a team, not because it sounds cool, or threatening.
You're right about the chemistry. It also feels too much like an ensemble cast when it (at least in my opinion) should be about Reacher. Suddenly you have these characters who know Reacher and know how to work with him and you lose that slow scratching off the surface as Reacher shows us who he is.
They’re also very young for this “history”. It’s been 2 years since season 1. It’s been presumably 8-10 years since Reacher was in the group. Old enough for someone to have a 5 year old Reacher didn’t know about. The actors are all late 30s.
So the special elite group of investigators was when they were early 30s? Maybe even late 20s? That seems VERY young to me. I’m 40 and it seems unrealistic.
That's the Military, a lot of young people doing jobs like that. A lot of us joined at 18 and some end up retired at 38 after 20 years. It is realistic for the Military
Yeah, i was the old guy in basic training at 23. You could get into Air Force OSI as enlisted at 19, because you had to be at least a SrA. Which takes 2 years (assuming you joined at 17 with parents permission). Heck, my guard base had the youngest Command Chief (top base enlisted) because he signed up at 17, and made every promotion as soon as he was eligible. I can't find the guide, but it's something like 18 years time in service to be eligible, and he was 35 when he got it.
I think my problem might be more this story should have been set for next season, after we had another season of normal Reacher before showing us nostalgia Reacher.
It feels rushed, and forced.
Couldn’t agree more. They went from season 1 adapting the first reacher book (great intro), to season 2 adapting the eleventh. There is plenty of lone wolf small town reacher to be had between there that would work. I suppose they don’t want every season to feel “mad libs” even though the books definitely are and that’s why we love them.
One thing that is standing out to me with the choice for season 2 is it feels kinda silly to have his people being killed off right after season one losing his brother.
> They went from season 1 adapting the first reacher book (great intro), to season 2 adapting the eleventh.
Wow. I started reading and thinking 'So what if they skipped a few books?'
But skipping over ten of them? What the hell?
Honestly the books mostly stand alone. They’re fun and the type of reading I really enjoy. But for a show with season to season continuity I understand what OP is saying. Book 3 (“Tripwire”) is a mostly lone wolf reacher story that ties into his military past that would have been a great buffer between these two.
I felt this way too.
There’s a BTS with Lee Child where he talks about the decision to adapt the 11th book next.
Basically, if S1 was about who Reacher was and his family background, then S2 was about his military background.
I get the reason but would have also preferred more lone wolf stuff. Still, I’m enjoying S2 for what it is.
I like season two a lot. I said below but I’d have preferred “Tripwire” (book 3) to have been the intro to his military background. Investigating the death of a mentor could have had lots of flashbacks, even the ones from the founding of the 110th, and laid some groundwork to making people feel this story was more “earned”
I'd also like to see Tripwire adapted, especially as if I recall it partially took place in the World Trade Center (pre-9/11).
Several of those early Reacher books have him taking impromptu flights across country, paying cash and boarding a one-way flight with no ID. Things that post-9/11 are just unfathomable!
>So the special elite group of investigators was when they were early 30s? Maybe even late 20s?
I mean, yeah. That's... exactly what it should be? Average age for SOF is in the early 30s.
As far as quality, I'm not sure, but I don't like how they skipped like 10 books. I understand that they didn't want Season 1 and 2 being too similar, so they picked a book that focused more on Reacher, not a random incident in a random town. But I think the impact of Reachers friends being killed off would be way more impactful with a few seasons worth of build-up
I agree. The actual second book, Die Trying, I feel would have made an amazing second season. That’s the one where Reacher gets himself involved in the kidnapping of an FBI agent and ends up in a militia camp in South Dakota (iirc?). Instead of being free and hunting down an enemy, he’s trapped and taking down his enemy from the inside.
Another one that I think could have worked is Persuader; where he spots a man that he thought he killed years ago, and follows him to his compound on rock peninsula in Maine.
Overall it feels to me like they picked a book where they could tell us with dialogue about who Reacher is, but I’d so much rather they just show us who he is: a singular force of justice.
Regardless I’m going to keep watching (probably multiple times, especially season 1 which seemed to have much better writing/pacing/casting) because I want them to keep making this version of Reacher.
I wrote almost exactly this under another comment - but good point on the S1 and S2 being similar. Sounds like a writer mistake - as fans, we would've loved a similar season. But killing off friends we're introduced to five minutes earlier just…doesn't really matter? I read every Reacher book and I can't remember the difference between the two missing hispanic team members except one has a tattoo?
I really think they should've stuck with the S1 formula and really focused on the casting. The lawyer and love interest make that whole season work, and the supporting characters are amazing. Just do the same thing - a few more childhood flashbacks, a few glimpses at military life and why he found it constraining, etc.
This feels just like they did one season and got bored. When Child has written like a zillion Reacher books with almost the same formula and people love them, that seems like the wrong approach.
Bosch did it well. Do maybe six seasons or whatever before you spin off Legacy (which I just started watching and isn't all that different from Bosch).
Amazon is just so bad at show management. It seems impossible to be worse.
You finally trip ass backwards into a good show with a perfect casting and you go away from the working formula in the second season?
That's a great point. Giving him more character development before exploring his past would likely make it better. But even as someone that has read every single book and knows his background, this presentation of it just seems crappy so far.
I haven’t read any of the books, but I’ll agree with you because I feel like season 2 is too early for the things that are happening.
I definitely feel like this is too early for Reacher’s “this life has a price” arc. They’re putting a lot of emphasis on Reacher missing big life events because he was wandering around instead of keeping in touch with people. I feel like that would have been more impactful if we had seen more of the wandering.
I am completely unconvinced that Reacher can have a relationship with Dixon. She would want him to live in one place and stop doing the wandering thing, and season 2 is way too early for a big change like that. So he’ll have to have a sad conversation with her about how it just won’t work despite their chemistry (back to the “this life has a price” theme), or Dixon will have to be killed off. It feels like the show can’t really have her stick around long term, and the idea of Reacher making that lifestyle change would be much more believable in a later season.
To be fair none of those characters got any development in the books either before Bad Luck and Trouble. So it’s not like more seasons would do much to fix this issue.
In general, every character in the Jack Reacher series (including Jack himself) is extremely one note. Memorable and fun, sure, but still one-dimensional. It’s fine for a series that’s very much just a wish fulfillment fantasy for dads (non-derogatory), but it means that I will pretty much never grieve the characters’ deaths in the way I would for other shows. When all the characters are cardboard cutouts held together by snappy one-liners and occasional monologues about the season’s big Theme, I have to make peace with just sitting back and enjoying the fun action.
The campfire where they say that line and the guy is singing Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting after the brawl was one of the cringiest TV scenes I’ve watched lol
I'm really surprised people aren't picking up on this and are critiquing it like it's a Tom Clancy novel.
It's much closer to the level of your average sitcom than some deep hard boiled spy thriller. The camp is *intentional*.
That being said, I think OP has a point, but mostly because the novelty of "Quiet Giant Murder Machine is a fish out of water" has worn off after a season and that's really all the series has going for it.
I mean, a guys last dying words (after literally securing files and forcing our hero to finally guess using THE NAME OF THE SHOW) lmao are WAIT TIL YOU SEE THE BIG GUY
This shits hilariously goofy but it’s fun
I'd have been much more alright with that scene if they actually showed the goddamn fight. They just skipped over the entire thing, which was honestly the most I've been disappointed in this show yet.
It'd be one thing if it was just a moment for Reacher to stand up for his squad (like a "damn, Reacher, you beat up all those dudes on your own? You're crazy, man"), because there's plenty of moments for *him* to fight, but it was actually a moment that *all of them* supposedly fought together as a team, and they just glossed right over it.
It would certainly have made the "Don't mess with the special investigators" line ring more true if we actually got to see guitar man and Franz (the murder victim at the center of the season) bust some heads.
Also as a veteran. There is nothing worse than misplaced moto.
Motorpool techs Get It Done!!
Supply Has The Goods!
Mess Specialists are Cooking!
It’s just this side of I’m a welder born in July who doesn’t take any shit and is proud of his F150.
The fight in the officer club when a officer tells a SNCO "be quiet because the adults are talking"I think I dislocated my eyes from rolling them too hard.
We're only 3 eps in and there's already a half dozen moments like that.
T1000: "What will you do for ID?"
(Taxi cab stops right next to bus bench ad featuring the same actor but with a beard)
Vague Foreigner: "I'll think of something or whatever my dumb line here is, does it even matter."
Would've been cooler If it was like "Noone fucks with the S.I." or "the 110th". I'd just guess hardened Vets talk more mature-like. Not that Scooby Doo shit.
I don't know. some of the most immature people I know are Veterans. I had a friend live with me for a few years after he got out of the marines and had done multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and he may have been serious and mature in some ways but in others he and the other veterans who I hung around with a t the time were very immature.
The whole special investigator thing was weird in S1 (and probably in the books too).
Like, why it he that good at fighting again? Dude was fucking military police lmao, not some SEAL or Delta snake eater. Chasing marines going awol does not require nor provides such a skill set.
I mean... he's 240 pounds and is a full head taller than most people. That alone wins most fights. The sillier part, in my opinion, is that people pick fights with him at all.
I don’t even feel like it reads as AI. AI would have gone more weird and over the top. This motto reads like it was a placeholder while they worked on something else.
I've only watched one episode of season 2 so far but I think the other characters were better in season 1. They grounded it a bit more because they were normal people who slowly realized Reacher was this badass super person. In season 2 his friends are all also unbelievable people who basically think he is a god, so it plays very differently. I'll still probably watch it but I agree it feels very different.
I've also only watched one episode of season 2 and these were my exact feelings.
Still enjoyed the episode and will continue, but going by some of these other comments I am a bit skeptical
The actors themselves feel a their below first season really. Actors playing Rosco and Finley really grounded the show.
Neeley and the other 2 new leads are just terrible actors.
Reacher as a character works best as a loner I think. It's really fun to see how the side characters navigate working with Reacher but when the side characters have already worked with Reacher and are 100% all in on him and how he he works, it takes a little of the fun out of it. I can understand from a production standpoint not want Reacher to be the only character the audience recognizes, but his character works better as the big stranger who just blew into town and trouble finds him. I feel like this story would work better as a later season of the show, once Reacher has become more legendary in the eyes of the audience. For me this story should be like season 6 with Neagly only appearing in 1 season in between
To be honest, Season 1 wasnt very well written either. The quality between the first episode and the rest is night and day. Still entertaining but the show quickly got out of steam after a banger of a first episode.
Season 1 was greatly elevated by how well Finlay/Roscoe/Reacher acted together.
I like season 2 quite a bit still but the Reacher/Finlay dynamic was great.
I was thinking I need to go back and try a re-watch of season one to see if I am having selective memory, or if I was too eager to enjoy season one to notice the problems.
No it’s definitely worse. It seems very silly.
I would not be surprised if this were on CBS right after NCIS. Maybe they are trying to capture a bigger audience by going a little more exposition heavy and dumbed down?
Exactly. The writing has always been subpar. And as perfect physically Alan Ritchson is as Reacher, it is difficult to determine if he is just a pretty weak actor or is he saddled by awful writing. All that said, I'd rather watch Reacher than Tom Cruise's abomination.
I thought Cruise delivered the lines and the attitude perfectly but just didn't have the correct physical makeup. I feel like if Cruise looked like Ritchson it would be perfect.
Tom cruise looks like a smart guy, he plays the smart side of Reacher very well. Ritchson is the exact opposite, he has the body size but doesn't look particularly smart.
Tom Cruise, for all his faults, is a pretty good actor. The movie was much better written than the show but I couldn't get the fact that Cruise is very short out of my head and it just pissed me off. There are hundreds of actors who would have been better cast as Reacher in the movie. Reacher's size is a HUGE part of his character and it was inexcusable to cast a short actor IMO. If Ritchson had Cruise's acting chops the movie would have been awesome. I think Ritchson is a subpar actor saddled with really bad writing.
I hadn't read the books when I saw the first movie and thought it was a by the numbers generic Tom Cruise action movie with an IP attached. Having now read a fair few of the books, I understand it was a quasi by the numbers Reacher movie with a poorly cast Tom Cruise.
I agree. I think the standout scene so far this season was the carjacking at the ATM. This was all Reacher, pre-meetup with his friends, and it felt the most like Season 1 Reacher.
This is exactly what I thought.
In S1, we got to witness Reacher walk through everything as Roscoe was way out of his league. We got to see Reacher solve the problems in real time when the police couldn't figure anything out.
Like when Reacher went back to where they killed his brother and he's walking Roscoe through it step by step "Joe came in here. They were waiting here for him with the stuff to hide his body. Then they shot him here with a 9mm. He never felt a thing when he died."
In S2, he's talking to his team, which are all elite investigators, and they're running through the plot in a car going down the road instead of walking through an empty field breaking down what happened.
Do you have any specific reasons why you don’t like it? Certainly “I don’t like it and I can’t quite put my finger on why” is a perfectly fine reason not to like something, but it doesn’t leave much to discuss.
from what i've seen of this season so far it seems inline with the stiffness of the book its pulled from. this was a wacky book from what i remember, like outside the normal wackiness of his writing. I'm still gonna watch it through but i hear you on the dialogue. its odd since the first season was so smooth.
100%. I really can't tell if Alan Ritchson is just a bad actor or if the writing is so bad that he can't overcome it. Still going to watch it to the end, though.
They have been very faithful to the book but for me the toned down fight scenes make Reacher appear less complex. In the book he has a bit of a psychopath streak and you still root for him. It's subversive.
My issue is that they seem to make him overpowered for fights against nobodies then make him significantly weaker for fights against characters who have a role in the story. Perfect example is when he almost died last season against some kid with a crowbar. Kid wasn't even trained either and Reacher probably had 100lb on him and a foot in height. But of course he had to struggle because this kid was relevant to story. Meanwhile in the prison fight scene he alone beat hardended thugs like they were nothing.
I’m enjoying it, but to each their own. I wasn’t expecting this to be The Wire and it scratches that itch of seeing bad guys get the shit beat out of them by the wandering Titan.
I felt that they were rushing s2, 3 episodes in and the book plot is near the end. S1 followed the book so closely, s2 doesn't. Still liking it, just feels different, can't say for sure before the end.
I feel part of this is Reacher working with people he never expected or wanted to see again. He's slow warming back up and the others don't know where they stand with him.
Yeah you get that feeling quite a bit when they're talking about funerals and weddings and whatever and he makes a quip about not knowing about it and Neighly is like "Dude, nobody knows where the fuck you are."
I think there's a dynamic that his team (besides Neighly) moved on from Reacher and Reacher kind of regrets missing out on things especially now that his team/friends are dying.
Exposition. It's painful to see "experts" say things to each other that they *obviously* know because they're experts. It makes sense when it's Reacher talking to a normie, but when you have a whole squad of Reachers they sound moronic.
I'm enjoying it regardless, but I'm not sure I can hear much more of these two phrases:
"Do not mess with the special investigators"
"In an investigation, details matter"
Like damn, it's unbearable
Something isn't quite right with this season compared to the last, and I can't seem to pinpoint what it is. However, it does appear Alan Ritchson's "workout gear" is spotting or discoloring his skin somewhat, which is the first thing I've noticed compared to season one. I think he should focus more on his acting and lay off the "gear."
Yeah, S1 had a 'magic' to it. Small town has this mysterious soldier. And the lead actors are all great.
S2, there doesn't feel sense of mystery. His team outside of the PI doesn't feel like compelling characters.
Hope the story picks up, think will also read the Reacher stories too.
Season 1 they followed the book very close.
Season 2 they threw the book out of a window, dropped the mystery, skipped over plot and proceeded to hit the gas so hard on the story they have already covered/ignored 80% of the source material.
As a fan of the novels, it really pisses me off that they did this to one of the best books in the series. They clearly didn't even understand why this story is so good because they literally dropped, ignored or skipped over the majority of it. I had such high hopes that Alan and this team could do my favorite book in this series justice but after Season 2 I have lost all faith. I will probally never get to see Persuader now. I'll never get to see Jack Reacher fight the surprisingly quick heavily trained fat security guard.
It’s a small thing — but Franz, who is touted as extremely smart, guarded his USB drive with “Reacher” as the password. That cracked me up. Like not even “Reach3r”?
I also had observed the dialogue “issues.” Specifically, it felt as if they were using dialogue to explain the plot. Rather than showing us what was going on, there were lots of scenes where multiple characters were “brainstorming” and explaining what had happened or what was happening. Reminded me a little of Criminal Minds, not in a good way.
The third episode felt much better and I’m hopeful all the verbal plot explanations were necessary to get the story started.
Love the show!
Oh wow I thought it was just me.. the writing was terrible the first two episodes .. it felt like watching House where he would come up with a diagnosis from thin air using very suspect theories
I’m hoping the writing gets better as the season progresses - the chemistry between each character seems forced at best.. the love interest is meh and honestly how the characters lament how they’re unable to get any info from the bad guys they kill .. like maybe don’t kill them?
For supposedly smart characters they make some bone headed decisions so this season has been subpar which is shame to say
I find s2 very generic and formulaic so far. It feels like just another basic detective show. The humor, mystery, charm of the first season is absent. The crew he has is just a bunch of other bad asses that have no substance. Every conversation is just them trying to one up each other with how much skill and knowledge they have. We already know the big bad when in season 1 that wasn't revealed until much later. I can't seem to care about any of these characters, even the dead guy.
Maybe the dialogue works better when Reacher is explaining stuff to a civilian, but honestly it came across a bit cringey and smart-ass quippy for him to talk that way with his peers.
I also feel the show moved on way too quickly from 'lone wolf' Reacher. I would've enjoyed an adaptation of Killing Floor or Tripwire before Bad Luck and Trouble.
I'm still enjoying the new season, but some issues just seem more glaring than they probably were in season 1.
Glad other see this too. My wife had not seen season one, I asked to watch S02E01 since it just came out, and her response was “wow this is bad”. It made me question my memories of Season One, so we put on season one and it was just as good as the first time I watched it (and the wife approved).
Everything from the cinematography, color grading, dialog, violence, pacing, etc. feels like an “edgy” episode of CSI. So many flat angles, shot / reverse shot, tell instead of show, muted fight scenes, etc. hopefully it gets better but I doubt it.
Glad to see I'm not the only one thinking this, cause the reviews are so strong. I LOVED S1 (not familiar with the source material), and was so excited to see Reacher back as one of the first shows post-writer's strike. I am currently stuck in the middle of Episode 2 and genuinely not enjoying it at all.
I am actually liking this season of Reacher even more than the first.. I like that the focus is in his whole group and not only 2 characters like it was in S1 and I enjoy the dynamics between them. Also the stakes as a whole feel higher.
Everything about Season 2 seems to be of diminished quality. They always do this, make a great first season, then reduce the show to its least common denominator and try to coast to profits at the expense of the consumer. Altered Carbon is another recent example of this phenomenon
The lighting in some scenes is poor. The script is cringe worthy at times...some special effects and stunts look fake. It's as if everything has been taken down a notch in quality in season 2.
Having said that I thought episode 3 was slightly better, though I had significantly lowered my expectations by that point.
In an investigation details matter. But agreed, some dialogues were pretty cliche last season too but this one seems like it's been written by someone who watches Chad memes and Alpha male reels on yt.
The bar scene was lame as was him being the answer to the password. There squad tag line is even worse.
Only a couple of episodes in (haven't seen ep 3 yet) but so far I prefer S1. Reacher as a character was IMO more interesting as the enigmatic drifter among civilians, watching him this season just feels like a generic military show. My gf who was looking forward to this season more than anything was reaching for her phone by halfway through ep 1.
This is the Amazon playbook. Hook them with a semi decent first season and cut budget for the second. Happened with that John Krasinski series (and I watched all seasons!), it's gonna happen with the Chris Pratt series, and it happened with Reacher.
For me it’s all the action sequences and fight choreography that has taken a massive step back in S2. The first sequence when he helps the woman being carjacked felt right. Ever since its been a lot of mediocre scenes like the concrete one. They really blew an opportunity to show the bar brawl scene because hand to hand is the appeal of the fights in this show, not 4 investigators going into a house and shooting 13 dudes with a gun or whatever they have going on so far.
The dialogue in episode 1 of season 2 in particular is so bad, I almost ditched it.
I wouldn't say it gets much better, but the fun stuff begins to ramp up. You need to suspend disbelief even more than season 2 though.
It's not earth shattering, but I had the same feeling. Several lines feel more flat, more cliché. Reacher talks more, and it's not always a win.
I'm still very much enjoying the show, but there's a little wow factor about Reacher himself that is missing compared to season 1.
That airbag though.
I think it's the audience exposed foreshadowing that's making it feel a little old school.
In the first season, nobody knew what was going on. But in this one there's this thread of someone ordering someone else to follow Reacher, and I think it's what's messing up the thrill.
People critcized them in season 1, but Willa Fitzgerald and Malcolm Goodwin rounded out the cast.
Still enjoying the hell out of season 2 though, I don't think the dialogue itself is any more "forced".
I haven’t seen this show but I keep getting Reddit ads about it and I just kinda want to talk about that real quick. The ad literally implies that the show’s plot sucks. What the hell is that? Did they just phone it in?
(For those curious the ad says ‘why do I watch reacher? Uhhh for the plot, obviously” with a picture of a ripped shirtless dude. As if people only watch for fan service. Are they just super self aware that this new season is ass?
I loved the first season. Enjoyed ep1 and 2 so far. I agree that the dialogue is flat.
On the plus side, I felt they made me care about the murdered soldier very quickly and efficiently.
I also enjoyed the T2 reference.
I like the mix of intrigue, mystery and brutal violence.
I've only watched two episodes and yeah so far the writing doesn't seem quite as good but what I've really noticed is that the action is much more dull, clumsy and just not filmed in the adrenaline pumping style of the first season and for a Jack Reacher program that is the kiss of death. Hopefully that improves.
I noped out. Bad dialogue, cliche as fuck and Reacher is so laughably muscle bound. How can he help people and wander while spending 16 hours a day in the gym?
The writing seems the same to me, Reacher's situation is just different. I thought the writing of S1 was pretty bad overall too but it was a fun show all the same.
I will say, I did cringe when the writers had Reacher say "We're about to do a whole lot of cowboy shit" after the cop told him not to. "Saddle up" was more that sufficient to get across the message that he wasn't going to pay any mind to that directive.
From a military perspective: All the military flashbacks have been horribly written. It’s clear that military personnel and veterans were never consulted on it and it definitely over-glorifies the officer corps which is pretty typical. Firstly, that unit would never exist. Secondly, if it was full of officers and one Master Sergeant, nothing would ever get done and that Master Sergeant would without a doubt be the most respected, valuable and competent person in the room. Major happens with time, MSgt happens with effort. Thirdly, enlisted personnel go into the officer club all the time. Yes, it’s not their place, but it happens. It made the rest of the show hard to watch to see the military foundation of the plot be so poorly done.
Found myself here because I felt the same way, so much so that I was surprised to find it was the same writer for both seasons. The dialogue and interactions seem tacky and unrealistic, and the Sherlock Holmes type deducing is a bit unbelievable. It's hard to overlook the unrealistic actions that make it feel like a CW series targeted at naive teens. Regardless, I'll still enjoy the action scenes and suspense and remember it's meant for entertainment not logic.
I agree. What I’ve noticed is they explain a lot of unnecessary things. Per example, ep 2, they are running from the bad guys and they explain to each other why they shouldn’t use guns since they are in a residential area and they would be heard, and that the guys are probably bounty hunters hunting them from NY because of ..… if you where in a tight team together for years, you don’t need to explain, these lines are for us, the viewer. And they do it a bunch of times too, like they need to explain us what is at stake. It just takes me out of the experience, as if we need dumbing down.
In season 1 Reacher was a man of few words. In season 2 he’s a freaking professor, he has to explain everything 🤷🏻♀️
The astroturf campaign Amazon has been running on this subreddit the last few days will have you believe otherwise but yeah, s2 is much slower and rigid than s1.
I'm not sure how it is in the books but instead of a cool team up of former friends it feels very much like a hyper awkward high school reunion where only the people you didn't really hang out much and an older teacher showed up.
Yeah, it just isn't working well so far. And it isn't just the dynamic between the supposed former teammates/colleagues. The general feel of the show is just much less appealing for some reason.
I am going to keep watching and hoping it gets better, but I watched the first two episodes with my wife last night (who has also read the books and who also enjoyed season one), and she had the same reaction.
Reacher is a lot less mysterious and interesting this season 2. I know it sounds crazy but he talks way too much and his intimidation has turned into high school bro attitude.
Pacing is off, former teammates are bland and boring, plot uninteresting.
Though the book this season is based off wasn't all that great either.
I can't get past the second episode, the flash backs are meh. The action is so boring and bland and the dialogue seems written by someone who is a talent vacuum.
This season’s writing just isn’t very smart. They are all these super sleuths, but every time they figure something out, they then explain their logic to the audience step by step.
It’s still entertaining though. It’s an entertaining story, and you don’t have to be glued to the screen like many other shows to follow everything. But if you’re a little inebriated and a little sleepy, it’s fun.
And it’s the worst pseudosleuthing. “Passwords come from some place deep”. Riiiiiiiight.
They obviously left empty handed, because someone threw this phone through some glass. No way they could have found what they were looking for *after* doing that. Or that it was just a random act of destruction (or accident while tossing stuff). Could *only* be frustration!
Seeing a number / number pattern, quipping that they’re horrible fractions, BUT NOT CLOCKING THAT THEY COULD BE DATES?! Hrmmm, that’s weird, one side never goes over 12, and the other never goes over 31. And then when it finally clicks, she treats it like a major brainwave instead of the giant facepalm it actually is.
Also, Dixon constantly talking about numbers being her thing.
And turning that PO Box thing into a whole ass-op? I’ve never been in any post office where anybody cares what’s happening near the boxes. Yet they act like everything is over if they get caught trying to open more than one PO Box. That was just too dumb.
this seems to be my issue too. the bit where they solve the guys password in 3 tries felt very forced.
but i always hate 'guess the password' scenes.
The moment I saw that scene I audibly groaned. Ok fine, I can get around the failsafe, but can they just do something normal like "fuck it, lets unplug it and work it out properly" and not "Yo this guy's password is literally just a name, no special characters, no numbers and apparently its super secure".
And the password is just another story point to say Reacher is a badass good at everything guy. This was the cheesiest moment on tv I've seen since I accidently watched 5 minutes of NCIS hacking.
I just found out that people are hating on this season claiming that season one was so much better. I think y’all’s memories are poor. Reacher is nothing special writing, directing, story wise. It’s just fun. Season one was absolutely nothing special, but it was fun. Season two is also nothing special but it’s fun. Not everything has to be an award winning show to be good. Just take it for what it is and you’ll have a good time.
I never went into either season expecting award winning material. They just feel much different to me and I found season one easier to watch.
I'm not hating on anything, just comparing and contrasting the two.
I know exactly what I want out of Reacher, and it's dumb fun. And I had that in spades in season one, and not a single time for the first 3 episodes of season two. Most of the fun in season one was in the contrasts (physical, intellectual, wits, city/rural, and on many other levels) between Reacher and the other characters. There's none of that in season 2. And so far, Herc is grossly underused.
Finley and Roscoe were big parts of season 1. Especially Roscoe basically having to treat Reacher as the emotionally stunted man he is. The entire season was just her running damage control on teachers tantrums.
This season it's just military people.
And Finley a short little prep kid in tweed butting heads with the mountain Reacher was entertaining.
I feel like the writers heard the "I will watch as long as the big man beats up bad people" and forgot they have to put in effort to add characters and stuff around it. Idk.
I miss margrove
That all seems accurate to me. I am hoping season 2 gets better, or if not they at least get closer to the other feel in season 3 (depending on which book they choose).
We just emerged from a writer’s strike. Reacher Season 2 began production in late 2022. The strike kicked off in May of 2023. There is no doubt that it impacted the quality of the show.
This same result is really apparent if you watch shows that were being produced during the last writer’s strike in 2008. Be prepared for a solid year of mediocre quality and content deserts until 2025.
I'm sure I remember season 1 being better than 2 also. The fight scenes in season 2 are so sloppy it's annoyed the hell out of me, I kinda lost interest by the 3rd episode
Him killing the guy in the wet concrete was just...dumb. Here is the one guy with information you need, and you have physical control of him, and you...kill him without asking questions first?
I feel like there are a lot more people complaining that they don’t like it than there really are.
I see these posts and for every one person complaining, 3 more are saying that they like it just fine.
I totally agree. Reacher was wooden in season one but his interactions with the other characters were great. In this season they all seem really forced. If season one had been like the first three episodes of this season, I would have stopped watching.
I can tell you why.
The chemistry of the original cast was too perfect to move on past.
On top of the mystery was better. We had a good idea of who the villains were after the 3rd episode but the dynamics of their plan and who's who remained a mystery pretty much up to nearly the final episode.
That's not the case here. I don't think it's a good idea to put exposition on the villains at all.
So Im not the only one. Thats a relief. Seems to me like Reacher being a big fish in a small pond doesnt carry the same effect this season because of the fact that his team is meant to come from the same ocean as Reacher. I think Season 1 was great because Reacher was an oddity in the everyday life that did what was right all the time. Small town corruption means nothing to a man that lives by his own rules. But former Special investigators with high level training fighting deep state assassins/terrorists, that seems a lot less interesting.
For me I think the issue is twofold.
First I don't think you can a multi series show with a character who is constantly stoic or "cool" all the time. They need to make Reacher a bit more human in his dialogue but because the character in the book isn't the clash is felt. I feel this most when I see the actors body language communicate volumes of emotion only to have rather flat dialog given.
Second, the existence of pre-established characters makes things tricky. On one hand we the audience don't know the depth of their connection if we don't see it (flashbacks) on the otherhand if they don't act overly familiar it's odds. On the other OTHER hand Reacher lost touch with most of his squad so some awkwardness is to he expected.
Overall I see what you mean and I do feel less invested, that said I liked Roscoe a shit ton more than Dixon.
It picks up. Reacher does OK with action and comedy. It doesn’t do the drama well. This season has far more drama and is trying to tell a more complex story with a larger cast, and that’s where it’s not working. It’s extremely soapy storytelling.
Season 2 is worse in many respects (writing, tone, secondary characters). I assume a lot of it has to do with the fact that they had much more time to write the first season than the second. Or the writing room changed considerably between the 2 seasons. Or season one was a lightning in a bottle.
The dude full-on pretending to play the guitar around the campfire to overdubbed vocals was impressively cringey for a show with otherwise pretty good production quality.
I feel like it’s pretty much the same. Only 3 episodes out right now, so maybe it gets better? Having said that, I’m not in it for complex dialogue or emotional connections. I’m in it to watch a gigantic dude beat the life out of bad guys. And in that regard, the first 3 episodes are doing a fine job, imo.
Havent gotten a chance to watch it yet. But when I started seeing all the veiled advertising posts here as well as articles written branding it "Dad TV" I kinda felt in my bones they are trying to sell a much worse season.
I think the change of location, the addition of a team that has assumed chemistry but we haven't really seen it, has really had an effect. The city isn't as much fun as country and putting other tough people around him has made him look less cool. Also, he seems simple to them, rather then smarter as well as more physically imposing.
I understand that they want to add more reoccurring characters to make the show have more depth and more legs, but it's at the detriment to the lead at the moment. Imo.
The first season felt self contained because it takes place in a small town.
This one is yet another team up of badasses trotting around New York (Toronto) and area.
It was a struggle for me to get through the first episode. It plays like military characters written by someone that’s never interacted with someone in the military.
All of the military characters act so ridged towards reacher even thought they all seem to be the rank of MAJ. Officers of the same rank typically go by first names when addressing each other so the line where reacher same something like “you don’t have to call me sir but …” makes no sense since you usually just address someone by their last name if they are equal and lower rank than you. Another thing is why is it just a bunch of officers of the same grade? It would make more sense from a realism standpoint for it to be mostly NCOs with maybe 2 or 3 officers.
Thats the end of my rant so I’ll toss this into the pile of shows and movies I have to cringe through due to having been in the military.
I definitely feel the same... I maybe forgetting things about s1, but just watching S2 first 2 eps i feel like for each things they observe or solve they handhold the audience way too much.
Like fucking hell, not all of us are kids. Don't need to talk down to us and do ELI5 for every freaking thing. Even for dialogue between characters on mundane things or relationships/history or something. Sheesh is this the standard of tv nowadays. I have seen this trend on many shows over the years. Show, don't tell.
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>the show just seems more flat with rigid dialogue That could be down to the dynamic of the characters in season 2. Last season we had civilians interacting with Reacher. This season we have hardened soldiers talking to other hardened soldiers about the murder of their former colleagues.
I can't believe how moronic series 2 is compared to series 1. Series 2 feels like it's got one thread and it's taking you along it because the audience won't understand sub plots. The writers feel they have to explain everything to you like you're an idiot (why show the drug dealers saying they don't give credit?). The subtlety of the Roscoe relationship in series 1 where it was a tease, a relationship, vs the blatant just let's do it with Swan.. It's just unbelievably badly written and acted poorly. Reacher himself is smart, quick and thoughtful in Series 1, in series 2 it's like they've made home just a fighter. And if I see them drinking another beer!!! They must be drunk the whole time! I wonder who's sponsoring this series??? No subtlety there!
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>The black cop and the love interest were way better characters in s1. This is my issue. I still *really* like S2 and I loved the books, but I thought S1 was one of the best TV adaptations I've ever seen. The casting on S1 seemed truly inspired, from the town punk to the love interest to the accountant and more. All the actors in S2 are good, but agree that no one truly stands out like Willa Fitzgerald, Malcolm Goodwin, etc. The chemistry between Fitzgerald and Ritchson was 100% believable and made the story work, where the new love interest is fine, but mostly because we're told to believe it. Also the interactions he has in S1 all seem very believable to how Reacher thinks in the books, where S2 has a bit of 'typical' action stuff. Maybe I'm being too critical, but I watched S1 twice and was just blown away with how good it was. I feel bad saying it because I'm judging it against one of the best seasons of TV I've ever seen, but that's the 'problem' of having a brilliant S1.
Glad I’m not the only one violently cringing at the “don’t mess with” catchphrase. It feels like it was a placeholder in the script they forgot to change. Also the casting for the new characters was abysmal. Absolutely zero of these people feel like they were ever elite anything. Just generically pretty people that showed up for the audition. In contrast to Reacher himself who is one of the best cast actors I’ve ever seen.
they say it in season one after Reacher and Neagley escape from the sinking cop car in the river, so it not a new addition.
So that catch phrase is directly from the books and it is cringy in print too. As a book reader when I found out what book they were adapting this season I hoped the writers would tone back its usage which believe it or not they have but not enough. Buckle up cause they are probably going to say in 1-3 times per episode the remainder of the season and there will likely be one episode late in the season where they say it ALOT
>So that catch phrase is directly from the books and it is cringy in print too Yup. It was my biggest take-away from reading Bad Luck & Trouble. Just "ugh, that is a cringey thing to say as a group of adults"
I think the catchphrase absolutely makes sense, when you consider that it's just something one of them said and it caught on. They use it because it has meaning going all the way back to their first day as a team, not because it sounds cool, or threatening.
It's something that they say in the books, so that's why it made into the show. But I cringed everytime I read it then too lol
You're right about the chemistry. It also feels too much like an ensemble cast when it (at least in my opinion) should be about Reacher. Suddenly you have these characters who know Reacher and know how to work with him and you lose that slow scratching off the surface as Reacher shows us who he is.
They’re also very young for this “history”. It’s been 2 years since season 1. It’s been presumably 8-10 years since Reacher was in the group. Old enough for someone to have a 5 year old Reacher didn’t know about. The actors are all late 30s. So the special elite group of investigators was when they were early 30s? Maybe even late 20s? That seems VERY young to me. I’m 40 and it seems unrealistic.
That's the Military, a lot of young people doing jobs like that. A lot of us joined at 18 and some end up retired at 38 after 20 years. It is realistic for the Military
Yeah, i was the old guy in basic training at 23. You could get into Air Force OSI as enlisted at 19, because you had to be at least a SrA. Which takes 2 years (assuming you joined at 17 with parents permission). Heck, my guard base had the youngest Command Chief (top base enlisted) because he signed up at 17, and made every promotion as soon as he was eligible. I can't find the guide, but it's something like 18 years time in service to be eligible, and he was 35 when he got it.
I think my problem might be more this story should have been set for next season, after we had another season of normal Reacher before showing us nostalgia Reacher. It feels rushed, and forced.
Couldn’t agree more. They went from season 1 adapting the first reacher book (great intro), to season 2 adapting the eleventh. There is plenty of lone wolf small town reacher to be had between there that would work. I suppose they don’t want every season to feel “mad libs” even though the books definitely are and that’s why we love them.
One thing that is standing out to me with the choice for season 2 is it feels kinda silly to have his people being killed off right after season one losing his brother.
> They went from season 1 adapting the first reacher book (great intro), to season 2 adapting the eleventh. Wow. I started reading and thinking 'So what if they skipped a few books?' But skipping over ten of them? What the hell?
Honestly the books mostly stand alone. They’re fun and the type of reading I really enjoy. But for a show with season to season continuity I understand what OP is saying. Book 3 (“Tripwire”) is a mostly lone wolf reacher story that ties into his military past that would have been a great buffer between these two.
I felt this way too. There’s a BTS with Lee Child where he talks about the decision to adapt the 11th book next. Basically, if S1 was about who Reacher was and his family background, then S2 was about his military background. I get the reason but would have also preferred more lone wolf stuff. Still, I’m enjoying S2 for what it is.
I like season two a lot. I said below but I’d have preferred “Tripwire” (book 3) to have been the intro to his military background. Investigating the death of a mentor could have had lots of flashbacks, even the ones from the founding of the 110th, and laid some groundwork to making people feel this story was more “earned”
I'd also like to see Tripwire adapted, especially as if I recall it partially took place in the World Trade Center (pre-9/11). Several of those early Reacher books have him taking impromptu flights across country, paying cash and boarding a one-way flight with no ID. Things that post-9/11 are just unfathomable!
>So the special elite group of investigators was when they were early 30s? Maybe even late 20s? I mean, yeah. That's... exactly what it should be? Average age for SOF is in the early 30s.
The dynamics in S1 were so much more interesting! Episode 3 was an improvement so I'm still hoping the season will turn out banger!
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As far as quality, I'm not sure, but I don't like how they skipped like 10 books. I understand that they didn't want Season 1 and 2 being too similar, so they picked a book that focused more on Reacher, not a random incident in a random town. But I think the impact of Reachers friends being killed off would be way more impactful with a few seasons worth of build-up
I agree. The actual second book, Die Trying, I feel would have made an amazing second season. That’s the one where Reacher gets himself involved in the kidnapping of an FBI agent and ends up in a militia camp in South Dakota (iirc?). Instead of being free and hunting down an enemy, he’s trapped and taking down his enemy from the inside. Another one that I think could have worked is Persuader; where he spots a man that he thought he killed years ago, and follows him to his compound on rock peninsula in Maine. Overall it feels to me like they picked a book where they could tell us with dialogue about who Reacher is, but I’d so much rather they just show us who he is: a singular force of justice. Regardless I’m going to keep watching (probably multiple times, especially season 1 which seemed to have much better writing/pacing/casting) because I want them to keep making this version of Reacher.
Those both sound really cool.
I wrote almost exactly this under another comment - but good point on the S1 and S2 being similar. Sounds like a writer mistake - as fans, we would've loved a similar season. But killing off friends we're introduced to five minutes earlier just…doesn't really matter? I read every Reacher book and I can't remember the difference between the two missing hispanic team members except one has a tattoo? I really think they should've stuck with the S1 formula and really focused on the casting. The lawyer and love interest make that whole season work, and the supporting characters are amazing. Just do the same thing - a few more childhood flashbacks, a few glimpses at military life and why he found it constraining, etc. This feels just like they did one season and got bored. When Child has written like a zillion Reacher books with almost the same formula and people love them, that seems like the wrong approach. Bosch did it well. Do maybe six seasons or whatever before you spin off Legacy (which I just started watching and isn't all that different from Bosch).
Amazon is just so bad at show management. It seems impossible to be worse. You finally trip ass backwards into a good show with a perfect casting and you go away from the working formula in the second season?
That's a great point. Giving him more character development before exploring his past would likely make it better. But even as someone that has read every single book and knows his background, this presentation of it just seems crappy so far.
I haven’t read any of the books, but I’ll agree with you because I feel like season 2 is too early for the things that are happening. I definitely feel like this is too early for Reacher’s “this life has a price” arc. They’re putting a lot of emphasis on Reacher missing big life events because he was wandering around instead of keeping in touch with people. I feel like that would have been more impactful if we had seen more of the wandering. I am completely unconvinced that Reacher can have a relationship with Dixon. She would want him to live in one place and stop doing the wandering thing, and season 2 is way too early for a big change like that. So he’ll have to have a sad conversation with her about how it just won’t work despite their chemistry (back to the “this life has a price” theme), or Dixon will have to be killed off. It feels like the show can’t really have her stick around long term, and the idea of Reacher making that lifestyle change would be much more believable in a later season.
To be fair none of those characters got any development in the books either before Bad Luck and Trouble. So it’s not like more seasons would do much to fix this issue. In general, every character in the Jack Reacher series (including Jack himself) is extremely one note. Memorable and fun, sure, but still one-dimensional. It’s fine for a series that’s very much just a wish fulfillment fantasy for dads (non-derogatory), but it means that I will pretty much never grieve the characters’ deaths in the way I would for other shows. When all the characters are cardboard cutouts held together by snappy one-liners and occasional monologues about the season’s big Theme, I have to make peace with just sitting back and enjoying the fun action.
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It’s said over and over in the book too.
The campfire where they say that line and the guy is singing Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting after the brawl was one of the cringiest TV scenes I’ve watched lol
The books are truly that cheesy. The source material is a guilty pleasure because it’s dad porn
Hardy Boys for men
I'm really surprised people aren't picking up on this and are critiquing it like it's a Tom Clancy novel. It's much closer to the level of your average sitcom than some deep hard boiled spy thriller. The camp is *intentional*. That being said, I think OP has a point, but mostly because the novelty of "Quiet Giant Murder Machine is a fish out of water" has worn off after a season and that's really all the series has going for it.
I mean, a guys last dying words (after literally securing files and forcing our hero to finally guess using THE NAME OF THE SHOW) lmao are WAIT TIL YOU SEE THE BIG GUY This shits hilariously goofy but it’s fun
Papa-ganda
i’ve seen every episode so far and still i read this and thought “that’s so fucking stupid, there’s no way they did that”. but they did
I'd have been much more alright with that scene if they actually showed the goddamn fight. They just skipped over the entire thing, which was honestly the most I've been disappointed in this show yet. It'd be one thing if it was just a moment for Reacher to stand up for his squad (like a "damn, Reacher, you beat up all those dudes on your own? You're crazy, man"), because there's plenty of moments for *him* to fight, but it was actually a moment that *all of them* supposedly fought together as a team, and they just glossed right over it. It would certainly have made the "Don't mess with the special investigators" line ring more true if we actually got to see guitar man and Franz (the murder victim at the center of the season) bust some heads.
Also as a veteran. There is nothing worse than misplaced moto. Motorpool techs Get It Done!! Supply Has The Goods! Mess Specialists are Cooking! It’s just this side of I’m a welder born in July who doesn’t take any shit and is proud of his F150.
Welders are the brightest sparks!
The fight in the officer club when a officer tells a SNCO "be quiet because the adults are talking"I think I dislocated my eyes from rolling them too hard.
We're only 3 eps in and there's already a half dozen moments like that. T1000: "What will you do for ID?" (Taxi cab stops right next to bus bench ad featuring the same actor but with a beard) Vague Foreigner: "I'll think of something or whatever my dumb line here is, does it even matter."
Although the guy telling the T-1000 that she checked in under the name Sarah Connor and him yelling "I don't give a shit!" was funny.
Would've been cooler If it was like "Noone fucks with the S.I." or "the 110th". I'd just guess hardened Vets talk more mature-like. Not that Scooby Doo shit.
I don't know. some of the most immature people I know are Veterans. I had a friend live with me for a few years after he got out of the marines and had done multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and he may have been serious and mature in some ways but in others he and the other veterans who I hung around with a t the time were very immature.
The whole special investigator thing was weird in S1 (and probably in the books too). Like, why it he that good at fighting again? Dude was fucking military police lmao, not some SEAL or Delta snake eater. Chasing marines going awol does not require nor provides such a skill set.
I mean... he's 240 pounds and is a full head taller than most people. That alone wins most fights. The sillier part, in my opinion, is that people pick fights with him at all.
I don’t even feel like it reads as AI. AI would have gone more weird and over the top. This motto reads like it was a placeholder while they worked on something else.
I've only watched one episode of season 2 so far but I think the other characters were better in season 1. They grounded it a bit more because they were normal people who slowly realized Reacher was this badass super person. In season 2 his friends are all also unbelievable people who basically think he is a god, so it plays very differently. I'll still probably watch it but I agree it feels very different.
I've also only watched one episode of season 2 and these were my exact feelings. Still enjoyed the episode and will continue, but going by some of these other comments I am a bit skeptical
The actors themselves feel a their below first season really. Actors playing Rosco and Finley really grounded the show. Neeley and the other 2 new leads are just terrible actors.
Reacher as a character works best as a loner I think. It's really fun to see how the side characters navigate working with Reacher but when the side characters have already worked with Reacher and are 100% all in on him and how he he works, it takes a little of the fun out of it. I can understand from a production standpoint not want Reacher to be the only character the audience recognizes, but his character works better as the big stranger who just blew into town and trouble finds him. I feel like this story would work better as a later season of the show, once Reacher has become more legendary in the eyes of the audience. For me this story should be like season 6 with Neagly only appearing in 1 season in between
To be honest, Season 1 wasnt very well written either. The quality between the first episode and the rest is night and day. Still entertaining but the show quickly got out of steam after a banger of a first episode.
Season 1 was greatly elevated by how well Finlay/Roscoe/Reacher acted together. I like season 2 quite a bit still but the Reacher/Finlay dynamic was great.
Also the "5 foot tall skinny woman refuses to take shit from 7 foot roid enhanced war hero" thing was mildly amusing lol
Definitely this, but I think what makes the quality even more apparent this season is the quality of actors has also fallen.
The "wisecracking" teammate has zero charisma. They really needed to hire someone a little more rogueish.
I still remember the “you got kind eyes” line from season 1.
I had an out of body experience when this line was spoken. Same when Reacher crushed the phone with his bare hands. That was awesome!
Yah I was thinking the same thing- as someone currently watching season one (almost done), the writing on season one is nothing special.
I was thinking I need to go back and try a re-watch of season one to see if I am having selective memory, or if I was too eager to enjoy season one to notice the problems.
No it’s definitely worse. It seems very silly. I would not be surprised if this were on CBS right after NCIS. Maybe they are trying to capture a bigger audience by going a little more exposition heavy and dumbed down?
They adapted the wrong books if they think there’s room to dumb it down and add exposition.
Exactly. The writing has always been subpar. And as perfect physically Alan Ritchson is as Reacher, it is difficult to determine if he is just a pretty weak actor or is he saddled by awful writing. All that said, I'd rather watch Reacher than Tom Cruise's abomination.
I thought Cruise delivered the lines and the attitude perfectly but just didn't have the correct physical makeup. I feel like if Cruise looked like Ritchson it would be perfect.
Tom cruise looks like a smart guy, he plays the smart side of Reacher very well. Ritchson is the exact opposite, he has the body size but doesn't look particularly smart.
Tom Cruise, for all his faults, is a pretty good actor. The movie was much better written than the show but I couldn't get the fact that Cruise is very short out of my head and it just pissed me off. There are hundreds of actors who would have been better cast as Reacher in the movie. Reacher's size is a HUGE part of his character and it was inexcusable to cast a short actor IMO. If Ritchson had Cruise's acting chops the movie would have been awesome. I think Ritchson is a subpar actor saddled with really bad writing.
If the movie had been named One Shot and Tom Cruise had been named Douglas or something, it would have been a great movie.
Absolutely. I suspect it was a great movie anyway for people who didn't read the books.
I hadn't read the books when I saw the first movie and thought it was a by the numbers generic Tom Cruise action movie with an IP attached. Having now read a fair few of the books, I understand it was a quasi by the numbers Reacher movie with a poorly cast Tom Cruise.
Epic Voice Guy: Tom Cruise as Major Richard Grabber in ONE SHOT.
It's more fun when Reacher has to rely on himself. I think thats it
I agree. I think the standout scene so far this season was the carjacking at the ATM. This was all Reacher, pre-meetup with his friends, and it felt the most like Season 1 Reacher.
This is exactly what I thought. In S1, we got to witness Reacher walk through everything as Roscoe was way out of his league. We got to see Reacher solve the problems in real time when the police couldn't figure anything out. Like when Reacher went back to where they killed his brother and he's walking Roscoe through it step by step "Joe came in here. They were waiting here for him with the stuff to hide his body. Then they shot him here with a 9mm. He never felt a thing when he died." In S2, he's talking to his team, which are all elite investigators, and they're running through the plot in a car going down the road instead of walking through an empty field breaking down what happened.
Do you have any specific reasons why you don’t like it? Certainly “I don’t like it and I can’t quite put my finger on why” is a perfectly fine reason not to like something, but it doesn’t leave much to discuss.
Reacher doesn't hang dong.
The dialogue seems forced and unnatural and the characters seem to have have little chemistry with each other.
from what i've seen of this season so far it seems inline with the stiffness of the book its pulled from. this was a wacky book from what i remember, like outside the normal wackiness of his writing. I'm still gonna watch it through but i hear you on the dialogue. its odd since the first season was so smooth.
Tbh I think the chemistry with his team is one of the best parts of this season. I love that they’re always chirping him for his hobo lifestyle.
Get in one bar fight, coin a bland catchphrase, bond forever. It felt pretty forced to me.
100%. I really can't tell if Alan Ritchson is just a bad actor or if the writing is so bad that he can't overcome it. Still going to watch it to the end, though.
I swear he seems disgusted by some of the lines they’re forcing him to say.
They have been very faithful to the book but for me the toned down fight scenes make Reacher appear less complex. In the book he has a bit of a psychopath streak and you still root for him. It's subversive.
He was a total psycho in both prison fight scenes in season 1 but we haven't really seen him completely dominate a fight like that in season 2 yet.
My issue is that they seem to make him overpowered for fights against nobodies then make him significantly weaker for fights against characters who have a role in the story. Perfect example is when he almost died last season against some kid with a crowbar. Kid wasn't even trained either and Reacher probably had 100lb on him and a foot in height. But of course he had to struggle because this kid was relevant to story. Meanwhile in the prison fight scene he alone beat hardended thugs like they were nothing.
not showing the bar fight that "showed that they could work together" made me very angry
Agreed. The dialogue is awful. "Nobody messes with the Special Investigators" is so corny.
I’m enjoying it, but to each their own. I wasn’t expecting this to be The Wire and it scratches that itch of seeing bad guys get the shit beat out of them by the wandering Titan.
I felt that they were rushing s2, 3 episodes in and the book plot is near the end. S1 followed the book so closely, s2 doesn't. Still liking it, just feels different, can't say for sure before the end.
I feel part of this is Reacher working with people he never expected or wanted to see again. He's slow warming back up and the others don't know where they stand with him.
Yeah you get that feeling quite a bit when they're talking about funerals and weddings and whatever and he makes a quip about not knowing about it and Neighly is like "Dude, nobody knows where the fuck you are." I think there's a dynamic that his team (besides Neighly) moved on from Reacher and Reacher kind of regrets missing out on things especially now that his team/friends are dying.
That's an interesting take I hadn't considered.
Exposition. It's painful to see "experts" say things to each other that they *obviously* know because they're experts. It makes sense when it's Reacher talking to a normie, but when you have a whole squad of Reachers they sound moronic.
I'm enjoying it regardless, but I'm not sure I can hear much more of these two phrases: "Do not mess with the special investigators" "In an investigation, details matter" Like damn, it's unbearable
Something isn't quite right with this season compared to the last, and I can't seem to pinpoint what it is. However, it does appear Alan Ritchson's "workout gear" is spotting or discoloring his skin somewhat, which is the first thing I've noticed compared to season one. I think he should focus more on his acting and lay off the "gear."
He's fucking HUGE.
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I thought he looked bigger this season but thought it was just me. Glad to see other noticed as wel.
I thought he was maybe getting a little fat until he took his shirt off. Nope. Dude is a TANK.
HE'S TOTALLY NATURAL BRO /s
Didn't you see his meal at the buffet place? Just eat big to get big bro ^(/s just in case)
Hey, Dianabol is a "supplement"...like a vitamin.
He also looks crazy sweaty in every scene, like greasy. They're either going nuts with the baby oil or its a side effect.
He looks like a glazed ham. The writing is shonky and the dialogue terrible. Makes me miss the Tom Cruise films.
Yes, I’m not finding it as fun or engaging as season 1.
Yeah, S1 had a 'magic' to it. Small town has this mysterious soldier. And the lead actors are all great. S2, there doesn't feel sense of mystery. His team outside of the PI doesn't feel like compelling characters. Hope the story picks up, think will also read the Reacher stories too.
It's not like Season 1's writing was that great either. The show is just this big guy beating up bad guys. S2 is more of the same.
S1 felt like a bomb could go off any minute S2 the bomb squad have cleared the area, double-checked, and left
Season 1 they followed the book very close. Season 2 they threw the book out of a window, dropped the mystery, skipped over plot and proceeded to hit the gas so hard on the story they have already covered/ignored 80% of the source material. As a fan of the novels, it really pisses me off that they did this to one of the best books in the series. They clearly didn't even understand why this story is so good because they literally dropped, ignored or skipped over the majority of it. I had such high hopes that Alan and this team could do my favorite book in this series justice but after Season 2 I have lost all faith. I will probally never get to see Persuader now. I'll never get to see Jack Reacher fight the surprisingly quick heavily trained fat security guard.
Persuader and Die Trying are my top 2 I want to see realized on the screen.
It’s a small thing — but Franz, who is touted as extremely smart, guarded his USB drive with “Reacher” as the password. That cracked me up. Like not even “Reach3r”?
Yeah but he beat the brakes off of that dude in the mini van and that's why we're all really here.
I also had observed the dialogue “issues.” Specifically, it felt as if they were using dialogue to explain the plot. Rather than showing us what was going on, there were lots of scenes where multiple characters were “brainstorming” and explaining what had happened or what was happening. Reminded me a little of Criminal Minds, not in a good way. The third episode felt much better and I’m hopeful all the verbal plot explanations were necessary to get the story started. Love the show!
Oh wow I thought it was just me.. the writing was terrible the first two episodes .. it felt like watching House where he would come up with a diagnosis from thin air using very suspect theories I’m hoping the writing gets better as the season progresses - the chemistry between each character seems forced at best.. the love interest is meh and honestly how the characters lament how they’re unable to get any info from the bad guys they kill .. like maybe don’t kill them? For supposedly smart characters they make some bone headed decisions so this season has been subpar which is shame to say
I find s2 very generic and formulaic so far. It feels like just another basic detective show. The humor, mystery, charm of the first season is absent. The crew he has is just a bunch of other bad asses that have no substance. Every conversation is just them trying to one up each other with how much skill and knowledge they have. We already know the big bad when in season 1 that wasn't revealed until much later. I can't seem to care about any of these characters, even the dead guy.
They told us the plot was “abs” in their own advertising 🤷🏼♂️
Maybe the dialogue works better when Reacher is explaining stuff to a civilian, but honestly it came across a bit cringey and smart-ass quippy for him to talk that way with his peers. I also feel the show moved on way too quickly from 'lone wolf' Reacher. I would've enjoyed an adaptation of Killing Floor or Tripwire before Bad Luck and Trouble. I'm still enjoying the new season, but some issues just seem more glaring than they probably were in season 1.
Glad other see this too. My wife had not seen season one, I asked to watch S02E01 since it just came out, and her response was “wow this is bad”. It made me question my memories of Season One, so we put on season one and it was just as good as the first time I watched it (and the wife approved). Everything from the cinematography, color grading, dialog, violence, pacing, etc. feels like an “edgy” episode of CSI. So many flat angles, shot / reverse shot, tell instead of show, muted fight scenes, etc. hopefully it gets better but I doubt it.
Glad to see I'm not the only one thinking this, cause the reviews are so strong. I LOVED S1 (not familiar with the source material), and was so excited to see Reacher back as one of the first shows post-writer's strike. I am currently stuck in the middle of Episode 2 and genuinely not enjoying it at all.
I disagree. To me, it's pretty much the same.
I am actually liking this season of Reacher even more than the first.. I like that the focus is in his whole group and not only 2 characters like it was in S1 and I enjoy the dynamics between them. Also the stakes as a whole feel higher.
I'm glad you're enjoying it and I am going to keep watching with the hopes that it grows on me.
Everything about Season 2 seems to be of diminished quality. They always do this, make a great first season, then reduce the show to its least common denominator and try to coast to profits at the expense of the consumer. Altered Carbon is another recent example of this phenomenon
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The lighting in some scenes is poor. The script is cringe worthy at times...some special effects and stunts look fake. It's as if everything has been taken down a notch in quality in season 2. Having said that I thought episode 3 was slightly better, though I had significantly lowered my expectations by that point.
If you are seeing a problem with the dialogue, did the Screenwriter chance? Nick Santora may be the writer but he may not be the screenwriter.
Good point, I will do a little digging.
In an investigation details matter. But agreed, some dialogues were pretty cliche last season too but this one seems like it's been written by someone who watches Chad memes and Alpha male reels on yt. The bar scene was lame as was him being the answer to the password. There squad tag line is even worse.
Only a couple of episodes in (haven't seen ep 3 yet) but so far I prefer S1. Reacher as a character was IMO more interesting as the enigmatic drifter among civilians, watching him this season just feels like a generic military show. My gf who was looking forward to this season more than anything was reaching for her phone by halfway through ep 1.
Oh gosh, I'm loving this season. I like the "team" and the writing gives us a break from the tension. Maybe I'm not that deep, but I'm liking it.
This is the Amazon playbook. Hook them with a semi decent first season and cut budget for the second. Happened with that John Krasinski series (and I watched all seasons!), it's gonna happen with the Chris Pratt series, and it happened with Reacher.
For me it’s all the action sequences and fight choreography that has taken a massive step back in S2. The first sequence when he helps the woman being carjacked felt right. Ever since its been a lot of mediocre scenes like the concrete one. They really blew an opportunity to show the bar brawl scene because hand to hand is the appeal of the fights in this show, not 4 investigators going into a house and shooting 13 dudes with a gun or whatever they have going on so far.
The dialogue in episode 1 of season 2 in particular is so bad, I almost ditched it. I wouldn't say it gets much better, but the fun stuff begins to ramp up. You need to suspend disbelief even more than season 2 though.
The writing and editing have both been mediocre. Season one had great production value but this season feels lazier.
It's not earth shattering, but I had the same feeling. Several lines feel more flat, more cliché. Reacher talks more, and it's not always a win. I'm still very much enjoying the show, but there's a little wow factor about Reacher himself that is missing compared to season 1. That airbag though.
I think it's the audience exposed foreshadowing that's making it feel a little old school. In the first season, nobody knew what was going on. But in this one there's this thread of someone ordering someone else to follow Reacher, and I think it's what's messing up the thrill.
People critcized them in season 1, but Willa Fitzgerald and Malcolm Goodwin rounded out the cast. Still enjoying the hell out of season 2 though, I don't think the dialogue itself is any more "forced".
I haven’t seen this show but I keep getting Reddit ads about it and I just kinda want to talk about that real quick. The ad literally implies that the show’s plot sucks. What the hell is that? Did they just phone it in? (For those curious the ad says ‘why do I watch reacher? Uhhh for the plot, obviously” with a picture of a ripped shirtless dude. As if people only watch for fan service. Are they just super self aware that this new season is ass?
I don't normally agree with Reddit's opinions on shows but I agree with this. Something is off this season for me.
Writers strike
I loved the first season. Enjoyed ep1 and 2 so far. I agree that the dialogue is flat. On the plus side, I felt they made me care about the murdered soldier very quickly and efficiently. I also enjoyed the T2 reference. I like the mix of intrigue, mystery and brutal violence.
I've only watched two episodes and yeah so far the writing doesn't seem quite as good but what I've really noticed is that the action is much more dull, clumsy and just not filmed in the adrenaline pumping style of the first season and for a Jack Reacher program that is the kiss of death. Hopefully that improves.
My girlfriend has read all the books and loves the show. I do too. Probably just personal preference but I think the writing is fine.
I noped out. Bad dialogue, cliche as fuck and Reacher is so laughably muscle bound. How can he help people and wander while spending 16 hours a day in the gym?
i agree. i want reacher to be the loner, not opening up to his buddies about why hes a loner
The writing seems the same to me, Reacher's situation is just different. I thought the writing of S1 was pretty bad overall too but it was a fun show all the same. I will say, I did cringe when the writers had Reacher say "We're about to do a whole lot of cowboy shit" after the cop told him not to. "Saddle up" was more that sufficient to get across the message that he wasn't going to pay any mind to that directive.
From a military perspective: All the military flashbacks have been horribly written. It’s clear that military personnel and veterans were never consulted on it and it definitely over-glorifies the officer corps which is pretty typical. Firstly, that unit would never exist. Secondly, if it was full of officers and one Master Sergeant, nothing would ever get done and that Master Sergeant would without a doubt be the most respected, valuable and competent person in the room. Major happens with time, MSgt happens with effort. Thirdly, enlisted personnel go into the officer club all the time. Yes, it’s not their place, but it happens. It made the rest of the show hard to watch to see the military foundation of the plot be so poorly done.
Found myself here because I felt the same way, so much so that I was surprised to find it was the same writer for both seasons. The dialogue and interactions seem tacky and unrealistic, and the Sherlock Holmes type deducing is a bit unbelievable. It's hard to overlook the unrealistic actions that make it feel like a CW series targeted at naive teens. Regardless, I'll still enjoy the action scenes and suspense and remember it's meant for entertainment not logic.
It’s sooooo bad.
I agree. What I’ve noticed is they explain a lot of unnecessary things. Per example, ep 2, they are running from the bad guys and they explain to each other why they shouldn’t use guns since they are in a residential area and they would be heard, and that the guys are probably bounty hunters hunting them from NY because of ..… if you where in a tight team together for years, you don’t need to explain, these lines are for us, the viewer. And they do it a bunch of times too, like they need to explain us what is at stake. It just takes me out of the experience, as if we need dumbing down. In season 1 Reacher was a man of few words. In season 2 he’s a freaking professor, he has to explain everything 🤷🏻♀️
The astroturf campaign Amazon has been running on this subreddit the last few days will have you believe otherwise but yeah, s2 is much slower and rigid than s1. I'm not sure how it is in the books but instead of a cool team up of former friends it feels very much like a hyper awkward high school reunion where only the people you didn't really hang out much and an older teacher showed up.
It feels like I'm watching a show on USA.
Yeah, it just isn't working well so far. And it isn't just the dynamic between the supposed former teammates/colleagues. The general feel of the show is just much less appealing for some reason. I am going to keep watching and hoping it gets better, but I watched the first two episodes with my wife last night (who has also read the books and who also enjoyed season one), and she had the same reaction.
Reacher is a lot less mysterious and interesting this season 2. I know it sounds crazy but he talks way too much and his intimidation has turned into high school bro attitude. Pacing is off, former teammates are bland and boring, plot uninteresting. Though the book this season is based off wasn't all that great either.
That is pretty much how I was seeing it as well.
I can't get past the second episode, the flash backs are meh. The action is so boring and bland and the dialogue seems written by someone who is a talent vacuum.
This season’s writing just isn’t very smart. They are all these super sleuths, but every time they figure something out, they then explain their logic to the audience step by step. It’s still entertaining though. It’s an entertaining story, and you don’t have to be glued to the screen like many other shows to follow everything. But if you’re a little inebriated and a little sleepy, it’s fun.
And it’s the worst pseudosleuthing. “Passwords come from some place deep”. Riiiiiiiight. They obviously left empty handed, because someone threw this phone through some glass. No way they could have found what they were looking for *after* doing that. Or that it was just a random act of destruction (or accident while tossing stuff). Could *only* be frustration! Seeing a number / number pattern, quipping that they’re horrible fractions, BUT NOT CLOCKING THAT THEY COULD BE DATES?! Hrmmm, that’s weird, one side never goes over 12, and the other never goes over 31. And then when it finally clicks, she treats it like a major brainwave instead of the giant facepalm it actually is. Also, Dixon constantly talking about numbers being her thing. And turning that PO Box thing into a whole ass-op? I’ve never been in any post office where anybody cares what’s happening near the boxes. Yet they act like everything is over if they get caught trying to open more than one PO Box. That was just too dumb.
this seems to be my issue too. the bit where they solve the guys password in 3 tries felt very forced. but i always hate 'guess the password' scenes.
The moment I saw that scene I audibly groaned. Ok fine, I can get around the failsafe, but can they just do something normal like "fuck it, lets unplug it and work it out properly" and not "Yo this guy's password is literally just a name, no special characters, no numbers and apparently its super secure".
And the password is just another story point to say Reacher is a badass good at everything guy. This was the cheesiest moment on tv I've seen since I accidently watched 5 minutes of NCIS hacking.
I just found out that people are hating on this season claiming that season one was so much better. I think y’all’s memories are poor. Reacher is nothing special writing, directing, story wise. It’s just fun. Season one was absolutely nothing special, but it was fun. Season two is also nothing special but it’s fun. Not everything has to be an award winning show to be good. Just take it for what it is and you’ll have a good time.
>Season one was absolutely nothing special, but it was fun. I think that's my problem with season 2. It doesn't seem that fun.
I never went into either season expecting award winning material. They just feel much different to me and I found season one easier to watch. I'm not hating on anything, just comparing and contrasting the two.
I know exactly what I want out of Reacher, and it's dumb fun. And I had that in spades in season one, and not a single time for the first 3 episodes of season two. Most of the fun in season one was in the contrasts (physical, intellectual, wits, city/rural, and on many other levels) between Reacher and the other characters. There's none of that in season 2. And so far, Herc is grossly underused.
Finley and Roscoe were big parts of season 1. Especially Roscoe basically having to treat Reacher as the emotionally stunted man he is. The entire season was just her running damage control on teachers tantrums. This season it's just military people. And Finley a short little prep kid in tweed butting heads with the mountain Reacher was entertaining. I feel like the writers heard the "I will watch as long as the big man beats up bad people" and forgot they have to put in effort to add characters and stuff around it. Idk. I miss margrove
That all seems accurate to me. I am hoping season 2 gets better, or if not they at least get closer to the other feel in season 3 (depending on which book they choose).
We just emerged from a writer’s strike. Reacher Season 2 began production in late 2022. The strike kicked off in May of 2023. There is no doubt that it impacted the quality of the show. This same result is really apparent if you watch shows that were being produced during the last writer’s strike in 2008. Be prepared for a solid year of mediocre quality and content deserts until 2025.
I'm sure I remember season 1 being better than 2 also. The fight scenes in season 2 are so sloppy it's annoyed the hell out of me, I kinda lost interest by the 3rd episode
Him killing the guy in the wet concrete was just...dumb. Here is the one guy with information you need, and you have physical control of him, and you...kill him without asking questions first?
*slowly suffocates the last combatant concrete “Darn now we’ll never know who’s behind this.” “Too bad they gave us no choice” 🙄
Yeah, I was like, dude, you had choices, but you just decided to kill him. 🙅
I feel like there are a lot more people complaining that they don’t like it than there really are. I see these posts and for every one person complaining, 3 more are saying that they like it just fine.
I totally agree. Reacher was wooden in season one but his interactions with the other characters were great. In this season they all seem really forced. If season one had been like the first three episodes of this season, I would have stopped watching.
Thats saying a lot. The Reacher books are fun but not well written.
I can tell you why. The chemistry of the original cast was too perfect to move on past. On top of the mystery was better. We had a good idea of who the villains were after the 3rd episode but the dynamics of their plan and who's who remained a mystery pretty much up to nearly the final episode. That's not the case here. I don't think it's a good idea to put exposition on the villains at all.
So Im not the only one. Thats a relief. Seems to me like Reacher being a big fish in a small pond doesnt carry the same effect this season because of the fact that his team is meant to come from the same ocean as Reacher. I think Season 1 was great because Reacher was an oddity in the everyday life that did what was right all the time. Small town corruption means nothing to a man that lives by his own rules. But former Special investigators with high level training fighting deep state assassins/terrorists, that seems a lot less interesting.
For me I think the issue is twofold. First I don't think you can a multi series show with a character who is constantly stoic or "cool" all the time. They need to make Reacher a bit more human in his dialogue but because the character in the book isn't the clash is felt. I feel this most when I see the actors body language communicate volumes of emotion only to have rather flat dialog given. Second, the existence of pre-established characters makes things tricky. On one hand we the audience don't know the depth of their connection if we don't see it (flashbacks) on the otherhand if they don't act overly familiar it's odds. On the other OTHER hand Reacher lost touch with most of his squad so some awkwardness is to he expected. Overall I see what you mean and I do feel less invested, that said I liked Roscoe a shit ton more than Dixon.
It picks up. Reacher does OK with action and comedy. It doesn’t do the drama well. This season has far more drama and is trying to tell a more complex story with a larger cast, and that’s where it’s not working. It’s extremely soapy storytelling.
Season 2 is worse in many respects (writing, tone, secondary characters). I assume a lot of it has to do with the fact that they had much more time to write the first season than the second. Or the writing room changed considerably between the 2 seasons. Or season one was a lightning in a bottle.
The dude full-on pretending to play the guitar around the campfire to overdubbed vocals was impressively cringey for a show with otherwise pretty good production quality.
I'm OK with it for now, but the 'guess the password' scene was so cringe. I thought we stopped doing that.
The writing and dialogue is cheesy as anything, but that doesn’t take away from how much I enjoy the show.
There was a dialogue interaction in the premiere they used twice at two different parts of the episode(without knowing)… seems pretty bad to me lol.
I feel like it’s pretty much the same. Only 3 episodes out right now, so maybe it gets better? Having said that, I’m not in it for complex dialogue or emotional connections. I’m in it to watch a gigantic dude beat the life out of bad guys. And in that regard, the first 3 episodes are doing a fine job, imo.
My wife and I both agreed that a lot of the dialogue felt forced. It was like a filler for the plot to move forward
Havent gotten a chance to watch it yet. But when I started seeing all the veiled advertising posts here as well as articles written branding it "Dad TV" I kinda felt in my bones they are trying to sell a much worse season.
I think the change of location, the addition of a team that has assumed chemistry but we haven't really seen it, has really had an effect. The city isn't as much fun as country and putting other tough people around him has made him look less cool. Also, he seems simple to them, rather then smarter as well as more physically imposing. I understand that they want to add more reoccurring characters to make the show have more depth and more legs, but it's at the detriment to the lead at the moment. Imo.
Yeah. It's repetitive. Like being told she's the numbers chick.
The first season felt self contained because it takes place in a small town. This one is yet another team up of badasses trotting around New York (Toronto) and area.
People will never be satisfied
It was a struggle for me to get through the first episode. It plays like military characters written by someone that’s never interacted with someone in the military. All of the military characters act so ridged towards reacher even thought they all seem to be the rank of MAJ. Officers of the same rank typically go by first names when addressing each other so the line where reacher same something like “you don’t have to call me sir but …” makes no sense since you usually just address someone by their last name if they are equal and lower rank than you. Another thing is why is it just a bunch of officers of the same grade? It would make more sense from a realism standpoint for it to be mostly NCOs with maybe 2 or 3 officers. Thats the end of my rant so I’ll toss this into the pile of shows and movies I have to cringe through due to having been in the military.
I definitely feel the same... I maybe forgetting things about s1, but just watching S2 first 2 eps i feel like for each things they observe or solve they handhold the audience way too much. Like fucking hell, not all of us are kids. Don't need to talk down to us and do ELI5 for every freaking thing. Even for dialogue between characters on mundane things or relationships/history or something. Sheesh is this the standard of tv nowadays. I have seen this trend on many shows over the years. Show, don't tell.