Reacher 2: Even Better than Reacher 1

Hey, I liked Reacher 2 even better than Reacher 1, which means I immensely enjoyed every moment in the eight-episode second season, and my only regret is that I couldn't watch the eight episodes all at once, and keep the adrenalin flowing for the nearly eight hours.  (Right, I watched each episode as it was put up on Amazon Prime Video, and saw the finale episode a few weeks back, but didn't get around to reviewing it until now.)

And adrenalin is the word for this second season of Lee Child's book series brought to life, which I haven't read.  There's barely a minute or two that goes by in any episode without maximum octane action, punctuated with Reacher's razor-sharp commentary and rapid-fire retorts.  People get pushed out of helicopters, have high-speed car chases, and exchange gunfire and physical blows in a plot that brings back Reacher's military team that we meet for the first time.   This opens up all kinds of possibilities ranging from a rekindled (or, actually kindled) romantic relationship, more humor, and some rivalries.

One of my favorite threads in this sharp suit of a story involves the NYPD detective Guy Russo played by the one and only Domenick Lombardozzi (The Wire, Ray Donovan, etc).  Since I'm trying hard to not provide any spoilers -- it gets tedious warning you about them, I know -- I'm not going to tell you anything specific about how Russo's story plays out, except to say it's one memorable story that you're not going to forget.

The villain, Shane Langston played by Robert Patrick, is memorable, too, one of the most driven, vicious evil masterminds I've seen on the screen in a long time.  As I said in my review of Reacher 1, Jack Reacher definitely has some Bondian characteristics, and Langston is close to a worthy Bondian antagonist.  Patrick has played many a policeman, of all ages over his long career, and it's good to see him branch out.

Alan Ritchson was perfect again as Reacher, Maria Sten was back and fine again as Neagly, and it was fun to see Serinda Swan in and out of bed with Reacher.  Kudos too for Shaun Sipos's wise-cracking David O'Donnell.  I have no idea who other than Ritchson will be on hand for season 3, but bring it on.

See also Reacher 1: Peach Pie, Stirred Not Shaken

 

Mayans M. C. 1.1: Pulling Us In

Hey, the Mayans M. C. debut, Kurt Sutter's latest, was good, and may well have the makings of great.   My wife and I enjoyed it.

A little context.  Sutter is best-known for his series, Sons of Anarchy, also on the FX Channel.  I first heard about Sons when I was teaching a graduate course about "Television and New Media" at Fordham University in 2013.  Each student was required to choose a TV series, and follow its reception in social media.  Most students chose high-concept, sophisticated series that I was already was watching, like The Americans.  One guy picked Sons.  I'd never heard of it, but he was a bright student, so I said sure.  His reports got me interested in the series.

But I still didn't get around to watching it - which of course required watching all of the earlier seasons (Sons of Anarchy debuted in 2008), and I wasn't quite ready to make that commitment.  Our daughter, telling us about a year later that SOA was one of the best series she'd ever seen, pushed us over the top.  We watched and devoured every episode of Sons of Anarchy, and consider it one of the very best shows ever on TV of any kind.  It was indeed high concept and sophisticated and so much more.

Mayans take place in the same place as Sons, and indeed we saw some of the Mayans in Sons.  But that means Mayans has huge burden - it's in effect competing with SOA, where there was so much powerful content that I won't even summarize.  The first episode shows that Mayans could be on track to doing that.

For Sam Crow fans, we got a quick view of Gemma (Katey Sagal), in an eight-years earlier scene with E. Z. (J. D. Pardo) in prison.  And Les Packer, a character played by Robert Patrick who appeared in a couple of episodes of Sons, leads a group Sons in support of a Mayans operation.  The Mayans and SAMCRO were by and large allies in Sons of Anarchy, so that makes sense.

It's too soon to tell if Mayans will achieve the Shakespearean heights of Sons of Anarchy, but there are already some strong and tempestuous family relationships on hand in Mayans, including father and son, and brother to brother.  Sutter wove his magic in SOA, the unlikely but irresistible mix of violence and humor, and after the first episode of Mayans, we're more than ready to give this new series a shot.