It has been five months since Reacher season 3 came out, but I, as a fan of the series, still have to mentally prepare myself before rewatching one dark episode. Amazon Prime Video’s Reacher is primarily an action thriller, but it includes several moments of levity where Jack Reacher hurls some of the most hilarious insults towards those who try to confront him.
At the same time, the Amazon Prime Video detective series also does not shy away from adopting a serious tone, especially during sequences that walk through Jack Reacher’s military backstory and how his past defines him. While some of these flashbacks to his military life reveal why he had to walk away from the armed forces, others focus on his relationship with his allies.
In Reacher season 3, the flashbacks to his military past specifically walk through his time as a mentor to a U.S. Army Sergeant. What initially seems like the inception of a strong camaraderie soon spirals into a tragic tale of loss that leaves a lasting impact on Alan Ritchson’s Jack Reacher.
“Dominique” Tells a Particularly Dark Reacher Story
The Episode Shows Why Reacher Is Determined To Kill Quinn
Reacher season 3’s episode 4 harkens back to the main character’s past, revealing how he first met Dominique Kohl. It shows how, despite being apprehensive about having to train someone, Reacher agreed to have her under his wing. The more time he spent with her, the more he realized how she was a lot like him.

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Despite his initial doubts and reservations, Reacher soon developed a deep respect for Dominique’s discipline and unwavering sense of justice. Owing to this, when Kohl gathered enough evidence to prosecute Xavier Quinn, Reacher allowed her to take all the credit for the case by asking her to carry out Quinn’s arrest.
…Reacher learned from Kohl’s death that “assumptions kill” in an investigation and that one’s first shot always needs to be one’s best shot.
To his dismay, Kohl never returned after leaving to arrest Quinn. When Reacher arrived at Quinn’s remote property to find Kohl, he learned Quinn had brutally murdered her. As the flashback suggests, this became one of the most defining tragedies of Reacher’s military career, as it continued to haunt him years later.
Reacher shot Quinn after finding him on the property, but to his surprise, the villain somehow survived. Disturbed by his inability to serve justice and seek vengeance, Reacher learned from Kohl’s death that “assumptions kill” in an investigation and that one’s first shot always needs to be one’s best shot.
Reacher Season 4 May Include An Even More Harrowing Scene
Lee Child’s Gone Tomorrow Begins With A Grim Sequence
As harrowing as Reacher season 3’s “Dominique” episode may seem, it seems like the show’s season 4 will top it in terms of emotional intensity. Reacher season 4 is adapting Lee Child’s Gone Tomorrow, which begins with a gripping sequence where the Alan Ritchson character finds himself on a train.
After noticing a woman’s suspicious behavior, he runs a checklist in his head that helps him determine if she is a suicide bomber. When the woman’s behavior ticks all the right boxes, he tries to talk to her to be able to save her and the other passengers on the train. Sadly, before he can talk her out of it, she takes her own life in the most horrifying way.
His inability to save her leaves him with a deep-seated sense of guilt, which becomes a driver for him to find the truth about what forced her into her circumstances. If Reacher season 4 accurately adapts this sequence from the Lee Child novel, the new installment’s opening arc itself will be far darker than all previous seasons combined.

Reacher
- Release Date
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February 3, 2022