The renewal of the series puts the ending of the show into a new context. Though at first view the ending of the current season seems to bring things to a fairly complete end, it does leave a few hints as to the direction of things going forward.
After watching the ending, viewers are sure to have a number of questions. Are Roscoe (played by Willa Fitzgerald) and Finlay (Malcolm Goodwin) coming back? Which Child book will be adapted next? And why has the show introduced Neagley (Maria Sten) much earlier than in the novels?
The ending of Reacher does not answer all these questions, but it does offer some hints about where things may be going on the show.
What Happens at the End of Reacher?
SPOILER ALERT: This article gives away details of the Reacher finale, but does not reveal who the killer is.
In the final episode, we learn that Joe Reacher was killed to allow the counterfeiting operation he was trying to stop to continue. In this crime, the chief of police, the mayor and Kliner Jr. (Chris Webster) were all implicated, with the latter actually firing the fatal shots.
The Kliner foundation’s counterfeiting operation worked by wiping the ink off $1 notes and reprinting them as $100s. When Joe tried to stop their access to the original banknotes, those who were profiting from the scheme had him killed.
This also explained a few loose ends from throughout the series. The pollution in nearby Chester? The result of chemical runoff from the process of erasing the bills. The animal feed that Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson) was so obsessed with? A way of soaking up these chemicals.
By the end of the season, Reacher has killed the major players in the scheme and burned the counterfeiting warehouse to the ground.
What the Ending Means for Season 2
With the mystery of Joe’s murder and the counterfeiting solved, Margrave’s problems seem to be over, meaning that the ever-wandering Jack Reacher is likely to be in a new town for Season 2.
The first season was based on Killing Floor, the first Reacher book to come out. If it follows the release order of the books, Season 2 will be based on Child’s second novel, Die Trying. In that book, the action is set in a Chicago suburb, where Jack Reacher is taken hostage with a woman at a dry cleaning store and has to find a way to escape.
After all, other shows based on serialized books have tended to keep on characters after they are no longer in the books because audiences tend to like some continuity in the cast of a TV show from one season to the next. A recent example is NBC’s Big Sky, which kept a number of key characters on for Season 2 despite them not appearing in the books.
Reacher has already showed a willingness to play around with when characters are introduced into the world. Neagly, for example, is not introduced until book six (Without Fail), but played a major part in Reacher Season 1. And if she has already appeared outside of her book chronology, there is no reason why she will not be in Season 2.
Will Roscoe and Finlay Return?
The answer to this seems less certain. Both characters’ arcs are neatly tied up by the end of the first season. With Roscoe running for mayor, she might be too busy in Margrave to help her new friend. Finlay, meanwhile, leaves to move back to Boston.
The show does hint that Roscoe could be back in the scene where she gives Reacher her phone number. However, this also happens in the book and comes to nothing. Then again, Ritchson and Fitzgerald do have chemistry, so you could see why the show may want to repeat that in Season 2.
It also is possible that Finlay will return. At least two Reacher books (Persuader and Past Tense) have connections to Boston, meaning that we could see Reacher drop in on his friends in the coming seasons – and vice versa.
