Summary
Reacher ends its freshman season with an episode filled with spectacular action and character redemption.
This recap of Amazon’s Reacher season 1, episode 8, “Pie,” — the ending and finale explained — contains spoilers.
Reacher season 1, episode 8 recap – the ending and finale explained
Let’s cut to the chase. KJ tells Reacher and Finley that he killed his father, not the Venezuelans. He hired Picard’s partner, the Viking, to kill the EPA agent by that river in Arkansas. He killed Joplin. Also, even Joe’s beloved Mary Beth. And most importantly, KJ killed Reacher’s brother Joe.
They also have Roscoe, Charlie, and the two Hubble girls unless they get Paul Hubble and bring him back. Reacher calls their bluff. He knows they will kill them because they all know too much. That’s right, they confirm. But they will let Charlie and the girls go if they find Paul. Torturing him in front of the family will keep them quiet and women turning up dead in Margrave is terrible for business.
Yes, Paul is alive. They need Reacher to track him down because he used to catch AWOLs for the military.
Picard (Martin Roach) has fun on Reacher as they drive off to find Paul on the road again. Reacher acts and appears to be vulnerable as a psychological ploy to get inside Picard’s head. Reacher manages to get him to pull over so he can grab a slice of that fine peach pie he keeps missing out on. He strategizes in front of Picard that while logically, Paul may stay in Atlanta to hide among the masses or Athens, near where he and Charlie met in college, he probably is staying in Augusta. He has been there before for business, far enough to hide in a quiet town but close enough to feel connected to his wife and kids.
So, as soon as the peach pie comes and the piping cup of hot black coffee, Reacher spills the brew intentionally and hides the fork in his sleeve. Reacher bends over slightly and stabs the driver’s side passenger wheel with the fork as they walk towards the Bentley. As they drive off, a few moments later, you see utensils fall to the ground and hear air start to leak from the tire. A few miles down the road, they have to change the tire. When Reacher opens the trunk, with Picard standing beside the right of the trunk, the giant reaches for the stash of guns he took off the Kliner kill squad.
Both Richard and Picard get shots off and hide behind each side of the car. No one is hit. Yet. So, Reacher and Picard negotiate a truce. They need each other. Reacher to find Hubble, and Picard to call KJ. They both agree to put the guns on the trunk. Reacher first, though. So, Reacher, his back to the left side of the truck. Holding the gun upside down, metal now touching the trunk, and his finger still on the trigger. As Reacher hears Picard stand and place his gun on the trunk, he summons his inner William Munny and pulls the trigger.
The last time we saw Picard, he was rolling down a hill like a Gloucester wheel of cheese contest.
When Reacher finds Hubble, he finds him under Harrison in a seedy cheap motel near the Augusta bus station. In a brilliant series of logical conclusions, Reacher deduced where the man would be (motel was affordable, close to the bus station, and Hubble loves the Beatles).
Have you ever watched a commercial for the Kool-Aid man? Well, Reacher pulls one by driving right through the front door of the police station. He uses the Kliner kill squad truck and pins Baker against the jail cell bars with Finlay safely on the other side. Finlay walks out of the cell, turns to Baker, and puts his face so close that he practically sucks in his last breaths.
Later, Hubble shows up. So does Neagley. And now they get to work. They raid the gun locker and empty a couple of five-gallon water jugs. And then, we get a glimpse of what Reacher and Neagley can do together. As they set up outside the Kliner money-laundering center, Neagley takes out two bad guys securing the perimeter with long-range kill shots, Chris Kyle style. Reacher guts him like the pig he is when a third comes down the stairs.
They then head to flavor country, as Finlay puts it. As Reacher starts to pour that five-gallon water jug full of gasoline under the docking station door, Finley takes one last sweet drag of a cigarette. You might as well because if they die, you need to smoke them while you got them. They all step back, Finley flicks the cig against the door, and it falls into the pool of gasoline below. The fire rushes onto the floor towards the stacks of Kliner faux hundred dollar bills.
By the time they raid the warehouse, all hell has broken loose. Reacher and Finlay start to take out bad guys one by one, while Neagley is the guardian angel, picking off bad guys they wouldn’t have been able to spot in time. Paul goes to grab his kids, but he stupidly keeps yelling for Charlie drawing attention to himself. Yet, somehow he manages to untie them, shoot a bad guy in the forehead, and sneak them out the way he came in. Reacher then unlocks Charlie and Roscoe from the ventilation pipes they’ve been tied to for days.
However, now everyone has a partner. Roscoe sends Charlie outside to her family and is then tackled by Mayor Teale. Somehow Picard is in the fray, locates Finlay, and they trade shots back and forth. Even Neagley has to abandon her sniper rifle and kick the crap out of a bad guy, then send him on his merry way. Finlay then attacks the wound Reacher left in Picard by sticking two thumbs in it and kicking him under a printing press stamp, minting his death. And finally, Roscoe shoots Mayor Teale right through the left eye as he draws his weapon.
That leaves just who? That’s right, Reacher vs. KJ. Well, after the spoiled brat goes on and on with a speech that makes me think this whole thing, the killing and taking over his father’s position, was all about Roscoe, he finally meets his fate. Reacher dunks KR in the vat of chemicals, pulls him out, then kicks him into a pile of burning money. He lights up instantly like a chimney fire. He walks out of the warehouse, Roscoe plants a kiss on his lips, he kisses her back, and the others look on as burning money falls everywhere around them.
It’s over.
Reacher meets Joe in France to see their mother. She is dying and refuses to get specialized medical care in the states. Joe says his goodbyes, and Reacher sits at his mother’s bedside. She hands him his grandfather’s service medal. When he meets Joe outside, and just after they sit in the back of a taxi, Joe tells him he can cry now. Reacher’s eyes begin to water up.
The ending
Roscoe and Reacher share a moment at the pavilion. He is the wandering type, and she is like a moth sticking near a flame. She writes her number down on a Clark bar wrapper for him, and they kiss one last time. Reacher then meets Finley at that diner. He sees that dog in the back of his car. He bought the dog a tweed collar and named him Jack. Finlay orders Reacher a piece of the peach pie he never got to taste and tells him he should let people in. Reacher ends the conversation by telling him that he has had better slices of peach pie.
The last scene in Reacher season 1, episode 8 shows Reacher burying his mother’s service medal in the ground near the underpass. He says, “It takes bravery to solve the world’s problems too, Joe.” He then walks down the road, on his way to solve the next small town’s problems.
Side Note
In the scene where Reacher walks into the diner to meet Finlay for that slice, a patron gets up to leave and almost runs into Reacher. He says, “Excuse me,” in an English accent. That actor making a cameo goes by the name Lee Child. He is the author of the Jack Reacher series.
What did you think of Amazon’s Reacher season 1, episode 8 (finale), and the ending? Let us know in the comments below!
