Year Released: 2022
Developed by: Nick Santora
Starring: Alan Ritchson, Malcolm Goodwin, Willa Fitzgerald
(TV-Mature Audience, 8 episodes approx. 50 min. each)
Genre: Action, Thriller, Crime, Mystery and Suspense

“I am a man of few words, but many riddles.” –Frank Gorshin (Fits Reacher, too)

Jack Reacher fans will love this original mini series based on Lee Child’s The Killing Floor. Reacher is a more sedate Rambo with the impeccable logic of Sherlock Holmes.

When retired Military Police Officer Jack Reacher is arrested for a murder he did not commit, he finds himself in the middle of a deadly conspiracy full of dirty cops, shady businessmen and scheming politicians. With nothing but his wits, he must figure out what is happening in Margrave, Georgia. The first season of Reacher is based on the international bestseller, Killing Floor by Lee Child.

And Reacher is exactly as Lee Child describes him in his books, 6’5” of muscular masculinity. Alan Ritchson, best know for his role as Aquaman in the Smallville series, and as Hank Hawk in Titans, is exactly that height. The 5’7” Cruise despite his wonderful work as an actor / stuntman,

did not fit that description, which is a big part of Reacher’s persona.

Yes, we have to admit that…

Tom Cruise has scaled the world’s tallest building, held his breathe underwater for six-and-a-half minutes, climbed a mountain, hung off the side of a plane, and piloted a helicopter during an aerial chase sequence. –Josh Kurp

Not to mention riding his motorcycle off a cliff in the soon to be released Mission Impossible 7, which came out in July 2023.

But Amazon’s original Reacher belongs to Alan Ritchson. And the author of all 26 books in the series agrees:

There was criticism from the book fans, because they had built up a very clear image of what Reacher should look like... I think that the size thing is important to certain parts of the narrative. Reacher has got to scare people and you can do that so much easier with one glance of this huge animal rather than a normal-sized actor. –Lee Child

Ritchson, already a hulk of a man, went through 8 months of disciplined training to attain the specimen that author Lee Child describes as “a six-pack like a cobbled city street, a chest like a suit of NFL armor, biceps like basketballs, and subcutaneous fat like a Kleenex tissue.”

Ritchson was in Toronto pre filming and couldn’t go to a gym there because of the pandemic restrictions, so he converted his dining room into a full sized gym and ate “a conveyer belt of food” to gain 30 pounds of muscle mass for the part.

***

But Jack Reacher’s bulk extends to his brain as well, as we see early on during his first interactions with Oscar Finlay (Malcolm Goodwin), the chief detective of the Margrave, Georgia, Police Department.

Without missing a beat Reacher informs the tweed-suited detective that he is from Boston, Harvard educated, recently divorced, and has quit smoking in the past six months. Almost all conclusions are accurate, and as Reacher explains his inferences (really due to induction rather than deduction), they seem quite apparent to us, just as Holmes’ did to Watson after he explained them. Watson and the rest of us “see but do not observe.” Reacher and Holmes do the latter.

The plot is about as convoluted as Reacher himself is straight, but the South American assassins, the cadre of corrupt law enforcement officers, crooked prison guards, efficient assassins, and assorted spoiled rich kids provide sufficient fodder for Reacher to show off his “Krav Maga-inspired fighting” skills.

There is also enough time for a little romance with Roscoe Conklin (Willa Fitsgerald), the police officer assigned to shadow him and then to keep him out of trouble, though it turns out, not out of her heart, Different Drummer rejecting a more graphic expression that came to mind at first, one that audience members may intuit. However, encountering Reacher as he is arrested, Roscoe is at first flummoxed when she finds no trace of him.

But there's no Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram. No driver's license, mortgage, insurance claims. No online profile at all. The only proof Jack Reacher exists is the fact that he's sitting in that room.

Of course, now we love him even more. He is the prototypic “Drifter with a heart of gold,” as Joshua Alston labels him, comparing Reacher to Kwai Chang Caine, the Sholin monk in Kung Fu.

Different Drummer sees Reacher as an extension of the American Monomyth that started way before Joshua Alston seems to remember: That mysterious stranger who comes to town out of nowhere to right a wrong and then vanishes into obscurity. My favorite is The Lone Ranger of my Youth.

“Who was that masked man? We didn’t even get his name.”

But we must also add Clint Eastwood in his multiple roles as the man with no name, Roger Kimble from The Fugitive television series, and Katniss Everdeen of The Hunger Games, to name a few.

Where Jack Reacher cinches it for Different Drummer, however, is when he bristles at being called a vagrant. He is a hobo, he insists. Thank goodness he doesn’t claim the victim card and call himself homeless.

Illinois Poet Laureate Carl Sandburg toured the country as a hobo during the Depression, riding the rails. According to him, “… a hobo rides the rails and works, a tramp rides the rails but doesn’t work. A bum doesn’t ride the rails or work. He does nothing. He is just a bum.” Certainly politically incorrect by today’s standards, but enlightening, nonetheless. (I wonder if Lee Child read Sandburg.)

***

Nowadays not too many new series catch Different Drummer’s eye, but this one did. Not just for discriminating viewers, who might even find the action a bit too violent and lacking nuance, but for all those who love a good tale of adventure when the good guys kick A. We can all use a little red meat right about now, right?

Update on season 2 of Alan Ritchson’s Reacher series disappoints in the same way Chris Hemsworth’s Extraction 2 does. Mostly action, action, action with little character development. I did not even deem the second Ritchson series worthy of a review.

–Kathy Borich
🥁🥁🥁🥁

Trailer

Film-Loving Foodie

Poor Jack. He always seems to get arrested (wrongly, of course) before he can finish his diner food. This time it is a delicious piece of Georgia Peach Pie.

Never mind that the actual series was filmed in Ontario, Canada, but the place feels like Georgia. The Lakeview Restaurant in Toronto was used for the diner scenes,

while The Piano Inn and Café in Perry, Ontario, was transformed into JJ’s Ale House for the film.

But our recipe has no Maple Leaf connections whatsoever. It is from that great peach state in the good old U. S. of A, Georgia itself.

Enjoy each flakey, delicious bit, especially the Bourbon Whipped cream.

Yum.

Georgia Peach Pie

Ingredients

Crust

· 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

· 2 teaspoons sugar

· 3/4 teaspoon salt

· 1 stick (4 ounces) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

· 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon (4 ounces) cold solid vegetable shortening

· 1/2 cup ice water

Filling

· 8 large, ripe but firm peaches (3 1/2 pounds)

· 3/4 cup sugar

· 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

· 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

· 1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, thinly sliced

· Egg wash made with 1 egg yolk mixed with 2 tablespoons water

· Bourbon Whipped Cream, for serving

Directions

· Step 1

In a food processor, pulse the flour with the sugar and salt until combined. Add the butter and shortening and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and sprinkle the ice water on top. Stir with a fork until a crumbly dough forms. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and knead 2 or 3 times, just until the dough comes together. Cut the dough in half and form into 2 disks; wrap in plastic and refrigerate until firm, at least 30 minutes or overnight.

· Step 2

On a lightly floured surface, roll out each disk of dough to a 12-inch round. Ease one of the rounds into a 9-inch glass pie plate and transfer the other round to a baking sheet. Refrigerate the dough.

· Step 3

Preheat the oven to 400°. Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil and fill a large bowl with ice water. Using a sharp knife, mark a shallow X in the bottom of each peach. Blanch the peaches in the boiling water for about 1 minute, until the skins begin to loosen. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the peaches to the ice water to cool. Drain and peel the peaches and cut them into 3/4-inch wedges. Transfer the peaches to a large bowl. Add the sugar, lemon juice and flour, toss well and let stand for 5 minutes.

· Step 4

Pour the peaches and their juices into the chilled pie shell and scatter the butter slices on top. Brush the edge of the pie shell with the egg wash and lay the round of dough from the baking sheet on top. Press the edges of the pie shell together to seal and trim the overhang to a 1/2 inch. Fold the edge of the pie dough under itself and crimp decoratively. Brush the remaining egg wash on the top crust and cut a few slits for venting steam.

· Step 5

Transfer the pie to the oven and place a baking sheet in the bottom to catch any drips. Bake for 30 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 375°, cover the edge of the pie with foil and bake for about 40 minutes longer, until the filling is bubbling and the crust is deeply golden on the top and bottom. Transfer the pie to a rack to cool completely. Serve with Bourbon Whipped Cream.

Make Ahead

The dough can be refrigerated for up to 2 days or frozen for up to 1 month. The peach pie can be stored overnight at room temperature.

Notes

As an alternative to the Bourbon Whipped Cream, serve the pie with vanilla ice cream.

Food and Wine.com