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■ Reacher
Jack Reacher is a fictional drifter and former U.S. Army Major in the military police. Created by author Lee Child, he travels across the United States with no fixed home, using his elite combat skills and sharp mind to solve dangerous mysteries.

Neagley

As soon as Reacher Season 4 ended on September 16, Amazon Prime treated us to the Reacher spin-off Neagley, in its entirety. Watching Neagley was such a better experience, instead of waiting week after week for Reacher to close out the storyline… which I’ll have to admit, they got me with that hot underwear Asian model turning out to be something completely different. Also, Reacher’s series was the most bloodiest and brutal so far (we’re talking ears ripping through jail bars and decapitation via elevator – something you might see in Final Destination!!!)

As for Neagley, the show runner followed the Reacher formula to a T. Everything, from the cold open to the giant letters and ominous thunder intro to pacing… you’re watching Reacher – only starring Maria Sten as Frances Neagley. While I like this, at the same time, I fear it might not have an identity of its own.

I think the main difference is that Hobocop Reacher takes place at a different city in every season… while Neagley seemed based only Chicago. She has a base of operation, which means, perhaps all the supporting cast will be the same actors. That’s the impression I got when we see that Neagley teams up with a local detective (who is trying to break out of his mob crime family), a British Asian posh girl trying to become a detective, and a street/foster kid that Neagley has taken under her wings.

I like all the characters, I do hope they come back for Season 2… and I hope the rest of the creative team comes along as well, as I think they produced a really good first impression.

The nice thing is that Reacher does make a cameo on the pilot, and also on the finale. That’s a nice bookend, but I’m not sure if I would want to see Reacher in future seasons… Neagley really need to stand on her own, in my opinion. To be honest, if they had cut Reacher’s appearances, it really wouldn’t affected the story – it was just nice to see a familiar face.

The main story is Neagley’s childhood friend was killed by a subway train, as someone pumped him with psychedelic drugs. Now Neagley is investigating and trying to find out who killed her friend and finding about herself and the reasons why she won’t let anyone touch her. I honestly don’t remember that no-touching trait from previous Reacher appearances. Maybe they mentioned it, but I wasn’t paying attention.

I didn’t really care about Neagley’s backstory with her dying father. I thought she was kind of rough on her old man, given that he’s on his deathbed. I think that’s the only part of the series that I didn’t care for. Call me heartless… I just wanted her to get back on track and find out who killed her friend.

The investigation leads her to this hippy-dippy farm. They take in homeless and runaways in their farm. It does seem silly that the farm probably kills people regularly – except no one ever looked into this cult? It’s weird that all the years, that they got away with these murders. I guess you just have to roll with it.

As you would guess it, they send the foster kid into the camp to dig around. There were some hairy moments with his story (when they threw him in the fire pit had me on my toes). Some general really scary moments on that crazy farm.

That last episode was all-action and gun fight. They all split up and it was great how it all came together.

So unlike Reacher, Neagley’s story is not based on any books or storyline. Only the character is based on author Lee Child’s character in Reacher, but the whole storyline and I am assuming all the supporting characters are original and new. Still, despite an original story, it certainly feels like Reacher – only with a female lead.

Nocturne

I think Apple TV+ has a hit on its hand with Nocturne. Of all the Apple TV shows I’m following, this one is really good. It’s based on the novel The Sandman by Lars Kepler (the pseudonym for the Swedish husband and wife writing team). The Sandman is part of a series of novels starring a detective named Joona Linna (renamed Jonah Lynn for the American audience) and all of his cases.

I am not sure if Apple TV will be adapting the other novels, but based on my interest in the new television show, I do hope they adapt all the novels for the screen.

So far, there’s only been three episodes, but each episode is really gripping. It’s about an imprisoned serial killer, who seems to still be pulling the strings when one of his victims turned up years later – alive. This starts the clock on the police trying to find his sister, who was also kidnapped at the same time.

Detective Jonah Lynn is played by Liev Schreiber. He is on a small team, consisting of an FBI agent and his goddaughter Saga (played by Zazie Beetz – fresh from her lead in They Will Kill You). I’m not a fan of Zazie, she’s just too distracting. Like she doesn’t seem to belong to this Nocturne world. Just in the first episode, you find out that Saga is an undercover FBI agent. You see her later, and the way she dresses is just so unprofessional … unlike the FBI lead woman, who is always in a suit and properly dressed. I know the director probably asks for the two FBI agents to stand in contrast, but I just didn’t like Zazie’s character.

Right now, it is obvious that the serial killer in prison has an accomplice, known as “The Sandman”. He just kidnapped a family, and it’s only through clues from the serial killer in prison that they can solve the case. Yeah, that does have that Hannibal Lecter vibe to it. So if you’re into Silence of the Lambs, check out Nocturne.