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With Reacher season 4 still streaming on Prime Video as of writing, fans are divided on whether its pivot to a political espionage plot has worked. But there is one detail that unites them: the show was better with Neagley (Maria Sten) in it.
After three seasons of dedicated service to Reacher (Alan Ritchson), Neagley is now a spinoff all her own. Taking on the lead role, she’s working as a private investigator in Chicago, learning that a beloved friend from her past has been killed in a suspicious accident.
Obviously, Neagley is hell-bent on justice, and “puts herself on a dangerous path to uncover a menacing evil,” according to Amazon. Who does that remind you of?
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We might have changed the surname in the title, but aside from Neagley’s return, very little differs. From the aesthetic look of each scene and the eight-episode storyline structure to how new supporting characters are introduced and utilized, everything is feeling exactly the same.
It’s also no secret that Reacher will make an appearance in Neagley, which, while incredibly enjoyable, blurs the lines between the two shows even further.
Sure, some elements of the new spinoff have been effective (more on that below), but when the opportunity arises to create an entirely original story that’s adjacent to an existing, beloved IP… could we not have been a little bit braver?
Neagley is still Reacher… just with a different focal point
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Even though I know that a review of Neagley is something that Reacher fans will be looking for, this is one of the rare times in my job where I don’t feel enthused to write… well, anything.
Why? As a reviewer, the most difficult movies or TV shows comment on are the ones that are forgettably fine. It’s easy to lift something brilliant up and fun to trash something that you’ve hated — but if a project has nothing to say for itself, you’re stuck.
This is where I think both Neagley and Reacher sit in the TV landscape. Both are designed to be intentionally dumb fun wrapped in the popular package of a crime drama, and therefore, they require very little of you as a viewer.
Credit where credit is due, though. Where Reacher season 4 has potentially tanked its own legacy by getting too entangled in its political tone shift, Neagley has kept things much more straightforward.
Its overarching storyline is much more akin to Reacher seasons 1-3, with a surprising connection to a little-known cult effectively tapping into our continued love affair with all things true crime. There’s a healthy mix of CGI and real-life action scenes, all of which are incredibly cool and draw you into Neagley’s ridiculously varied day-to-day.
However, our new supporting faces are sweet and ever-present, but they don’t hold the same sidekick weight as Neagley herself did as Reacher’s right-hand woman. In short, it’s swings and roundabouts on a fairly inconsequential level.
At the same time, this is Maria Sten’s love letter to fans
This brings me neatly to my main argument: it almost doesn’t matter what Neagley as a show has got right or wrong, because we’re only really showing up for Neagley herself.
For Maria Sten alone, Neagley is exactly the Reacher spinoff that fans have been waiting for. Search for anything Reacher related on social media and you’ll quickly find fans pining for Neagley to return to the main series, or for the pair to finally give into their (questionable) underlying romantic chemistry and make things official.
Not only is Sten as impeccable as she was in the main series, but she understands exactly what both fans and the story need from her character. The exploration of Neagley’s past and backstory is easily the most satisfying element of the new series, getting into the murky depths of why she is the way she is.
Through this lens, Neagley pulls no punches and leaves no stone unturned while reaching its hard to swallow conclusion. Even while she’s recounting hidden trauma in the most vulnerable way possible, Neagley herself remains everything we want from the TV presence we’ve sorely missed.
Frankly, I credit anything and everything positive about the Reacher spinoff to Sten herself, and if Neagley gets commissioned for future seasons (which I think is highly likely), she’ll be the one that makes them satisfying enough to keep watching.
If you’re simply tuning in because you’re upset that Reacher season 4 is ending on the same day, I’d probably advise that you rewatch seasons 1-3 instead. When it’s good, it’s golden, as they say… and we’re still yet to beat that run.
All eight episodes of Neagley will be available to stream on Prime Video on September 16.
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