All throughout Reacher Season 2, the storyline – a faithful adaptation of the Lee Child book Bad Luck and Trouble – has been building to a confrontation between Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson), the members of the 110th, and Langston (Robert Patrick), the criminal mastermind partially responsible for pulling all the strings. And in the pulse-pounding final moments of Reacher Season 2, episode 7 – which you can see with an Amazon Prime Video subscription – our hero finally came face-to-face with his adversary as the beating drums of Soul Coughing’s “Super Bon Bon” rang out. (The episode is titled “The Man Goes Through,” inspired by the song’s catchy lyrics.) Reacher and Langston assuredly will duke it out in the season finale. But speaking with Patrick about his work on the show, he reveals one thing he already regrets not doing in Reacher.
Amazon’s head of TV promised a bold season of Reacher, and so far, the show has delivered. Langston has been working a major scheme involving ground-to-air missiles, and members of Reacher’s elite military operation have been paying the ultimate price for the job. As Reacher got closer to the overall threat, he’s now face-to-face with Langston – and even agreed to enter the criminal’s warehouse unarmed (though he does have Maria Sten’s Frances Neagley keeping watch).
During an exclusive conversation with Patrick about Episode 7 and the pending finale, Robert Patrick told CinemaBlend:
I watched episode seven last night, and I've already got a critique of myself. With that showdown? It was like the stare down at the O.K. Corral, right? I should have smiled at the end. (laughs). But I think I was so fucking cold, I wasn't thinking about that. I was like, ‘Hurry up and get the shot so I can get inside!’ (laughs)
The stare down is exactly that. Reacher has asked Langston for proof of life on the villain’s two hostages: O’Donnell (Shaun Sipos) and Dixon (Serinda Swan). Langston wheels them out on hospital beds, so Reacher agrees to enter the location. The stage is set for a massive physical confrontation. From what Robert Patrick tells us, the physicality of the role and the season finale confrontation was a huge factor in the 65-year-old actor getting the part.
Patrick worked with Reacher showrunner Nick Santora on multiple projects ahead of this show, including a run on The Sopranos and the 2014 TV series Scorpion, for CBS. When Santora reached out to Patrick for possible inclusion in Reacher, he led off with an interesting question. As Patrick remembers:
Nick called me over Christmas last year – right before Christmas – and said, ‘Hey, buddy, can you still fight?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, man, I can still fight.’ He said, ‘Can you get thrown out of a helicopter?’ I think Nick was more concerned with my age than anything.
The collaboration on Reacher Season 2 so far has been a dream. Patrick speaks so highly of Santora, calling him “a no bullshit guy.” Says Patrick:
There's a part of Nick that's a bit of a performer. And certainly I think he could be a great actor, if he wanted to be. But his approach to writing is wonderful. And the way he has taken these Lee Child novels and adapted them and made them interesting and to watch – broadening the scope of some of the plots and introducing some new characters. He's got a very innovative touch.
Nick Santora plans to stay busy on the Reacher franchise. Long before Season 2 reached a conclusion, the show already revealed that filming on Reacher Season 3 was underway. We asked both Alan Ritchson and Maria Sten which book is being used for Reacher Season 3, but neither would reveal the source. And for the moment, it’s possible that Robert Patrick returns for Reacher Season 3, the way that Malcolm Goodwin returned to play Oscar Finlay from Season 1. But I have a feeling Langston isn’t getting out of the finale alive. For when I asked Patrick to tease the confrontation between him and Jack Reacher, he told me:
I know how, I've been teasing it to my friends. Here's your opportunity to see me get my ass kicked. Very thoroughly. Enjoy it.
Tune in for that when the Reacher Season 2 finale arrives on Friday, January 19.
