Plan B Forum

I don't know if there are still any Reacher fans left on this board. It looks like the board is dying; I kind of hate to see that. But it's up to the members; if it dies, it's their fault.

Anyway, back to Reacher. Of all the Jack Reacher novels, in my opinion, the best is Bad Luck and Trouble. Reacher is retired from the military and living as a wanderer when he receives a coded message through his bank account from his former sergeant. He calls her and finds out that members of their old Special Investigations Unit are missing. This brings them back together; they track down the remaining survivors to investigate the disappearances of their comrades.

It's a great story for numerous reasons; emotional impact, loyalty, integrity, and a deep sense of belonging to each other.

So what's my problem? The TV adaptation, Reacher series two, screws it all to hell. Hollywood just can't leave things alone. Instead of using the book and adapting it faithfully to the screen, they moved the entire story from the West Coast to the East Coast; added stuff; took stuff away. They basically killed a great story.

So much so that I'm now not looking forward to the third project. Why do people let their egos get in the way of producing something good?

I've never read the books, but have really enjoyed the TV series. Did not watch the Tom Cruise movie(s?) so this is the only Reacher I know and I really liked it a lot, the guy playing Reacher is the bomb!

BoSoxGal wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 11, 2025 8:11 pm

I've never read the books, but have really enjoyed the TV series. Did not watch the Tom Cruise movie(s?) so this is the only Reacher I know and I really liked it a lot, the guy playing Reacher is the bomb!

I didn’t watch the entire Series 2, but I’m curious to know if it ended the same way in the show as it did in the book. One of the most significant scenes for me was when Reacher hid in the helicopter to rescue David O'Donnell and Carla Dixon. He ended up throwing both the guards, and the corrupt manager. out of the open helicopter door. Was that scene included in the TV series?

liberty wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 12, 2025 1:43 am

BoSoxGal wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 11, 2025 8:11 pm

I've never read the books, but have really enjoyed the TV series. Did not watch the Tom Cruise movie(s?) so this is the only Reacher I know and I really liked it a lot, the guy playing Reacher is the bomb!

I didn’t watch the entire Series 2, but I’m curious to know if it ended the same way in the show as it did in the book. One of the most significant scenes for me was when Reacher hid in the helicopter to rescue David O'Donnell and Carla Dixon. He ended up throwing both the guards, and the corrupt manager. out of the open helicopter door. Was that scene included in the TV series?

I don't have that level of recollection of detail for all the series I binge on TV - a few are really, really memorable but most are enjoyable in the moment and then my brain moves on to new input. I recall that I liked season 2, but not as well as season 1. You'll have to watch it yourself to know, sorry.

Only series 1 is on FreeVee - boo hiss. I enjoyed the books (still waiting on a couple from the library on my phone). Tom Cruise - thumbs down. Why cast a midget as a guy who is 6' 5"? Alan Ladd as Andre the Giant. Sorry - side issue.

While Reacher (as written) tended to being unfiltered in some of his thoughts and words, I was less fond of the "ain't he rude" interpretation in the visual series. Book-Reacher could be abrupt but he was rarely dismissive/offensive to ordinary folks.

The actor looked right, often sounded right. But (for me) he too often was more like Ralph breaking the internet than the written Reacher who broke boundaries and applied a breadth of knowledge and understanding that contrasted with his size. This actor seemed to vary between flat aspect and just plain dumb-as-an-ox facially but OTOH got the direct physical response to events about right. Somehow he made methodical thinking building to action look more like simply being fed-up and bashing the nearest object/person.

I'd like to watch series 2 but I ain't gonna pay for it. And this is IMO - I could be wrong now . . .

MajGenl.Meade wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 12, 2025 12:04 pm

Only series 1 is on FreeVee - boo hiss. I enjoyed the books (still waiting on a couple from the library on my phone). Tom Cruise - thumbs down. Why cast a midget as a guy who is 6' 5"? Alan Ladd as Andre the Giant. Sorry - side issue.

While Reacher (as written) tended to being unfiltered in some of his thoughts and words, I was less fond of the "ain't he rude" interpretation in the visual series. Book-Reacher could be abrupt but he was rarely dismissive/offensive to ordinary folks.

The actor looked right, often sounded right. But (for me) he too often was more like Ralph breaking the internet than the written Reacher who broke boundaries and applied a breadth of knowledge and understanding that contrasted with his size. This actor seemed to vary between flat aspect and just plain dumb-as-an-ox facially but OTOH got the direct physical response to events about right. Somehow he made methodical thinking building to action look more like simply being fed-up and bashing the nearest object/person.

I'd like to watch series 2 but I ain't gonna pay for it. And this is IMO - I could be wrong now . . .

The biggest difference I’ve noticed between the books and the TV series so far is that in both, Jack Reacher is portrayed as big and burly, but in the books, he comes across as much more cerebral than he does on screen. He’s actually quite intelligent, analytical, and very intuitive, as well as being well-trained. You don’t get that feeling from the show. Of course, the books are narrated, so we’re able to perceive his thoughts, and he’s constantly thinking. That inner monologue is missing on screen.

Another issue I have with the books is that since Jim Grant’s brother, Andrew Grant, began co-writing them, it seems Reacher has stopped aging. I think that will eventually destroy the magic of the story. What Lee Child managed to do was make Jack Reacher a living person with a history and a family and as a living person, he naturally ages. It’s not necessary to freeze his age. There are many narrative devices that could be used to work around that, and there’s nothing wrong with an older Jack Reacher.

Of course, the books are narrated, so we’re able to perceive his thoughts, and he’s constantly thinking. That inner monologue is missing on screen.

That's a good observation, lib. It does explain my gripe:

Somehow he (the ape-man actor) made methodical thinking building to action look more like simply being fed-up and bashing the nearest object/person

I have read all the Reacher books. I was most disappointed with the one with the climactic battle scene in Lees Summit, Missouri. I know the area and I just could not imagine any place that could be isolated the way the book described, But there is one thing I have noticed. -- He never washes his clothes, he just buys new and throws the old away OK. But he never throws away his toothbrush and buys a new one. Yet he always is described as having a toothbrush in his shirt pocket.

Snailgate.

AI AI oh
Yes, Jack Reacher does buy toothbrushes, as he travels with little more than the clothes on his back, a bank card, a passport, and a folding toothbrush.

The toothbrush is one of Reacher's few possessions, and he makes a point of unpacking it and placing it in the bathroom to feel settled when he gets a new room. He replaces it when it's lost, broken, or when he needs a new one for various reasons, such as when he meets a woman and wants to brush his teeth particularly well. In fact, in Bad Luck and Trouble, the 11th book in the series, thugs breaking into his hotel room find and break his toothbrush, which makes Reacher particularly angry as it's the only thing he carried besides his passports. This also highlights the symbolic importance of the toothbrush to Reacher's minimalist lifestyle.

Reacher is also known to shower frequently, sometimes twice a day. He washes his clothes by hand in the motel sink and presses them under the mattress. However, his hygiene habits are subject to some debate among fans, as some find it unrealistic that he doesn't use deodorant or toothpaste and travels with his toothbrush without a case, according to Reddit comments.

MajGenl.Meade wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 14, 2025 12:06 pm

and presses them under the mattress. However, his hygiene habits are subject to some debate among fans, as some find it unrealistic that he doesn't use deodorant or toothpaste and travels with his toothbrush without a case, according to Reddit comments.

Having worked in hotels/motels in my misspent youth, that pressing the clothes under the mattress thing just doesn't fly. It's gross to begin with, but even Motel 6 provides an iron and ironing board in the room.

He could definitely skip deodorant - billions of people on the planet do as most are not obsessed about masking natural body odors as Americans are.

I've saved oodles on toothpaste in the last decade+ after one of my dentists advised me that only the tiniest bit is necessary to effectively clean teeth. In fact, he advised me that toothpaste is really unnecessary entirely in most cases of a healthy mouth - just brushing a couple of times a day to remove crap that might build up otherwise into plaque is all the mouth requires.

Also, folks might not realize this but using mouthwash is now understood to be an unhealthy practice. Your teeth don't need it, and it destroys all the good bugs in your mouth which are critical components of the body's microbiome and also the first little soldiers in the process of properly digesting and absorbing nutrients from the food we eat.

Something I wished for, but never happened, was that Reacher never reconnected with old acquaintances. In Echo Burning, Reacher is posing as a cowboy on the Greer Ranch so he can protect Carmen, who picked him up and gave him a ride. He’s pretending to be a cowboy, but knows nothing about it. He’s tasked with saddling a horse for the owner and riding it up to the porch; he goes to the stable and realizes he knows nothing about how to saddle a horse.

Ellie Greer giggles at him from the attic hayloft. He asks if she knows how to do it, and she says, “Sure.” She climbs down and gives him basic instructions. Here’s big, hulking Reacher, taking orders from a little six-year-old; I thought that was a sweet moment. And of course, he very quickly becomes fond of her.

I always wished they’d reconnect years later, when she’s a teenager; but Jim Grant doesn’t write that kind of continuity for Lee Child’s Reacher. What I didn’t like is he had to choose Greer as a family name; however, it could have been Bradshaw, so it could have been worse. Why is it that Southerners always have to be the bad guys in American literature?

Why is it that Southerners always have to be the bad guys in American literature?

I don't know, Rhett Butler was a charming scoundrel and a pretty good (if pragmatic) guy. And Atticus Finch is probably one of the best good guys in more modern literature (and even in the more recent followup, he was still a pretty good guy, even if he did have some objectionable ideas). I don't read a lot of novels that have southern (or northern for that matter) characters, but i am sure there are some southern characters on the good side of things in this "literature".