Reacher Episode 4.1: Federal corruption, a gay-subtext sidekick, a lethal library, and The Girl. With Reach bulge and butt and a lot of Indonesian cocks

 

Reacher, on Amazon Prime, stars the hunky gay ally Alan Ritchson as a drifter with a tragic past who helps the helpless, sort of like the Lone Ranger, but with more angst. There aren't any identified gay characters -- Amazon is not known for its inclusivity -- but I've found gay subtexts in several episodes, so I'm reviewing Episode 4.1 (2026).  At least Reach Boy will take his shirt off.

Scene 1: Reacher is on a subway, eating a cheese steak (so you know he's in Philadelphia). He cruises a mousy-looking middle-aged man. Into ratboys, Reacher?  No, he's using his Sherlock Holmes skills to figure out the home country, job, and psychological profile of the other passengers.  For instance, that woman crying and muttering to herself, her hands inside a blue purse: a suicide bomber!

He approaches and tries to talk her down, but she keeps crying and tells him to leave.  The train jolts, and she pulls out a gun.  Reacher thought it was a bomb. 

"I can help.  I was a cop before I became a drifter."

 "No one can help me now." She shoots herself!  Why shoot yourself on a subway?  

Scene 2: Reacher is interviewed by two detectives. The Bad Cop claims that they're going to arrest him for murder, but he realizes that they're just stalling.  Good Cop: "The feds are coming down from DC to ask you some questions, if you wouldn't mind sticking around."

"Ok, if you bring me a cheese steak." 

Left: Reacher in his underwear-bulge modeling days.

Another problem; He saw four other passengers in the subway car, but they only found three.  What happened to Ratboy? 

While he's waiting, we meet the victim's brother Jacob, still in shock.

Scene 3: Three feds arrive. He surmises that they're the B-team, roused from their beds to interview the last person to speak to the dead woman.  They won't tell him their agency or their names, so he calls them Snap (Jason Diaz, top photo), Crackle (Michael Gaty, left), and Pop.  The mascots of Kellogg's Rice Krispies.  Is that still around?

Left: Michael Gaty is gay in real life, but his character doesn't say anything identifiable.

They accuse Reacher of treason, and asked if he received anything from the victim. Nope.  

"Are you sure you didn't receive something, and hide it, planning to come back later?"

Nope.  "What are you so concerned about/"

They won't say, so he leaves.

But he's not done.  Two more guys get out of their car, speaking Indonesian (Armando Alera, nude after the break, and Joe Labelle).  They ask  if she gave him anything. 

"No."

"Did you give the flash drive to the police?"  Didn't you hear what he just said?

They attack, so he clobbers them and walks away.

Scene 4: Jacob (Chris Marquette), the victim's brother, is in the coffee shop across the street. Reacher approaches him. 

"My adopted sister couldn't have killed herself, because she was a happy person.  She loved her job (Human Resources at an Army base), she loved her son (football star at Temple). Everything was perfect."  Hint: the important part is "adopted."

Reach asks if she had any enemies?  No -- the father of her son left when she got pregnant, then died in a car crash.  "I helped raise Ben."

You don't mention a wife and kids, Jake Baby.  For a 40-year old man, that's a clear queer code.

Son Ben doesn't know about his mother yet, since Jacob can't get ahold of him.  He's not answering his phone.  Well, it's only about 6:00 am.  He's probably still asleep.

Ben, played by Denis Wong (the one wearing clothes),  will appear in Episodes 2-4.  Looks like an ongoing story arc this season.

While they talk, the background song is "Morning, Noon, and Night," by Joe Turner:

Sit down baby, let's have a little drink
Love you, pretty baby, morning, noon, and night.

Come on, Reach, the guy just lost his sister.  This is not the right time to ask him out.

The Indonesians are back, so Reacher buys the flash drive of a coffee shop patron.  "You wait here and try to get in touch with your nephew.  I'll be back in 90 minutes.

Left: A random Indonesian guy.

Indonesia is one of the most diverse countries in the world, with over 60 ethnic groups. mostly Austronesian (Javanese, Sundanese).  98% are Muslim.  The Indonesian language is a lingua franca formed from a standardized Malay. 

English: Get on your knees

Malay: Berlutut

Indonesian: Berlutut-lah

English: I have a big penis

Malay: Saya mem-punyai zakar yang besar

Indonesian: Saya punya zakar yang besar

More after the break

Reacher, Episode 2.6: Is Reacher homophobic? With a Ritchson p enis, a Bertchtold butt, and my new favorite catchphrase

In Season 3 of Reacher, the iterant do-gooder (Alan Ritchson, below) mentors shy, troubled college student Richard Beck (Johnny Berchtold).  Richard has a lot of queer codes, such as lack of expressed heterosexual interest and a preference for lavender.  When he stands in Reacher's bedroom doorway after a crisis and asks "Are you ok?", I expected them to hug...or maybe kiss.

I wanted to know if he is canonically gay, so I did a Google search.

Nothing came up about Richard, but some Reddit discussion board posts complained that Reacher was homophobic because he roughed up a gay guy during Season 2.  

Reacher often expresses a disdain for actions, interests, and behaviors that fail to meet alpha-male hegemonic masculinity ("Help you with your flower arrangement?  Nope, nope, I'm teaching you to box"), so I could see him being homophobic.  Let's check out the scene.

It's Episode 2.6, "New York's Finest."

The Story So Far:  A member of Reacher's former military investigation team is murdered, and the whole team may be in danger, so the Man-Mountain and his buddies investigate, from Atlantic City to New York to Denver and back, as the players become more and more powerful.  There are corrupt politicians, corrupt cops, enemies that turn out to be friends, and friends who turn out to be enemies. 

When two hitmen target Reacher and his buds, they kill one and interrogate the other.  He was hired by Swan (Shannon Kook, left), assistant head of security at the defense company New Age (dumb name, innit?).  

They go to the New Age company to ask about Swan.  Director of Operations Marlo arranges a meeting at a warehouse, but when they arrive, it explodes!  She set them up! 

I don't know who plays the hitman, but it could be Kyle Mac, seen here tied up next to Craig Henderson on Hemlock Grove (2013)

In Episode 2.6, the team will look for Marlo, who has gone into hiding.

Opening Ad: Why you should join the army, har har.

Scene 1:  Reacher's team consists ofL

1. Francis Neaghley, his former partner (a woman)

2. The Hacker, a young woman.

3. David O'Donnell (Sean Sipos, below), below, a lawyer and heterosexual "family man."

They find Marlo and her teenage daughter on the security cam of a convenience store run by a sleazy, hetero-horny clerk.  Noting that the daughter is a gamer, the Hacker suggests tracking her down through her gamer tag.  First they have to wait until she begins playing. 

Scene 2: While they are waiting, Reacher has sex with team member Francis.

More after the break.

Johnny Berchtold: I have good news and bad news. The good news is his cock.

I researched Johnny Berchtold, who plays the gay-vague or maybe canonically gay college student Richard Beck on Season 3 of Reacher.   

I have good news and bad news.

The good news: He is hung.

 

The bad news: The d*ck pic is from the movie A Hard Problem (2021).  Johnny plays a guy who tries to reconnect with his sister and recruits The Girl to help him clean out his deceased mother's house. Heteronormativity all the way down.

The good news:  In addition to Reacher, Johnny has a gay-vague role in  The Passenger (2023). Violent loose-cannon Benson (Kyle Gallner) decides to "fix" beset-upon fast-food worker  Randy (Johnny), killing his bullies, helping him stand up to his overbearing mother, and so on.

The script was heteronormative, but queer director Carter Smith had the actors push up the homoeroticism until they are almost a gay couple.  (Spoiler: one dies at the end).

The bad news: I couldn't find any other gay or gay-vague roles.

In Tiny Pretty Things (2023), his character is married to Claire (Katherine Hahn of Agatha All Along).

In spite of the whimsical pun-title, Dog Gone (2023) is about a dying guy and his dog, who is also dying.  He's probably straight, but I'm not sure: the plot synopsis was so disturbing that I just skimmed through.

In Gaslight (2021), which is about Watergate, not Victorian England, Johnny plays Jay Jennings, the estranged son of Martha Mitchell (wife of Attorney General John Mitchell).  He's married to a woman.

In spite of the whimsical title,  Life as a Mermaid (2016-2018) is a live-action drama about two mermaid sisters living among humans.  Johnny plays the Barnacle King, sort of a nerdish character with disgusting barnacles attached to his face.  He has a male sidekick, but I couldn't stomach watching long enough to determine if he is gay or gay-vague.

Fun fact: Life as a Mermaid is also a documentary about transgender people in Borneo.

The good news: Johnny is way into horror.  His instagram is full of photos of him in bloody and monster makeup, and getting Chucky as a roommate.  

More after the break. Caution: Explicit.