Reacher – Season 1 Episode 6 “Papier” Recap & Review

Papier

Episode 6 of Reacher Season 1 starts with Reacher examining the pictures Finlay has managed to obtain of Kliner Sr’s injuries. It would appear that the wounds were inflicted by hitmen from Venezuela. Reacher theorizes that the big boss isn’t happy with Kliner’s work and killed him.

Meanwhile, Teale runs traffic at the station. He’s going to prepare a statement for the public but when Finlay shows up, KJ does too, and immediately starts swinging punches. He’s obviously not happy and believes Finlay killed his dad. So Teale has Finlay lay low and not investigate further while he deals with KJ. Hm, that’s not suspicious at all…

Roscoe heads up to see Charlie and the girls. She’s a mess; erratic and clearly paranoid. Picard promises to be in touch in a few days and leaves.

Meanwhile, Finlay goes on a stake-out with Reacher, who manages to bag himself a van to keep himself discrete. Together, they watch Kliner’s warehouse while we learn more about Finlay’s history. It turns out his wife is actually deceased. He’s not divorced or has marital issues.

He originally left Boston because the painful memories of his wife were just too much to bear. His “reminder of how he failed her”, is how he puts it. It’s a really beautiful chat and one that allows us to learn more about this cop and what drives him.

However, movement at the warehouse sees Kliner’s nephew preparing for another delivery. Less than 24 hours after Kliner Sr.’s death? Yep, this rings alarm bells for them too and they head off to tail him.

The driver arrives at a motel for some shut-eye, allowing Finlay and Reacher to break into the truck and figure out what he’s hiding. Only…the truck is empty. It seems like he’s not shipping money out.

Reacher turns his attention back to his brother’s note and phones a contact called William Bryant, Unfortunately, he’s been killed that very morning. That leaves them with another contact to deal with – Professor Castillo. It seems the hitmen haven’t got to her yet, so Reacher hurries over to make sure that doesn’t happen.

Meanwhile, the safehouse is compromised. Roscoe encourages Charlie to grab the kids and leave while she tries to get the jump on the men watching from the black car in the distance. Thankfully Roscoe manages to stop the two men, courtesy of a grenade and some tense, nail-biting diversion tactics in the woods.

Eventually Roscoe joins Charlie and the girls as they head out in the morning, hiking through the woods until they make it to a diner.

Once there, Charlie confirms that Paul was in deep and she knew about this. Kliner encouraged Paul to go to Venezuela with him and meet one of his big clients.

Kliner encourages Paul, telling him he would only need to work a limited amount of time and impressing the boss with the amount of funds transferred in a few hours. So Kliner offered him a lucrative salary four-times his current wage and with a good deal of bonuses too. The thing is, all of this is a trap.

Kliner getting Paul to transfer those funds was actually money laundering to the highest degree, and with Kliner now in possession of Paul’s details and paper evidence of this transaction, he’s forced into this line of work whether he likes it or not. Just to prove how serious they are, he’s forced to watch another man crucified and castrated in front of him.

Dressed in a suit, Reacher plays the role of Castillo’s lawyer. He manages to get a meeting with her at the station, where she admits that she and Joe were collaborating together. Alongside Bryant, they were helping the agent with Mass Undetectable Counterfeiting on a global level. Joe noticed that super-bills were being made in Georgia. A cold shiver runs down Reacher’s back. He’s had it all backwards.

It turns out the money is actually being made in the US and then shipped out to Venezuela. Realizing this is a big deal, he speaks to the Desk Sergeant outside, Diaz, and implores him to help keep her safe. He wants Castillo looked after and urges him to make sure she stays protected but off the records. He agrees.

Realizing he’s being followed, Reacher thwarts the assailant and beats him with his own tie outside in the back alleys. Choking him out off the bannister, Reacher is left to fight another day, despite sporting blood across his new suit.

The Episode Review

So it seems like the operation is far more vast than we first thought. Venezuela looks to be a big part of this whole operation and it would appear that the big bosses there are not happy with Kliner and his operation. This would explain why everything has been going so awry and why so many people are spooked. But how is Teale involved in this?

We’ll have to wait and see of course but for now Reacher has been an enthralling action thriller. The set pieces have been well shot and the drama and mystery have unfolded nicely across the season. The final two episodes look set to wrap things up in a suitably dramatic fashion so we’ll have to wait and see what’s in store for our characters next!