Reacher – Season 2 Episode 2 “What Happens in Atlantic City” Recap & Review

What Happens in Atlantic City

Reacher Season 2 Episode 2 starts with Reacher, Neagley and O’Donnell leaving Swan’s house and pondering why the bad guys haven’t found them yet. Reacher and O’Donnell are hard to get hold of, and they figure they haven’t gotten around to Neagley yet. They figure they should try and warn the others, so they try calling Sanchez and Orozco again.

The black Sudan Reacher saw in the previous episode is waiting outside Franz’s widow’s house. Reacher says he’s going to introduce himself, wanders over and kicks the front of the car, and the airbag releases in the bald man’s face. The man gets out of the car, and Reacher headbutts him and beats him up. Unfortunately for him, the man is an NYPD cop by the name of Gaitano “Guy” Russo. 

The group flees in their car. Reacher assumed the cop he sucker-punched was involved, but Neagley reminds him that assumptions kill. Turns out, Russo is the investigating officer in Franz’s murder case. They consider getting out of town and decide to head to Atlantic City to look for Sanchez and Orozco, as that is where they are based. 

Langston is on the phone with Saropian, who tells him about the Reacher and Russo incident. Langston tells Saropian to stay on their asses.

Reacher and the group spot Karla Dixon, a former member of the 110th, who has returned to help after finding out the group was trying to track her down. She was on an undercover job involving a corporate embezzlement case. They ask her to use her fake ID to rent a car, as the others can be tracked. Reacher tells her Franz and Swan are dead, and Sanchez and Orozco are missing. 

Flashback – Reacher and Dixon are discussing a case in the 110th involving missing aviation in Afghanistan. Reacher comments on Dixon’s good work (she is a master with numbers). She asks him out for a drink to celebrate, but he says he’s got to keep working on his reports, but maybe next time. The chemistry between them is obvious.

The group consisting of Reacher, Neagley, O’Donnell and Dixon is in the hire car, heading to Atlantic City. Dixon is looking into the case and the files they got from Franz’s flash drive. They figure it could be a grudge against the 110th.

Saropian is on a call to Langston, who tells him when he gets to Atlantic City, “Take them out.” Saropian tells him he needs some local talent to back him up, which Langston agrees to, but he wants them dead by tomorrow. 

Atlantic City, New Jersey – The group checks out Orozco and Sanchez’s office, and it’s been ransacked. Reacher says they are wasting their time here, as whoever did this got what they wanted. He picks up a picture of Sanchez and a woman at the Lucky Lounge bar. It’s framed, and clearly important, so they decide to head there. 

Reacher and Neagley go inside the Lucky Lounge, but Dixon and O’Donnell stay outside to keep cover. They show the bartender the picture and they reveal they are friends of Sanchez. He says he’ll get a guy to show them the books out back. He then tells a woman in the bar to take her stuff and get out of there. (It’s the woman from the picture.) The woman flees. 

Reacher and Neagley are heading off with a guy to the back of the bar when he says, “This is as far as we’re going. Stop messing with our friends,” and a fight breaks out. 

O’Donnell and Dixon track the woman down in the car while the fight is going on, and they all congregate around the back of the Lucky Lounge.

They sit down with the woman and she says she’s sorry and wouldn’t have run if she knew who they were, and the other guys were just looking out for her. She reveals a guy had previously come in looking for Sanchez, but he had gone dark by this point.

Turns out, Franz was working a case with Sanchez and Orozco with Swan also involved. The woman also says she heard something about 650 and 100k each before he left.

In the casino, the group considers it maybe isn’t someone with a grudge. Sanchez and Orozco provided freelance security for the casino so they figure it could be tied to gaming. A waitress comes over and Reacher demands she get him the casino director of security now.

The group meets with the director of security. He says he has no reason to believe Sanchez and Orozco might be dead, as he just saw them last month, and asks how he can help. They ask him if 650 and 100k means anything to him. He says it could be linked to a 650-million-dollar gambling scam. 

He offers to comp them a room while he looks into it. The group gets settled in the rather swanky suite. Dixon gets caught counting cards in the casino, and Reacher finds her just as she wins big. Security isn’t happy and offers her concert tickets to leave. Reacher helps her with her winning chips and they move from the table. Saropian is looking on at the pair from the bar. 

Reacher and Dixon have a late-night walk and realise they are being followed. Two guys are behind them, with a car in front. They make a run for it over a fence with Saropian getting out of the car to chase after them along with the two henchman. They approach a warehouse that appears to be getting work done to it. 

Reacher is stabbed by one of the henchman, but he beats him up and throws him off a ledge after stabbing him. Dixon kills the other henchman, but Saropian comes along and tries to shoot her. Dixon uses the henchman as a shield before Reacher dives on Saropian and fights him. He breaks his leg and puts his head in a pool of wet cement, killing him.

They search Saropian’s car and find files on all of the 110th. They find his phone, and Reacher calls the most recent number. Langston picks up and asks, “Is it done?” He tells Reacher he’s messing with the wrong guy, but Reacher says he’s the one who sounds scared. Langston hangs up. Dixon suggests tracing the number but Reacher figures they both would’ve been using burner phones. He says they should’ve left one of them alive to get more information, as they have nothing to go on. However, Dixon finds a parking lot pass belonging to Saropian for “New Age Technologies.” It’s a clue! They bury all three dead bodies in the cement and Reacher says to Dixon, “I’m thirsty. Wanna get a beer?” 

Reacher and Dixon are in the hotel room, and he’s bandaging up his injuries. Dixon reveals she has a piece of shrapnel stuck in her so Reacher tends to it. She takes her top off and they end up kissing and having sex. 

Twenty miles outside Denver, Colorado – a car is driving through snow in a wooded area. It’s the A.M. alias man, and he meets with a man who says all 650 will be in the truck and that there are two good ambush points on the route, and seeks reassurance that the truck driver won’t be harmed. A.M. reassures him, and the man walks off. 

The next morning in the hotel room – Dixon and Reacher tell O’Donnell and Neagley what happened last night. There’s a knock on the door; it’s the head of security, who he tells them Atlantic PD told him two more bodies had been found in upstate New York near where Franz was found and had been there a while. It’s Sanchez and Orozco. The wounds match Franz’s, and they confirm this is very much a New York case, and not based in Atlantic City.

The episode ends with Reacher announcing he’s going to need more guns for the fight ahead!

The Episode Review

Season 2 of Reacher hots up in this second episode, with the group, now joined by Karla Dixon from the 110th, heading up to Atlantic City to track down leads with Saropian hot on their heels. There are some fantastic action sequences mixed with some excellent character development.

This episode is also very funny with some fantastic one-liners, and it very much feels like an ensemble piece. This is a credit to the show as the 110th investigation team, (except for Neagley, who appeared briefly in season 1) are brand new characters. They all work so well and feel like they’ve been around forever. The audience cares about them already, because Reacher cares about them. Top-quality action drama!