Reacher – Season 2 Episode 8 “Fly Boy” Recap, Review & Ending Explained

Fly Boy

What happens when Reacher comes face to face with Langston? 

Reacher Season 2 Episode 8 begins with Reacher being brought in to meet Shane Langston in the warehouse. He takes a call and tells one of the henchmen to get Reacher ‘ready’ in one of the stretchers.

Reacher beats up a bunch of the henchmen with his hands cuffed behind his back. Langston’s phone call reveals that Neagley is still alive, which makes him mad. Langston points his gun at Reacher but is reminded that he can’t kill Reacher until all the loose ends are tied up. Langston agrees and shoots O’Donnell instead, but doesn’t kill him. 

Neagley has her sniper rifle ready and secures the perimeter by killing Langston’s henchmen who are standing guard outside. She calls Lavoy’s associates and tells them they are ready for their help.

Langston is punching Reacher and bemoans that Project Little Wing was meant to be his retirement plan. Things went bad when Swan, Franz, Orozco and Sanchez started looking into his plans. He admits to killing all 4 of them and when Reacher asks where Swan is, Langston reveals Swan’s eyeball, which he preserved to use as identification for all the paperwork. Langston prepares to leave for his meeting with A.M. to get the 65 million dollars he is owed.

Langston tells his henchmen to get rid of all the drives in the warehouse and load Reacher, O’Donnell and Dixon into the helicopter. They get O’Donnell and Dixon into the choppers, but before being able to load Reacher, Lavoy’s team and Neagley attack from both sides of the warehouse. Reacher uses the pin hidden in his shoe to open the cuffs and escape.

Does Reacher kill Shane Langston? 

Langston tries to escape with Dixon and O’Donnell in the helicopter, but Reacher latches onto one of the wheels of the chopper. Langston is getting ready to drop Dixon from the helicopter in the sky, when Reacher comes in through the back doors and attacks the henchmen. He is balancing fighting the henchmen with stopping Dixon from falling to her death.

Dixon frees herself and stabs the henchman. Langston begins to beg for his life when Reacher grabs him and throws him out of the helicopter, reminding him that ‘assumptions kill.’ Reacher, Dixon, and O’Donnell force the pilot to take them to the location where Langston was due to meet A.M.

What happens to A.M.? 

The 110th arrives at the location, kills the man who is with A.M. and tells him to get inside. A.M. says that he is just the middleman between the buyer and Langston  Reacher tries to get A.M. to reveal the name of the buyer but refuses saying that would ruin his business. Reacher and the 110th execute him to death in a hail of bullets.

They free the pilot of the helicopter and the engineer and they head to get into the chopper. Neagley shoots them down from the sky with one of Little Wings’ missiles. Lavoy’s team turns up and tries to kill the 110th, unaware that Reacher has called Homeland Security to take care of Lavoy and his team for taking part in the illegal Little Wing business. Homeland Security tries to get Reacher to give up Langston’s money, but Reacher pleads ignorance and walks away.

What happens at the end of Reacher Season 2?

The 110th arrive battered and bruised at a diner to have some much-needed food and rest. Neagley asks what they are going to do with all the money, and they nominate Reacher to be in charge of it. This discussion is interrupted by a news report on television revealing that the helicopter went down in the Hudson River. Reacher puts a song on the jukebox and we get a montage of what he did with the money:

Reacher donates it to the families of the deceased 110th and the animal shelter where Swan got his dog from. And Neagley’s father gets the healthcare he needs. 

Reacher, Neagley, Dixon and O’Donnell have farewell beers by a campfire where Reacher explains what he’s done with the rest of the money. O’Donnell’s kids’ educational futures are sorted as he’s put money in their names. He reveals what he’s done for Neagley’s father and tells Dixon he’s set up her own business so she doesn’t have to work for anyone else ever again, and Reacher plans to spend his cut on buying a new toothbrush. Typical Reacher! They raise a toast to absent friends. They take a picture of them all as it’s their last night together. 

Reacher has one last night with Dixon and wakes up to find out she’s bought him a toothbrush, leaving him free to spend the money on something else. Reacher buys a bus ticket that will give him the ability to travel all over the country for a whole year.

The episode ends with Neagley seeing Reacher off at the bus stop and telling him to keep in touch and not to be lonely. Neagley says the 110th are like family and says bye to Reacher (no touching of course). On the bus, when an old man asks him where he’s coming from, Reacher says ‘visiting family,’ and then he asks him where he’s headed. Reacher says ‘No idea,’ and the bus takes off. 

The Episode Review

Wow. The last episode of season 2 did not disappoint. Everything has led to this moment, and the standoff between Reacher and Langston, and it is epic! Sometimes action shows run out of steam by the end, but the finale delivers in every way possible. Langston getting his comeuppance is satisfying, and Reacher hanging out of the helicopter looks like something from a big-budget action movie. 

Once all the action is out of the way, the ending delivers a satisfying conclusion for all the characters, and Lynyrd Skynyrd’s ‘Simple Man’ ends season 2 in style, with Reacher off on his travels again. It is the perfect final episode to the most perfect action series of all time. Season 3 is going to be a tough act to follow, but we can’t wait!