The first season of 'Neagley,' a spinoff of Amazon's 'Reacher,' premieres Wednesday, September 16, with Maria Sten playing Frances Neagley, a character from Lee Child's Jack Reacher novels, according to a review of the series. The review says the show is satisfying when it focuses on action sequences and becomes tedious, at times close to unwatchable, when the focus shifts to plot and exposition.
Amazon's 'Neagley' spinoff debuts Sept. 16; review says it excels at action, drags on exposition
The first season of 'Neagley,' a spinoff of Amazon's 'Reacher,' premieres Wednesday, September 16, with Maria Sten playing Frances Neagley, a character from Lee Child's Jack Reacher novels, according to a review of the series. The review says the show is satisfying when it focuses on action sequences and becomes tedious, at times close to unwatchable, when the focus shifts to plot and exposition.
The series was developed for television by Nick Santora and Nicholas Wootton, according to the review, which states that Santora made Neagley an integral part of the first three seasons of 'Reacher' before giving her a spinoff. The review states that the two series are not narratively connected, and that Alan Ritchson, who plays Reacher, makes multiple appearances in 'Neagley' so that Reacher can give Neagley his blessing to have her own onscreen existence. It was announced in July that Child and collaborator Yasmin Angoe will publish at least two Frances Neagley novels, the review states.
The season begins after a prologue featuring the first of Ritchson's appearances, the review states, with a young man stepping off a platform on Chicago's L and walking toward an oncoming train and his death. The review identifies the man as Tommy, played by Jhaleil Swaby, a childhood friend of Neagley and, other than her ailing ex-cop father, the only family she knew. Neagley works out of a Chicago private investigations office, the review states, and her boss acquiesces when she decides to investigate Tommy's death on her own. The review says her inquiry brings her into contact with Hudson Riley, played by Greyston Holt, a Chicago Police Department detective with a checkered family history, and with Keno, played by Jasper Jones, described in the review as a resilient young street urchin with a long record of crime-adjacent activity and a connection to Tommy's death. Forced into a partnership with Riley, Keno and Renee, an office receptionist played by Adeline Rudolph, Neagley travels to Echo Canyon, a farming community outside the city that sells fresh produce at Chicago street markets but is operationally closer to a wellness cult, the review states. The review says the farm operates under the spiritual guidance of Lawrence Cole, played by Damon Herriman, an English professor turned folk singer turned guru, and that its primary business is carried out in a heavily secured barn monitored by Pierce Woodrow, a pharmaceutical executive played by Matthew Del Negro.
The review says Neagley served under Reacher with the 110th military police and shares his powers of observation and his sense of justice, which the review says often intersects with vengeance. According to the review, she talks tough, thinks nothing of resorting to torture and is physically capable in a fight, but lacks Reacher's daunting physicality and instead has exceptional dexterity. The review states that a directing team led by Reacher veterans Sam Hill, Gary Fleder and MJ Bassett worked on the series, that the show looks and feels like 'Reacher,' and that its chosen location, Chicago, generally looks more like Toronto, where it was filmed.
The review says the second half of the season, especially the sixth and seventh episodes, gets bogged down in what it describes as the increasing ridiculousness of the season-long arc and a highly questionable attempt to flesh out its hero's backstory. It states that the series steers aggressively into an origin story for Neagley's haphephobia, her fear of being touched, rather than exploring new elements of her personality or leaning into psychological uncertainty, and that the explanation makes her more obvious and self-consciously written instead of more complex and human.
The review says Sten anchors the series well and that Neagley has been surrounded with a likably evolving ensemble. It states that Jones adds matter-of-fact humor and pairs well with Rudolph, and that Sten and Holt have good chemistry. It also says that Herriman plays slick, slimy and persuasive well, while describing his character, Lawrence Cole, as exactly what convention leads viewers to expect, and that the writing undermines supporting performances by Rebecca Liddiard as the leader's right-hand woman and Jessica Clement as a cult neophyte.
The review says the first season starts off familiar and gets increasingly dumber, hitting a nadir in the penultimate episode before the finale turns its attention to what it calls blissfully cartoonish badassery, including a scene in which the main characters walk away from an exploding building in slow motion. It concludes that the series promises pulpy action pleasures and achieves, though never exceeds, those expectations.
- The source does not state the calendar year of the September 16 airdate.
- The source does not state the total number of episodes in the first season.
- The source does not state viewership figures or ratings for the series.
- The source does not state whether Amazon, the series' developers or its cast responded to the review's criticism.
- The source does not state a publication date or publisher for the planned Frances Neagley novels beyond the July announcement.
- The source does not state the airdate or the conclusion of the fourth season of 'Reacher,' which it says was wrapping up when the spinoff arrives.
Read the original at Hollywood Reporter