Jack Reacher's Season 4 Kill Count: Everyone He Has Taken Down So Far

This article discusses suicide and spoilers for Reacher Season 4, Episodes 1–3.

Reacher‘s title character is not a villain; that’s pretty obvious. That being said, the sheer number of dead bodies in his wake would make it reasonable to assume he is – out of context, anyway. He’s not the kind of person to march into a room and start taking people down for no reason, but if the wrong people attack him, he’s often willing and able to end them. Reacher’s military training, paired with his hulking physique, makes him a fearsome opponent, and Season 4 makes that known in a far more severe way than usual.

Alan Ritchson’s towering antihero is at the heart of yet another Lee Child adaptation in Reacher Season 4, with 2009’s Gone Tomorrow novel being used as the source material. Like every other Jack Reacher adventure, there is plenty of room for investigation, action, and for Ritchson’s character to act in violent self-defense…most of the time. Still, Season 4’s triple-episode premiere surprised me by having Reacher rack up such a substantial kill count, setting the precedent for even more bloodshed at the hands of the show’s protagonist.

#1: The Guy in the Library Basement

Episode 1

Reacher crushing someone a library in Reacher

While working the case and looking into John Sampson (Marc Blucas), Reacher heads to a Philadelphia library and is directed to the basement for the military records he’s searching for. While down there, Reacher showcases its main character’s first kill of Season 4, and it’s a brutal one. Moments this visually intense are often reserved for a little deeper into a run of Reacher episodes, but I guess Ritchson’s character is up to his eyeballs in conspiracy much sooner this time around. The knife-wielding attacker who comes after Reacher is ultimately crushed to death between two mobile library shelves after a nail-biting fight scene. I don’t envy whoever had to clean up the aftermath. At least Reacher had the manners to stash the body out of sight in the coal bin.

#2: The Guy With the Chopsticks in His Eye

Episode 3

After being tracked to a supposed safe location, Reacher and his new allies are forced to defend themselves. At this point, I think it’s safe to say that whichever side Reacher is on is always the one that’s winning any fight. After going full Nathan Drake (Uncharted anyone?) and dropping down the outside of the building with the finger strength of the Incredible Hulk, Ritchson’s character ambushes multiple men on the staircase during the encounter that follows. The first guy he takes down meets his end in brutal fashion. Even though the chopsticks jabbed into his right eye don’t appear to cause an immediate threat to his life, Reacher’s use of him as a human shield as another attacker tries to gun Reacher down definitely finishes him off. Death by friendly fire, brought on by a decidedly unfriendly figure.

#3: The Second Guy on the Staircase

Episode 3

Reacher attacking someone on a staircase in Reacher

While Tamara (Sydelle Noel) and the others help thin the herd nearby, Reacher quickly turns his attention to the guy who had inadvertently filled his own accomplice with bullets. Despite the assailant being heavily armed, Reacher still makes quick work of him. After dazing his opponent, Reacher follows up by positioning the guy’s neck over the handrail and using his spare fist to deliver a sickening blow to the head that’s surely fatal. Even if there is a chance he would survive with immediate medical attention, that doesn’t exactly seem like it would be forthcoming, given that no one who would be willing to call him an ambulance is left standing when the dust settles.

#4: The Guy Who Could Have Survived

Episode 3

Reacher interrogating someone in Reacher

This kill could very arguably be attributed to Tamara, but to claim that Reacher didn’t contribute would be wild. Let’s call it a collaboration of sorts. When the firefight on the staircase first breaks out, Tamara shoots one of the attackers pretty early on, and he falls to the floor as though dead. It turns out he’s simply incapacitated, though. That being said, he’s not exactly in great shape, either. When Reacher realizes he can interrogate the guy, he drags him down every step he’s just walked up, and his head can be heard clanging off each one as they go. Somehow, he’s still conscious and alive when they reach the bottom. But not for long. He dies before Reacher can get him to speak, but the intel found on his person proves instrumental.

#5: Nolan Cahill

Episode 3

Nolan Cahill jumping from a rooftop in Reacher

Granted, Nolan’s decision to take his own life by stepping off a rooftop exists right on the boundary of being attributed to Reacher, but it still warrants discussion. When finally making headway into the Anna Merrick (Karen Kwong-Chip) investigation concerning her suicide on the Philadelphia subway, Reacher is finally brought into the immediate orbit of Nolan Cahill (Chris Owens), Sampson’s Chief of Staff. Rather than answer any of the questions Reacher has for him, Cahill takes extreme measures to try and prevent the truth from getting out.

Reacher Season 4’s central mystery is certainly framed as something that only Ritchson’s character can solve, and is willing to solve. As such, it stands to reason that, although he didn’t directly kill Cahill, Reacher’s merciless and effective investigation style is what eventually catalyzed the shocking final moments of Episode 3, “One Small Step.” Without Reacher‘s main character being present on that subway train, and his desire to get to the bottom of what happened, Cahill’s involvement would likely have remained under wraps.