Jack Reacher wakes up in a cage at the beginning of Reacher Season 4 Episode 2, “Cage Fight,” which would be a considerably bigger problem for almost anyone else. For Reacher, it’s mostly an inconvenience.
Picking up immediately after the Season 4 premiere, Episode 2 wastes little time paying off its cliffhanger before pushing Anna Merrick’s death and the mysterious flash drive into much murkier territory. Reacher escapes captivity alongside Detective Tamara Green and Anna’s brother Jacob, heads to Washington looking for answers, meets Congressman John Sampson face-to-face, and ultimately discovers that one of the most important people in the investigation has been hiding in plain sight.
The result is a faster, funnier and more confident episode that demonstrates why this season’s conspiracy is already proving so effective: every answer seems to create another question.
Alan Ritchson continues to make Reacher’s combination of overwhelming physical power and razor-sharp observation ridiculously entertaining, but Sydelle Noel and Kevin Weisman give him welcome company this week as Tamara Green and Jacob Merrick. The three-person investigative team proves to be one of “Cage Fight’s” biggest strengths, particularly because neither Green nor Jacob is interested in simply standing around while Reacher does everything himself.
After the events of Reacher Season 4 Episode 1, “City of Brotherly Love,” Reacher is already neck-deep in the mystery surrounding Anna Merrick, the missing flash drive, and the people determined to keep him from finding answers.
REACHER WAKES UP IN A CAGE
The premiere left Reacher unconscious after being hit with tranquilizer darts.
“Cage Fight” reveals that he wasn’t the only target.
Reacher wakes handcuffed to a bed inside a grim holding facility, with Green and Jacob imprisoned nearby. Their captors appear to be the same mysterious federal operatives who have been hunting Anna’s missing flash drive, and they’re still convinced Reacher knows where it is.
There’s only one problem.
He genuinely doesn’t.
A man in a lab coat arrives carrying another needle, supposedly to counteract the tranquilizers already in Reacher’s system.
Reacher politely offers another possibility: come closer and he’ll put the needle through the man’s eye.
The situation escalates from there.
And because this is Reacher, the cage ultimately proves considerably better at keeping ordinary people inside than Jack Reacher.
The escape gives Episode 2 an immediate burst of action while establishing something more important: whoever is behind this operation possesses serious resources. These aren’t random street thugs anymore.
REACHER, GREEN AND JACOB MAKE A GOOD TEAM
One of the smartest choices “Cage Fight” makes is keeping Green and Jacob involved.
Reacher is usually most comfortable working alone, but both characters have legitimate reasons to pursue Anna’s case.
For Jacob, it’s deeply personal. His sister is dead, and everything he’s learning suggests her apparent suicide was only one piece of something much larger.
Green approaches the situation as a detective, increasingly aware that the official explanation isn’t matching the evidence.
Then there’s Reacher, who mostly operates according to his own internal justice system.
Put the three together and Episode 2 suddenly has a surprisingly effective investigative trio.
Their personalities also give Alan Ritchson more opportunities for the dry humor that sometimes gets overlooked when discussing the series. Reacher’s confidence borders on absurdity, but the people around him don’t necessarily share his admiration for himself.
Green, in particular, isn’t easily impressed.
That makes their exchanges considerably more entertaining.
THE SEARCH LEADS TO JOHN SAMPSON
The investigation eventually takes Reacher to Washington and directly into the orbit of Congressman John Sampson.
Lila Hoth previously claimed that Sampson was her father and that Anna possessed damaging information connected to him. Given Sampson’s political ambitions and Delta Force background, he looks like an obvious candidate for the center of the conspiracy.
Maybe too obvious.
When Reacher finally confronts him, Sampson doesn’t behave like someone desperately trying to hide a secret daughter.
Instead, he denies the allegation and agrees to provide DNA for a paternity test.
Reacher believes him.
That’s important because Reacher isn’t particularly easy to fool. His willingness to reconsider Sampson shows that he’s investigating the evidence rather than simply forcing every new discovery into his original theory.
And if Sampson isn’t Lila’s father, an obvious question emerges:
Why did Lila tell Reacher that he was?
Suddenly one of the people who appeared to be providing answers becomes another source of uncertainty.
ANNA’S STORY KEEPS GETTING STRANGER
Meanwhile, Anna Merrick becomes more mysterious with every new discovery.
Her death initially looked like the tragic suicide of a frightened government employee.
Then came the flash drive.
Then the federal agents.
Then the people willing to attack Reacher over it.
Now the investigation begins exposing inconsistencies surrounding Anna’s personal life and the people connected to her.
Reacher and the others also turn to journalist Russell Plum, whose information helps expand their understanding of the case and introduces additional questions surrounding Anna’s family and the conspiracy she may have uncovered.
That’s what Season 4 is doing particularly well so far.
We’re not simply asking:
What’s on the flash drive?
We’re increasingly asking:
Who was Anna Merrick really involved with, and what did she discover?
The second question is considerably more interesting.
THE FOURTH WITNESS CHANGES THE INVESTIGATION
The best revelation comes near the end.
Reacher remembers four witnesses on the subway when Anna died.
Police records only accounted for three.
That discrepancy has bothered him, because Reacher doesn’t casually miscount things.
Eventually, he identifies the missing fourth witness:
Nolan Cahill.
And Cahill isn’t some random commuter.
He’s Congressman Sampson’s chief of staff.
Suddenly several seemingly separate pieces of the mystery connect.
Anna dies on the subway.
Sampson is supposedly connected to the information she possessed.
And one of Sampson’s closest political aides just happened to be present when she died — then disappeared before police could properly identify him.
That’s a hell of a coincidence.
Reacher doesn’t like coincidences.
Neither should we.
“CAGE FIGHT” IMPROVES ON THE PREMIERE
The premiere had the difficult job of establishing Anna, Lila, the flash drive, Sampson and an entirely new supporting cast while launching the season’s conspiracy.
Episode 2 gets to play with those pieces.
And it’s better for it.
There’s action almost immediately, but “Cage Fight” doesn’t depend entirely on Alan Ritchson throwing people through walls. Much of the episode is investigative, and the story remains compelling because Reacher is just as entertaining when he’s noticing something everyone else missed.
The episode also allows more humor into the mix.
Vulture highlights everything from Reacher being called “HoboCop” to his discovery of what OnlyFans is, and those smaller comedic beats help balance an increasingly complicated conspiracy.
It’s exactly the balance Reacher does best.
Brains.
Brawn.
Dry humor.
And bad people making increasingly poor decisions about which enormous drifter they should antagonize.
Final Verdict
“Cage Fight” is an improvement over an already entertaining Season 4 premiere.
Freeing Reacher from the cage is almost the least interesting thing that happens.
The introduction of John Sampson complicates Lila’s story. Anna’s history becomes murkier. Green and Jacob develop into worthwhile investigative partners. And the discovery that Nolan Cahill was the missing fourth witness creates the episode’s strongest connection yet between Anna’s death and Sampson’s political world.
Most importantly, the mystery is expanding without becoming difficult to follow.
We know the central question.
Everyone wants the flash drive.
We just don’t know why.
And after two episodes, Reacher has made finding out awfully entertaining.
Ending Explained
The key to the ending isn't the cage, the flash drive or even Congressman Sampson.
It's Nolan Cahill.
Reacher remembers four people witnessing Anna Merrick's death on the subway, yet the official investigation only identified three. That missing person has been nagging at him because Reacher trusts his observations.
He eventually gets his answer.
The fourth witness was Nolan Cahill, John Sampson's chief of staff.
That changes the investigation substantially.
Until this point, the alleged connection between Anna and Sampson has largely depended on Lila's claims. Reacher's meeting with Sampson actually makes him less suspicious of the congressman, particularly when Sampson willingly agrees to a DNA test that could disprove Lila's assertion that he's her father.
Cahill's presence on the subway creates an entirely different connection.
One of Sampson's closest associates was physically present when Anna died — and apparently avoided being identified as a witness.
Reacher now has to determine whether Cahill was simply there by coincidence, whether he was watching Anna, or whether his presence is connected to whatever Anna knew.
It also raises another increasingly important question:
Can Reacher trust Lila?
“Cage Fight” therefore ends by doing exactly what a good mystery should do. It gives us a genuine answer — the identity of the fourth witness — and uses that answer to create several much larger questions.
And with Episode 3 already available, we don't have to wait long for Reacher to start asking them.
How To Watch
Reacher streams exclusively on Prime Video. Season 4 Episode 2, “Cage Fight,” is available now as part of the three-episode Season 4 premiere drop, alongside Episodes 1 and 3.
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