Tasked to find a missing young man, Colter falls foul of a cult who seem to know a lot about everyone. Including him…

This is a massive step up from the first episode in every way. Writers Jeffrey Deaver, Ben H. Winters and Tegan Shohet give everyone on the team enough to do to make them interesting and send hacker Bob (Eric Graise) and handlers Teddi (Robin Weigert) and Abby McEnany into the weeds of the case while Colter (Justin Hartley) does the punching. The supporting cast are great too, well written and rounded in some surprising ways. The always excellent Ryan Robbins is impressive as cult leader Seth Adler and Stefanie von Pfetten does good work as his sidekick, Rebecca.

The standouts here though are Donald Heng as Jackson Cheong, the subject of the case and Shaun Omaid as Liam. The former is a well meaning, slightly dented young man who has been manipulated into thinking purpose and exploitation are the same thing. The latter is an amiable thug who clashes with Colter a couple of times and feels likable and well-rounded, even if he is the iron fist in the cult’s velvet glove. Crucially, Hartley too has some good material to work with and his scenes with Robbins and Heng are really good. Colter feels less like Reacher this week and far more like someone who does what he does because he used to be who he looks for. It’s an interesting premise and one the show hopefully steers into. The potential is there, and the fact this episode walks right up to a stereotype (helicopter parents) but then finds interesting, human things to say about the practice is impressive.

Verdict: It’s not a home run, to be fair. The ending is extremely abrupt for one. but overall this is a great step in the right direction. Skip ‘Klamath Falls’, start here and you’ll have a much better time. 7/10

Alasdair Stuart