While it’s hardly Twin Peaks, Prime Video’s Reacher is much more than just a mindless shoot ’em up, leaning fully into the title character’s investigative nous. While Reacher‘s three previous seasons each spun tightly-wound thriller plots with clever twists and cunning rug-pulls, season 4 is perhaps the show’s most stuffed narrative to date.
Right at the jump, Reacher season 4 found Alan Ritchson’s character chased by three or four different enemy factions, all because of a flash drive containing files unknown. Even once said files (actually just ‘file’) were uncovered, its significance remained entirely mysterious. It’s not that Reacher season 4 is especially complicated or convoluted, but rather that Reacher and his pals remain in the dark so long, the plot only really becomes clear in the season’s penultimate episode.
Reacher squeezes an almighty exposition dump out of wealthy chemist Leo Ahlquist, and once the villain’s guts are fully spilled, the pieces of season 4’s investigation finally fall into place. The picture at the end looks something like this.
What Really Happened With Sampson In Indonesia During The ’90s
Reacher revealed early on that Sampson had been involved with US operations in Indonesia during the ’90s, working alongside a controversial local warlord known as General Putra. With so many lies and theories about the hidden purpose behind this trip, however, it hasn’t ever been clear what really went down. Until now.
Over the sound of his fingers snapping one by one, Leo Ahlquist explains that Indonesia was a clandestine CIA project known as Operation Mongoose, intended to preemptively engineer chemical weapons that might one day be used against the US, then develop countermeasures against them. Being not entirely legal, the CIA made a deal with Putra to hide the experiment in his territory, and the US would train Putra’s soldiers in return.
Commander Nolan Cahill was the only Delta Squad member to know the truth behind Operation Mongoose, with Sampson and the others somewhat naively believing the goal was malaria research.
The DARPA scientists hired by the CIA succeeded in concocting a nasty toxin and, rather predictably, Putra decided to steal it for himself to use against a nearby village that had challenged his authority. In response, the CIA axed Operation Mongoose, and a team led by Sampson was sent back to Indonesia to take out Putra. All research got destroyed, and Operation Mongoose was duly covered up.
What Happened Between 1998 & Reacher Season 4
As we know, Sampson graduated from a military career into politics, bringing along former commanding officer Nolan Cahill to serve as his trusted chief of staff.
In Indonesia, meanwhile, Putra’s protégé had survived Sampson’s strike. That protégé was Amisha Hoth, forced to watch as Sampson gunned down her beloved mentor. Sometime later, Amisha took pity on an orphan, implied to be from the same village Putra wiped out using the CIA’s chemical weapon, and took the youngster as a protégé of her own. Amisha’s protégé would later adopt the name ‘Lila,’ and together, the pair became international criminals for hire.
Meanwhile, one of the DARPA assistant scientists from Indonesia, a young Leo Ahlquist, adapted the chemical weapon formula his team had developed into a very effective, non-lethal, pesticide, making billions as the CEO of a chemical company. Nolan Cahill realized Ahlquist had been recreating the old formula from Indonesia, but Ahlquist swore that keeping such details under wraps was in both of their interests.
Two Events Kicked Reacher Season 4’s Story Into Action
For many years, Amisha and Lila, Cahill and Sampson, and Leo Ahlquist all took their separate paths and barely gave another thought to the Putra incident.
The turning point came thanks to AI. Amisha recalled taking a photograph of Putra and the Delta soldiers back during their Indonesia days, and remembered a board containing the chemical weapon formula had been in the background, albeit impossible to read. Nolan had known about the photograph too, but deemed it harmless at the time. After AI advances in the mid-2020s, however, Amisha realized the photograph could finally be decoded, and the chemical weapon redeveloped to sell for a very large sum of money.
After collecting materials for the DARPA scientists back in the ’90s, Amisha already knew one vital ingredient for the weapon was the Rosary Pea. Lila either collected the seeds at this time, or had them in her possession already.
Amisha still needed to get hold of the photo, but as luck would have it, the United States government had started digitizing old documents at various outside facilities. Amisha and Lila found one such location, identified an employee who could be blackmailed (in this case, a single mother called Anna Merrick), and kidnapped the employee’s son (Ben). They forced Anna to download the photograph onto a USB stick, delete the original file, and bring it to them in exchange for Ben. As we know, Ben was killed when Anna couldn’t make her deadline, prompting Anna to mail the USB stick to Jacob and make her way to the Hoths seeking revenge. A certain Jack Reacher would intervene.
What Happened Behind The Scenes During Reacher Season 4
Anna Merrick downloading confidential files onto a personal drive did not go unnoticed, with the Department of Defense electronically alerted. Knowing the file related to the Delta Force mission in Indonesia, the DOD called Sampson’s office, where Nolan Cahill just so happened to answer the phone. Realizing which photo had been stolen and what it could potentially be used for, Cahill tracked down Anna Merrick himself, seeking the USB stick without knowing it had already been posted in the mail.
Cahill’s next move was to call Leo Ahlquist (knowing Ahlquist’s product had been based on the same research), and Foster, the CIA agent who had been in charge of overseeing Operation Mongoose. Ahlquist hired a team of mercenaries to track down the missing USB stick, while Foster and the CIA went looking for it themselves, only to get embarrassed by Reacher every step of the way.
The irony here is that all sides except Lila and Amisha actually sought the same thing, and could have feasibly worked together. Reacher’s team, the CIA, the DOD, and Ahlquist all more or less wanted the USB stick to be destroyed, thereby preventing the development of a dangerous chemical weapon. Ahlquist blames the gung-ho attitude of his mercenaries for causing some of the needless violence between groups.
The CIA and DOD go after the last person to see Anna Merrick alive, Jack Reacher. Ahlquist’s mercenaries take runs at Reacher and the Hoths, hoping one of them will have what their employer is looking for. Nolan Cahill sees his worst nightmare coming true and takes his own life, while Sampson remains blissfully unaware anything sinister is even happening. At the same time, the Hoths advertise their soon-to-be product to the world’s most nefarious criminals and plan a public attack at a charity event run by Sampson’s wife, both to demonstrate its effectiveness, and for Amisha to enact personal revenge for Sampson killing General Putra.
That is Reacher season 4’s plot in a nutshell.
- Release Date
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February 3, 2022
- Network
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Prime Video
- Showrunner
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Nick Santora
This story originally appeared on Screenrant
