Throughout his career, Reacher has come face to face with many dangerous enemies. This time around, though, the threat is far beyond anything he’s ever encountered before — it’s a genuine weapon of mass destruction.
Prime Video’s latest Reacher Season 4 episode reveals that Lila and Amisha are operating a black market sale for a chemical weapon formula, and Reacher has to break a few fingers — and necks — to uncover it. The episode starts with Reacher, Tamara and Springfield tracking down Leo Ahlquist, the chemist who holds the full account. Once Reacher drives his van into Ahlquist’s Benz and runs him off the road, he gets to work on the man’s fingers, bending them back until they snap, Ahlquist gives up everything at once.
Ahlquist’s Confession
The tale of Ahlquist traces back to the 90s, when he was a young chemist employed by DARPA, the research agency the CIA contracted to construct a secret chemical weapons laboratory in Indonesia. The project, known as Operation Mongoose, developed weapons from nothing and then took them apart again to study them. Indonesian special forces troops, part of Delta Force’s training of General Putra’, worked as cover for the entire operation.
“Sampson was a boy scout,” Ahlquist sputters. “But Cahill knew all about it.”
Cahill knew the chemical formula was visible in the background of the photo at the center of the season’s mystery, which is why he tried to stop Anna Merrick from delivering the flash drive. The people who have been trying to kill Reacher all season knew about the formula. The mercenaries Ahlquist hired figured out Amisha was in General Putra’s special forces unit and that she snapped the infamous photo. A CIA guy named Foster (Dean Armstrong) ran Operation Mongoose — “I know Foster,” Reacher says, “I ripped his ear off” — so he was trying to silence Reacher too.
“Saving the world comes with costs.”
Reacher secures all he requires from Ahlquist and settles on a course of action. The chemist, having amassed billions through the private-sector repurposing of deadly chemical weapons technology, is denied the right to go on living. Reacher ends his life with one of those two-handed moves that always appear too simple on television. Springfield watches in disbelief as it happens. Tamara, having nearly been killed a million times, declares she has no objections.
Docherty Lets Jacob Go
It turns out Detective Docherty is on Jacob’s side. Rather than arresting him when his uncle, a police officer, turned him in, Docherty took a different course of action. He drove Jacob to a graffiti-scarred alley in Philadelphia and set him free there. Jacob wanted to understand the reason behind it.
“Because of that guy whose ear Reacher ripped off.” Docherty is angry that the CIA tried to bigfoot Philly PD — “Real Men in Black shit,” he calls it — and dragged the reputation of his partner in the process. “She’s the most stand-up police I know,” Docherty says of Green. “Now get lost.”
The schedule lines up. Russell Plum’s phone, and the blogger”s dark web contacts have responded with specifics about Lila and Amisha’s scheme. The duo posted an announcement for a bad guy auction. Anyone from a terror group, anarchy provocateur, or plain old scumbag across the globe can bid to acquire the reassembled WMD formula. As proof before the sale, they intend to show off its destructive force somewhere outside in Philadelphia.
Sampson’s Last Stand
Sampson answers Reacher’s call, already knowing how to find out where Lila and Amisha will set off their airborne toxic event. The congressman is far ahead of him on that count. Sampson is at a riverside charity event and fundraiser, surrounded by fancy people and their families. He has a quick fact for Reacher: when Putra went rogue back in Indonesia, it was Sampson himself who hunted him down with Delta Force. Amisha watched him kill her murderous mentor.
“This is happening now,” the congressman says, right there at his event. Getting paid while getting payback is Amisha and Lila’s play. Reacher says one of their terror group clients must have loaned them a zealot willing to do the deed.
Sampson spots the strange man from Djibouti, Tomas Waberi, among the spectators, and he matches the terrorist bomber profile: carrying a large bag, muttering to himself, and moving with definite direction. Reacher remains on the phone with Sampson while they hurry toward the scene.
“You’re gonna be too late,” the congressman and former Delta Force officer says. “Gotta go, Reacher.”
The man reveals his WMD-loaded suicide vest just as he is tackled by Waberi, and they both fall into the water, where the device then explodes.
Elspeth Sampson’s Unclear Role
John Sampson died a hero, and Reacher was right to trust him from the start. Now the question turns to how to read Elspeth Sampson, the congressman’s wife. The episode offers no clear read on her. Nobody is saying she’s tied up with Lila and Amisha, the race for the flash drive, or the terror they have spread. It has crossed more than a few minds already.
The episode includes a brief run of the Bobby Womack classic “Across 110th Street,” a song that has been pulled from its original context and inserted here as part of the show’s ongoing tradition of totally random needle drops. The track is marked by 1972.
Episode Details
- Episode: Reacher Season 4, Episode 7 (“Vote for Sampson”)
- Platform: Prime Video
- Song featured: “Across 110th Street” by Bobby Womack (1972)
- Project code name: Operation Mongoose
- Agency involved: DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency)
A weapon of mass destruction is up for sale in an auction, while Reacher deals with a dead congressman. The season’s finale is approaching, and the risks could not be greater.
Source: decider.com