Reacher season 2 episode 4 recap: Springing the trap

Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson) as seen in Reacher season 2 episode 3.
Reacher and the 110 blackmail a governmental official for info in the fourth episode. (Image credit: Brooke Palmet/Prime video)

This article contains spoilers for Reacher season 2 episode 4, "A Night at the Symphony". 

After the three-episode premiere, Reacher season 2 continued with another action-packed installment that saw the Special Investigators digging even deeper into the murders of some of their former comrades.

Following their raid on New Age Technologies' HQ, the gang found some troubling signs that suggest Swan, another missing Special Investigator, could well be involved in whatever plot they're unraveling. They also zeroed in on a government official who revealed the nature of what kind of technology "Mr A.M." is after, thanks in part to a surprising cameo from a Reacher season 1 star! Here's a full breakdown of everything that happened in Reacher season 2 episode 4...

Security details

The fourth episode picks up with the gang sifting through the evidence from New Age Technologies at a diner. The rest of the 110 are mighty suspicious of Tony Swan; he's the only missing Special Investigator who's not been confirmed dead, and they'd just learned at New Age. Reacher point-blank refuses to believe Swan would turn his back on his former unit, though. 

Flicking through the directory, O'Donnell finds that Swan was the Assistant Director of Security for New Age, working under Shane Langston. They also spot Brian Collins listed as part of the same team. Meanwhile, Guy Russo is being raked over the coals by his Lieutenant, for not keeping Reacher and the gang in check, and demands that he gets hold of Reacher to find out what they've learned. He proceeds to call Reacher repeatedly, but he keeps denying the call.

Back in the diner, Neagley finds a chain of emails between Swan and Marlo Burns which Reacher identifies as a coded message pointing to a project called "Little Wing", New Age's largest-ever federal defense project. The file notes Senator Malcolm Lavoy had assured them he would do "whatever it takes" to get the project approved after seeing some tests. 

O'Donnell suggests they speak to Lavoy's Legislative Director to find out what went on to secure the contract. And since he's involved in some blackmailing on the side, O'Donnell knows he can find the guy and find out his "Achilles heel" with just a few calls. 

Whilst he's busy, the others discuss Swan again; Reacher says Swan wouldn't have disappeared like the other 110th members, but Neagley isn't so sure. She instead suggests that Swan might have run off because several Special Investigators would've come after him and that they might not have known Swan as well as they thought they did.

We then see a flashback to the Special Investigators celebrating a drug bust. But as they go over the stack of cocaine bricks, the group notes one of them is missing. They were loaded in Swan's car, and when they go out to search, Swan conveniently finds the missing drug brick; was he keeping it for himself? 

Facing the music

Back in the present, Mr A.M. sits down with the plastic surgeon from the ad he spotted in the previous episode. Having arranged an appointment about getting "a new face", he promptly kills the doctor, takes his ID, and walks out. Later, he uses the new ID to hire another vehicle and get back on the road.

At the motel, O'Donnell reveals his findings about Senator Lavoy's Legislative Director, Daniel Boyd, and identifies that he's due to attend a swanky symphonic event in Boston that evening, and they plan to set him up by having him get caught with some drugs. 

Just then, Reacher finally answers Guy's calls; much to the detective's annoyance, Reacher pays little attention to his demands and instead asks Guy to run background checks on the entire New Age security team. Before they head to Boston, Neagley and Dixon plan to visit Marlo Burns at her home address. 

O'Donnell and Reacher score some drugs to entrap Boyd... from the same unlucky dealer whom Reacher beat up at the start of the season. Neagley and Dixon sweep Burns' house, finding it empty. Burns had left behind a stash of cash and expensive jewelry which the pair agree is suspicious. 

We then hop to Boston, Massachusetts. After getting formal outfits for the evening, they are ready to spring the trap on Daniel Boyd. Dixon and Neagley head into the venue, whilst O'Donnell and Reacher wait outside. Reacher realizes that the system of numbers was a simple tally system, registering outcomes. 

At the intermission, Dixon and Boyd leave the auditorium, and she leads him to the car and tempts him into taking some cocaine. At that moment, Oscar Finlay slams his badge on the window, tells Boyd to get out of the car, and takes him in for an interview (entirely part of the 110th's set-up).

What is Little Wing?

Reacher and O'Donnell enter, pretending to be FBI agents, and demand to know everything Boyd knew of Little Wing. He clams up initially, but when they threaten to call his wife about his dalliances, he spills the beans, revealing what Little Wing is, and how he managed to get Lavoy to sign off on it.

Little Wing is a codename for a new bit of defense tech that enables missiles to defeat all known countermeasures; they look as if they miss their target, and then lock on again shortly thereafter. "You fire, you hit your target, period", Boyd says.

Boyd says no one would be able to misappropriate the military tech, because New Age is too secure, though Reacher, O'Donnell, and Finlay are very skeptical. He also lets slip that New Age Technologies owns two facilities; the hardware is made in Denver, Colorado.

After Reacher thanks Finlay for the assist, the 110 regroup. Reacher tells Neagley and Dixon to go to Denver to try and stop the missiles from falling into the wrong hands; he and O'Donnell are heading to Homeland Security, to see if he can leverage his dead brother's contacts there, and see whether they have any intel on A.M. 

The group then pulled over to get a bite to eat at a steakhouse. After getting out of the car, the four of them are swarmed by a biker gang who've been hired to take them out. 

After a vicious brawl, the 110 prevail, and Reacher picks up the gang leader's phone. He dials the last number on the device and gets through to Shane Langston. New Age's Head of Security tries to make Reacher an offer to stay off his, saying he has the means to give Reacher whatever he wants. Reacher's response? "I want to throw you out of a helicopter."

Reacher season 2 is now streaming on Prime Video. New episodes air on Fridays.

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Martin Shore
Staff Writer at WhatToWatch.com

Martin was a Staff Writer with WhatToWatch.com, where he produced a variety of articles focused on the latest and greatest films and TV shows. Now he works for our sister site Tom's Guide in the same role.

Some of his favorite shows are What We Do In The Shadows, Bridgerton, Gangs of London, The Witcher, Doctor Who, and Ghosts. When he’s not watching TV or at the movies, Martin’s probably still in front of a screen playing the latest video games, reading, or watching the NFL.