'Reacher' Season 4's Best New Character Isn't Even in Lee Child's Books
Jeffrey is a freelance features writer at Collider. He is an MPA-accredited entertainment journalist and a Tomatometer-approved critic based in the LA area. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Science in Radio, TV, & Film and a Bachelor of Arts in Theater.
Editor's note: The below contains spoilers for the first three episodes of Reacher Season 4.
Reacher is back, and it's already taking some big swings. This season, Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson) is drawn into a deadly mystery after witnessing the death of Pentagon employee Anna Merrick (Anna Kwong-Chip) on a late-night subway ride, with his investigation leading him in unexpected directions. In the second episode, "Cage Fight," viewers are introduced to a character who has never actually appeared in author Lee Child's books but infuses Reacher with a fun new energy that ultimately benefits Season 4.
Who Is Russell Plum in 'Reacher' Season 4?
In the Season 4 premiere, "City of Brotherly Love," Reacher initially mistakes Anna Merrick for a potential suicide bomber and attempts to talk her down before she takes her own life. After witnessing her death, Reacher seeks to uncover the real reason Merrick committed suicide and why certain individuals believe she had a data drive in her possession. At the very end of the episode, Reacher and his newfound allies, Anna's brother Jacob (Christopher Rodriguez-Marquette) and Detective Tamara Green (Sydelle Noel), are kidnapped by shadowy CIA operatives, which leads to an unexpected rescue.
Once Reacher knocks out the operatives at the black site, the trio is promptly rescued by freelance journalist Russell Plum (Kevin Weisman), who reveals that they have been brought to Washington, D.C. Plum also discloses that he's been investigating the CIA's shady activities for years, which has negatively impacted his career. Thanks to his monitoring of the CIA black site, Plum discovered the group's kidnapping, enabling him to aid them in their escape. Although many of the characters introduced in Reacher Season 4 have counterparts to the book it's adapting, Gone Tomorrow, Plum is a completely original creation for the series with no literary counterpart.
Russell Plum Adds a New Layer to ‘Reacher’ Season 4
Plum injects unpredictable energy into Season 4, adding another layer to the deeply unsettling conspiracy Reacher has stumbled into in the aftermath of Anna Merrick’s death. The CIA kidnapping Reacher, Jacob, and Tamara, along with Plum's own investigation, proves the conspiracy goes much deeper than anyone initially thought. While Weisman's performance provides a sense of humor and his character occasionally serves as more comic relief, Plum does serve an important story function in Season 4. Not only does he uncover that the CIA has covertly set up an illegal, off-the-books black site in Washington, D.C., but he also astutely deduces that Reacher has an investigative background.
Plum also brings unique insight to the larger world of Reacher, since the titular character has never teamed up with a journalist before. Despite Reacher's reluctance, Plum quickly proves himself a valuable asset and basically becomes a new member of the team by the third episode, "One Small Step." Thanks to a great performance by Weisman and Plum's crucial role within the narrative, this completely original character could end up serving the greater Reacher saga in unexpected ways.
'Reacher' Needs More Recurring Characters
Other than Frances Neagley (Maria Sten), who has appeared in Reacher's first three seasons, and Season 1's Detective Oscar Finlay (Malcolm Goodwin), who returned for a one-off guest appearance in Season 2, Ritchson's titular action hero is the only recurring character in the series so far. Child's books are mostly written as standalone adventures, with every installment resetting the story and location, and the series has generally followed suit. Yet with Sten now set to lead her own spin-off, Neagley, premiering next month, Reacher desperately needs other characters he can check back in with and ask for help.
Now that Reacher is in its fourth season, with a fifth on the way, the show needs to include more recurring characters, and Plum is the perfect candidate. Considering he's an expert investigative journalist who knows how to navigate the dark web, it makes him an invaluable asset to someone like Reacher, who does not own a computer and rarely searches the internet. Considering Weisman's great chemistry with Ritchson, the series could always use more of their dynamic, so provided Plum makes it out of Season 4 alive, he could be a great fit to return in future seasons of Reacher.
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