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I watched the first episode yesterday eve... and then because of the boil water order, didnt go out.... and proceeded to binge the whole fucking thing. 

 

Its real tough not to keep thinking about Blue Mountain State Thad... but I was very surprised about how I realized it was formulaic, but I kept watching.

especially liked how episodes 3 and 4 ended and episode 5,6 started at exactly the same point, so I kept watching episode after episode. 

I was thinking it was going to absolutely suck.

turned out reasonably well, I give it a 7/10

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From the streaming service that brought you Bosch and Jack Ryan, this show skews waaaaay more towards the latter in acting, writing, and direction.  Longmire meets Roadhouse meets Scooby Doo.  Much like Jack Ryan, as soon as I got over the disappointment over what it could have been, It was fine.  

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13 hours ago, AUS-97HORN said:

I watched the first episode yesterday eve... and then because of the boil water order, didnt go out.... and proceeded to binge the whole fucking thing. 

 

Its real tough not to keep thinking about Blue Mountain State Thad... but I was very surprised about how I realized it was formulaic, but I kept watching.

especially liked how episodes 3 and 4 ended and episode 5,6 started at exactly the same point, so I kept watching episode after episode. 

I was thinking it was going to absolutely suck.

turned out reasonably well, I give it a 7/10

Those are the Lee Child books in a nutshell....and I don't care.  They are a fun read and the character is great.  Rehashing the old "pale rider" theme that comes into town, and trouble finds him and injustice is not overlooked.  For what it is, it's entertaining and doesn't take itself too seriously.

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17 hours ago, Not a cat said:

Roscoe would get it.  A little polite but I'm willing to make exceptions.

Bruce McGill is a longhorn, just FYI.

She gets it alright. About halfway through. It’s okay. Movies were better done. Actor’s physical appearance is certainly better than Cruise but he’s no Cruise. Read all the books. Killing Floor was one of the worst. Child told a dumb story and it comes through in the series. 

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4 hours ago, BabaYaga said:

Those are the Lee Child books in a nutshell....and I don't care.  They are a fun read and the character is great.  Rehashing the old "pale rider" theme that comes into town, and trouble finds him and injustice is not overlooked.  For what it is, it's entertaining and doesn't take itself too seriously.

And of course he always bangs the hot chick in town.

2 hours ago, Scary Stranger said:

Actually crying is probably out of that guy's range.

There's no crying in kicking bad guy's asses

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Those are the Lee Child books in a nutshell....and I don't care.  They are a fun read and the character is great.  Rehashing the old "pale rider" theme that comes into town, and trouble finds him and injustice is not overlooked.  For what it is, it's entertaining and doesn't take itself too seriously.

This. I’ve read most of them and thoroughly enjoyed them. I’m enjoying this season in slow-mode… two episodes in and it’s great so far
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13 hours ago, BabaYaga said:

Those are the Lee Child books in a nutshell....and I don't care.  They are a fun read and the character is great.  Rehashing the old "pale rider" theme that comes into town, and trouble finds him and injustice is not overlooked.  For what it is, it's entertaining and doesn't take itself too seriously.

The series was simple, fun entertainment. While Reacher seems to be a pretty two-dimensional character, the sidekicks carried the movie. The dynamics between Reacher and Finlay and Reacher and Neagley were some of the best parts of the show. It was refreshing to have the bad guys have a simple motive - GREED - vs. some complicated, overwrought motives. And the Venezuelans and the Klinger cousin giving him all he could handle was refreshing.

For bookfags, does Child ever go into a little detail about Reacher's backstory and motivation, or is it pretty straightforward: for whatever reason guy just likes wandering around the country.

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27 minutes ago, Harrison Bergeron said:

... For bookfags, does Child ever go into a little detail about ... whatever reason guy just likes wandering around the country.

He deliberately created Reacher to be a vehicle that could sell many books.  I remember reading some prologue or something where he explained his thought process in creating the character to carry a series.

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Season met my expectations. Kinda like watching Justified…I guess the small town feel.

It go a lil corny in the end.  And everything seems to work out and all his assumptions/ theories are alway spot on, but that’s his specialty / skill so I roll with it.  Still enjoyed it.

End baddies were lame and not shocking.  

Question for book fans:

does he always roll as a minimalist? Walk everywhere. It’s casual clothes and pistol usually.  Especially going into the final battle with hardly any weapons or gear. Looked surprised when he ran out of ammo in his pistol. Lol

 

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42 minutes ago, utxmike05 said:

Season met my expectations. Kinda like watching Justified…I guess the small town feel.

It go a lil corny in the end.  And everything seems to work out and all his assumptions/ theories are alway spot on, but that’s his specialty / skill so I roll with it.  Still enjoyed it.

End baddies were lame and not shocking.  

Question for book fans:

does he always roll as a minimalist? Walk everywhere. It’s casual clothes and pistol usually.  Especially going into the final battle with hardly any weapons or gear. Looked surprised when he ran out of ammo in his pistol. Lol

 

It's kind of a trope that he has fun playing with.  Either it'll be getting surprised and it's "oh hell, it's badguy time" and he's underprepared, or it's time to fully arm up and eviscerate a militia's worth of chumps during a video game-style compound clearing.  At least some of the books have a continuity, so there are a few where he's dealing with physical limitations from the events of the prior book.  Those are a little more interesting, in my opinion.

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1 hour ago, Harrison Bergeron said:

The series was simple, fun entertainment. While Reacher seems to be a pretty two-dimensional character, the sidekicks carried the movie. The dynamics between Reacher and Finlay and Reacher and Neagley were some of the best parts of the show. It was refreshing to have the bad guys have a simple motive - GREED - vs. some complicated, overwrought motives. And the Venezuelans and the Klinger cousin giving him all he could handle was refreshing.

For bookfags, does Child ever go into a little detail about Reacher's backstory and motivation, or is it pretty straightforward: for whatever reason guy just likes wandering around the country.

One of the later books is about when he left the army and goes into the backstory

The Reacher books aren’t great literature, but they are a fun read and you know what you’re going to get going in just like the Mitch Rapp and Gray Man series.

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8 hours ago, utxmike05 said:

 

Question for book fans:

does he always roll as a minimalist? Walk everywhere. It’s casual clothes and pistol usually.  Especially going into the final battle with hardly any weapons or gear. Looked surprised when he ran out of ammo in his pistol. Lol

 

Yes. Clothes on back, cash and a tooth brush. That’s all he ever has in the books. Finds a local thrift store to replace his one outfit when other gets too bloody. 
 

As for the backstory?  They touch on it through the book series. MP in namm, football, the guy they sent with a flashlight and pistol into enemy caves etc etc. 

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This was a fun series. I am looking forward to season 2 but I have a feeling things will get cookie cutter pretty quick.

Season two: Reacher strolls into a town, discovers some injustice, makes some friends and enemies while plowing a local gal and kills a bunch of bad guys.

 

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10 hours ago, Harrison Bergeron said:

 

For bookfags, does Child ever go into a little detail about Reacher's backstory and motivation, or is it pretty straightforward: for whatever reason guy just likes wandering around the country.

The first Tom Cruise movie summed it up better than the series.  Remember that scene with the lawyer in the office at night overlooking others in buildings slaving away?  How he challenges the lawyer about "who is really free?"  

Oft quoted is Reacher's past:  raised in a military family, educated in a military school, then a career in the military.  He wants freedom and as mentioned in the series, to see the country he defended.

I think Lee Child borrowed from the "Pale Rider" theme myself, and this backstory helps him achieve it.  

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18 minutes ago, F250 said:

Season two: Reacher strolls into a town, discovers some injustice, makes some friends and enemies while plowing a local gal and kills a bunch of bad guys.

 

You just described the plot of all of the books. It is what it is.  

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23 hours ago, Porterhouse said:

Read all the books. Killing Floor was one of the worst. Child told a dumb story and it comes through in the series. 

In Child's defense, how many different ways can you write that a small town in the middle of butt-fucking nowhere is the home base to a massive international criminal conspiracy?

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1 hour ago, ChickenSandwich said:

Yes. Clothes on back, cash and a tooth brush. That’s all he ever has in the books. Finds a local thrift store to replace his one outfit when other gets too bloody. 
 

As for the backstory?  They touch on it through the book series. MP in namm, football, the guy they sent with a flashlight and pistol into enemy caves etc etc. 

There is one book called The Affair that is basically a prequel that is set while he is still in the Army and is about the events that led to his retirement and hobo lifestyle.

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5 minutes ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

There is one book called The Affair that is basically a prequel that is set while he is still in the Army and is about the events that led to his retirement and hobo lifestyle.

 

There are a couple of other prequels:  The Enemy (#8), Night School (#21), then The Affair and Killing Floor.  I haven't read The Affair.  I looked back at my reading list and I haven't read 4,6,8,12,16.  Probably will correct that now.  I hope season 2 uses Tripwire (Book 3) instead of Die Trying. Tripwire is one of my favorite Reacher books.

 

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56 minutes ago, davidg said:

You just described the plot of all of the books. It is what it is.  

Was going to say this too.  I describe the reacher books as Harlequin romance novels for men- escapist fantasy all of us desk jockeys wish we could be.  Stroll into town, kick some asses, bang a hottie or two, right some wrongs, then move on no strings attached.

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48 minutes ago, aggie08 said:

In Child's defense, how many different ways can you write that a small town in the middle of butt-fucking nowhere is the home base to a massive international criminal conspiracy?

I don’t know but this one was a particularly bad story. I’ve read pretty much all the books and remember thinking that at the time when I read Killing Floor.

I’m enjoying the series, though. About halfway through. Reacher and Roscoe come to conclusions way too quickly, though. It’s almost like a MacGruber sketch.  I also do not remember Finlay being a .38 Special fan. 

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