‘Neagley’ is actually a better show than the one that spawned it, ‘Reacher,’ in more than a few different ways.
Amazon
I was perhaps unfairly skeptical that it was a good idea to make a Neagley spinoff of Reacher, which seemed like a somewhat cynical move to unnecessarily expand the universe just to keep things rolling between Reacher seasons. I was wrong.
Neagley is very good. Namely, because Maria Sten having her own show allows her to be more than just “Girl Reacher,” which is often how she came off in her Reacher appearances with limited screen time. And I am confident in saying that Neagley is a better show than Reacher, at least if we’re talking about the last few seasons (Reacher season 1 remains excellent).
Fans agree. Neagley season 1 is rated higher by audiences on both Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB than all Reacher seasons except the first. For some reason, critics continue to give insanely high scores to Reacher, like 98%s to seasons 2 and 3, though for Season 4, Neagley and Reacher are tied at 94%. Neagley is much better.
The difference is pretty clear, and based on two main factors:
Neagley herself is given a lot more dimension than Reacher. Reacher is mainly just tough guy who punches things and kills people. He’s strong, he’s actually very smart, but he is meant to be sort of an enigma. We learn little about his past, aside from brief glimpses of his MP days. He is upset when people he knows or even random innocent people are killed, but it’s just brushing against the surface of his character. I’m not saying this doesn’t work, but it’s a stark contrast to Neagley.
Neagley is allowed to let the character actually feel things. She is still just as much of a badass as Reacher, even though she isn’t built like a semi-truck, but her show dove into her past already, in meaningful ways, including a subplot about a disorder she has that is extremely compelling. Her relationships feel deeper than just “guy is friend because we solve case” or “girl has sex because girl exists,” which is what we get with Reacher. She’s a more well-rounded character without question.
Secondly is how Neagley treats its side-characters as, well, actual characters. Almost all of the time in Reacher, the rotating side characters in each season seem like accessories, rather than actual individuals (minus Neagley, of course). In Neagley, there is significant time devoted to each character’s story to give them their own conflicts and relationships with each other outside of Neagley entirely. The world does not 100% revolve around her in her series. The show feels much more like a traditional drama, and it works well. Again, not that Reacher has to change itself to fit into the same mold, but I do think Neagley is the better series for it. I would say all Reacher fans should watch it, and even non-Reacher fans may like it better than the original.
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