It happens often enough to seem inevitable. Time passes, and old friends we adore fall out of touch. Nobody plans it. The feelings haven’t changed. Yet life moves in different directions, and fond memories become more frequent than phone calls. Most of the time there’s time to fix that. Frances Neagley (Maria Sten) doesn’t have that option.
She’s busy working cases and coming to the rescue whenever her military mentor, Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson), needs her. She doesn’t have room in her schedule to check on her childhood friend, Tommy (Jhaleil Swaby)—not until she’s speaking at his funeral. His parents have suspicions, Neagley has suspicions, and although her father tells her she’s avoiding his fatal illness, the private investigator in her goes to work.
Based on the character created by novelist Lee Child, Maria Sten takes the reins of her own series in “Neagley.” The “Reacher” spinoff hits streaming on Prime Video on September 16, but there’s no chance to catch your breath. The top two members of the Army’s 110th Special Investigations Unit immediately hurl us into the breakneck action of a ransom exchange.
Neagley is a character that every “Reacher” fan has fallen for. With good reason. Sten is incredible at crafting a Neagley who is tangible and fierce, while remaining (if you know the character) untouchable. She suffers from haphephobia, or touch aversion. The trauma behind that central character trait is revealed in this first season of the Chicago-based series. The character development is tragic but appreciated. Every plotline is related to her friend Tommy’s case, and as Neagley curb-stomps everyone involved, she gains a team of her own—totally against her will. Our girl is a loner by choice, but she’s soon working with Detective Hudson Riley (Greyston Holt), the hustling street kid Keno (Jasper Jones), and wannabe Junior P.I. Renee (Adeline Rudolph).
Following the trail of a creepy narcotic that even Wonderland would reject for tripping too hard leads the Neagley Gang to a cult. One more sinister than the usual. So that’s bad. Especially once we meet the cult leader Lawrence Cole (Damon Herriman), who’s never without his groovy sunglasses. Herriman knows his way around a cult thriller; after all, he has a history of playing Charles Manson. He did it twice (“Once Upon A Time … in Hollywood,” the second season of “Mindhunter“). He’s done it again with a character oozing enough toxicity to trigger a gag reflex.
Allow me to break the suspense: this show isn’t “Reacher.” The pacing isn’t slower but steadier, darker but less brutal. The action sequences are ballistic, while the plot has enough twists and payoffs to make the ride worth it. It’s just so serious. Even with sprinkles of humor, it’s perhaps too serious for the Reacher-verse. It’s true: “Neagley”‘s sedate tone aligns with the lead character’s personality. The tongue-in-cheek swagger in “Reacher” does the same, but the spin-off could use more contrast to bring Neagley into fuller fruition. The connection would be stronger if Neagley’s world wasn’t painted in the same colors as she is—contrast makes for better focus.
However, in its most touching moments, this is a show about fathers and their children, father figures and their protégés, and parentless kids of all ages searching for family. What’s missing from a solid, if not yet fully realized, debut season is that while “Reacher” has a Francis Neagley, “Neagley” doesn’t have a Jack Reacher.
The big guy makes an appearance or two, the performances are seamless, and the cast works well together, but the characters themselves lack dynamism. The secondaries in “Reacher”‘s fourth season, led by Sydelle Noel, are dynamic but complicated, with idiosyncrasies, likes and dislikes. The Neagley Gang presents more like bundles of goals and backstory wrapped in archetypal veneers: the mobster son trying to be a good cop, the plucky street kid seeking connection, the posh woman looking to prove herself. That is not a dig at the actors. They play the roles they were given well; I just wish they’d been given more to play with.
Still, you cannot miss Sten taking the lead as the untouchable Neagley; she does not miss. Go ahead and try her.
