By now, it’s no secret that Reacher Season 3 has its ups and downs.
On the one hand, the season produced some of its most provocative and impressive work regarding episodes like Dominique.
However, on the other hand, the season has had a Duffy problem from the start.
Unfortunately, at the risk of piling on that last point, Reacher Season 3 Episode 7 evoked the most cringe-worthy Duffy moments to date.
We get it. Reacher is a drifter who traipses in and out of various towns and states. He has a knack for finding trouble and inserting himself into dangerous situations.
In addition, he’s prone to finding romance along the way, resulting in some brief lovers. He’s an attractive man with a body like a tank, and he’s upfront about remaining a wanderer rather than pursuing long-term relationships.
With a guy like Jack Reacher, you know what you’ll get and enjoy the ride for what it is. Pun unintended.
No one is tuning into a series like Reacher for the romance. Personally, I feel more genuine love, passion, and warmth from any moment Reacher shares with his protege Neagley than ANY of his love interests along the way.
I appreciate a series that showcases the transcendent bond between a man and his best friend, mentee, or platonic soul mate.
Romantic and sexual relationships tend to take precedence over other dynamics in many series these days, and often, it can be to a show’s detriment.
Maybe that’s why Reacher’s “romance” with Duffy is particularly grating this season.
During Reacher Season 1, even though I wasn’t especially moved by Reacher and Roscoe, in hindsight, the series did a decent job establishing the foundation of his and Roscoe’s relationship.
They built on whatever chemistry they had more organically.
Reacher Season 2’s romance with Dixon primarily worked well enough because she and Reacher already had an established history. The series didn’t have to build a romance and connection while prioritizing the bigger plot points.
However, Susan Duffy is the weakest love interest of the series yet. The problem is that they don’t have that type of chemistry and never built it. Duffy’s gorgeous, no question, but there hasn’t been actual heat between the two this whole time.
Sure, Duffy finds him attractive in the way that anyone could appreciate his physique. The man has spent most of the season half-naked in some capacity or another.
Reacher developed a fondness for Duffy based on respect and understanding, but there hasn’t been a hint of genuine sexual tension or chemistry between the two.
Even that random kiss between the pair in the alleyway was awkward (not to mention contrived). It was only a blatant plot point so Richard could discover the truth about Reacher’s identity.
And I won’t even get into the discomfort of Duffy planting one on him without warning and implying that he was culpable.
The whole thing was played up for laughs, and for anyone who actually found the kiss more amusing than cringe, it was precisely because Reacher and Duffy didn’t have that type of chemistry in the first place.
But then Reacher Season 3 Episode 7 gave us yet another Reacher/Duffy makeout session, the pair having sex, and then references to their sex life, including that bit about Duffy getting rug burn on her derriere.
And it was about as offputting as the time I walked in on a relative in flagrante delicto and seriously contemplated washing my own eyeballs out with soap.
Can you imagine that grating accent while, actually, you know what? Nevermind.
If there was ever a season in which Reacher could’ve skipped “Reacher Gets Laid,” it was this one.
He had more potential heat with the ATF/Maid anyway.
The running gag of Duffy appreciating Reacher’s physique was more than enough. Ironically, those were among Duffy’s most endearing moments.
Interestingly, the series even made Duffy’s obsession with Teresa a bit more tolerable by inserting a too-little, too-late visit to Theresa’s grandmother to garner sympathy from viewers and soften Reacher to Duffy’s cause.
Frankly, they should’ve done this earlier in the season. By the end, most of our feelings were firm, and the odds of shifting them were slim.
In short, Teresa’s grandmother was endearing.
Ideally, they’ll rescue her from psychopathic Quinn, but I still don’t have any emotional attachment to this character, and I fear I’d simply pass away from alcohol poisoning if I took a shot every time they uttered her name.
However, the little work they did to aid in the complicated Duffy feelings went out the window when they thrust this ill-conceived romance on us.
Because following up on that, we had to witness Duffy’s switch-up, which read as if the second she had sex with Reacher, it suddenly meant she had some control and influence over him, and he’d do whatever she wanted or follow his lead.
Sometimes, a lay is just a lay, Susan Duffy! Her hoo-ha wasn’t nearly magical enough to keep Reacher from wanting to put a bullet in Quinn.
Duffy suddenly playing the cop card at her convenience, backing out of everything she said and agreed to with Reacher when she needed his help for her unsanctioned investigation, and still harping on Teresa came across like she was emboldened after getting her lust for Reacher out of her system.
And her line about how she didn’t want her protege to be like Reacher’s, comparing Teresa to Kohl, was particularly grating since, you know, she got her rookie murdered. Elliot’s ghost would love a word, Duffy!
Even if we assume that shifting the nature of Reacher and Duffy’s relationship was crucial to serve the plot and add an extra layer of tension, I’m standing firm that it wasn’t necessary.
Over to you, Reacher Fanatics. Are you feeling the heat between Reacher and Duffy, or did they just make you cringe? Let’s hear it below!
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