Neagley

The last thing a new addition to the Reacher-verse should do is take itself seriously – and Neagley soon finds its groove as a wham-bam romp and lands its punches with verve.

It’s not an innovative or particularly surprising thriller, but the personnel are easy to root for and, at the centre, Sten is a strong lead, making Neagley somehow impervious and deeply sensitive, acutely emotionally intelligent but unable to control her own feelings.

There’s a bewildering number of justifiable homicides in this show, and very abrupt and brutal violence considering how relatively sunny and non-noirish the entire production is. But Frances does get a lot of legal mileage out of her relentlessly pugnacious attitude.

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.

Season 1 does a good job laying the foundation for a stronger, more confident sophomore outing.

If you like Reacher, you’ll like Neagley – especially if, like its progenitor did, it gains more confidence and starts to allow a little levity to creep in.

While Sten performs capably in the (sporadic, perfunctory) action scenes, her taciturn protagonist declaring that “I don’t have trauma” can’t reverse psychology the viewer into genuine curiosity. That’s because Neagley is a collection of hard-surface, soft-heart tropes that never achieve independent momentum.

Though the story was a bit messy, it was a fun, interesting ride. Despite its title, this is more of an ensemble show. I actually liked all of the characters, even the silly villains. Each of them got satisfying narrative arcs, which takes real writing chops to pull off. I hope we see these characters again, and that their growth sticks!

I like Reacher and I would rate Reacher 7. But this spin-off is not as good. The best part of it was the Reacher character as a guest actor. But, I've only watched one episode. I'll come back later and maybe I'll like it better if the writing improves.

The story is a bit convoluted with too many moving parts. Too many of the scenes were not believable. The acting was so, so. The crew was indifferent and didn't really draw me to the group - that's what this kind of show is about. We'd rate this: "it's worth watching but isn't that great. It could get better next season."

More of the same drivel. Not once did I believe anything I was watching was possible or even cool. Hard pass.

This is unwatchable girlboss dreck. Stripped of everything that made its parent series punchy, Neagley is a lifeless, leaden spin-off that completely forgets how to build momentum. With a painfully thin plot, flat pacing, and an utter lack of on-screen gravity, it drags itself across the finish line like a low-budget chore. Without a heavy-hitter presence to anchor it, the series collapses under the weight of its own boring tropes and uninspired writing. An absolute waste of time that completely misses the mark. Reacher + DEI = this crap