Summary:
- Reacher calls Neagley as ‘Master Sergeant’ in the final scene of Season 2 before they part ways.
- The two don’t make contact while shaking hands, which symbolizes their admiration and mutual understanding for each other’s complex personal lives.
‘Reacher’ season 2’s final scene features an emotionally surcharged parting sequence between Reacher and Neagley. This conversation reveals a deeper level of friendship between the two main characters.
Reacher’s bond with Frances Neagley is really special, and we get instances of their closeness throughout the show. In season 1, Neagley is the first-person Reacher summons after the Margrave debacle. Furthermore, Reacher participates in the New Age Investigation in season 2 only because of Neagley.
Therefore, it is fitting for the makers to architect a touching scene featuring the two before they say their last goodbyes. Having saved the entire nation, Reacher and Neagley greet each goodbye as the former prepares to take full advantage of his shiny new bus pass.
Although the scene is very subtle, the final farewell between Reacher and Neagley contains several subtle and profound connotations.
Reacher refers to Neagley as ‘Master Sergeant’ in the dying scenes of the season 2 finale. This is important because no one refers to each other by their ranks in the 110th Special Investigations Team. Moreover, no crew member is in the military now, so the ranks are irrelevant.
Despite that, Reacher calling Neagley by her rank highlights his utmost respect and admiration for her.
Season 2’s flashbacks make it clear that Neagley was demeaned because of her rank when she first joined the team. In the season premiere, some officers throw Neagley out of a bar because of her low rank. Even Reacher taunts her by reminding them that everyone outranks Neagley.
In the past, Neagley’s measly ‘Master Sergeant’ rank has always been a reminder of her place in the pecking order. However, in the final sequence of season 2, Reacher flips it on its head and turns the insult into something extremely positive!
Reacher is famously known as someone who’s very distant from his emotions, and Neagley tries to break that shell in the final moments of season 2.
She tells him that the Special Investigators are not just his “team” or “friends,” but something deeper. She fails to extract a tangible reaction from the man-mountain. However, when someone on the bus asks him why he was in New York, he says, “visiting family.”
So, why did Reacher ignore Neagley’s comment and open up to a random bus passenger? Turns out that the man-mountain fears using the F-word because of the unspeakable trauma that he’s gone through in the past.
Therefore, taking baby steps toward emotional recovery is the way to go.
Confiding his latent emotions in a random bus passenger is a big step in itself. Perhaps saying that in front of Neagley is a challenge for season 3!
Throughout the series, Frances Neagley consciously avoids physical contact with the characters (notably breaking that rule when Russo dies in season 2).
Neagley’s haphephobia, i.e., her terror of being touched, stems from a traumatic childhood, as Reacher reveals in Lee Child’s novels. That’s why Reacher doesn’t touch Neagley’s hands in the final moments of season 2. It is yet another glimpse at the complex personalities of the characters.
As the characters reach out to shake each other’s hands, the cushion of air between the palms signifies the mutual understanding of the characters. Reacher respects Neagley’s haphephobia, while she understands Reacher’s aversion to showing emotions.
The two may not relate to each other’s problems, but mutual respect and understanding are things that are never missing between the two.
About Reacher
Developed by Nick Santora, Amazon Prime’s Reacher is an American action crime streaming television series based on the books of Lee Child.
Starring Alan Ritchson as Jack Reacher the show revolves around a murder investigation in the small town of Margrave, Georgia. When Jack Reacher is arrested for a murder he did not commit, he finds himself in the middle of a deadly conspiracy full of dirty cops, shady businessmen, and scheming politicians. He needs to figure out what’s happening using his wits and escape out of this embroilment.
The show has been renewed for a second season and will premiere on December 14, 2023.
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