Spoilers below for the fourth episode of Reacher Season 4 for anyone who hasn’t yet streamed it via Amazon Prime subscription, so be warned!One of TV’s most popular shows is back to its brutal habits over on Prime Video, with Alan Ritchson’s critically lauded fourth season of Reacher taking the derooted ex-soldier to Philadelphia to investigate a suicide that he inadvertently set in motion. The case teamed him with Sydelle Noel’s Det. Tamara Green, Christopher Marquette’s Off. Jacob Merrick, and Kevin Wiseman’s unfairly disgraced journalist, with each adding a different layer of personality to the group. I was mostly convinced Anna Merrick’s death would be fueling the entire fourth season. But then along came Episode 4, "Karambits and Pieces," which blew that assumption out of the water, while also answering arguably the biggest question of the season thus far: who’s the actual bad guy (so to speak)? The ep’s twisty ending revealed that Agnez Mo’s Lila and Anggun’s Amisha are the season’s big villains responsible for everything Reacher's crew has been investigating. It was a shocking move, and I think it'd be a huge red flag if just about any other TV show tried the same move. Let me explain...(Image credit: Prime Video)It's Usually A Bad Sign When A Show Wraps Up 90% Of Its Ongoing Narrative Midway Through A SeasonThe Streaming Era has set up certain expectations when a TV season only lasts 6-10 episodes, and Reacher has more or less adhered to those loose rules, specifically that seasons generally follow one overarching investigation, regardless of how many side quests come up along the way. It's a narrative anchor for viewers to latch onto from week to week, and it gives the main character(s) a clear and unmistakable goal to guide their actions. So anytime a series' creative team makes the decision to open the Clue envelope at the halfway point or earlier, it not only disrupts the story's flow, but often also deflates the pacing, since characters' catharsis and acceptance usually require a proper amount of focus to make the reveals land emotionally. As well, there's the unspoken notion that if a show is concluding a mystery at the halfway point, it wasn't strong enough to support the rest of the season. The clearest applicable example to bring up here is Twin Peaks, which could have easily kept its Laura Palmer mystery going for years on end, but David Lynch and Mark Frost were forced by ABC to cap off that storyline, setting in stone one of the biggest quality and interest drop-offs in TV history. (Even David Lynch said it "sucks.")All that said, Reacher manages to avoid sparking the same kind of downtrodden expectations after seemingly concluding the mystery of Anna and Ben's deaths. In part because this series is already as close to a seasonal anthology as a show can be without getting that distinction, and in part due to it being based on bestselling source material. As well, Reacher helped its case out by making the mid-point twist the launch point for the rest of the season. (Image credit: Prime Video)Revealing Lila And Amisha As The Antagonists Makes Me More Confident About The Rest Of Season 4Considering Lila and Amisha entered the story blatantly lying to Reacher, it's probably no huge surprise that the duo were also potentially lying about everything else, and were apparently responsible for Ben's death, and indirectly responsible for Anna's, as well as plenty of other nameless enforcer types. Had neither of them been in the story much thus far, I might be more bothered by this ep's final moments, but these women are fully enmeshed in Reacher's life and have gained his trust and other interests. So instead of Reacher looking like it's pulling a complete stop-and-go with its Season 4 mystery by wrapping up Anna and Ben's chapter, I think it comes across as a successful transition point for this arc, and makes the season feel like a proper two-parter. At least at this point. Maybe the next four episodes will go in completely different places that make everything I've said moot. But I have a pretty good feeling Reacher being arrested and framed in Episode 5 will not go well for anyone attempting to arrest and frame him. If any prediction I make in 2026 comes true, it's gonna be that one. So now the challenge is out there for other shows to try and best Reacher at pulling the rug out from a plotline in the middle of a season. As new episodes continue to pepper the 2026 TV schedule every Wednesday on Prime Video, Alan Ritchson is busy filming Season 5, huzzah!