The Season 3 finale of Reacher pits Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson) against his towering rival Paulie (Olivier “The Dutch Giant” Richters) in an extended, brutal brawl that feels like the cornerstone of the episode. After infiltrating a gun-smuggling ring and disrupting a major arms deal at a seaside estate, Reacher and Paulie face off in a scattershot fight that carries them through multiple locations, including a shed, a guardhouse and even a cliffside plunge into the ocean. It’s intense, long-form hand-to-hand combat and Reacher eventually wins, but not without serious effort and near-fails along the way.
The turning point comes when Reacher and Paulie wrestle over a huge machine gun: Paulie temporarily gains the upper hand, but Reacher manages to block the gun’s barrel and force it to explode in Paulie’s face. Reacher sums up the fight with a telling line, telling his dying opponent that while Paulie is bigger and stronger, Reacher is smarter — a classic payoff of the show’s methodical ingenuity versus brute force.
Elsewhere in the finale, Susan Duffy (Sonya Cassidy), the DEA agent who has worked with Reacher throughout the season, plays a key role in resolving other threads. Duffy helps rescue an undercover informant, Teresa, and later confirms to Reacher that he won’t be held legally responsible for killing arms dealer Quinn, because another force (in the story, the Russians) will take the blame.
On a personal front, the season closes without locking Reacher into a romantic relationship with Duffy. Although the two share moments of connection, they ultimately agree they aren’t looking for anything serious, leaving Reacher’s wandering life unchanged even after the emotional journey and shared danger of Season 3.
Reacher wins the epic brawl with Paulie, albeit in a bruising, hard-earned way; Duffy survives and helps wrap up the larger case, but doesn’t become a permanent partner for Reacher; and the season ends with justice meted out to the criminal elements and Reacher walking away still very much a lone wolf.
