From the Jack Reacher universe, when her best friend from long ago childhood turns up dead under strange circumstances, former military turned private investigator Neagley determines to find the truth. 

So, Reacher is now up to Season freaking four. And apparently, the scenes with Neagley and Reacher were indeed popular enough to warrant Neagley her own shot at a show. Which, hey – a strong, badass woman who acknowledges her own bullsh*t and can throw down with any man, use all manner of weapons, and in general deserves her own show – we are here for it. Let’s hope everyone else is, too. 

So Tommy Crane (Jhaleil Swaby) went off in his birthday suit, and died of moth-to-train syndrome, somewhere out in the Chicago night. It was all quite sudden, and though Frances Neagley (Maria Sten) hasn’t spoken to Tommy in years, she feels plenty guilty enough, and has fond memories of Tommy enough, to attend his funeral and wake. Assured by his friends and family that Tommy would never do such a thing as kill himself, Neagley decides to investigate his death – honestly, she can’t help herself, and this start of the hunt is also why we’re here too. 

Enter Echo Canyon Farms, the home of the Jim Jones-like wannabe Lawrence Cole (Damon Herriman) and his wayward flock. The whole place is advertised as a home for troubled people, drug users and the like, mostly aimed at the teenager-aged bracket, a place where folk can come and turn their lives around through hard work, discipline, and … regurgitated folk-rock music? Sure – many would-be cult leaders had musical aspirations, just look at Charlie Manson. Strict rules and levels of ascension with names like “acolyte” add to the cult atmosphere, and the everyday stuff Cole can’t be bothered to run is governed with an iron fist by his second-in-command Judith Gray (Rebeca Liddiard). 

While Cole is enjoying the sexual favors of the females of his flock and justifying it with more Jonestown logic, more sinister activities abound in “the project”, a top-secret other barn with heavy security that followers strive to be chosen to join, but mysteriously never seem to come back from. A very out-of-place man in a suit, Pierce Woodrow (Matthew del Negro), is seen fairly often entering and leaving said secret barn, which of course leads to suspicion that he’s involved in whatever nefarious shenanigans are going on in there. 

These investigative shows can’t rely on just the main character for everything, so let’s introduce the supporting cast. First up is Renee Birdwhistle (Adeline Rudolph), Neaghley’s co-worker at the boss’ investigative offices, wanting to be an official PI but relegated to investigative administrative assistant, she has a real dislike-envy relationship with Neaghley going. Then there’s Detective Hudson Riley (Greyston Holt), whom most people at his precinct call “Rats” due to unfortunate family history, torn between doing his duty as a policeman, taking down corrupt fellow cops, and oh yeah, a growing admiration for the less-than-legal ways Neagley tends to deal with the issues that come up in this case. The street-smart kid that kind of adopts himself into Neagley’s growing gang, calling himself Keno (Jasper Jones), proves himself both useful and vulnerable, both knowing the streets and being willing to go undercover at Echo Canyon as he is. And in the periphery backstory for Neagley herself, we have her retired investigator father who is now sick enough to be on his death bed effectively, giving her sage advice while still hiding awful truths from his little girls past, for her own good. 

What makes Neagley, hopefully Season One, different from a lot of other similar shows is the simultaneous storylines, of both the initial death mystery and covered-up conspiracy, but also the story of the main character and her working through her on-going issues. Far too often the male hero of the show is gruff and tortured and PTSD-laden and unwilling to admit he really does need help until what is usually a determined and beautiful female lead comes along to convince him otherwise. Here instead we have a tough black woman who pretty freely admits to haphephobia (the fear of being touched) and other PTSD trauma, who will with a twitch and a grimace admit when she’s wrong, and still continue forward, as inexorable as the train who killed her childhood friend. We could all use that kind of willpower in our lives. 

Load yourself up a spike of Neagley and friends, on Amazon Prime now!