Warning: Contains spoilers for Reacher season 1.
In Amazon’s Reacher TV show, the character of Frances Neagley is introduced and appears standoffish because of her disinclination to touch people, but there is a deeper reason behind it. Neagley is shown to be a counterpart to Reacher, introduced in scenes where she is shown as just as formidable in combat, despite not having Alan Ritchson’s six-foot-five figure. Reacher and Neagley clearly have a history, but a lot is left unsaid in the series for viewers not familiar with the books.
Neagley (Maria Sten) is introduced in Amazon’s Reacher TV series when Reacher decides that the services of a trusted private detective would help in the Margrave situation. Neagley and Reacher served in the military together and when he was charged with setting up the U.S. Army 110th Military Police Special Investigations Unit, she was one of his first choices. When an officer offers to shake Neagley’s hand, she stares at it, and Reacher explains that she doesn’t like to touch people. When the two part ways at the end of the episode after almost being killed by one of the officers, Reacher and Neagley stand facing each other for a moment before, instead of shaking hands or hugging, they give each other a strange semi-ritualistic wave to say goodbye instead.
This wave in Reacher can make the two appear estranged or businesslike, but it is clear in other scenes that the two feel friendly towards each other and are happy to tease one another. In fact, this wave actually shows the depth and knowledge of the pair’s friendship and helps to further characterize their relationship. In Lee Child’s books, it is explained that Neagley has haphephobia, a rare condition that is identified by the fear of being touched or touching others. The semi-ritualistic nature of the wave makes it clear that this is a method of farewell that the two have developed over their years of close friendship to be able to communicate affection without triggering her haphephobia.
While Reacher season 1 is based on Lee Child’s first Jack Reacher book, Killing Floor, Neagley is not featured in that book and is not introduced as a character for the series until Without Fail, the sixth book in the series. The novels are more explicit about Neagley’s haphephobia and the matter is raised in the prequel novel Night School (set one year before the events of Killing Floor) by the NSA senior Deputy Marion Sinclair. Sinclair suggests that Neagley wants to sleep with Reacher, and Reacher assures him that their relationship is purely platonic – and, furthermore, explains that she has haphephobia. Sinclair inquires about whether it was caused by trauma, but again, Reacher shuts him down and explains she claims to have been born with it.
Introducing Neagley so much earlier in the Reacher TV series than she appears in Lee Child’s novels might seem like an odd choice from the showrunners. However, her role and relationship to Reacher makes her the perfect way to tie the series together. As Reacher moves from place to place, he is often one of the only consistent characters in the novels, and that element might strain audiences who could be surprised to not see Roscoe (Willa Fitzgerald) and Finlay (Malcolm Goodwin) return for Reacher season 2. With Neagley introduced as someone that Reacher can rely on wherever he is in the United States, she can easily appear in each season of Reacher and provide an important portrayal of a platonic relationship between a man and a woman.
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