Reacher’s Duffy is Tap Dancing on My Last Nerve

Susan Duffy is Reacher Season 3's most polarizing character, but one primary issue is hindering her development. We discuss it here!

The post Reacher’s Duffy is Tap Dancing on My Last Nerve appeared first on TV Fanatic.

Here’s the thing, Susan Duffy is another one of those polarizing characters that fans either love or hate.

 

It’s become par for the course for Reacher (among many series), and sometimes the Duffy hate can be too much. 

Yes, her accent is as annoying as nails on a chalkboard and an interesting character choice. But alas, it gets people talking and makes her memorable, so it’s effective in some regard. 

And as far as Reacher’s “love interest” goes, the season hasn’t given us much to work with here, predictably. 

While I have zero interest in which lucky lady gets to climb that tree every season (giddy-up, ladies, I love that for you), I can still admit that they haven’t exactly played into the love interest portion of this series well since Reacher Season 1‘s Roscoe. 

• Netflix’s Adolescence is the Most Riveting Crime Drama of the Year; Nothing Will Come Close
  by Jasmine Blu
• 7 Ways Boston Blue Could Use Other Reagans To Tie It To Blue Bloods
  by Jack Ori
• Colter Shaw and Billie Matalon Should Never Partner Up Permanently on Tracker
  by Whitney Evans

But that’s neither here nor there. 

Duffy genuinely has some amusing moments, and she and Reacher play off one another well enough to keep a girl entertained whenever they’re onscreen. 

However, when it comes to fleshing out characters even microscopically, Duffy is so frustratingly one-dimensional that it can sometimes be jarring in an otherwise strong season. 

I sincerely hope none of you are playing drinking games every time that woman utters the name “Teresa.” You’d have better luck recuperating from a Paulie right hook than recovering from the hangover from that drinking game. 

Duffy’s Teresa obsession is mind-numbingly irritating, and her level of tunnel-vision is beyond comprehension and plausibility. 

Duffy didn’t even give a damn about Teresa when she was strongarming and blackmailing a teenager girl to go undercover in a dangerous operation, so why on earth should we care about her?

Duffy’s connection to Reacher during this entire case is the two collaborating so he can take out Quinn and she can save Teresa. 

They’ve nailed that point home at least half a dozen times every episode, when Duffy whines about Teresa because she needs to do something to assuage her own guilt. 

It’s actually something that could be interesting on its own, if the show ever bothered to do more with it. Instead, we had a poorly drawn parallel that didn’t work between Duffy and Reacher where she somehow felt her actions with Teresa mirrored his with Kohl. 

• Reacher’s Duffy is Tap Dancing on My Last Nerve
  by Jasmine Blu
• 9-1-1’s Cowardice Is Why It’ll Never Compete or Realize Its Full Potential
  by Denis Kimathi
• Colter Shaw and Billie Matalon Should Never Partner Up Permanently on Tracker
  by Whitney Evans

Um, yeah, NO. Not even remotely close to the same situation, sorry, Duffy, my girl.

But all season, we’ve been watching Duffy undermine her own motivations when she’s basically putting everyone at risk and letting so many people die just to save one girl we only just found out is still alive. 

If the entire point is that Duffy is reckless, impulsive, a terribly misguided agent who wants to make up for placing Teresa in a terrible position and potentially costing the young woman her life, then consistently putting Reacher at risk, turning the other way as other bodies rack up, contributing to Elliot’s tragically predictable death, and not batting an eye at the dead made/ATF agent isn’t the way to go, no?

How much blood is Duffy okay with spilling to save one girl? And if we’re learning that there’s trafficking happening, do the others simply not matter?

It’s Reacher. The series is just solid fun, and we’re not meant to take much of it too seriously. But even keeping that in mind, Duffy’s narrow scope when driving forward the plot is grating.

Her actions are often incongruent with what’s behind her motivations. For someone who loves her mentor so much, it remains baffling that she still has a man five months shy of retirement in the thick of an unsanctioned investigation that could kill what remains of his career or worse yet end his life. 

And for a woman who knew that Elliot was a perpetual screwup and too green, it defied logic to keep the rookie prone for error with their hostage for pretty much the entirety of the investigation. 

Even Elliot’s death doesn’t change Duffy’s motivations or expand them. Her vengeance is about Teresa and nothing else.

It was the perfect time for things to shift and for the series to expound on Duffy a bit more. At least we spent time with and knew Elliot. 

We don’t know anything about Teresa. She didn’t get any background episodes or flashbacks to the degree of Dominique Kohl, who left a stellar, lasting impression in a single episode.

• Genre TV Shows That Deserve a Reboot (Because They Had a Great Premise but Failed in Execution)
  by Carissa Pavlica
• Black Female Characters Who Made TV Better and Left Us Wanting More
  by Whitney Evans
• Audacious Smashup TV Crossovers That Would Be So Epic
  by Carissa Pavlica

Hell, even the maid/ATF agent was someone we spent enough time with to actually feel the weight of her death, even if they did move on quickly with that as well.

It’s unfortunate that Duffy has made her entire personality obsessing over Teresa because, unfortunately, I can’t bring myself to care—which subsequently extends to Duffy, too. 

Over to you, Reacher Fanatics. Are you sick of hearing about Teresa? How do you feel about Duffy? Let’s hear your thoughts below!

Watch Reacher Online

TV Fanatic is searching for passionate writers to share their voices across various article types. Think you have what it takes to be a TV Fanatic? Click here for more information and next steps.

The post Reacher’s Duffy is Tap Dancing on My Last Nerve appeared first on TV Fanatic.