Reacher Season 3, Episode 3 introduced a sinister man named Julius McCabe who may be far more dangerous than viewers realize.
The new season of the gripping Prime Video series sees Alan Ritchson's Jack Reacher (or just, Reacher) going on an undercover mission for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to retrieve a classified informant who is being held captive inside the shady business of a man named Zachary Beck.
In the latest episode, it is later revealed that Beck is not the true big boss of his operations. Instead, he is reporting to someone named Julius McCabe.
Who is Julius McCabe in Reacher Season 3?
Julius McCabe's presence doesn't factor into the plot until he is mentioned by Richard Beck in Reacher Season 3, Episode 3.
Richard tells Reacher that Julius McCabe is Zachary Beck's boss, meaning that he is the true mastermind behind the operations.
It also seems like everyone (including the 7'2" Paulie) is scared of this man due to his reputation of being a ruthless leader.
After Reacher saves Richard from his bullies, he finally unveils the truth to him.
McCabe took over Zachary Beck's business, with him being described as the one who "runs every aspect of [their] lives." He uses Richard as a way to scare Beck to "keep [him] in line."
McCabe was even the one who kidnapped Richard and cut off his ear to send a message to Beck that it's his business now, seemingly exploiting the love for his son as his weakness.
This new big bad uses Beck's connections in his rug business, Bizarre Bazaar, as a means to illegally transport guns and sell them to the highest bidder.
Meanwhile, during Duffy and Villanueava's stakeout, they manage to capture an image of Julius McCabe.
It turns out that he is none other than the guy Reacher is trying to hunt down: Francis Xavier Quinn (played by Brian Tee who is part of Reacher Season 3's star-studded cast), but the two DEA agents have no idea about the connection.
Julius McCabe & Reacher's Past Explained
Not much is known about why Reacher is after Xavier Quinn aside from the fact that he was the one whom he was investigating in the past during his military days. However, the answer can be found in the book that Season 3 is based on.
In Lee Child's The Persuader, Xavier Quinn is a former Military Intelligence officer who sold classified information to hostile nations.
During his time as part of the 110th Investigation Unit, Reacher worked together with a female military officer named Dominique Kohl to investigate and eventually arrest Quinn.
However, Quinn brutally killed Kohl in cold blood, leaving Reacher no choice but to kill him by shooting him in the head (read more about Reacher Season 3's major changes from the book).
In Reacher Season 3, Episode 1, Reacher unexpectedly sees Quinn alive and well, which is why he agrees to join forces with the DEA to try and find him and put an end to his evil ways.
But how did Quinn survive? Duffy has the answer.
During their investigation, Duffy reveals that Quinn managed to survive because the bullet that lodged inside his skull was a small-caliber one.
As Duffy points out, the freezing water saved him due to hypothermia (decreased oxygen demand prevented brain damage) and he now has traumatic amnesia, meaning that he doesn't remember what happened to him during that fateful night.
Given that Quinn is now posing as Julius McCabe, it seems that he is now looking to create more problems for the country, and it will be up to Reacher to deliver on his unfinished business to defeat him once and for all.
New episodes of Reacher Season 3 premiere every Thursday on Prime Video at midnight PT (read more about its official release schedule here).
