Prime Video’s ‘Reacher’ and ‘Yellowstone’ Mash-Up Is a Shocking Streaming Success
Chris is a Senior News Writer for Collider. He can be found in an IMAX screen, with his eyes watering and his ears bleeding for his own pleasure. He joined the news team in 2022 and accidentally fell upwards into a senior position despite his best efforts.
For reasons unknown, he enjoys analyzing box office receipts, giant sharks, and has become known as the go-to man for all things Bosch, Mission: Impossible and Christopher Nolan in Collider’s news division. Recently, he found himself yeehawing along to the Dutton saga on the Yellowstone Ranch.
He is proficient in sarcasm, wit, Photoshop and working unfeasibly long hours. Amongst his passions sit the likes of the history of the Walt Disney Company, the construction of theme parks, steam trains and binge-watching Gilmore Girls with a coffee that is just hot enough to scald him.
His obsession with the Apple TV+ series Silo is the subject of mockery within the Senior News channel, where his feelings about Taylor Sheridan‘s work are enough to make his fellow writers roll their eyes.
For all the violence and chaos that swirl around Yellowstone and Taylor Sheridan’s TV empire, those shows are still fundamentally dramas. Reacher, on the other hand, is simplistic but brutal. Blue Ridge sits right in the middle, pulling from both lanes in a way that feels surprisingly natural. Blue Ridge: The Series is a 2024 action drama that originally aired on the Cowboy Way Channel and is now available to stream via Amazon Freevee. The six-episode season stars Johnathon Schaech as Justin Wise, a former Green Beret who’s now the sheriff of a small mountain town tucked away in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Appalachia.
Justin’s trying to rebuild a quieter life, reconnecting with his ex-wife Elli (Sarah Lancaster) and his daughter Maddie (Taegen Burns). Naturally, that peace doesn’t last long. The show is a procedural, so there’s a crime of the week and new cases popping up all the time, but in the background there’s always a simmering tension bubbling away for the whole season. Each episode peels back another layer of the town’s secrets until everything comes to a head in a dramatic, cliffhanger ending. The good news is that Season 2 is already on the way, so viewers won’t be left hanging for long.
Why ‘Yellowstone’ and ‘Reacher’ Fans Should Check Out ‘Blue Ridge’
This is where Blue Ridge really clicks. Like Yellowstone, the show leans heavily into sweeping landscapes, rugged masculinity, and the idea of one man standing between order and total chaos. There’s a sense of place that matters; the land is part of the story, but at the same time, Blue Ridge borrows from Reacher’s playbook when it comes to pacing and attitude. Justin Wise isn’t invincible, but he’s absolutely a problem when things turn violent. Schaech balances brooding intensity with a wink of self-awareness that feels very much in the spirit of Alan Ritchson’s Jack Reacher.