Reacher Season 3 on Prime Video has proven a huge hit, but critics argue one plot thread stands out as a clumsy misstep: the death of DEA Agent Eliot, tied to the subplot involving Richard Beck's bodyguard Johnny Cooper. While the season drew praise overall, some viewers also flagged issues such as Agent Susan Duffy's Boston accent and repeated references to the still-missing Teresa Daniel, but the Eliot death is singled out as the show's most avoidable and poorly executed misstep.

The storyline begins in the premiere, "Persuader," when Jack Reacher reluctantly joins an undercover DEA operation led by Agent Duffy to infiltrate Richard Beck's smuggling ring by posing as his bodyguard. Duffy, along with agents Guillermo Villanueva and Steven Eliot, stage a fake kidnapping and detain Beck's real bodyguard, Cooper, so Reacher can appear to rescue Beck from the ambush. The season has been a major streaming success, racking up 54.6 million global viewers within its first 19 days on Prime Video, even as this subplot draws criticism for its handling.