Hollywood has, for a long time, had this need to "even up" the good guys and bad guys in fights. It's why I loved the fights early in the Reacher series where Jack was properly portrayed as a force of nature who always had the advantage, and then wound up disappointed later with that aforementioned pool scene, and a couple of others where average sized local yokels are somehow supposed to be a match for a behemoth who used to beat up special forces types on the regular. I somehow knew they were going to do that, as though audiences need some form of suspense over whether or not Reacher's going to win? No, we don't need that. Let Reacher win every fight handily. It's fun. Why do you think the books are so beloved? Whatever.
As far as Reacher's gritty lifestyle, appearance, and the overall look and feel of the show/sets, etc goes - I think you can chalk that up to set decoration/production design which is likely at the mercy of wherever in the world they happen to be filming in terms of what film/tv production companies are based in those specific geographic locations, i.e. what local options production studios have in terms of hiring to set/wardrobe/dress a show or film.
In Reacher's case, it's filmed in Toronto, and as a Canadian who used to work in the industry - having been on many film/tv sets in this country - I can tell you first-hand we are generally pretty awful at set decoration when compared with the work done in the U.S. in terms of believability, overall look and feel.
Watch any handful of shows filmed in Toronto or Vancouver, you'll notice almost all of them look wayyy too clean and inauthentic to the setting they're attempting to portray. Why? Because typically the crews working on Canadian shoots are Canadian-based and hired to cut costs, or because they had to be hired locally in order to adhere to government mandates. Because of this, you wind up with people doing those jobs who simply aren't as good.
Most REALLY talented Canadians in the specialty areas of film/tv leave and go to the U.S. anyway (I'm talking the top of the top talents), so they're no longer in Toronto or Vancouver, but based out of LA or NY or Atlanta, and thus too expensive to employ. So, you wind up shooting in Canada, forced to employ inferior, cheaper talent, and you wind up with a lack of verisimilitude as one of the by-products because they don't have the eye, the skill, the know-how the really talented individuals in those fields have.
And, it takes a lot of teamwork to really pull off a movie or show, every department has to pull its weight, and it doesn't always happen. Set decoration, costuming, production design, etc, they're all part of that, and are often overlooked or not thought of by audiences. Often it's a feeling, a sense you get while watching the show or film, a sense that something isn't quite right.
Reacher is enjoyable enough, but yeah, you could tell right away when you saw shots of the supposed small town in Georgia that you were dealing with a Canadian shoot. Heck, watch episodes of Reacher, and then watch episodes of True Detective shot in Louisiana or Arkansas... BIIIIGGG difference. It's not by accident. HBO spends real money shooting on-location, and it shows - the authenticity is something that's really difficult to fake. Again, you've got to be really talented to pull that off, and if you're really that talented that you can do it, you wind up costing more than some studios want to pay.
Yes, Amazon has the dough to make Reacher look just as gritty and real as True Detective, but greed is as greed does, and who needs verisimilitude when you can rake in those sweet north of the border tax credits? Sure, it means governments in Canada are making you hire people who couldn't get a whiff in Hollywood as set decorators and production designers if they tried, but meh, as long as enough of the audience is willing to give you a pass by watching your product, what do you care, right?
Truth be told, Canada just doesn't have the population numbers to compete talent-wise with the Americans in all manner of areas, including in film and television production. But, unfortunately, the way union rules work as well government tax incentives, almost any production coming to Canada to film is forced to hire 'x' number of Canadians to work on said projects as I'd said, so you wind up with a lot of Canadian production companies and lesser talents working in areas their American counterparts would do a much better job on, simply because if you're a professional set designer in the States, you have to climb over a LOT more people within your own country to get that job than you would in Canada with one-tenth the population vying for a similar amount of positions. It's a numbers game.
All of that to say, for many shows filmed in Canada you're going to find your suspension of disbelief a little (or sometimes, a lot) more tested than if done by a much more experienced, and generally much more talented (and expensive) American crew.
And, for any fellow Canadians who may read this, and get their backs up about what I've said, keep in mind I'm not saying being Canadian makes one necessarily less talented in any given field. Of course, we're talking about human beings, and talent doesn't just magically follow geography, obviously that's not how it works inherently speaking. What I'm saying is, it's just that many Canadians who CAN compete talent-wise with their American counterparts wind up leaving Canada and going south for the better payday, because... why wouldn't you, if you have that kind of talent that you can compete in the much bigger pool? We've seen it time and again across multiple sectors, and not just in entertainment.
But, back to the show... I'm hoping for Season 2 of Reacher they either move production to wherever the second book actually takes place - shooting on-location, what a concept - or they pay the penalties, etc to bring in specialists in the various production fields to improve the overall look of the show and grime it up, instead of the ultra-clean CW look they wound up with in Season 1.
No, I'm not holding my breath on either count. It's funny, they crushed a dude's head in a press, and featured a fully naked guy crucified to a wall, plus fully displayed other flights of violent fancy in the show, and yet the small town Georgia diner appeared so clean you could practically eat off the floor? Give me a break. I mean, c'mon, even the supposedly 'best pie in all of Georgia' looked like it came out of the frozen section of a Toronto Loblaws. (Canadian grocery chain, in case you're wondering)
I guess after having written that diatribe, now might be a strange time to point out... I actually quite enjoyed the show overall. lol.
