I finally finished season three of the USA Network show “Shooter,” and it was outstanding.
WARNING: THERE ARE GOING TO BE MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW. DO NOT KEEP READING IF YOU AREN’T CAUGHT UP. CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED.
The Ryan Phillippe hit show, which is based off the movie with Mark Wahlberg, just dropped the third and almost certainly final season on Netflix, and I immediately started banging out episodes.
At the end of season two, we were left with Bob Lee Swagger being held as a wounded prisoner of Solotov. This story line comes to a very quick end to start season three.
Solotov is killed off, and we pivot into the storyline of Atlas as the new villain of the hit show. I loved everything about this storyline.
Atlas is an incredibly secret organization focused on controlling the government by placing its agents in high ranking positions of power, like the Supreme Court and the President’s chief of staff. In season three, Gerald McRaney played Red Bama Sr., who was an Atlas executive and high-ranking government official.
For those of you who don’t know, McRaney also was in the hit shows “Jericho” and “Justified.” He’s a great actor and he played the villain role perfectly.
Early in the season, we see Swagger’s dad get murdered. This is what the entire final season was all about. Who was Bob Lee Swagger’s dad Earl?
Initially, we think he’s just a Vietnam War hero and local police officer. In reality, he was a founding member of Atlas and he was gunned down by former team member Ray Brooks when he set out on exposing the crimes of the man. Bob Lee was a child in the car when he watched his father get murdered.
In current time, Brooks is up for a Supreme Court seat, which would give Atlas complete control of the court and country. Brooks eventually commits suicide, which then forces Atlas to try and kill off a sitting Justice in order to give the four controlled judges on the bench a 4-3 advantage.
Bob Lee puts an end to the plot in an awesome action sequence, and we think everything is going to be fine as the final minutes of season three tick away.
However, Bama Sr. put a hit out on Bob Lee’s family, which resulted in Julie dying in his arm after Bama Sr. pulled the trigger himself.
In the final moments of the show, Bob Lee gets his revenge with one final sniper shot and then rides off into the sunset.
Unfortunately, the USA Network canceled “Shooter,” which is a damn shame. There have been some whispers of Paramount Network picking it up, but the ending of the show makes me think it’s over for good.
I’m okay with that. We got one hell of a great ending. Julie’s death crushed the viewers, but Bob Lee’s revenge shot on Bama Sr. was the perfect way to go out.
My only problem with season three was the fact there was a painful white nationalism storyline. I’ve got no problem with a storyline about racists, but this one was so painful and forced at times. Luckily, it didn’t last long and just kind of disappeared. Outside of that, the whole season was great. I’m willing to stomach a few cringeworthy moments considering how great the show was overall.
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If you haven’t already seen “Shooter,” then I suggest you fire it up on Netflix immediately. If you’re looking for action, great twists and tons of stuff getting blown to hell, then this is the show for you.