The terminal list review

Introduction

'The Terminal List' is an American action-thriller series created by David DiGilio that is based on Jack Carr's 2018 novel of the same name. The Navy SEAL seeks revenge in the television series for the murder of his family. Along with Chris Pratt, who also serves as executive producer, other cast members include Constance Wu, Taylor Kitsch, Riley Keough, Arlo Mertz, and Jeanne Tripplehorn. The show debuted on July 1st, 2022.

Premise

The show centers on Lieutenant Commander James Reece, whose Navy SEAL team is ambushed while on an undercover assignment. Reece meets his family at home while remembering the incident only partially and having second thoughts about his remorse. More and more proof convinces Reece that terrible forces are working against him, endangering his life and the lives of those he loves.

Critical response

The entire series has a 39% acceptance rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 56 reviews with an average rating of 5.5/10. As stated by the website's detractors: "While Chris Pratt fully commits him to the goals set by 'The Terminal List', this thriller's relentless gruffness is no meat and all potatoes." Metacritic gave it a weighted average rating of 40 out of 100 based on the reviews of 25 critics, indicating "mixed or mediocre reviews." According to CinemaBlend.com's summary of the reviews, reviewers concur that the show belonged squarely in the "Shows For Dads" category.

The show was criticized by TVLine's Dave Nemetz, who called it "punishingly grim and hopelessly boneheaded." The action is gory but uninteresting, and the story is confusing but uninteresting; he wrote in his critique of the series' plot and direction, between our sweet family scenes and a paint-by-numbers plot that becomes more convoluted without becoming more attractive. It was described as "a dour, miserable sit" by Variety's Daniel D'Addario. "It has been inexplicably stretched up to eight hours," he said. The series was overdone, claims Dan Fienberg from The Hollywood Reporter, because it "took eight hours to film for a book that effortlessly could have been translated in two hours."

These shows aren't seeking Emmys; they aim to entertain with a twisting narrative, some spectacular action set pieces, and a moderately complicated main character, according to TV Guide's Liam Mathews, who gave the series a 7 out of 10 ratings and likened it to fellow Amazon Prime Video series 'Bosch', 'Reacher', and 'Jack Ryan'. These are three of the service's most successful and well-liked programs. 'The Terminal List', the newest series on Prime Video, is ideal for dads. By the modest norms of the genre, 'The Terminal List' is a huge success.

The author Jack Carr responded to the scathing criticism by saying: "The 95% watching rate, audience rating, makes it all worth it.

Episodes

1. The Engram

The episode closes in on a drug baron named Dr. James Reece who is the Navy SEAL Lt. Commander and his unit of 14 SEALs who conduct an operation in Kahani, Syria, with the aid of an informant. Except for Reece and his buddy Ernest "Boozer" Vickers, the squad is murdered in the ambush. Reece is interviewed by the NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service) about the mission, but he sees that some of the facts are missing, leading him to wonder what occurred during the trip. He and Boozer travel home once he receives the all-clear from his doctor. Ben Edwards, a CIA agent, and former SEAL, is Reece's best buddy. He hears of his assignment but appears unconcerned about any wrongdoing.

When Reece gets home, Lauren and Lucy, his wife and daughter, find he has memory loss. Boozer is discovered dead at his house the next day, reportedly by suicide, but Reece doesn't believe it. He travels to a neighboring clinic late at night for a CT scan after noticing that headaches bother him. He is assaulted by two guys while carrying the revolver he had put in a safe at home. Reece rushes back out of fear for his family, only to discover that Lauren and Lucy have passed away.

2. Encoding

Reece mourns the loss of Lauren and Lucy alongside his Mexican friend Marco del Toro and another friend, former army pilot Elizabeth "Liz" Riley. They gather around Reece, who departs feeling lonely and still broken. Reece takes precautions when investigative journalist Katie Buranek, whom he met after his assignment, informs him that NCIS Agent Josh Holder, the person in charge of his investigation, has found no proof to support Reece's innocence in killing his family. He speculates that Holder may have been complicit in, if not directly responsible for, Lauren and Lucy's deaths, which made him realize that Holder was part of a domestic conspiracy.

He creates his "terminal list" by taking Lucy's painting of his family and writing Holder's name on the reverse. He then interviews Holder before collaborating with Edwards to access Holder's computer files for information. In a meeting with Reece in a pub, Secretary of Defence, Lorraine Hartley reassures him that Kahani was killed during a different mission and is no longer a danger. Reece currently has no leads, but Edwards informs him that Holder had his biometrics extracted, suggesting that Reece was probably right in his assumptions. Then, Reece breaks into Holder's apartment, questions him, and kills him in bed. He then departs after presenting it as a suicide.

3. Consolidation

Reece visits Buranek to inform him of his worries after adding Saul Agnon, vice president of Capstone Industries, to the list of people on the terminal. On the other hand, Burbank is contemptuous and informs Reece that the clinic he visited had found a tumor in his skull. Reece is wary but doesn't disregard it. When he realizes an operator has been following him, eventually identified as Adrian Gordon, he outwits the potential killer before murdering him and running away. Burbank, who is now persuaded that Reece isn't completely insane, pledges to investigate any connections between Reece's objective and Capstone.

While eating lunch, Capstone CEO Steve Horn trains with his security team from Talos Security.After returning to the office, Agnon discovers Gordonis' failed mission and meets Nubellum Pharmaceuticals CEO, Dr. Mike Tedesco at a golf tournament where Edwards also goes to study the new target after getting updates from Reece. In the meantime, Reece buys methadone wavers from a strip club to create a methadone cocktail with the help of carisoprodol and alprazolam which when induced, results in blocking respiratory response receptors of the brain and suffocating the consumer to death. Reece sneaks into Agnon's house, interrogates him, and finds out about the people that paid Sicarios to assassinate Reece's family. He learns about Horn, a certain project titled RD4895, and Marcus Boykin who is behind Reece's family"s death. Reece uses the methadone mixture to murder Agnon and leaves having two new names on his list

4. Detachment

Reece treks up to Wyoming Backcountry and kills Boykin. He then copies the information from Boykin and transfers it to Edwards. He gets hallucinations about his family due to his tumor symptoms but holds himself in place. Katie, a woman hiding in her brother Brian's beach house, resists any kind of questioning and fears trusting anyone after the FBI takes over. She also suspects that the deceased battalion may have also had tumors. The FBI investigates Reece's murder, and Edwards pursues the Sicario group responsible for the death of Reece's family. Reece's tumor is revealed to his friends, and he takes medication to manage symptoms but refuses to let the mission go. He insists on killing the fifth name on the list, Navajas. Reece subdues Navajas, mutilates him, and abandons him after killing his crew.

5. Disruption

Reece and Riley plan an operation to capture Horn, who the FBI is tracking. All this while, the situation between Horn and Tedesco gets worse. The group plans an encounter between Tedesco and Buranek, where Tedesco reveals information about the project named RD4895, which is an experimental treatment for PTSD which focuses on stopping the encoding of any kind of trauma on the brain. Horn suspects that the CEO of Capstone tested it on Reece's army illegally. Reece discovers that shell company owners were involved and shares the information with Edwards. Reece learns about a number of people who are a part of these twisted plans and gets agitated. He uses an explosively created projectile to ambush Horn at Capstone Industries, putting many lives at risk, including Buranek's, but only resulting in the deaths of Horn and his bodyguards. He later flees the scene.

6. Transience

Reece, who is currently hiding from the FBI and police after staying at a safe distance from them, is concerned about his mental health. He goes to his in-laws after taking revenge for the death of his wife and daughter. He is still being chased by the FBI and has forgotten the medications that keep him from his symptoms. The FBI targets him, but his preparation and head start to allow him to avoid capture. Reece continues to play cat and mouse with the FBI, all this while remembering a training session, steals explosives, and saves Layun's life. Layun tries to manipulate Reece, but Reece's rage and sadness as a widower and a loving father keep him strong. Reece's ambush and mudslide attempt to free himself from the police succeeds. He meets his friend Edwards to do the next killings.

7. Extinction

Reece is classified as a domestic terrorist by SECDEF Lorraine Hartley. The Coronado branch of the FBI tries to uncover Reece's motives by accessing a capitalization table and discovering shell companies involved in the Nubellum sale. They discover Pillar, Howard, and Cox as Reece's following targets, and start setting up a plan to capture him. Reece and Edwards form a plan to kill all three of them. Reece succeeds in creating a suicide vest lined with two claymore mines for his targets. Despite being aware that Hartley is running a false inquiry on him, Pillar stands by his goal. Edwards kidnaps Howard, his wife Ann, and his son TJ. Reece subdues Cox and drowns him in the Pacific Ocean. He then threatens Howard and his family, telling him that either he has to die alone or he will die with his family. Howard agrees to his orders and wears the vest, dying eventually. Layun learns that RD4895 was approved by Hartley and the Department of Defence, making the experiment legitimate while lacking FDA permission. Buranek intends to publish a tale centered on this discovery. Hartley kidnaps Buranek on false pretenses after Reece flees again.

8. Reclamation

In the last episode of the series, Reece is traveling with Edwards to find Buranek after finding out that Buranek has also been abducted after discovering that Hartley authorized RD4895 and ordered the ambush mission, giving him a ninth name to add to his list. They successfully navigated the LA branch of the FBI, which the Coronado Branch gave the case. Layun and Wilson, who are still trying to settle the score with Reece, enlist HRT's help in locating and apprehending Reece and Hartley so that both may be brought to justice. Raife Hastings, Reece's only surviving buddy, gives him a boat and some equipment while leaving a message stating that they are now even after he paid back a favor he owes. Raife is a Southern African guy.

Before entering her mansion and making his way to her saferoom, Reece and Edwards first murder several Talos agents Hartley recruited after firing CID to assassinate Reece for her purposes. Reece refuses Buranek's pleas for mercy because he is too eager to get revenge on Hartley. Hartley kills himself, and Reece departs when Layun, aware of Reece's betrayal, unjust pursuit, and near-death condition, releases him.

Unfortunately for Reece, there is a further name to add to his list, and with Buranek's help, he is horrified to discover that it is Edwards, who bitterly denies being accountable for Lauren and Lucy's murders and instead asserts that he helped Reece out of regret. Then Edwards permits Reece to murder him. Reece then recalls a day when he and his family had a heart-to-heart discussion about his potential demise, a flashback that he had previously been uncertain about but is now confident he remembers. He then turns the terminal list around to see Lucy's family sketch and mourns his losses again before giving it one final heartless glance. To set the stage for "True Believer," Jack Carr's upcoming book in the series, he memorizes and commits the image to memory before letting the wind carry it into the sea and sets sail towards Mozambique.

Conclusion

'The Terminal List' is an American action-thriller series based on Jack Carr's 2018 novel. The show follows Lieutenant Commander James Reece, a Navy SEAL who seeks revenge for the murder of his family. Reece's team is ambushed in Syria, and he meets his family at home while partially remembering the incident. The show is criticized for its gory and confusing plot but is considered suitable for dads. Reece and Edwards, are the two main people in the series who seek revenge from those who wronged Reece but eventually, it is released that Edwards is responsible for Reece losing his family. Edwards denies responsibility for Lauren and Lucy's murders, but the truth comes out anyway. The series ends with Reece mourning his losses and turning the terminal list around to see Lucy's family sketch. The show is said to be unnecessarily long and has an otherwise boring plot but is worth a watch for people who can sit through 8 hours and enjoy a slow-paced thriller.

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