Plot: James Reece battles unknown conspiratorial forces seeking to upend the world order, finding a new purpose after finishing his list. A globe-trotting espionage thriller taking Reece across the Indian Ocean, Mozambique, Northern Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. To clear his name, Reece must work with the CIA to stop a resurgent terrorist organization and will uncover a conspiracy that reaches from Moscow to Langley and ties into his own family’s history.
Review: In the four years since The Terminal List premiered on Prime Video, we have gotten a prequel series led by Taylor Kitsch, The Terminal List: Dark Wolf, that lends insight into how James Reece and his colleagues ended up where they did in the first season of the military thriller. Based on Jack Carr’s series of novels, The Terminal List follows Reece’s quest for revenge after the murder of his wife and daughter. While some similarities exist between The Terminal List and Marvel Comics’ The Punisher, The Terminal List is much more rooted in the real-life exploits of soldiers and operators trained by the United States government. While I found the first season to be average, the fan response was overwhelmingly positive. I enjoyed the prequel series Dark Wolf more than I did the first season of The Terminal List, and I found myself enjoying season two even more than both the series that preceded it. Leaning more into a larger global conspiracy with a lot more action, season two is an improvement across the board and sets the stage for subsequent seasons to adapt the additional novels in Carr’s literary series.
Season two picks up with the aftermath of James Reece killing his friend and colleague Ben Edwards (Taylor Kitsch) and ensuring the death of U.S. Secretary of Defense Lorraine Hartley (Jeanne Tripplehorn). Reece takes Ben’s boat out to sea and prepares to die from the brain tumor he and his squadmates were given as part of an illegal medical procedure. In Reece’s absence, reporter Katie Buranek (Constance Wu) has been fielding questions about her knowledge of Reece’s actions and gets involved with Vasili Adrenov (Costa Ronin), a Ukrainian oligarch trying to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine. When Adrenov’s convoy is attacked and Buranek is injured, the CIA prioritizes catching Reece and the living members of his squad, including Mo Farooq (Dar Salim) and Raife Hastings (Tom Hopper). Reece, meanwhile, makes landfall after months on the ocean and enlists the help of his former friends, including Freddie Strain (Gabriel Luna), after he realizes the attacks on Adrenov may have direct implications for the list he thought he had crossed off all the names from.
What is noticeably different about this season as compared to the first is that season two is much more action-oriented. The first season primarily took place in the United States and focused on Reece’s quest for revenge. Flashbacks and looks at what their military experience was like helped augment the intensity of the action in the contemporary timeline, a single-minded focus narrative that centered on Reece taking out those who not only killed his family but made him sick. This season takes a page out of The Terminal List: Dark Wolf prequel series and becomes a much larger-scale geopolitical thriller with heavy action. The series includes many of the cast members who had a heavier focus in Dark Wolf, including Dar Salim, Tom Hopper, and Shiraz Tzarfati, as well as Luke Hemsworth, who reprises his role as CIA operator Jules Landry. The narrative of this season is enhanced by Dark Wolf, which not only colors the lens through which we now know Chris Pratt’s character but also the insight garnered through Taylor Kitsch’s character and how Ben became the man who took actions that we saw him do in the first season of this series
The season also introduces new characters played by Olga Kurylenko, Yul Vazquez, Jeremy Bobb, and Arnold Vosloo. The eight episodes that comprise this story arc, all of which were made available for this review, move along at a much faster pace than the season that came before it. The international locales used throughout production add a significantly larger scale to the events of this story. Some may find that this is not the same series that they loved the first time around, even though the characters and the tone are consistent. Chris Pratt continues to play this character with a burden of responsibility to honor the veterans that inspired him. Having previously played a role in Zero Dark Thirty, Chris Pratt is physically prepared to take on this role and the greater military precision required for the action sequences. While the first season ended on a concrete note that could have left it as a standalone series, season two operates more as a transitional story that leads into what comes next for all of the characters. With half a dozen additional novels that can be adapted for upcoming seasons, The Terminal List is poised to continue on this trajectory as an action thriller and global-stakes drama.
As with season one, the new run of The Terminal List boasts many behind-the-scenes talents who are also veterans. Executive Producer and former Navy SEAL Jared Shaw and Executive Producer and former Army Ranger Max Adams oversee the adaptation of Jack Carr’s second novel, True Believer. Carr and David DiGilio scripted the first episode of the season, which was directed by Paul Cameron. Cameron is joined behind the camera by Carl Seaton, Tucker Gates, Ben Wheatley, Marcos Siega, Kate Dennis, and Warfare co-director Ray Mendoza. Writers include Carr, DiGilio, Shaw, Adams, and Hannah Sekander. The storyline and character developments are very consistent between this novel and the on-screen adaptation. Once again, the season ends on a note that leaves things open for season three while also closing things up in a way that will satisfy audiences and whet their appetites for what will come next. That being said, the series still does slightly border on jingoistic in its portrayal of the U.S. military.
An improvement over the first season, The Terminal List remains a very specific type of series for a very specific audience. It fits into the same types of shows that Prime Video is becoming synonymous with, including Jack Ryan, Reacher, and Bosch. I do see a substantial improvement between the first season and this one, namely in the intensity and complexity of the story, which owes credit to Jack Carr’s source material. I especially enjoyed the performances from Olga Kurylenko and Constance Wu in a series that is heavily male-dominated in its cast. I haven’t read any of the novels, so I can’t speak to how closely the overall series connects to the book, but a cursory glance shows that the major story milestones are all included, beat for beat. This series definitely works as a binge, as the momentum propels you from one chapter to the next. Ultimately, I would like a little bit more balance between James Reece’s medical diagnosis and his future actions, but that could always be something addressed in future seasons. As it is, The Terminal List season two is better than the first, and fans of the first season will be very happy with where this story ends up.
The Terminal List premieres all eight episodes of season two on October 21st on Prime Video.
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