What I'm Watching: The Terminal List
Wow, Maybe Chris Pratt's Finest Work
The wife and I just finished watching the first season of “The Terminal List” on Amazon Prime. A lot of you might remember Chris Pratt as being this loveable comedic skewed character actor (‘Parks and Recreation’) who could never play anything else. You’d be wrong. This man has brought out all of the stops. His first dramatic television roles were at the beginning of his career, but this will be the first you see him in a dramatic roll on the small screen since he appeared in a reoccurring capacity on “The O.C.” for 9 episodes in 2006-07.
The series starts right off the jump with Reece’s SEAL team getting the green light to capture a wanted Iranian scientist, infiltrating the sewer systems of an Iranian base in order to capture the said scientist. The team work on display as they systematically move into and through the network of tunnels using all the tools at their disposal including their highly trained bomb sniffing dog who detects trip wires hidden under the water in the tunnels. The action takes off and the series begins.
We jump all around the globe covering tons of maybe familiar settings if you are a Navy veteran. Jessica (my wife) and I noticed lots of familiar settings in Coronado, CA where they train the SEAL teams. The beaches, the Coronado Skyline including the resort there Hotel Del Coronado. They even had a scene that took place at the USN Amphibious Base there where our navy hotel was for a while. The scene is in an alley next to a large grass field they use for helicopter ops. We got lost at the edge of the base looking for food one night.
Oops.
Chris plays a hardened 20 year veteran James Reece of the United States Navy Seals. He is a man of purpose with more depth than it seems on the surface. He’s a family man and the funny charismatic Chris Pratt type character that his family loves at home. Funny moments are there in the show tastefully, including minor flashbacks where Reece and his wife make jokes about their new house. It’s expensive and ugly and includes a great deal on a 30 year loan anxiety free. Moments like these come across really natural. Whether it was on purpose or not James Reece seems designed to look extremely similar to Chris Kyle of the real life SEAL teams and the silver screens’ ‘American Sniper’. This is true all the way down to his beard and thicker American Texan accent. Pratt exudes this well and it is an enjoyable feature of the character.
The second lead Ben Edwards is played by Taylor Kitsch of other prominent military and USN films such as ‘Battleship’, ‘Lone Survivor’, and ‘American Assassin’. This guy loves the gritty gun toting role. Ben is a CIA ground operative based out of southern California and former navy SEAL and forever a member of the ‘Brotherhood’. He is the reliable friend James Reece can count on at every step. ‘The Terminal List’ doesn’t rely on flashbacks to build their story but for maybe one time. Comedic timing pokes its head between him and Commander Reece a couple of appropriate times and the camaraderie between the two current and former Seals feels real and is a great pairing for the two actors. This must’ve been an absolute blast on set filming their sequences together and it shows.
Thankfully I don’t serve in the military in a ‘front lines’ capacity, but Jess and I couldn’t help but imagine the life struggles that Chris’ character’s family goes through. James Reece and his family are literally on the tip of the metaphorical spear always waiting for their war fighter to come home and this struggle comes through the screen exceptionally well. I am pleased with the acting of the actress who plays the mom as well as the actress for the little daughter “Lucy”. My only gripe about Lucy is that her character is supposed to be 10 years old but she consistently came across as a much older child actor trying to dumb down her age and character. Jessica even joked at one point during the earlier episodes, “How old is she?? Sixteen???”. LOL. Funny, but once you get past that its not a big deal or distraction.
The best feature other than Pratt’s stand out performance was how the main antagonist smoothly moves between multiple characters. This element kept us guessing and provided the suspense the show needed, a good game of ‘Guess Who’ or ‘Clue’ for the audience. Twists that aren’t too jarring and just realistic enough to lead you not to where you thought you were going but where you KNOW you should be until it happens again, but every time it feels right.
I really appreciate everything this show successfully did. The actual drama and COMPLETELY understood weight of each moment. Every decision our protagonist had to go through trying to find his path was excellent.
Please enjoy this series. Season 1 will have the wife and I asking for more, without a doubt!
9.1/10
We just finished the series, too. However, as it progressed it got complicated/hard to follow for our old minds, and then toward the end the Reece character (your brother's name!) went really haywire. The final episode was a sad conclusion for us. But, aside from all that, YOU have done another great job with your writing. During the series we talked often about how you two might enjoy seeing some of your old stomping grounds on Coronado!
Yeah, great show! And great writing babe, you explained it perfectly! I don’t see how they could possibly do any more seasons unless they take a page out of that one horror series where they keep the actors but each season is a completely different story. What the heck is that show....super popular....it was a haunted house, then an insane asylum, then like a circus and maybe witches after that? Anyway, Pratt was awesome in this role.