The Terminal List: Season 1

How is this even a TV show? An eight-hour revenge fantasy perpetrated by what can only be labeled a domestic terrorist and mass murderer. Who we’re maybe, probably supposed to be rooting for? Absolute hot garbage. Correction: ice-cold garbage. No, seriously, this is one of the more bewildering pieces of media I’ve ever seen. Even more bewildering — but not necessarily surprising — is that there are people out there who actually liked this thing. How it hasn’t just completely dismantled Chris Pratt’s career is beyond me. It exposes his poor acting, his love of borderline weirdo gun fetish, anti-government propaganda and his inability to be convincing as anything other than the kind of dopey, dumb guy. Also, how are there so many unbranded black baseball hats in the world? If I saw one of those in the wild I would automatically think that the person was packing some sort of deadly weapon that they were about to use to kill the hell out of me and/or everyone around me.

All this and the thing looks like it was shot under a blanket with a flashlight. No, seriously, every single scene — inside or out — looks like the way they used to shoot day-for-night in the 70s and 80s. But darker. Broad daylight looked like it was shot during an eclipse through a black stocking. I can’t even imagine what they were thinking putting this out with these levels. We tried everything to adjust it on our pretty nice TV set, but to no avail. We had to watch US Navy Seal, James Reece (Pratt), murder the fuck out of a million people in semi-darkness. Did I mention that this show is really bad? Well, it is. Did I mention that the “terminal list” is a literal kill list written on the back a child’s drawing? Well, it is. Did I also mention that James Reece keeps killing people on that list (and seemingly anyone around or near that person) only to realize that perhaps this or that person or group of people isn’t the person or people he should have been killing? No? Well, yeah. Oh, and lastly, did I mention that he ropes several of his buddies, including CIA agent, Ben Edwards (Taylor Kitsch), into his killing spree while suffering with PTSD and a brain tumor that could most definitely be clouding his judgement. And they all just kind of go along with it and murder people just cuz. All in all he ends up killing well over 100 people. Not sure if that makes him a very prolific serial killer or just a plain old mass murderer.

Why all the killing? Well, someone murdered James’ wife and daughter. Some vast cabal. Or corporation. Or maybe a pharma company. Or some such shit. Honestly, I stopped caring after Reece acted not at all upset about said murder. At least not in the way any normal human being would. Maybe it’s the PTSD. Maybe it’s the brain tumor. Maybe it’s the terrible writing. Or maybe it’s Pratt’s terrible acting. Whatever the case, he turns his lack of grief into some seriously gruesome murdering. Some of which includes torture and various other methods that might be construed as inhuman. I suppose everyone expresses sadness in different ways. However, his arbitrary killing spree seems like the worst 80s, Reagan-era action-film nonsense. Or like a really self-serious version of John Wick. Issue is, John Wick goes ham on a bunch of Russian gangsters and stuff. It’s like a comic book. And the bad guys are established as such. This film exists in the “real world.” And a good number of the people being killed are just cops doing their jobs trying to stop this murderous asshole from murdering more people. I mean, at some level, it’s cartoonishness and is in no way realistic. But it is grounded in the real world of the Navy Seals who are merely wrapped up in something nefarious. It’s just the writers of this incredibly dark, humorless show thinking of new and increasingly brutal and stupid ways to kill people. And Pratt, with his laughably clumsy portrayal, just playing along. And some really, really bad inside-his-head (remember, he has a brain tumor) hallucinations or memories or something that apparently the director felt might look good in tilty slow motion. Including this repetitive scene of a bird hitting a window that never pays off. It’s goofy. All of this happening and the police don’t seem to be able to put together a cogent investigation or even think, “Hey, maybe we have a serial killer on our hands.” Everyone is an idiot and nobody seems to be affected by gruesome murdering. There’s nobody to root for here and every character is pretty much just a cardboard asshole with a gun blindly following a dude who is clearly not in his right mind.

I’m not sure what the message is here. I’m not sure what the point is, either. I wonder who this is for? I mean, I watched it, of course, but it became more of a hate watch or a jaw-on-the-floor watch than anything I could have possibly enjoyed. Honestly, there was a real lull in the media landscape in summer of 2025, so we saw this thing was getting a prequel and figured it must be good enough if they commissioned that whole thing. But, no, this is a series for middle America. For dudes in camo hats with the straight-armed sunglasses they stick on their baseball caps. I would say military or ex-military or wanna-be military, but the thing certainly doesn’t paint the armed forces in the best light. So, perhaps it’s more for militia or militia-adjacent folks? Gun enthusiasts. Dudes who think they can and should build bombs in their garages. Aspiring domestic terrorists. I just don’t get it. But, truth be told, it wasn’t made for me, but it’s clearly made for someone considering the prequel series and a supposed season two on the horizon. And that’s fine, because 85% of the shit i watch probably isn’t for everyone either.