James Reece and Ben Edwards are BACK! Jack Carr superfans Chris and Mike break down the much anticipated first episode of The Terminal List: Dark Wolf on Amazon Prime Video. SPOILER WARNING: We are the thriller deep-dive after show!
They discuss the show's themes of brotherhood, military relationships, and character development, particularly focusing on Ben Edwards' origin story. The hosts explore the importance of local characters, the struggles of military life, and the impact of Chris Pratt's role. They also analyze the action scenes, particularly the intense bridge scene, and share their overall impressions and ratings for the episode.
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CHAPTERS
02:45 Exploring the Brotherhood and Military Themes
05:20 Character Development: Ben Edwards and Rafe Hastings
08:32 The Role of Chris Pratt and the Connection to the Original Series
14:15 The Action Sequences and Cinematic Quality
17:26 Expectations and Reception of the Episode
20:28 Casting Choices and Character Dynamics
23:26 Realism and Authenticity in Portrayal
26:12 Final Thoughts and Episode Ratings
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KEYWORDS:
The Terminalist, Dark Wolf, Jack Carr, military thriller, character development, action series, Chris Pratt, Ben Edwards, villain origin story, brotherhood
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00:00:18
Hey, guys, I'm Chris. And I'm Mike.
00:00:24
And welcome back to this week's No Limits the Thriller podcast.
00:00:29
Turning in to your spoiler filled TV podcast or streaming
00:00:34
podcast, I should say like we are covering the Terminalist
00:00:38
Dark Wolf, we're going to go deep dive spoiler filled.
00:00:43
I can't wait to talk to you about the series.
00:00:46
I'm so excited. I'm just excited as you are.
00:00:50
But before we jump into that spoiler filled discussion, a
00:00:54
quick shout for our patrons. You are the reason this podcast
00:00:57
is possible. And if you 2 want to join this
00:01:00
exclusive club of the top thriller readers and thriller
00:01:04
fans in the whole world for less than the price of a novel a
00:01:07
month, you 2 can support the podcast.
00:01:09
Be the reason we can make more podcasts.
00:01:12
So just head over to thrillerpod.com and click the
00:01:14
Patreon tab to learn more about the Thriller Pod Patron Book
00:01:18
Club. But Chris, yeah, we mainly talk
00:01:21
books on this podcast. We spoil them.
00:01:24
We dive deep into them and we are massive fans of the Jack Car
00:01:28
Terminalist series. But when we covered the Jack Car
00:01:31
Terminalist books, it's almost when we're hitting our stride.
00:01:34
We are in our zone. It is our element through and
00:01:37
through. We love those books and when the
00:01:39
first season the TV show came out, it was good.
00:01:42
But now that Dark Wolf is here, this show is almost everything.
00:01:46
The vibes, the feel, the military aspects of it,
00:01:50
everything I was hoping that first season would have been, to
00:01:52
be honest. Yeah, and I, I feel like, you
00:01:55
know, we're filling out like, I guess we should just give a
00:01:58
little bit of preamp, right? Like this is a prequel series
00:02:03
for those of you that have not. Well, first of all, I don't know
00:02:06
why what you're doing here if you haven't watched the first
00:02:09
season of the Terminal List. But for those of you who are
00:02:11
tuning in, who have watched the first season of the Terminal
00:02:14
List but yet maybe haven't read the book, again, you don't know
00:02:17
what you're doing not reading the book.
00:02:19
You know, you don't. You don't.
00:02:20
But what we should say is that this is a prequel series that
00:02:25
there is no book like for us to like, even compare this series
00:02:31
to. So it's all new IP, new from the
00:02:34
mind of Jack Carr. Obviously he's the executive
00:02:36
producer on the series. But what's so cool about this is
00:02:41
that if you are a book reader, like getting to meet, MO Farouq,
00:02:47
like getting to meet. Amazing.
00:02:50
You know Landry, like who's going to who?
00:02:52
You know, I know. How?
00:02:55
Yeah, yeah. How much of A spoiler should we
00:02:57
should we go in? All we know is those two are
00:03:00
very important. Very important, yeah.
00:03:03
Yes, yes, but and also, you know, we're definitely going to
00:03:07
spoil the terminalist obviously. And so right off the bat, this
00:03:13
is an origin story almost of the villain that is Ben Edwards.
00:03:20
It's it's very interesting, right?
00:03:22
But you're but playing on that, that sympathy card, you know,
00:03:27
like that was so gut wrenching, especially reading the book when
00:03:31
when you find out that it's Ben who.
00:03:36
It hurts, betrayed. You know, Reese it it it hurts
00:03:40
big because of how likeable of character is, because of how
00:03:44
connected you are to him. And then now to get like his
00:03:47
back story is it it just takes it to a whole nother level.
00:03:51
I don't know, I I I like it. It makes me like the character
00:03:55
of Ben Edwards more. But then again, it's like, like
00:03:59
all good villain origin stories, like you think back to, I don't
00:04:02
know, Darth Vader or Voldemort or, you know, even in some of
00:04:09
our thriller, you know, universe that we've covered the sons of
00:04:15
Valor series, like just really being put in the mind of, you
00:04:22
know, someone that ultimately turns is, is very intriguing to
00:04:24
me. And, and, and super, I don't
00:04:26
know, gets me super excited. I I like this.
00:04:29
And completely, it's kind of, it rubs me the wrong way to hear
00:04:33
you keep using the word villain because that betrayal stings so
00:04:37
bad from the Terminalist. But also, I kind of love Taylor
00:04:41
Kish's performance of Ben Edwards and it was so it was
00:04:44
genius by Chris Pratt and the crew and the team to realize
00:04:48
what he did in the Terminalist season 1 deserved a starting
00:04:52
role, a starting role. And and you know, in that
00:04:55
season, in that series moving forward, he really won't be
00:04:58
around much. And that would have been a huge
00:05:00
disappointment if all we got of the terminalist on screen of Ben
00:05:03
Edwards and Taylor Kitsch was that first season and ended with
00:05:06
the turn off page off screen. No more this idea of going
00:05:11
backwards before going forwards. I think it's just a brilliant
00:05:14
play. And to bring not only Ben
00:05:16
Edwards into the fold, but Rafe Hastings, an earlier younger
00:05:21
Rafe Hastings put him in the list with Moe and Landry and
00:05:24
others. He he, he supersedes all of them
00:05:26
in importance in the series, really.
00:05:28
Second Therese, one might argue. And here he is in his prime, in
00:05:32
his glory, and the brotherhood is strong.
00:05:35
This episode did a few things so well that I really wanted to
00:05:41
feel because when you read a Jack Carr story, it needs to be
00:05:46
about the Brotherhood. It needs to be about having the
00:05:48
guy's back. The importance of what the teams
00:05:51
mean to them. And when they're sitting around
00:05:53
that campfire, when Reeser's giving out gifts, when they're
00:05:57
calling each other brother all the time, that just the
00:05:59
excitement on their face to see and to serve with one another,
00:06:03
all that comes through. And also the military aspect of
00:06:06
it all. The Terminalist as a story, both
00:06:09
on page and on screen mention their military background, but
00:06:14
we didn't see them fully fledged into it.
00:06:16
Like it had the funeral montages and it had these different
00:06:19
snippets of his military career. It it exists outside of the plot
00:06:23
in the story that was being told, yet it's so central to who
00:06:26
the characters are. And so this series let's Ben
00:06:31
Edwards shine, Taylor Kitsch's Ben Edwards.
00:06:33
It lets you bring in Ray Hastings because if you dropped
00:06:35
him out of the blue in a True Believer series, Season 2 of The
00:06:38
Terminalist, lot of people might be like who?
00:06:41
Where, where'd he come from? He wasn't really that forward in
00:06:46
The Terminalist. And so now you're establishing
00:06:48
him. You're establishing the Hasting
00:06:49
Hastings family with the Rhodesian callbacks with his
00:06:52
father being mentioned. And I think the series is doing
00:06:55
so many things right to expand the universe, to allow people to
00:06:59
come into it who know nothing about it, and to give a lot of
00:07:01
treats to the people who do know a lot.
00:07:04
Yeah, I I was going to concur that I feel like this series
00:07:08
does more to set up the, you know, Terminalist Season 2 true
00:07:16
believer then just jumping in and and like spending an episode
00:07:22
or two filling us in on a a Mohammed Farooq or filling us
00:07:26
into a a rave Hastings like, you know, this is like what people
00:07:30
clamour about when, you know, normal series happen and
00:07:34
they're. Like oh, the MCU does it?
00:07:36
Or Star Wars. Yeah, and that and like, right,
00:07:39
right. And to, to be able to think
00:07:41
like, all right, we had this cool idea of adapting this book
00:07:45
into a, a, a series. Obviously it has some legs.
00:07:49
You know, some heavy hitters are involved.
00:07:52
They could have just went right into, you know, Book 2.
00:07:56
But I think like taking the time and obviously, like you said,
00:08:00
they, they saw they had something in Taylor Kitsch.
00:08:02
So the fact that, you know, they cast him as a character that
00:08:05
dies at the end of the first season, like you want to get a
00:08:08
little bit more out of that. It just makes perfect sense to
00:08:11
let's do the series. And we should say like this,
00:08:14
this episode, we're only going to talk.
00:08:15
We're going to, even though we've watched the first 3
00:08:18
episodes, we're going to only try to touch the first episode.
00:08:22
For those of you who might be joining in, you've only
00:08:26
listened, you only watched one episode.
00:08:27
So just to give you a little bit of preview, we're going to do
00:08:30
episode 1 now. Then we're going to record
00:08:33
episodes two and three, 4:00 and 5:00 and 6:00 and 7:00.
00:08:38
So. You have plenty of time to go,
00:08:42
you know, watch them come back. We'll be the after show, after
00:08:46
the Thrones, after the the Dark wolf show here.
00:08:50
Yeah. So episode 1 is what we're
00:08:52
talking about. And yeah, that brotherhood
00:08:55
really, really comes out even like the, the, the speech that
00:09:01
the major gets at the end, you know, when the decision is made
00:09:06
to strip them of their Trident or, or, you know, of their
00:09:12
sealship. Like the fact that what he says
00:09:14
about that, like it's that that's just very powerful.
00:09:16
I don't know. Yeah, he's a good character,
00:09:19
commander cop. He just came.
00:09:20
It ranged me. Yeah, sure.
00:09:22
Great actor too, Totally fulfilling that role.
00:09:26
And it's funny because a lot of what Jack Carr comments on in
00:09:30
his books and his profile and his media legacy and all the
00:09:35
empire that he's built is some problems with the military
00:09:38
leadership. But I think what he's showing
00:09:41
you here is that there are guys who have your back, but they are
00:09:44
also pawns in a bigger game. You know, they're also cogs in
00:09:48
the wheel. So the good leaders like Reese,
00:09:50
Commander Cox, and like everyone else, there are good apples,
00:09:54
right? There are the ones who
00:09:56
understand what the mission is and what this is about.
00:09:59
And even their hands are tied. And that's so important to the
00:10:02
story Jack Carr wants to tell. And here, man, does Taylor
00:10:05
Kitsch get his moment with his monologue dressing down the CIA
00:10:09
folks. I don't think he's calling out
00:10:11
Commander Cox at all in that or his own military superiors.
00:10:17
But man, is he laying into the Cias bullshit.
00:10:21
You know that they're they're fucking bullshit, which is
00:10:23
getting his brothers killed and on that bridge scene directly
00:10:26
gets his brothers killed. And one other thing I love that
00:10:29
they're doing here, bringing in the ISF, bring in the locals
00:10:33
because that's part of what Jack Carr and Boozer, the guy who
00:10:36
plays Boozer was also one of Jack Carr's SEAL mates, one of
00:10:40
the most important producers of the show, another executive
00:10:42
producer. I feel like they knew you had to
00:10:46
tell the story. If we're going to be in Iraq, if
00:10:47
we're going to be in Mosul, 2015, fight against ISIS, One of
00:10:51
the key components of that is the locals who just want to
00:10:54
stand up for their country. The same way the Seals are doing
00:10:56
it to defend America. There are Iraqis willing to put
00:11:00
their lives on the line. It's not only MO, as we
00:11:02
mentioned, who's going to be unpacked in the next few
00:11:04
episodes, but Duron. The way they, throughout the
00:11:08
whole episode, make Duron's family part of the storytelling
00:11:13
of where Ben Edwards is going in his mind.
00:11:16
His mental break, as you said, to get him to the end of The
00:11:18
Terminalist where he is working in the CIA, coming out of the
00:11:24
shadows to help one of his brothers, betraying him in the
00:11:27
worst way possible. We needed Ben, Ben to get
00:11:30
broken. And holy crap, by building up
00:11:33
the Duran storyline and his relationship with the family,
00:11:37
he's broken. Like it's, it's so empathetic.
00:11:40
You could feel for him. And not to jump to the ending
00:11:43
action, because there's a lot of action to get to.
00:11:46
When he sees the girl in that room and he hears her voice
00:11:50
cowering in the corner, I was like, he's going to snap.
00:11:55
I was like this. There was so much drama and
00:11:57
tension in that scene. It was shot, it was acted, it
00:11:59
was performed so well. I was like, this is it.
00:12:02
This is where we find out why Ben is the Ben of the
00:12:06
terminalist. This is where he snaps.
00:12:07
And this is where things in his mind go haywire.
00:12:10
And basically the way the terminalist was Reese's revenge
00:12:13
plot. And he had to learn about
00:12:15
redemption and coming back from the dark side of revenge, the
00:12:18
dark side of man. As Jack would, Jack Carr would
00:12:20
say, now I see where Ben's going.
00:12:23
Similar path, but different path that he's also broken.
00:12:26
He's going to be out for revenge, but it's going to be a
00:12:28
lot more complicated. Like James Reese, he knows what
00:12:32
he's going to get, who he needs to get.
00:12:34
He's got a list. He's going to check off those
00:12:35
dudes. I feel like Ben is right now
00:12:37
committing to going ape shit on these guys, but in a more
00:12:42
covert, sneaky kind of way. And so he's got to turn to the
00:12:47
CIA. He he becomes Black Ops.
00:12:51
Yeah, and I feel like they they plant the seeds pretty well
00:12:54
that, you know, maybe he doesn't have his life like priorities in
00:13:00
in check. Like obviously he's a really
00:13:02
married guy, obviously, but but that that relationship is
00:13:06
struggling. You know, he's he's committed.
00:13:12
He can't like shy away from the game.
00:13:14
It, it reminds me a lot of like Jeremy Renner's character from
00:13:18
the Hurt Locker. Like there, there's one scene in
00:13:21
the hurt Locker where he, he's holding his son at the, I think
00:13:25
at the like, close to the very end, he's like, there's, there's
00:13:28
only one thing that I love like most in this world.
00:13:31
And you know, you're supposed to take it that, oh, it's, it's his
00:13:36
son. But then it cuts to him deciding
00:13:38
to go back to Afghanistan or to Iraq to, to defuse bombs.
00:13:45
And it's like, oh, no, like he is married to the game.
00:13:47
Like he's nothing. He is addicted to that, that
00:13:51
fight, you know, being in the fight, they're in the fight,
00:13:53
right. And then, you know, we're going
00:13:57
to get to a character in the next two episodes that that from
00:14:01
the CIA that definitely talks about that and has a nice speech
00:14:04
about that. But yeah, it's it's interesting.
00:14:07
I, I wanted to bring up this idea of like Chris Pratt and
00:14:12
James Reese and like how much he was used.
00:14:15
Like did you, were you happy with, you know, knowing that
00:14:18
this is going to be Ben Edwards origin story?
00:14:23
But you knew that like Chris Pratt had to be there at at some
00:14:26
point. Like I imagine that we're we're
00:14:29
not going to see much of them like after this first episode or
00:14:32
so, right? Yeah, I, I think that's one of
00:14:36
the decisions that had to be made is how do you juggle it?
00:14:38
How do you use him to bring in people who watched the
00:14:42
Terminalists? How to use him to get readers to
00:14:44
remember This is a spin off, but it's still interrelated.
00:14:47
It's still the characters in and around recent life, so I think
00:14:52
you have to do that delicately. It was a little clumsy.
00:14:54
It felt a little clumsy, him showing up.
00:14:56
Now. They did say A.
00:14:57
Little bit in the beginning, right?
00:14:59
Yeah. What is it?
00:15:00
Yeah, Charlie Company is moving out, Al Alpha's coming in.
00:15:02
And so it's like a different group of trainers are going to
00:15:05
work with the ISF guys. Like they're cranking it up the
00:15:07
next level by bringing in Reese's group to to train the
00:15:10
ISF so that that was OK. And then the campfire scene.
00:15:14
I thought you needed what bonds all these these guys together?
00:15:18
A little clunky, though, I would say.
00:15:19
So I think you're right. I I don't know how they handle
00:15:21
him moving forward. But if this is the downrange
00:15:25
military episode establishing these guys R Seals were Seals in
00:15:30
the fight directly in the War on Terror.
00:15:33
We've established that. Do you need James Reese now when
00:15:36
it goes to the CIA stuff? I don't know how they handle him
00:15:41
moving forward will be a question.
00:15:44
Yeah, Does this episode do enough?
00:15:46
Well, let's say you're not. You're not a book reader.
00:15:49
Maybe you didn't even watch the first season of The Terminal
00:15:52
List. Like, does this episode do
00:15:54
enough for you to get you bought in to wanting to watch the next
00:15:59
episode? Next episode, yes, I think for
00:16:02
sure the next episode I think if and Rosie it's funny watched
00:16:06
with my wife. We don't watch too many of these
00:16:08
shows or read these books together.
00:16:10
I convinced her to do this one. And she's like, yeah, I think
00:16:13
this is more of your demographic.
00:16:14
It was like, is this show really just made for, you know, males
00:16:18
in their 20s and 30s? And I was like, maybe, Maybe.
00:16:23
Maybe. Yeah, she's like a little too
00:16:26
testosterone late. And I told her I was like, I
00:16:29
think they went a little heavy on the military stuff this
00:16:31
episode on purpose. Very heavy.
00:16:33
I don't I don't think the whole show is going to be that
00:16:36
committed to the bit, but you're right, I think that leaves us in
00:16:39
a grey zone of what's the role for Chris Pratt.
00:16:41
So I would say it does enough to make me want to watch the next
00:16:44
episode easily. And then when we get there next
00:16:47
podcast, episode 2 completely makes you buy into watching the
00:16:52
rest of the series. I don't know if it teases me
00:16:55
enough to want to know everything about Chris Pratt if
00:16:58
I didn't know about James Reese. He's kind of little side.
00:17:02
Show here. Yeah, I don't, I don't think it
00:17:06
does, but I don't think it needs to.
00:17:07
I think we have to make that determination at the end of Dark
00:17:10
Wolf. And then ultimately the big
00:17:14
thing we said about Terminal List and any TV show we've ever
00:17:17
covered is doesn't make you want to read the book.
00:17:19
And so I think season 1 of the Terminal List, I was like and
00:17:24
maybe kind of the book so good that if people only knew this
00:17:27
James Reese on screen, I'd be a little concerned they may not
00:17:30
transition to the book. I'm pretty confident that after
00:17:33
Dark Wolf, most viewers are going to want to say I need to
00:17:36
read this book and figure out more about Ben Edwards, Ray
00:17:39
Hastings and maybe Chris Pratt, maybe James Reese by the end.
00:17:42
So I think we got to keep that one in the bag until episode
00:17:46
what, 7? We get 7 episodes.
00:17:48
Yeah. 7 episodes. Yeah, yeah.
00:17:49
Yeah, I hope I can say yes. Dark Wolf does so much to expand
00:17:54
the universe and drive viewers to The Terminalist and the
00:17:58
books. Yeah, because that's ultimately
00:18:01
the goal, right? Yeah.
00:18:02
That would be the biggest success, right?
00:18:04
There's no other really measure to measure the show unless it
00:18:06
does that. So we we kind of, we, we touched
00:18:12
on James Reeves and and Taylor Kitsch.
00:18:16
What do you think of the castings for Ray Hastings and
00:18:20
for some of our other characters that we get?
00:18:22
I think Tom Hooper's great. Dude, I think he's been a.
00:18:26
Lot of fun. He does he he you know, Rafe,
00:18:32
for those of you who haven't read the books, like is
00:18:34
described as this, you know, very tall Rhodesian man like,
00:18:40
you know, whether or not he's doing like a a great Rhodesian
00:18:46
accent, I don't, I don't know. But what's really funny is that
00:18:49
when I I I maybe they got Ray Porter to voice the the voice of
00:18:54
his dad in in that's that's next episode.
00:18:59
But anyways, they the voices remind me of how Rafe and
00:19:07
Jonathan Hastings sound in the audio book at least at least
00:19:10
Porter, whoever like at least Tom Hooper, maybe listen to the
00:19:15
audio book, you know, or, or or Roy Ray Porter, listen to, you
00:19:20
know, he he we should give more credit to Ray Porter that he's
00:19:23
nailing these accents. But yeah, it's not coming across
00:19:26
as like British, which I know he is, right.
00:19:28
So. Yeah, I think he does just
00:19:31
enough to kind of get the accent right.
00:19:33
You're you're so smart to compare it to Ray Porter, who
00:19:35
nails it in the audiobooks. And I think that's why I've
00:19:38
liked Tom Hooper's accent and take on the character.
00:19:42
It's reminding me of how Ray Porter would read the character
00:19:44
from the page. So yeah, I like that.
00:19:47
And I have to say about him, one, he's the eye candy.
00:19:50
I guess you got Taylor Kitsch as well, but some more eye candy.
00:19:53
He's almost like that Alan Richin Richin from the Reacher
00:19:58
series. Like you need the hunk.
00:20:00
You know, like. From Reacher.
00:20:02
Just dude who's built from Reacher, Yeah, someone who's
00:20:05
just built. And so I think he brings that
00:20:07
element. And I also wonder his role
00:20:12
because like, it's clear Boozer is just minor character who's
00:20:15
there to support the boys and will be used on OPS and brought
00:20:18
in. But Rafe has to be a little more
00:20:20
than that. He has to be a little more
00:20:22
central than a teammate like the Boozer.
00:20:24
Like Boozer, but he can't over shadow Ben Edwards so right, I
00:20:30
think how you handle him moving forward will be important.
00:20:34
Yeah, I just remember when he came in to replace whoever had
00:20:40
done Dick and Tarly in Game of Thrones season, season 6.
00:20:45
And he was just like this, this, this huge glow up because what
00:20:48
they had, they had switched actors between seasons and like
00:20:53
whoever they had before was just nowhere near the man that Tom
00:20:56
Hooper is. Like he's just, it's crazy.
00:21:01
One of the best performances though, acting wise, I think is
00:21:04
MO. I think MO Farooq for character.
00:21:07
I think he just kills it when they're going through the
00:21:09
checkpoint and he's and he's bribing the dude, the ISIS dude
00:21:13
at the checkpoint. I think that acting is 10 out of
00:21:17
10. I don't think you can beat it.
00:21:19
He's he's playing a local, but he's on our side.
00:21:22
Can't show that he's got to stand up to these ISIS guys, but
00:21:25
not be, you know, rougher or forward enough that they suspect
00:21:29
something. But he knows that's their
00:21:31
language. Violence is their language.
00:21:33
So he has to show them that violence just by his facial
00:21:35
expressions. Oh, I, I just think MO's been
00:21:39
amazing. Duron was good too, and Duron's
00:21:41
whole family. But I think if I were going to
00:21:43
say just off the bat, who's impressing me most on the pure
00:21:48
acting side, I think I'm going with MO.
00:21:52
Yeah, and I, you know, what's funny is like, I don't even know
00:21:54
if they say MO. I don't even know if they say
00:21:58
his name in the first episode. Like he he's obviously
00:22:02
mentioned. He's just there.
00:22:03
If it if it is, it's very it's it's done in passing.
00:22:10
Whereas like gives him a hug when he comes on to bass, like
00:22:13
there's an embrace. There's an embrace and like but
00:22:16
it didn't click with me. Like I I immediately clicked
00:22:19
with the character. Like I liked it.
00:22:21
But then when we got to episode 2 and they actually said his
00:22:24
name. That's MO.
00:22:25
I was like, Oh my God, no. One.
00:22:28
No wonder I like that character. Same thing with Landry.
00:22:30
Landry was the lackey man for the CIA dude in the debriefing
00:22:34
and in the office, and then he's going out to look for John.
00:22:36
I'm like, why is that name ringing a bell?
00:22:38
Why is that name ringing a bell? Like he's kind of weasel.
00:22:40
He's kind of this shadowy guy. I don't know if I could trust
00:22:42
him. I know he's CIA, but is he fully
00:22:44
Ciai couldn't place the Landry guy.
00:22:46
And when that clicked, I was like, shit, it's also Landry.
00:22:49
Like that's MO and Landry. Yeah, yeah.
00:22:53
Little Nuggets like that were fun for us book fans.
00:22:57
Yeah, Landry, the third Hemsworth brother, you got a
00:23:01
right, right. I guess with Pratt being close
00:23:04
with Chris Hemsworth, he was able to get the the chubbier
00:23:08
Hemsworth brother out of the three.
00:23:11
And, and later on in the next few episodes, he he plays that
00:23:14
role very. Well, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:23:18
So I mean, this this first episode, man, I, I, I, I really
00:23:22
like it. And the action, like you said,
00:23:24
that bridge scene super imprints, you know, the various
00:23:30
going into Mosul multiple times, obviously a lot of tension.
00:23:36
And then at the very end, you know, culminating with that
00:23:38
action scene of them going in and sort of going off off
00:23:41
script, like, you know, they're doing great.
00:23:45
And then also like just the training, like like getting, I
00:23:48
think that, you know, having Jack as an executive producer,
00:23:51
having Boozer, what's his what's his actual name?
00:23:56
Oh. Yeah, I can't think of it.
00:23:59
Jared Shaw. Jared Shaw.
00:24:01
Having Jared Shaw there at as you know, obviously these two
00:24:07
previous Navy Seals on team as producers like it just it it it
00:24:13
definitely shows that they they cared about getting like that
00:24:17
aspect of it of it, right so. I mean, if there's one thing you
00:24:21
could say about everyone on the show, it's a deep sense of care
00:24:25
and respect, and you want to do it right, You know, like,
00:24:28
they're not going to tell the story unless everything checks
00:24:31
out. And Chris Pratt said that in a
00:24:32
lot of interviews. He goes, look, we very much rely
00:24:36
on the guys who have been there, been there, done that.
00:24:38
Like we listen to them. It's not like other Hollywood
00:24:40
production teams where you might buy the story, kick them to the
00:24:44
curb or you might give them lip service and say, oh, we want to
00:24:46
hear about your experience surfing and tell us what it's
00:24:49
like. And we want to try to recreate
00:24:50
that. And then they they go Hollywood,
00:24:52
Hollywood go to Hollywood right now.
00:24:54
Chris has said like if we're going to change things for the
00:24:58
sake of delivering an on screen performance, ATV performance,
00:25:02
we're going to change 20%. But like there's a threshold of
00:25:05
like it has to be 80% real, like realistic to the core.
00:25:09
So you're only going to change a very minimal amount of things
00:25:12
and not the core things, which would take veterans and service
00:25:15
members and people who've been there, you know, Iraq 2015
00:25:18
pretty recent. We got a lot of guys who
00:25:20
probably want to watch the show, guys and gals who know what it's
00:25:22
like on one of those bases, right?
00:25:24
That like forward operating base or whatever it would be and
00:25:27
working with the locals, right? And you interact with them and
00:25:30
even the checkpoint where Duran is coming through with the
00:25:32
prosthetic leg, I'm sure so many people like that.
00:25:36
That's real to them. Visualizing what it's like to
00:25:38
see the locals lining up being like, oh shit, are any of these
00:25:42
guys compromised? Like they're walking our base,
00:25:44
showing their papers, cooking our meals, keeping, keeping our
00:25:48
operation alive. And like, obviously we want to
00:25:50
trust them. We're here to liberate their
00:25:51
country, deliver to them a more prosperous and free future.
00:25:56
But shit is, could the terrorists use that as an
00:25:59
opportunity? And unfortunately, that's the
00:26:01
now we character weapons mastermind, ultimately the bomb
00:26:06
supplier who gives more forces Duron into the prosthetic.
00:26:12
They manipulate our systems, right?
00:26:13
They they know our security on base.
00:26:15
They know what's going to get through.
00:26:16
And and that's what Jack always says is like we we have to out
00:26:22
think them. We have to out tactic them.
00:26:23
You know, if they're learning 20 plus years of this war against
00:26:27
terrorism in in Iraq and Afghanistan, the enemy is
00:26:30
learning and we have to learn and adapt faster, quicker and
00:26:33
better. And I feel like that's what
00:26:35
Ben's going to learn is that bomb went off and they
00:26:38
compromised Iran because they knew us too well.
00:26:42
They knew how to hit us. And now Ben's going to say the
00:26:45
military, the Seals are not giving me the proper structure
00:26:48
and command to hit them back and out tactic them within the
00:26:53
military system. So I'm going to have to hit them
00:26:55
back outside the military system and find another path.
00:26:58
So I think that also just plays perfectly with where Ben is in
00:27:01
his headspace. Yeah, dude, the bridge scene,
00:27:05
the bridge scene. Tell me what you thought when
00:27:08
you turned on the show and within, what, 5 minutes,
00:27:12
everything goes absolutely haywire on the bridge.
00:27:14
Were you loving that? I was loving.
00:27:16
Oh, it's just like it, it it brings you in it, it's intense.
00:27:19
It's it's very intense. And the fact that like, we get
00:27:22
very little plot in this first episode, like it's, you know,
00:27:29
this obviously setting up this idea of who this Denali guy is.
00:27:35
And he's. An.
00:27:37
Algebra, like there's something going on like the CI as doing
00:27:41
something, but then, you know, we're going to cover in the next
00:27:45
couple episodes like how there's a hard shift like coming and
00:27:50
like the fact that this episode purely stands to introduce us to
00:27:55
these characters, give us their background and allow us, you
00:28:01
know, all right, we can sort of put all this behind while while
00:28:03
like giving us a little bit of the bread crumbs of like what
00:28:06
the whole season's going to be about.
00:28:08
And I think it does a very good job of that.
00:28:09
Like it it's not, you know, while we maybe have some gripes
00:28:13
about like how James brace was used and stuff like that, I I
00:28:16
don't think overall this episode was that clunky.
00:28:19
Like, I think it like it it, it had a purpose and it served its
00:28:22
purpose pretty well. Completely agree and to have
00:28:26
that culminate in the algebra raid where these guys realize
00:28:30
the command structure because of The Dirty tricks by the CIA are
00:28:36
the reason our brothers are killed and the reason terrorist
00:28:39
is still operating and to go on their own.
00:28:44
They go off reservation and and basically the, the radio check.
00:28:48
I, I knew it was going to happen when they, they pretended the
00:28:50
radios weren't connecting and and faked the message when they
00:28:54
hit that house, I'm like, they're going to take things
00:28:56
into their own hands and what that's another thing of Jack
00:28:58
cars. What happens when operators take
00:29:01
things into their own hands because they're not happy with
00:29:03
the status quo and they're they're trained and they're
00:29:05
fully capable of taking things into their own hands.
00:29:08
I was like, go get him, go get this jibori guy.
00:29:10
And then on that raid, when he hears the girl and recognizes
00:29:15
it, it's like time stops. I forget what they do with the
00:29:17
sound, but I think everything went quiet or algebra was still
00:29:21
in the background saying I'm CIA, I'm CIA, I'm an asset, you
00:29:24
know, I'm on your side and all this stuff.
00:29:26
It just fades away the the subtitles.
00:29:29
Yeah, they they do that a couple times with this.
00:29:31
Like it's kind of like slow motion with the camera, but but
00:29:37
at the same time everything is like normal speed.
00:29:39
Like I guess the, the, the, the, the words are not slow motion,
00:29:43
that just like the actions are slow motion and you can just
00:29:45
tell that something is, is like coming, you know?
00:29:48
Like on the bridge, when the hostages are not moving forward
00:29:51
on the bridge, they, they perfectly timed it where you as
00:29:55
the, the audience feel something's not right and you
00:29:59
know there's an impending danger.
00:30:00
You're just waiting for the shoe to drop and these hostages are
00:30:03
stuck in the middle. And then that guy raises the gun
00:30:07
and all hell breaks loose. And and then they see the see
00:30:10
the vest and they really cinematically, it's almost like
00:30:14
a movie, like in a movie theater, you know, when that
00:30:17
shoe drops and everything goes silent, you know, there's like a
00:30:21
different feeling in the atmosphere of that movie
00:30:23
theater. They recreated that feeling on
00:30:25
your couch. Like TV doesn't often recreate
00:30:28
the feels of a movie. I feel like this episode
00:30:31
recreated the feeling of am I in a movie theater right now with
00:30:34
like, Dolby surround sound and like all this.
00:30:37
It felt that way watching it. Yeah, and it doesn't feel fake.
00:30:46
Like I, I don't, I don't want to like badmouth some other movies
00:30:49
or stuff that we've covered. But like, it doesn't feel grey
00:30:54
man to me, you know, it, it, it, it feels like a level up from
00:30:57
that. It's grounded, more grounded,
00:31:00
so. Yeah, more grounded for sure.
00:31:03
Yeah, what an episode. Overall, I don't know if we
00:31:08
should do scores or rankings because that's something we
00:31:11
prefer to do with books and that's more in our wheelhouse
00:31:13
for books. But if you had to give this
00:31:15
episode a letter grade just compared to your expectations
00:31:18
going in, what would you say? I think it's a solid B plus.
00:31:23
I think this episode is like a solid B plus like a minus like
00:31:29
and probably part of my score is dictated.
00:31:33
I wonder if if we had truly recorded this after I'd only
00:31:36
watched one episode, what I would have given it because it's
00:31:39
I I've I've unfortunately, I've seen two more episodes and we we
00:31:44
originally planned to record these like stand alone, but you
00:31:48
know, life gets in the way. Teeth get pulled, pneumonia.
00:31:52
I had pneumonia. Mike head back to school.
00:31:56
And have to pot in the yard, yeah.
00:31:58
Mike is potting in the backyard. You know, we are just two humble
00:32:01
men who do this on the side, so. Anything for the BOD, Anybody.
00:32:05
Anything for the BOD? I think I it's a solid B plus,
00:32:09
you know, it, it does enough. It does more than enough.
00:32:13
Get me excited. I'm I'm definitely watching the
00:32:17
next episode after I watch this, but it's it's not like a minus.
00:32:21
I'm hooked for the season already.
00:32:23
You know what I mean? Well, yeah, I think I I lowered
00:32:27
expectations a little because after the Terminalist TV show, I
00:32:30
went in with too high of expectations because I love the
00:32:33
book and it was a clear example of I went in too high.
00:32:36
So it was a clear example of damn, nothing could be as good
00:32:39
as the book like the first read of the book.
00:32:41
And I told this on the the earlier episodes when we covered
00:32:45
both the book and the TV show. I can remember precisely where I
00:32:48
was. And this is 6 years ago at the
00:32:51
book come out even more than that.
00:32:53
Whatever. 6-7 years ago the book came out.
00:32:55
I picked it up a little bit later.
00:32:57
I remember reading what happens to James Reece, James Reece and
00:33:00
his family. I can think of the exact spot on
00:33:03
campus I was back at Catholic University, exact spot on
00:33:05
campus. I sat down on the curb and I
00:33:10
just thought I just, I just, it's one of those books that
00:33:15
makes you just stop and question things or think about things or,
00:33:20
or maybe I would say prioritize things.
00:33:22
And I, and I remember just sitting on the curb 5-10
00:33:25
minutes. I don't even know, just that
00:33:27
that scene did so much to me. And so when I didn't really get
00:33:30
that exact feeling from the TV show, I, I raised my
00:33:32
expectations too high. So for this one, I came in with
00:33:34
lower expectations. And because of that, it blew me
00:33:37
away. I'm going straight A, not an A
00:33:39
plus. I would say that's I'm just
00:33:41
slight Dings from an A+, but I'm going straight A for episode 1
00:33:44
because it did so much that I wanted it to do and I was so
00:33:47
pleasantly pleased. OK, All right, cool.
00:33:52
Yeah, a lot of potential. We we have a lot more episodes
00:33:57
to cover. We should pause so we can talk
00:34:00
about episodes two and three. So let's do it.
00:34:04
Thanks guys for tuning in. If again, Mike's out of the top,
00:34:08
but if you guys like this episode, this is your first time
00:34:11
listening. Go check out We have three other
00:34:15
seasons of no limits. We started out covering all of
00:34:21
the trap we have all of Brad Thor and then right now on the
00:34:25
thriller podcast covering thrillers, thriller universe.
00:34:29
We we we might even dip into a little bit of sci-fi.
00:34:31
We me and Mike research read project hell, Mary and we both
00:34:34
loved it. So yeah.
00:34:37
And and special thanks to our patrons.
00:34:39
Shout out to Deputy Director Sherry F and Brad E Special
00:34:43
Agents Adam, Mike, Ben, Daryl, George, Matt, Dawn and Chris.
00:34:48
So and as always, just let Ben be Ben.
00:34:55
There you go. Just like Chief be Chief, Chief.