‘The Terminal List’ Season 2 review: Chris Pratt returns for a better Round 2

Episode 6 of The Terminal ListSeason 2, ‘Rats in a Maze,’ begins with an advisory that it contains torture and that viewer discretion is advised leaving one that thinking time stamps would have helped one decide when to look away or fast forward.

After being relieved that Season 1 did not feature Captain Howard’s gruesome death from Jack Carr’s novel, the sight of the advisory was accompanied by a sinking heart.

Based on Carr’s True Believer (2019), the second novel in The Terminal List series, Season 2 eschews the monochrome hues and claustrophobic spaces of the first season for wide-open spaces, brighter colours, and a suitably global conspiracy.

The action sequences are excellent, and the undercurrent of realism also helps. While the torture sequence is unforgivably graphic, Season 2 does not linger on it. The sophomore season is better paced and does not feel like a slog.

Eight months after the events of Season 1, US Navy SEAL James Reece (Chris Pratt) is on the run after exacting revenge on those who killed his family and troops. He has a brain tumour, so he is living out his final days sailing the high seas, having imaginary conversations with his best friend, Ben (Taylor Kitsch).

A series of terror attacks announces the resurgence of Al Qaeda under a new leader, Amin Al-Nawaz (Shadi Janho). Katie Buranek (Constance Wu), the journalist following Reece’s story, is writing a book.

Meanwhile, Raife (Tom Hopper), Reece’s friend who left the SEALs and is now a defence contractor, realises some of his shipments are going missing. When investigations into the attacks reveal Raife’s weapons being used, he finds a thread worth pulling. He teams up with Katie promising her the story while he just wants the truth.

After his eight-month sea voyage, Reece lands in Mozambique and stays with Raife’s uncle, Rich Hastings (Arnold Vosloo), who runs a game reserve. When Reece is spotted on CCTV, Freddy (Gabriel Luna) from the CIA offers Reece a deal: he will get a pardon and have his tumour operated on (it is found to be non-life-threatening) if he can help bring down Mo (Dar Salim), whom Reece trained and is now suspected of the terror attacks.

Smooth and polished Vasili Adrenov (Costa Ronin), a Ukrainian oligarch who is working hard for peace between Ukraine and Russia, moves mysteriously through the series. He is ably helped by his second-in-command, Yana (Olga Kurylenko). The action hurtles from London to Mozambique, Brussels, Morocco, Syria, Odessa, Beirut and Athens.

Pratt again commits 100% to his role as the grim, straight-as-an-arrow soldier, even as Wu tries to present the least annoying version of the thriller journalist. Salim and Hopper have created interesting versions of men using morally grey areas as a survival skill. Kurylenko is statuesque and it is nice to see Vosloo as the benign elder.

The violence is graphic; there is the aforementioned torture scene, the dead elephant calf and a close-up of a foot being shot. There are, also beautiful location shots in South Africa and Morocco.

The mystery holds up with some dramatic reveals, and the action is adrenaline-charged. By the end of eight episodes, like Reece, we have found out more and uncovered further surprises involving a watch and a photograph.

The opening of the geographical scope, the tense sniper battle on the roof in Odessa, and the introduction of interesting members to Reece’s team make Season 2 a marked improvement on Season 1. On the other hand, Rudyard Kipling might be miffed at the use of his ‘Boots’ for psychological warfare.   

The Terminal List is currently streaming on Prime Video