The Terminal List – Season 1 Episode 2 Recap & Review

Crooked Cop

Episode 2 of The Terminal List begins with James forced to live through the worst moments of his life. His wife and daughter are dead. Half his squadron are dead and so too, it seems, are his memories of what really happened across all of this.

Grieving, James listens to stories about Lauren at the funeral from those closest to him, but it’s too much; he eventually heads home.

In the dark, cold silence of his house, James Reece is left to wrestle the ghosts of his past. Naturally, we end up seeing a good number of flashbacks here; the idyllic family life that turns into a nightmare.

In the morning, James Reece receives a visit from the NCIS. Specifically from Special Agent Joshua Holder. He claims there’s a discrepancy in his story involving the gun in the safe. Reece is convinced that these are highly sophisticated assassins but Holder is not so sure. He questions where the gun was being stored and believes it may not have been in the safe after all.

Off the back of this, James brings his theories to Admiral Pillar, believing this is retaliation from the covert operation that went sideways. The Admiral is not happy, pointing out once more at James’ mental state and how he’s lucky to still have a job. Quick as a flash, he leans over the table and holds Pillar up by the throat against the wall. Eventually though, he does walk away.

Meanwhile, Katie meets Holder, who admits he’s currently theorizing that Reece is the one who potentially killed his own family. However, Katie has a different theory.

At the crime scene, (the hospital where this all took place) she realizes there are no bullet fragments or evidence of a scuffle taking place. That means Reece has either imagined the whole thing… or someone has done a very thorough job of covering their own tracks and making Reece look like a villain. I’m gunning for the latter option here guys!

Katie brings this exact same theory to James Reece, deciding they should work together to try and clear his name. Reece is adamant Holder wants him to go down for this, but given the soldier is still walking free, the facts would prove otherwise – at least for now.

Well, it turns out Josh Holder was actually at the crime scene first. How? Well, it turns out he’s the guy who was in the balaclava mask that attacked Reece that night. He was also the first one at Boozer’s apartment too. James recognizes his eyes from their scuffle up close, realizing that he could also have killed his family too.

Meanwhile, Katie liaises with Jordan Groff, her boss, updating him on the investigation and how she’s doing with her story. He’s growing impatient, wanting something to run in less than 24 hours, as Katie’s timeframe is pushed up.

That’s just as well, given James turns his attention to Josh Holder, determined to learn whether he’s really a crooked agent or not. Reece breaks into his apartment and teams up with Ben Edwards to track down whether he’s really a dirty agent.

James is interrupted by Secretary Hartley, who’s concerned about his actions against Admiral Pillar earlier in the episode. James brings up how Holder could be connected, but news breaks that the Iranian Chemical Weapons Specialist – the one Reece was originally after – has been killed.

When Reece heads home, he learns that Holder actually pulled his prints several days prior to the break-in, meaning he could have used this to break into the sophisticated safe that held his gun. This could be their guy.

Meanwhile, Katie pays her way into getting the hospital report. She rings Jordan, urging him to get a neurologist to see her as she claims the story “just gets better.”

James Reece eventually heads in that night and puts a gun in Josh Holder’s mouth. He demands the guy turn his arm over to check for a knife wound. Although there isn’t anything there, Reece is convinced that Holder set him up.

Eventually Holder spills the beans, claiming he was paid off for information. “Saul Agnon” he eventually says, claiming he’s the guy whom Reece wants.

When Holder suddenly jumps at James, he pulls the trigger and kills the officer in cold blood. Reece sets the scene up to make it look like a suicide and takes off into the night.

The Episode Review

So we now have another name – Saul Agnon – and it appears this conspiracy is going deeper than we imagined. It’s now becoming increasingly clear that James is right and there’s definitely forces working against him. But why? For what end? I’m sure we’ll find out over time, as this series begins to tighten the screw and dive deeper down the rabbit hole.

This follow-up chapter is a little slow out the gates, especially given we get a good amount of time for James to process the death of his family. We do get a good amount of time to include the investigation toward the end though and the big reveal wit Josh Holder is certainly a surprise. Things are just starting to heat up now and quite what’s in store for our characters next, is anyone’s guess.