The 60 Minute Chase
Episode 6 of The Terminal List begins two weeks before the events of the previous chapter. James Reece heads up to see his folks, warning them that there’s going to be a lot of stories spread about him in the coming weeks. “You do what you have to do, James.” Fast forward to the present and James is on the run from police. He’s in Marin County, racing through the tight roads. Eventually the cops throw down spikes and stop him in his tracks. Only, James flees through the woods. Tony is leading the charge and he notices James’ medication – the same pills that he needs to stave off his tumor symptoms. Even with sniffer dogs, the police lose James’ scent in the woods, so they decide to double up patrols on the highway instead. Part of this comes from the rain that starts hammering down. This weather actually suits James, given it’ll keep him hidden for the time being. Of course, there’s only so far he’ll get without medication. Still, the kill list has 3 names left now that Steve Horn is dead – Pillar, Cox and Howard. His Navy Seal buddies. When the rain subsides, Tony brings in a squad of soldiers to help find James. One of the men, Smitty, believes this is out of character for James Reece. When Tony brings up the brain tumor, it soon changes his tune. He sends the men off on their way, as they fly overhead in a chopper to cover a great distance in a short amount of time. The helicopter passes dangerously close to Reece, deploying the troops on the ground as they begin searching the immediate area. Instead of a fast, frantic cat and mouse game though, this is a long, drawn-out affair, with day turning to night and James hiding out. He’s obviously hurt and needs medication, which Tony uses to his advantage via radio communication. James refuses to give up though, pointing out he has his mission and until those men responsible for killing his family are killed, he’s not going to surrender. When he’s surrounded by soldiers later on, with little other choice he sets off explosives he’s got wired up on the hill next to him and causes a landslide. James Reece is still alive and he scrambles to free his associate, taking her out of the mud and resuscitating her. She’s still alive, breathing heavily as Reece takes off down-stream and away from the soldiers. James Reece eventually makes it back to Riley, rendezvousing at the airbase and flying out of harms way. Oh, and he’s back with his pills too. Flying over the drop zone, he heads down and returns to Ben, ready for the last phase of this operation.
The Episode Review
Pacing has been the biggest problem with The Terminal List and this episode perfectly exemplifies that. If this and the previous episode had been combined into one, it would have made for a really pacey, punchy affair. Instead of a 3 round knock-out, this feels more like a 20 round grind, with a few jabs here and there while two boxers circle the ring. The story itself isn’t bad and there’s definitely some intrigue here but this episode perfectly showcases just why this didn’t need 8 hours to tell the story. Thankfully, we’ve got 2 more episodes to go so things should, hopefully, pick up from here on out.
