The Terminal List: Dark Wolf Series Preview

“The Terminal List: Dark Wolf” is a Prime Video series that is set prior to the next series — called “The Terminal List”. This entire series will be a total of seven episodes, and each are about an hour long. The story line should attract an audience who appreciate the action and excitement of military and espionage operations. Tough guys with big guns help tell this story.

The series “The Terminal List” focused on Navy SEAL Lieutenant Commander James Reece (played by Chris Pratt). One of his prior SEAL warrior friends was named Ben Edwards (played by Taylor Kitsch). These episodes dealt with a deadly hidden agenda that caused the deaths of all of Reece’s team on a mission in Syria.

Then, his wife and daughter are murdered. Reece turned to his friend Ben Edwards, who is now working for the CIA. The mission of revenge and murder caused a rift in this friendship. Reece is dealing with a tumor caused by a unapproved medical experiment. Edwards and Reece have a terrible falling out due to some shifty circumstance. That leads to a fatal outcome for one of them.

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But many years prior — this is where the “Dark Wolf” episodes take place. During the ongoing war in Iraq, the military was fighting against the Taliban. The Special Operators — members of the Navy SEAL teams — were brought in to track down ‘High Value Targets’. James Reece and Ben Edwards are SEAL team members working together.

Other members of the SEAL crew are Lieutenant Raife Hastings (played by Tom Hopper) and Ernest “Boozer” Vickers (played by Jared Shaw). The team tracks a militant bigwig who is hiding in a small town in Iraq. This place is very close to the Forward Operations base that the SEAL Team “Alpha” are stationed.

For some reason, the base has a visitor from Langley. The CIA station chief, Jules Landry (played by Luke Hemsworth), puts a block on the SEAL team. They are not permitted to trace the movement or get anywhere near the militant bigwig. This terrorist has also been an informant for the spy agency. They do not want to lose this asset.

There is the terrorist right down the road, and there is also an underground arms dealer working with the bad guys. These two team up to force a trusted Iraqi soldier to turn on the Americans. There is a suicide bombing on the base. Now the SEAL squad are fed up with CIA guy telling them to stop.

They setup a covert mission to go out and grab this terrorist asset. Lt. Hastings and Lt. Commander Reece are helping the mission leader — Ben Edwards. The operation all goes smoothly. That is until Edwards gets outraged by the militant terrorist bigwig. The mission goes south, and the CIA loses an important asset. The bigwig is killed by Ben Edwards.

Ben Edwards is kicked out of the SEAL community. They also lay blame on Raife Hastings, because he was one of main people to work on a cover-up of the murder. Lt. Commander Reece claims that his fellow operators did nothing wrong, and he should take the blame. But in the end, it is Hasting and Edwards who lose their positions and sent home.

Hastings and Edwards are delayed in Europe airport. They stay overnight in Germany. But that evening, both are approached by a mysterious figure. This is Jed Haverford (played by Robert Wisdom). He gives the two men a new option. They will face a difficult future back in the States — due to the nature of discharge out of the service.

But Haverford is a covert operative for CIA. He is tracking down the underground arms dealer that was part of the problem in Iraq. The CIA has an operation that is secretly going after those shady people who have escaped justice. Ben Edwards and Raife Hastings both have the skills to become ‘Special Warfare Operators’.

An eager Edwards is onboard immediately. Hastings is bit more reluctant, but he sees the benefit of getting bad guys that might be getting away. Haverford already has a covert operation in play. Hastings and Edwards are now in play, as ground assets. All the skills they have can be used to get this underground arms dealer. Either dead or alive — he must be stopped.

They both meet another member of this underground team. Tal Varon (played by Shiraz Tzarfati) is a Mossad agent who is working with the CIA. Her specialty is in the backgound details and communications. They will also work with another Mossad agent named Eliza Perash (played by Rona-Lee Shimon). The ‘High Value Target’ (HVT) will be at a local nightclub to transact a business deal.

Tal is outside in a van working the radios and CCTV monitors. Eliza is working as a waitress in the club. She will give a drugged drink to the HVT. Edwards and Hastings will gain access to the exclusive club. Eliza will smuggle in special weapons and get them to the new Special Operators.

Of course, and plan that appears to be fool-proof has not yet met the right fool. The HVT has armed bodyguards (not expected). The HVT refuses the offer of the ‘free drink’ from Eliza. The operation runs afoul of several international laws. There is a frantic foot chase down cobble-stone streets and quite a number of shots fired. It becomes a gnarly battle between the new Special Operators and the bad guys.

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“The Terminal List: Dark Wolf” seems to be a very well-made story of the Special Operators and how they can transition into Covert Operations. In other words — to goes from being about ‘boots on the ground’ and then transforms to ‘boots underground’… The series is based on the books by Jack Carr. Carr has a Special Operators SEAL background, so these are based in a real universe. It is fiction that has a basis in reality.

The acting is really good — and the storyline is full of action and drama. Any person who enjoys a series like ‘Jack Reacher’ or the ‘Bourne’ movies will find quite a bit to like. This series will concentrate of the evolution of the Ben Edwards character from a gung-ho military specialist to a more cynical CIA covert operative. There are quiet a few people who have worked on this series who have served in the military.

This is more a Preview – rather than a Review. This is based on the first episodes of this series. The remaining episode will also delve into the background of Ben Edwards, and it will get into why he behaves as he does in “The Terminal List”.