The Final Name
What is Hartley’s side of the story?
Episode 8 of The Terminal List begins with Katie agreeing to do the interview with Hartley. She’s taken up to the Secretary’s house, where Hartley reveals that everything. Apparently, they’re being led to the wrong conclusions. ..
According to Hartley, she greenlighted the RD4895 project but didn’t benefit from the cover-up thereafter. She also tells Katie she didn’t do it for profit either.
Admiral Pillar was lying to her about the drug’s effectiveness when he was sending her regular medical reports. He knew she was trying to solve the trauma she experienced after being sent to Admiral Pillar’s ship.
When Hartley heard Katie rant at Steve Horn on TV, she knew there was more to this story than meets the eye. She decided to look into this in more detail and discovered that Steve Horn may have been involved in a shady business deal. ..
Hartley, like Reece, conducted her own investigation into the events that went down in Syria. Apparently, they were both just as upset over what happened as each other. ..
Does Katie believe Secretary Hartley?
After telling her story, the woman encourages Katie to do what she will with the information given. However, it is possible that the woman is lying to save face. What Katie needs to determine is whether or not Hartley is telling the truth.
When questioning Lorraine that night, Katie does not change her story to accommodate Hartley’s story but still has doubts over the timeline of events.
Katie tells Lorraine that she started to take action against Steve Horn and the others before the confrontation in the street. Lorraine is aware of the issues with RD-4895 and how Hartey saved face by letting Reece’s men die in combat.
Does James get his revenge on Secretary Hartley?
Meanwhile, Ben and James head out on a routine check on the highway. James hides out in the back and it’s touch and go for a while but they thankfully manage to come out of this unscathed. They don’t find James and it doesn’t turn into a bloodbath. Well, not yet anyway. ..
Katie learns the truth about Hartley’s story and Ben and James storm the compound. James is blinded by rage and heads straight into Hartley’s safe-room. Katie tries to calm him down, pointing out she has audio evidence of Hartley’s deception. ..
How does Hartley die? Is James Reece captured?
Secretary Hartley grabs a handgun and shoots herself in the head to avoid the shame of being dragged through the mud.
As for James Reece, he was badly wounded from the earlier fighting and is approached by a soldier but the guy thinks twice about shooting, letting Reece go instead.
How does The Terminal List end?
The story of how three weeks after the Pentagon’s secret report on Katie’s disappearance brought about real reform in the military has been spreading like wildfire. The story has led to the arrest of a soldier who was responsible for her death, and the search for his killer.
James Reece is in Peru, tracking down Ben Edwards. Remember that final name on the list? It’s Ben. He’s the one who fed the bad intel.
James reveals that he had nothing to do with Ben’s family being killed and wanted to take them out just as much as he did. Still, James is the final name on the list so Ben decides to finish the job, shooting his brother in cold blood.
The Episode Review
In a way, this is a relief. It’s been an exhausting and frustrating ride, and we’ve come to the end of it. But it’s also bittersweet, because we’ve only scratched the surface of what this world has to offer. There are more secrets and more mysteries waiting to be discovered, and we’ll never know everything that’s out there.
The flashback involving James and his family, with that fallen bird, has been overplayed and the names on the list ultimately lead to one final kill in Ben, which is a nice twist in the tale to be fair.
The show has been missing some of its intensity and drama because of its run time.
We could have easily condensed the entire episode down to around 30 minutes, making it more punchy and interesting. Additionally, everything involving the board meetings and the Cap Tables felt like they were the main players, rather than just another cog in the machine.
The show has also struggled with originality on top of all this too, and ultimately, while the ending does conclude everything nicely, it hasn’t been a particularly memorable journey to this point. In comparison, shows like Reacher are more memorable. ..
Either way, we at least get a conclusion to this story and not a cliffhanger ending so that is at least a bonus! ..
