Episode 5 of Terminal List Dark Wolf, I continue to watch this series even though plot quality is tarting to faint to be honest, at least this episode really goes into some dark places, not just the typical shooting we been getting but real uncomfortable territory with torture and questioning who the hell you can trust in this mess. The first scenes throws you right into Hastings torturing some guy he captured from the ambush and the whole thing looks brutal at first but when things going to get dirty they skip the shot or point the camera somewhere else like they want to keep it PG, I think the series needs to separate itself from basic action shows where everything is clean and perfect. The guy turns out to be working for German intelligence which makes the whole situation even more messed up because Hastings basically tortured a friendly for nothing, the poor bastard dies and Hastings tries to do CPR but its too late, Tom Hopper performance during this scene is good although not enough for my, I want to see him loose his cool, you can see his character breaking down when he realize what he has done, all this could have all been avoided if the guy just said who he was working for from the start instead of playing tough guy, but I guess when someone is cutting you up and threatening to kill you its not easy to think straight, specially when the torture gets to the point where Hastings brings lye, a chemical to disolve organic material; which sizzles the guy wounds and finally breaks him.
- IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt26576161/
- Platform: PRIME VIDEO
Meanwhile Edwards is still alive after getting shot a few times in the back but it was no his plate so nothing mortal, I mean the series still need him for the story and at least they show him struggling with his injuries instead of just walking it off like nothing happen. He teams up with Eliza even though she literally shot him in the back not too long ago, which seems pretty stupid but desperate times I guess and you can tell Edwards doesn't fully trust her but he needs her help to figure out what the hell is going on. Their whole partnership is weird because Eliza claims she has her own mission from Mossad to find out who this mysterious Shepherd guy really is, what is his agenda and she keeps insisting that the ambush wasn't her fault even though she betrayed the team by taking the bearings. The whole thing about Mossad maybe being the good guys here is an interesting twist because we been thinking they were the bad guys this whole time, turns out the CIA might be the ones hiding stuff which wouldn't be surprising considering how shady Haverford has been acting throughout the series, always keeping secrets from his own team and making deals with people we never see.
The action scenes in this episode are pretty intense, specially that fight between Tal and this massive dude in Munich who looks like he could crush her with one hand but somehow she manages to win. The fight is vicious and you actually believe she could win because she uses everything around her, throwing paint in his face and eventually setting his head on fire which was funny AF and felt like something out of a horror movie with his entire face on fire and long beard plus had that paint too that turn the fire kinda gree, right when he had his head on fire Tal tooks her gun and shot him like three times. She throws up afterwards which felt real because that would mess anyone up, the amount of punishment she took, even trained killers who are suppose to be use to violence, it shows that even the toughest people have limits when it comes to taking a life, honestly I dont understand why she didnt took the computer from the begining, she was too short on time but I guess it would be way more rewarding if she just kept his computer hacked remotely and Shepherd feeding more data. The whole sequence in Munich shows how dangerous this mission is and how everyone is getting their hands drity at some point, Tal manages to steal his laptop and some hard drive from what might be the Shepherd safehouse but you can tell she barely made it out alive and probably has PTSD from that fight.
Edwards and Eliza driving around in that bright blue Mini Cooper was probably the dumbest thing they could do when everyone is looking for them, like who thought that was a good idea for staying low profile when you are trying to avoid getting killed by multiple intelligence agencies. Of course they get spotted by some motorcycle assassins who plant a bomb on their car and blow it up, killing Eliza instantly or at least thats what looks like, it would be weird for her to survive and show up latter on, well I got to admit it was actually shocking because I thought she would stick around longer and maybe even become Edwards lover. The whole car bomb scene happens really fast and Edwards took it like a champ going away the moment he say her laying on blood, no drama no nothing, you can see the motorcycle weaving through traffic and like they are professional, not like random thugs but actual trained killers who know what they doing, which makes the threat feel more real. Edwards survives again because of that plot armor but now he is completely alone with just the bearings and more questions than answers, plus he doesn't know who he can trust anymore since everyone seems to have their own secret mission or hidden agenda. Edwards takes Eliza bracelet before leaving the scene like he is going to avenge her probably?, probably something that belonged to her daughter that she mentioned earlier, it shows that despite not trusting her completely he still cared about her as a person and had feelings for her because he just gave up too fast after getting betrayed and shot in the back by Eliza. The episode also does this thing where Edwards checks the bearings and realizes they fake, which means someone switched them before the convoy even started, so the whole mission might have been compromised from the beginning and nobody knows who the real enemy is.
The episode ends with Edwards being the only one left standing and moving forward with the mission, well who knows whats the mission at this point, but you can tell he is messed up emotionally, losing Eliza right when they were starting to work together again, not necesarly fully trusting her but it was working for the short term, plus Hastings is off somewhere in Austria dealing with his own demons after torturing an innocent man to death. The whole Shepherd mystery is still hanging over everything and I still don't know who the real bad guys are, could be the CIA, could be Mossad, could be both since everyone seems to be playing their own game instead of working together. Episode 5 definitely cranks up the intensity, the torture scenes make you uncomfortable on purpose and the whole thing about not knowing who to trust keeps you guessing until the very end. Although it was a cool episode it never feels raw like for adults only because it kept cutting the good stuff, right when things getting drity like the torture scenes they get cut off or when Edwards was not "trusting" Eliza at all after a couple of minutes talking he gives in and holds hands, like wtf she shot you in the back. The series is doing a good job of showing how war and espionage can break people down mentally, not just physically and how the line between right and wrong gets blurred when you in survival mode, specially on this black ops missions. Im giving this one an 7/10 because even though some parts felt a bit convenient there is more trauma and more gray almost dark areas, the acting is good enough and the action is great, but dont watch this series expecting something raw or complicated, its just logical that this is not the intentions of the series.
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