The Terminal List Trailer

[SoonerP226]

Watched the first episode last night. Found it a little "confusing"

Carr had said on one of his podcasts that they were leaning more the psychological thriller aspect than the novel’s political thriller, so I figured that the middle of the first episode was intentionally confusing, playing up the potential “unreliable narrator” angle.

The first two episodes of the Terminal List Podcast dropped last night, and they flat out said that’s what Antoine Fuqua was going for in that segment.

Having now seen the whole thing, I have to say that it is amazingly faithful to the story told in the novel. It differs in some of the details for the sake of visual storytelling (e.g, acts done to or by characters were transposed onto other characters or shifted in the storyline) or to avoid dating the movie (in the novel, his platoon is murdered in Afghanistan, not Syria), but all the major points are there, and the plot is basically intact.

I think two of the characters actually got a better character arc in the show than in the novel, and I’d like to think Carr would‘be written them that way if it hadn’t been his first novel. Their motivations are more believable, and more fleshed out than in novel, IMHO.

If you liked the novel, I’m pretty sure you won’t be disappointed by the show.

Now…

Let’s finish your list, brother.

 

[GunSlingingPlatypus]

Loving this show! I'm 4 episodes in and I'm really liking it.

 

[sedona]

Just finished the 5th episode and really enjoy it.

 

[montesa]

I watched it and thought it was great.

 

[rhart]

Watched the whole first season in two sittings. Liked it a lot for the most part (except the very end).

 

[OK Corgi Rancher]

We have one more episode left. Not too bad. Few nitpicky things, a little over the top in a few places, but overall not bad. The flashbacks are a little tiresome.

The one part I thought was hilarious (no spoiler...) was when they were talking about Reece's decorations in one of the early episodes and the guy (or gal...can't remember) said something like, "Silver Star, several Bronze Stars, (this and that medal)..." And then with a lot of emphasis says, "He even has an Army Commendation Medal with Valor!" Like that's some big deal after listing the Silver and Bronze Stars.

 

[SoonerP226]

We have one more episode left. Not too bad. Few nitpicky things, a little over the top in a few places, but overall not bad. The flashbacks are a little tiresome.

The one part I thought was hilarious (no spoiler...) was when they were talking about Reece's decorations in one of the early episodes and the guy (or gal...can't remember) said something like, "Silver Star, several Bronze Stars, (this and that medal)..." And then with a lot of emphasis says, "He even has an Army Commendation Medal with Valor!" Like that's some big deal after listing the Silver and Bronze Stars.

The "flashbacks" are playing to the "unreliable narrator" aspect, to keep you wondering if what Reece is seeing is real or not. FWIW, the debilitating headaches are part of the story in the novel, but not the hallucinations.

As for the Army Commendation Medal, the implication was that the Bronze and Silver Stars were awarded by the Navy, but the Commendation Medal was awarded to him by the Army, and I'm pretty sure the character who said that was Mac, who was an Army veteran. Could be an inter-service rivalry thing, or just an acknowledgment that he was awarded medals for valor by both services.

 

[jackary]

Finished it over the weekend and started reading the book yesterday. Thought the series was good looking forward to getting through the book to see what all was different.

 

[Seadog]

This series makes me think of the Tom Clancy movie that came out last year “Without Remorse”. I had been wanting that book made into a movie forever. That was an utter disappointment. This series made me think of that movie. This is how it should’ve been made. This seems more like the book Without Remorse. Regardless this Terminal List was a good series and I hope there’s a few more

 

[rawhide]

This series makes me think of the Tom Clancy movie that came out last year “Without Remorse”. I had been wanting that book made into a movie forever. That was an utter disappointment. This series made me think of that movie. This is how it should’ve been made. This seems more like the book Without Remorse. Regardless this Terminal List was a good series and I hope there’s a few more

I think we had the same discussion in the Without Remorse thread. You and I agree 100%. I was very excited for WR to become a movie, then disappointed in how bad it was. I haven't read this novel, but the series was pretty good and had me thinking the exact same thing, that this reminds me of Without Remorse.