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The Terminal List: Dark Wolf Series Recap & Review - Episode 104: The Sound of Guns

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“Brotherhood is the very price and condition of man’s survival." - Carlos P. Romulo


I’ve heard series like this referred to as “dad shows.” Prime Video’s Reacher, FX’s Sons of Anarchy, The Shield, and Justified. All “dad shows.” The characteristics often consist of action, violence, crime, and justice. Vengeance is a big theme in these kinds of series as well. They often satiate an internal desire for heroism at any cost, especially at the defiance of authority. The main character is usually an anti-hero or rather a morally conflicted hero willing to bend and or break what they hold to be true if it means their foes fall as a result. 


In Reacher the titular character is a walking wall of justice using everything from his fisticuffs to firearms and explosives. He is an incorruptible force, singularly focused on bringing his enemies to justice, whether that’s in handcuffs or in a body bag is entirely up to them. He is a nearly indestructible giant who either has the upper hand or has the means to get there. Always. And of course all the ladies want him. This is vicarious viewership at its most emphatic.


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Prime Video’s The Terminal List is a Navy SEAL fueled thriller brimming with action, military tactics, weaponry, murder, betrayal, and perhaps most alluring, vengeance. Chris Pratt plays James Reece, a broken but still highly efficient and extremely deadly SEAL determined to uncover a conspiracy that began with the betrayal of his unit and ended with his own wife and daughter murdered. And to add insult to injury, no one believes it’s really happening. He’s just suffering from loss and possible PTSD. Reece knows better and anyone, everyone, involved will meet their maker at the hands of the frogman with nothing to lose. 


At his side every step of the way is CIA operative, Ben Edwards. Loyal as they come, Ben will go to any length to help his friend fight some very real demons. But before he became CIA, he was of course a frogman just like Reece. Dark Wolf is the journey Ben goes on leading him from the rigid, team oriented SEALs to a more wild west, a no holds barred approach to fighting the enemy. The only problem is in this world, everyone begins to look like the enemy making it nearly impossible to trust anyone. This is Ben’s story before the events of Reece’s revenge odyssey.


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The Terminal List: Dark Wolf premieres on Prime Video, Wednesday, August 27, 2025 with three new episodes. A new episode will then premiere every subsequent Wednesday until the September 24th season finale. 




Episode 104 - The Sound of Guns


No technical spoilers, however each recap addresses what happens in each episode. If you don't want to be spoiled, watch the coinciding episode first and then come back to my recap and review.


We first see Haverford mourning his fallen comrade. He’s reeling, packing up what little belongings are left of him. There is a heavy cloud over the team. We see that Hastings still doesn’t trust Haverford, seeing him only as a CIA spook who may not have the team’s best interests at heart. This is when we first hear mention of a mysterious “Shepherd” in connection with Haverford. 


We are visited again by the Minister at Rahimi’s son’s birthday party, a man who sees the clash of Western ideals and the sacred nature of “the old ways” and is disgusted by it. Rahimi’s brother, Vahid, continues to bother the Minister, unsure of his convictions to their ultimate cause. 


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Back with the team, Landry begins to remind everyone, especially Edwards, why he’s on their shit list. He doesn’t seem to have the same kind of compass guiding him and it’s becoming more obvious by the day. Still, the mission pushes forward.


Now they're tasked with infiltrating a shipment convoy and inserting themselves into a deal that originally didn't include them and then selling something to Tehran. This is their most dangerous mission yet. 


Hastings is seeing Edwards becoming more and more ingrained in the spy world, seeing his efficiency in their joint operations grow. Especially with Eliza, a member of Mossad. It’s like watching him slowly float away from his true north, at least from Hastings’ perspective. 


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Landry further demonstrates he has little control of his baser instincts by violating Tal’s trust as well as her personal space. Still, the mission comes first.


It will turn out that Hastings was right to be unsure of a mission hinging on the word of a single source. At first things go perfectly. They ambush the convoy, steal the items and get away unscathed. Or so they think. Immediately following their heist, all hell breaks loose. It’s now a fight for their lives. Edwards is knocked silly, Farooq is severely injured and the surrounding area is riddled with hostiles. Their initial attempt to not involve civilians goes to shit quickly and violently. The response time of this QRF is entirely too fast hinting at leaked information, likely from an inside source, a betrayer. Everything goes sideways and it’s all pointing to one person as the culprit. 


Out of 10

Story: 9/ Acting: 8.5/ Directing: 10/ Visuals: 10

OVERALL: 9.5/10


Overall thoughts on Episode 104: The Sound of Guns

For all the prep of the previous episode, this is when all the action takes place. But at the same time, betrayal strikes as it always seems to do in this world of double identities, secret advanced tech, and unfocused violence. This is the ugly side of espionage. This is proof that the team isn’t as solid as they all hoped. Between sexually frustrated assholes and treasonous double agents it’s surprising it took this long for things to go wrong. Assuming everyone injured survives from the convoy raid, there will be hell to pay. I hope Edwards gets his revenge tenfold.


Season 1 Trailer:


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