The reviewer for Empire Online thinks the show has too much filler.
“It could be entertaining, if highly implausible, if the show took a less self-serious approach and picked up the pace. The plot of a 400-page novel is stretched over eight episodes, which it really struggles to fill.”
I agree with this criticism. I loved The Terminal List, but I think it would have worked better as a six-episode series. The Empire Online viewer also thought the characters were a bit too simplistic.
“There’s a dull moral binary to all the characters. They’re either good (military, wives) or bad (government, non-American), and Reece, being good, has to triumph in every interchangeable fight.”Consequence.net had mainly good things to say. The reviewer thinks the show has an impressive cast. She finishes her review with reasons why you might not want to actually watch this impressive cast.
“…it’s still a hard sell, if only due to the murky filming of the action, or the just relentlessly grim narrative. The Terminal List takes place in a dark, sad, and corrupt world. It may not be one you want to visit.”
The show is dark, not just metaphorically, but literally as well. Often, it’s hard to see what’s going on.
The JoBlo.com reviewer says that once the conspiracy portion of the series kicks in, “The Terminal List begins to lose momentum. Watching the trailer for the series, one would think that The Terminal List is an action-packed thrill ride of a series. While the action seen in that glimpse all does happen, it is spread out across the season in sporadic bursts. The Terminal List likely would have worked far better as a feature film or maybe a limited series of no more than four to six episodes. As it stands, this story is overlong and ploddingly told and somehow makes revenge feel bland and boring.”
The reviewer also claims the show is “affording a window onto a conservative-America mindset that views the government as inherently corrupt (and anti-soldier), and lone-wolf military men as the only figures capable of making the world a more honorable place…There’s no arguing that such a tack has been taken countless times before, but in our current domestic sociopolitical climate, one’s tolerance for such rebellious fantasies may vary.”
The book The Terminal List is based on is apparently very political in nature. However, the show is largely apolitical. This reviewer seems to be judging the book rather than the show. This is true for Slate’s reviewer as well. Her views of the show appear to be colored by the book and its author.
The reviewer for Roger’s News Nation didn’t like Chris Pratt’s acting.
“Pairing him up with Kitsch and Wu just throws his limited range into sharp relief.”
The Chicago Sun-Times reviewer agrees, saying that,
“Gifted comic actor is miscast as a hardcore killing machine in predictable Prime Video series…Hollywood has tried repeatedly to turn Pratt into a legitimate action star.”
He also thinks the series is “ultimately predictable, formulaic and cliché-riddled series.”
The CNN reviewer thinks the show is “cliched in the extreme, from Reece’s flashbacks and cloudy visions to its cynicism surrounding those in power.”The RogerEbert reviewer thinks the show lacks depth.
“The series practically forgets his initial placement as an unreliable protagonist, as unstable and tragic in a system that is not helping him, that has done psychological damage by sending him to war over and over.”
The major criticisms of the show are that it is too long and too predictable. Some reviewers also seemed to be uncomfortable with what they felt were the show’s political leanings.
So, what are the critics missing? A lot of mere mortals enjoyed the show because it’s an entertaining, suspenseful action thriller that doesn’t ask too much of them. It’s pure escapist entertainment.
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