‘The Terminal List’ Episode 7 Recap: “Extinction”

“If disgraced Commander Reece wants to show up here, there are 5,000 sailors who’ll have something to say about it.” At the outset of The Terminal List Episode 7, Admiral Pillar’s smug confidence has not waned, even after the Navy SEAL combat leader he set up to be killed instead survived and proceeded with numerous RD-4895-affiliated executions. Pillar feels protected here at the base, inside his personal fiefdom. He’s putting his money on the doctored mission report concocted by Howard, his Judge Advocate General, which places blame for the ambush in Syria squarely on Alpha Team. And regarding the “experiment,” which Pillar and Commander Cox call 4895 during a tense meeting in the admiral’s office, well, “Orders are orders,” Captain Howard says. “But I doubt James Reece sees it that way.” Orders from whom?

Howard doesn’t share the admiral’s conviction. He’s thinking about contingencies, about non-extradition countries. And he’s gathering up his family and heading to Key West, “Just ‘til this dies down.” He’s running, but he won’t get anywhere. Reece and Ben have had eyes on Howard, Pillar, and Cox since the state forest escape, and nothing’s going to save these guys from the terminal list. Not crafty WARCOM paperwork, not even 5,000 sailors. 

Secretary of Defense Hartley’s plane has just landed at North Island Naval Air Station, and she tells the gathered press that in the wake of the events in downtown San Francisco, the government has classified Reece as a domestic terrorist. “It’s easy today to wake up afraid. The acts of violence that we saw on television this week cannot be ignored.” Which is interesting, because what has been ignored throughout all of this are Reece’s links to Ben Richards. Everyone knows they’re BFFs. Everyone in the Navy and the government knows Richards is CIA. But no one thought to check Ben’s bachelor pad or boat, to see if he’s harboring a domestic terrorist?

Special Agent Layun is tracking Reece through his perceived mission. Who would he target next, after the killings of Steve Horn and the rest? So it’s a big get when Buranek appears at the FBI offices to hand over her research into who benefited from RD-4895. It’s all there, the shell companies set up for each recipient and their corresponding names. Except for one entry. “Oberon Analytics” is an unknown. Layun secures a hasty search warrant for Admiral Pillar’s office and puts agents on Cox and Howard, but it’s too late. Reece already grabbed Howard and his family, and has Cox strapped to a log in the Pacific surf. It’s just like the grueling slog of BUD/S training, only there’s no one to Cox’s right or left, no fellow SEAL to take the weight. “Where’s your team, Bill?” Reece calls as his fellow commander is sucked under the breakers. As for Howard, he’s made an offer he can’t refuse. Not if he wants his family to live, which is a luxury that wasn’t afforded to Lauren and Lucy or the families of the SEALs killed in the ambush. 

As Buranek stews in an FBI conference room, she receives an encrypted call from Reece. “I’m sorry I pulled you into this,” he says. “But there are aspects of the war that are not pretty.” OK, Buranek offers, but Reece isn’t at war. He’s at home. There’s a difference. 

“Not anymore.”

In response to his search warrant, Admiral Pillar handed Layun the files on both the Syrian mission and the use of RD-4895. “Shipping logs, test results. All processed through the normal channels,” he tells his colleague Mac Wilson. “Why would Pillar hand over hard evidence that he ran secret drug trials on his own SEALs?” And that’s when the Defense Criminal Investigation Agency’s Bijan Azad (Kayvon Esmaili) appears at the FBI to commandeer Agent Layun’s entire case. Because it was Secretary Hartley who authorized the covert experiments with RD-4895. Which means that Hartley has known all along that the drug generated tumors. “Orders are orders,” Howard had said. Pillar’s confidence was so absolute because his actions had the backing of the Pentagon.

One thing that will shake your confidence is being in close proximity to the business side of a Claymore mine. When Captain Howard visits Pillar’s office late at night, it’s with a ringing phone. “It’s for you,” he says, and hands the device to the admiral. “You have spent your entire career safe,” Reece tells him. “Hidden behind walls. Sending other men to fight for you. There are 700 ball bearings in a Claymore mine. If you have two of those mines pointed at your face, that is 1400 ball bearings. 1400. 100 for each of the SEALs that you murdered.” And Captain Howard opens his coat to reveal the explosive vest he agreed to wear in return for his wife and son being spared. 

With his involvement torpedoed, Agent Layun told Buranek that it was the Pentagon who authorized RD-4895. Then Buranek texted Reece – “Hartley approved it” – and got to work on her story, complete with the scoop of Pentagon cahoots. But when she emails the final document to Jordan at VoltStreem, nothing happens. Her story gets caught up in a DCIS electronic snare, and Secretary Hartley appears to tell Buranek her facts are wrong in a cartoonishly threatening tone. Clearly, journalistic integrity is not why she blocked the story.

Hartley can lean on Buranek all she wants, but Reece knows what’s up, and he’s added her name to the lineup on the back of Lucy’s family drawing. Having returned to the home he fled, Reece is beset with a rash of waking memories, a confused tumble of domestic life both good and bad – Lucy winning a spelling bee, him and Lauren arguing over his lengthy deployments – and jarring callbacks to the ambush in Syria. When Layun enters to look for him in the moments after the blast, there’s a brief struggle before Reece gets the upper hand and locks the agent into his own handcuffs. He issues a final warning. “Stay off my list.”

Johnny Loftus is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift. Follow him on Twitter: @glennganges