Effectively, coloration me shocked. I sat down for The Terminal Checklist: Darkish Wolf Season 1 Episode 7, pondering this was arrange for a finale — not the finale itself.
Seven measly episodes? That’s all we get?
And but, right here I’m, pacing round muttering to myself, as a result of this one gave me all the things from Edwards’ bloody stand within the Black Forest to Haverford’s smug unraveling to Pablo Schreiber exhibiting up just like the tease of all teases.
Haverford, Lastly Cornered
Two months after Geneva, Haverford remains to be strutting round like he’s untouchable — smoking in authorities buildings (critically… that irked me), smirking in hearings, performing just like the CIA is his private playground.
Hastings, bless him, calls him out: “Your man is true fucking there.” I cheered. Out loud. Did it change something? Not likely. However it felt good.
And that’s the entire Haverford drawback, isn’t it? This man has been constructing his personal shadow warfare for many years. And when Edwards lastly corners him, we be taught the reality: he didn’t wish to cease a warfare; he needed to start out one.
He needed a nuclear Iran, not as a result of he believed in diplomacy, however as a result of he needed to drive Israel to strike again — payback for 1983. Vengeance disguised as technique.
I don’t find out about you, however I discover that scarier than any terrorist plot. A authorities man so warped by his personal historical past that he thinks beginning a warfare makes him a savior.
I do know I hold harping on this, however hasn’t the U.S. already tried propping “our man” into energy overseas? What number of instances has that backfired? And Haverford’s answer is to toss Edwards and his brothers underneath the bus to guard his pet supply? Please. Name it what it’s: treason.
Edwards’ Completely Timed Fortress
I’ve seen loads of “final stand” set items on TV, however Edwards’ fortified Black Forest home was subsequent stage. Booby-trapped outbuildings, tunnels, sandbags, bombs with bearings and screws — he turned that patch of land right into a warfare zone. And it was extra than simply brute drive; it was precision.
Tal, Edwards, and Mo received Reece and his guys on board with timing that needed to be precise right down to the second. Fifteen minutes. That’s what he had, and that’s all he wanted.
The cigarette burning on the porch, Pink Floyd spinning on the turntable, detonators wired like he was MacGyver with a grudge — it was intricate, brutal, and delightful all of sudden. And yeah, I swore quite a bit watching it. How might you not?
Not less than thirty guys had been swarming, vans exploding, Edwards bleeding in every single place, coughing up blood, and sufficient motion to fulfill our longing for weeks.
It was complete chaos, after which Reece exhibits up — burying the hatchet in a man’s neck, bantering in the course of battlefield triage, reminding Edwards that brotherhood doesn’t finish simply because the brass stated so.
Edwards won’t have gone dwelling in a field this time, however the finale reminds us why he’s all the time been on that path. He clings to the struggle, even when it’s killing him.
The one factor that stored me going was figuring out he was alive later, even when he screwed issues up so royally that his crew needed to kill him for it.
The Letter
This was additionally the primary time we really heard the contents of Edwards’ letter to Reece, the one tucked away with Bigfoot’s dick doodle. It was quite a bit.
Edwards had clearly put thought into it. His phrases had been messy and offended and true: warfare is a part of the human situation, and the brass reap promotions whereas troopers bleed, so any person needs to be accountable.
Normally, it’s the little man getting stomped on. They lose a rifle, they usually’re reprimanded. Officers lose a warfare, they usually’re promoted. It’s disgusting.
The letter was Edwards’ complete philosophy distilled, and listening to it in his personal voice whereas he fortified his dwelling drove the purpose dwelling: Edwards will struggle till his dying. There isn’t any relaxation forward for this man.
The Kills (and the Duffle Bomb Replay)
Let’s not dance round it — the vengeance felt good.
Watching Mo roll up on Cyrus’ automobile with a duffle bomb, watching Landry rip a person’s throat open, and seeing the worry — regardless of how cool he performed it or how aggravated he was for feeling it — on Haverford’s face… it was scrumptious.
Sorry, not sorry. Typically TV catharsis is what retains me coming again, and this finale delivered in spades.
Edwards vs. Haverford
This dialog didn’t disappoint. Edwards got here face-to-face with Haverford, asking him flat out why.
And what does Haverford drop? That the duffle bomb that killed Eliza was meant for him — and Mo delivered it. I needed to pause and rewind. That’s how twisted his video games have turn into, burning by way of folks like they’re nothing however matches.
And ultimately, we don’t even know if Haverford made it to a cell. It appears unlikely. With sirens within the distance, his hand shaking on a glass, and one other gun inside attain, dying looks like the probably end result.
Did he pull the set off on himself earlier than the authorities arrived? We don’t know.
And that is the second time on this franchise we’re left hanging on a dying — the primary being Edwards’ supposed destiny by the hands of Reece in The Terminal Checklist. That’s not an accident. This present loves to go away its ghosts strolling.
Clickbait Deaths & Quiet Goodbyes
One of many issues Darkish Wolf nails is how dying has turn into clickbait.
Earlier in The Terminal Checklist: Darkish Wolf Season 1, it was Eliza’s blurred-out physique on the information. Now it’s Edwards’ personal blurred destiny, Haverford’s smirk filling hearings, and Cyrus getting a “for Eliza” textual content seconds earlier than he explodes.
It’s dying as spectacle, and households studying about it by way of headlines. It’s corrosive, and I’m glad this present retains poking at it.
And but, there are nonetheless quiet reminders that it’s by no means that straightforward, corresponding to Edwards watching outdated movies together with his spouse on his telephone, washing Eliza’s bracelet of blood and delivering it to her daughter, and taking a look at his crew’s photograph on his boat.
These little moments give that means to the entire gunfire.
Darkish Wolf Season 2 Setup
And with the Floor Department comes Pablo Schreiber strolling in. You don’t usher in a man like that for a five-minute cameo until The Terminal Checklist: Darkish Wolf Season 2 is locked. It have to be, proper?
He’s a Floor Department man, dangling a desk-free future in entrance of Edwards, telling him males like them had been born to burn it down and construct one thing higher.
You may see the temptation flicker throughout Edwards’ face, at the same time as he insists he’s completed.
However we all know higher. Edwards isn’t crusing off into the sundown. He’s heading straight into Season 2, and I, for one, can’t wait.
The Floor Department Interview
The kicker for me, although, was Edwards’ interview for Floor Department.
They ask him if he’s ever dedicated homicide. He says no, and the detector flags deception. They reframe it — did you kill Kareem Al-Jabouri? Sure, he was a most cancers. Truthful. Did you kill German intelligence officers? Sure. Truthful. Did you knowingly hand nuclear know-how to Iran? No. Truthful.
It’s chilling, as a result of what I hear in these questions isn’t absolution — it’s normalization. Causes matter, certain, however at what level don’t they?
How a lot do you let slide as a result of the man bleeds in the fitting route? Isn’t that precisely how Haverford received the place he did? A long time of no questions, or questions requested however dusted over as a result of the solutions had been uncomfortable?
It’s not reassuring. It’s terrifying. And it’s the proper setup for an additional season.
Mission Debrief
So right here’s the place I land after seven episodes:
- Edwards didn’t go dwelling. He fortified a warfare zone, burned it down, and walked away bloody.
- Haverford didn’t cease a warfare — he tried to start out one. And possibly he’ll shoot himself earlier than supermax can declare him.
- Tal, Mo, and Landry are nonetheless alive, nonetheless pawns, nonetheless circling a recreation that feels greater than all of them. Hastings is within the clear and possibly out of the darkness.
- Pablo Schreiber? The clearest signal but that Season 2 is coming, and possibly the perfect factor Darkish Wolf did all season. OK. He’s high of the heap.
However what about you?
Did this finale fulfill you, or did seven episodes really feel like a cheat?
Do you suppose Edwards is actually cleared, or is he simply strolling into a much bigger lure?
And what do you suppose Haverford’s actual legacy is — traitor, patriot, or simply one other man feeding the improper wolf?
Me? I’m pouring a whiskey and muttering about how I received tricked right into a finale I didn’t even know was a finale — and the way badly I need Season 2 tomorrow.
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