The Truth About RD4895
Episode 5 of The Terminal List starts in Iraq 2007 with James Reece leading his squadron on a mission. They go in hot, fighting through the streets and trying to stave off soldiers as they race to a crash site to save survivors. Hey, anyone else getting serious Black Hawk Down flashbacks? Anyway, James finds Riley and decides to help her out. Only, he turns and finds Lucy standing before him. Yep, it’s another dream sequence but one that explains Riley’s stake in all this and her loyalty to James. While Steve Horn grows closer to his acquisition, James Reece does some intel on Capstone. He happens to be outside, watching as Tony Layun heads in to question Steve Horn over his ties with James Reece. Steve plays it cool and claims he doesn’t know Reece but his tattoos speak otherwise, symbolizing they were on the same squadron in the past. Horn shrugs that line of enquiry off though, claiming the tattoos are simply just a remembrance given his friends and family have all served. Katie meanwhile, heads off to speak to Mike, the guy whom Capstone are trying to convince to hand over the deciding share of his business too. In the guy’s toilets, she brings up RD4895 and theorizes that it may have been used on the Syrian mission that went wrong. Katie hands over her contact details, telling Mike to get in contact when he’s ready to talk. The thing is, the FBI are onto her. James Reece realizes as much and messages Katie when she leaves the building, warning her that she’s been compromised and the authorities are now watching her. Mike finally does decide to chat, and arranges to meet Katie to discuss what’s happening. That night though, Steve learns what Mike is up to and sends his goons off to track them down. While they hurry off to infiltrate his location, Mike speaks to Katie about what’s going on. Down in the subway, he reveals that RD4895 is an experimental drug developed by Nubellum Pharmaceuticals to try and cure PTSD. It was originally tested on animals – where it was successful – but was rushed into human testing. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been tested properly and has effectively caused tumors in those who take the drug. This explains why Steve Horn is so desperate to rush through a deal, given he knows this whole shtick is potentially worthless should investors find out the drug doesn’t work on humans. 100 million of those shares were given out to shell companies for a fat pay-off several months back too. The Syrians killing the Seal Team who had taken the drug, were ineffective and developed tumors as a result, was their way of hiding all of this, but it’s obviously not gone to plan. Before we find out more though, Mike is killed outright by an assassin sent by Horn, prompting Katie to scramble up the stairwell and shoots the man to defend herself. James Reece shows up to help Katie to safety. After relaying what she’s found to Reece, he wants a list of the profiting companies. She refuses to give it up, pointing out that the only way to tell this story is to do it properly and through official channels. James Reece is not in the mood to wait and remains dead-set on finding the men at the top and making them pay. Ben warns that this will cause people to ask questions, but in doing so it uncovers even more twists in the tale. It turns out the Admiral’s name is actually on that list. As a result, James, blinded by rage, decides to create a homemade bomb to take Steve Horn out of the equation. In the morning, Steve Horn heads outside the HQ and gives a press conference, blaming James for the death of Mike and claiming the guy suffered from a psychotic breakdown and went after him. Katie decides to confront Horn about his deal but he tells her he’s closed that already and it’s over. As she walks away, James parks up next to Steve’s car, with the bomb in the back, and hurries off to a safe distance. Exploding the bomb, Horn is thrown across the street and ends up sporting some pretty nasty cuts across his face as a result. Reece remains dead-set on following this up though and shoots Steve Horn directly in the head, in broad daylight in front of everyone. He leaves Katie on the floor and heads off on the run.
The Episode Review
We finally get some answers when it comes to this RD4895 and exactly what it’s been used for. The revelation that it’s actually part of this big deal and the whole Syrian operation was a way of disguising how botched the drug is, is a nice way of tying everything together and it would appear that James Reece is on the run from here on out. Although this series is much pacier than episode 4, I’m intrigued to see exactly what’s going to happen in the remaining 3 episodes. This almost felt like the penultimate chapter of the story, given the way it reveals all the answers and has Steve Horn killed in broad daylight too. With Horn claiming the deal has already gone through ,that looks to be bad news for everyone involved. We’ll have to wait and see what’s in store for our characters next but it would seem like James is going to have quite the chase on his hands now. Will he ever be able to clear his name?
