The Terminal List: Dark Wolf Episode 3 saw Ben Edwards mention Wilfred Owen's poem about the "pity of war" to his new teammate, which has deep significance for his future. The prequel thriller series to the Chris Pratt-led The Terminal List explores the complicated past of Taylor Kitsch's Ben Edwards after being discharged from the military due to a reckless act he committed during a high-stakes mission.
Dark Wolf is set to showcase how Ben went from a full-fledged Navy SEAL to becoming part of the CIA, which eventually led him to included in James Reece's hit list in the original series. Ben's tragic betrayal of James Reece is perhaps the most shocking moment of The Terminal List, and this prequel is expected to dive deeper into his journey that led him there. Episode 3 provided a glimpse of Ben's future by casually mentioning a compelling poem written by a World War I veteran.
What Is the 'Pity of War' Poem Book In Terminal List?
At the 19:37 mark of The Terminal List: Dark Wolf Episode 3, Ben Edwards recommended Poems by World War I veteran Wilfred Owen, a collection of anti-war poems, to his covert task force teammate, Eliza Perash, as a book to read for her daughter, Noa, who is preparing to join the military. Ben said that this book would give Noa something to think about while enlisting for the military:
"Listen, no matter what you give her, she’s just gonna dismiss. 'You’re too old,' 'You don’t understand,' all that fun stuff. Trust me, I’m a perpetual teenager. What we can do is give her something to think about."
Recommending this book could be Ben’s way of imparting hard-earned wisdom, acknowledging the emotional and ethical weight of being in the military, and encouraging Eliza’s daughter to approach her military service with eyes open.
Eliza read the book's introduction, highlighting that the book revolves around "war and the pity of war:"
"This book is not about heroes. English poetry is not yet fit to speak of them. Nor is it about deeds, or lands, nor anything about glory, honor, dominion or power, except war. Above all, I’m not concerned with poetry. The subject of it is war, and the pity of war. Poetry’s..."
Ben gave Eliza Owen's backstory before mentioning a key line from one of the poems, saying, "The pity of war:"
"Poetry’s in the pity. Owen died in November 1918, killed in action, age 25, one week before the armistice. The pity of war. If that doesn’t make your daughter recognize the potential costs..."
This line appears to be crucial in not only letting Noa know about the potential costs of joining the military but also in predicting Ben Edwards' tragic future in The Terminal List.
In Wilfred Owen's Poems, the specific poem that mentions the line, "the pity of war," can be found in Strange Meeting:
And of my weeping something had been left,
Which must die now. I mean the truth untold,
The pity of war, the pity war distilled.
Now men will go content with what we spoiled.
Or, discontent, boil bloody, and be spilled.
Strange Meeting revolves around a dreamlike encounter between two rival soldiers who unexpectedly meet in the afterlife.
One soldier talked about "the pity of war, the pity war distilled," as his way of saying that war is just a means of senseless destruction, and it drastically destroys their humanity with death as the tragic finality.
The poem ended with a shocking twist after it revealed that the speaker was the one who killed the other. While they started as enemies in the real world, they ended up as friends in the afterlife.
Why 'Pity of War' from Wilfred Owen Is So Meaningful to Terminal List: Dark Wolf
The "pity of war" line, combined with the game-changing twist in Strange Meeting's ending, essentially foreshadowed Ben Edwards' heartbreaking future in Amazon Prime Video's The Terminal List, which resulted in betraying his best friend, James Reece.
Ben's betrayal stemmed from his pity for Reece and his team to give bad intel and sabotage their Odin Sword's mission as a way to provide them with honorable deaths during a mission instead of seeing them die in a hospital bed due to the tumors caused by a bad drug trial.
In Wilfred Owen’s Strange Meeting, the poem begins with two enemy soldiers meeting in a hellish afterlife, only to recognize their shared humanity and part ways as friends, whereas in The Terminal List, Ben Edwards and James Reece start as lifelong friends but become enemies by the end, reversing the poem’s dynamic between the two protagonists.
Aside from the parallels to the original series, the "pity of war" line also hints at the inner turmoil in Ben Edwards' psyche in The Terminal List: The Dark Wolf. Owen's anti-war sentiments may have lingered inside Ben, suggesting that his past plethora of missions haunts him without even admitting it on the outside.
Ben might have used Owen's book to subtly express his concerns over Eliza's daughter's decision to enlist, knowing that the gripping and daunting experience of the war would gradually destroy her. Ben simply doesn't want Noa to be a monster like him, especially after his emotionally charged decision to kill a protected CIA asset in Episode 1.
