Fans Agree This Terminal List Scene Laughably Spits In The Face Of Science
Amazon's "The Terminal List" starring Chris Pratt hasn't even been out a month yet, and it has already amassed a giant cult following, with viewers giving the Jack Carr-inspired military action series an unbelievable 95% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes, after being blasted by critics with a 40% Tomatometer rating.
But for many viewers, even if you like "The Terminal List," there is no denying that some scenes can be a little... well, wacky at times. As user @JobuWantsRum — who describes himself in his bio as a retired Tactical Paramedic with the United States Coast Guard — wrote in a tweet, "Five minutes into watching 'The Terminal List' on Amazon and I'm already picking s**t apart. They're using a torch to cut open a metal grate and all the guys have their NODS down."
Whether you like "The Terminal List" or hate it, most people have been able to agree that it's sometimes not the most realistic telling of a military action drama, despite being adapted from Carr's book of the same name, which he wrote using his knowledge as a former Navy SEAL. But that's Hollywood for you, folks. Because sure, the movie isn't based on a true story, but certain parts definitely strain belief. And if there's a single scene that perfectly sums up the industry's dumbing down of action flicks and TV shows, it's the one we're about to discuss below from "The Terminal List" Episode 1.
The attack on James Reece in the MRI room
As people have been pointing out on Reddit, one of the most ridiculous and unrealistic scenes from "The Terminal List" comes during the Antoine Fuqua-directed first episode, "The Engram," when Chris Pratt's James Reece is attacked by gun and knife-wielding assassins while inside of an MRI room. Reece is laying within the MRI scanner when his attackers come in and try to take him out. He is just feet away from the machine when he begins fighting them. For those who aren't aware, MRI machines have an insanely strong static magnetic field that is approximately 21,000 times greater than the earth's natural field, according to experts at the University of California, San Francisco. So, if such a scene would have actually happened in real-life, things would have gone much differently.
"In such an environment ferromagnetic metal objects can become airborne as projectiles," says an online memo published by the Department of Radiology & Biomedical Imaging on the UCSF website. "Small objects such as paper clips and hairpins have a terminal velocity of 40mph when pulled into a 1.5 T magnet and therefore pose a serious risk to the patient and anyone else in the scan room," the memo adds, noting how "the force with which projectiles are pulled toward a magnetic field is proportional to the mass of the object and distance from the magnet."
It's safe to say that the same can be said about guns and knives, thus causing "The Terminal List" viewers to be left scratching their heads and calling out Amazon on social media.
'The MRI scene was a show killer'
For many people who watched Episode 1 of "The Terminal List," the MRI attack scene wound up leaving a permanent sour taste in their mouths — to the point where they just couldn't take the show seriously after it.
"The MRI scene was the show killer for me," wrote Redditor u/Responsible-Bat4671 in a July 20 discussion post. "Everyone knows that you cannot bring metal into an MRI [or] it will literally fly and smash into the magnet." Taking to Reddit on July 12, u/DoeMeansAFemaleDeer said: "The fact they had hit men in an MRI room with guns and knives is insanely laughable and unrealistic." Some people ultimately believe that the MRI magnet may have been switched off during "The Terminal List" scene, but Redditors such as u/davevadavevad pointed out how that almost never happens in actual hospitals. The user added, "In most modern scanners, it's a superconducting coil cooled by liquid helium/nitrogen, to turn it off you immediately boil off all that fluid releasing a ton of gas that must be vented (or kill everyone in the vicinity) and it can cause serious damage to the machine ... So the scene is ridiculous."
Indeed, according to the University of Iowa Health Care website, not only is the MRI magnet never turned off, but any metal objects — including pens — can become deadly within the magnet's field. Sure enough, even in the show, at one point during the MRI room attack, as James Reece is exiting, you can literally see a sign hanging on the door saying, "MAGNET ALWAYS ON." Hopefully, future episodes of the show take greater care to avoid such easily avoided lapses in verisimilitude.