Teddy McDonald

For those people down there and for us here it's important. If we win this war we can change the course of history. And this war, we can win.

-Teddy McDonald

## Teddy McDonald

### Aliases

* Reed Thompson
* James Smith
* Thomas Parker
* Mr. Kidnapper
* Justin Caraway #335685

### Relatives

* Colonel McDonald (Father) †
* Matt McDonald (Brother) †
* Parissa (Fiancé)
* Julia (Ex-wife)
* Paul (Son)

### Affiliation

* CIA (Reinstated)
* Aero Services Aviation

## Biographical information

### Age

* 28 (1983)
* 29 (1984)
* 30 (1985)
* 31 (1986)

## Appearances

### Portrayed by

Carter Hudson

**Theodore 'Teddy' E. McDonald** is one of three protagonists on the show and a CIA officer in the war against communism as well as the primary antagonist for Franklin's storyline in Seasons 5 and 6

## Biography

### Season 1

He was assigned to aid the contra fighters in Central America after another agent, Logan Miller, died from accidental overdose of cocaine and takes over his secret operations along with Alejandro Usteves in funding foreign insurgents in the war against the Communists. He even convinced his handler, James Ballard, to let him continue the op. He soon learned that during Logan's OD incident, Alejandro had cut a few loose ends by murdering 3 women who witnessed his death. He learned about a woman named Victoria Grelli, the sister of Kristen, one of the victims, who was in LA on a never-ending search for her sister as well as the other 2 ladies. During that time, Teddy was married to Julia, a fellow CIA Agent and had a son with her, however, his work was causing their marriage to fail dramatically. Teddy chose not to let Alejandro do anything stupid and chose to pose as a guy looking for one Jess Avon and gained the trust of Victoria, all the while he was working to impede her search. Eventually, she was prepared to give up the search and leave until a cameraman named Rinaldi had photos for her to see and presented the news to Teddy, learning the hunt is still on, and now Victoria has seen Alejandro's face. Upon learning of this, Alejandro took matters into his own hands, and went to Kristen's apartment to kill Victoria. Teddy soon witnessed Alejandro butchering an already dead Victoria. Alejandro called this a gift for Teddy and told him to take off, instead, Teddy grabbed a throw pillow to use as a silencer and shot Alejandro dead, leaving him a pilot short.

### Season 2

He was divorced and in dire need of a pilot, especially after a series of missed drops, and returned to his hometown of Kansas City, Kansas to recruit his brother, Matt, a former pilot during the Vietnam War, who was also there watching over their aging father. Matt agreed, but had terms of his own. They were dealing with the Cali Cartel, run by 2 brothers, Diego and Danilo. When Avi was arrested, he learned of Franklin Saint who was being fronted bricks from him at the time as he found out about him after reading an arrest record on Leon Simmons. Teddy eventually found someone to continue the cocaine pipeline. With various issues happening in LA and the DEA hot on them, the deals began tail spinning as the Cali Cartel kidnapped Matt and partied with him in their own way until Teddy was able to resume the drops. He was able to get the DEA pulled after they interfered in his op and brought on Agent Lorena Cardenas, who was none too happy after working hard to bring down the Villanueva's. She agreed to help Teddy fund the Contra war in Nicaragua but only to deal in cocaine. He even requested her to recant her statement, which she, much to her dismay, agreed. Teddy also learned his original handler, James Ballard, was pulled and was replaced with Agent Stephen Havemeyer.

### Season 3

Teddy made contact with Rigo Vasco, a representative of the Medellín Cartel, and his price for the cocaine drops was for simply to have his own club. His brother, Matt, was suffering from health problems courtesy of Diego and Danilo's so-called cocaine hospitality. He recruited El Oso from a tavern in Tuscon and requested the Villanueva Family routes and his help in smuggling the yeyo. He even sweetened the offer by helping him find Lucia, who disappeared after Conejo almost killed him. He and Gustavo met Mariela Villanueva at the Villanueva Ranch in Mexico and she agreed to help them out. Teddy began experiencing more issues as Gustavo decided to kill Lorena over a recent betrayal, on top of that, Rigo refused to resume the drop until he got his nightclub. He brought on his ex-wife Julia and attempted to reconnect with her, but eventually she began sabotaging his op via giving Andre Wright information about Franklin's home in the hills, giving Mossad Avi's location, and giving the DEA intel on Rigo's business, because she didn't agree with the idea of cocaine flowing into her country. Teddy officially booted her from the op and cut all ties with her.

### Season 4

Teddy and Oso faced an issue in Tijuana upon meeting Oscar Fuentes, the new chief of police, who demanded an outrageous price, but when Teddy attempted to haggle with him, Fuentes sent his dirty cops to murder Hernan and Nuvia Zapata. Teddy saw that Oso was out for blood and finally decided to reveal that he was CIA and agreed to help him exact revenge, in which they did. He then learned that Irene Abe, a journalist for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, was hot on his trail, and had a credible source, Franklin's father, Alton Williams. Back home, he learned from his father that Matt passed away from a heart attack and the relationship between them went downhill. To make matters worse, Teddy learned that Elena Usteves and her rebels in Nicaragua were murdered by the Sandinistas, setting back his war. Havemeyer later cut Teddy loose after he failed to curtail Abe and Alton. Teddy soon decided to drug Irene and later killed her, fixing it to look like an accident and came across Alton, prepared to kill him, but Cissy convinced him otherwise and agreed to leave the States with him. He later tracked down Alton to Havana, Cuba and was seen pointing a weapon at Alton.

### Season 5

A year down the road, Teddy, still out of the CIA, learned his ex-wife is living with another man and discovered his replacement, Grady Williamson, had been slipping up and revealed this to Havemeyer. He was then given another opportunity, but as a contractor, to continue the operation, while attempting to pull Grady from the game. When Grady refused to go quietly, Teddy killed him and was immediately back to work with Oso and Franklin, making it known that 'Reed Thompson' is no longer the alias he would go by. During a drop, he, Oso, and Franklin were attacked by Kane's men. He was severely wounded in the process and separated from Franklin and Oso. He sought help from an old flame and nurse named Parissa. Eventually he rekindled a flame with her and after a fiasco that nearly got him killed, Teddy plotted to rob Franklin by hiring an accountant, William Cox, bugging his car, and going through files in his home. He even agreed to deal with Louie and Jerome, much to Franklin's dismay. After Franklin chose to walk away from the game, Teddy hijacked his fortune to use not just for the Nicaraguans, but to offer to the boys upstairs, in order to be welcomed back into the fold, however, when Avi disappeared and Parissa was nowhere to be found, his plans hit a wall.

### Season 6

Teddy managed to find Parissa alive, but Avi was still missing, and to make matters worse, Lior took control of the Israeli mob and chose to cut ties with Teddy as payback for making him go half-deaf in the fourth season. After protecting Avi's final shipment from the Sandinistas, he discovered the KGB were plotting to sabotage his operation. He also discovered the KGB agent, Rubén, and learned some sensitive information about him. Franklin then managed to get a hold of him by using his father as leverage and when that failed, Franklin murdered Mac. Teddy immediately decided he wanted revenge for his father's murder and requested Louie to deliver Franklin to him. After having Franklin in his grasp, he was blindsided by a betrayal from Oso as both him and Rubén were Franklin's prisoner. After the sheer, agonizing tortured he endured, Teddy agreed to turn over half the money to Franklin while revealing to Cissy that he killed Alton and dumped his body. Before he could carry out the transaction, Cissy shot him dead in broad daylight, making it impossible for Franklin to ever reclaim his fortune.

### Legacy

Teddy was a patriot who served God and Country. When he took on the operation Logan started, it consumed him and destroyed his soul. This operation to fund the Contra war in Nicaragua cost him his marriage; it cost him his brother; it cost him his father; it cost him his job. Eventually Teddy became ambitious and driven and would even screw over those who trusted him, one of them being Franklin. After Franklin murdered his father, Teddy sought retribution, disregarding the op. The torture he received from Franklin proved he had a breaking point after all. After getting rid of Alton, he soon learned that letting Cissy live was a big and fatal mistake.

## Appearances

* Make Them Birds Fly
* Slow Hand
* Trauma
* Seven-Four
* A Long Time Coming
* Cracking
* Baby Teeth
* Story of a Scar
* The Rubicon
* The Day
* Prometheus Rising
* Jingle Bell Rock
* Serpiente
* The Offer
* The World is Yours
* Surrender
* Aftermath
* Education

* The More You Make
* Cash and Carry
* The Game That Moves as You Play
* The Bottoms
* Confessions
* Pocket Full of Rocks
* Hedgehogs
* Blackout
* Other Lives
* Weight
* All the Way Down
* Expansion
* The Get Back
* Say a Little Prayer
* Through a Glass, Darkly
* Betrayal
* Sleeping Dogs
* Fight or Flight

* Commitment
* Lions
* Revolutions
* The Iliad: Part 1
* The Iliad: Part 2
* Lying in a Hammock
* Celebration
* Departures
* Fault Lines
* The Sit Down
* Door of No Return
* Projects Boy
* Ebony and Ivory
* Concrete Jungle
* Charnel House
* Ballad of the Bear
* Sacrifice

## Quotes

"*Business is only as good as the people you work with.*"
— Teddy's advice to Franklin after completing their first deal. *(Prometheus Rising)*

"*I have what some people might call control issues. And I always have and since I was a kid, really, but the simple truth is that I can't do everything alone. So I have to empower the people that I choose to work with. See, it's not just about being in charge. It's about deciding how you want to be in charge. Look, you wanna walk out of here right now, that's fine. I understand. I'll keep taking your fives and your ones. I don't care. It makes no difference to me. But what you have to decide is just how big you want your business to become. And how much control you are willing to cede to get it there.*"
— Teddy attempting to convince Franklin to grow his drug empire. *(Jingle Bell Rock)*

## Victims

* Alejandro Usteves (Shooting)
* Irene Abe (Asphyxiation)
* Alton Williams (Shooting/Confirmed)
* Grady Williamson (Poisoning)