Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: tale out of sync with time

Opinionated
Sep 2, 2018 · 7 min read

Or maybe it is, granted that you get your latest news update from Fox News or some outlet alike.

With the mixed reviews following Friday premier, one thing is clear — Amazon’s latest original series failed to update the story to the standards of contemporary TV drama, making the latest installment of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan something of a 8-hour B action movie rather than a viable rival to series of Homeland caliber.

Meet your boy next door — a goody two shoes analyst Jack Ryan, Dr. Jack Ryan, mind you, played by John Krasinski, the casting choice that was met with a lot of skepticism. With the previous installments boasting quite a list of Hollywood heartthrobs (Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck, Chris Pine), John Krasinki, in spite of his recent success, comes from a different league. Not to say that he doesn’t fit the usual type who previously played the role physique -wise, it’s just he was never the guy you expect to blow things up. This, however, is exactly why he brings to the table the authenticity that neither of former Jack Rayans could. He might have changed into better suits, reved up his workout routine and cleaned the diet to get ripped enough to be the action drama lead, but it is his unmistakable charm, his inner Jim Halpert, that makes Krasinski a believable number-crunching nerd.

The first episode opens with Ryan’s a near-collision with Jim Greer ( Wendell Pierce), his new boss, assigned to a new department due to a mysterious Karachi incident. As the department formally introduces themselves, giving Greer a little brief on what they were working on, Ryan reveals the theory that while doesn’t immediately get him in Greer’s good graces, makes the duo go places minutes later.

Jack Ryan doesn’t wait long for the build up, quickly jumping into action, meeting the Girl (Abbie Cornish), hopping planes, and setting up a face-off with the nemesis, that would keep Greer and Ryan on their toes for the rest of the season one.

(Sure it’s way more fun to know who you’re after. Not.) If there’s anything I can’t complain about is the pace. The action might slightly lag around Episode 4–5, but other than that it’s pretty spot on, and unless you’re immune to this sort of things won’t be the reason you fall asleep mid-action.

Cut to aforementioned nemesis. From a flashback to his childhood — a mid 80s US attack on Lebanon — to immigrant experience in Paris suburbs — and later return to Yemen — Suleiman (Ali Suliman) is arguably the most layered and human (albeit flawed) character of the season. You wish the writers spend half as much time flashing out Jack Ryan’s quirks, since in comparison to Suleiman, he often feels one-dimensional.

It’s only mid season that we learn about Ryan’s army experience, which surprisingly left him blatantly naive, army proud, and socially awkward. Ryan’s inability to read the room when asking for help from human traffickers followed by a moralistic tirade makes him look like a joke at best. His love life with ‘keeping it casual’ Cathy Mueller, also pails in comparison to Suleiman/Hani dynamics. Their rare encounters range from undercooked to ‘too on a nose’. There’s a lot to play with. Secrecy for starters. Then again sneaking behind her daddy’s back. Nah. What you get instead are two very smart people that can’t read between the lines. Time and time again you find yourself mouthing “oh, boy!” and rolling eyes. If these are the guys who’s gonna save us from another 9/11 maybe we should start brainstorming plan B?

Back to Suleiman, who in spite of being a great father, who brings gifts after escaping the US base, a brother who sacrifices his life for you, and a pretty much well educated fellah who foresaw the rise of digital banking (didn’t you just wish those French bankers interviewing him went bankrupt?), slowly turns into Bin Laden Dr.Ryan anticipated him to become. With CIA and their French counterpart led by Sandrine Arnaud (Marie-Josée Croze) tracking Ali after unplanned Paris explosion, and Hani (Dina Shihabi) gearing up to leave due to concern for children’s security, Suleiman is on a losing spree. There is a harrowing scene, where during the family game of Monopoly, Suleiman reveals that he knows of his wife’s plans. The betrayal marks the point of no return for him. Pinpoints the exact moment when he by changing the way he treats his wife (reminds her where’s her place in the food chain — she after all came from nothing and owes his life to him) immediately transforms into a monster the CIA is hunting.

As soon as Hani gets away from Suleiman she instantly becomes the target. The stakes are up when Ryan’s French adventure ends with him shooting Ali. With so much emphasis on Ryan never firing the gun, you’d think him shooting Sulieman brother and finally picking his cherry would be a cathartic moment. (What’s next, you wonder? Will he feel remorse? Contemplate how fragile life is? Wake up to a cruel reality around him? Never mind he was in Afghanistan.) Well, none of it makes a trick, except giving CIA an upper hand when texting with Sulieman. Then again, there’s a lot of talk but little action to back it with. CIA’s efforts to trick him into giving up his people once again fail, making you question if the agency could benefit from a little shake up? Suleiman sets the date with the Analyst. Here goes another classic trope.

“You have to get inside his head,” says Jack Ryan early on in the show,( the phrase nobody ever used. ever. )making the promise he never really delivers on.

With Greer and Ryan too focused on Suliman family drama (you gotta be thinking more than the man himself), it takes them a minute to figure out his play with the local warlords and a group of Western hostages. The assassination of a French priest all for the sake of testing his strategy by and large goes unnoticed. In fact, with so much focus on the chase itself, you get the feeling the duo seems to be missing what they’re chasing for. After all Bin Laden was just a name first.

With the most of the story sticking to a simplistic good vs evil / Islam vs the West paradigm, Amazon’s Jack Ryan occasionally looks to redeem its source material by introducing us to a drone pilot (John Magaro) stationed in Nevada. Him wrestling with his guilty conscious after 107th kill, makes you wish you got a little more of that from our protagonist.

Who gets to be responsible for the death of the innocent in the 21st century warfare? And how do you live with that?

It’s a rare nuanced moment that is soon overshadowed by overly patriotic rhetoric resting on outdated stereotypes.

As the season draws to conclusion, Ryan and co get back to following beat up tropes. One chase sequence follows the other until the final episode gears up for another face-off between Ryan and Sulieman. There’s a lot of running at this point. The episode seems to aim to encapsulate everything you loved about 80s action movies. Mets fans. Running in the metro. Lack of police involvement in any of it. It’s an exciting watch, which will probably have (or had) you on the adge of your seat, which is also why Suliman’s demise seems to fall short of my expectations of what it should’ve been. You’d think a baddie of such calibre would deserve a better send off. If anything he sure earned to go out with a louder BANG!

With the Amazon series scheduled for a return with a season two, the episode ends on a Ryan’s promotion and a brief to work on. An entertaining watch, and a perfect substitute to any given cop show with 5+ seasons, Jack Ryan is an ambitious project that excels in the action department but falls short when it comes to patriotic rhetoric. Dumbing down the content instead of putting an effort to perhaps educate the audience, instead of encouraging stereotypes, makes a huge difference to the quality of content, and given the current competition (never mind political climate), you better make a damn good TV to stand a chance.

There’s a lot of room for improvement, and with the budget behind the show, I’d say they better give John Krasinki something to play.

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Opinionated

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by Rita Sailor / Watch. Write. Repeat. TV & film reviews

Total Recap

Watch. Write. Repeat. TV & film reviews

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