Season Four of television series ‘Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan’

A fourth and final season of Amazon Prime Original Series Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan (2018-2023) was presented to fans of the series starring John Krasinski as Dr. Jack Ryan over this past summer. Reprising characters from a series of best-selling “thrillers with detailed themes of espionage, military, science, politics and technology” (Biography.Com) written by Tom Clancy, Jack Ryan was central to many of those books while aim for the same things. Here’s our reviews of season one, season two and season three of the series, with the final 6-episode season review of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan presented as follows.

(Betty Gabriel as Elizabeth Wright in season four of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan).

The murder of Nigeria‘s President Udo in his home opens the mysterious conditions at the heart of the story this season. Jack Ryan, having ascended to deputy director of the  Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) alongside new acting director Elizabeth Wright, is called upon to defend what looks to the oversight committee to be CIA involvement in the death. Ryan offers this along with the promise for he and Wright, as portrayed by Betty Gabriel, to clean-up the perceived overreach and corruption within the agency. Former CIA director Thomas Miller, as portrayed by John Schwab, is immediately suspected.

(From left, Michael Peña as Domingo Chavez and John Krasinski as Dr. Jack Ryan in season four of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan).

The consolidated power of a drug cartel, a terrorist organization and the Central Intelligence Agency had been formed into an organization with seemingly unchecked power to function against the interests of the United States for the aims of profit-making and causing chaos through murderous and symbolic ends. James Greer, Mike November and newcomer Domingo Chavez are enlisted in the direct support of intervening against the people bent on the evil ends. Greer, November and Chavez were portrayed by Wendell Pierce, Michael Kelly and Michael Peña, respectively.

(Wendell Pierce as James Greer in Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan).

Chavez is added aiding the original consolidated CIA mission in Mexico when a plot connected to Chao Fah, as portrayed by Louis Ozawa, leads to Myanmar. Jack, Chavez, and November investigate a Dubrobvnik, Croatia lead while James Greer is elevated to deputy director in an effort to keep Jack’s value as an agent both in play and from tarnishing Elizabeth Wright’s congressional hearing for removing the acting tag from her role as deputy director. Okieriete Onaodowan portrayed Adebayo ‘Ade’ Osoji, a U.S.-based oil lobbyist with special knowledge of the Nigerian political climate, unfolds as a mystery for Wright to puzzle out through this season.

(From left, Louis Ozawa as Chao Fah and Michael Kelly as Mike November in season four of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan).

Abbie Cornish reprises her role as Dr. Cathy Mueller, with her value to Jack through his transition with the Central Intelligence Agency something that seems to have emerged off-screen between season’s three and four. This romantic link pays off with the further relationship developed with Zeyara Lemos as portrayed by Zuleikha Robinson, whose outcome and purpose played into motives that were distinctly unromantic.

I found the fourth season of this series entertaining. The point-of-view mixed the notions of heroism and mystery well without getting overly preachy on the political or social messaging. Overall, I grant season four of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan 3.5-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Wednesday, November 22, 2023

Season Three of television series ‘Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan’

A third 8-episode season of Amazon Prime Original Series Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan (2018-2023) was presented to fans of the series starring John Krasinski as Dr. Jack Ryan in December of 2022. Reprising characters from a series of best-selling “thrillers with detailed themes of espionage, military, science, politics and technology” (Biography.Com) written by Tom Clancy, Jack Ryan was central to many of those books while doing the same for this series. Here’s our reviews of season one and season two of the series.

(From left, Michael Epp as Russian scientist Yuri Bashkin and John Krasinski as Jack Ryan in season three of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan).

This season invokes the threat of a nuclear conflict thanks to a secret 1969 project in what had been the U.S.S.R., otherwise called the Soviet Union. Soviet officer Luka Gocharov orders the end of project Sokol in a heinous slaughter of the scientists responsible for the project at the hands of the military. With the aid Zoya Ivanova, Jack Ryan receives a tip that the program has been resurrected under Russian guidance with the suspected object of detonating the weapon. A sophisticated attempt to build actionable intelligence takes Jack to a cargo ship where a scientist on the relaunched project is pursued with Ryan in Athens, Greece. James Cosmo portrayed Gocharov as Ana Ularu portrayed Ivanova.

(From left, Adam Vacula as Radek Breza as Alena Kovac’s body guard and Nina Hoss as Czech president Alena Kovac in the third season of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan).

As this is happening, president of Czechia Alena Kovac meets publicly with the Russian defense minister, the last of which being when the defense minister shot dead in Prague. Alexei Petrov ascends to power as the new defense minister with plans of escalating the profile of Russia back to the world power Russia had been when a prominent part in the former Soviet Union. Unknown to most of the relevant power players as the season unfolds, the father of the Czech president (Petr Kovac) is working with Petrov toward similar ends as the new defense minister. Nina Hoss, Peter Guinness and Alexej Manvelov portrayed Alena Kovac, Petr Kovac and Alexei Petrov, respectively.

(From left, James Cosmo as Luka Gocharov, Alexej Manvelov as Alexei Petrov and Peter Guinness as Petr Kovac in season three of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan).

At the center of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) response includes Jack seeking support from James Greer, former Chief of Station in Moscow, and Chief of Station for Rome, Italy, Elizabeth Wright. The dynamic takes an interesting trajectory over the course of the season, with power plays built interpersonally and professionally taking turns that impact the plays available to Jack Ryan in the field. Ryan reaches out to Michael November, as portrayed by Michael Kelly, introducing a separate dynamic at play between Wright and Greer. Wendell Pierce and Betty Gabriel portrayed James Greer and Elizabeth Pierce, respectively.

(From left, Betty Gabriel as Elizabeth Wright, Chief of Station Rome, and Wendell Pierce as James Greer in the third season of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan).

From the storytelling perspective, the best thing for me with the third season of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan is that the story took what felt like a storyline distinct from the Tom Clancy books that I have read. While a nuclear device in fact was a central storyline for a major book in the Jack Ryan book, this book went in a distinct direction. I found this series entertaining, though felt echoes of the television series 24 (2001-2010) and The Bourne Series (2002-2012) of movies when watching this season. Overall, I grant season three of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan 3.5-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Wednesday, July 19, 2023