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.
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.
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.
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 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
Matt Lynn Digital 