*Spoiler Warning: This review might contain mild spoilers for Jack Ryan Season 4. Tread with caution.*
On the surface, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan on Prime Video feels like yet another political action thriller that is perfectly poised to impress its intended audience. But for me, Jack Ryan has become the perfect example of sticking to the simple tropes but doing it so efficiently that you make them work for you. Add to that a headliner like John Krasinski who can play this idealistic part of a righteous CIA analyst with conviction, without making him drab or unlikeable, and you’re part of the way there. And then have a stalwart like Wendell Pierce play Jack’s mentor? You’re definitely holding some winning cards here.
For three seasons, the series, created by Carlton Cuse and Graham Roland based on the characters created by American novelist Tom Clancy, has used interesting geopolitical conflicts, well-crafted plots, and a stellar cast to construct a world that the audience can get invested in, and characters they can care for. That it looks and sounds good and comes with engaging action is the cherry on top. All this pays off when the initial novelty is gone and the plot for each season runs the risk of becoming predictable, yet you manage to keep the storytelling gripping. Yes, we know the hero must and will save the day somehow. But it’s never about the destination, it’s the journey that matters. And you can feel just how much the journey has mattered for the show’s fans like me, in Season 4, the series’ final outing.
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As we enter Season 4, Jack Ryan is seated for a Senate Committee hearing. On the panel are a bunch of politicians who want accountability for the agency’s constant stepping out of line to get the job done. Jack promises to clean up the CIA, but in the process, unearths internal corruption and the possible convergence of a Mexican drug cartel and a terrorist organisation operating out of Myanmar. He must now face the “deadliest CIA operative” to get to the bottom of this. But not without his friends, James Greer, Mike November, and the new acting director of the CIA, Elizabeth Wright, having his back.
Overall, Season 4 is your usual Jack Ryan fare. The premise hooks you in and the action keeps you engaged, even if it all gets plenty predictable. And I found myself constantly hoping all the characters, new and old, got out of their respective tricky situations, unharmed. But what truly worked for me this season was the moral conflicts at the centre of it. Season 3 put not just Jack but also Greer and Wright in difficult positions. And the fact that Season 4 wants to put them on the stand for it while asking them to not do it again makes for an interesting dilemma. How do you stop once you’ve crossed the lines and it has worked for you? And how do you justify crossing the line when you’re the one responsible for maintaining its sanctity?
While Season 4 does deal with professional accountability, it taps into the personal lives of these characters more than the last couple of seasons did. Abbie Cornish (from Season 1) returns as Dr. Cathy Mueller, Jack’s girlfriend, and they’re sweet together; we get to see the ‘soft boy’ side of Jack, which is adorable. There’s Greer balancing work-life as he’s constantly interrupted while trying to make good with his family for being absent when it mattered. We even get to know Wright, the woman running this male-dominated operation, on a deeper level; what drives her, and what she is made of. And Betty Gabriel plays the part impressively.
A new character who is central to this season’s conflict, Chao Fah, played by an earnest Louis Ozawa, also has his arc revolve around a desperate need to protect his family—wife and daughter—even if it means hurting others, and this dynamic adds to the show’s strong emotional core.
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Have you ever found yourself risking the peace in your personal life for your job, and then finding out that the reason your job was so damn difficult was because someone else wasn’t doing their’s properly? Almost all political thrillers that tackle missions of global or international security and characters risking their lives have this one thread in common. Operations failing, people dying, because someone up there is being a real pain in the a**, either by creating too much bureaucratic red tape, or not enough, thereby enabling terror elements to slide through loopholes and disrupt world peace.
The final season of Jack Ryan also deals with the rot of corruption in the system that works both inside and outside, making it impossible for operatives like Jack to do their work within the bounds of the system. It’s debatable even when the operatives doing that have their head on steady, like Jack, and a moral compass. But when that moral compass is twisted… well, we’re already seeing the repercussions of that in our real world today, where powerful leaders and organisations think they’re doing something for progress and the greater good, but their actions are actually hurting the world in irrevocable ways.
Season 4 ends on a poignant note, calling out the very system that puts people like Jack at risk and yet turns around to demand accountability from them. And for me, that felt like a fitting end to the series that cannot have a definitive ‘ending’, because security threats and political tensions only keep getting worse. It also feels like a satisfactory ending for a character who is essentially supposed to be a US marine-turned-CIA analyst, in a desk job evaluating threats, but has to step into the field to neutralise them. In the hands of a capable John Krasinski, this is executed pitch perfectly, feeling sincere, even euphoric, and not too preachy. His portrayal of this character, which has seen multiple iterations on screen including one by Harrison Ford, is my favourite. For me, John Krasinski is Jack Ryan.
The series knows when it needs to introduce comic relief to temper all the heavy-duty stuff. It works, thanks to John Krasinski’s Ryan being an agreeable bloke who’ll pause for a joke, Wendell Pierce’s knack for delivering the most gangsta of lines with style, and Michael Kelly just having the most fun out of the lot as he swoops in, plays with the coolest toys, and saves the day. In fact, Kelly’s Mike November remains one of my favourite characters (he isn’t even in the books!) because you know you’re going to have a fun time when he’s around while the others go do the serious stuff.
Season 4 also belongs to the recent entrant to this boys’ club, Michael Peña as Domingo Chavez, with his poker face, deadpan dialogue delivery, and cold-blooded action scenes. I hear we’re getting a spin-off with Chavez, and I look forward to seeing where that goes.
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Verdict
Jack Ryan wasn’t a show that I have religiously watched whenever a new episode dropped. It was one of my comfort shows that I could go to whenever I had the time. Because I know that no matter how bad the situation got, Jack Ryan would save the day, and John Krasinski & Co. would entertain me, even educate me a bit about the geopolitical situation of the world we live in while showing me cool, edge-of-the-seat action.
As the series ends on a satisfying note and a gripping finale, I am one happy fan. Thank you for your service, Dr. Ryan. As Jack says in the last scene, that’s one hell of a team photo!
Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan Season 4 is directed by Lukas Etlin, Jann Turner, and Shana Stein, with writing credits for Tom Clancy, Carlton Cuse, Joe Greskoviak, Jeff Kemper, Jada Nation, Vaun Wilmott, Steven Kane, and Robert David Port. It is co-produced by Amazon Studios, Paramount Television Studios, and Skydance Television, and executive produced by Allyson Seeger, Andrew Form, John Krasinski, Brad Fuller, Michael Bay, and John Kelly. Tom Clancy and Skydance Television’s David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Matt Thunell executive produce the fourth season, along with Vaun Wilmott, Mace Neufeld and Carlton Cuse.
The six-episode final season premiered on June 30, 2023, on Prime Video with the first two episodes. Two more episodes will be dropping on July 7, with the final two episodes of the series releasing on July 14, 2023.