Review: Jack Ryan... sort of

Amazon's take on Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, now with Michale Bay.

Short take. If you have read my takes on the rebooted Star Trek movies you can probably stop right now. The conclusion for this show is almost a copy paste with any specific Star Trek Reference with Jack Ryan. The show is good... possibly great. Very entertaining. But it is far more Bay action, than Clancy thriller on display here. On a bonus note... at least they didn't ruin any actual Clancy stories in this manner.

Standard warning on spoilers. I talk about the whole series if that is a problem, turn back now.

The Good:

While they shed the "just an Analyst" front way to fast... they did at least pay serious homage to the roots of the Character and the essence of Clancy stories. At a rough estimation I'd say they inverted the "Analyst to Man of Action" ratio of the Clancy books. In Red October you go almost the entire book with no guns involved. Patriot Games begins and Ends with Ryan wielding arms. Clear and Present Danger goes almost the entire book without Ryan taking direct action. Cardinal of the Kremlin is entirely gun free for Ryan if I recall correctly, as are Sum of All fears (probably the closest in relation to this story arc) and Executive orders. Considering this was a Bay production I find it commendable our Hero doesn't shed his unpretentious exterior for the the first 50 minutes of the first episode. They are never again as restrained. I don't particularly like the take here... but it was done well and Krasinski pulls off the Boy Scout heart of the character well. The same can be said of Wendell Pierce for his rendition James Greer. Suliman as Suleiman is a fantastic antagonist for the story and the arc is solid. Together, these three carry the series on their backs. Shame they killed off Suleiman. They could have played him off as a puppet master they couldn't get to for multiple seasons.

While I think in some respects it was poorly integrated, the side story about the drone pilots was powerful and one I think deserving of more time in future series. This was also another good homage to the source inspiration material. Clancy novels often have side plots like this that are often largely tangental to the main story that are used to show different perspectives.

They did not mangle an actual Clancy story with the bumped up action. Much thanks they did not juice up something like Red October, or Executive orders.

Jim Greer's problems with his career in the Agency do not appear to stem from the fact he is African American but instead rises from the actions/decisions he has made and the politics of 'field operations' vs 'headquarters'. A common theme in Clancy's books. However, a racial element is at least inadvertently if not explicitly implied in the division lead being White offering a promotion to a clearly less deserving Ryan. But that is subtle as these things go. More about that below...

The So So:

While the main 3 are solid characters, the rest of the cast is pretty thin... and even our main three are very much arch types who start and end pretty much the same. Ryan I suppose moves the most... but the rapidity with which they thrust him into action makes it hard to buy the "just an Analyst" husk he sheds was anything more than a speed bump on the way to what they really wanted to do with the character. Once Ali walks through the interrogation room door with the solider Ryan flips the switch... and it stays switched. They could have upped the gut wrenching nature of the decisions Ryan has to make in what to accept in order to do good. They could have done more to show the radicalization of Suleiman and perhaps have him struggle more with the idea that to accomplish his goals he would have to do horrible things. Do more to highlight the atrocities that drive his desire to strike. The story hints as these elements but does not embrace them... the strongest effort seems to be in the Drone pilot side story.

Not super germane but one of the analysts Ryan is working with says something about knowing someone from having been at the farm at the same time. The Farm is the CIA school for field operations. Perhaps I have it wrong but it would be odd to find a Farm graduate in that level of role working with Ryan. I suspect this was done just to get as much "Clancy" in there as possible as references to the Farm are very common in his books. This one does not seem done by someone that really understood what it was about or what the implications were for this character to say that.

The Random sex scenes. Yes its a prime original and its adult. Not complaining to much though. Biggest issue is the just "Now sex is happening" nature of 2 of the 3. The scene with Cathy and Jack is probably the closest to being actually relevant especially if you know where that is likely to be headed from reading the books. Even so... you do not have to have characters get it on to get they are seriously into each other. The scene with Suleiman and his wife comes off as creepy at best, was totally unnecessary if not out of line. The showy oddball "Vegas" sex scene with the drone pilot is pure titillation and has zero relevance. Yeah yeah yeah... I know, I am missing the point. Sex and Explosions is the order of the day for this series. Frankly, in that case... I'd rather have had far more random salacious sex and fewer explosions\gun fights.

The Bad:

Ryan's character set in the middle east disputes of the present do not ring as true to me as the Cold Warrior of Clancy. As I said above they danced with the notion of nuance but never really embraced it. At best there is conflict in the show over HOW we should be involved in monitoring and intervening in the Middle east... there is no question regarding if we should be involved at all. For USSR and WARSAW pact vs USA and NATO that kind of certainty worked. For the current situation, not so much. There is legitimate room to debate whether or not being there and doing the things we do is the right way to go. To have truly embraced the gamut of the situation there should have included a serious discussion regarding whether or not we should be involved at all... in particular I think a strong thread should have been about whether or not our involvement is self defeating if our goal is to reduce terrorist action against us. That someone who has reached the point Suleiman is at needs to be stopped is not up for debate. But the idea that our actions in stopping or preventing such a person are in fact creating more just like them is a seriously dark rabbit hole just crying out to be elevated here.

Having the CIA running around the streets of the US with guns drawn. No.... No... and NO. In general the focus on guns drawn and explosions action involving CIA operations. I mean seriously... the whole Clancy 'thing' was going away from the James Bond misconception of intelligence work. Elevating the painstaking high stakes behind the scenes work that goes on to make for successful intelligence operations. Once you get past the first episode or two, this rest of this series pretty much tosses all that into a trash can, douses it in gasoline and gleefully tosses a Micheal Bay inspired match on it.

The smarmy awkward thing with another department Given lead on the Suleiman task force, then offering a lead of that task force to obviously under qualified Ryan. Ryan is 4 years in, isn't even the lead of the financial team he is own before Greer arrives. These were probably intended to induce tension and drama but for me they were just awkward and unnecessary. They also opened the door on racial issues but pointedly didn't address them. Without these two scenes Greer is just on the outs politically and Ryan is only offered advancement when Greer goes to Moscow leaving his former post open. Less drama... also less distracting from the case. Less problematic. I mean... if they wanted to tackle racial discrimination in the work place fine, plenty there to discuss.  But I don't see that here. I just see a very insensitive blind eye/ignorance towards what is being depicted. If done intentionally I expect there there would have been explicit dialog elevating it as such.

Conclusion:

Action heavy schlock for the most part... but as far as Action Schlock goes it is damned entertaining and the plot and character motivations are for all their flaws a good bit more complex than the typical red white and blue kill the bad guy stuff. That said there are plenty of tired jingoistic tropes for a "Team America" type send up here as well. The Jack Ryan here is somewhat related to the original Clancy character but almost all else is pretty much the antithesis of a Clancy story which is frustrating if you are a fan of the Clancy books as I am. I am by no means saying they should have no action. In the end Jack Ryan is a ridiculously over done perfect at everything studly do-right.

What would make it better in my opinion?

If they really wanted to do Clancy, they should have played more to the "Analyst side" and the slow burn of intelligence gathering, uncertainty etc... Ryan working the details, Case officers making contacts etc... and slowly unraveling the story of Suleiman in a way that paints a story that is inevitable in its conclusion of how and why he became what he is.  Highlighting the grim cycle of creating terrorist through how we hunt them. The role of systemic inequality. Yes he needs to be stopped. I do not think that should be questioned in the least. I am not looking for a Stockholm syndrome story approach where we are asking the readers to sympathize and think his actions are justified. More... there obviously are those in the world that DO sympathize, that do think his actions are justified.  If we don't understand that, and how it happens... how the hell are we ever going to stop the cycle? And most of all.... I would have taken the ratio of Ryans action in the first episode and put it across the whole season. That is to say he wouldn't have been in action until the very end. The opening episode could have had Suleiman released "just a body guard" and Ryan could have had something niggling in their interaction that gave him what he needed to dig through more on him and uncover the truth that they had the guy... and let him walk. The Paris subplot can be done entirely without him physically involved. Same with trying to track down Suleiman's wife. Having him and Greer go rouge on American soil in the final chapter in order to "save the world" I am good with... more or less as is. Would it be as popular? I doubt it. But I think it would be a far more powerful story... and one that could help educate a wider audience about the nuances involved in our current Middle East involvement.