A Fitting Finale
Summary
Season 4 of Jack Ryan has some nice character moments and dialogue but there isn’t much in the way of action for the first few episodes. It has its moments but it really kicks into gear for the final two then wrapping everything up satisfactorily.
Plot: The fourth and final season of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan finds the titular character on his most dangerous mission yet: facing an enemy both foreign and domestic. As the new CIA Acting Deputy Director, Jack Ryan is tasked with unearthing internal corruption, and in doing so, uncovers a series of suspicious black ops that could expose the vulnerability of the country. As Jack and the team investigate how deep the corruption runs, he discovers a far-worse reality—the convergence of a drug cartel with a terrorist organization—ultimately revealing a conspiracy much closer to home and testing our hero’s belief in the system he has always fought to protect.
Review: I go into some major spoilers for this show ahead so best not to read any further if you want to go in fresh.
I just finished watching the fourth and final season of Jack Ryan on Amazon Prime last night and although it was a bit of a mixed bag I thought by the end it wrapped everything up nicely, so there were no loose ends.
This is probably the least action packed season to date and it’s only really the final two episodes where anything awesome happens but I really enjoyed the characters and story. You’re constantly wondering who can be trusted and what their motivations are with various machinations and political intrigue to keep things moving.
Tom Clancy’s books weren’t really about the action and more about little details and although this series isn’t really based on a particular story he wrote, it still feels like it and I’ve really grown to like John Krasinski as our lead. He has the boy-scout personality but it never feels unbelievable; he’s a moral man forced to sometimes do amoral things “for the greater good” and it makes for interesting viewing.
I love the dynamic between Jack, Greer, Betty and Mike who always have each other’s backs but can hurl abuse at each other like real friends do. They feel authentic in their respective roles and the scenes between Jack and Greer usually have some hilarious dialogue.
The show still manages to maintain tension and there are constant stakes right up until the end with potential bombs headed for the States, so it manages to keep you on the edge of your seat for those final two episodes.
The pacing does lag a little in parts and the lack of any big action scenes does detract from the excitement level and you do feel like this season has the lowest budget yet.
I wouldn’t be upset if Domingo “Ding” Chavez (Michael Peña) got his own spin-off as he was a total badass yet absolute hero who gets several moments to shine; this is light years away from the comic relief he brings to the Ant-Man films.
Zuleikha Robinson ends up being arguably the most hateful villain of the entire series and you are cheering on when she gets her much deserved comeuppance.
Overall, Jack Ryan: Season 4 wraps the show up nicely but I couldn’t help feeling the action was underwhelming until the final two episodes. It feels like they rushed this into production to get it over with, so John Krasinski could move on to other projects. It’s still an entertaining season and I hope to see Krasinski return as Ryan possibly in future movies as I’ve become attached to him in the role.
