‘Jack Irish’ Recap: ‘Season 3, Episode 1’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for the season three premiere of ‘Jack Irish’.
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The crime drama has become such a staple of television and film, that anyone that tunes into a new one knows exactly what they are getting into. In that, they’ll meet an intrepid investigator of sorts, one that has a solid motivation for bringing down criminals and they’ll be challenged on a consistent basis by the worst human beings that the world has to offer, before finally bringing them to justice in the most epic and moving way imaginable and well, this standard formula of sorts exists… simply because it works. For it really does offer up powerful drama through and through and it absolutely engrosses a viewer and it likely isn’t going anywhere, anytime soon.

But what’s nice is that from time to time, creative minds will work to create a crime drama that is eager to buck that model in order to try something new, and the ones that succeed in doing so, outright deserve our praise. For that’s the crime drama that truly picked up on something fresh and original and Jack Irish is a series that meets that particular qualification. For instance, its protagonist, the iconic Jack Irish, is a different breed of hero. For he is a former criminal lawyer that opted to change careers to a private investigator/debt collector after his wife Isabella died at the hands of a broken client. Which in turn has allowed for far more unique investigations and battles with evil to take place and it would seem that this show’s commitment to different types of storytelling is showing no signs of letting up in the saga’s final season… as evidenced by the season three premiere.

For this particular tale revealed that at long last, Jack is going to be able to deal with that death and what motivated his client to pull the trigger… but it sure didn’t seem as though that was going to be the case early on. Simply because this episode opened up in a supremely normal manner. With Jack going about his life and his day, working to put food on the table while good ol’ Barry took the time to investigate another heinous and seemingly random crime. But it didn’t take long for this ‘random’ murder to turn into a hideous blast from the past, one that rattled Barry to his core and motivated him to hire Jack to keep an eye on some former colleagues, before the stress of this whole mess, placed him in the hospital with a massive heart attack. 

Which in turn… led Jack to the beginning of the truth about his wife’s fate. Because while Barry was drugged out of his gourd on morphine, he let it slip… that he was sorry about everything, including Isabella and that of course… sent Jack’s mind reeling. For it indicated that there was more to her death than he ever expected, and it also motivated him to dig deeper than he ever had before in regard to her passing and well, what Jack found chilled him to the bone. Because the man he was sent to watch, was involved with the arrest of his client, the very collar that upset said client to the point of committing murder and that, and the untimely end of Barry under incredibly suspicious circumstances has Jack wondering exactly what led to the death of his love and he will undoubtedly stop at nothing to learn the real truth about her fate.

Which is… a magnificent way to set up the final season of this titular show. For it would give Jack his biggest and most emotional challenge to date and his quest for the truth will undoubtedly be wrought with difficulties untold as he tries to navigate what appears to be a grand conspiracy involving the police and well, it doesn’t get more unique and engrossing than that. Because that really is quite the fascinating plot, one that leaves the viewer hungry for answers and that definitely means that each and every one of us, will be counting down the days until next Monday’s new episode. All so we can see what unsettling truth Jack Irish will uncover as he begins to peel back the curtain on a dark and disturbing play. Until next time.

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