'Jack Ryan' Recap: 'Pilot'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

When it comes to spy dramas, I think we can all agree that there are few spies as iconic as James Bond. Because 007 has been around for over a century and his adventures in both print and cinema have made him an outright household name. But, while this British spy is one of the most celebrated in pop culture, I think we often forget about America’s most famous spy, the one and only Jack Ryan, and I fully understand why he’s not as popular as Mister Bond, because his career and stories have turned out to be so incredibly different.
 
After all, Bond is debonair and dashing and always gets the girl amidst a thrilling and incredible mission, whereas Jack is merely an analyst who is about as American as apple pie. He believes in always doing the right thing and following procedure and I get it, that’s boring in some ways, and the up and down nature of the books he hails from and the motion picture franchise he once enjoyed has hurt his chances of putting him on the same level as his international counterpart, but that hasn’t stopped Hollywood from trying to reinvent a character that is filled to the brim with so much potential.
 
Because in a world full of gritty stories and dark sequels, film and television could use and do wonders with a character that features a positive outlook and boy scout mentality and well, the time has come once again to try and reinvent this character by putting an end to his cinematic adventures by instead moving him to the small screen since Amazon recently released Jack Ryan, a show that takes us to the beginning of his titular career and recently I had the chance to finally settle in and watch the ‘Pilot’ episode of this brand new journey and well, I’m glad I did because it’s clear now that Jack’s future on the small screen looks far more promising than it does on the big screen. 

---

​I say that, simply due to the fact that this inaugural episode is downright delightful to watch. In large part due to the fact that it doesn’t insult the audience with a grandiose origin story, we instead meet Jack in the middle of his analyst work at the Central Intelligence Agency and he’s already onto something big and it doesn’t take long for us to be thrust into a grand adventure around the world to hunt a mysterious man named Suleiman who is gathering money for something nefarious and while the story does a fine job of setting up a massive and sprawling plot in this first episode, it’s the characters that sell the story.
 
Because Jack really is as good as advertised, and he is truly focused on doing the right thing in just about every single situation, to the point where his kindness helps reveal the true identity of his foe and it’s just refreshing to see a hero that and focuses on honor and integrity instead of his demons and his flaws and Jack is counter balanced nicely by Suleiman, since this particular villain is about as ruthless as they come and his band of baddies are willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish their mission and it should be interesting to see how the cat and mouse game begins to shape up between Jack and Suleiman as the story progresses.
 
But, when all is said and done, there’s some serious potential here for this first season of the show to become the next great American spy drama since it features an engrossing story and some lovely characters, and I was blown away by the quality production values and quite frankly, the acting, because everyone in this story is just a delight to watch and shout out to John Krasinski who plays Jack, since his performance here was lights out and I get the feeling this series is going to let him shine as an actor as it continues along and well, I’m excited. There’s something special brewing with this particular series, and I really cannot wait to watch this story unfold, so on that note, if you’ll excuse me, it’s time to hit play on my Prime App and see what comes next for Jack Ryan as he begins to unravel Suleiman’s evil plans. Until next time.   

---