John Krasinski Is Impeccable in 'Jack Ryan'

A Quiet Place is my most favorite film of the year so far, and it’s looking like it will remain that way until I make my year-end favorite movies list. And now, the best TV show I’ve seen this year could also be another John Krasinski project – Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, or simply Jack Ryan.  In it, he plays the eponymous character that has been played in the past by Chris Pine, Ben Afleck, Harrison Ford, and Alec Baldwin.

Jack Ryan is one of my favorite fictional characters.  I love the novels – which is why Tom Clancy is one of my favorite writers – and I enjoyed the movies.  Thus, as soon as this show got into my radar, I was greatly anticipating for it.

Look.  Even though I liked the films, I’ve been a bit frustrated that no series ever developed from them.  Harrison Ford came the closest by having two movies.  But what I really wish to see realized on screen is Ryan’s remarkable arc in the novels, in which he swiftly rose in the CIA and then found himself becoming the President of the United States.  Of course, that may not happen in this particular incarnation, but a TV series has the best chance of depicting that.

Regardless of that, I found Jack Ryan to be a credit to its genre.  It’s perennially thrilling and adequately smart.  The narrative – though there are also some parts which I thought was lazy or hackneyed – is generally gripping and has depth.  Meanwhile, the high production quality yields cinematic action sequences and cinematography.

Just like 2014’s Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, the show has to repackage the Jack Ryan mythos for the 21^st century, and makes him start off in his CIA career at a younger age than his book counterpart.  While the original Jack Ryan was already a family man and had successful careers in finance and the academe before he was recruited into becoming a CIA analyst, we find Krasinki’s Ryan at the start of the show already working in the CIA for some time and still single (he would only meet his love interest Cathy later on).  And unlike the past versions, this Jack Ryan is assigned in the Terror, Finance, and Arms Division (T-FAD).

The main storyline of the 8-part debut season centers on a developing terrorist plot that the perceptive Ryan stumbles upon while monitoring suspicions bank transfers, which would eventually lead him to go to the field.  And despite of that fact that he has no prior experience as a field agent, circumstance time and time again pushes him into action to perform as such.

In relation to this, John Krasinski portrays the reluctant but capable action hero that Jack Ryan is with impeccable delivery.  Moreover, intelligence and morality are much more important characteristics of Jack Ryan than brawn, and Krasinki’s take on the character hammers this essential detail home without being pretentious about it.  Harrison Ford is still my favorite Jack Ryan, but Krasinski is now probably my second.

All in all, I love Jack Ryan.  It’s the best action thriller I’ve seen on TV since 2016’s The Night Manager, and one of my most favorite TV shows of 2018, if not my most favorite already (it’s contending with Westworld for the top spot.  We’ll see at year-end).

Miscellaneous musings (w/ SPOILERS):

• Krasinski’s claim to fame was his role in the US version of the comedy TV series The Office.  But like everyone who watched 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, I’ve no doubts he could effectively overcome type and be a great action star.
• So happy to see Leverage’s Timothy Hutton in this show.  And I immensely amused by the fact that his character’s name is coincidentally “Nate.”
• In the books as well as in the Harrison Ford movies, James Greer and Jack Ryan have an amiable mentor-protégé relationship.  But here, though Greer remains Ryan’s boss, they instead maintain a love-hate buddy-cop rapport.  This is one of the best things about this series, thanks to the engrossing chemistry between actors John Krasinski and Wendell Pierce.

• Does the ending scene imply Ryan is joining Greer in Moscow instead of accepting the promotion to T-FAD head?
• Season one has an interesting subplot involving a drone pilot.  It was worthwhile per se, but I was honestly disappointed in the end because it didn’t really play a part in the overall plot.  In such context, it was pointless.
• There’s this black ops agent I thought was John Clark at first, but it turns out is named “Matice” (played by John Hoogenakker).  However, could this be an alias?  After all, he’s been introduced as someone who makes up names for himself.  Could he be John Clark after all?  That would be awesome, if ever.
• Holy crap.  Noomi Rapace is joining the show for season two, playing a German spook.  I’m excited for this for she has proven to be much capable for such roles, as seen in Unlocked.