Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan (Season 2)

Look, its not like Amazon Prime wasn't going to make a second season of this show. The first season did well enough with people, despite in my opinion being a mixed bag, John Krasinski is a hot ticket item these days, and a streaming service isn't going to turn down the opportunity to have their own Homeland series. I just wish it was done better.

Jack Ryan by itself is a hard property to adapt. There hasn't really been a good movie adaptation since the Harrison Ford movies in the 90s, and I think there's a reason for that. I mentioned in my first season review that we've just had so many other characters like Jason Bourne, Daniel Craig's Bond, Jack Bauer, even Carrie Mathison in different way, that have taken the spy character and made them intriguing that the character of Jack Ryan feels more like he's being shaped by them, even though some of those characters were probably shaped by him in a way. So like most things being adapted for today, the cycle has come full circle.

The first episode of this season is actually pretty good because it picks up on this character not long after the first season but maintains the same story. Even at its height in the Ford movies, the Jack Ryan stories have always felt very compartmentalized with not a whole lot of continuity. Even the books feel like standalone one offs of this character that its hard to get really invested.

This season changes that and sees Ryan has taken a job with an old Marine friend who is now a Senator (played by Benito Martinez). He has become more interested in Venezuela and he and the Senator Moreno have started to notice unusual activity in the increasingly unstable country. So they decide to go to Venezuela to meet with President Nicholas Reyes (played by Jordi Molla) who is in the middle of an election, in order to hopefully get a read on him and his potentially problematic dealings.

Meanwhile, the other main character from the first season Jim Greer (played again by Wendell Pierce) starts seeing similar unusual activity related to Venezuela and in the midst of dealing with heart troubles, he is able to transfer to Venezuela to investigate more and happens to run into Ryan and Senator Moreno.

And this is a return of something that did work in Season 1, the relationship between Greer and Ryan.

 Despite any problems I will bring up in this review, something that has been consistent is the dynamic between Pierce and Krasinski and I'm really glad that's the case and it has only evolved. In the first season, Ryan was the new kid on the block paired with Greer's world weary jadedness. Now, Ryan has been around a little bit and they're becoming more of peers, just from different generations.

So in the first episode or two, there are some good things that were set up in this season. The political situation in Venezuela with Reyes running against a woman named Gloria Bonalde (played by Cristina Umana) with grassroots support for her bid for Presidency and the seedy "Game of Thrones"-ish politics happening there have a great set up in the first two episodes.

The first two episodes introduce Michael Kelly as the Station Chief at Venezuela, Mike November, and despite any misgivings I have of his character, I will never turn down Michael Kelly. It also introduces a deadly assassin in Max Schenkel played by the Man with no face Jaqen H'ghar himself from Game of Thrones, Tom Wlashiha. Both characters that I liked despite some issues that I will get to later.

One thing that wasn't really consistent from the first season was Jack starting up a romantic fling with a German spy by the name of Harriet Baumann (played by Noomi Rapace) with absolutely no mention of Abbie Cornish's Cathy Muller from the previous season.

The thing is, I don't think this was a bad choice. Noomi Rapace actually does a really good job regardless of a romantic relationship with her and Ryan and there actually is a lot more chemistry between the two. I mentioned in my first review that the chemistry wasn't really there between Krasinski and Cornish. Furthermore, they establish a sexual attraction between Harriet and Jack so quickly that its just established and they move on with it. The weird part is that for a season that had actually been pretty good at picking up a character where they left off, to have no mention of Cathy at all just felt weird because she was such a big part of the first season. Furthermore, she's usually a big part of the Jack Ryan mythos that it seems like a big departure to just cast her aside.

So the first two episodes have a really great set up. Jack and Greer are involved in esiponage-infused conspiracy involving the President of Venezuela. Harriet Baumann plays a mysterious role, especially related to the assassin, and there are politics going on with a country on the edge of revolution. All good stuff right?

And I won't say it goes down hill fast, it just doesn't stick the landing whatsoever. And that's mainly due to the fact that everyone in this show is bad at their job.

In the first season, I think my issue was more with the suspension of disbelief. And while that's for sure here in this season, some of the biggest issues are when have to be bad at their job in order for the conflict to draw out for 8 episodes.

I get that if these people did the right thing all the time, there would be no conflict. But people from Ryan, to the Special Forces Commander Matice from the first season (played by John Hoogenakker), to Mike November just do things that are just stupid and would get them fired so quickly. In all reality, there should not be a third season and if there is, it should be Jack Ryan in government hearings for all the illegal and stupid shit he does in this season.

But this also brings up the issue that I don't really think this Jack Ryan encapsulates what makes the character of Jack Ryan interesting. I think they did a better job of it in Season 1, but this season took it to a whole new level by making him a full on action star instead of an analyst.

It's been a minute since I've seen the Harrison Ford films, but one thing I do remember is that despite Ryan being played by one of the greatest action hero movie stars of all time, Harrison Ford never played him as a Special Forces Operator. He always solved things with his investigative and analysis skills and the special ops stuff was left to the people who were actually trained in that. The times that he was forced to fight, he was clunky and usually got the shit kicked out of him.

I get it, John Krasinski looks operator AF. Furthermore, they play up the fact that he was a Marine to explain this operator look. But when you just throw him into operator mode you just make him Jack Bauer and he loses the unique nature of Jack Ryan as an analyst who is thrown into the wolves den and has to solve his way out with his intelligence.

And while we're on John Krasinski's Jack Ryan, I would say they really half assed any kind of character development this time around. In the first season he was taking his knowledge to the real world and learning that the world was harsher from behind the desk. (That's honestly being generous because I don't think the first season was that deep).

If I'm being as generous to this season, it could take that harsh reality that Ryan discovered in the first season and start to push him to the limits, especially when the people he cares about are at risk.

The problem is, any lines that traditionally would speculated to be crossed but never ultimately would be by a character like Ryan are crossed and then some to a point where you're not sure what this character is really all about.

Furthermore, his backstory continues to be that of a video game character. Very basic, only sort of touched on in the first episode, then disregarded in order for him to be the new Jack Bauer.

I like John Krasinski. I think having him play Ryan was a great choice because I think that likability gives people a familiar face to like watching. But the character doesn't make any sense if you put any logic to it. And what's more, while that character was flimsy in the first season, he was at least good at his job. This Ryan is really bad at his job and should be fired after this season.

One thing that had been a constant in this show is the use of current events in international news to update the material and make it applicable. The first season was about the Syrian refugee crisis, this season was almost a one for one comparison with the crisis in Venezuela that occurred during the summer of last year.

I've already mentioned what works. The political element of the show is interesting and Gloria Bonalde might be one of the only characters in this season that is somewhat competent at her purpose in this season. While I think giving it the background of the Venezuelan crisis might feel dated in a couple years, I'll give them credit for taking the current events of the time and making it an interesting setting. 

The problem comes with the main bad guy, President Reyes. Put aside the fact that the CIA is ultimately bad at any kind of influence or espionage into his inner circle, he's just portrayed as a generic bad guy with no real depth, even though I think they were trying to make him somewhat sympathetic.

In the first season, I mentioned that the main bad guy was given a tragic backstory and it was effective to a certain extent. Well in this season, they allude to a tragic backstory and there are inklings that he's gone mad with power, but there is no progression. It's not like he starts off as a good guy overwhelmed by instability and corruption and he progresses into madness, he's just a bastard from front to end. So any kind of sympathies we're supposed to have with him and his second in command (played by Francisco Denis) is really lost.

But here's the other issue. For as evil as this guy is, Venezuela is still a sovereign nation that people in the show explicitly say that the CIA doesn't have much authority in. In comparison with the first season where the villains were non-state actors, this season has Jack Ryan facing up against members of the Venezuelan state and a lot of the things done in the show would be considered an act of war, or extreme aggression on the part of the US. Yeah they allude to the fact that everyone is corrupt and such, but some of the nameless people Jack Ryan and his Special force teams are gunning down were probably just regular Venezuelans doing their job. For as evil as Reyes is, it's not like he's Hitler and its not like the US is at war with Venezuela. So there are a couple of parts in this, especially when the CIA is bad at their job, that make the US look like assholes interfering in a sovereign nation that poses no immediate threat to the US.

I know that's of a poli-sci nerd cut (like the poli-sci nerd I am) and most people aren't looking into the geo-political implications of Jack Ryan, but it does show the direction this show has ultimately decided to go down.

In the first season, the show was on the fence of whether or not it wanted to be Homeland or 24. Over the top, or realistic. This season firmly plants its feet on the side of over the top and is positioning itself to be the new 24. The problem is, 24 came out right after 9/11 and Jack Bauer was the action hero we needed at a time where we were angry and just wanted to see someone go kick the asses of terrorists. I think the success of Homeland shows that we're interested in a little more nuance and while Jack Ryan had the opportunity to show a little more subtlety in its execution, it's decided to go with an approach that's a little more pop corn flick.

And I'm not saying that's a bad choice. It just needs to full commit to that now. If it's gonna be the new 24, it's gotta clip along the way 24 did. This show still has a bit of a pacing issue and it harkens back to the Amazon Prime shows of its early days with interesting concepts but uneven pacing.

Is Jack Ryan what I want it to be? No. Does it know what it is now? I think so. I will probably watch the third season that has been ordered already and I've heard it has a new show runner so maybe that show runner will take ownership of what the show is and polish some of the rough edges it has.

Overall, I think Season 2 while Season 2 ups the ante from Season 1 and improves some of the issues I had with the first season (no random drone pilot who randomly goes to Vegas for some reason that goes no where) there are still a lot of writing and pacing issues that cause my initial instinct to say that I liked the first season more. But the point is, both are pretty mixed bags.

If you're a fan of spy thrillers and you can suspend the disbelief that Jack Ryan doesn't start a war with Venezuela after this season, I think you'll like it. Otherwise, you're in for a little bit of a rough uneven time with Jack Ryan Season 2.

But have you seen Jack Ryan Season 2? What do you think? What can they improve for Season 3? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for films and TV shows I should review on this blog. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

Thanks for reading!