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The character Jack Ryan was originally created by the writer Tom Clancy, who wrote multiple books all surrounding Jack Ryan. This became known as the Ryanverse.
You probably know Tom Clancy for his epic spy thrillers and war stories and if not, look him up, his stories are pretty popular.
They’ve been adapted in many forms over the years, but Jack Ryan represents the first to be made into a TV series.
What’s It About?
Jack Ryan is a CIA analyst that basically gets to do mad things and somehow always ends up saving the day (isn’t that always the way).
The series follows Ryan as he uncovers a pattern in terrorist communication that launches him into the centre of a dangerous investigation and he has to fight to protect these terrorists from releasing chaos into the world we know.
The series is very well done. Amazon is the producer of the series, but the series was created by Carlton Cuse and Graham Roland. John Krasinski plays Jack Ryan with Wendell Pierce as James Greer, who is Ryan’s boss and who goes along with him on this specific mission.
Krasinski’s interpretation of the character is said to be inspired by Harrison Ford’s portrayal in Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger.
The series starts off by showing Ryan’s life as an analyst and how he got to where he was; how he is plagued by his past life in combat. Krasinski seriously had to beef up for this as the Jack Ryan character is a toned ex-marine, but he doesn’t do a bad job.
Jack is presented as a flawless hero from the moment he enters our screen, he starts his day by working out and biking to work and how he obeys orders and doesn’t appear to be an alpha male, but this inevitably changes.
The series continues on and shows how Ryan combs through terrorist communication and how he finally thinks he hit something big.
Ali Suliman (the bad guy) causes Ryan to take notice because of his bank statements, the non-existent history and the cold trails. He obviously gets turned down at first as no one really takes his claims seriously, but of course, they all come around eventually.
Through 8 45-minute episodes, we see Ryan begin to change and grow not only as a character, but as a person too. He finds a love interest, who gets thrust into the Jack Ryan world when her work as an infectious disease doctor coincides with the bad guy’s end game.
Ryan works to defend those who can’t defend themselves and uses his knowledge as an analyst and ex-marine to overcome the challenges he faces and trust me, there are many.
Is It Any Good?
I would highly recommend this series to anyone who enjoys a good action movie. Krasinski’s portrayal of the character is somewhat attractive and he manages to charm us into falling in love with him and the character (or is that only me?).
The series is really well done, and Amazon poured a lot of money into making it into what it is. I was hooked from the first episode and I am proud to say I finished watching the whole thing in 2 days.
All the characters work really well together, and I think each actor suited the role they were chosen for. The series manages to keep you interested just enough to be keep coming back for more.
And good news, it’s coming back for a second Season.
By Tahlia Peppard