“Jack Ryan” returns to Prime Video this week, but not in the way you would expect. Tom Clancy's famous protagonist was the subject of four television seasons on Prime Video. Like many of you, I believed the last episode of season 4 would serve as the series finale. Thankfully, the studio realized the popularity of this intellectual property and greenlit “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War,” a new movie starring John Krasinski as the titular CIA officer.
In "Ghost War," Jack and his trusty allies are pulled into a deadly conspiracy involving an unsanctioned black ops unit. Like many of his previous missions, it puts Jack in harm's way with the fate of the country at stake. What more could you want in an espionage thriller?
With “Jack Ryan” back in our lives, I took some time to pinpoint seven episodes from the Prime Video series to watch before “Ghost War.” These episodes don’t necessarily set up the movie, but they represent key moments from the series.
‘Pilot’ (season 1, episode 1)
I still believe in pilots. They have certainly lost some of their importance; streaming services typically greenlight an entire season’s worth of episodes instead of making a pilot and then choosing to pick up the show or pass on it. Regardless, it’s still a TV pilot’s job to introduce the themes of the series and set up what’s to come in future episodes.
The pilot shows everything you need to know about Jack. He’s a brilliant analyst — he connects millions of financial transactions to the Yemeni terrorist named Suleiman (Ali Suliman). He’s important — the CIA interrupts a party to pick Jack up by helicopter. Jack is charming, as seen in his interactions with Dr. Cathy Mueller (Abbie Cornish). Most importantly, Jack is a reluctant hero who always believes he can find solutions without resorting to violence, a trait that will eventually change as the series progresses.
‘The Boy’ (season 1, episode 7)
No matter how hard he tries, Jack’s professional life always seems to bleed into his personal life. His inability to separate the two is a common theme throughout the series. In “The Boy,” Dr. Mueller learns about Jack’s involvement with the CIA after they surprisingly find themselves in the same briefing. It’s not a dealbreaker for Jack, but it certainly changes things.
“The Boy” has the elements of what you want in a “Jack Ryan” episode. There’s a suspenseful covert mission to capture Suleiman (Ali Suliman) and rescue the hostages. The episode highlights Jack’s push to avoid as much bloodshed as possible when he pushes for the ground assault instead of an airstrike. Finally, the episode ends on an excellent cliffhanger, with Jack and Greer (Wendell Pierce) realizing the doctors have been infected with Ebola. It’s a perfect penultimate episode.
‘Inshallah’ (season 1, episode 8)
“Jack Ryan” isn’t known for its chase scenes, but the season 1 finale features an exhilarating scene between Jack and Suleiman. Jack discovers that Suleiman plans to release a deadly chemical inside a hospital and kill the president, sending the country into chaos. Jack manages to identify a disguised Suleiman and chases him through a train station.
Left with no other choice, Jack shoots Suleiman to stop the attack from happening. It’s a turning point in the story of Jack Ryan. Jack always referred to himself as an analyst who had no intentions of leaving his desk. This moment changed the course of his career as he left his cubicle behind to enter the field and embark on dangerous missions. Jack’s intelligence remained, but he became a full-blown action hero in this episode.
‘Strongman’ (season 2, episode 8)
“Jack Ryan” season 2 revolves around Venezuela and the United States’ efforts to help their preferred candidate win the presidential election over the corrupt incumbent, Nicolás Reyes (Jordi Mollà). Jack’s speech about Venezuela and its threat to national security eerily mirrors what’s going on in today’s world.
Politics aside, the season 2 finale has Jack going full secret agent by infiltrating Venezuela’s presidential palace with the help of Mike November (Michael Kelly) to retrieve Greer. In the final moments of the episode, Jack proves loyalty to the United States by turning over his boss, Senator Mitchell Chapin (Michael O’Neill), to the authorities after his traitorous ways are revealed. Jack will always do the right thing, even if it means going against his mentor.
‘Ghosts’ (season 3, episode 6)
Welcome back, Soviet Union … sort of. One of the major storylines in “Jack Ryan” season 3 is a rogue Russian faction's plans to recreate the Soviet Union by setting off a nuclear bomb in Europe to kick-start World War III. Jack also becomes a fugitive this season and must work to prove his innocence, which can only happen if he stops the nuclear weapon from detonating.
The most action-packed scene in this episode is a truck sequence where Jack tries to prevent a NATO car from exploding and killing the convoy. The United States will be blamed if the weapon goes off near the base. In true “Jack Ryan” fashion, Jack forces the bomb to go off early in a tunnel, and his team barely escapes with their lives.
‘Star on the Wall’ (season 3, episode 8)
Well, the plans to restart the Soviet Union never reached their full potential thanks to Jack, Greer, and Elizabeth Wright (Betty Gabriel). If you enjoyed the “Jack Ryan” movies, season 3 will be of particular interest to you because it’s clearly inspired by “The Sum of All Fears” and “The Hunt for Red October.”
Jack preventing the commander of the USS Roosevelt from responding to an attack from the Russian destroyer Fearless is almost a carbon copy of the plot in “The Hunt for Red October.” No complaints here due to that movie’s excellence.
‘Bethesda’ (season 4, episode 4)
There are only six episodes in the season; it felt like a miniseries instead of the continuation of a popular Prime Video show. It did feel rushed due to the lower episode count. However, I quite enjoyed the fourth episode, “Bethesda,” which sees Jack, Mike, and Domingo (Michael Peña) infiltrate a black market in Croatia.
The episode felt like a smaller and less violent version of the casino scene in “Skyfall” and the nightclub fight sequence in “John Wick: Chapter 4.” Letting cool characters dress up and play spies in luxurious settings will always work for me. The episode also saw Greer survive an assassination attempt, which could have been the main storyline in another episode had season 4 contained more episodes.
Watch previous episodes of “Jack Ryan” on Prime Video. "Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War" premieres on May 20 on Prime Video.
