Season 1 Discussion

[Meredith Quill]

Inspired by the Tom Clancy books:

Quote

An up-and-coming CIA analyst, Jack Ryan, is thrust into a dangerous field assignment as he uncovers a pattern in terrorist communication that launches him into the center of a dangerous gambit.

 

[BetterButter]

[Morrigan2575]

Oh, I don't know about this. 

[dwmarch]

Well, it bears a slight, passing resemblance to the characters and universe created by Tom Clancy. However, Clancy is dead now, so long live Clancy... the franchise.

Edited October 9, 2017 by dwmarch

[PBSLover]

Bad casting.

[lark37]

John Krasinski was excellent in 13 Hours. I think he will be terrific as Jack Ryan much better casting than Ben Affleck or Chris Pine. Personally, I'm looking forward to this reboot!

[BetterButter]

[Raja]

Well the book and even the Chris Pine Jack Ryan made it look like the field work was a once in a lifetime event as Jack Ryan rose in the ranks. This looks like just using the name instead of the son character that Clancy created before his death to have "Ryan" be the action star instead of Clark and Chavez.

[Raja]

The Super Bowl trailer is the same. Jack Ryan looks like every other special operations soldier, except for a spinal scar and no scruffy beard. Certainly not a medically discharged Marine who finds himself in certain circumstances.

[BetterButter]

Amazon Confirms ‘Jack Ryan’ Season 2 Months Before First Season Debuts

[BetterButter]

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Dina Shihabi discusses Jack Ryan:

[biakbiak]

I will watch another episode because I am me I will probably watch all of them but this was so easily predictable at every step of the way.

[HollyG]

1 hour ago, biakbiak said:

I will watch another episode because I am me I will probably watch all of them but this was so easily predictable at every step of the way.

Yes, who the boys from the beginning of the episode turned out to be was predictable. But I still thought it was good. I will stay with it.

p.s. I really like John Krasinski in the role of Jack Ryan and Wendell Pierce as his boss. A bonus was Timothy Hutton as Nathan Singer. I almost didn't recognize him!

Edited August 31, 2018 by HollyG

[biakbiak]

15 minutes ago, HollyG said:

Yes, who the boys from the beginning of the episode turned out to be was predictable. But I still thought it was good. I will stay with it.

It wasn’t just that. At every “twist” I thought it telegraphed to a ridiculous degree.

[biakbiak]

So you just invaded an apartment with no reconnaissance? This show is going to annoy me more and more. I have a problem so will continue to watch.

[Visby]

Of course he meets his future wife, who appears to be a twenty year old doctor, and as with all tv shows, is 20 years younger than her future husband.  

Jim changes jobs, but still rides his bike to work.

[revbfc]

On 8/31/2018 at 10:51 AM, Visby said:

Jim changes jobs, but still rides his bike to work.

He not only rides a bike to work, he rides it over 30 miles to get to a location 7 miles from his home in Georgetown.

ETA:  My original mileage estimate was ridiculously low now that I know where one scene was really shot.

Edited September 5, 2018 by revbfc

[Jodithgrace]

Anti-Terrorism 101...you don't shoot the person with the suicide vest, they have a dead man switch! Plus they invaded the apartment with nobody left outside in case the guy slips past, which of course, he did. And nobody suspected that the kid outside was a lookout? I did. C'mon people! 

I like John Krazinski, so I am watching this, but some of this stuff is annoying. One of the recurring "jokes," about Jack Ryan is that he hates to fly and every book has him flying, which this does, but it doesn't show him hating it. They had one line about it in the first episode, but it didn't seem to be based on anything. After his experience in Afghanistan I at least expected him to react to the helicopter flying at him in episode 1, but it didn't seem to bother him at all. 

It seems odd to me that this is all a prequel, except that it takes place in the present. So where does that leave "Hunt for Red October?"

[lynxfx]

I enjoyed the heck out of this premiere. It felt high budget, well produced, well shot and kept my attention. It is a nice mix of Homeland and 24. I'm 3 episodes in and still really like it.

[biakbiak]

11 hours ago, Visby said:

Of course he meets his future wife, who appears to be a twenty year old doctor, and as with all tv shows, is 20 years younger than her future husband

Abbie is 36 and to me looks older than John who is three years older than her.

Edited September 1, 2018 by biakbiak

[yourmomiseasy]

I think maybe my expectations were too high -- probably because they've been advertising since like January.  It wasn't bad, it just didn't wow me.  The wrting wasn't fantastic, things were too predictable a lot of the time.  I did enjoy that there was gratuitous male nudity instead of it all being female.  

(thoughts on the series as a whole, but posted in this thread since it is the last episode.)

Edited September 1, 2018 by yourmomiseasy

[hiccup]

First off, I'm really enjoying this series!

I'm about 15 minutes into this episode and one thing is really bothering me. How was it possible for Suleiman and his son to get into the US, without Suleiman wearing any kind of disguise? This guy was all over the news for the Paris attack, and you would think he would be recognized by at least one person. Just having a fake id isn't going to make people doubt who he is, if he was recognized. 

Ok, rant over. Maybe that question will be answered at some point in this episode?

[dusang]

16 hours ago, Jodithgrace said:

It seems odd to me that this is all a prequel, except that it takes place in the present. So where does that leave "Hunt for Red October?"

I saw JK interviewed and he said that they are not using the actual books because they were "of the moment" for the time. They are just using the characters  and trying to be as "of the moment" for now. So this Jack Ryan will never hunt for a red October, as it were.

[Raja]

20 hours ago, revbfc said:

He not only rides a bike to work, he rides it over 30 miles to get to a location 7 miles from his home in Georgetown.

After rowing, he is obviously training for some kind of triathlon 

On 8/31/2018 at 1:31 AM, biakbiak said:

I will watch another episode because I am me I will probably watch all of them but this was so easily predictable at every step of the way.

Well I just thought the bodies would go boom, I wasn't expecting the little brother to tear off his mask Mission Impossible style.

[AmandaPanda]

Definitely predictable and not my normal cup of tea, but I will watch John Krasinski do basically anything. I'm in for everything.

[AmandaPanda]

20 hours ago, Jodithgrace said:

It seems odd to me that this is all a prequel, except that it takes place in the present. So where does that leave "Hunt for Red October?"

Yeah, at the beginning, it always just says "based on characters," rather than "based on books." So, my understanding is basically that they've thrown the books out the window and are just using the characters in stories fitting with today's terroristic landscape. 

[AmandaPanda]

Wasn't particularly interested in all the stuff at the casino and really anything to do with Victor. Right now, I think Hanin's storyline is the one most interesting to me.

[AmandaPanda]

I am all for any episode that involves John Krasinski taking a shower and making out with someone. I was really worried the funeral they showed was going to be for the French agent who died and thought that would have been overkill. 

[AmandaPanda]

I am so incredibly bored by everything about the drone pilot. Maybe it's because I couldn't stand him on Orange is the New Black, but that's my least favorite plot thread. I really love the stuff going with Hanin, though. 

[Netfoot]

Victor is going to be the dog, crapping on the grass, in the background of the wedding portraits.

[Netfoot]

34 minutes ago, AmandaPanda said:

I am so incredibly bored by everything about the drone pilot.

Like I said:  He's going to be the turd on the carpet.

[Stenbeck]

I really enjoyed it. Entertaining and well paced.

This is my first time watching an Amazon show, and the production values feel much higher than your average Netflix show.

[Bridget]

2 hours ago, AmandaPanda said:

I am all for any episode that involves John Krasinski taking a shower and making out with someone. I was really worried the funeral they showed was going to be for the French agent who died and thought that would have been overkill. 

Come sit next to me!

I re-watched those precious few seconds WAY TOO MANY times than I care to admit.

Is it wrong to be super jealous of his real life wife, Emily Blunt, or do I sound like a 12 year old who is upset that her favorite boy band member has a girlfriend? :)

Edited September 1, 2018 by Bridget

[AmandaPanda]

Absolutely love what they are doing with Hanin. Her story is the most rich and complex of all the plot threads. They could easily just make Mousa your average, run-of-the-mill terrorist who doesn't have anything more going on than wanting to kill the West. I like how they've actually made him a real person. 

Also, I've figured out why I can't stand the Victor storyline. It feels so disconnected from everything else. I see how it ties into the larger plot, but I'm not seeing how it's going to end up connected back to Jack and the CIA. It just feels like an afterthought in a lot of ways. 

Edited September 1, 2018 by AmandaPanda

[AmandaPanda]

Oh, I am forever jealous of Emily Blunt. I can't be too mad at her, though, because she is adorable and he is head over heels for her in every interview he gives. 

But this series needs more naked John. 

[AmandaPanda]

My favorite storyline in everything is Hanin's plot. However, my favorite relationship so far is Greer and Jack. Him messing with Jack about the tie was hilarious. It's also possible that he will always be Bunky to me and thus, I will always love him.

I got so freaked out when Suleiman's son and daughter were talking to each other on the video game. If this was the finale episode, I wouldn't have been worried because I don't think this show is going to have one Big Bad for the duration of the series. It seems like it's going to have a new one each season. But since it's the penultimate episode, I was worried something was going to happen to the little boy. I was glad to see they just had ditched the place instead. 

When Cathy was asking what was real and what was fake with Jack, I wish he'd said everything related to work will always be fake, but everything else he ever said would be real and would always be real. I was glad to see that Cathy was talking to Jack again by the end of the episode. Things are always better when John Krasinski is smiling and that's really the only plot where he cracks a smile. 

So glad that they were able to get the doctors out safely. Did not expect for Nadler to be the one with ebola, though. That was a twist I didn't see coming. 

[Stenbeck]

So...the terrorist's password is something OBVIOUSLY predictable and ridiculously easy to figure out?

C'mon! Why can't his password be completely random shit like Oprah45#42 or BigBike4U

Just sayin'...

[preeya]

I guess I got off at the wrong stop. Didn't realize this was the high school version of the PTV forum.

[AmandaPanda]

Really liked this finale. I loved that Cathy's job isn't just some random happenstance, that it actually ended up being a part of the overall arc of the season. Interested to see where next season goes, though it has to have Jack going to be with Greer in Moscow. I need them to be reunited ASAP!

[mrsjoe]

I figured I would start a topic for general season one discussion.

Overall, the storyline wasn’t exactly creative or unpredictable. I mean who didn’t guess early on Kathy’s Ebola work was connected or that the prisoners got medicines so they could be infected? There were many examples like that. I think what made the season so engaging, besides John Krasinki’s charm, was that they put so much thought and definition into all the characters. And then they did a great job casting those characters, and that’s what kept me into it.

I am hoping next season they can take the characters they developed and put them into a surprising plot, but with how much the spy/government agent thing has been done that might be too difficult to do.

[AmandaPanda]

I totally agree that it was way too easy to figure out. However, at least it was that and not like his birthday or something that I would totally have as my password. 

[Stenbeck]

I'm intrigued by Victor. His job, his lonely life. I half expected Stanley and Blance to tie him up, kick the shit out of him and steal his money.

LMAO at his co-worker following people's lives like a telenovela. 

The pacing for the show is really good. I'm cautiously hooked. 

[Stenbeck]

Hollywood Reporter: 'Jack Ryan': How Amazon's Tom Clancy TV Series Came to Life

[AmandaPanda]

The best parts of this season were:

• Hanin's storyline and how they made her a real character, instead of just a McGuffin for Suleiman to chase. She had believable motivations for her actions. Her willingness to fight for her children made her compelling to watch.
• The Jack/Greer relationship. Maybe it's because John Krasinski and Wendell Pierce are both super charming and magnetic actors, but I loved their relationship more than anything. Their banter was great. Whenever Jack would stand up in a meeting and Greer would just brace himself for the fallout, I always cracked up. 
• The fact that Cathy's job actually connected to the overall plot, rather than just having her as a doctor be a random character fact. She could have easily been a nothing character who was just there to stare adoringly at Jack, but they fleshed her out some more. 

The worst parts of this season:

• Everything to do with Victor. Starting with his random ass threesome in Vegas and how I was supposed to care for him. He was so extraneous and nothing would have been lost if he wasn't there. He brought literally nothing to the plot.
• Not wrapping up everything with Suleiman. I'm hoping he doesn't end up being a ridiculous Big Bad who is tied to every season. I'd rather see this as more of an anthology series where each season is a completely different case they're doing. 

[preeya]

Best Wendell Pierce since The Wire.

[leighdear]

Sorry, more randy women entering.....DAMN!  John looks like a hell of a kisser, and that makeout/get naked scene was done really well.  Steamy but not sleazy.  Abbie is a little extra curvy these days, but she wears it well.  

And yeah, more naked John in the shower needs to be a big part of season 2.   He's maturing very nicely, moving out of the cute guy field into the handsome man category. 

I just can't figure out why they made her an immunologist rather than an eye surgeon like in the books.  Surgeon is a lot cooler than just blood checker-outer.  

[Netfoot]

So, Victor was a complete, stinky mess that did nothing whatsoever for the story, and we'd have been better off without him.

Theory:  When they were wrapped and the editing was complete, they were X minutes short.  So they dreamed up a completely unconnected plot thread that didn't require the presence of any of the principle actors, and shoehorned it into the show.

[leighdear]

I'm not crazy about his partner either.  She's a little too stereotypical "talk like one of the guys" characters.  Not all women in the armed forces have to tell their male counterparts to "go get some pussy", or use other similar phrases.  I'm a woman that served, and not once did I ever have to use foul/demeaning language to be accepted by my counterparts. 

Though I know not all women can say the same.  

[scottiB]

3 hours ago, AmandaPanda said:

The worst parts of this season:

• Not wrapping up everything with Suleiman. I'm hoping he doesn't end up being a ridiculous Big Bad who is tied to every season. I'd rather see this as more of an anthology series where each season is a completely different case they're doing. 

Isn’t he dead — shot by Jack in the Metro station? All of his henchmen are dead, too. I think his storyline is done.