The third season of “Jack Ryan” is arguably the best one yet—although it’s been a while since I watched the first season, so I might be wrong. This season was more structured and felt more inspired by Tom Clancy’s writing than the last one. Also absent this time were the wild tangents.
The production values remain top-notch, but the writing is still subpar. There’s a noticeable lack of character progression, and the dialogue can feel lacking. The script also has some glaring inaccuracies, blunders and other imperfections that detract from its overall quality.
It’s a shame that the show’s writing isn’t as strong as its cast, as it seems to be more about style over substance. That said, this season is an improvement over what came before it, and I hope that future seasons continue refining the series’ formula.
[Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan] - Season Three: 7.5/10 (Good)
What starts out as a taught, well-acted thriller ultimately disappoints over its final 2.5 episodes as they slide further and further into absurdity. While the overall plot & conspiracy make sense, the last two episodes stretch it much further than it needed to go. One character in particular stays at the heart of the action well beyond the point that they should, totally blowing any sense of realism out of the water. But the biggest failure of all is the choice to ignore Jack's personal life. One of the most enduring features of the Jack Ryan character is how he is a "regular guy" who is thrown into incredible situations. It's even hammered home during the opening credits sequence. But in this season he is presented as a super spy from jump, with only a few passing mentions of his being "an analyst." And there is no mention of any other area of his life outside of hunting terrorists, shady arms dealers, and Rogue Russians. While I enjoyed watching (most of) this season, and the direction & set pieces were all fantastic, I could not help but feel a sense of disappointment when I finished my binge. Ultimately, Jack Ryan season 3 is less than the sum of its parts.
John Krasinski is just so good as Jack Ryan. He's at his best this season, and the supporting cast was really great too. I liked how the story and threat this season actually had some complexity to it, it made for an engaging watch despite a heavier focus on the politics. The action scenes continue to be really entertaining as well. This is just a great example of a pure TV spy thriller executed well. It's exactly what it needs to be and nothing more, nothing less. I had a really great time with this season of the show.
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Previous seasons were a lot better in terms of story and action. Season 3 started with a plot that looked promising but they couldn't deliver it, or convince me that this scenario could happen in real time, so it felt forced. Last episode and season 3 in general reminded me a movie called Hunter Killer (2018), here it's synopsis and I believe it can be used for season 3 with few minor changes :grin:
"Courage runs deep
Captain Glass of the USS Arkansas discovers that a coup d'état is taking place in Russia, so he and his crew join an elite group working on the ground to prevent a war."
I didn’t care much about the fake accents (although it was funny when they would slip lol) but my biggest problem with this season was the dialogue. It was so so bad - they tried so hard to make one-liners but they were all very cringe. The story was also pretty average but that’s fine. Entertaining enough at times though
Close to but not as good as season 1 but so much better then season 2.
Definitely worth watching.
What was promising to be a great season, and a lot better than S2 totally tanks on the last 3 episodes
Solid, nothing spectacular I'm afraid. It could have been better if there hadn't been as much filler material, maybe 6 episodes would have sufficed to tell the rather thin plot that comes with few twists and turns.
A couple of sidenotes:
There was literally no mention of Jack's life outside the CIA - doesn't he have one anymore? Did he become an ordinary superagent without a life? There's little to no personality here, which is a shame. Greer and Mike were more memorable than the title hero.
Then there's the thing with everyone speaking badly accented English when we know they talk in their native language... either let them speak in normal English or reintroduce us to subtitles. But those bad accents are grating.
The first episode looks like its been lifted from a Alex Berenson book. "Ghost War"
the best thing this season had to offer was Mike's one-liners. who would know he'd turn out to be the best character in the series.
It was fine :) It felt too unrealistic but I guess it would've been too boring otherwise so maybe it's for the best. It was also a bit confusing, at least for me. It was both exciting/intense and entertaining though.
PS: And I don't mind the accents. I don't expect realism from this show (which is good because it isn't realistic at all) so I also don't expect realistic/correct accents.
:heart:x8
I liked season 3 the best. the thrills were thrillier. The action more actionier. The tension more tensionier. In other words, I felt it was really good.
One thing bothered me about it tho. Since Russia is now a real-life villain it felt awkward and weirdto see them as the antagonist. And the whole thing was just too close to the reality of what is going on in Ukraine.
How I rate:
1-3 :heart: = seriously! don't waste your time
4-6 :heart: = you may or may not enjoy this
7-8 :heart: = I expect you will like this too
9-10 :heart: = movies and TV shows I really love!
In terms of plot, it's pretty standard lone hero CIA propaganda, with a couple of twists.
Plot revolves around NATO-Russia conflict and Czech Republic place in that relation. Authors don't really give you the exact situation regarding the current geopolitical stances, but in ep. 4 we learn that Russian have troops near Slovakian borders, so presumably Russia annexed/swallowed/coalesced whole Ukraine and stationed troops on Ukraine-Slovakia border.
The conflict itself is escalating through the season due to possible Czech Republic decision to put Patriot missiles onto its territory and threatening aforementioned troops. Which is confusing, since IRL Poland is also a NATO member, which is closer to Moscow and also borders western Ukraine, and has Patriot missiles, so those troops must be already in range of such NATO system. Which means that show is either:
1. Set in a heavily-modified parallel world, which was not properly introduced, or
2. Relies on the average American watcher not knowing European geography and recent history, which is more believable.
Nevertheless, both options just leave you dumbfounded in terms of plot, so the only valid reason to continue to watch it is to try enjoy the action, which is not bad to be honest.
Another big problem though is with props/scenery:
I get that it is hard to achieve the HBO Chernobyl level of props in movies set in USSR/Russia, so I have already got used to all the Moscow scenes being shot in EU Eastern Europe, but it just feels like here that they did not even try.
E.g. A major fuckup in ep.3:
There is a Catholic service in a Catholic church for a dead Russian minister. That was ridiculous. They did actual shots in Prague castle, so they obviously had money and time. How hard was to find an Orthodox church?
Overall - meh
An ok show turned crap in the third season. Typical American anti everything stance , bad writing /storytelling, below average acting, including irritating fake accents.
By far the best season since the start of this show. Finally! Definitely deserves to be watched.
This season felt like a step up from the previous two. (minor spoiler because it comes in very early in the show) Ok there's the typical "oh we won't trust that reliable agent (Jack Ryan) who has proven himself time and time again but this time he's wrong" trope, which is not an upside of the season. But the rest I found pretty good.
The actors are great (Wendell Pierce and especially James Cosmo stood out for me), you don't really see the twists coming, the direction is movie-level (some of the shots are particularly well done), I totally suspended my disbelief for the whole show.
Also, it's nice that the "main" story is over two episodes before the end, which serves as an epilogue of sorts. On that note, I really like the pacing, it doesn't feel like there's much filler, and each episode moves the story forward and I like that.
I’m still very much surprised about this show and how much I like it. Season 3 was fun once again, with great action and storytelling. The balance was a bit off this season, because it feels like most of the action is in the first six episodes. Doesn’t reallllyyy bother me tho.
Every time you think how can they top that... They did it. They at least matched it. Good one, can't wait for Season 4.
Shout by KeldianBlockedParent2022-12-26T12:09:13Z
These fake accents are so irritating. I can't fathom how someone wouldn't be distracted and pulled out of the story, with James Cosmo's Scottish accent constantly bleeding through his laughable attempt at sounding vaguely Slavic. Are Russian speaking actors really so hard to find?