To sum up, season II of Jack Ryan had some good and tense moments, but overall was uneven and seemed to be a completely separate entity from season I, instead of flowing naturally from one into the other. John Krasinski continues to do good work as Jack Ryan, and the prickly/ affectionate relationship between Ryan and Greer continues to be the highlight of the show. It's definitely watchable, but if the writers hadn't been trying so hard to make sure they didn't portray socialism in a bad light, maybe the characters would have behaved more believably and the plot would have been more cohesive. It would have at least been more intellectually honest.
I quite enjoyed season one of Jack Ryan- though I think it started out stronger than it ended- so I was kind of looking forward to season two. I've been watching it over this last week and have now seen all eight episodes and, frankly, it was a bit disappointing. This series was more about Jack Ryan, action hero than about Jack Ryan, clever analyst. This isn't to say that I don't like some action in the shows or movies I watch, but the real attraction for me is seeing the good guy(s) out think and outsmart the baddies. In addition, season two, which ostensibly picks up not long after where season one ended, has some odd changes which by and large go unexplained. At the end of season one, Jack was offered Greer's old job and it looked as though he was going to take it. As series two starts, Ryan has completely left his job with T-FAD and is teaching; we are given no explanation for this, except for a brief mention in a conversation between Ryan and Greer in the final episode. In addition, Jack's relationship with Cathy Mueller which seemed to be going strong at the end of series one, is apparently over- again, no explanation given: she neither appears nor is mentioned in any way. It's as though she never existed. Now, I for one thought that their relationship developed too rapidly in the first series but, having done so, how could it be dropped with nary a word to explain it away? Not only that, but Ryan- who is supposed to be our super intelligent hero- hops into bed with a woman in Venezuela while he's on assignment about five minutes after he meets her- a woman who is very obviously playing him. So much for smart and cautious. All of this seems out of character for the quick-thinking, emotionally and physically damaged financial analyst we met in series one. On the plus side, John Krasinski is a very charming and likeable actor who can pull off being strong, skilled, and intelligent yet with a touch of the everyman about him. It's unfortunate that he's not given better material to work with and that whoever wrote the second season doesn't seem to have spoken to whoever wrote the first season. Another problem is that neither the plot nor the villain are as compelling as those in season one. The stakes don't seem as high: mostly it's about Jack trying to avenge the murder of his former C.O. Also- and I found this really irritating- the series is set in corrupt and destitute Venezuela, but the show goes out of its way to avoid mentioning the nature of the government corruption, or the cause of that country's extreme poverty despite their richness of natural resources. The truth is that the corrupt successive socialist governments of Chavez and Maduro have bankrupted the country and devastated the economy, leaving the Venezuelan people starving and desperate. But the "S" word is never mentioned in the show, and it is actually implied- though not stated outright- that the Venezuelan president is right wing instead of, as is true, a hardcore leftist. His principled, heroic female opponent is, however, described as being left wing, running on a social justice platform. Of course. I would respect this show more if it had the courage and honesty to portray the reality of the situation in Venezuela. To sum up, season II of Jack Ryan had some good and tense moments, but overall was uneven and seemed to be a completely separate entity from season I, instead of flowing naturally from one into the other. John Krasinski continues to do good work as Jack Ryan, and the prickly/ affectionate relationship between Ryan and Greer continues to be the highlight of the show. It's definitely watchable, but if the writers hadn't been trying so hard to make sure they didn't portray socialism in a bad light, maybe the characters would have behaved more believably and the plot would have been more cohesive. It would have at least been more intellectually honest.
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