I must admit I've always had a soft spot for Jack Ryan, whether he is played by Alec Baldwin in Hunt for Red October or my favourite Jack Ryan, Harrison Ford in Clear and Present Danger.
The appeal with Jack Ryan, unlike Ethan Hunt, he is not a man's man who will hang off cliffs and ride bikes while shooting a gun with the other hand.
Unlike Jason Bourne he is an expert at hand-to-hand combat and unlike James Bond he is not a ladies' man who wears expensive suits but rather an everyday man. A desk man. Who happens to find himself in tricky areas.
Amazon reimagined him in Season 1 as more of an action man with heart and a bit of brain. One could let this slide because at least the villain was not made into a one dimensional bad guy.
You understood why and how he got radicalised. Although the Islamic-terrorist plot is clichéd and problematic in general in 90% of Hollywood's portrayal, at least the villain was given shades of grey and actual motivation.
Somehow in Season 2, the saving graces have gone out of the window. Jack Ryan is a ladies' man who has one night stands. He's a man's man who seeks out action and is okay with holding his own with elite soldiers.
The villain is a one dimensional third world tyrant in Venezuela but that's not the worst thing about Season 2...
This season takes all the tropes of Clear and Present Danger but none of the nuances of the movie. We have a South American setting, the soldier left behind who needs rescue, corrupt cops and politicians. Yet through all this we somehow come out with a puff piece on how good Santa's-Little-Helper is aka the CIA.
Never mind CIA history with the Contras, Pinoche, Columbia, Cuba etc. No, the CIA are the good guys who are there to help the people of Venezuela because America is the friendly big brother.
Jack Ryan goes into full-on James Bond mode with one night stands and shoot-outs - he even storms a sitting president's office with a gun threatening to kill him... yeah the only thing missing was pens with exploding tips or lasers.
You can't feel for Jack or for the Greer because you know there's no way they're going to die but the writers keep putting them in situations where, if logic held in this season, they would be dead... time and time again but alas they still come out unscathed.
Then there are the politics of Season 2... man they are messy. The US has such a bad history in regime-change so for them to try and make themselves heroic in South America is an insult to the audience's intelligence.
As insults go, the paradigm of the good democratic politician and the "evil corrupt" politician is laughable with how the show uses the two main political heads who head-to-head in the election season.
Where in this world are politicians so saintly? - especially when trying to turn over a corrupt regime... and we all know the current situation in Bolivia and Venezuela that just left a sour taste in the mouth.
As I was watching I was hoping for something that would flip the story on its head. Guess I was watching the wrong Jack Ryan!
The only interesting story for me was the soldier's story, especially Uber who is left behind. Yes, it's also selling the "we don't leave a man behind" but at least it had room for real stakes and suspense.
Don't get me wrong, the lead is a great actor, John Kransinski has done well for himself but the story has little to no real stakes for the character.
It's a pity that the series doesn't even question the role of the US and its history in South America but wants us to be invested in Jack Ryan's revenge quest against a president who is just corrupt because he's power hungry nje, nothing more.
It's a pity when there's little that distinguishes the analyst Jack Ryan to James Bond except for the colour suits he wears and that's where we are with Season 2.
It Felt like: a wish fulfilment moment for the CIA where they are able to be painted as the heroes instead of the problematic institution they are.
The worst is that the writers have cannibalized one of the best Jack Ryan stories, Clear and Present Danger with Harrison Ford, whereby the US government sends troopers into South America to sort out a personal vendetta and it backfires.
Rating
**
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Trash ** You are on your own ***ya zama-nyana ****Almost Perfect *****Instant Classic