Blu-ray Review: TOM CLANCY’S JACK RYAN: THE COMPLETE SERIES

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Apr 14 Posted by Kyle Nolan in DVD/Blu-ray, Reviews | Comments

Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan ran for 4 seasons/30 episodes on Amazon’s Prime Video service, from 2018–2023. As the title suggests, the series is based on the characters from Tom Clancy’s best-selling novels about CIA operative Jack Ryan. Paramount Home Entertainment has released all four seasons of the series together in a new box set. Each season tells a somewhat self-contained mission, though many characters from previous seasons pop up in the later ones, and there is ongoing drama, fallout, promotions, etc. for the main characters as the seasons progress.

The first season finds former Marine Jack Ryan (John Krasinski) working a desk job as a low-level financial analyst in the T-FAD (Terror Finance and Arms Division) of the CIA. As Jack investigates the supply chain logistics for the western hemisphere and flags suspicious transactions, he uncovers some unusual bank transfers that may belong to rising Lebanese-born French Islamic extremist Mousa Bin Suleiman (Ali Suliman). His new boss, James Greer (Wendell Pierce), sends him into the field, to Yemen to interrogate the suspect. Jack isn’t used to field work, but soon finds himself in the middle of the action. As he works to track down and stop Suleiman, the mission takes Jack to France, where he is joined on his quest by French intelligence officer Sandrine Arnaud (Marie-Josée Croze). This season, Jack meets doctor Cathy Mueller (Abbie Cornish), a WHO (World Health Organization) spokesperson, who becomes his love interest.

As the second season opens, Greer has been promoted to Deputy Station Chief in Moscow, while Jack has replaced him as the head of T-FAD. Corrupt Venezuelan President Nicholas Reyes (Jordi Mollà) is up for reelection, and the CIA suspects that he is hiding a shipment of nuclear weapons, and Jack is sent to investigate. After the assassination of a U.S. Senator, Jack teams up with German BND agent Harriet “Harry” Baumann (Noomi Rapace), who is also looking into the death of one of her superiors. Meanwhile Gloria Bonalde (Cristina Umaña), a viable threat against Reyes in the election, finds her life in danger. The second season also introduces Mike November (Michael Kelly) as the CIA station chief in Venezuela, who will often be a source of help to Jack in future missions.

Season three opens with a flashback to 1969, where the Soviets’ top secret project to develop their own nuclear weapon, project Sokol, is being shut down and all of its participants executed. In the present, Jack is now working in Rome, under CIA station chief Elizabeth Wright (Betty Gabriel). He investigates a tip that the Sokol project may have been reinstated and that a nuclear payload is aboard a cargo ship. However, he discovers the ship is carrying a scientist, rather than a nuclear weapon. Shortly afterwards, the mission goes awry, ending up in the deaths of his team, a Greek police officer, and the assassination of the Russian Defense Minister. Jack is blamed for the murders, and finds himself on the run in Prague, hunted by various agencies, including his own, under new CIA Director Thomas Miller (John Schwab). As Jack tries stop an attempt to make it look like the U.S. is provoking a nuclear war, Greer and Mike November secretly assist the now-rogue agent. Meanwhile, Luka Goncharov, who was once in charge of project Sokol, tries to make up for the actions of his past; a political game of chess plays out between Czech Republic president Alena Kovac (Nina Hoss) and new Russian Federation Minister of Defense Alexei Petrov (Alexej Manvelov); and Petr Kovac (Peter Guinness), father of Alena Kovac, also takes matters into his own hands.

As the final season opens, Elizabeth Wright has become the new Acting Director of the CIA, and Jack her Acting Deputy Director. The U.S. Senate has launched a committee to investigate the CIA’s involvement in the assassination of the Nigerian president as well as several other missions funded by the corrupt former Director Thomas Miller. And so Jack orders all funding to 9 mysterious missions approved by Miller to be immediately cut off. In Mexico, the Marquez cartel has eliminated its last major competitor in the U.S. drug trade, and is looking to join forces with the Silver Lotus Triad, a partnership that could prove very dangerous for the U.S.. Triad representative Chao Fah Sien (Louis Ozawa Changchien) is sent from Myanmar to Mexico to meet with members of the cartel, where former Navy SEAL/senior CIA operative Domingo Chavez (Michael Peña) has been secretly embedded in the cartel. Chavez was going to help Chao Fah defect and take down the Triad, but due to Jack’s order to cut off funding, bribes to the local authorities were left unpaid, and the meeting quickly goes south. Jack discovers that the Triad are not just in the drug business, but have also developed mysterious triggers, which could have disastrous affects on the world if they fall into the wrong hands. So Jack and Mike November find themselves teaming up with Chavez to try to get the triggers, extract Chao Fah and his family, and save the world once again. Meanwhile, Jack and Dr. Cathy Mueller rekindle their relationship; Cathy finds herself lured in by philanthropist Zeyara Lemos (Zuleikha Robinson); Elizabeth tries to repair the U.S. relationship with Nigeria, seeking the help of US-based oil lobbyist Ade Osoji (Okieriete Onaodowan); and Greer is trying to mend his own relationship with his son.

Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan is an exciting series that weaves political intrigue and drama along with pulse-pounding, exciting action-packed missions that take the viewer around the globe with CIA operative Jack Ryan. Each season builds off of the previous one, but takes the viewer on a somewhat self-contained and fully-resolved mission, so you aren’t left hanging, and can pick up any season and watch it on its own. Episodes tend to end on some big reveal or cliffhanger, making you eager to keep binging your way through the season.

I haven’t ready any of the Tom Clancy books, and haven’t seen the various movies that have been released over the years, so this was my first introduction to the character. I appreciated how the series starts off at the beginning, finding Jack in a desk job before he’s suddenly thrust into the field along with the viewer. We get to see how he quickly learns to adapt to his new role, and excels.

While each season introduces some great new characters, and an exciting new mission, the most exciting season for me was probably the third. I enjoyed the idea of Jack on the run, and his own agency putting a Red Notice on him. He finds himself not only trying to clear his name, but also trying to save the world, even with his own organization after him and trying to stop him. The duty for Jack is more important than himself. That said, Jack still does receive some well-needed, off-the-books assistance from loyal friends James Greer and Mike November. And the season also sees the fun return of Tony (Numan Acar) from season 1. The fourth season was a little shorter (only 6 episodes versus the usual 8) and a little slower than the previous ones. Besides a foreshadowing cold open sequence, Jack doesn’t really get into the action until episode 4, but then things really kick into high gear, and the show is back up to par with the other seasons. The season also includes a fun and exciting heist episode.

John Krasinski is perfect in this role as jack Ryan, delivering on both the more physical, action-packed scenes as well as the character drama. You really believe that he is this unstoppable agent. Across the series there are several other great regular characters (particularly Greer and Mike November), and each season also brings in some excellent guest stars to play out the latest political situation Jack and his crew must deescalate. The final season also brings in Michael Peña as Domingo Chavez, who is an excellent addition to the team. There was a spin-off series in the works for Chavez, which I will certainly watch if it happens. The final season provides a satisfying conclusion to the series, but also leaves things in a place where these characters could go on for more adventures in the future.

Paramount Home Entertainment has released the complete series of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan on Blu-ray and DVD, and MOD 4K Ultra HD. I was sent the Blu-ray set for review, and the presentation looks and sounds excellent. While the series streams in 4K on Amazon Prime, and is also available in a 4K disc release, I found the picture on this Blu-ray set to look near-perfect, with a clean and pristine picture throughout that captures all of action with a solid level of detail. Whether Jack and his team are in the sunny streets of some foreign locale, or performing a daring nighttime raid, the picture looks amazing. The audio track provides clear dialogue throughout, and makes excellent use of the stereo and surround channels to provide a really immersive feel and put the viewer in the middle of the action. This is especially noticeable as bullets start whizzing by, or the characters find themselves in the middle of a storm in season 3.

The series’ 30 episodes are spread across 8 discs, 2-per-season, which are placed on trays inside of a thick multi-disc Blu-ray keepcase, and covered with a glossy carboard sleeve. The discs appear to be identical to the individual season releases. The only bonus material included on the release are about 33 minutes of deleted scenes spread across the four seasons.

What’s Included:

Episodes: (24:41:18)

All 30 episodes of the series:
Season 1, Disc 1 (3:24:39): “Pilot”, “French Connection”, “Black 22”, “The Wolf”
Season 1, Disc 2 (3:20:40): “End of Honor”, “Sources and Methods”, “The Boy”, “Inshallah”
Season 2, Disc 1 (3:20:31): “Cargo”, “Tertia Optio”, “Orinoco”, “Dressed to Kill”
Season 2, Disc 2 (2:49:08): “Blue Gold”, “Persona Non Grata”, “Dios y Federación”, “Strongman”
Season 3, Disc 1 (3:19:52): “Falcon”, “Old Haunts”, “Running With Wolves”, “Our Death’s Keeper”
Season 3, Disc 2 (3:09:18): “Druz’ya i Vragi”, “Ghosts”, “Moscow Rules”, “Star on the Wall”
Season 4, Disc 1 (2:30:38): “Triage”, “Convergence”, “Sacrifices”
Season 4, Disc 2 (2:46:32): “Bethesda”, “Wukong”, “Proof of Concept”
1080p / Widescreen 2.10:1
Audio: English 5.1 Dolby Atmos, German 5.1 Dolby Digital, French 5.1 Dolby Digital
Subtitles: English, English SDH, Danish, German, French, Spanish (Seasons 1-3 only), Dutch, Norwegian, Finnish, Swedish

Extras:

Deleted Scenes
Can be found in the Episodes menu on discs with the related episodes:
- Season 1
  - “French Connection” (0:15) – 1 scene
  - “The Wolf” (0:54) – 1 scene
  - “End of Honor” (0:34) – 1 scene
  - “The Boy” (1:08) – 1 scene
- Season 2
  - “Cargo” (:33)
    Select from: “Take the Stairs” (0:33).
  - “Dressed to Kill” (1:50)
    Play All, or select from: Jungle Struggles (1:16) and Eyes in the Sky (0:39).
  - “Persona Non Grata” (:22)
    Select from: Blood Trail (0:22).
  - “Dios y Federacion” (6:51)
    Play All, or select from: House Arrest (1:20), Carlos Is Missing (2:55), and Assassinating Reyes (2:46).
  - “Strongman” (6:23)
    Play All, or select from: Empty Cell (0:43), Another Mission (2:23), “Sorry Jack, I Have to Go” (1:39), and Greer Makes Jack an Offer (1:53).
- Season 3
  - “Falcon” (2:41) – 1 scene
  - “Our Death’s Keeper” (1:16) – 1 scene
  - “Druz’ya I Vragi” (2:10) – 1 scene
  - “Ghosts” (0:18) – 1 scene.
  - “Moscow Rules” (2:10) – 2 scenes
  - “Star on the Wall” (1:33) – 3 scenes
- Season 4
  - “Convergence” (:35) – 1 scene
  - “Wukong” (2:02) – 1 scene
  - “Proof of Concept” (1:31) – 2 scenes

Final Thoughts:

My Rating

Episodes:

Video:

Audio:

Extras:

Highly Recommended

Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan is thoroughly-entertaining series that weaves political intrigue, character drama, and pulse-pounding action, along with some beautiful foreign locales for a really exciting experience. The series is quite bingeable, with each season also telling its own self-contained story. John Krasinski is excellent in this role, and is joined by an amazing supporting cast. Paramount’s Blu-ray release looks and sounds great, but is a little light on bonus material. However, the release still comes highly recommended based on the quality of the series itself.