Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan

Except for the indubitable James Bond, no other fictional foreign intelligence officer, aka "spy", has been more thoroughly explored than John Patrick Ryan, or "Jack," as he is more commonly known. Indeed, over the years since his cinematic debut in the 1990 film The Hunt for Red October, we have seen Ryan grow from a raw CIA recruit to the Deputy Director of "the Company" itself. Actually, if you've read/followed the Ryan story in the Clancy novel series, you will also know he eventually becomes POTUS. Another similarity Ryan shares with his British colleague Bond, is he has been portrayed by a growing list of different actors. To be sure, up until today, five actor have played the role, and the chances are that there will be others in the future.

Despite Ryan's extensive history in movies, little attention has been given to Ryan's formative years. That is, we have seen him as a fairly accomplished senior spy or, as mentioned, a completely raw recruit. In other words, we have not been told how he became who he is.

Amazon Prime's new Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan series seeks to remedy this gap in the tale, by telling the story of Ryan in the early days, after he is recruited by the CIA, but before he has reached the upper echelons the Intelligence Community. That premise presents a solid basis for wanting to watch the show. I mean, what Jack Ryan fan does not want to learn about the experiences, at home and in field, that have lead him to be who he is later in life.

SPOILERS AHEAD

In Amazon's take on the story, Ryan, played by John Krasinski of The Office fame, has recently joined the CIA and has been assigned a position as a analyst. Based on his background in economics and experience working as a stock broker, Ryan's duties are to examine terrorist financial networks originating in Yemen. While new to the job, Ryan quickly figures out something is amiss in Yemen, namely the terrorist network he has been researching has generated nearly U.S. $ 9 million, and it's not doing much to hide that fact. Ryan explains his theory to anyone who willing to listen, however, most of his colleagues and supervisors think his theory is a bit far-fetched. As luck would have it, Ryan's group is taken over by disgraced senior agent James Greer (Wendell Pierce) who, with little left to lose in terms of career improvement, is willing give Ryan some support to further develop his theory. As the first episode ends, Ryan and Greer come face-to-face with Suleiman al Bekaa (Ali Suliman), the man Ryan has suspected of running the Yemeni funding operation he's been investigating.

From the first episode, it is clear the show is not going to be a game-changer, but that is not a bad thing. Not every show can be Game of the Thrones, or Westworld. However, the show is entertaining. In other words, as the show progressed I was not bored and became increasingly intrigued by the characters. Actually, entertaining is all it needs to be. Moreover, as part of the Ryan universe, there is a wealth of content that can be explored. That is, if the writers are creative, this could be the greatest spy story every told.

What do you think?