Jack Ryan

A very satsifying mix between 24 and Homeland. The characters are good and likeable, the villain is very good and the action set pieces are thrilling. Amazon's first great show.

don't watch the second season

I got bored of spy stuff, but there is a new wave of good work on this and this is one of them. It is a very balanced work: action, plot, drama, character development (acting is top notch too); none of them is over/underdone. Especially the international aspect of it is extremely well handled; at least the dialogue in the other languages I'm fluent in (French, Turkish) was very authentic; things people would say at that moment, in that environment (Hollywood sucks at this normally).

this feels like a show that simultaneously panders to people who would never watch it in the first place and is oddly anachronistic in its execution. our hero is a one-note super genius (we know this because he gets Jeopardy answers right) former soldier wall street stockbroker turned nerdy computer numbers cia guy who mopes up the screen with a Muslim Bunk from the Wire. They have to track down a fella who was oopsie-daisy radicalized because an airstrike killed his ah who gives a shit.

In season 2, witness an insane hipster CIA spy destroy a real country and its people as he pretends to be woke to Venezuelan internal politics while at the same time almost getting himself killed while his friends die around him.

Starts out strong and somewhat believable but turns very Dan Brown-esque towards the end of the season and demands a stronger and stronger suspension of disbelief from the viewer. The production quality is exceptionally high, the acting is standard action movie fare with a somewhat miscast lead playing a larger-than-life character. All in all, very enjoyable entertainment but don't expect anything groundbreaking. Edit for Season 2: Even slicker production, even less believable writing.

First season was either ok, or I had a lower threshold. Second season is unwatchable, the script is a joke.

A weak version of Jack Ryan carried solely by the likeability of Krasinski. (2 seasons)

Very solid meat and potatoes anti-terrorism action thriller that scratches that post-24 itch better than the more recent seasons of Homeland or the 24 reboot last year did. Not especially brilliantly written with mostly functional expository dialogue and some deus ex machina here and there but with brisk and involving plotting, bringing in influences from James Bond-esque globetrotting to some Zero Dark Thirty flavors. John Krasinski is excellent in the lead role, alpha and everyman at once.

A simplified tale of good guy/bad guy terrorism hunt. It is nothing fancy story wise but its got impressive production and a good cast. I would watch another season.