Quote:

---

If the argument is "that's not how it was in the books", that's a fan boy problem. The role is played a different actor for the various movies so not a big deal.

---

The argument is that the character John Clark in the books sets up other organizations in the universe, but hey if we are going to change so much about the Jack Ryan universe then this starts feeling a lot like Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit and less like the Jack Ryan universe that Clancy developed. Which I wouldn't consider a good thing, but whatever.

Question: I'm on the 6th episode and something has been bothering me from the first episode. There was an American at the Suleiman compound in the war chest room putitng liquid bottles inside olive bottles and then taking the olive shipment away. I'm guessing this was the sarin gas used in the church. He looked like Matice. Am I wrong?

Yes. He was identified in one episode as an eastern European terrorist. Something to do with a regional expert of specialty explosives / weapons. He made some of the directional charges used against US soldiers.

thanks

benchmark said:

---

Question: I'm on the 6th episode and something has been bothering me from the first episode. There was an American at the Suleiman compound in the war chest room putitng liquid bottles inside olive bottles and then taking the olive shipment away. I'm guessing this was the sarin gas used in the church. He looked like Matice. Am I wrong?

---

Not when those vials are used. You'll see them make another appearance soon. And it wasn't Matice. You'll see that guy again.

first episode - lots of explosions - not too interesting but will go on to #2 .

I'm glad it was only 8 episodes, as I'm not sure I would have kept watching if it were more. Hopefully they do better with the next season.

Finished it up last night. Was surprised at how mediocre it was. One of those shows where you can almost say the character's dialogue before they do, and correctly predict events in the last 20 minutes of the show based on what scenes they concentrate on in the first 20 minutes.

Terrorist masterminds but their leader has to be reminded every 5 minutes "hey, you should make sure you are talking to who you think you are talking to".

Very disappointed only because I had high hopes.

The show was full of cliches, bad/overacting, and vanilla writing. The useless storyline about the drone pilot....beyond stupid and unrealistic. And I don't normally see political "boogeymen" in the movies and shows I watch, but yeah, there was definitely a PC attempt to stress that the writers don't hate Muslims, that Muslims are regular people just like us, and the American government is bad.

And my lord, that actor who played the top Secret Service agent protecting the President at the hospital....haha, some of the worst acting I've seen in a looong time.

Enjoyed it and looking forward to Season 2!

We just finished it last night. I'm looking forward to the next season.

We finished it last night and really enjoyed it. Agree that the drone pilot plot was odd and could have been dropped. I felt Cornish was so focused on her accent that it affected her performance, and I wish her character was more involved in the plot and resolution. Her briefing became about Jack's lies to her in their romantic relationship rather than her professional competency.

Bunk was awesome.

I actually think it might have been better to let the guy with the glasses escape and be a loose end.

Really enjoyed it.

So cell service to the hospital is shutdown to prevent remote detonation...

So the solution is to... get to a more remote location and then the call will get through?

I thought for the most part it was a well-acted show, but even a show like '24' had less plotholes.

jeffk said:

---

They hardwired the detonating phone into the hospital's landline iirc.

---

I guess that would explain it... but then I think I'm even more disappointed they went that far for a plot device.

The only reason to wire it to the hospital landline is in case the cell towers are jammed... But if you think that is a possibility then why would you require the use of the cell towers to send detonation? Your whole entire plan is foiled if you can't get out of the hospital?

They basically wrote it backwards -- "we need Ryan to chase the leader through the subway tunnels, so how do we get him there? We'll require him to go there in order to detonate the device!"

I'm probably a little overly critical, but I just expected more out of a Jack Ryan series (especially with this cast) -- I didn't see Shadow Recruit, so I've likely been spoiled... but Red October, Patriot Games, Clear and Present and even Sum of All Fears are competently written. This was just a bad '24' season.

FL_Ag1998 said:

---

Very disappointed only because I had high hopes.

The show was full of cliches, bad/overacting, and vanilla writing. The useless storyline about the drone pilot....beyond stupid and unrealistic. And I don't normally see political "boogeymen" in the movies and shows I watch, but yeah, there was definitely a PC attempt to stress that the writers don't hate Muslims, that Muslims are regular people just like us, and the American government is bad.

And my lord, that actor who played the top Secret Service agent protecting the President at the hospital....haha, some of the worst acting I've seen in a looong time.

---

Agreed.

Also:

How many times does Jack Ryan need to say "I'm an analyst" ???

I could not stand the James Greer character. He's the worst character on the show.

free_mhayden said:

---

So cell service to the hospital is shutdown to prevent remote detonation...

So the solution is to... get to a more remote location and then the call will get through?

I thought for the most part it was a well-acted show, but even a show like '24' had less plotholes.

---

Maybe the terrorists signed an NDA SLA with Verizon.

if you want to get nit picky, then the doc should've known that during a fire alarm, all doors close and people bunker down in place, not evacuate in my experience.

I felt like that scene was just the cliche topper.

We are getting the President out first -- whatever you do Dr. Everybody-Matters-Who-Just-Ignored-The-Cell-Message-To-Save-Herself-And-Evacuate, do NOT try and evacuate your patients.

<Pulls fire alarm>

"OH NO SHE DIDN'T! SHE JUST SERVED THAT SECRET SERVICE MAN!"

CoolaidWade said:

---

Alex Berenson, The author of the John Wells books (Not very popular but really good books about a deep undercover CIA OP), is saying the series is a direct plagiarism of his book, "The Prisoner" Basically saying they stole it from him.

I have read "The Prisoner" but haven't started Jack Ryan yet so I can't give my two cents yet. Just posting because Berenson posted that on his twitter and facebook.

---

I'm two episodes in - I like it and will keep watching, but the basic plot is fairly standard fare. The story line felt like something I had seen several times over in other movies/shows. I haven't read The Prisoner, but I would be hard pressed to say they are copying his work.

Quote:

---

Evidence is mounting that someone high up in the CIA is doing the unthinkablepassing messages to ISIS, alerting them to planned operations. Finding out the mole's identity without alerting him, however, will be very hard, and to accomplish it, Wells will have to do something he thought he'd left behind forever. He will have to reassume his former identity as an al Qaeda jihadi, get captured, and go undercover to befriend an ISIS prisoner in a secret Bulgarian prison.

Many years before, Wells was the only American agent ever to penetrate al Qaeda, but times have changed drastically. The terrorist organizations have multiplied: gotten bigger, crueler, more ambitious and powerful. Wells knows it may well be his death sentence. But there is no one else.

---

Other than involving the CIA and middle eastern terrorists, this doesn't really sound very much like Jack Ryan.

I thought it was just okay. Reminded me of something ABC would run on a Thursday night. Wife liked it more than I did. Think that was mainly because of JK.

Also didn't care for the Greer actor

wxguy95 said:

---

CoolaidWade said:

---

Alex Berenson, The author of the John Wells books (Not very popular but really good books about a deep undercover CIA OP), is saying the series is a direct plagiarism of his book, "The Prisoner" Basically saying they stole it from him.

I have read "The Prisoner" but haven't started Jack Ryan yet so I can't give my two cents yet. Just posting because Berenson posted that on his twitter and facebook.

---

I'm two episodes in - I like it and will keep watching, but the basic plot is fairly standard fare. The story line felt like something I had seen several times over in other movies/shows. I haven't read The Prisoner, but I would be hard pressed to say they are copying his work.

---

I have watched the entire season and I don't agree with Alex Berenson's accusation of plagiarism. He's one of my favorite authors which is why I mentioned his tweet earlier.

There is one scene that he may have trouble with......click when your'e done watching the series..... He does have a scene involving a terrorist attack of a church in his book which is also in the series. But I really can't see where they specifically coped his work.

Finally got around to finishing this. There is zero depth or complexity to the story, and there is zero intellect underlying the story. Overall, just unbelievably lazy writing. It watches like a bad season of 24, but shorter. Oh well.

I enjoyed the show, but y'all are correct. its not a very "smart" show. it tried so hard to be nuanced and add some complexity to characters, but it just came across incredibly forced and poorly done. the drone pilot side-plot was awful. Kathy's "involvement" with the plot was terri-bad and seemed thrown together at the last minute. the french lady-cop could have been nice and had some emotional resonance, but fell completely flat for me. The only emotion/tension i felt was when the brother was sheltered by the family. outside of that though. it was pretty one note storytelling trying to pass itself off as something complex.

i'll absolutely watch seasons 2 and beyond, but only out of love of the original TC characters and novels.

Thought it was very boring and predictable, I finished the season but won't watch season 2.