Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan on Amazon Prime

Last week, I started binge watching Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan on Amazon Prime. For some Doofenschmirtz backstory, I started reading Tom Clancy books when I was in my teens. I found Clancy’s writing to be very detailed and compelling. Thus, when I saw that Amazon has a show about Jack Ryan, it caught my attention. I didn’t watch it right away because I did not want to be disappointed. In the end, I had to give it a watch.

One of my concerns when watching these shows is that they potentially low-budget the production and then cheapen the entire experience. I can definitely say that the production quality of the series is high. By shooting at foreign locations, the show draws you in a little bit more into the fantasy.

One difference between this show and the novels is that the show is set in contemporary times. So, you can expect the characters to be different and the details to be widely different. I did see that they drew a little bit on a couple of the books. However, when you take artistic license, you’re licensed to kill everything about the original story if you wish. 

My other concern about this show was that they would fail to portray the characters in the way that we have come to know them. They can change the stories so long as the characters are recognizable and have the same relationship. In my opinion, the show delivers on these two, although Ryan is a bit more of an idealist than I remember. Still, the relationship between Ryan and Greer develops through the first season as they warm up to each other. They did make one change to James Greer, which seems like a ham fisted attempt at “diversity”. It works out OK for the character; but, it’s kind of shoehorned into the story. One could argue that it helps establish Greer as knowledgeable about the community in which they are interacting for the series. However, what happens if they go to Asia or Eastern Europe?

Then, of course, there is the relationship between Jack and Cathy. In the series, you see them develop a relationship. They start dating. So, this gives her character a little more depth. In the books, she’s the perfect wife and ophthalmic surgeon. On the show, Cathy has a different specialty and hasn’t quite decided if Jack is right for her. 

Overall, there was enough familiarity with the characters and their relationships to keep me watching the show. And, there was enough different with the show to make it interesting to watch. Compared to the Clancy style of connecting a bunch of unrelated details to come up with a huge disaster in the end, the show is standard Hollywood writing. However, it’s decent enough to keep you watching just one more episode before bedtime.