Jack Ryan finale review: Did Jack stop Suleiman?
Jack’s ghosts continue to haunt
We’ve known that Jack was in a helicopter crash when he was in the Marines, but we didn’t know how it happened until now. While overseas there was a local boy that was always around that he grew to care for and when attacks started to heat up Jack made the decision to bring him onto the military helicopter to help get him somewhere safe. When the boy pulled out a grenade, he pulled the pin blowing up the helicopter and killing everyone but Jack who has carried around this guilt like an albatross around his neck for years. These are the meaty stories that we’ve been dying to see for the Jack character and while we understand that there’s a hard balance in having Jack be a closed off character and letting us get to know him, it’s really taken until the finale for us to know anything substantial that gets us invested in him.
One crisis just isn’t enough
Once Jack and Greer realized what is going on with the doctors bringing back Ebola, the president, vice president, speaker of the house and some members of congress are put into quarantine. Add on top of this a broken vial of a radioactive compound called Cesium found at a dock in Boston and they are now looking at another crisis on top of the potential Ebola break out. The more Jack thinks about it the more he realizes that it’s not two separate attacks, but that Suleiman is doing what he did in Paris… using one attack (killing the priest) to stage a second attack (killing everyone in the church at the funeral for the priest).
Suleiman in America
Suleiman and his son seemed to have no problem getting into America with their fake Canadian passports. What was a bit unbelievable is that Suleiman, who is now responsible for an attack on the president of the United States, was some how let into the country – fake passport or not. Wouldn’t his picture be plastered everywhere, even private air strips?
Anyway, Suleiman is there to make sure that the second part of his plan goes off without any problem. They blow up a small pizza place near the same hospital that the President is being quarantined at and as multiple ambulances show up at the hospital with injuries, one of them is Suleiman and his men who are rolling in a causality of the bomb blast saying that they are taking the body to the morgue. As we’ve seen in earlier episodes, they have used this body to transport the cesium into the hospital and bring it to the central ventilation system close to where the President is to then release it into the air.
Hospital chaos
Before Suleiman can detonate the cesium he needs to leave the hospital since the secret service has blocked all cell phone reception and that’s how it’s released. As people become more aware that there’s a problem in the hospital the secret service decides to get the president out of their first and then worry about everyone else, but Cathy isn’t having it and she pulls the fire alarm to get everyone out.
When Suleiman reaches the street he sees his son Samir getting arrested and for a moment we thought he might sacrifice the mission for his son, but instead he lets his son be taken by police and heads off to complete what he came there to do. When we first met Suleiman his family was everything, but things started to change for him after Ali died and Hanin left him. We’re not saying he doesn’t care about Samir, but he probably feels like there was nothing he could do at that point to help him.
If you wanted action and a really great foot chase scene then this was the episode for you! Jack chased Suleiman through the streets, the subway and through a crowd of sports fans before yelling at Suleiman that he has Samir. His love for his family was enough to make him turn around and it was just enough time for Jack to take the shot that kills Suleiman, saving the hospital from the attack.
After all is said and done…
Greer is transferred to Moscow and Jack is happy to be back in his old position again riding a desk. He’s offered Greer’s job heading up the department which he accepts, but when he opens up the book Greer left for him he sees a note saying that he’s already booked Jack a flight to Moscow and we know that their time working together isn’t over yet. Great set up for a second season!
Related: Check out what we know about Jack Ryan season 2!
CarterMatt Verdict
Over all this was a very polarizing first season for us and we say that as fans of pretty much everything Amazon touches. We became quite invested in Suleiman and his family, but until this episode we haven’t really cared that much for Jack. There just wasn’t enough revealed to us early on to get us invested in him and that was incredibly disappointing since we love Krasinski as an actor and know that he’s capable of a lot. The show ate up way too much time with the romance storyline where we could’ve been getting to know him better. There were a lot of things we loved about this first season, but unfortunately none of them had to do with the Jack Ryan character.
What did you think of the Jack Ryan finale and did it live up to expectations? Leave us a comment in the box below with your thoughts. If you want more reviews or scoop on Jack Ryan then be sure to join our official CarterMatt Facebook page to make sure you don’t miss any of our news. (Photo: Amazon)