Jack Ryan episode 2 review: Suleiman fights for his family, Jack finds romance

The season 1 premiere of Jack Ryan introduced us to our title character who is a former Marine now riding a desk as an analyst at the CIA, but after stumbling across the potential next big terrorist named Suleiman he was rushed out to Yemen to interrogate some suspects. During a planned escape, one of the suspects turned out to be Suleiman himself and Ryan could only stand by and watch as he left. It was a great kick off to the series where we now care about Ryan, but they also made us care about Suleiman.

We mentioned this in our last review, but feel it’s worth saying again: We are not readers of the Tom Clancy Jack Ryan series, so we are going into our reviews purely from a television stand point.

The Suleiman task force

Now that Suleiman is on the CIA’s radar, Jack thinks that because he was the one to figure this all out that he would be assigned to the task force put together to hunt him down, but because Greer is his boss neither of them are assigned to the team (at least at first), making us all the more curious as to what exactly Greer did.

While the director of the CIA (Singer) doesn’t want Greer on the project, he does want Jack on this and while Jack wants to help wrap this up he asks for some time to think about it. We understand that he feels Greer should be a part of this since he was out in Yemen with him and has first hand knowledge of this situation, but really they’ve only been working together for a few days. Experiences like what they went through can bond people together, but is Ryan really going to think about passing on something like this for someone he just met?

Although they may not be on the task force, Greer did manage to get Suleiman’s cell phone. Jack’s primary objective is to get into Suleiman’s head and figure out what’s motivating him since everything he’s done so far is very calculated a with a purpose bigger than just “death to the West”. After cracking his code to get into the phone (for some reason it was Suleiman’s prison number – cause that’s something everyone wants to remember), they find 4 phone numbers that are all in Paris. It’s a solid lead and while Singer doesn’t want Greer on this case, because of Jack’s Intel they are given the okay form the higher ups to go to Paris and start working the clues.

Allons tous à Paris!

Suleiman’s brother (Ali) is in Paris working out some of the last money transactions needed to carry out whatever their plan is. He gets bundles of money transaction cards that uses cell phones to move money $10,000 at a time, but while he’s got a small team moving the money, Jack and Greer are working with the Paris task force, tracking his phone and closing in on him. Ali gets tipped off that the task force is coming and after grabbing money and getting ready to fight, Ali pulls out a vest with a bomb hooked up to it giving it to one of his crew. After a gun fight, most of Ali’s crew ends up dead (and a woman sets off the bomb when she is shot), but he is able to escape.

Do we really need a romance?

It wouldn’t be a TV show without a little bit of romance thrown in there so we saw Jack run into Cathy at her job (she’s a doctor at the same hospital he was at getting his injured back looked at) to apologize for the abrupt exit from the party and asks her out for dinner – to which she says yes. They had a few relatable moments that all of us have been guilty of at one point or another when we really like someone like Googling them or checking out their social media. Our biggest issue with this part of the story is that there’s really no need for it and it takes away from the actual story of the CIA vs Suleiman.

Related – Check out our Jack Ryan episode 3 review

CarterMatt verdict

They continued to give us Suleiman’s story back at home as we saw the close relationship with his younger brother, with his kids and with his wife. His family is definitely something that means a lot to him and after what happened to him as a kid that makes a lot of sense that he would be close with them and protective of them. He is motivated by his commitment to his family which is not typically what we see with someone considered to be a “villain” of a show. Jack Ryan has done a really good job of making us care for Jack, but also caring about what happens to Suleiman and his family.

What did you think of the second episode of Jack Ryan and are you enjoying where the story is going so far? 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)