User Reviews

Best episode I've seen so far but my theory seems to be proven in that there's going to be some huge action scene at or near the end of every or almost every episode. Now, in this case it wasn't huge, nor really a lot of action (except at the gas station) but still...it's like a cliffhanger is what they assume the viewer needs or wants to get to the next episode. Frankly, all one needs is good storytelling. I blame Carlton Cuse, myself. But that's me.

They finally had slight humor in this. I know it's not a comedy but sometimes people use comedy to relieve tension and this show, with its characters, are nothing but tension. My only real problem with this episode is: you have a medical doctor as the love interest of Ryan's, and at the end they have sex. Ryan has a lot of scars all over his body: chest, back etc., and am I to believe after Ryan tells her he has a boring job and he takes off his shirt and she doesn't ask any questions about all those scars and bruises (or bullet wound, though granted it's covered up)? That seemed unrealistic to me.

Again, best episode so far.

In the fourth episode, the action begins in the beautiful Auvergne-Rhône area of the French Alps. Ali is being tracked by Arnaud, Jack, Greer, and the French authorities. For speeding, Ali is stopped by a French gendarme, who allows him to continue on his way. When there is a critique of French immigration policy, Greer shows his tasbih (beads) to the boisterous French officer.

With a jump cut, we move from the snow-capped peaks of the Alps to the desert of Syria. In a power play, Suleiman usurps control of one of the prominent leaders of ISIS, winning over the terrorists through bribes. The leader is then mercilessly beaten and thrown in a prison cell with a group of Western hostages from Doctors Without Borders. Suleiman calls for unity among his group and looks forward to a great world Islamic Empire.

While driving through the Alps, Arnaud, who has four failed marriages on her resume, gives advice in love to Jack, who sends a text message to Dr. Cathy, inviting her on a date. When Arnaud and Jack stop for gas, Jack becomes suspicious when he notices that the adjoining car has been hot-wired. What follows is the sudden appearance of Ali, who has switched cars. Gunfire ensues with an unsuspecting French gendarme fatally wounding Arnaud. Ali flees the scene and Jack gives chase. When Jack catches up with Ali, there is a struggle, and when Ali tries to pull a gun, Jack shoots Ali dead. The scene is a disaster for the team that was carefully tracking Ali.

When Jack returns to Washington, D.C. via Joint Base Andrews, his first item of business is dinner with Dr. Cathy. They have an enjoyable meal at one of Jack's old stomping grounds where the Maître-D named "Buster" was an old police buddy of Jack's dad. Jack's lies to the doctor that his work at the State Department is in "manifests and receipts" for the travel of the officials. It is then on to Dr. Cathy's apartment for their intimacies. During the love fest, will Dr. Cathy become curious about the scars on Jack's back?

In the closing, shocking scene, a funeral is unfolding in a magnificent Paris cathedral for the influential Father Joseph, the priest who was assassinated in the alleyway by terrorists. As the Lord's Prayer is invoked, three terrorists have planted bombs with noxious smoke, then chain-locked the cathedral doors. Panic ensues that will result in what the poet T. S. Eliot referred to as "murder in the cathedral."

We're only on episode four and already the quality is slipping like mad. There's half a decent episode here, the highlight of which is the showdown at the petrol station, but the character-building stuff is boring beyond belief and the cheesy romance scenes belong in a different genre altogether. I'm also struggling to warm to Ryan, something about Krasinski makes me feel he just isn't right for the part.

Plot; After a confrontation sees him have to kill for the first time, Jack returns home from France and goes on a date w/a beautiful young doctor.

Much better episode, w/a focus on Jack as he deals w/his recent foray into the field culminating in a heart stopping finale.

Jack Ryan's dating life is the one thing I was not crazy about throughout this freshman run, but I will admit to getting fooled and thinking he really would have snapped at the waiter/owner.

Even a kind of slow episode like this was enjoyable. The show has been one of Amazon's best.

Half of the episode (drama) is good. The other half (action) is left with poor direction choices that don't pass for believable. At the gas station shootout, Ryan opts to go for the gun in glove box rather the closer body of the dead cop, only then to have the bad guy dead to rights as he run away in a straight line, but misses every shot despite his military and CIA training. The next scene, after knocking the guy down with a pistol whip, allows the man to get up rather than securing him on his belly with any kind of binding (I.e. A belt or his jacket, or just pinning him with a foot) and checking for the gun on him, just to build the drama of having to kill the only lead and starting at square one.