The fourth and final season of Jack Ryan follows the CIA agent as he deals with a three-way terrorist plan involving Myanmar, Mexico, and Nigeria to destabilize the United States of America, of course. The folks who help Ryan with the mission are James Greer, Mike November, and Domingo Chavez. Although Chao Fah seems to be on the side of the gangsters in Myanmar, he turns out to be a CIA ally who wants to bring all the smuggling and terrorism to a stop while also keeping his wife and his daughter safe. On the other end of the moral spectrum are Bill Tuttle, Zeyara Lemos, and Adebayo ‘Ade’ Osoji, who are executing the plan to bomb the United States of America. Why? What’s the reason? Well, let’s get into it.
Spoilers Alert
Jack Ryan Is Abducted And Tortured
In the penultimate episode of Jack Ryan Season 4, Cathy Mueller is abducted by Zeyara Lemos under the pretext of doing some NGO work in Myanmar. Ryan, November, and Chavez infiltrate Chao Fah’s casino because that’s where the explosives have been stored. Greer learns about Tuttle from Patrick Klinghoffer and takes his son for a ride-along so that they can nab Tuttle before he can do anymore damage. Fah warns Ryan that Zeyara will use Cathy to steer him away from his mission, but he mustn’t do that. Ryan understands the gravity of what he’s about to do and suppresses his urge to go save Cathy. Instead, Mike November goes for Cathy while Ryan and Chavez pretend to hold Fah hostage. Cathy miraculously escapes from Zeyara’s clutches and escapes with Mike. Ryan, Chavez, and Fah leave for the airfield to meet Mike and Cathy. But Fah deviates from the route and heads for his home to save his wife and his daughter. Fah gets shot in the process.
Ryan and Chavez take up the responsibility of getting Fah’s wife and his daughter to safety, while Fah turns himself into a suicide bomber and takes out Tin Tun. The bombs in Fah’s casino go off as well because, as explained by Fah, they are all connected to one transmitter. Zeyara sends an army to the airbase where Fah’s family, Ryan, Cathy, Mike, and Chavez are supposed to meet. Ryan puts Cathy and Fah’s family into the private jet and escapes with Mike and Chavez in the helicopter. The helicopter gets hit, thereby forcing Mike and Ryan to make an emergency landing. Tuttle gets captured by Greer, but Mike gets shot, and Ryan gets captured by the team that Tuttle had sent based on Ade’s orders, who is being controlled by Zeyara. The final episode of Jack Ryan Season 4 begins with Wright becoming the director of the CIA, while Zeyara tortures Ryan to learn what he has learned about the plan from Chao Fah. Chavez decides to go save Ryan and advises November to go get a plane so that they can escape from Myanmar once Chavez rescues Ryan. Greer tries to get any piece of important information from Tuttle, i.e., the location of one of the bombs and Jack Ryan. By the way, in case you are wondering why the terrorists are doing this, here’s the answer: it’s to prove that a vulnerable country like North America can be penetrated easily.
Jack Ryan Stops The Bomb From Going Off
Wright and Greer corner Ade, who essentially confesses that he has ties with both Tuttle and Zeyara. But in order to save himself from being tried for treason, he says that he needs immunity from the NSD in exchange for Jack Ryan’s location. Wright seemingly agrees to go ahead with this plan of action to save Ryan, even though Greer doesn’t approve of it. Cathy, who is in Maryland with Fah’s wife and his daughter, realizes that the bomb is being smuggled into the USA via flash drives, and she relays this information to Greer. Tuttle gives subtle hints about the location of the bomb to Greer. Mike gets his plane. Chavez infiltrates Zeyara’s lair, kills her, and rescues Ryan. By the time Mike informs Greer about this development, Ade gets his immunity and walks out of the CIA building without facing the consequences of his actions for now. When Ryan returns home, he gets into a briefing with Mike, Chavez, Greer, and Patrick, where he learns that the former Nigerian president wasn’t killed to defend a regime. It was done to ensure that the port in Lagos can be used for the smooth transfer of all kinds of illegal stuff from Myanmar to Mexico.
After some more coaxing, Tuttle eventually reveals that the bomb is coming into the USA through the highway that connects it to Mexico. The highway border patrol manages to stop the truck full of cars that’s bringing in the bomb. However, since the show is titled Jack Ryan, he has to be the one to do the defusing. The whole sequence is reminiscent of the highway shootout from Sicario and every bomb-defusing scene in existence. That said, there’s no punch or tension. I am supposed to feel that this can be the end for Jack Ryan and that he can go up in flames trying to save his country. Instead, I feel bored because I know that the creators of the show aren’t that ballsy. So, as expected, Ryan defuses the bomb, and everyone goes home happily. Why? I don’t know. What’s the point of playing it safe in the final episode of the final season of your show? You should be swinging for the fences at this point. What is it with this blandness? Didn’t they have the incentive to take some risks? Did the streaming platform force the creators to not have an ounce of thrill in the show? Was it written in their contracts? I’ll never know.
What Was Jack’s Final Act As A Member Of The CIA?
Ade gives a tiring speech about justice and whatnot to Wright, but Wright focuses on Miller’s death and why he was killed even though he was ready to go underground and never gives up any details about the operation. As soon as Ade admits that Miller was killed because he wasn’t sure about his ability to be silent, the police storm the restaurant that Ade and Wright are sitting in. Ade reminds Wright that he has full immunity. Wright reminds Ade that he has immunity when it comes to CIA-related matters. But he has just confessed to committing murder, and that makes this a case of homicide. For that, he can be tried as a regular criminal. At the end of Jack Ryan Season 4, Episode 6, we enter the open hearing in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee, presumably to question Ryan’s tactics. Ryan turns the tables and essentially accuses Senator Henshaw of allowing the strike on the USA because Ade gave Henshaw the money he needed for the re-election campaign while presenting a signed copy of the document that allowed the entry of the vehicles carrying the bomb.
On that note, Ryan leaves the hearing while Henshaw starts screaming. Ryan meets Wright, Greer, Chavez, November, and Cathy outside the White House. Greer and November ask Ryan to run for office, and Ryan refuses. He says that he’s going on an indefinite break so that he can live a little with Cathy. As far as I can tell, this is the show’s feeble attempt at being patriotic instead of nationalistic. Does that work? Absolutely not. Jack Ryan just drops a (metaphorical) bomb on the CIA and walks away as if he has done something phenomenal, even though we know that that can amount to nothing if real-world administrative politics are taken into consideration. Henshaw’s signature can be proven to be a forgery. What then? Ryan can be accused of wrongfully accusing Henshaw because his politics don’t align with Henshaw’s. What then? Ryan can be accused of being a rogue agent who wanted to portray himself as a hero by saving America from a foreign threat. What then? It’s stupid and laughable that the creators thought that this was how they were going to tackle the allegations of being a pro-CIA propaganda show. Anyway, I am glad that it has come to an end. Feel free to watch it for yourself and share your thoughts on it with us.
