‘Jack Ryan’ Is The New ‘24’

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It’s no secret that I am a huge fan of 24. I think it’s one of the best cable dramas of all time and Jack Bauer is on my Mt. Rushmore of greatest dramatic TV characters (the other three are Tony Soprano, Walter White, and Dr. Gregory House). Only in season one of Homeland has there ever been another drama series that has so adeptly created dynamic characters within the US intelligence/espionage apparatus and put them to work in an intriguing and suspenseful storyline. You can throw in the Americans if you want, but that’s a show with a slightly different spin and feel from 24. Unfortunately, after season 2, Homeland fell off a cliff and left 24 still standing as the god-king of spy drama TV shows. Until this weekend.

After marathoning all 8 episodes of Jack Ryan this weekend, I’ve fully bought into this show as the spiritual successor to 24. But how can I say that? Well, after watching Jack Ryan I went and rewatched the first season of 24 to compare the two. And after my initial comparison, I’m surprised and pleased to say that Jack Ryan probably has the potential to be better than 24 based off what each series had to offer in its first seasons.

Note: I am keeping spoilers for Jack Ryan to a minimum, but if you want to go in fresh, please skip and watch the series first.

The Protagonists

Although Jack Ryan, the character, has been featured in five movies and previously portrayed by four other actors, this is the best iteration I think I’ve seen since Alec Baldwin back in Hunt for Red October. And I don’t say that lightly, knowing full well that Harrison Ford was also damn good in that role and Ben Affleck and Chris Pine…were also in movies as him. But after this weekend, John Krasinski has grabbed hold of the reigns to really own this character. After this weekend, he is no longer just “Jim from the Office.” This dude can act.

Much like Jack Bauer, the titular Jack Ryan is a man of strong principles such as duty, loyalty, and unwavering resolve. Ryan begins as a lowly analyst but is also a man with deep emotional wounds stemming from his time in the Army, where he lost his entire platoon. That episode also left him physically wounded, with the resulting surgeries leaving him with back pain. Ryan gets beaten up in this series both emotionally and physically, as he tries to move past his PTSD and embrace the fact that he shouldn’t be hiding behind the desk.

Bauer, on the other hand, is much more composed when we meet him. Yes, he’s dealing with the emotional turmoil of his family separating briefly, his past relationship with Nina Meyers, and his investigation into fellow CTU agents, but it’s clear from the get-go Jack is the white knight of the story. Obviously, throughout the series, Bauer becomes a much more broken person who remains true to his virtues (which makes him such a dynamic character), but on first glance, Bauer is not nearly as intriguing or engaging as Jack Ryan is.

The Love Interest

I really don’t think I need to go into too much detail about why Teri Bauer sucks, but for the sake of the uninitiated, she’s shrill, she has very little agency throughout the first season, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of chemistry between her and Jack, and she drives the infamous amnesia storyline (one of my top 10 least favorite storylines from TV shows I love). When she’s killed off at the end of season one it was shocking, but not incredibly disappointing.

On the other hand, Cathy Muller (played by Abbie Cornish) actually has some purpose in the first season of Jack Ryan. She’s an accomplished virologist who eventually plays a large role in the CIA’s investigation, she calls him out on the double life he’s attempting to live and helps Jack overcome those still-fresh emotional wounds. I wouldn’t say the chemistry between Cornish and Krasinski is incredible, but it’s miles better than the Jack/Teri relationship.

The Supporting Cast

On first glance, it’s very hard to tell who is Jack’s sidekick or mentor in the first season of 24. After this rewatch, though, it’s quite clear that the most important relationship in this season that isn’t his family or Nina (whose role is complicated) is David Palmer. And anyone who has seen 24 needs no introduction to then-candidate Palmer and how actor Dennis Haysbert commanded that role.

For Jack Ryan, we have James Greer played by Wendell Pierce (Bunk!) who serves more as a mentor role to Ryan. Greer starts off as part of the bureaucracy that stands in Ryan’s way, but over time the two begin to form a bond even though their viewpoints on the world and methods rub against each other. Greer brings a lot of experience and skills to the table that Ryan needs to learn, and the fact that he–unlike Ryan–is a divorced Muslim who was disgraced at a previous post gives the character a lot of levity. Still, it’s just too tall a task to beat David Palmer.

The Action

This is where Jack Ryan really gets to shine. The set pieces and locations in this show are amazing, including army base attacks, a few shootouts, subway chases, and a cat-and-mouse sequence in a hospital that is really quite entertaining. It’s no John Wick or Daredevil season one, but this show gives us a great amount more action, effects, and entertainment than 24 did in its first season.

That’s not to say that 24 didn’t have anything going on, with an airplane blowing up, a couple strong chase scenes, some firefights, and the classic “Jack smuggles someone/something out of somewhere he’s not supposed to” set-ups. But these sequences felt more like slow burns, whereas Jack Ryan’s felt more like crescendoing explosions.

The Story

24 built its name by being a show all about twists and subversion. Show you one person here who looks like the good guy but is actually a villain, or one guy here who looks like a villain but is actually undercover for the good guys. The show’s misdirection was much more about dramatic irony than subversion; the audience often knew something before the main characters did, and the drama was about figuring out if Jack/CTU could foil this plot before it happened.

On the other hand, what made Jack Ryan so fresh was that most of the time we as the audience are learning about the central terror plot as it unravels. We learn information as Jack learns it, so we deal with the new developments and curveballs only as he discovers them. This is often frustrating, but it also allows for longer payoffs where something happens earlier in the series that pays off in later episodes, which is not something that often happens in 24. This also gives the opportunity for the story to place McGuffins or Red Herrings in the plot that seems important before the story shifts suddenly.

However, one place I will rag on Jack Ryan is in its B storyline. In 24, the secondary storyline often ties back in with the primary storyline. It’s the set-up for the terror attack Bauer is trying to stop or involves someone who can help him in this effort. In Jack Ryan, however, the secondary storylines really don’t serve that much of a purpose. You have the romance between Ryan and Dr. Muller, a story involving the primary antagonist’s wife trying to escape, and a story involving a drone pilot struggling with his conscience.

These last two storylines both have the potential to bring a lot of additional energy and context to the main plot…but they don’t. They both just kind of amble along until they end, and you’re left wondering what exactly they had to do with anything that John Krasinski was doing. They both seem to primarily exist in order to make political statements about collateral damage, the refugee situation, and the ethics behind drone strikes. But other than those vague points, neither plot seems nearly as integral to the plot as the Dr. Muller relationship, which actually bears fruit later in the series both for plot and character development. So, even though 24 season one featured godawful subplots, at least those subplots had some sort of a point, unlike those of Jack Ryan.

All in all, Jack Ryan has a more intriguing lead (even though he has a long way to go before reaching the status Jack Bauer eventually ascended to), a better love interest, great action pieces, and a more intriguing plot structure (even if its subplots derail the overall story). Am I willing to put Jack Ryan above 24 right now? No way, 24’s first season was one of its weaker ones, and it eventually developed dynamic characters and storylines that few shows have matched. I will say, though, that Jack Ryan has shown the promise that it could, one day, be at that level. .

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Josh T.

Don't call me a liar, but you don't have to call me a truther.

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