Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, on Prime Video

In the books, Tom Clancy’s signature hero served as National Security Advisor, Vice President, and President for two non-consecutive terms. Maybe he will do so again, but for the present time, he has been rebooted back to his original government gig: CIA analyst (not including his prior military service). Of course, he always had an unlikely knack for getting out from behind his desk and into the field. Regardless of his job, he always has the same mission—to protect America from its foreign enemies. The titular character will do his duty in Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan (trailer here), which premieres this Friday on Prime Video.

Ryan has the Yemen desk at the CIA. It is not so hot in terms of prestige, but there is plenty of suspicious activity to track. Ryan has uncovered a pattern of sophisticated money transfers that seem to suggest a rumored new jihadist player is planning something big and horrific. Unfortunately, his new section chief James Greer is in full CYA mode after being cashiered back to Langley due a career-derailing kerfuffle in Pakistan. Needless to say, Greer is not pleased when Ryan does an end-run around him with the Treasury liaison, but it gets the ball rolling.

Soon, Ryan and Greer are jet-setting to France and Turkey in pursuit of the elusive “Sulieman.” When he has a spare moment, Ryan does his best to romance Dr. Cathy Mueller, whose infectious disease specialty might just come in handy later. They might just have a future together, whereas Sulieman’s terrified wife Hanin is desperate to escape with her children. There is also a bit of business with a remorseful drone operator that so far represents a momentum-killer for the series, based on the six episodes provided to the media. Clancy would have just told him to cowboy up, as does his infinitely more telegenic partner.

Showrunner-executive producers Carlton Cruse & Graham Roland deserve credit for some realistic and unvarnished depictions of terrorism on-screen. There is one particular attack in Paris that shows very little graphic carnage, but still manages to be absolutely shocking. Of course, they bend over backwards to provide counter-balancing Muslim characters, which even include the hard-charging Greer. It is more convincing in the case of Hanin, who is indeed a character who reflects reality for some many women in the Islamist world.

Frankly, U.S.-based Saudi actress Dina Shihabi deserves even more credit for her portrayal of Hanin, which is quite brave for multiple reasons. She is all kinds of fierce and vulnerable, so she should be the heroic feminist TV figure of the year. John Krasinski is actually quite a strong Jack Ryan (immeasurably superior to Affleck and Pine). Proving 13 Hours was not a fluke, he projects the right balance of everyman integrity and the rough-and-ready bearing of a combat veteran.

Wendell Pierce brings plenty of hardnosed attitude as Greer, while a surprisingly old-looking Tim Hutton shows a weaselly side we haven’t seen before as CIA bureaucrat Nathan Singer. In six episodes, Abbie Cornish does not get much to do besides eat Maryland crabs and send a couple fateful Ebola emails. Perhaps the weak link is Ali Suliman’s Sulieman, who is just sort of blandly sinister, like a garden variety terrorist from 24. (The attempts to blame his radicalization on French bigotry might be counter-productive, in this respect.)

Still, Cuse and Roland keep the stakes high, while Krasinski and Shihabi maintain viewers’ rooting interest. The characterization is mostly quite strong (in fact, the death of one unmentioned recurring character really stings) and the action scenes are energetically staged. Clancy probably would have wanted to tinker with it a little, but it will still exceed his fans’ expectations. Recommended pretty enthusiastically (again based on six episodes, a pretty fair sampling), Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan premieres on Amazon Prime this Friday (8/31).

Blackest Ops: Strike Back

As far as Section 20 is concerned, the only good terrorist is a terrorist getting renditioned to within an inch of their lives. Well, God bless them for that. As a result, disgraced former U.S. Delta Force soldier Damien Scott finds he fits in rather well in the double-secret British counter-terrorism unit in Strike Back (promo here), which has its series debut on Cinemax this Friday.

Like 24 in its Surnow heyday, viewers should not get too attached to reoccurring characters, including John Porter (a lead protagonist from Strike Back’s pre-Cinemax first season on British Sky TV). Captured while investigating a large scale operation code-named Project Dawn, Porter has been captured by terrorists loyal to the Islamist mastermind, “Latif.” Aside from Porter, only his former American counterpart from the early days of Iraq can identify the mysterious Latif. That of course would be Scott, whom Section 20’s Sgt. Stonebridge finds drinking, whoring, and pit-fighting his way through a Southeast Asia redlight district.

Naturally, there is major friction between the Yank and the Brit, but they are all business when the bullets start flying. If the first four installments are representative of the entire season, Strike Back’s wider overarching storyline will be advanced by a succession of two episode mini-arcs. On the micro-level, the show is a breath of fresh air, featuring terrorists who are not simply misguided, but horrifically evil. For instance, Scott spends the balance of episode two protecting an innocent young girl from Islamic terrorists (who are explicitly identified as such), only taking occasional breaks to bed the beautiful women of the hotel taken hostage by the terrorist thugs. Seriously, that’s an apt description.

However, on the macro level, Strike Back’s shadowy meta-conspiracy threatens to be a real buzz kill. Supposedly, Scott was unceremoniously mustered out of service because he caught wind of a plan to plant the WMD stockpiles that would “justify” Operation Iraqi Freedom. Those infamous weapons are now at loose ends, doggedly pursued by Latif for his nefarious purposes. This sort of potential demonization of the American military and intelligence services is exactly what we do not need any more of on television.

It would be a shame if Strike Back’s macro themes continue in this direction, because they could spoil some genuinely rip-rousing television entertainment. As Scott, Sullivan Stapleton is an undeniably likable and engaging hard-nosed bad-attitude protagonist. Though the relatively by-the-book Stonebridge is probably not as fun to play, Philip Winchester displays plenty of square jawed action cred. There are also plenty of James Bond worthy women, like the gorgeous Karen David (sort of geek-famous for Scorpion King 2) as the barmaid Scott protects when the terrorists break up their hook-up. Likewise, the villains are truly villainous, such as the workaholic Liam Cunningham, chewing the scenery with relish as IRA enforcer turned mercenary Daniel Connolly.

At least in episodes one through four, the Indian and South African settings are quite cinematic, while the stunt work and effects are all first class. Scott and Stonebridge deliver quite a bit of vicarious satisfaction, administering on the spot justice to Islamist fanatics and their craven accomplices that should be well worth returning for throughout the show’s run. Yet, if it loses sight of who the real bad guys are, sliding into the sort of moral equivalency frequently peddled by Hollywood, it will alienate its core viewership, while those sharing such a hostile view of American and British military and intelligence personnel will be put off by the Jack Bauer tactics gleefully indulged in throughout each episode.

Strike Back could be flat-out awesome, so let’s hope it minimizes the clichéd conspiracy themes and plays to its strengths. This week, the totally entertaining first episode is definitely recommended when it debuts this Friday (8/12) on Cinemax.