Jack Ryan (TV Series) Sources and Methods (2018) User Reviews

Sources and Methods

[bobcobb301 · 8/10 · 9 September 2018]

Another all out rush of an episode. In earlier reviews I was calling the show Homeland-lite, but it might be as good as that Showtime series was during the early seasons.

Right now the show has the drama down pat and me on the edge of my seat as we learn the fate of these characters. Keep up the good work.

More Jack Ryan, less drone guy

[mepelly · 7/10 · 1 September 2018]

I would have rated this episode a 9, but the side plot with the drone operator has nothing to do with he rest of the plot and seems to simply be the writers' attempt to add some extra morality. Unnecessary and distracting.

The Necessity of Compromise

[lavatch · 8/10 · 15 September 2018]

In the theme of "Sources and Methods" that is the title of this program, Greer teaches a lesson to the headstrong Jack Ryan. The more seasoned Greer recognizes that in the fight against terror, there is an imperative to adjust one's ideals in order to achieve a goal. The main objective of the two agents is to bring Hanin and her children to safety before the unscrupulous minions of Suleiman get to her.

The main drama is a race to the sea, as Hanin and her daughters are making their way to the coast. Greer has enlisted an amoral man named Tony to get them to Hanin. Jack consistently resists dealing with Tony because he is a pimp and an extortionist. But the pragmatic Greer eventually frees Hanin and the children through a large cash payoff and a brief firefight on the beach.

In one of the episode's subplots, we flashback six months to Liberia where Suleiman and Ali are digging up the corpse of an Ebola victim. It is here that the research scientist Dr. Cathy will be finding a connection to the work of Jack: biological terror.

In perhaps the most moving scene of the episode, Victor has traveled to Syria with a bag of cash from his winnings at the roulette table. To atone for the killing of an innocent man, Victor wants to give the money to the family. The father of the victim will not accept the money. But the son of the victim sells eggs to Victor for the large bundle of cash.

The depravity of Suleiman is illustrated most completely when he orders his thugs to kill Hanin and bring the children back to him. But Greer and Jack have outhustled them and arrive at the beach to rescue Hanin and the daughters.

In order to accomplish their goal, Greer and Jack were complicit in working with a specialist in smuggling and human trafficking. At the close of the program, Greer recounts the incident in Kerachi, Pakistan, where he had to kill his asset, who got cold feet and threatened to imprison him. Backed into a corner, it was a matter of survival for Greer. Then, he became persona non grata at the CIA.

lovely side plot to round the story

[gluon_painter · 10/10 · 1 March 2022]

Some may not like how the side plot with drone team member has eaten up screen time without much impact about Jack's investigation.

The side plot did bring morality and humanity factor to round the story. It is not as "defined" and heroic as these protagonists often written to be.

Soldiers can often be wrong too. At times they face internal struggles in following orders. I don't live anywhere near Middle East to judge its authenticity, but the plot is refreshing to me.

Powerful Film Making

[bgc-4 · 10/10 · 9 March 2020]

Some of the most emotionally powerful video ever put together for the small screen. The wide beach scenes where Syrian refugees are boarding Zodiacs for the dangerous journey to Lesbos bring home the danger they face. Earlier the scene with the drone pilot making amends with the family of a man he killed in error is also quite powerful. The action is edge of the seat viewing. A rather incredible hour of video.

Flawed, but watchable

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 22 December 2020]

A slightly better episode, but all of that sub-plotting with the boring drone operator guy belongs in a different show, not this one. It drags everything down and makes it all feel very needlessly moralistic. The main plotting, about the hunt for Suliman's wife, is a lot more interesting, especially when the crazy Turkish guy comes into the picture.

It's pretty exciting but I'm beginning to lose patience with it now as at times it's STUPID.

[bonzodog-29475 · 6/10 · 27 October 2020]

It started out well enough and I am picky I'll admit but some things are just stretching things a bit too far! As someone else mentioned, the drone pilot going to Yemen to apologise was just a stupid distraction, let alone what an amazing coincidence that Jack and him almost bump into each other at the airport? I've been to Turkey, and I didn't fly there, I drove 3 and half days to get there. And crossed the Bosphorus to Eastern Turkey. It has a VERY big coastline and yet, without a map, compass or gps Solenaumi's wife walks from the middle of nowhere and comes out on the coast at the very spot where the boats are leaving from. Come on now, you're having a laugh! OK, the beach scene there was pretty exciting, I'll grant that. But before that, Jack? And the guy helping them find the woman, the attitude and punch up. He's a professional? Yes. Behaving more like a kid.

I don't think the actor playing Jack was right for the role TBH. There's other stupid stuff that annoyed me too. The female French police women and the stupid distraction while they are on an important case following the suspect and they go into texting Jack's date. Stupid. Let alone the fact they pull up right behind the brothers car at a gas station. And why did Jack stop running after the brother after the bomb incident in Paris? He'd been shot so was injured and good old Jack stopped running after him , that was stupid. Sticking with it to the end, but it could have been so much better.

Turkey

[Vahid_Aslani · 1/10 · 26 September 2018]

Seems like American problems with Turkey could never be solved! 1-At least They could film some real scenes in real Turkey! not some unknown desert.. It's Turkey, Its mostly Mediterranean, European and green! They didn't even bother to use some logical replica of the cars in Turkey, made it more like Pakistan! 2-It's not possible to take a taxi and cross into Syria in day light! There is a f** border! 3-No one can smuggle refugees from camps in Turkey via trucks! They undermined an International task force working there. 4-Nobody can move around with guns and AK47s in Turkey, It's not a jungle! 5-Smugglers do not have a private mid way station and/or beach working freely in day light with a huge number of refugees, again Turkey is not a jungle. 6-They mentioned that Turkish police forces are corrupt and working with the smugglers and thugs, maybe, some, not as much as American officers! 7-Maybe the producers should do some study and search about a subject. Turkish gov and people did and still do a tremendous humanitarian effort for 3.5 million refugees.

Search & Find

[nammage · 7/10 · 31 August 2018]

A race to find Suleiman's wife, Hanin. Ryan's self-righteous attitude (as mentioned in the first episode) is definitely shown in this episode. Though it seemed allegorical, in a way. I don't know, perhaps I read more into that, it just seemed that way, to me.

Polizzi (Air Force drone pilot) travels to the Middle East to apologise to the father of the boy he killed with the drone as a means of seeking some type of redemption. He gives him a lot of money (as if the father cares about money over the loss of his son.)

I actually liked the beach scene. Not because it was filled with excitement and/or action but because it dealt with compromise. Not of Ryan or his boss (Americans always do things their way whether they're right or not - I'm American, I should know) but of everyone else. It was a really good scene. And, though ten minutes were still left of the episode yet another action scene at the end. How redundant.

Cathy Mueller (Ryan's love interest) is working on a supposed Ebola case from Liberia. Another subplot, that I'm sure, connects to Suleiman. I say this because, "Why all the focus on it?" At first I thought it was just to establish her character, who she is as a person but no...it has to be more to it, right? I think character establishment would have been better, in my opinion otherwise it's just cliché.

What are the chances?

[dierregi · 6/10 · 20 July 2023]

Hanin and her daughters manage to end up to the exact spot on the beach were the immigrants are loaded on the - invisible - boats? How did she manage that? Turkey has a huge coastline and chances of a foreigner being able to reach the sea from an unknown inland location seem kind of slim. They might have made an effort to make that more believable, instead of focusing on Jack on his high horse. Kind of very unprofessional attitude, but I guess it's an attempt to clean the CIA tarnished (and rightly so) reputation.

Maybe they're trying to hard, though. Jack is holier than thou and his colleague is a Muslim, show some respect for this brand new, cleansed CIA! Still, the episode works, apart from the drone pilot side plot, which looks like they did not know how to fill enough time for an episode.

Ag shame

[beansdad · 3/10 · 7 November 2018]

So, Suleiman and his brother (Ali?) are seen in a flashback in Paris prior to their radicalization. They could almost be a type of every-man, but then we see how French society rejects Suleiman who is trying so desperately to fit in. In the end he rejects the goal of making money and hangs out with his street gangsta brother.

I think the writers wanted me to feel sympathy for how this guy ended up in prison and there gets radicalized. Not only did I not feel sympathy, I resented the notion that I was being manipulated. The back-story of how Suleiman and his brother become terrorists may be necessary from a narrative point of view; I just sensed that the writers were trying too hard to get me to like him, in that they assume that terrorists are de-humanized, so they (the writers) have to humanize them.

The side plot with the drone operator, (Vincent?) is to me a pointless meander. The plot with the smuggler and his helping Jack and Greer was interesting and a glimpse into a world that most of us would not like to acknowledge and explore.

In terms of the overall season, the plot device of Greer being a Muslim is tiresome, as though to tone down American-ness, some of the Americans have to have a dual allegiance in a post Reagan realpolitik. Again, in terms of the season, Jack and Cathy jumping in the sack after the first date is downright icky, and then the character of Cathy says that she doesn't want to get serious but just wants to basically hang out seems at odds with the seriousness of her job as an epidemiologist. she's bright, but loose in the morals department. This is at odds with the character as Clancy imagined her, and I didn't see the need to shake the character up that much.

it is not Turkey

[CAN_AKIN · 1/10 · 17 January 2024]

This episode in Turkey; A complete disappointment. I don't know what your problem is with Turkey, but Türkiye is not a Middle Eastern country.

First of all, there are no unofficial checkpoints in Turkey and there never will be. You won't see militant-type people walking around with Ak47s in their hands. Turkish people are not Arabs, Arabic is not spoken everywhere. Additionally, as seen in this section, it is not possible to engage in nonsensical human trafficking. Obviously, putting hundreds of people on boats is an incomprehensible nonsense. And dozens of armed guards... Remember, Turkey is a country where modern people lives with advanced technology...

Mediocre production value

[jimsaf-346-520057 · 5/10 · 5 September 2018]

The British accent of the guy who plays the British Doctor (Vince Nappo) is appalling. Needs some more lessons.