Reviews

I am a fan of CIA series. And this one is quite well made. The characters are very likeable, they fit well to eachother, the action scenes are nice and the atmosphere is better and darker than most people expect when they see the face of the main actor the first time. However, the realism of the foreign countries is critical for me to believe a CIA story. A CIA story is basically a story about other countries.

A huge disappointment in Jack Ryan was for me: Russian officials are talking to eachother in Russia in English language with Russian accent. I thought we don't do that anymore these days? I remember, in the CIA series Homeland there was a season entirely in Berlin. One kid was raised in Berlin, and even the children's books were original German ones. And the main actor was talking German (with accent, sure) by herself when talking to Germans. Jack Ryan is far away from the atmosphere Homeland was able to create, and the language thing is one of the reason, if not the most important one. It's a pity.

This series is quite misleading the audience, which explains the bad reviews. At first the series looks like a normal CIA story about soldiers, personal issues soldiers and their loved ones have, and a specific incident which requires action. But the story turns out to be far more than that, in fact it is a bold criticism of the role the CIA is playing in international conflicts. Many bad reviews are complaining that the persons in this series are just not likeable. Well, they are exactly as likeable as the authors of this series wanted them to be. People who want to know exactly who the good & the bad guys are will be disappointed in Echo 3, this is more multilayered than that. The action scenes are on point, the gun fights are awesome, camera & picture are tasteful and beautiful, and the music is brilliant. The actors become quite likeable also. Are we the good ones? Not easy to answer, like in the real world. Top notch CIA action series for demanding TV watchers.