I just finished Season 3 of Jack Ryan. And I will provide spoilers. So stop.
The central conceit of the season is that a secret cabal within the Russian government wants to reestablish the USSR. What the show does extraordinarily well shows the cabal’s motivations. Motivations that are not cartoonish but very real. Motivations that have led to a war in Ukraine.
The show was shot in 2021, and when Ukraine was invaded, I am certain the producers were saying, “fuck-ity-fuck-fuck.”
But they released it anyway. And although I don’t know how many scenes were reshot, as the show does an extraordinary job of articulating the why of the invasion of Ukraine. The why so many older Russians are attracted to the idea of a war of conquest.
The end of the USSR was a traumatic experience. For many people who had devoted their lives to the system, the end was a massive and protracted layoff. Their identity, sense of worth, and place in the world were shattered.
Like Andor, in Star Wars: Rogue One, they had done horrible things in the name of the Revolution. And those things were justified because of the revolution. And now it was over. And all of those terrible things were now just terrible things.
There are several excellent scenes in the show.
The first is Petr Kovac explaining the loss of power his father felt. That the end of the USSR meant he was no longer feared and had become a joke. Losing power, losing control, and terrifying and wanting it back are all normal human reactions.
The second is the interaction between Alena Kovac and Alexei Petrov. The rogue defense minister of Russia does an excellent job articulating the venom and contempt that Putin articulated towards Ukraine. He saw Czechs not as a free people but as a thing to be crushed.
The third is Luka Gocharov’s speech on the past. As a Greek, who experienced the silence of the Greek Civil War, it was eerie. The events of the past didn’t happen. They didn’t exist. And yet they motivated actions and horrors and hates of the present. In Russia, the unwillingness to confront the imperialist past and the crimes in the name of the imperial past means they continue to practice those crimes.
The fourth is the flashbacks from the Sokol Massacre in 1969. Everyone has a different understanding of the events. For Luka, it’s a shame and horror of the act. For Petr, it is a sense of betrayal from the rulers of Russia. When the USSR collapses, he sees the last betrayal of the ruling elite of those who suffered and died.
The NAZI regime, the Putin Regime, and Greek Junta are regimes of corporals and colonels. Men who took orders and felt that they had been betrayed by those who led them. And so they did what they did, seize power to make better decisions. To reverse the mistakes others made.
The NAZIs started a war that destroyed Europe. Putin started a war that has destroyed Ukraine. And the Greek Junta started a war that partitioned Cyprus.
Jack Ryan’s screenwriters are to be commended for doing such an amazing job.