I’ve been a fan of the Jack Ryan character since I first encountered him in 1985 when a friend of mine introduced me to him, he was reading The Hunt for Red October and I was intrigued by the plot and the characters.

I was delighted when Paramount Pictures teamed up with Prime to deliver a new series based on the character, and while I was initially dubious about John Krasinski taking the role he won me over at the very start of season one.

I’ve happily followed this new iteration of Jack Ryan and while I’m not happy that the character of Cathy Muller (Abbie Cornish) was missing from season two and three, I enjoyed it and was eager to dig into the next season, and now I can.

This time Jack finds himself in Europe and learns of a rogue faction looking to restore the Soviet Empire and perhaps even go so far as starting a worldwide conflagration. Along the way he’s branded a traitor by the American government, but that just be part of his cover, and he finds himself working with Mike November (Michael Kelly) again, and his professional relationship with Greer (Wendell Pierce) continues to grow.

The story, itself, is a familiar spy thriller tope, but the showrunners do a great job on its execution, and the cast is fantastic, Krasiniski has really proven himself to be a solid and charismatic choice for Ryan, and I found myself leaping eagerly from episode to episode to see what he did next.

Sure sometimes it’s a little too bad that he’s written as the smartest guy in the room, but the rest of the cast also get a number of chances to shine and both Pierce and Kelly are fantastic. In fact, the show itself does a great job on its casting, its production, and its tech details. It’s smart, entertaining television, and for audiences who are increasingly savvy about spy tradecraft portrayed in Hollywood, it never talks down to them.

Paramount has collected the entire eight-episode season into a two-disc set on DVD and Blu-Ray. While it lacks any real extras outside of some deleted scenes, the series itself remains captivating and engaging. Featuring some outstanding location work that gives the series a fantastic international and exotic feel, Krasinski’s Jack Ryan feels very much in line with the character that Tom Clancy created.

That being said, the stories aren’t quite as complex as Clancy’s novels, but fit very much into the streamlined version of theatrical and television narratives, in fact, one could argue Ryan works best on the small screen because you have time to really incorporate all the details Clancy loved to document and create a really involving, evolving story.

I dig this series.

Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Season Three is available today on Bly-ray and DVD from Paramount Canada today.