The fourth and final season opens with the titular C.I.A. operative, Jack Ryan being brought into a holding cell in Myanmar and then being tortured. Then the show turns back the clock by three weeks and takes us to Nigeria, where a team of elite soldiers guided by Bill Tuttle kills the President. While the team tries to make it out of the compound alive, it’s revealed that Tuttle is doing all this from the U.S.A. for a gangster named Chao Fah, who is in Myanmar. Fah informs an anonymous person that the channel through Lagos has been cleared now that the President is dead. The narrative shifts to Washington, D.C., where Ryan and Elizabeth Wright sit down with President Bachler to discuss what has happened. Finally, Domingo Chavez is introduced, who infiltrates a party to kill a man named Emilio. With most of the players in motion, let’s talk about what unfolds in the first episode of Jack Ryan.
Major Spoilers Ahead
Chao Fah Is At Odds With Tin Tun
Acting Deputy Director of the C.I.A. Jack Ryan is questioned regarding the connections between the murder of President Udo and the assassins possibly being from the C.I.A. by Senator Henshaw, along with several other senators. Ryan’s methods are questioned too. But the whole conversation plays out in such a dumb and boring manner that they could’ve wrapped up with a few lines of text saying, “Everyone pretends to hold Jack Ryan accountable.” Also, what’s going on with John Krasinski? Why is he so disinterested? Is he always this tired? Many have questioned his casting, especially since Harrison Ford, Alec Baldwin, Ben Affleck, and even Chris Pine have portrayed the character so well.
Krasinski was really good in the first two seasons. However, I can’t defend him after this. I am sorry. Okay, moving on with the plot, Chavez reveals that he’s working for Alejandro Marquéz by delivering Emilio’s hands to him in a box. Rodrigo Marin, Marquéz’s assistant, informs Chavez that they are trying to become the Silver Lotus Triad’s (South East Asia’s biggest gang) number one supplier of illegal items into the U.S.A. Back in Myanmar, we see one of the elders of the Silver Lotus Triad, Tin Tun, and Chao Fah conversing about transmitters, probably for some kind of explosives, and having a disagreement about how they should handle the business with Marquéz.
Jack Ryan Decides To Make A Drastic Move
Jack Ryan meets Cathy Mueller, and they chat about their jobs. James Greer drops in, and after some casual banter, he gets to the ex-director of the C.I.A., Thomas Miller, as he could be the one behind the operation in Lagos. Greer says that the conversations Miller had with possibly corrupt officials are encrypted. But Greer claims that he can decrypt them and find out Miller’s involvement in this whole mess. In Myanmar, Chao Fah and his brother-in-law, Soe Wai, make a pit stop at the casino, which acts as their base of operations. After taking a look at the picture of Emilio’s hands that Marquéz had sent, Chao Fah decides to take a trip to Mexico. Wai questions Fah’s decision to go all the way to Mexico, and Fah tells him that there are bigger things at play. Because of that, they’ve got to make sure that the supply chain is as smooth as possible.
Back at Langley, Wright informs Ryan that they are going to meet Adebayo ‘Ade’ Osoji at a Nigerian fundraiser, which will allow them to counter the allegations of American involvement in the assassination of their President. Chavez meets Lt. Morales. Initially, they talk about the strength of the cartel and the position of the police in all of this before arriving at the topic of the shipment that’s coming from Myanmar. Chavez realizes that Morales wants bribes, and he even agrees to give Morales the amount that he’s asking for. He promises Morales that he’ll get the money once the deal goes through. If he doesn’t get the money, he can seize everything that Marquéz owns. However, Chavez warns him that if he oversteps, he’ll kill him in front of his family. Talking about families, Greer goes to have dinner with his ex-wife and two kids, and while Jasmine and Ashley welcome him, he gets cold-shouldered by his son. Jack Ryan informs Wright that he’s going to shut down all the shell companies associated with Miller in order to expose the one that was funding the operation in Nigeria.
What Does Domingo Chavez Want?
Domingo Chavez assembles his men to oversee the meeting with Chao Fah. But they don’t seem to be Marquéz’s men. They actually look like guys working for Tuttle or the C.I.A. They don’t have any recognizable tags on them as well, probably for the sake of anonymity. Hence, it’s difficult to ascertain who these mercenaries are. Marin reprimands Chavez for changing the plan. Chavez gives a somewhat believable excuse about showing a sign of strength to Chao Fah, and Marin eats it up almost instantly. By the way, Marin makes a comment about how Chavez’s father would react if he had been alive to hear Chavez make such plans for the cartel, thereby hinting that Chavez’s dad was an honest man and he didn’t want his son to be in this business. Morales finds out that his bank account has been deactivated, which means that he’s not going to get any money regardless of the success or failure of the meeting between Chao Fah and Domingo Chavez. Fah arrives in Mexico, and he’s taken to the drug-making factory at the docks. Later that evening, Marin and Chavez arrive to meet Fah and Wai. They come to an agreement to go and meet Marquéz.
However, the whole deal goes south as the police (who have been intimated by Morales, probably) arrive to interrupt the process. This leads to a full-on shootout between Fah’s team, Chavez’s team, and the police. Marin escapes. So does Chavez. When Wai is driving Fah to safety, he sends a message to his wife to abort the plan of leaving Myanmar. This means that, despite being the face of the whole operation, Fah wants to exit it, and he made this whole play to bring an end to the Silver Lotus Triad. That said, due to the involvement of the Mexican police, that plan has been ruined. Wright advises Ryan to look into this whole fiasco, but only after attending the Nigeria fundraiser featuring Ade and Zeyara Lemos (someone who is in Cathy’s line of work, i.e., health). Wright has a spirited conversation with Ade about how President Udo’s death has empowered a warlord over in Nigeria and how the U.S.A. should support the new President only if he stops with his empty nationalism. At the end of Jack Ryan Season 4 Episode 1, Domingo Chavez pays Ryan a visit and tells him, at gunpoint, to reactivate Pluto, i.e., the shell corporation that Chavez was using to pay Morales. This means that Chavez isn’t working for the cartel. He’s working for the C.I.A. He’s an undercover agent, and he’s using this cover to take down not just the cartel but the Silver Lotus Triad. Going by the expressions exchanged between Chao Fah and Chavez during the shootout and Fah’s decision to leave the Triad, it’s possible that Fah and Chavez are working together, and Ryan has no idea about all this.
