Welcome to the fourth episode of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, “Our Death’s Keeper.” Let’s get started:
In Moscow, Luka (James Cosmo) storms into Defense Minister Alexei Petrov’s (Alexej Manvelov) office. He shows Alexei his cell phone, showing him text messages that he claims are between Jack (John Krasinski) and the recently-dead hitguy Konstantin (Anton Pampushnyy) – but of course, we know better.
Luka tells Alexei that Konstantin was a double agent who failed his mission – to kill Luka. Alexei gets haughty, reminding Luka who he is – but Luka hits back with, “Do you know how many ministers just disappear in the middle of the night? Do you know how many times mine was the last face they saw?” Oooh. Double points for a sick burn and a truly terrifying warning.
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Alexei swears he had no idea that Konstantin was working both sides. But Luka says he knows Alexei’s part of the whole plan to reactivate Sokol. Or at least, that Alexei’s a puppet being manipulated by others. Either way, he warns Alexei that he needs allies before walking out.
Meanwhile, Jack and Mike November (Michael Kelly) are in Budapest. Jack says he’s still processing “the whole being accused of treason thing,” and Mike says that’s why he went private. He doesn’t have to deal with politics – he just gets paid. Mike asks if Jack trusts Luka, and Jack says he at least believes him about arms dealer Levan Zubkov (Ivan Mathias Petersson).
Jack asks if Zubkov knows Mike’s ex-CIA, and Mike says it’s a major selling point. Jack says Mike must have a detailed workup on Zubkov and Mike’s like, “Are you asking me to breach my professional ethics?” And Jack’s like, “Did you have any?” Ouch. Mike says his tech guy Rami (Guy Adler) will have all their info on him. But he warns that Zubkov will get spooked if he knows they’re onto him, and Jack just says he hopes so.
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They meet up with Rami, who shows them what he’s dug up. Zubkov pays off the local police, so they leave him alone. Any meetings he has are in public, so Jack asks how they can get to him. With Rami’s help they find out he’s having a meeting that day with some black-market shipping guy. So all they have to do is find a way to screw it up.
Meanwhile, Wright’s (Betty Gabriel) getting her butt chewed by CIA Director Miller (John Schwab). He asks if she’s had any contact with Jack, and she says he did reach out. She explains Jack’s “small wars” theory, that the tipping point will be the Sokol device – and that the uranium for it is already in transit. Miller asks where Jack’s getting the info, and she says Luka Gocharov. Miller shuts it down then, saying Jack’s being manipulated by a spymaster who specializes in disinformation. He tells Wright if she doesn’t bring Jack in immediately, he’ll recall and replace her.
Back in Budapest, Zubkov and his security guys arrive at the meeting spot, but the client, Ian Van Der Waal (Mark Jax) isn’t there yet. Zubkov calls him and just as the call goes through to the bar where Ian’s having a drink, Jack shows up. Jack tells Ian he shouldn’t take the call and Zubkov’s been compromised. Ian asks if he’s CIA, and Jack just laughs at the irony.
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Jack then says Zubkov’s about to be charged with providing aid to terrorists. So anyone who’s doing business with him will be charged too. Ian asks why Jack’s being so helpful, and he says that something like this could end Ian. Instead of that, “they’re” just giving him a warning. And one more thing – get out of Budapest.
Zubkov then gets a text on his phone from Ian saying, “Can’t meet. I hear your house is unclean.” Zubkov of course freaks out, which Mike reports to Jack from his viewing spot not far away.
Meanwhile, in Prague, Greer (Wendell Pierce) and a couple of agents break into the house of Pres. Kovac’s (Nina Hoss) security guy, Radek (Adam Vacula), after his wife and co-conspirator Jana’s (Tereza Srbova) left the house. Greer finds a box inside a desk with some old photos – one of which is a photo of Radek with his military unit and Petr (Peter Guinness), Pres. Kovac’s dad.
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Flashback to 1969, where young Luka (Roman Evdokimov) gave the kill order to his sergeant – the one who questioned him. Turns out that guy was none other than a young Petr (Adam Fidusiewicz), whose last name was Lebedev. And as they went back into the facility, young Petr refused to carry out the order. His fellow sergeant, Egorov (Martins Kalita), said he was committing treason, but young Petr said he wasn’t going to be a part of killing fellow Russians, and that Sokol was their chance to restore the greatness of the Soviet Union.
As the other soldiers looked on – including a young Rolan Antonov (Toma Hrisztov), the Navy captain we saw at Popov’s funeral – Sgt. Egorov did the only thing he could do to save face, and shot young Petr. Then Egorov, Antonov and the rest of the soldiers carried out the order. And in a sloppy (but convenient) move, Egorov never did check to make sure Petr actually died, so he was able to escape.
Back in Budapest, Mike and Jack corner Zubkov’s security guy, George (Karim Cherif) – but not before George hauls off and decks Mike with his heavy man-bag. Ouch. Poor Mike just keeps getting wailed on. Jack pulls a gun on him, so George has no choice but to go with them. The next morning, Mike goes to Zubkov’s office and leaves George’s man-bag behind. Then he goes to the window and flips off Jack, who’s watching from across the way.
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In Prague, Greer meets with Pres. Kovac and asks her how long she’s known Radek. She says she was provided with security when she announced her candidacy for President. She picked Radek because he was a decorated war hero, and completely reliable – until now. Greer says that they can’t spook him. They have to find out who he’s working with.
As Radek walks up on them, Pres. Kovac makes a show of telling Greer that she wants him and all US Embassy staff to keep their distance, as she needs to show everyone at the ceremony that day that the NATO deal was her idea and that the CIA’s not influencing her – even though they are. As she walks off with Radek, the two men trade suspicious looks.
Back in Moscow, there’s a big meeting with Alexei, Pres. Surikov (Mikhail Safronov), Luka and a whole bunch of other people in what looks like a situation room. Alexei shows off satellite photos of the NATO missiles, saying it’s dangerously close to their troops on the Slovakian border.
Pres. Surikov asks Luka for his take on Pres. Kovac, and he says she’s been heavily influenced by the US. He names Greer, noting that he’s head of Russia House, and has been meeting with Pres. Kovac daily. Making sure he looks directly at Alexei, Luka says Pres. Kovac and the Czech Republic are being used “as proxy in a greater battle.”
Alexei says they can move their own missiles within range, and Pres. Surikov is smart enough to realize that it also puts them within range of Czech airbases. But he agrees, saying to “be noisy about it,” so that CIA’s satellites see it. As the meeting breaks up, Alexei approaches Pres. Surikov and asks why his chief of staff wasn’t in attendance. Pres. Surikov says he called in sick – which seems to be code for something bad happened.
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Back in Budapest, Zubkov’s having his office swept for bugs, yelling that everybody needs to dump their phones, change their numbers and sweep the office and his house every day. Then the phone rings inside the man-bag Mike left there. Zubkov answers and on the other end Jack just hangs up, cracking up as he watches Zubkov freaking out. Zubkov of course spots him and gets even more freaked out. Jack calls Mike and says Zubkov’s definitely ready to roll.
Remember that “sick” chief of staff? Turns out he’s tied to a chair in some nasty-looking concrete bunker somewhere. Luka arrives and tells the guy, Mikhail (Vytautas Kaniusonis), that Alexei’s been arrested and is naming names, including his – which is a lie, but of course, Mikhail doesn’t know that. Luka hands him a confession, saying if he signs it, he’ll spend a few unpleasant years in prison, but he’ll still be alive.
Mikhail signs the confession, saying he doesn’t know who’s involved. His job was to tell Alexei who the president was meeting, where he was going, etc. He doesn’t know what Alexei was actually doing – he only heard him mention something called “Crossbow.” Mikhail says he wanted to help return Russia to a country he could be proud of. Luka says he should have been a man his country could be proud of – and then kills him.
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Back in Prague, Greer visits Petr – who always makes sure to answer the door with a knife. Greer puts on a friendly show, asking if they could chat over a drink – without Alena around. When Greer mentions being from Louisiana, Petr mentions it being a French colony. And when Greer says, “A long time ago,” Petr pointedly replies, “Once a colony, always a colony.” Yikes.
But Greer keeps it professional, speaking to him in Russian. Petr confirms he’s Russian, saying Greer’s accent is good. Petr explains that his family came to Czechoslovakia in the 70’s, wanting to get out of Russia. He says he and Greer are both exiles, and that the thing about being in exile – “it means you have no home to go back to.” Then he asks point blank what the CIA wants, but Greer only mentions his suspicions about Radek.
Afterwards, Petr calls Alexei wanting to know if the uranium has arrived. Alexei says he doesn’t know, he hasn’t heard from Zubkov. Petr says Alexei needs to keep his cool, stay resolved and let him know as soon as the delivery’s made.
Meanwhile, Zubkov’s continuing his freakout while he tries to relax in his pool on his cheesy golden floatie. He keeps calling George and getting no answer. His security guys say they can’t find him, but they know he hasn’t left the country. Zubkov’s convinced George is in Interpol’s custody “telling tales.”
Outside, Rami drives up to Zubkov’s gate, hacks it and pulls partway inside. Zubkov sees this on his surveillance monitors and freaks out some more as Rami ditches the car and runs off. Thinking there’s a bomb in the car, his security guys hustle Zubkov out the back, where he carjacks the first guy who drives by.
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Zubkov calls Mike and says he needs an immediate extraction. Mike tells him to wire a deposit to his account, dump his phone and go to a safehouse. When he arrives, Zubkov’s confronted by Jack who, just like Luka, tells him the lie that Alexei’s been arrested and is naming names.
When Jack asks where the uranium’s headed, Zubkov refuses to say. But then Jack and Mike reveal that the account Zubkov transferred that payment to is actually linked to ISIS. So he’s screwed unless he gives it up. He then says it’s headed to Matoska, Russia.
As Jack calls Wright and tells her the deal, Pres. Kovac arrives at the airbase to give a speech. Standing in the background, Greer tells Cahill (Lucy Newman-Williams) they need to have eyes on Pres. Kovac 24/7. But it’s too late – as soon as the ceremony’s over, Radek gets a call from Jana, who says their house has been broken into and searched.
Radek tells her to take their kid and get out of town. Then he makes up some story about a “minor security risk,” which enables him to personally drive Pres. Kovac away from the rest of the security detail. Trapped in the backseat, Pres. Kovac realizes she’s in trouble.
***
This episode was about one thing: extremely important conversations. Even more than usual, you really had to be paying attention. I gotta say though, the standout was definitely Ivan Petersson’s Zubkov. Yeah, he was a little over the top, but his wackiness lent humor to the whole thing that was refreshingly out of the norm, so it wasn’t just this relentless stream of deadpan dialogue. Michael Kelly’s Mike November also helps in that way, he’s just much cooler and lower key about it, even when he’s getting smacked in the face.
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James Cosmo and Peter Guinness also played strongly in this episode, both of their characters working so hard to save their country in their own ways, even though they’re diametrically opposed to each other.
And then there’s Jack. Sigh. While it was nice to see him cracking a few grins here and there, he’s way too cool for school now for my taste. And even though he does a lot of talking, he’s definitely not the analyst anymore. He’s basically Jason Bourne, and that’s not what he should be. I’m really hoping we get our old Jack back before the season finale.
Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
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