Jack Ryan Season 4 Has Fewer Episodes - Does The Thriller Hold Up To The Challenge?

Whereas the first three seasons of Amazon's espionage series "Jack Ryan" are all eight episodes in length, Season 4 consists of just six episodes. Since complex plotting is a hallmark of the political thriller genre, virtually every minute of "Jack Ryan" Season 4 matters even more than usual given this reduced episode count. With that in mind, some fans of the series may be wondering whether or not Season 4 tells a suitably complex story despite its abbreviated length.

In Looper's review of "Jack Ryan" Season 4, author Cynthia Vinney praised this batch of episodes on the whole but — unsurprisingly, given how its length might be expected to impact its story — characterized its plot as convoluted. Meanwhile, Wall Street Journal reviewer John Anderson wrote, "The plot is ornate enough, and paranoia-quotient sufficient, to propel the six-episode season." While it doesn't sound like Anderson thinks its plot is anything special, he nevertheless describes it in altogether favorable terms.

Overall, "Jack Ryan" Season 4 holds an 83% on Rotten Tomatoes. This is effectively an equivalent rating to its third season, and a higher score than both Seasons 1 and 2. Its reduced episode count, then, may detract somewhat from the quality of its plot specifically, but doesn't seem to be impactful enough to derail the season to any significant degree.

Another way "Jack Ryan" is bucking a trend established by its first three seasons is that, instead of dropping in its entirety in the same manner as each of its predecessors, Season 4 will hit Amazon two episodes at a time over the course of three weeks. This means that, while reviewers have watched all of "Jack Ryan" Season 4, fans so far have only been able to comment on Episodes 1 and 2. That said, responses are largely positive.

For instance, John Krasinski fan account @krasinskifilm concluded a Twitter thread of reactions to the season premiere with, "First two episodes were good, glad they focused on developing the characters and saved the action for later."

Author Kate Sánchez likewise enjoyed the new season. She shared a positive review she wrote to her Twitter account and added that she felt skeptical before starting it. "I was wrong," she wrote. "This season is great and the series went from meh to one I really love." So, while compressing a complex plot into six episodes may be a tough task, reactions to "Jack Ryan" Season 4 thus far suggest that the show is succeeding despite the challenge.