Jack Ryan season 1, episode 8 finale recap: ‘Inshallah’

Jack Ryan finishes season one promising an exciting new adventure for the team.

Everything comes to a head in “Inshallah” and Jack Ryan ends on a decent note. With Suleiman officially on American soil, Greer and Ryan race to figure out what his plan is before he can act. It’s an exciting finale, with more action sequences than the previous episodes. However, this doesn’t leave a lot of time for the character-driven moments which have been the highlight of the first season.

The finale opens up with some news broadcasts revealing many members of the government have been placed in quarantine while the President has been moved to an undisclosed location. It’s a quick and effective way to remind viewers about how the previous episode ended. However, Jack is awoken in the middle of the night from another nightmare centered around his time in the military. While he tries to write it off as just a typical bad dream, Cathy knows better.

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She doesn’t push him to share, but he does anyway and we’re finally clued into what exactly happened back during his time in the Marines. An airstrike was meant to drop and Ryan’s team was evacuating a nearby village. There was a young boy there who liked to take the soldiers’ pictures and then sell them for ten dollars. Jack takes an instant liking to him, especially because he’s an orphan, and brings him onto the helicopter for evacuation. However, once he gets on the plane, the boy pulls out a grenade killing every person in the copter except for Jack.

In future seasons we’ll undoubtedly be able to see more of his time in the Marines. For now, we get to see why he wants to save Samir but is still conflicted. As much as he would like to believe Samir will side with his mother, there’s no telling how far the boy’s allegiance is with his mother. Even if he doesn’t agree with Suleiman, could he later in life? These different outcomes all are swirling around in Jack’s head and they are genuine worries to have because there’s no way to predict how a child’s life can turn out.

Meanwhile, Samir, Suleiman, Ibrahim, and another member of his team have traveled to the United States. They’ve created a cesium bomb out of the contents from the shipping container in the previous episodes. Samir looks terrified when he sees his dad testing out the device with his men, but he’s even more scared when he finds the two dead bodies in the closet. It’s clear his trust in his father seems to wane with every new discovery. Hanin’s trust in Jack is also beginning to be tested because she’s worried he’s so focused on killing Suleiman that he will sacrifice her son. Honestly, I’m a little surprised he didn’t reveal that he was the one who asked the President to save Samir but that probably would have been breaking protocol.

One of the dock workers finds the broken cesium capsule in the shipping containers and winds up at the hospital with severe radiation poisoning. The government goes on high alert in Jack Ryan, as everyone struggles to identify potential targets where Suleiman can cause the most damage. Cathy has an equally important job in the finale as the President’s physician. Turns out he’s not an undisclosed location but at the hospital being monitored for Ebola.

Ibrahim goes to a local Georgetown pizza place and sets up a regular bomb. He shows remorse for doing so, but it feels almost like a throwaway line to see him show anything but undying loyalty for Suleiman at this point. However, Jack realizes that Suleiman wants everyone to pay attention to the pizzeria because it causes a distraction while he gets to the hospital. Greer and Jack get one cool driving sequence in Jack Ryan when they make a hard U-Turn back to the hospital.

Jack tries to get in touch with Cathy through text and phone call but she isn’t picking up. It’s a bit of a problem because the hospital Suleiman is planning to attack is the one where the President is being held. The cell service is shut down in the surrounding area to prevent anyone from calling to set the bomb off. This also prevents Ryan from continuing to try to get in touch with Cathy before she gets into any trouble. The Secret Service informs Greer and Ryan they are to assist with the search for Suleiman but that the President would be secured before anyone else would be evacuated.

In probably her best scene yet, Cathy isn’t about to let the Secret Service put hundreds of innocent lives at risk to save the President first. She sees Jack’s message and confronts the officer assigned to her floor. When he refuses to give a plan to help the other hospital employees, she pulls the fire alarm. It probably saves the lives of many inside, however, it does make the job of finding Suleiman a little harder.

Greer is able to shoot the Russian member of the Suleiman team before he can harm Cathy or get out of the building. Meanwhile, Jack is on the trail of Suleiman and his other man as Ibrahim is able to escape. Excited to see his father, Samir leaves the car parked out front to wave him down which attracts the authorities. The police officer shoots the driver and cuffs Samir as his father watches. It’s heartbreaking to see how scared he is and look at his father for protection. Jack glances his way but chooses to chase down Suleiman instead.

On the chase, the three head into the subway for a firefight. It’s another exciting fight scene for Jack Ryan even though it’s relatively short. Jack is able to take down one of the guys, although he receives a bullet himself, and head after Suleiman. Yelling “I have your son” into the crowded room, Ryan is able to get Suleiman to turn around before shooting him. Finally, the fight is over, and the terror has ended. Although, Jack isn’t exactly happy that he had to murder someone to save the day, even though the man was a terrorist.

In the end, Jack is able to keep his promise and return Samir to his family. Greer congratulates him on a job well done but Jack isn’t sure it is. For all he knows, Samir will grow up to want revenge for the death of his father. He could also become a proud American and form a new life. There’s no way to know if there’s a happy ending. Greer gets promoted to Russia, and Jack ends up getting his job but the two will both be heading to the Cold State for season two.

While it would’ve been nice to see Cathy one more time in the finale, the episode is ultimately a satisfying conclusion. The overall storyline may have stumbled a bit, especially with the drone pilot subplot, but Jack Ryan succeeded in bringing its characters to life. Season two has a lot of promise, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see the show continue on for many seasons.

What did you think of Amazon’s Jack Ryan? Be sure to tell us what you want to see in season two!