Jack Ryan – Season 4 Episode 4 “Bethesda” Recap & Review

Bethesda

Episode 4 of Jack Ryan’s new season begins in Croatia, where November, Ryan, and Chavez have gone to Josip’s marketplace. They head over to a brothel which November frequented after getting fired. November’s girl, Katarina, indicates that Josip’s marketplace is easy to find but hard to get into. One can only go through if they have an invitation. She dismisses November’s requests to let them in as she doesn’t have an invite. But a “mutual friend” of November and Ryan has it.

At Langley, Greer learns of a corporation – from the list of businesses from BizHub –  by the name of Southwest Petro, which seems shady. The dissolution papers for it were filed right after the day Miller died. The company was incorporated under Dominick Sanderson’s name, who lives in Bethesda.

Senator Henshaw meets with Elizabeth, who is back from Lagos. He reprimands her for abandoning the Senate hearings and leaving her official profile of work. Henshaw also warns Elizabeth not to “go down Jack Ryan’s path” and keep a low profile for such a high-profile job.

The “mutual friend” turns out to be Levan Zubkov, the wretched arms dealer from season 3. Zubkov was manipulated by November and Ryan in the last season to give up the location of Matoska. He thought he was taking November’s protection willingly. But the boys danced him to their tunes. Right now, Zubkov has switched from arms dealing to “sex” dealing. He provides “party favours” to Josip and many others like him.

Katarina agrees to help the men get into the marketplace in return for giving them a jail-free card. Ryan agrees to the transaction.

Meanwhile, Greer checks in on Dominick. His elderly mother answers the door and reveals her son “will never come back home.” Dominick is actually in an ICU at the local health centre. Greer visits him and examines his situation. Tuttle has been following him the entire time.

Dr Tun also lands in Dubrovnik but the purpose of his visit isn’t clear. Chao, meanwhile, goes to Geneva and meets Zeyara. She tells Chao that Dr Tun is in Dubrovnik because he is a master of “simplicity in violence.” When Chao goes back to Myanmar, the entire Triad operation will be his. Tuttle tries to kill Greer by crashing his truck into his car and stabbing him. But Greer fights back and jumps from a bridge into the river to escape.

The plan for the marketplace is that Ryan and Chavez would come through the canal at the foot of the hills that the structure is on. And November will come as a guest of Zubkov through the main entrance. When November spots Dr Tun and his men walk into the party, he follows them and alerts Ryan.

Tun and Josip are meeting to complete a deal for triggers to something else. They are highly valuable but we don’t yet know what is at the other end. A scuffle breaks out as November intercepts the deal and strikes Josip in the face. Ryan and Chavez fire their way through Josip’s men and reach the top.

All of them, including Zubkov, are in the topmost room of the marketplace. Josip wouldn’t reveal what lies at the other end and November shoots him dead. They escape through the window and jump off the cliff into the ocean, where Katarina saves them in the boat they stole. Chavez takes a selfie with Josip’s dead body and sends it to Chao. Zeyara is with him too and is worried that Chavez will come for them next.

Elsewhere, Greer has survived and is undergoing treatment at the hospital. Elizabeth visits him and he lays down his version of the nexus to her. He finally believes the convergence is true. All of it pours into Myanmar but is run through Washington. The call they traced during Udo’s assassination leads back to Miller, who was running Chavez’s team for Chao Fah and the Triad’s operations. Greer presses Elizabeth to help Ryan and his team but she denies his request. She had liaised with Osoji earlier to get a grip on her next move. He advised her to play Henshaw’s ball and not get drawn into ‘ultra-vires’ activities. It is a difficult situation that yields no winners and losers.

At Josip’s yacht, Ryan and the team try to figure out what the triggers are. Bombs are high on the guessing list but nothing is certain as of now. Chavez suddenly notices Chao depositing money into Marin’s account. There are four different transactions with 12 digits. Ryan concludes they are coordinates for a meeting place with Chao.

The Episode Review

What is up with Senator Henshaw? With every episode, the chances of foul play on his part are increasing. If that is the case, Ryan and the company are doomed. To be very honest, the entire sequence in Josip’s marketplace was bland. The entire execution lacked flavour and style. Not to mention how unimaginatively it was all staged. November just happened to walk in without any checks. Why was the room not more heavily guarded given the importance of the transaction?

Episode 4 was underwhelming and not convincing at all. We have seen such dips in form in previous seasons of Jack Ryan. Hopefully, it is just a blip and not something that will permanently damage the show.