‘Jack Ryan’ Season 3 Episode 4 Recap: “Our Death’s Keeper”

As you’d imagine, the revelation that Jack Ryan’s source is a senior member of the Russia’s foreign intelligence service doesn’t jibe with Elizabeth Wright’s superiors. The Rome station chief takes a lashing over the phone from the CIA director, who also hangs an ultimatum around Elizabeth’s neck: bring Jack in, or say goodbye to her career. The treason charge is still kicking, too. But for now at least, Elizabeth lets some slack play into Jack’s rope. He’s in Budapest with Mike November, and in the wake of their meet with Luca, they’re setting up an operation to sweat Zubkov the arms dealer for more actionable intelligence on the Sokol plot. If he can bring her something, a little morsel to satiate her bosses, then Elizabeth will be happier with Jack’s extra-organizational methodology. But she also delivers her own warning. “Let me be clear with you,” she tells Jack over the phone. “You’re not worth my career, or my peace of mind.”

In Moscow, Luca has also returned from his meeting with Jack. His encounters with Alexei Petrov are now caustic and tense – “The man at the top can trust no one,” Luca warns the defense minister; “everyone else needs allies” – and the two spar openly during a strategy meeting with the situation in Czech Republic as proxy. Luca, who is exactly the kind of old school spy to have access to a cement-scarred basement chamber that isn’t on any set of building plans, also has the Russian president’s chief of staff bound and gagged in such a place. Luca knows the guy is a flunkie, low key involved at the most. But he also knows he can play him against Petrov.

As for Greer, his investigation into Sokol has narrowed to the leaks in President Kovac’s inner circle. With a CIA team he stakes out the home of Radek, her double agent security chief. And once inside, Greer uncovers a photograph. Petr, the president’s father, informal advisor, and established chief plotter of the Sokol faction, was also Radek’s professor at the Czech University of Defence. Later, Greer warns Kovac about Radek, but doesn’t immediately reveal the connection to her father. He does deliver an absolutely cold-blooded stare right into Radek’s soul, however, marking this moment as more proof that having Wendell Pierce in your cast is one of the biggest wins there is. 

Even on a normal day, Zubkov is suspicious and jumpy and paranoid about personal security. After all, he does regularly sell weapons and materiel to the worst people in the world. Jack and Mike play on this temperament, leaning on Zubkov’s smuggling world contacts to abandon him and making it appear like one of his henchman has turned narc. The tactic works like a charm, and pretty soon the arms dealer is running scared, right into the hands of Jack and Mike, who use what they know of the Sokol plot to put the squeeze on. And Zubkov, at length, gives up the location of the uranium. It’s the same tactic Luca applies to his bureaucrat hostage. Once he lets him believe that Petrov has been captured, the guy flips on the defense minster faster than a fish out of water. And Luca, a warrior from the shadows of espionage, seems about ready to take some very public swings. 

“Do not think your’e above this, or that you can just step out. Without the uranium, we have nothing.” Jack and Luca have both been cranking up the heat, and Petr and Petrov are definitely feeling it. They argue over the phone between Prague and Moscow about who has incurred the most exposure, the most risk; but mostly they argue about the uranium. The cracks in their plot are widening. Greer is also prowling. He appears at Petr’s door, and the two veteran spies engage in a cerebral battle over the nature of conquest, colonization, and blood ties. (Watching Petr keep his charcuterie knife coiled is a testament to Greer’s reputation.) These two understand that they are adversaries. By now, they know it might be that they’ll spill each other’s blood. But in the meantime, it’s interesting to watch them circle each other, waiting to strike. 

We already know that Radek is a double agent. But he’s also in some kind of sleeper cell situation with his wife Jana (Tereza Srbova), who arrives at their home and immediately notices that it was searched professionally. Radek is with the president at a military airfield for the official unveiling of the NATO missile systems, but when he takes Jana’s call, he knows the search of his house changes everything. But it’s not the CIA or even the Czech intelligence services they’re worried about – it’s Petr. If he suspects that they’ve compromised the Sokol plot in any way, he’ll retaliate without prejudice. Radek tells Jana to grab some cash and their daughter and to head for their emergency rally point. Then he dismisses the rest of the president’s security detail, commandeers her official vehicle, and splits from the motorcade entirely. There’s a pretty good chance that Alena Kovac has just become a hostage. 

Johnny Loftus is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift. Follow him on Twitter: @glennganges