I've been watching the Jack Ryan series on Prime (i.e., Jim from The Office joins the CIA.) I'm a sucker for a spy thriller, even though it's pretty bad. Not just a little bad actually, but really bad. But somehow, in its badness, it offers a pretty interesting window into the state of the world.

For instance, I'm not sure if it's because of bad writing or bad acting, and I suspect it's a combination of both, but the main character, Jack Ryan (played by Jim from The Office), has the depth of a piece of paper. In one scene he's questioned by a French official about his job with the CIA. She asks him how he can stomach working for the CIA knowing what they do. His response? He thinks it's better to try to change things from the inside.

Obviously, this is about the most hackneyed of responses you could find. But what's interesting is that because the character is not at all believable, because the writing and acting is so bad, the stupidity of his response seems obvious. In other words, I suspect that the audience doesn't really empathize with the Jack Ryan character. And when I was thinking about it, it made me realize that this isn't only because of the poor quality of the show, but about the times we live in.

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