Jack Ryan season 4 episode 5 recap: casino heist, airfield siege, beach standoff

We've reached the penultimate episode of Jack Ryan season 4 and it's by far the most action-packed episode yet with plenty of fight scenes but also betrayals, important deaths and a lot more.

Previous recaps

Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4

By now, Jack Ryan (John Krasinski) and co. have figured out the conspiracy that links the Mexican cartel, the Burmese Triad and people in government in Washington D.C., but they still need to stop the various villains shipping dangerous packages into the States.

Episode 5 of Jack Ryan season 4 is the penultimate of the Prime Video show as a whole, so the stakes couldn't be higher, making each fight scene even more nail-biting and tense. And if you meet the Jack Ryan season 4 cast you'll understand that most of the important characters from the previous seasons are all present and accounted for, including some new faces, and none are immortal.

Given how close we are to the end, Jack Ryan season 4 episode 5 has as many plot points shot out as it does bullets, so in case you missed anything we'll run you through what happened — not all presented in order though, as to make things clear we've presented each storyline together and not spread out like they are in the show.

If you still haven't watched the show, we also have a guide on how to watch Jack Ryan season 4 which you can use.

*Spoilers for Jack Ryan season 4 episode 5 follow*

Everyone's heading to Myanmar

Everyone's heading to Myanmar for episode 5: Chao Fah Sein (Louis Ozawa) and Zeyara Lemos (Zuleikha Robinson) arrive in one plane, and the latter also meets Cathy Mueller (Abbie Cornish) when she lands to do aid work. Separately, Ryan shows up with Mike November (Michael Kelly) and Domingo Chavez (Michael Pena).

November goes to the casino and makes contact with Fah, who then visits them in a hotel room. He reveals that there are far more than five triggers (explained in episode 4), but they're all in the vault of the Casino, and the four plot a heist to break in and destroy them. Fah also explains what the triggers do: anything! They can be linked to any device like a bomb or explosive to set it off from anywhere.

Lemos shows Mueller around the country, but then kidnaps the woman — turns out, she only brought Mueller over as insurance against Ryan. Fah tells Ryan this separately. Lemos also calls Marquez in Mexico, telling him to expedite the shipping of the five packages into the US at any cost.

Tin Tun (Jim Lau) is also active, and he investigates Fah's story that his child Bennu was sick by interrogating the kid and then killing the doctor to get to the bottom of it. He kidnaps the child as well as Fah's wife Kyi.

An action-packed day

Ryan, November and Chavez break into the casino and manage to get into the vault by following the plan. As November steals a helicopter from the roof, Chavez and Ryan send Lemos a video of them planting bombs on the triggers and threatening Fah (who Lemos doesn't know is working against her), and demands Cathy back or they'll kill him and blow up the devices.

Lemos tries to escape her base but November uses the helicopter to blow up some of the cars in the convoy, and in the confusion, Mueller escapes and is rescued.

After the casino heist, the quartet stops at Fah's house to rescue his family. They get out okay, but Tun shoots Fah with a sniper rifle, so Ryan and Chavez only escape with Bennu and Kyi. As Tun comes to the house to finish off Fah, the latter man uses the one trigger they've still got, and it sets off both the explosives in the vault (destroying the other triggers) and some explosives in the house, destroying it and killing both men.

Ryan, Chavez, Bennu and Kyi meet November and Mueller at an airfield, where they get the two women and child onto the plane, however Lemos sends lots of soldiers after them. The plane gets away as Chavez, Ryan, and November stay behind to hold off the soldiers, and then the trio escapes in the helicopter.

The trio doesn't get too far though, as a bullet hits the fuel tank, so they only get to Thailand before having to set down. The soldiers catch up with them, and one of them shoots and injures November — but a different group of soldiers shows up on the beach and the previous ones run away (more on that later). This new group kidnaps Ryan.

Greer and Wright get close to their answers

Not everyone is in Myanmar, and James Greer (Wendell Pierce) is in Maryland, recovering from his stab wound in episode 4. He's not resting though, and he calls up his estranged son to get involved and drive him about the place. Greer does have a name at least, from the knife he was stabbed with: he's looking for one William James Tuttle.

CIA Director Wright (Betty Gabriel) calls Greer, and he chastises her for not taking more action, so she jumps into gear. She investigates Dominic Sanderson (who we already know the truth about, from earlier episodes) but stumbles onto an extra piece of information: Sanderson was friends with Wright's new pal Adebayo Osoji (Okieriete Onaodowan), who is the missing link they've been searching for in the conspiracy.

While Greer finds an address for Tuttle, Wright tells her that Ade is the owner of the shell companies, and he's the person who was directing Thomas Miller as well as Tuttle. Both head to Tuttle's house, and on the way, Greer gets a call from Ryan (shortly before his kidnapping, of course) telling him to look after Cathy and Fah's family, and that while the triggers are destroyed, there are still five packages in the wind.

Ade gets a call from Lemos while he's at dinner, and she tells him to "call your man", presumably referring to Tuttle.

Greer breaks into Tuttle's house with help from armed police, and after a brief firefight they capture him. From his computers, we see that he's been the person leading the new assault on Ryan.