Here’s how ChatGPT helped a IOL’s Michael Sherman finally understand the complex plot of Jack Ryan’s third season by providing clear summaries and character insights. Picture: Google Gemini
Image: Google Gemini
Recently, my wife and I decided to revisit season three of Jack Ryan, the fast-paced, complicated espionage series featuring John Krasinski as the title character. But the plot of the show is not really what struck me. Although I’ll touch on it more later, it’s how I used AI to fill in the gaps as I tried to follow the intricate storyline.
We had watched this season before, but for whatever reason — I can’t really remember — we never made it through all the episodes.
As someone with ADHD, a show like this can become very difficult to follow, with characters, motives and incidents coming at you at breakneck pace.
In fact, I’m quite jealous of how my wife manages to scroll Instagram while watching the show and still knows exactly what’s going on at any given moment.
Sadly, even with my eyes peeled and watching attentively, I still found myself completely lost at sea — much like one of the scientists Jack Ryan tries to rescue at the beginning of the season.
When this happens, I inevitably ask my wife a series of questions such as: “Who’s that guy? He’s with them? Oh, I thought he wasn’t with them. That’s the German ambassador? Oh, it’s the Czech minister? Was that old man the young guy in the 1980s who killed all those nuclear scientists at the beginning?”
As you can imagine, my wife can quickly grow tired of inane questions like these.
And that’s when it struck me. Before we moved on to episode six, I suggested we take a break so I could read up a bit on the plot and get us on the same page.
Instead of Googling it or hopping over to IMDb, I decided to have a chat with ChatGPT.
I explained my problem and it gave me a brilliant rundown of everything that had happened up to that point in the series. It provided a big-picture summary, a list of the key players with descriptions, and brief plot summaries covering the first four episodes.
Of course, episode five — the one that had left me floundering — was where the big twist arrived. Once again, ChatGPT explained it clearly and concisely.
Within a few minutes, I finally understood who everyone was, what their motivations were and why certain events mattered.
I can now forge ahead with confidence, knowing I can resume season three with a solid understanding of what’s already happened and, hopefully, retain what I watch next.
And if not, I’ll probably just have another chat with my AI app.