One of Season 3's overarching themes revolves around what it means to be a patriot. While a love for one's country is an undisputed quality of patriotism, some people seem to think that being a patriot also involves supporting all of your country's decisions and always following orders. "Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan" challenges that notion, showing that blindly following orders, even when you know they are wrong, is not patriotism at all. Rather, in order to best serve your country, it is sometimes necessary to challenge what you know to be wrong, even when it breaks the rules.
This dilemma is a constant factor in Season 3. Early on, when the CIA looks to bury the investigation into the coup and pull Jack out of the field, he goes rogue and refuses to report in, knowing that if he doesn't continue his investigation, it could cost a lot of lives and lead to war. In addition, the Russian spymaster Goncharov breaks protocol and secretly reaches out to the American government, particularly Ryan. He spills certain classified secrets in order to help them save the Russian government from the coup. Interestingly, the show's villains, Petr Kovac and Alexei Petrov, use the same mentality to justify their coup, believing that they are saving Russia by reinstating the Soviet Union.
