Summary
The Recruit Season 2 ups the complexity in a major way in Episode 2, which can be a little difficult to keep track of.
After laying the appropriate groundwork in the premiere, The Recruit Season 2 ping-pongs all over the place in Episode 2, “Y.A.R.A.C.O.T.D.O.P.”, roping just about every major character into the show’s core plot. The constant shifting of viewpoints can be a little overwhelming, but hopefully everything will settle into more coherent throughlines now we’ve got the basics out of the way.
Some disarray notwithstanding, the quality remains high and the story engaging; there’s a bit of action here, some romance and comedy there, and some fun setups in several key areas that are sure to yield ripe narrative fruit down the line. I particularly like the performative quid pro quo arrangement that emerges between Janus and Jang Kyun, as both pretend to recruit the other for their respective intelligence agencies.
Jang Kyun Lays Out the Details
After being kidnapped by Jang Kyun at the end of the premiere, Owen wakes up in Yongsan Garrison, where he was living while his father was stationed in South Korea. The venue is a deliberate ploy to remind Owen of his loss, since it’s the threat of something similar motivating Jang Kyun.
Jang Kyun explains that his wife, Nan Hee, is missing – she’s the woman we saw being kidnapped on Sakhalin Island. Nan Hee was doing sensitive work to repatriate Koreans who were trapped on the island when the Russians took over, and given Jang Kyun is an intelligence agent whose wife has been kidnapped by a foreign power, if he were to go through official channels, he’d be considered too close to the affair and sidelined. Hence the graymail.
Jang Kyun needs to find Nan Hee before he’s exposed. He gives Owen 48 hours to get her back. If he doesn’t, Jang Kyun will automatically release a slew of the CIA’s secrets that are presently controlled by a dead man’s switch, meaning he can’t be taken off the board without the information being leaked.
Owen’s Homecoming
Janus sends Owen back to D.C. to progress the matter of Jang Kyun’s wife. On the airport tram he’s attacked by a would-be assassin with blades hidden in a crutch but manages to make the flight. When he gets back, Nyland tells him that the CIA have no intention of helping Nan Hee and just plan to string Jang Kyun along until Operations can neutralize his dead man’s switch and, subsequently, neutralize him. This doesn’t sit particularly well with Owen.
In the meantime, Owen is to confirm through bureaucratic channels that the Russians are indeed in possession of Nan Hee, which proves hilariously difficult to do given all the red tape and the fact that Owen is still being investigated by the CEG for potential foul play in the Max Meladze case. Jang Kyun also calls with news that since the airport’s security was breached, whoever tried to kill Owen is clearly connected. That having been said, he still only has 30 hours to find Nan Hee before Jang Kyun releases a secret.
The CIA are especially worried about Jang Kyun because the CIA’s official debriefing about him suggests he’s a desk jockey, but Owen confirmed first hand that he wasn’t. He has clearly been playing a long game, trying to keep his extensive talents obscured even from his own government. Nyland wants Janus to flip him, and conversely, Cho wants Jang Kyun to flip Janus. This allows them both to meet, even with Cho keeping an eye on things, but creates a tense arrangement where each man is trying to get just enough out of the other so that they can convince their superiors they’re doing their jobs.
Maddie Hasson as Nichika Lashin in Episode 202 of The Recruit. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2024
Nichka Makes Herself Useful
Still looking for Nan Hee, Owen calls Lester and Violet to ask them to set Nichka on the trail. The problem here is twofold – Lester wants some of Dawn’s assets in return, and Owen had previously assured Nichka that she would be financially remunerated for helping the CIA, which Lester isn’t willing to do for her unless she proves her worth in the first place. It’s a Catch-22 – she won’t work for free, but she can’t get paid until she works enough to show her value.
To get around this Nichka calls Owen and demands $100,000 in cash in exchange for digging up the intel, which he agrees to pay. She visits a Russian mobster contact tooled up in body armour with a smiley face pin like some kind of psychotic Black Widow. She’s like a version of Max without any of the moral conscience.
In exchange for this favour Owen calls Dawn, who is languishing in the CIA station in Port Louis, Mauritius, where careers go to die, and asks her to feed Lester some intel to keep him going. Since she’s also in the crosshairs of the CEG, it’s in her best interests to play along with Owen, insofar as playing along with him is in anyone’s best interests, which thus far seems unlikely.
If nothing else, Owen eventually finds the person most likely to help him with his predicament – SPEHA, the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, which turns out to be a guy named Tom who Owen meets just as he’s about to take off on a private plane. Since he’s a busy man, the plane sets off with Owen still aboard, so it looks like he and Tom are off to see the Taliban. Classic Owen.
And Another Thing…
A quick note on The Recruit Season 2, Episode 2 that wouldn’t fit into the recap proper:
- Hannah goes to meet with her mother, who sends the family mediator, Patrice, in her stead to outline her concerns with Hannah’s recent “patterns of decision-making.” In other words, Hannah is being cut off.
- Out of anger Hannah uses her mother’s tab to pay for the lunches of everyone in the restaurant, one of whom turns out to be a handsome tech salesman named Jae. There’s immediately a bit of sexual chemistry and Hannah offers to represent his company and grease the wheels of the deal he’s making.
- Hannah and Jae happen to run into Owen while he’s bouncing around the Office of European and Eurasian Affairs, and there’s clearly no love lost between them. A love triangle, maybe?
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