Summary
The Recruit Season 2 really comes together in Episode 5, and while there’s a hint of contrivance creeping in, the overall enjoyment still outweighs any other concerns.
“W.S.T.W.T.P” very much has the feel of a penultimate episode, which is a nebulous thing but has a distinct flavor. Season 2 of The Recruit has barely come up for air, and Episode 5 is as guilty of that breathlessness as any other – more so, even. But it also has a sense of the gang coming together, all heading toward the same objective, that can’t help but create a real sense of excitement around the finale.
It isn’t smooth sailing, of course, literally or figuratively, and if you’re that way inclined you can see the contrivance beginning to creep in here, especially with everything involving Yoo Jin, which I suspect would have been better served by an eight-episode season order like we got before. But that’d be nitpicking.
Here’s where things stand ahead of the Season 2 finale.
All on the Same Page (Sort Of)
Our gang of “heroes” are now openly enemies of the South Korean government, including Jang, and time is running out for Nan Hee. Right after Owen and Lester figure out it was Dawn who hired Lee to kill them, Owen hits on the bright idea of using Nichka to recon Vladivostok and figure out where Nan Hee is being held so they can organize a rescue. Owen is quite happy to pay for whatever she asks for since he’s still lugging around two million of the CIA’s ill-gotten dollars that they intended to pay the Yakuza with (the recurring gag of Owen spending this cash at a rate of knots was very funny to me.)
The only person who the NIS are able to get hold of is Janus, who doesn’t tell them anything. In fact, he knows the intelligence pleasantries between allied nations so intimately that not only is he unbothered, but he ends up finessing quite a comfortable stay for himself, flirting with Cho, eating good food, and waiting for Violet to arrive and bail him out.
Hannah Is Rescued
As I predicted in Episode 4, Hannah is not happy with Owen. But she needs his help to get her out of her current predicament with Jae, who has her tied up in his hotel room, so she pretends to call Owen and convince him to reveal something important. Instead, she tells him that Jae is a Korean agent and is holding her hostage.
Owen immediately calls Salazar and instructs her to save Hannah lest he rat her out to CEG, so she does with some help from a few government agents sent by Director West. But, as I said, Hannah isn’t happy. When Owen calls in to tell her in no uncertain terms that she will now be obligated to keep what happened to her a secret from everyone, including Terence, she shows her understanding by hurling a chair at the camera. Their relationship is very much over, which Lester thinks is probably a kindness.
Jae squeals, obviously. What else would he do?
Nathan Fillion as Alton West in Episode 205 of The Recruit. Cr. Ricardo Hubbs/Netflix © 2024
Owen and Lester Catch Up with Dawn and Dodge
Lester gets a ping that Dawn and Dodge are in-country on off-book IDs, so he and Owen immediately head them off on their way from the airport and kidnap them, taking them to the edge of a ravine with a mind to kill them both and get them out of the way before they can do the same to them.
But Jang Kyun, who is now completely compromised within the NIS, puts a pin in this idea. They need the manpower and the operational expertise to rescue Nan Hee from Vladivostok. So, Owen calls West and Nyland to pitch another plan. He wants the green light for the rescue effort. If he’s successful, Lester will be promoted to Moscow Station Chief and Owen will be allowed to leave the CIA no questions asked; if he fails, he’ll be declared a rogue agent and the blame for everything will fall on his shoulders.
West gives the go-ahead but has no plan of honoring the deal since the CIA is on the cusp of finding Jang Kyun’s dead man’s switch.
All Aboard
The Recruit Season 2, Episode 5 ends with the general outline of a plan. Dawn and Dodge are going to put together a loose team of wetwork guys – paid for out of that bag of Agency money, hilariously – while Nichka does the reconnaissance, and Owen secures a means by which they can all leave Korea under the nose of the NIS – Yoo Jin’s father’s fishing trawler.
This is where things get a bit contrived since not only does Yoo Jin agree to give Owen the boat – albeit in exchange for about $60K, again from the suitcase full of money – but demands to accompany him. She has spent the last few years bored and is enjoying the excitement that Owen’s random appearances are injecting into her life, so she won’t be taking no for an answer.
In a brief climactic chase, Owen and Yoo Jin race to the boat on a motorbike, where they hook up with everyone else – none of whom seem especially concerned about a civilian they’ve never met tagging along for the ride – and set sail for the finale.
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