The Recruit

I loved season 1. It was smart, grounded, creative, funny, chaotic and a carnival coaster ride of bizarre characters. Sadly season 2 has abandoned all of that including key characters to deliver a knock-off two-bit buddy cop parody.

Why? We don't need fancy Korean locations. Just give us good writing and deep, complex characters. This season of the recruit has committed the cardinal sin of turning characters into caricatures. I hate when show runners destroy their IP for trope-y trash. Please bring back Season One's brilliance. You can still turn this around. Bring back the characters that helped flesh out Owen's complexity. The action was never what made this show special. So how about dialing that back and spend the money on quality storytelling and writing.

I have to say I really enjoyed The Recruit. The trailers to this looked pretty good so I've been looking forward to it ever since I first saw them and it not only met my expectations but exceeded them. I've never seen Noah Centineo in anything else before this but I was impressed that he was able to lead this series the way he did. He nailed the role and now look forward to seeing him in future projects. This has everything you want in an action thriller...action, comedy, drama, mystery, twists, etc. It will definitely keep you on the edge of your seat throughout the entire season. I'm hoping this gets renewed quickly but I definitely want to see more of this!

Some things like the tiny lady with skinny arms throwing high impact punches is extremely, extremely silly, but the comedic tone of this otherwise serious show works very well. In many ways this is a comedy as much as it is a spy genre show.

The plot is interesting enough, and other than a heavy fixation with rap music for the soundtrack, and some silly action sequences as described it's very good and pretty entertaining.

Basic premise is 'fish out of water novice in high tension spy scenarios' but delivered with a bit of wit, and some pretty decent acting.

I recommend this show, with the couple of flaws mentioned in mind of course.

If you're old enough to remember Chuck... but more intricate spy plot.

The Recruit is about a new law recruit for the CIA who gets caught up in CIA messes and even field work, and somehow stumbles his way through it. It's witty and funny, with some action and romance.

It's not gritty CIA spy work. It's an enjoyable series with humor about a cut throat workplace, about an environment of overwork, about being smart with secrets.

It's a solid technical production with fresh new faces. The spy plot and action sequences move this thriller series at a decent pace, all the while peppered with some witty humor. It's a spy series that's not too overly intense, and quite charming, though I will say that the charm is focused on Owen, the main character, the spy stud who gets the girls, so it may depend on whether you want to watch what happens to Owen or not, and if Owen's charms rub off on you or not.

At the moment, I am eager to see if there is a next season.

This was, simply put, an extremely entertaining series. Episode after episode, you can't imagine where it's going except that the lead character Owen Hendricks, played by Noah Centineo, will get into trouble, more and more trouble and best of all, he'll get everyone else into trouble as well. It doesn't matter that he works for the CIA, he's not CIA material, but he's the only honest to god good person the agency appears to have. He's no Jack Ryan, but he's got more luck than the Michael Connelly character, most of it bad.

The character and how well Centineo plays the part is basically what drives you to watch. He's so endearing, you'll keep calling him names but you can't help to root for him despite the character's poor choices. Why? Because he's a good person who cares for others while he's surrounded in the agency by no one who gives a crap about others. Thankfully he has two friends who care about him and whose best advice is to get the hell out of the CIA. I can think of so many reasons why this is not a typical spy thriller; not typical is key here. How is this entertaining? For the same reason we like ice cream; we just do.

As season ending episodes go, it is not, absolutely not a typical cliffhanger either. By the time the last episode ends, you find yourself so interested in Owen's future you need there to be a season two. You got to have it. A lot of people will be upset at Netflix if there isn't a season two; and I'm one.