The Recruit Season One Review

Death, Taxes, and Netflix releasing an action-adventure series doomed to become lost in its endless waves of content.

These have become the tentpoles of our lives. And yet, there are times when the streaming giant rises above its middle-ground offerings and produces something truly fun and entertaining. In the end, The Recruit can easily find a home among this section of choices as the series is unafraid of following the tried-and-true formula that most of the streaming action dramas use as a narrative crutch. There is the traditional story arc beginning with a scene from the end of the season to tease its audience, then rewinding back to the beginning of the story with a fast introduction of its main character, supporting cast, premise, and more only to contain several episodes of filler and minor plot movement in the series’ middle episodes before ramping up to a conclusion that not only closes several narrative loops while simultaneously creating several new ones for a potential second season.

Typically, this form of criticism might be perceived as negative because of its predictable nature, however, The Recruit not only rewards the viewer’s investment in the protagonist’s journey but also immensely entertains through its drama and well-placed humor. It wears its predictability on its sleeve, never shying from having the audience see its next move, and pushes through this by maintaining a frenetic pace across the entire series that keeps the interest even in its rare quieter moments.

The Recruit follows Owen Hendricks (Noah Centineo), a CIA lawyer, who in his first weeks on the job becomes wrapped up in a domestic threat to expose CIA secrets from a prisoner named Max (Laura Haddock), a former asset used by the Agency and left to be forgotten. As Owen and Max grow to become more familiar with one another, their shared case begins to evolve into something that spirals out of their control. In spite of this feeling, Owen’s personality thrives amidst the increasing chaos, a fact that he acknowledges several times throughout the season, also realizing that it leads to a large amount of self-sabotaging behavior. Still, he somehow finds a way to fail upwards, leading him to become an acclaimed asset to the chagrin of his co-workers who struggle with whether or not they can trust him in a field that is infamous for pitting its employees against one another. Outside of the overarching story, the series revolves around power, politics, and favors, and even when one of these concepts is not blatantly at the forefront at any given time, the plot all leads back to them as they are the fuel that drives the series.

At the end of the day, The Recruit is simple, fun, and most importantly, entertaining. It doesn’t demand much from its audience by requiring low emotional investment and has an unassuming premise that seems easy to predict, but as the series goes on, offers high entertainment value bolstered by humorous moments that relieve some of the mounting tension of the drama. Ultimately, time will tell whether or not the series lands among Netflix’s major releases. It’s easy to see where it could nestle among the many other forgettable flash pan series.

To its credit, The Recruit is interesting and fun enough to warrant a full binge that rewards viewers with a complete story that leaves plenty of room for growth.

still courtesy of Netflix

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Critics w/o Credentials

Trying my best to get all thoughts about TV and Film out of my head and onto the interweb.