WARNING: SPOILERS ahead for The Recruit season 2 finale.
The sudden ending ofThe Recruitseason 2 marks the biggest problem with the Netflix action thriller series, raising concerns aboutThe Recruitseason 3. Due to itsreduced runtime of six episodescompared to season 1’s eight,The Recruitseason 2 left several unanswered questions, some new and some unresolved from season 1. With more than a two-year gap betweenThe Recruitseason 1 and season 2, hopes were high that season 2 would fill in many of season 1’s gaps. Ultimately,The Recruitseason 2 played out more like an anthology series than a true sequel.
At theend ofThe Recruitseason 2,Noah Centineo’s CIA lawyer Owen Hendricksgoes full special agent mode, saving the graymailer Jang Kyun and his wife, Nan Hee. With Noah taking on more of a field agent role in season 2, it’s likely that he could hang up with a law degree and formally undergo CIA operative field training in season 3, especially if he is successful in recruiting Jang Kyun to be a CIA asset. An 8-episode season 2 ofThe Recruitmay have taken the action back to Washington D.C. and determinedwhat happened to Nichka.
The Recruit Season 2’s Ending Was Too Abrupt
The Recruit’s Shortened Season Crunches The Action & Plot
The Recruitseason 2 hit the refresh button on its main story after essentially discarding Max without hardly explaining why Nichka, who is actually her biological daughter named Karolina, killed her without warning. Nichka becomes somewhat of a Max replacement along with the new graymailer Jang Kyun as Owen travels to South Korea to help him uncover akidnapping conspiracy involving a trackable cryptocurrency and a Yazuka clanoperating in Eastern Russia. These developments unfold rapidly in the final three episodes ofThe Recruitseason 2, leading to an abrupt ending and a surprise appearance by the U.S. Navy.
In the final episode ofThe Recruitseason 2,Owen is betrayed by Nichka and is nearly killed. After saving Jang Kyun and Nan Hee, Owen’s childhood friend Yoo Jin Lee rescues them before an enormous U.S. submarine surfaces and scares off the Russian Coast Guard in pursuit.
The shortened 6-episode season crunches the action and plot developments in a too-limited timeframe.
While the action sequence is intense with bullets flying everywhere,the unexpected bailout from the U.S. Navy comes out of nowhereand feels rather convenient. Saving Nan Hee was Owen’s main objective, which he accomplished. However, the shortened 6-episode season crunches the action and plot developments in a too-limited timeframe.
The Recruit Is Becoming Somewhat Of An Anthology Series
Similar to the popularPrime Video action thriller seriesReacher,The Recruit’ssecond season felt like a completely brand-new and standalone adventure with minimal connections to season 1. Nichka ends up having a bigger role in season 2 after being introduced in season 1 but arguably doesn’t fill in the gap left byLaura Haddock’s Max Meladze. Many of the supporting characters fromThe Recruitseason 1 also return, including Lester, Violet, Nyland, Hannah, Janus, and Amelia. However, theircharacters mostly serve the new season 2 plot centered around Owenand don’t necessarily evolve the seeds planted in season 1.
10 Best Shows Like The Recruit
Several CIA-oriented action thrillers and espionage dramas like The Recruit are currently available to watch across various streaming platforms.
Season 1 left several uncertainties about season 2 that were mostly abandoned in exchange for new characters and a new setting.The “will they, won’t they” dynamic between Hannah and Owen was shelved, while Violet oddly continued to sabotage Owen every chance she got. Lester loosened up on Owen in season 2, which showed some development in his character, while Janus took more of a leading role at the start of season 2 and offered several comedic moments. Terrence, one of the most likable season 1 characters, hardly appears in season 2. Still, the characters and plot serve Owen entirely.
The Recruit Season 3 Shouldn’t Ignore What Happened In Season 2
Disregarding Previous Seasons Makes The Show Less Meaningful
The Recruit, and series like it such asJack Ryan,The Night Agent, andReacher, are designed to take on a variety of villains and objectives throughout various settings. Like the biggest action movie franchises,James BondandMission: Impossible, these series revolve around a larger-than-life heroic protagonist whose missions take him all around the world.
A show likeDexter, for example, featured a new villain each season but still maintained a sense of familiarity with its main characters.
That being said, disregarding characters from previous seasons makes certain elements less meaningful. A show likeDexter, for example, featured a new villain each season but still maintained a sense of familiarity with its main characters, somethingThe Recruitseason 3 could benefit from.
