The Recruit Season 1 recap: All you need to remember about the Netflix thriller ahead of Season 2 premiere

The Recruit Season 1 aired on December 16, 2022, and since then it has been a major hit among the viewers. Soon in 2023, the Netflix series was renewed for a second season. The Recruit Season 2 is all set to release on January 30, 2025, on Netflix.

Starring To All The Boys star Noah Centino, who plays the role of a newbie CIA lawyer, Owen Hendriks, on a mission with former CIA asset Max Meladze (Laura Haddock).

Owen Hendriks, a 24-year-old law graduate, chooses the challenging and unpredictable job with the CIA. Created by Alexi Hawley, we see Owen struggling between his boss's orders while surrounded by a dangerous web of espionage and dealing with their bosses.

Here's a recap of whatever happened in The Recruits Season 1

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Owen's first case at the CIA that led to unexpected trouble

Owen, a promising law graduate, joins the CIA, where the first task assigned is handling the graymail- letters from individuals who are threatening to expose classified information. One such letter is from the former CIA asset Max Meladze (Laura Haddock), who grabs Owen's attention. Max is imprisoned for the murder of a truck driver named Salvatore Kwitney. Max takes on a mission to rescue her from the prison and stop her from compromising the CIA.

In a process to help Max, he threatens to expose state secrets unless the CIA rescues her. Owen takes the case and moves to the Phoneix prison to meet Max. However, what followed was a series of dangerous events that pulled him into a deep world of spies.

Max manipulates Owen into helping her, revealing information about covert CIA operations in Belarus and Russia. His involvement in an attempt to rescue Max lands him in the eyes of suspicion for his superiors, and his personal life takes a toss. The young lawyer, in the process, ends up losing his moral conscience and even kills a person. At this point, he even considers leaving the CIA.

After Max is set free, the CIA asks her to relocate to Belarus. However, Max manipulates Owen to help her in the mission. In Belarus sits the Russian mobster Kirill, who does not want Max to return to Belarus. Max shares a picture of his wife, Stasia, having an affair with Xander Goi, who is later killed by Russian mafia Nichka Lashin.

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The confusing relationship between Max and Owen

Owen and Max's partnership grows quite complicated as she continues manipulating him for her needs. When she is released from the Phoneix prison, she keeps him entangled in her affairs. All through the season, Owen finds it difficult to balance duty and maintain his moral conscience.

Owen also ruins his relationship with his co-worker Amelia (Kaylah Zander) and his ex-girlfriend Hannah. In the meantime, Owen learns about Max's long-lost daughter Karolina, whom she believed was dead. This makes Owen grow sympathetic towards Max. The bond between them deepens up to the fact that Owen's loyalty to the CIA is questioned. In the climax of the season finale, Max comes face to face with Karolina ( also called Marta and Nichka) and is revealed to be a Russian spy, trying to stop Max and Owen from exposing Kirill.

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The Hunt for Max's Handler- Not Bob

Max revealed to Owen before leaving the prison in Phoneix that her handler is Not Bob. Max begins to find more information about him when he finds out Not Bob was a legendary CIA officer who was involved in a secret operation and retired as a division head.

However, what makes Owen suspicious in the eyes of Langley is that he was not supposed to know the code name of case officers like Not Bob, who served as a Chief of Staff for the President of U.S.

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Max became a CIA asset once again.

Before Max's arrest for killing the truck driver, she was a CIA asset who worked in Belarus and Russia as she had good connections with the Russian mob. However, as her mission went wrong, she was sent back to the U.S. on house arrest. After Owen freed her from jail, Dawn suggested she should be cast again as a CIA asset.

Max's past made it difficult for her to regain the mob's trust. However, Owen helped her by selling her safe house business and gathering the money. However, Max fails to collect $3 million and tried to give information about Xander Goi's extra marrital affair with Statsia, Kirill's wife. Things turn wrong as Xander gets killed, and Max and Owen flee to Germany.

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Owen wanted to quit the CIA.

Owen was dealing with a lot. By the end of the season finale, he decided to leave the CIA. His father died on the line of duty when he was 12 years old, which left him with a lot of childhood trauma.

Owen killed a Russian spy when he was in Geneva with Max, and he did not want his life to be like that. Although the young lawyer liked taking risky operations, he did not want to be tagged as a murderer. He revealed to Hannah that he would be leaving the CIA. However, he was kidnapped before he could send his official resignation.

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Max's fate to be explored in The Recruits Season 2

The Recruit Season 1 ended on a cliffhanger when Max and Owen were kidnapped by Karolina, Max's long-lost daughter. It is also revealed that Karolina was working as a spy for the Russian government.

Without stating any reason, Karolina shot her mother, Max, who was still processing the fact that her daughter had been alive all these years. The episode ends abruptly without showing whether Max could survive or not. There's a possibility that Max might survive because she was wearing a bulletproof jacket.

To find out whether Max is alive or not, one has to watch The Recruit Season 2 is all set to release on January 30, 2025, on Netflix.