The Recruit, created by Alexi Hawley, is a spy adventure series and was inspired by Adam Ciralsky, a successful writer and filmmaker who was also an attorney for the CIA. The Netflix original follows a rookie CIA lawyer, Owen Hendricks (Noah Centineo), who becomes involved in international conflicts with dangerous parties after a former Russian asset threatens to expose the CIA unless she is released from prison.
Owen Hendricks meets with Max Meladze (Laura Haddock), the former Russian asset who is in prison for murder, and Owen stumbles into the dangerous and morally gray world of espionage.
Noah Centineo and Laura Haddock give excellent performances that leave you ready for Season 2. The action-packed series has a high critic and audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, with many viewers praising the series' direction and that the Netflix series is worth the watch. Here is every episode of Season 1, ranked.
8 N.L.T.S.Y.P. (Episode 2)
Talco (Victor Andres Turgeon-Trelles) and his Spanish crooks, order a hit on Max Meladze in prison. However, she survives the attack. The crooks take Owen hostage and he leads them to the hidden money.
Owen heads to Vienna to meet with Xander (Bryon Mann). Xander doesn’t reveal much about Meladze but tells Owen that Max was put in charge of other assets and that she knows a lot of valuable intelligence. After he meets with Xander, Owen is attacked on his way to the airport forcing him to jump into the river to avoid being killed.
7 Y.D.E.K.W.Y.D. (Episode 3)
After climbing out of a river in Vienna, Owen heads back home. Walter Nyland (Vondie Curtis-Hall), orders Owen to oversee Max’s prison transfer to ensure nothing goes wrong. Meanwhile, Amelia (Kaylah Zander), Owen’s co-worker, helps get Max Meladze’s case transferred in exchange for Owen going on a date with Amelia. Owen needs Max’s case dropped and Amelia suggests he talk to the Attorney General (Jean Marchand).
While at court, Owen runs into Kelly (Alexandra Petrachuk) and learns that Max Meladze killed her father. Later, Owen is sent to Beirut to help Lester (Colton Dunn) with his case, and the two bond. Max sends Xander a threatening message using pastries.
6 T.S.L.A.Y.P. (Episode 5)
Max is picked up from prison and Secret Service shows up at Owen’s house telling him that he needs to come with them. Owen meets with Kevin Mills (David Denman), also known as “Not Bob” and is told that he knows that Owen has been throwing his name around and asks him why. Owen tells Kevin that Max told him that Kevin Mills was one of her handlers.
Max demands that Owen come back to Phoenix. Nyland tells Owen to go to Phoenix and bring her back with no drama. After Owen arrives in Phoenix, Max tells Owen that he is the only one she’s ever been able to count on. Max tries to seduce Owen, asking him if he wants to join her in the bath.
Later in the episode, Max confesses that she is going to sell her business to the head of the cartel and Owen opens up to Max. Owen reveals that he became a lawyer because he promised his mom that he wouldn’t follow in his father’s footsteps and end up in Arlington National Cemetery. Max shares something personal with Owen as well and tells Owen that she had a daughter.
5 I.N.A.S.I.A.L. (Episode 1)
The series opens with Rookie lawyer Owen Hendrix being sent to the Senate to stop Senator Smoot (Linus Roache) from releasing classified information at a public hearing. Owen completes the job successfully but makes enemies with Smoot, who then sends him a subpoena.
Owen’s co-workers, Lester and Violet are jealous of the new rookie and give him their gray-mail files. Owen discovers a threatening letter by former Russian asset Max Meladze, who’s planning to expose the agency unless they exonerate her of a serious crime.
4 I.Y.D.I.A.A.C. (Episode 4)
Violet believes that Owen is trying to purposely sabotage her after Owen is handed an AI case and he passes it to Violet. Owen makes another enemy by telling the Attorney General that he doesn’t need help from anyone. The Attorney General tells Owen that there is an eyewitness who saw Meladze kill Salvatore. Meladze finds out and sends a hitman to kill the eyewitness.
Hannah takes Owen to a fundraiser party because her boyfriend Jeff (Nico DeCastris), "who works at the White House," had to work. During the party, Owen and Hannah almost share a kiss. Later that evening, Owen sleeps with Amelia and she gives him advice about the eyewitness. Following Amelias' advice, Owen goes to interview the eyewitness but is attacked by a hitman that was sent by Max. The eyewitness ends up entering witness protection and Max’s case is dropped, releasing her from prison.
3 I.C.I.N.C. (Episode 6)
It’s family day at the CIA and Max is put back in the system as a new asset. Owen worries about Max’s polygraph test and psychological interview at the agency and nearly has a panic attack in the bathroom. During the polygraph test, a flashback shows Max was recruited to be an asset 12 years ago by Dawn Gilbane (Angel Parker). Dawn blackmailed Max by saying she knows that Max killed her husband. Gilbane told Owen that she had never met Max.
Dawn thinks that Owen has been compromised and tells Walter and Amelia. Owen is given a polygraph test, and it is revealed that Owen saw Max naked. Amelia breaks up with Owen after telling Owen that both Max and Owen passed their polygraph tests.
Max needs money for a bribe and decides to withdraw money from her Swiss bank accounts. Walter sends Lester and Violet to back up Hendrix in Geneva. Walter tells Owen that if Gilbane has been compromised then Owen needs to get Walter the proof.
2 I.M.F.T.B.S. (Episode 7)
In Switzerland, Marta, a spy, tries to seduce Owen, and Xander bugs Owen and Max’s hotel suite. During dinner, Max gives Owen an expensive watch and tells Owen that she has dirt on Xander. Kirill sends a Russian spy after Max while she and Owen are at a restaurant.
Later, Max meets with Kirill, the Russian mob boss, and tells him she has pictures that prove Xander was sleeping with Kirill’s wife. Kirill pays Max for the pictures that prove that Xander slept with Kirill’s wife and a death occurs.
That night, Max tells Owen they are tied to each other, whether he likes it or not and the two of them have a passionate night together. The next morning, Max’s accounts are still frozen when they go to the bank because Owen messed up the time zones. Max ends up using her safe deposit box instead and Owen sees a picture of Max with her daughter.
1 W.T.F.I.O.H. (Episode 8)
Lester and Violet scrub the crime scene after Xander is killed and Owens's personal and professional lives collide when Hannah and Terence arrive in Geneva. Meanwhile, Max and Owen head to Gilbane’s base in Germany after Xander was killed and Max tells Owen that she thinks that Xander might not have been the actual target, the hit could have been for them. Max gives Owen some dirt on Dawn Gilbane and tells him how she is running ghost assets and pocketing the money.
When they arrive at the base, Gilbane treats Max and Owen as hostages until they can prove that they are not compromised. Max tells Gilbane why Xander was killed. Later, Max needs to bribe Lev but Nichka, a Russian spy, arrives during the meetup and a shootout follows. Owen goes in to rescue Max and has to kill a Russian agent to save her. After saving Max, Owen goes into shock, jumps out of the car, and tells Max that he quits. Max threatens to shoot Owen and tells Owen that she needs him to get back home. Owen tells Max that no one can save her and walks away from her.
At the end of the season finale, Max and Owen are taken hostage by Nichka also known as Marta. Nichka shoots Max in front of Owen and then asks Owen who he is and “why he is running around with her mother.”