The Recruit Netflix

Netflix's The Recruit feels woven from the same cloth as Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan and Reacher, but from a much younger perspective.

It's not going to win awards, but it was never made for that, if you're looking for a show to binge with the family during the holidays, The Recruit may be the perfect choice. The quality is there, the story is intriguing, and it has all of its charms, but it's also the perfect kind of show to watch in the winter time, when you're stuck inside, running on the treadmill, or looking for a show to watch before bed, be it by yourself or with your significant other. It isn't as violent as something like Reacher or The Terminal List, but it doesn't need to be, in fact, if it did lean more into the violence it would've likely been more distracting. The Recruit is action-packed, filled with twists and turns, has a clever and snarky sense of humor, and is convoluted to a fault, but that's one of the main reasons why it grabs your attention. In fact, Owen Hendricks, the titular recruit, is only 24 years old, and even as the first season comes to a close, he's still learning the ropes. After playing Peter, the male lead in Netflix's To All the Boys trilogy, as well as starring in other teen rom-coms from the streamer such as Sierra Burgess is a Loser and The Perfect Date, he finally seems to be branching out into new places.

Noah Centineo stars in the new spy drama, out December 16.

It was enough to make me wish that the rest of the series’ narrative lines were cleaner and that its vision for what it could be and do were less bogged down in flaccid humor. And Owen’s relationships with his social circle — along with recriminations that his very busy schedule of espionage keeps him from being a fully involved friend — feel like a 20-years-later reboot of the least interesting parts of “Alias.” [The Recruit](https://variety.com/t/the-recruit/),” a new Netflix drama created by Alexi Hawley, thrusts Centineo’s character Owen Hendricks into the midst of international spyjinks, throughout which he runs the emotional gamut from benignly interested to mildly nervous.

Netflix's new spy-adjacent show starring Internet boyfriend Noah Centineo feels decidedly familiar.

One just wishes there was more to this spy drama than cheap thrills wrapped around a pretty boy who keeps failing upward (and into the wrong hands, over and over again). (Oh, did we forget to mention that subplot involving a torture robot?) As the season careens into a wintry high-stakes final mission for Owen and Max, the show’s spidery plot culminates in a well-worn kind of standoff where Centineo is forced to deliver lines like, “You’re a prisoner of this incessant need to survive” with a straight face. Maybe even stuff like [The Blacklist](https://www.avclub.com/tv/reviews/the-blacklist) and [Covert Affairs](https://www.avclub.com/tv/reviews/covert-affairs). All of which, of course, require him to jet set all over and continually demand he be paranoid of every new person he meets. Owen Hendricks (Centineo) is the new kid at the CIA. And the likes of [Chuck](https://www.avclub.com/tv/reviews/chuck) and Nikita. That is, until, in true spy-caper form, the plot continues to get more and more complicated, even as its set pieces and action sequences become easily spotted a mile away. Such a trope of a guy needing to bend the rules to get shit done is so overdone it’s almost laughable when presented so earnestly. The rookie, of course, dives headfirst into Max’s case. In algorithm-speak, if you enjoyed shows like those, you’re likely to find something to love about Centineo’s first stab at becoming a Gen Z action hero. You’d see [Alias](https://www.avclub.com/tv/reviews/alias) there, of course.

Colton Dunn, Laura Haddock, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Kristian Bruun and Aarti Mann also star in a series created by The Rookie showrunner Alexi Hawley.

We’re looking forward, though, to seeing more of Bruun as the extraordinarily paranoid Ferber (more on that in a second). Centineo has gotten past his YA heartthrob image from Netflix romcom films and plays Hendricks as a guy who might not always fit the mold of a tough CIA operative, but he always seems to be in the right place at the right time, even if his methods are clumsy at best and dangerous at worst. So it’s not a surprise that Alexi Hawley, who is a writer/showrunner for The Rookie and The Rookie: Feds is the creator of The Recruit. Hendricks is a lawyer, not a spy, but it seems that this series is going to be full of situations where this rookie with no experience either stumbles upon or actually digs up big and dangerous situations that he ends up insinuating himself into. All that being said, Centineo is credible as an enthusiastic rookie who seems to thrive on constantly being in over his head, and he has a good asset/foe in Haddock as Melazde. It’s not a stretch to say that the comedy-thriller vibe of The Recruit reminds us of a network series like The Rookie but with more swearing. When Hendricks decides he should go to Yemen to find Meladze’s former operative himself, the pair don’t give him any advice other than to “fly coach.” That gets him in trouble — and loses him a fingernail — when he goes unannounced to the black site where the operative is stationed, without a passport that would grant him diplomatic immunity. But the operative eventually tells him more about Melazde, and he goes to Arizona to talk to her. When he reports it to Nyland, he tells Hendricks to continue and gives Lester and Violet the crazies file back. Alexi Hawley, the showrunner of both The Rookie and [The Rookie: Feds](https://decider.com/show/the-rookie-feds/) has created a new series that centers around a new CIA lawyer who wastes no time in getting embroiled in some of the agency’s touchiest operations. But he manages to get away, and lets Melazde know that she needs him more than she’s letting on. Meanwhile, behind a truck, a guy is peeing in the snow and singing “Trouble.”

This weekend you deserve to take a break from life and enjoy some amazing Netflix Shows. The streamer is ripe with great titles like Harry & Meghan.

[ The Recruit](https://netflixlife.com/2022/12/16/netflix-the-recruit-episode-titles-acronyms-meaning/) is now available to stream. [ Last Chance U: ](https://www.netflix.com/search?q=last%20chance&jbv=81046613)Basketball will focus on East Los Angeles College (ELAC) and give viewers a glimpse into the world of college basketball. A spinoff of Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County, this series follows Lauren Conrad as she moves to Los Angeles to pursue a career in fashion. The hoax began in 1992 and would carry on for 12 long years, with 70 occurrences being reported. Historians will also speak about the current state of the British Commonwealth and the royal family. The series consists of six episodes and will take viewers from the early days of their romance to the challenges faced due to their standing in society, which led them to back away from royal life.

Noah Centineo shines in The Recruit, an overly complicated spy thriller that should feel more fun.

As a spy series, executive producers Alexi Hawley (The Rookie) and Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity) have made this a dense story to follow. That purity of intent gets mocked a lot by Max, and his hardened peers, so much so that it leaves you thinking often either that the CIA is kinda awful, or “Geez, give the kid a break!” Reporting the finding to Nyland gets Hendricks the assignment to follow up on the letter and the sender, which thrusts the green lawyer into the field with essentially no help, hostile people trying to hurt him at every location, and everyone being one step ahead of him. And Bruun’s Ferber is a genuine hoot as Owen’s reluctant peer/mentor who explains CIA terms, codes, and the inherent dangers of Hendricks’ actions. Dumped with the grunt work of reading through the pile of “crazies” mail that is 90% crackpot conspiracy theory missives from the public, Hendricks actually unearths one that reads like a legitimately serious letter from a female prisoner in Phoenix, Arizona. Hendricks is a fresh hire in the CIA’s General Counsel division in Langley, Virginia.