The Recruit
2022
7.5/10
This series debuted this past December. It is a comedy, thriller series. I sat on it cuz as you know Netflix loves canceling series.
I was doing my monthly check going thru my stored list earlier this month to get status on series, and surprisingly this series got renewed for a 2nd season. So that’s why I decided to watch it. I started watching this past week on the road and finished this morning.
I was curious on why this series got such a quick renewal and discovered that Netflix got slammed with requests from viewers to renew the series ASAP. The series was in the top 10 for over a week, which is typical for new series. I doubt this series registered high on Netflix’s algorithms for viewership. I suspect Netflix went into panic mode after the recent blowback they been getting for abruptly cancelling good series before they had a chance to develop and gather a large audience thru word of mouth.
The main plot of the series has been done on a number of series/movies since the 1960s, so nothing new. The comedy is with the main character who is a recent Georgetown law graduate hired onto the CIA’s General Counsel. He is not a trained CIA operative and has no espionage training. The comedy is with him bumbling his way and getting himself deeper into the world of espionage. That sub-plot is similar to “Breaking Bad” Walter White’s character. In this series his law training helps him out.
Character and story development is spread thru-out the series. The opening scene is actually a Fast-Forward scene that happens in the season finale. After that the series starts from the beginning leading up to that opening scene.
The series is full of supporting characters from well known Netflix series/films that have debuted on the service for the past 10+ years. They all do a good job in their roles.
For the Thirsty, actress Kaylah Zander co-stars. This broad is 100% SMASH material in every scene she is in. This bird kills in every outfit they have her in. There is no nudity or sex scene with her, but there is a few shots showing that body in full glory fully clothed. There is one scene with her walking away down the hallway and you can tell they intentionally filmed it that way.
For the Gay Agenda trackers, there is an openly gay BM, all that is shown is him hopping into the bed with the main character (who is not gay) showing they have a close friendship. There is one scene with the gay BM laying in bed with a WM.
Like I pointed out, this is a comedy series. The comedy is not LOL comedy but done in a subtle way. Like I said the comedy is watching the main character bumble his way thru the series.
The series gives homage to the CIA in certain ways that they operate in the world of espionage. The titles of each episode deals with that on how the CIA speaks in code in abbreviations, cryptonyms, and codewords. The acronyms in the titles are based on dialogue spoken in that episode. Below is what they mean. Try to see if you hear them repeated in their episode.
• Episode 1: "I.N.A.S.I.A.L." = "I’m Not a Spy, I’m a Lawyer"
• Episode 2: "N.L.T.S.Y.P." = "Never Let Them See You Pucker"
• Episode 3: "Y.D.E.K.W.Y.D." = "You Don’t Even Know What You Do"
• Episode 4: "I.Y.D.I.A.A.C." = "If You Do It as Anderson Cooper"
• Episode 5: "T.S.L.A.Y.P." = "That Sounds Like a You Problem"
• Episode 6: "I.C.I.N.C." = "I’m Clenching, I’m Not Clenching"
• Episode 7: "I.M.F.T.B.S." = "It’s My First Time Being Sexpionaged"
• Episode 8: "W.T.F.I.O.H." = "Who the F—k Is Owen Hendricks?"
If you watch the series, pay close attention to what it is going on, even the slow, minor parts cuz the series takes a turn in the final episode. The final scene is what will hook you into wanting a season 2 ASAP.
Synopsis
A fledgling CIA lawyer gets caught up in a dangerous game of international politics when a former asset threatens to expose the nature of her relationship with the agency unless they clear her name.
deadline.com
www.hollywoodreporter.com
