The Recruit season 2 episode 1 recap: chasing the graymailer in Seoul

The Recruit season 2 sees the return of Netflix's action-packed thriller, coming to the streamer in the same month as The Night Agent season 2.

Rookie CIA lawyer Owen Hendricks found himself embroiled in some seriously intense agency business in The Recruit season 1.

And while Owen must suffer the consequences of his actions in the Max Meladze operation, he’s quickly thrown right back into the deep end - this time in Seoul, South Korea. But, it’s far from a holiday as life-threatening affairs await him, alongside espionage, kidnapping, hostage negotiations, and more.

While Owen is joined by returning agents, he also meets a lot of new faces on his international travels - namely, Jang Kyun (Teo Yoo) and Grace Cho (Young-Ah Kim). Though their part to play in The Recruit season 2 is full of twists and turns.

Here's a recap of everything that happened in The Recruit season 2 episode 1.

The episode opens in Ostrava, Czech Republic as Nichka pushes Owen along a corridor, picking up where The Recruit season 1 finale left off after Nichka shot her mother, Max. Nichka demands to know who Owen is and she pulls a knife and cuts his arm. He explains that he’s a CIA lawyer and that her mom was an asset working with them and that she needs to let him go. She insists instead that she should kill him, but he explains that if the CIA tell the Russian mafia who Max really was, then they'll think Nichka was working with her and they'll kill her. She says he’s the only one who knows who she really is.

It cuts to Alexandria, Virginia with Amelia Salazar recording a video in her home news studio. She receives a call from Owen’s ex, Hannah and answers. Hannah explains that Owen has been abducted and demands that Amelia does something about it, or she'll tell Amelia's boss about the classified intel she gave her about Owen being in Prague.

Owen pleads for his life saying the CIA will be on their way. Fortunately, Dawn turns up having tracked the watch Max gave Owen. They assess the area and Dawn says they need to isolate Owen, so she can speak to him first. Unfortunately, she says Max told her Owen is a problem and they may need to “cauterize the wound.”

Meanwhile, Nichka leads Owen with a gun to his back to a deep hole dug in the ground. Just as she’s about to shoot, the CIA team opens fire on the guards in the area and Owen uses the distraction to break free and wrestle Nichka to the ground. As they fight, Nichka is strangling Owen with her legs when Dawn shows up. Owen tells Dawn that Max is dead and Nichka is her daughter. They take her away and Dawn holds a gun to Owen and asks whether he'll keep all the secrets Max told him about Dawn quiet - the ghost assets and stolen CIA money. She says she might leave him to bleed out, but he says that she could redeem herself by saving him. Just in time, Lester and his team show up to save him.

It cuts to Sakhalin Island, Russia. A Korean man and woman are driving a van through the forest. As they reach a bridge, a car is blocking the way. Two masked men emerge out the back and while the man and woman try to reverse, the man is killed. But, they don’t kill the woman. She explains she works for a South Korean NGO delivering food, but they grab her and shove her in the trunk of their car.

At the Ramstein Air Base in Germany, Max is being treated for his wounds on a US Air Force plane. Owen tells Lester they should turn Nichka into an asset to replace her mom. He also explains how he killed someone. Hannah turns up and Lester explains that she saved his life, contacting Amelia, and getting the team to find him - but that Owen can’t tell her anything about what happened. Instead, Hannah tells him he needs to quit and that she’s moving out of their apartment.

It cuts to CIA director, Alton West, wondering why Max died and Owen was saved. He’s angry at Dawn, but Lester explains that Max’s daughter was an enforcer for the Russian mob and he agrees that they should turn her into an asset. Walter Nyland, the CIA general counsel, says he’ll need to have someone on Lester to protect him legally. Reluctantly, Violet offers.

Meanwhile, as Owen assesses his wounds, Dawn walks in on him. She says they need to come up with a plan and he says they should just blame Max and Xander, a CIA agent who was working with Max. Nichka, in another bathroom, can hear them talking through the vents and crawls through when Dawn leaves. Owen explains to her that they’re going to turn her into an asset, and while she’s reluctant, he explains that otherwise they’ll tell the Russians, plus she’ll get paid.

A week later, Owen arrives at work and goes to speak to Nyland. Nyland is angry at Owen and hat he’s getting benched until they can figure out what really happened. He instructs him to sit in his office and do no work and, as such, his office is stripped of everything but a desk and chair. He manages to get Amelia to talk to him, though she pretends she's not. He asks her if the operation had been a success, would they care if anything went wrong? And she explains no they wouldn't, but to get a win now would be impossible as he’s been “rubber-roomed.”

Owen wastes away his days, until a postal worker brings him some mail. There's a letter addressed to Bill Bemus. Out of curiosity, Owen opens it and inside is written, “RQSWALLOW” then “a secret to prove I’m serious” followed by a series of numbers. He goes to see his colleague, Janus Ferber, and asks him about Bemus. While Janus tries to ignore him, not wanting anything to do with his current state, Owen explains he got Bemus's mail and that it’s from Korea with a weird digraph. Janus tells him Bemus is dead and shuts his door in Owen’s face.

Instead, Owen goes to visit Grant, the man who helped him with the CIA codes in season 1, and shows him the letter. This time, he says RQ isn’t a country code, but he asks him to run it anyway. When he does, the computer immediately locks him out and sets off alarms everywhere. The police wrestle Owen to the ground and he’s subsequently taken to Nyland, where he shows him the letter. Nyland says that even the CIA director has said it’s incredibly secret and needs to be handled fast. Owen says it’s graymail, a threat to reveal state secrets unless legal aid is given, and that it gives the coordinates of the Paradox Hotel in Seoul. Nyland reveals that’s where the CIA stay when they go to Korea. Owen tells him to send him in and that if he does a good job, he can get out of the rubber room. But, if he fails, the blame falls on him.

Nyland rings Amelia and requests Janus to his office. He tasks him with going to Korea with Owen to provide legal counsel. They’re told to go and pretend they’re there for HR purposes and find the identity of the graymailer. They’re told to suspect everyone. Owen goes home to pack and he’s called by an unknown number - it’s Nichka. She’s angry she’s not getting paid yet and threatens to spill Owen’s secrets. She hangs up and finds the Russian mob waiting for her in her apartment. She shoots them dead.

On the flight to South Korea, Owen has flashbacks of a girl he used to play with when he was there while his dad was stationed there. He looks her up online, Yoo Jin Lee. Arriving in Seoul, armed police board the plane to take Owen and Janus for questioning. Grace Cho from the NIS greets them and asks about their last-minute trip. She only wants to question Janus, calling Owen his assistant. Janus refuses to answer questions and Cho says she might have to deny them access, but he argues they’re legally allowed. While he tries to leave, she refuses.

Waiting in the kitchen, a man comes to sit next to Owen. They start talking and the man reveals he’s a clerk. While the man asks him questions and pretends not to know who he is, Owen calls him out. While he tries to argue that he doesn’t know, Owen points out how his belt is frayed where he normally holsters a gun. From this, he admits he's not just a clerk.

That evening, Owen and Janus travel through Seoul. The NIS agent from the kitchen is following them. They check into their hotel and in Owen’s room, a letter is waiting for him. It says, “Shadow Club, Itaewon, 9 o’clock, come alone.” He tries to call Janus, but he’s in the bath. Instead, he takes food out to the NIS agent in his car. He makes small talk and pretends to go back inside to sleep, but instead he gets in a taxi. He stops at a bar on the way and watches Yin Joo through the window. As he goes to leave, she spots him outside. She’s confused why he came and he says he wanted to thank her for saving him when his dad died. He can't stay for long and heads to his meet.

Arriving at Shadow Club, Janus calls Owen and asks him what he’s doing. Once he realizes he’s at a club and answered an anonymous letter, he says it was a test to see how he’d react - like a lawyer, or like someone else. Owen then spots the NIS agent, Jang Kyun, from outside the hotel walking through the dance floor. He calls Janus back and Janus warns Owen that if the NIS see him, they’ll know they’re up to something. And, if the graymailer sees Jang, they’ll think Owen has betrayed them and release the secrets.

As Owen tries to leave, he accidentally bumps into a guy who then hits him. Unable to walk away, Owen retaliates and punches him back. A fight breaks out and more men start to gang up on him. This catches Jang’s eye and as the men start to pull out knives on the dance floor, Jang fights alongside Owen to protect him. They manage to fight them off, escape, and jump into Jang’s car. As Owen starts to thank him, Jang pulls out a spray and knocks Owen out with it. Just as he’s about to pass out he realizes that Jang is the graymailer.

All episodes of The Recruit are available to stream on Netflix now.