The Recruit – Season 2 Episode 3 “H.H.I.I.T.K.A.L.” Recap & Review

H.H.I.I.T.K.A.L.

Episode 3 of The Recruit season 2 takes us to Doha, Qatar, where Tom and Owen are set to meet with the Taliban. On the ride to the secret venue, Owen shares that his dad was killed by a bomb when he was 12. Tom is surprised and questions if the meeting with the Taliban will trigger Owen’s trauma. Owen says he is in control, as he has a job to do, but Tom doesn’t buy it. He warns Owen to keep his emotions in check as he needs to rescue people.

Back in Korea, Jang Hyun-kim is unable to sleep as he thinks about the last time he saw his wife. He was worried about her risky trip, but she was optimistic. He gets a burner phone and contacts Owen. However, Owen is in a meeting with Oliver and Tom. Oliver is the man who can help Owen find out who took Nan-hee and why. Owen excuses himself to take the call and hurriedly tells Jang Hyun-kim that he is working on a plan.

In the meantime, Tom starts his meeting with a Taliban leader to discuss the release of some abductees. Seeing the Taliban triggers Owen, and he leaves to calm himself in another room. Oliver follows him and is apologetic towards Nan-hee’s condition, but he is having issues with his Russian source.

Unfortunately, he can’t help Owen. As they talk, Owen notices one of the Taliban guards leave his post and follows him. Owen calls Jang Hyun-kim and tells him something is off. Jang Hyun-kim warns him that something is about to go down, and Owen rushes to warn Tom. A gunfight ensues as attackers try to take out the Taliban leader and Tom.

On the other hand, Owen and Oliver hide in the bathroom. Oliver suggests they stay still until Tom rescues them, but Owen moves to fight a soldier and ultimately saves Oliver’s life. To repay his gratitude, Oliver fixes things with his Russian source and finds out who took Nan-hee.  

Owen is surprised to hear the Russians did not take that Nan-hee. Nichka calls to inform Owen that she knows who took Nan-hee. However, she won’t tell him until she gets her money. Owen calls Lester and demands he gives Nichka that money or he will forward the issue to Director West. Lseter half-heartedly agrees, and Violet teases him for being Owen’s errand boy.

Back home, Hannah returns to the house to pick up some of her stuff. Terence asks about her new client, and Hannah confesses she is into Jae. They talk about Owen being in denial that Hannah is not coming back and joking about needing new furniture. Later, Hannah makes a move on Jae while dropping some legal papers at his hotel room. Sadly, Jae might not be who he says he is, as she catches him snooping on her phone. Still, he explains it away with a plausible excuse, and Hannah believes him.

At the office, the CEG agents corner Amelia to find out more about her relationship with Owen. They try to catch Amelia on a lie and link her to Hannah’s arrival in Geneva. Amelia dodges the question successfully, and the agents leave her office.

Back in Mauritius, Dawn pivots and decides to target Lester and puts a hit on him. She asks Dodge to set it up, and Lester calls her to remind her that she needs to send the asset list. As expected, Dawn refuses to help Lester. Simultaneously, Lester starts feeling motivated to get back into the operations game again.

Back in Korea, Jang Hyun-kim sneaks into Janus’ room under the pretence of setting new bugs. He gives Janus $10k and apologises for not getting the BTS tickets. Seriously, getting BTS tickets is a brutal affair. We get it!

Janus refuses to take the money and reminds Jang Hyun-kim they need intel on Grace Cho to show Nyland that Jang Hyun-kim is game. Jang Hyun-kim refuses to give anything up until he knows more about who took his wife. Janus calms him down and informs him that Owen is on his way back to Korea with answers. At the same time, Grace Cho emails Jang Hyun-kim informing him that Owen is back in the country.

Once again, Grace Cho tries to get Owen to spill the secret behind his visits, but the latter sticks to the same excuse.  Back at home, Nyland calls Amelia to warn her that CEG got a warrant to check her house. Amelia quickly deletes the incriminating video of her and Owen together, discussing Max’s case.

Once the CEG agents arrive, Amelia threatens to out their participation in Max’s scandal. After all, it was CEG’s job to vet Max, and they failed at that.  She throws some heavy accusations their way, and the agents decide to pull back and leave for the time being.

After getting threatened by Owen, Lester delivers the money to Nichka and gets the information from her. It turns out that the Yakuza is behind Nan-hee’s abduction. On his way back, an assassin tries to take out Lester. Thankfully, Lester is a good fighter and manages to kill his attacker and get a picture of his face. Lester returns home and informs Violet that his cover might be blown.

After a gruelling interrogation from Grace Cho, Owen drops by Lee-jin’s bar. They get to talk, and it is clear that Lee-jin is unhappy with her life. Owen comes clean about his job and talks about his struggle to get his life together.  As they talk, Jang Hyun-kim arrives and forcefully takes Owen away. Jang Hyun-kim is getting anxious to know about his wife. Owen shares with him that the Yakuza took his wife.  

Jang Hyun-kim immediately leaves, and Owen follows him. He is surprised when Jang Hyun-kim attacks the Jopok hideout and questions his source for lying to him. The source insists he doesn’t know why the Yakuza wanted Nan-hee. He reveals the Yamazaki clan took that Nan-hee is currently operating in Eastern Russia. After getting his answers, Jang Hyun-kim kills his source.

A horrified Owen confronts Jang Hyun-kim and demands to know why he blames himself for Nan-hee’s kidnapping. Finally, Jang Hyun-kim comes clean about how he suggested to his agency that they use Nan-hee’s NGO to track cryptocurrency used in the criminal world.

The NIS created their own currency and Nan-hee unknowingly used the money to buy her safety and access to these high-risk places she travelled to. She didn’t know that her husband set her up. On the other hand, Jang Hyun-kim didn’t think anyone would ever trace the money to his wife. It was supposed to be impossible. He thinks the Yakuza traced the funds and went after his wife.

Owen is disappointed because he thought he could find redemption in Jang Hyun-kim’s love story. He backs out of the case, but Jang Hyun-kim reveals that the CIA and NIS worked together on the cryptocurrency.

To make matters worse, the CIA is using the funds to track ordinary Americans after the cryptocurrency they created became popular. If anything, the CIA won’t let Jang Hyun-kim reveal the truth, and Owen is screwed. Owen is frustrated and punches Jang Hyun-kim before taking his car and leaving.


The Episode Review

Things keep going from bad to worse whenever the CIA is involved, and now Owen needs to clean another mess. It never gets old, but The Recruit has a refreshing way of making us invested in the story. Owen was in his romantic K-Drama delulu era, all for love winning in the end. He didn’t expect the twist that Jang Hyun-kim threw his way. I hate to say we didn’t see it either, but there had to be a reason why Nan-hee was taken. Why didn’t Owen ever stop to think this through?

Either way, we now know who has Nan-hee, but we don’t have a location. Time is running out, and Jang Hyun-kim needs to pull himself together. Owen has lost faith in him and might not be super invested in helping him as much. He got his wife in this mess; he needs to save her now.

Speaking about relationships, Jae is a big disappointment. I was rooting for him and Hannah, but Jae is giving suspicious vibes. We should have known better than to trust a man with a sly smile. Oh, Hannah! It is so sad that she will experience another betrayal so soon after deciding to move on from Owen. Cupid really isn’t on her side!

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