The Recruit – Season 2 Episode 4 “A.T.N.W.H.Y.P.A.B.H..” Recap & Review

A.T.N.W.H.Y.P.A.B.H.

Episode 4 of The Recruit season 2 picks up where we left off with Owen stealing Jang Kyung-kim’s car and driving off.  He calls Janus and informs him that he is on his way to Jang Kyung-kim’s house to find the dead switch. Janus warns him to be careful and take pictures of everything. Owen safely makes his way to the house and starts taking pictures, as advised.

However, Jang Kyung-kim arrives home, and another fight ensues. After tussling for a while, they both calm down, and Jang Kyung-kim tells Owen he has no right to defile his house. He also points out that he is not stupid enough to leave the dead switch in his house. In the end, they agree that working together is in their best interest.

In Warsaw, Lester starts panicking about the attempted assassination of his life. He is also concerned his cover is blown, and Violet advises him to go back to the US. They conclude that the assassination has something to do with Owen. Meanwhile, Dodge informs Dawn that their mercenary is dead, and they also agree to travel back to the US and suss out how much anyone knows about their side hustle.

The following day, Owen packs his stuff to leave Korea and asks Janus to stay behind and monitor Jang Kyung-kim.  In the meantime, Jang Kyung-kim sneaks into the NIS IT room and looks into the latest intel on cryptocurrency. He doesn’t find anything suspicious but is nearly caught by Grace Cho. Thankfully, Jang Kyung-kim is a smooth liar, and he doesn’t raise any suspicion. Grace Cho asks him to continue watching Janus and Owen as she still thinks they are suspicious. Their boss is on her back to get answers soon, and she needs Jang Kyung-kim on his A game.

Back at Langley, Amelia thanks Nyland for giving her a heads-up on the CEG visit to her house. She is glad that she managed to get CEG off her back but, knows it is only a matter of time before they are back. The two take consolidation in the fact that  Owen, Lester, and Dawn are in different countries and CEG can’t get to them. Unfortunately, that is not factual. The scene cuts to Lester and Violet arriving and running into Owen, who is waiting at the airport.

Owen hides his assassination attempt from Owen and tries to play cool. Meanwhile, Dawn and Dodge arrive and assume Owen and Lester are onto them. Dawn follows Owen, and Dodge follows Lester. Owen heads home and finds Terrence, Hannah, and Jae having dinner. He excuses himself to clean up and leave for the office. He doesn’t seem hurt when Hannah announces she is dating Jae and even wishes her the best. Jae lies that he needs to use the toilet and starts snooping and taking pictures of Owen’s room.  

Owen heads back to Langley and updates Director West and Nyland on the situation. They all agree it is a bad idea to run a covert operation in South Korea without notifying NIS. They also can’t send operations since it will alert CEG. As always, Owen comes up with the idea of roping Lester in since he is still in operations and his transfer letter has not been processed yet. Director West and Nyland agree it is a good idea and read Lester in.

Lester is not pleased because, technically, he doesn’t have access to his operational resources. Owen suggests they call Oliver and ask for his help while also relying on Jang Kyung-kim to help them. Owen and Lester call Oliver, and he helps them with some intel on the Yamakazi clan.  Oliver agrees to meet them in Seoul after doing more research.

After the call, Amelia drops by Owen’s office to inform him that the CEG agents are in the building, looking for them. Lester and Owen quickly hide and secretly leave the building. In search of Owen and Lester, the CEG ends up finding Dawn. They bring her in for questioning, but she is skilled at not answering questions. She gives them nothing and leaves them frustrated. After her quick run-in with the CEG agents, Dawn makes it out of the building and meets with Dodge. She is pleased to learn that Owen has kept his mouth shut, but still wants him dead. She and Dodge agree to fly secretly into South Korea to execute Lester and Owen.

Speaking of South Korea, Lester has his first encounter with Grace Cho after landing in the country. She calls Jae and threatens to arrest him if he gives him nothing about Owen. Jae is spooked after the call and feels motivated to spy harder. Lester and Owen are quickly released by Grace Cho, and Lester comes up with a plan to lose their tails.

They meet with Janus in a motel and start setting up for the mission.  Oliver arrives and informs the team that the Yamazaki lieutenant they need to speak to is currently in Seoul. However, he can’t set a face-to-face meeting until they come up with a cover. They decide to act like life insurance agents sent to handle kidnapping and rescue cases.

After deciding on their cover, Owen decides that instead of posing, they should organise a way to get money and buy Nan-hee back for real.  They agree that Lester can pull some money from his operational funds from Warsaw, which is still under Dawn. Jang Kyung-kim also offers to get another million from NIS without them knowing.

They successfully raise 2 million, and Oliver sets up a meeting and warns everyone to get their act together. They can’t afford to raise any suspicions.  With 5 hours left until the meeting, they agree to get some rest. However, Owen sneaks out to see Jin-lee’s show and they end up kissing. Oliver shows up and calls out Owen for being selfish and endangering the mission by going out that night. He asks Owen to act accordingly.

After this, they return to the hotel and get ready for the meeting. Janus and Lester remain behind while Oliver, Jang Kyung-kim, and Owen meet with Mr Nakano. They offer one million for Nan-hee, but Mr Nakano refuses the offer. He asks for ten million and agrees to a video call to show proof of life. Jang Kyung-kim nearly loses his patience, but Owen calms down the situation and asks for time to discuss with their bosses and raise the money.

Back at home, Hannah finds Jae copying her computer hard drive to a USB. She realises he is not who he said he was and tries to leave the room. An altercation ensues, and Hannah gets hurt and passes out.

The episode ends with Owen, Oliver, and Jang Kyung-kim returning to the motel. Lester informs them that he was able to trace Nan-hee’s location thanks to the video call Mr Nakano made. The only problem is Nan-hee is being held in Vladivostok, Russia.


The Episode Review

It seems like all roads lead to Russia once again. It won’t be easy to leave Korea and get to Russia without drawing suspicion. Other than Grace Cho being onto them, there is Dawn and Dodge who are on their way to kill Owen and Lester.  There is also the relentless CEG, who will start looking into things and it is not looking good for anyone at the moment.

Still, there is hope that Nan-hee is alive. She looks hurt, but fingers crossed, it is nothing life-threatening. If the CIA works fast, they can rescue her. However, all this is technically Owen’s plan. The original plan from Nyland never truly involved saving Nan-hee. As soon as they get the dead switch, Jang Kyung-kim is on his own. He better pray that the CIA doesn’t find the dead switch before he finds his wife.

In the meantime, Hannah can’t seem to stop getting caught in Owen’s drama. It is pretty low-ball for Grace Cho to go after Owen’s ex. If she had done her research well enough, she would have realised it is a waste of time since Owen wouldn’t endanger Hannah by leaving his work files on her laptop. The guy is barely home; he wouldn’t hide work secrets in his house either. Grace needs to up her game; she is tripping!

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