Have you ever wondered how the US’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operates or brings charm to running Uncle Sam? It’s pretty hard to guess given the fact that when John F. Kennedy tried to make it accountable for what it does ended up somewhere in the long forgotten history. The story is no different for the hired foreign assets either. It really doesn’t matter whether you try to figure it out from the inside or outside. It always bring you back to where you started. Yet Alexi Hawley and Doug Liman tries to answer some of these questions with a darn image by portraying it as The Company. We are pretty sure how a corporate company works and how the internal politics plays out. Their latest venture, The Recruit, reveals exactly that.

The story is about a fresh recruit, Owen Hendricks played by Noah Centineo, who starts to work and tries to figure his way out during his first few weeks at the company. The way I see it, the plot is nothing new but how it is presented is something to watch out for. The screenplay is a fresh take on the subject how CIA topples foreign governments. It’s a given fact Belarus is one such country where they have failed miserably and where they fail, they usually sanction. The country is under US sanctions for the most of the current leadership years and with that I mean plenty. The leadership in Belarus hasn’t changed for over 30 years and it’s rather frustrating for the CIA to not come up with any action plan. The least they would do is to infiltrate the Belarussian politics with their double-agents. The Recruit attempts to explore that angle with the character Max Meladze played by Laura Haddock.

The story is a mixed bag of politics, action, and comedy that revolves around getting Max Meladze reinstated as a CIA asset and give her a way back home to Belarus . It’s a ride that most of us would enjoy. The casting is perfect and they all suit up to a level what anyone would want them to be. The lead actor, Noah Centineo, brings that young boy charm that you may have noticed in his previous movie ventures like The Perfect Date or more recently in Black Adam as Atom Smasher. His over the top cool attitude to deal with the awkward situations is exactly what puts him in the next awkward situation. Though Laura Haddock is British, her looks significantly resembles to that of an eastern European. I have only seen her performance in Netflix series, The White Lines but her acting is good. Most importantly, the series becomes interesting due to the characters Janus Ferber (played by Kristian Bruun), Violet Ebner (played by Aarti Mann), and Lester (played by Colton Dunn). They either reluctantly help the main lead or try to sabotage his work.

The irony is that Hollywood along with the news media outlets has been instrumental for CIA for setting up and spreading the narratives around the world. Russia and Belarus either have been treated as synonyms or Mafia states in most of the Hollywood action movies especially in the last few movies. The movie Polar showed that Belarus is part of Russia. Hitman’s Bodyguard glorified Europe’s last dictator and John Wick didn’t shy away to reveal his Belarussian roots. I get that Belarus has been a talking point for the US given the fact that they were unsuccessful in overthrowing the regime. But, the real danger is that more it remains a talking point, more chances of it being end up as a second Ukraine. On second thoughts, all credit goes to the director Doug Liman (from Bourne Identity and Edge of Tomorrow) for the first few episodes where he manages to recreate the level of espionage thriller with a zest of comic relief. If you love spy thrillers, you shouldn’t miss a single episode of it.