The Recruit: Season 1/ Episode 6 “I.C.I.N.C.” – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)

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Owen finds himself in Janus panic attack territory as he and Max are tasked with a polygraph test, and Max threatens him if she fails.

Recap

This content contains pertinent spoilers. Also, images and text in this post may contain affiliate links which, if a purchase is made from those sites, we may earn money or products from the company.

Someone Who Can Be Counted On – Kevin, Nyland, Hannah, El Jefe, Owen, Max

Owen is clearly wasted in the C.I.A. as a lawyer, for his gift for negotiating tough deals gets Max free of El Jefe and the Aquino Cartel with $7 million, and he doesn’t end up getting killed. On top of that, when he speaks to Kevin about what Max may or may not know, he is able to not only throw Xander under the bus but get Senator Smoot to permanently leave him alone. Add in he gets some brownie points for being against being a mole on Nyland, and it seems Owen is really making all the right moves in his career.

As for his personal life? Luckily for him, his charm still works on Hannah, so despite how mad she wants to be, their friendship survives between her drinking and wanting to have faith in him.

Time To Panic – Owen, Dr. Hirsch, Dustin, Max, Nyland, Lester, Violet, Dawn, Amelia

With Nyland wanting all the paperwork done, with Ts crossed and Is dotted, that means Dr. Hirsch doing a psych evaluation and Dustin Hatch doing a polygraph test. Owen freaks out because if this doesn’t work and Max goes down, she plans on taking Owen with her, and with being unable to ask for advice from Nyland, Lester, Violet, Amelia, or Janus, he is on his own.

At least, in the beginning, it seems that way as he tries to chat up Dr. Hirsch, who makes it clear he is a rubber stamp and the O.C.D. Dustin is the real challenge here. Though to make matters worse, Dawn is ready to do what it takes to get Owen off the case, so while Max passes her tests, Dawn tries to make Owen seem compromised. She reveals the pictures of Owen and Max at a hotel, and the only thing which saves him, besides being a good liar, is Amelia going to bat for him as his lawyer through the ordeal, albeit at Nyland’s request.

But, with seeing the kind of mess Owen gets himself into, while she likes him, even enough to take a picture with him for her mother, she breaks up with Owen. He isn’t stable enough for her concrete plans, and while he gets out of another situation clear, she can’t risk the inevitable failure he is going to experience being associated with her.

A Hole So Deep, You Can Barely See The Sun – Dawn, Nyland, Max, Lester, Violet, Linus, Terence, Owen, Janus

After Owen and Max pass their tests, Dawn is now public enemy number one for Owen, since she tried to screw him over, and it is only Max, tired of their infighting, who gets them to refocus. This leads to a need to address how to get back into the game for Max, and $10 million is the assumed price because the man she needs to pay, Lev, she took what he likely deemed to be his spot.

You see, to make a long story short, Max killed her husband and took his spot as lieutenant over Lev, and no sooner did she kill her husband, Dawn came into her life, ready to blackmail her. So, as for who was one of Max’s handlers and didn’t do their due diligence previously? That was Dawn. But that was then, this is now, and with no trust between Dawn and Owen, and Max needing $3 million, her swiss accounts are called upon, and with them being sanctioned, Dawn leaves Owen to work his lawyer magic, which he does.

How? Well, Linus, someone who works in treasury, likes Terence and helping Linus win a scavenger hunt and get him a date with Terence allows Max to access her accounts for an hour. And while you’d think Owen would be done, he is not. Nyland assigns him to join Dawn and then has Lester and Violet watch everything from a distance to protect the agency, which doesn’t explicitly mean protecting Owen.

Though considering Owen finds himself a witness to Janus’ operatives giving anti-tank missiles to the Aquino Cartel, who likely will sell them to terrorist organizations, Max might be the least of Owen’s problems. Especially since Janus will sing like a canary if he is ever forced to testify.

Things To Note

Question(s) Left Unanswered

1. Why did Dawn say Xander’s name out loud? I thought that was against the rules?
2. Where was Hannah’s boyfriend during the scavenger contest, or are people at the White House not invited to play?

What Could Happen Next

1. Learning what happened to Karolina and why Max killed her husband – also why everyone she could call family is dead.
2. Owen is going to get someone named on the show killed

Review

Highlights

More Max Backstory

From seeing the scene after Max, allegedly killed her husband, though it was probably her daughter by mistake, to how Dawn recruited her, I’m loving this backstory. Granted, the more we get of Max’s, the more I wish we got flashbacks featuring Owen, Hannah, and maybe Terence, but maybe that’s asking for a lot?

Learning About Janus’ Opp

Janus’ operatives setting up a sting, or at least thinking they will, with anti-tank missiles? Oh, now you can see why he has been freaking out and why they drugged him. This has the potential for a major screw-up, and it seems, based on what we’ve learned about operations, they are far more willing to take a fall or set up someone us to fall. Meanwhile, general counsel, being lawyers, are expected to be mature and be held responsible for anything that happens within or outside their department. And seeing Owen fully understand why Janus is always so high-strung feels like a full-circle moment.

Terence Getting A New Boyfriend

While Terence is a bit of a backstabber, there is still a desire to see him happy. Granted, I feel like Linus helping Owen will likely blow up in his face, but at least we’ll have a concrete example of why Terence doesn’t like Owen – beyond things Hannah-related.

Low Points

Violet

Can they do something with her? It’s like she is the one holdout trying to play some form of a comical character, even though everyone has moved on. Lester dropped the act, and for some reason, they won’t let Violet evolve too, and it is immensely frustrating since, even if you just recount her interaction with Dawn in episode 5, it seems so much more could be done with her. Like, let’s see why she left her former position – what triggered her wanting to become part of general counsel.