Noah Centineo has come a long way from the sweet jock character in To All the Boys I've Loved Before, and Netflix's thriller series The Recruit is proof of his versatility. Eight years ago, Centineo captivated audiences as a teenage heartthrob, and this time he plays Owen Hendricks, a CIA lawyer turned deadly field agent. Just like his first roles as Atom Smasher in Black Adam and Ken Masters in Street Fighter, in The Recruit, Centineo maintains the same charm of his former rom-com persona while showing a much sharper edge in this new phase of his career.

Owen Hendricks starts as a rookie lawyer in his first week at the CIA, tasked with reviewing dubious correspondence known as graymail. However, among ordinary documents, a letter from imprisoned former asset Max Meladze comes to light. Meladze threatens to expose the identities of U.S. operatives in Russia and Belarus under the threat of revealing CIA secrets. This daunting task for the first week sends Hendricks to prison for negotiations, plunging him into a viral course of espionage. From interrogating a contact in Vienna to being attacked in Prague, he finds himself thrust into life-and-death situations as he seeks the truth.

The Recruit plays with Hendricks's duality. In the CIA office, he appears to be a naive lawyer who seems unlikely to fit in with the agency's intensity. He lacks the expected aggressive eagerness and determination. On the other hand, he seems to have a secret pleasure in throwing himself into life-and-death situations. While the first season focuses more on CIA-centric operations, the stakes rise in the second season, taking the agency around South Korea's National Intelligence Service. At this point, Hendricks has strayed far from merely dealing with graymail.

Despite Hendricks's inexperience, his impulsiveness often lands him in deadly situations. However, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Although he lacks strategy and proper risk assessment, his recklessness fuels a "solve it on the way" mentality. He is a rare natural developer in this line of work, and it serves him well to have limits on what agents can foresee about enemy intentions. Still, as a newcomer, he becomes entangled in seriously unprofessional situations. CIA work demands emotional detachment, and this is where Hendricks fails.

While the first season showcases a more timid field behavior from Hendricks, he moves in the opposite direction in his second season. He doubles down on his recklessness while on foreign soil, and this does not bode well. He becomes a monster who wouldn't think twice about putting himself in danger. However, even as he evolves into a successful operative far from his sharp-suited lawyer persona, one thing remains unchanged: his moral conscience. Hendricks knows how to draw the line with his superiors' orders and does not hesitate to go out of his way to save those whom the CIA deems expendable. He is not the perfect spy in The Recruit, but the agency needs him, and that is what matters.