Based on the book of the same title, The Flight Attendant has premiered as a limited series on HBO Max and it is as compelling as it is thrilling.
Kaley Cuoco portrays the titular character, Cassie Bowden, as a woman who enjoys a good time and drinking herself silly during global travel overnights.
She might also hook-up with dashing men from all corners of the planet. Why not? She’s young. Her life finds her in different time zones almost every day and there is plenty of time to “settle down.”
The problem arises in episode one. The supremely handsome man in 3C on her flight to Bangkok is someone who knows the Thai city well and shows her the most joyous of times. It doesn’t hurt that he’s wickedly handsome and wealthy.
By morning, he is dead.
Much like Jane Fonda did in the 1986 thriller The Morning After, Cassie awakes next to Alex Sokolov (Michiel Huisman) and he’s covered with blood from having his throat sliced. Surely, our favorite Flight Attendant would have heard something. But then again, she was pretty drunk and most of her recollection of her evening with Sokolov is a blur at best and a black hole of emptiness at the worst.
She’s due to catch the shuttle to the airport within a few hours, so, Cassie—in a panic—collects the evidence (a broken vodka bottle with blood all over it_—and hides it. Yes, she has nothing to do with the murder—at least we think so, but everything she does from the moment she wakes to the instant she gets inside her apartment in New York City screams “guilty.”
Luckily for her, her BFF Annie Mouradian (a fantastic Zosia Mamet) is an attorney. Unfortunately for Mouradian, her BFF doesn’t always take her advice. She tends to speak her mind—especially when the FBI commence asking her questions.
The pilot, In Case of Emergency, will grab you by the lapels and never let you go—which is the best thing an international mystery with a flight attendant at the center of a murder investigation can achieve. It is a perfect pilot and the subsequent episodes only add fuel to the fire of this thriller that has us wishing every single episode were available to the press so I can see how this thing will play out.
As a viewer, I couldn’t be more vested in the show and cannot recommend it enough for those of you who haven’t yet caught on to this winter’s first new must-see television event.
Thus far, HBO Max has aired five episodes. I have seen seven and although I cannot tell you much about the unaired eps—not that you’d want me to!—The Flight Attendant (from creator Steve Yockey, a producer on Supernatural) exponentially builds its world and does so in a way that is so organic, as the twists and turns arrive, the entire endeavor feels about as impeccably constructed as this milieu can achieve.
With countless folks stuck at home under quarantine and the holidays coming up (i.e., loads of free time since a vast majority of us will not be traveling or welcoming family or friends) let The Flight Attendant be your escape.
Live vicariously through Cassie—of course, not the waking up next to a dead man part—in the coming weeks and I promise you that this is one of those television events that when all is said and done, you will feel as if you watched something overwhelmingly cinematic.
This is binge-able television of the highest order. In fact, I think it is safe to say that when all the episodes are done airing (December 17), viewers who have yet to book their tickets aboard Cassie’s sizzling shuttle should get HBO Max (if you don’t have it already) and you can dust this thing off in a matter of days.
It moves. It cooks. The Flight Attendant is the latest in this Titanium Era of Television that warrants your attention and devotion.
Cuoco is sensational. After she wrapped The Big Bang Theory, fans might have wondered where she would spend her post sitcom staple career. She has had mixed success on the big screen. We’re not saying that she should stay with television. It’s just that when the material is as rich, resonant, and frankly addictive as The Flight Attendant—it’s easy to see why she dove back into that dripping with awesomeness pool that is television, circa 21st century.
The actress is a natural at portraying a character who is over her head and, rightfully, freaking out. She has priceless chemistry with each and every soul she encounters, from the smallest part to her co-stars that add layers of intensity to each episode. Casting directors take note—there is a whole lot of range being exhibited here by the Bang veteran. She must dissect this mystery herself because the FBI is starting to create a narrative that finds her in the cross-hairs of guilt.
Rosie Perez shines as her fellow flight attendant, Megan Briscoe. No spoilers here, but she herself appears to be getting into some hot water that couldn’t be more thrilling as well. Perez and Cuoco are delightful together with the former herself showing some serious range as the episodes progress.
T.R. Knight is great as Cassie’s younger brother. There’s a shared history there that is inherent to portraying siblings. But there is something truly special about the connection between Cuoco and Knight that feels effortless—even though we know it is anything but. He can be a little judgy, but in the madness that is Yockey’s created world, it is called for.
Also stellar is Mamet. Her attorney may be Cassie’s lifeline out of this mess, but when your client is as unpredictable as Bowden, a lawyer needs to be on at all times.
Not only is Mamet on her proverbial toes, but she brings an urgency to the scenes she shares with Cuoco that seems to go right over The Flight Attendant’s head. Witnessing them together is television gold.
Sokolov and Bowden truly have a connection that goes beyond the one (and only, obviously) night they spent together. He is ever-present throughout the series and the actor (who first grabbed our attention opposite Blake Lively in The Age of Adaline) is pitch-perfect in what each episode’s script requires of him.
Fresh off of stealing scenes in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Michelle Gomez is marvelous as the mysterious Miranda Croft. What is so dazzling about her turn in The Flight Attendant, is just as you think you have her figured out… you don’t.
Also important to salute are the two actors charged with portraying the FBI agents investigating this who-done-it in New York—Merle Dandridge’s Kim Hammond and Nolan Gerard Funk’s Van White. Funk’s a bit overzealous and Hammond likes to play her cards close to her vest. It’s a nice dichotomy with the two actors and it only adds layers to the suspense and yes, the inescapable tantalizing tone that permeates every frame of this globe-trotting thriller.
Series Grade: A