The Flight Attendant is HBO Max's latest hit. The Kaley Cuoco led series was met with positive reviews, as seen by the ratings for each episode.
As part of the launching of the HBO Max streaming service, the network needed to include some original programming. These are projects that weren't available anywhere else, including the regular HBO channel itself. One of the first releases like this was Love Life but the most recent was The Flight Attendant.
Based on a novel of the same name, the show focuses on an alcoholic flight attendant who, after a weekend romance, wakes up to find her lover murdered in bed. For the most part, the series has been met with high praise and each of the episodes got strong ratings on IMDb.
Although it has the lowest score of the season, "After Dark" was clearly still enjoyed by the audience. The sixth episode of the season, it aired a week after a gutwrenching cliffhanger from the previous installment. This hour focuses on Cassie Bowden (Kaley Cuoco) at her absolute worst.
Feeling the guilt of her part in Max ending up in the hospital, her blowup fight with Annie, and recalling repressed memories of her mistreatment of her brother, Cassie goes on a bender with Buckley. Their drunken adventure lands Cassie in jail for a night, where Cuoco delivers a great performance as she calls her brother to apologize. The episode ends with the reveal that Miranda bailed Cassie out of jail.
Half of the episodes of The Flight Attendant are tied with this same 7.7 score. "Conspiracy Theories" ranks at the bottom of those due to it having the fewest number of reviews. This is the fourth episode and it sees Cassie dive deeper into a dangerous world that she knows little of.
After piecing together bits of information from Alex's apartment, Cassie lands herself on a private jet that leads her to more questions than answers. She also struggles with the arrival of her brother Davey and her nieces for a visit. He is quick to pick up on the fact that something was not right with her. This ends with a bang as Sabrina's dead body falls from her window right in front of Cassie.
Most of the time, Cassie does things throughout the show that frustrates the audience because they're bad decisions. With the FBI breathing down her neck, she chooses to attend Alex's funeral, which only causes problems. It upsets her co-worker Shane (who had no idea whose funeral he was being taken to), nearly gets Cassie killed, and forces Annie to use a favor with consequences to rescue her.
On the good side of things, Cassie does come off well in how she tricks Sabrina into giving up information about Miranda and Alex over drinks. This installment goes further into Megan's shady dealings regarding her husband's work. The first three episodes premiered together, so with "Funeralia" being the third, it had to end well. It did just that by having Cassie come face to face with Miranda for the first time.
The second episode of the season, "Rabbits," centers on Cassie's attempts to remember the night of Alex's death. All she knows is that a third person was with them but she struggles to figure out who it was or why they were there. She even makes an ill-fated attempt to infiltrate Alex's office.
This marks the first true appearance of Annie, who only has a small role in the first episode. Here, fans get to see her at work as a lawyer and as a friend to Cassie, establishing herself as the voice of reason. The FBI questions Cassie, who goes against Annie's wishes and blurts out everything that she knows, but she lies about Alex being alive when she left the hotel.
It's always important for a new show to get off on the right foot. The Flight Attendant does that with "In Case of Emergency," which sets the tone for what kind of series this is. Everything from wacky plot twists to the visions that go on in Cassie's head to Cassie's bad choices are all explored.
It also does a quality job of explaining Cassie's various relationships from how she feels about her brother to her feelings about Megan. This installment reveals that someone was with her and Alex, as well as lays out Cassie's destructive tendencies like trying to flee before talking to the FBI.
After debuting with the first three episodes on the same day, the following week had to keep up the momentum. Two episodes aired, with "Other People's Houses" being the latter. Having to hold viewers off for another week, the episode ends on the shocking moment of Max getting hit by a car.
Despite not being a main character, Max quickly becomes likable and this tragedy befalling him is crushing to see. While Cassie is chased down by Miranda and the FBI, the supporting characters come to shine as well. Annie must deal with a favor to a dangerous client, while Megan begins to struggle with her actions.
The season finale of The Flight Attendant starts on the right foot and doesn't really let up. After finding out something startling, Cassie and Miranda put their plan into execution. Things go awry when Miranda leaves to deal with the villainous Victor, leaving Cassie alone on a plane to Rome.
Once in Rome, Cassie comes face to face with Felix, who was the person that killed Alex. As she fights for her life there, Annie works with FBI agents Hammond and White to solve the case in the United States. Shockingly, Shane shows up in Rome and shoots Felix, revealing himself to be an undercover CIA agent. He was investigating Megan, who ends the season on the run for treason.
Like a lot of shows, the penultimate episode of a season happened to be the best. "Hitchcock Double" kind of sees everything come together. Cassie forms an unlikely partnership with Miranda, which ends up leading to some of the best and most fun scenes of the show.
Cassie also comes to terms with her actions in her youth and makes up with Annie. The show also saves its most shocking twist for the final moments here. As Miranda and Cassie contemplate fleeing the country, they are hunted down by Felix, only for it to be revealed that Felix is actually Buckley, the man Cassie was hooking up with.
