After Some Early Turbulence, HBO Max's "The Flight Attendant" Has Leveled Off

In The Flight Attendant Cuoco39s character Cassie the titular flight attendant is more or less a total mess They sell it to you like she39s just a reckless party girl who maybe has too much fun at first but as things progress it becomes clear that she39s been on a destructive path for a while Anyway she ends up flirting with a charming passenger named Alex Sokolov Huisman with whom she ends up going out later that night After a whirlwind of drinks dinner and dancing they retire for the night at Alex39s only for Cassie to find lover boy dead his throat slit right where they slept when she wakes up the following morning What follows is basically a montage of Cassie making every damn mistake that someone could possibly make in a situation like that almost frustratingly so at timesThe hook of this show is the actual unraveling of the mystery itself It took time to get into that though because everything during the flawed first episode was overshadowed by the absence of any reason why viewers should care at all about this chick Cassie There also was some early ambiguity around the intended tone of the show but that may have been the effect of seeing Cuoco in a role that wasn39t all that different from the woman she played on BBT If they had HBO39d it up a little at the start it might have shaken that feeling and made for more impactful storytelling at the top and that might have lessened the PG13ish vibe that hung over itFortunately that all seemed to drop away by the end of the second episodeOnce it was quoton it39s legsquot or quotin the airquot so to speak the momentum TFA gained became its saving grace Now we have the FBI breathing down Cassie39s neck we have her best friend and lawyer Annie Mamet involved to an overtly dangerous degree we have Megan Perez a coworker of Cassie39s in a subplot where she39s doing corporate espionage on her husband39s company for some shady international types and all the while a woman named Miranda Gomez is doing her damnedest to get to Cassie and shut her up once and for allAnd then there is Cassie39s deteriorating mental state and the fact that she39s been working things out via hallucinations of Alex that seem to stem from memories she barely has of him from just one night together Turns out that just like Alex39s mysterious death there was a lot more going on in this show than just how it seemed in the beginningSomewhere during that second and even the third episode actual character development started to take place and the parts that seemed to feel thin suddenly had substance Now the show is moving right along leaving the audience not only with solid cliffhangers but also a balance of dramatic tension and comic relief that doesn39t feel awkward or forcedAfter a rough climb this plane has leveled outAll of that said I do have one or two questions For example why is Cassie so hung up on Alex It39s clearly a question that the writers meant for viewers to be asking themselves but seriously amp8230 why She had one date with the man and the entire premise of the show is that he was some charming stranger for like I don39t know six hours and then only existed as both the reminder and cause of the most traumatic night of her life a night that she can barely even remember She39s a single adult woman so I doubt this is her first onenight stand so why did he make such a big impression It39s probably because having Cassie talk to herself via a projection of his character in her mind is a way more entertaining way of disseminating exposition than say just having her talk to her own reflection or worse her breaking the fourth wall and talking directly to usTFA did what good shows do It grew on me Now the only question is how many seasons will this series get to fly Given what39s happened in the story so far I can39t imagine them dragging this Alex thing too far into the next season I mean the name of the show is The Flight Attendant not Passenger 3C so odds are we39ll find Cassie bumbling her way into yet another high stakes mystery that she39ll spend another whole season only making worse But who knows I could be wrong Either way The Flight Attendant is a trip and with only three episodes left I guess I39m onboard with finding outClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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After Some Early Turbulence, HBO Max's "The Flight Attendant" Has Leveled Off

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Ainsley Andrade

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After Some Early Turbulence, HBO Max's "The Flight Attendant" Has Leveled Off

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Ainsley Andrade

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