Season 2's The Flight Attendant takes a more serious look at Cassie's alcoholism and the long haul to self-acceptance
It also has some good comedy and crime, with our favorite anti-hero.
In the first season of HBO Max’s The Flight Attendant, an adaptation based on NY Times bestselling author, Chris Bohjalian’s book, Kaley Cuoco (Penny in Big Bang Theory and John Ritter’s daughter in 8 Simple Rules) takes some big swings doubling her duties as Exec Producer and the anti-heroine star of the dramedy about a flight attendant who is hell bent on her own destruction, as judged by many, many poor decisions, but so empathetically flawed and charismatic that you are immediately drawn to her orbit.
In good celestial company, you’ll find yourself. Since the other key talents to grace the screen include Zosia Mamet, last seen in HBO’s other conceived-by-a-Millennial drama, Girls, as Shoshanna, who stole that show we can all unanimously agree, and does great work in this one as well. Rosie Perez is also on the show in a prime role and was nominated for an Emmy for her portrayal of Cassie’s work friend, Megan.
Side note: Any scene in which Mamet is apart of, has you doing a big <sigh> because she will bring it and bring it she does as the anti-effervescent Annie, who is besties with Cuoco’s Cassie. Theirs is a love story without a ton of conditions, apart from the occasional Annie refrain to Cassie of “Can you make sure you don’t kill my boyfriend, Max.” I mean look at Max, (exhibit A) - we get it. And plus he’s like a super genius hacker who can turn on and off the entire electrical grid of a city in like 5 seconds flat. This comes in very handy as he’s a key member of Scooby Doo gang alongside Cassie, Annie, and Shane (another flight attendant), who is such a fun and good foil for Cassie.
The drama set forth in the first season is fueled by Cassie’s (Cuoco’s character) drunken escapades with a male passenger from her flight, that she then precedes to have a night out on the town with. That man’s name is Alex Sokolov (Michiel Huisman) and after a hard night of drinking and loving, Cassie wakes up in bed next to his bludgeoned body without any recollection of what transpired, because she has had an alcohol-related blackout.
In addition to this show’s fast pace and Cassie’s Breaking Bad like tendencies to dig herself into deeper and deeper bad shit through a series of questionable decisions, with little awareness of just how bad a situation she’s in, where this show starts to diverge from the Ozark, Breaking Bad, Kevin Can F**k Himself, school of serious to dire consequences, is the dark turn it takes with Cassie’s alcoholism.
The way the show creatively handles Cassie’s inner demons/critic/self-hate, is with multiple Cassies manifesting themselves at rather inconvenient times. The show asks us to pause, put our desire to see the plot furthered to the side, and just bear witness to the discomfort of the inner dialogue Cassie is having in the make believe space (mind palace) of her head.
I’ve found myself having an antagonistic relationship with these scenes, at times. In the first season, dead Alex is playing Cassie’s coach and trying to help her solve his death by making afterlife cameo’s in Cassie’s mind palace, but as the storyline progresses we see more variations of Cassies - the hard partying, thrill-seeking one; the sad, depressed one; the young, cynical, hurt Cassie whose dad gave her her first beer at like 9-years-old. It can be hard to sit through these scenes but I also think that’s the point. It’s not meant to be pretty. It’s meant to feel indulgent and icky and sobering because it’s acting as a vehicle for putting front and center the pathology of a hidden disease that is resulting in very disordered living. That’s different and I commend the show for being bold even if it feels uneven at times and over the top.
And yet, here we are in a ridiculous crime caper and that’s part of the story too which is likely the medicine we all need to make the hard, drunk parts feel less painful. And here’s Cassie, an adult, reconciling all these versions of herself, while trying to clear her name. This theme is consistent in both seasons of the show. It’s worth noting too that in addition to Perez being nominated for an Emmy, Cuoco was as well as was the entire show based on its first season.
Be sure to watch the show from its first season. You won’t be able to track the story otherwise. Season 2 ends on a note that could have finality but could also give way to more spy stories. Here’s hoping. I’ll be there. Oh and Sharon Stone as Cassie’s cold-hearted mama and Grey’s Anatomy T.R. Knight playing Cassie’s “perfect” brother Davey, makes for some family dysfunction that yes, I’m here for too.