The Flight Attendant Review: After Dark / Hitchcock Double (Season 1 Episodes 6 and 7)

Things are getting real! The Flight Attendant Season 1 Episode 6, “After Dark,” and The Flight Attendant Season 1 Episode 7, “Hitchcock Double,” see Cassie break down and then gather herself back up in an attempt to solve the problems. 

“After Dark” was directed by Batan Silva and written by Jess Meyer and “Hitchcock Double” was directed by Marcos Siega and written by Meredith Lavender & Marcie Ulin. 

We pick up right after the events of The Flight Attendant Season 1 Episode 5, “Other People’s Houses” with Max in the hospital and Cassie and Annie having a falling out. The scenes that transpire between the best friends are completely relatable and understandable.

Zosia Mamet is terrific in these opening scenes. It’s very clear from what we’ve seen of Annie that she’s very stoic and takes her work very seriously, but seeing her annoyed is an entirely different environment.

Trying to see things from Annie’s perspective requires the viewer to have a bit of empathy since we’re constantly following Cassie. We’ve seen what Cassie has seen and gotten her perspective of events. There’s nothing for us to doubt.

Annie, on the other hand, is coming to grips with losing various parts of her life, including the person she loves. This is in tribute to decisions made by the directors and writers throughout, who have given us so much insight into Cassie that we see everyone through her lens.

When Annie declares that she loves Max, our reaction may as well mirror Cassie’s say, “What? Really?” 

We’re glad that Max survived, if only so that we have an excuse to stay with Annie a little longer as she wrestles through her crisis of conscience. Having Annie turn in her letter of resignation feels like the right move for her, but it also feels ill-timed.

It’s hard to tell as we head off into the final episode if there’s a space for Annie or if her story has concluded where it is. 

Cassie’s story is definitely moving in a different direction and it starts with acceptance. 

“After Dark” is very much a story of rock bottom, with Cassie attempting to run away from the problems she’s caused in her life. It’s less investigation and more downward spiral into Cassie’s past.

We see her father’s accident and some of her memories of Davey as the haze starts to fade and they crystallize into sharp focus. Kaley Cuoco gives an impressive performance as Cassie swings from happily drunk to sobbing in the realization that her upbringing wasn’t normal, and that she may have played a part in Davey’s suffering as well. 

It’s a heavy episode and a very necessary one for the series. 

Now that Cassie has realized that her memory isn’t infallible, she can attempt to move onward, but that’s going to be hard when the person who’s hunting you down is the one who bails you out of prison. 

“Hitchcock Double” is where the series takes a turn and subverts our expectations. This is the first episode where we really get to see Miranda for more than five minutes at a time. We get the explanation from her perspective, and above all, we get to see her and Cassie work together. 

This unlikely pair is an enjoyable tag team to watch. Michelle Gomez’s comedic wit comes out on this episode as Miranda tries to talk Cassie down. It’s not comforting, and it’s not reassuring, but the razor’s edge works for Miranda.

Listening to Miranda answer Annie’s questions is the perfect amount of levity for this series.

Not only was their moment of confusion absolutely realistic considering the amount of gaslighting Cassie has endured, but listening to Miranda’s blunt honesty makes any lies she tells seem truthful. 

Miranda is also the kind of aid Cassie needs. Cassie has done okay at staying alive, but Miranda knows that somehow this girl is going to end up dead. She’s not without motive, she wants the money that Alex stole, but listening to her correct some of Cassie’s ideas is the kind of sobering voice the flight attendant needs to get out of this mess. 

Watching the pair attempt to get out of the jam underscores the similarity I pointed out while watching last week’s episode. Miranda and Cassie are cut from different cloths but have the same nature. They’re both good at running.

The difference, in this case, is that Cassie wants to stay. 

Listening to Cassie attempt to find a solution opposite Miranda’s pessimism is enjoyable.

It’s also the most cogent that Cassie has been since The Flight Attendant Season 1 Episode 1, “In Case of Emergency.” She’s throwing out solutions that would work, but Miranda also knows her employers and her stark response of “We’ll die!” is the perfect punctuation to get Cassie to keep thinking.

As fun as it is to see these two run around New York City attempting to escape Victor’s henchman Felix, there had to be one more twist to be had, and that’s Felix’s identity. 

You don’t hear a story about multiple dead cats every single day, so when Miranda brings up how Felix was feared because he killed a bunch of cats, it’s no surprise that bells go off in Cassie’s mind.

The fact that she’s somehow fallen into Felix’s crosshairs without realizing that Felix was really the one wreaking havoc in her wake, feels appropriate. After all, how many thrillers have you seen where someone is actually innocent the entire time? 

More importantly, how many final plans actually go as expected? 

Just because Miranda and Cassie have a plan to thwart Felix doesn’t mean they’ll both exit this series alive. As much as we may have enjoyed watching Cassie’s amateur detective work, and were intrigued by the mystery of Miranda, we needed something more and there are probably a few more twists to come. 

It’s a mistake to completely trust Miranda. As discussed, she has her own motives here, and she knows Cassie isn’t trained in any kind of self-defense. I’m willing to bet Miranda’s greed means she’s willing to sacrifice Cassie if it comes down to it. 

In fact, I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if she didn’t drop the book on purpose. The camera did show us placing it in her pocket where it must have been pretty secure. 

Stray Thoughts:

• Petition to make Miranda Croft 2020’s spirit animal? 
• Miranda, your friend is right, that’s not your cat anymore.
• What would your reaction be to getting killed by a Felix?
• Meghan’s concern about getting her husband into trouble is a great end, but it also underscores how she’s different from Cassie. She says that she admires how Cassie does what she wants, but clearly, she’s gone a step too far.
• It’s starting to feel like the FBI wants to be threatening, but isn’t really doing anything. Considering they’re always supposed to “get their man” in the end I really hope that there’s an impressive way to reveal that the fingerprint they’re so eagerly waiting for isn’t Cassie’s.

What did you think of these episodes of The Flight Attendant? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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New episodes of The Flight Attendant air Thursdays on HBO Max. 

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