The Flight Attendant Review: Conspiracy Theories / Other People’s Houses (Season 1 Episodes 4 and 5)
Cassie is getting in deep on the next installment of The Flight Attendant.
This week, Cassie gets deep into the Lionfish conspiracy on the aptly titled The Flight Attendant Season 1 Episode 4, “Conspiracy Theories,” and then seeks out information on The Flight Attendant Season 1 Episode 5, “Other People’s Houses.”
“Conspiracy Theories” was directed by John Strickland and written by Ian Weinreich. “Other People’s Houses” was directed by Glen Winter and written by Ticona S. Joy.
Unlike last week’s pair of episodes, these two seem much more cohesive. There’s a sense of urgency for Cassie to figure out what’s happening, and as that clock ticks, the audience is taken on a swift ride that isn’t afraid to stop for some comedic beats while also cluing the audience in to the character’s emotional trauma.
“Conspiracy Theories” does a particularly great job of this by using the visit with Cassie’s brother Davey to highlight some of the was Cassie’s memory isn’t reliable.
The aquarium and subsequent dinner hold a range of emotions. Kaley Cuoco shifts from the jubilant Aunt to the amateur sleuth so well and it’s a delight to watch. The dinner scene between Davey and Cassie is heavy with anger and resentment. Cuoco and T.R. Knight play on-screen siblings really well, and that aids in the gravity of the scene.
It also helps that we see Cassie caring about something outside of herself. She loves her nieces and she wants them to be happy. She knows she’s losing that connection and doesn’t want to, but isn’t sure what to do.
Cassie has become an unreliable narrator to everyone, but the audience and the fact that no one can take her word at face-value speaks volumes about the person she was before we encountered her on The Flight Attendant Season 1 Episode 1, “In Case of Emergency.”
Miranda is on a similar trajectory in these episodes. Michelle Gomez carries Miranda very well, with a presence that is both unassuming and intimidating. The “Conspiracy Theories” chase scene that starts with Cassie flicking a shoe at Miranda’s hand is unexpected in how it’s cut, but Gomez gives Miranda razer sharp moves as she navigates through the crowd.
On these episodes, we know that Miranda is in hot water as well.
All of the preposition sets Miranda up as an intimidating character and Gomez embodies that energy well. A good example is when she shows up at Sabrina’s apartment with cupcakes. It’s a gesture that would be sweet, but we know this woman is dangerous, and something is probably in the cupcakes.
The conversations Miranda has with Victor make it very clear that she is, or used to be, the reliable asset that most people would consider a scalpel, but when they say she’s getting sloppy it humanizes her a bit.
It also doesn’t hurt that when Victor calls her on the rooftop, he interrupts a meditation tape. Proving that shadow agents have as much stress and anxiety as the rest of us.
So much about Miranda remains to be discovered and that’s what makes the story of these two women intriguing. It’s further helped by the fact that Cassie and Miranda are not dissimilar. They are both constant travelers for their work, and they both have anonymity to them that they use to their advantage.
The difference is, while Cassie tends to leave a trail of chaos where she goes, Miranda doesn’t put down roots and “hates to leave anything behind.”
Outside of Cassie and Miranda, the other characters all have interesting arcs as well.
Rosie Perez’s Meghan is going deep into the rabbit hole of corporate espionage. The way Perez turns Meghan around when she’s seemingly backed against the wall is absolutely skillful, and a delightful reprieve to the tension of the episode.
It does feel like her espionage may be getting lost in the shuffle, and it’s hard to see how this is going to come together.
Zosia Mamet delivers a very harrowing performance when Annie is called in to repay the favor to her firm’s client. There is anxiety in every moment of Mamet’s performance right up until the handoff to the prisoner. When the contents are revealed and she realizes what she’s done, it shakes her.
The emotional message she leaves Max at the end of “Other People’s Houses” is just the right gut-punch to end the episode on and it’s definitely going to push her and Cassie’s relationship in a different direction.
Let’s not forget Deniz Akdeniz a Max who will go into the 2020 television books as a character that was too good to last.
Max was a form of unconditional support for Cassie, and he hardly knew her. That amount of trust is special and exceptional. (I’d even argue it the kind of thing you only see in film and TV.)
The way he dove into the trash with Cassie and started taping the papers together, making the casual remark that this would be better if they were high, just shows how similar their energies are.
However, there is also no denying that he was a very convenient character. He had all the skills that Cassie needed conveniently at hand, and while his relationship with Annie seemed cute, it’s hard to buy that he would just leap into this adventure in this way.
While he is clearly the sacrifice we need to push this story to a critical mass, it is hard to see him go. He was a valuable asset that’s sure to be missed.
The Flight Attendant is now halfway through its run, and it continues to pace itself remarkably. It weaves Cassie’s memories in well, gives us a dose of humor, and keeps us on the edge of our seats all at the same time while keeping different pieces of the puzzle active.
Stray Thoughts:
- The fact that the FBI doesn’t show up for most of these two episodes is to the series’ benefit. The FBI is essential to close this story up, but most of their role in the first five episodes has been to shake down Cassie and deliver exposition. When they showed up at Sabrina’s apartment, it’s almost easy to say, “Oh right, those guys.”
- I think all spies should use Hello Kitty Thumb Drives to do all their work. It adds a touch of whimsy that you wouldn’t normally expect.
- Miranda smashing Alex’s computer is a 2020 mood!
- Oh, Buckley. Sweet, naive, Buckley. Stay away until she figures out how to deal with the paper Alexander works for.
What did you think of this episode of The Flight Attendant? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Lauren Busser
Lauren Busser is an Associate Editor at Tell-Tale TV. She is a writer of fiction and nonfiction whose work has appeared in Bitch Media, Popshot Quarterly, Brain Mill Press Voices, and The Hartford Courant.
One thought on “The Flight Attendant Review: Conspiracy Theories / Other People’s Houses (Season 1 Episodes 4 and 5)”
P.S. The show went borderline reverse-“fridging”, you know, the so-called fridging theory by the likes of feminist critics of fiction-writing and somesuch..
…And given this is from “BerlantiVerse”, one really hope it does not go anywhere farther from that.
In all of the episodes thus far, we saw the motifs of flashback as Cassandra lo-lo-loves to remember those memories but by the end, “Alex Sokolov” — which, let’s face it, unless you buy FBI “white cisguy” Agent literally-surnamed White, even if the case is about a subverted-“dumb as a rock blonde” trope-y character of a POI, which he believes to be the one-&-only suspect about to be caught any moment — is nothing but a figment of her imagination since he was a total-stranger because of her constantly omnipresent celebration-culture addled mistakes, the miniseries-kickstarting was him being murdered without she even having even made a sound presumably sleeping( literally!) buck-naked right next to him by the bedside, is a personification of her subconscious: So whether it’s a creative-choice based out of source-material or simply ‘cus the actor “looks pret-ty” and apparently is high-profile enough to charge his fee and get the topmost-billing in all of cismen starring thespians in the miniseries: There has been nothing as damaging as what happened to her by the end of this episode.
We know that ‘cus even if Max wasn’t present in the episode since the very-first episode, we know that he matters to her bestie Annie and has already been established as caring enough about Annie to the extent of even intervening, as a bridge-of-sorts, when she and the eponymous-character are already having trust-issues in spite of their deep-seated history before the timeline of this series. So unless the miniseries crosses the line from psychological thriller to the fantastical( not adjective, but name of the genre!) territory given “it’s Berlanti” or whatchamacallit, he is going to suffer grievous-enough injuries and that too, in a episode where the showrunner Mr Yockey, the WGA West-credited teleplay writer in co-producer Ms Ticona S Joy and must’ve been contributed to by the rest of writers’ room — it is more than overt that the ATL TPTBs are cognisant of the themes of this miniseries which, a-gain, starts as the very building point of character-study in this dramedy mystery crime-thriller and therefore, this episode was most-overt about the character’s very origin-story( “BerlantiVerse” is known Best for superheroes, riiighhht?) based on a self-assured delusion — and therefore, the very title of the miniseries’ mythology being premised on the foundation of a self-consoling lie. And I dunno whether the motif was thought of to connect with the cliffhanger after the whole episode being written, since they are evidently filmed in other production-schedule — but it was certainly to be establish the truth about the show’s title itself being a misnomer as the show’s hitherto unlikeable, self-destructive lead-character has had led a trail of death-&-destruction in her wake since the very premise of the source-material. However.. None has been as been as personally-damaging to her support-system, one may dare even call her “life-support” system since she acts Best as a trouble-magnet zombie or an AI, reliant on her BFF Annie — is more-than-enough to push her over-the-ledge. And the last few-minutes of oh-so-shocking developments culminating in Cass and Max presumably running for their lives before the hit-&-running car conspicuously arrives on a deserted alley with her mind flashing back to that episode-starting memory even in that adreline-fuelled state of her body( is that how brain really works? I mean, I do have first-hand experience [very very very Thankfully ]so I do not how a chronic-alcoholic’s mind works differently to an average neurotypical person, but you would think even a chronic-alcoholic would have enough of survival-instincts to focus on saving herself instead of flashing back to a moment, as pivotal as it is — belies belief given how she came-up with the route to presumably attempted-escape in spite of no hint of ever having that part of the neighbourhood ever before — let alone that creekside warehouse). But that’s what I meant by this plot entering the “fantastical” territory. Even if you don’t care enough for Max that you would not feel Cassie detestably unlike antihero[ine] ‘cus of her getting him killed, the writers are cognisant of the sociological aspects of this series and that’s why — those last-few minutes contained both of the most-creative usage of both flashback-motifs, and not-so-unique real-time visualisation style of this show hitherto: Bar none. The writers do not want us to “but” and “if” Cass’ liability in what went down just ‘cus she’s the main-character or she’s only “a ciswoman who just happens to unwittingly get a cisman killed” which, as I also mentioned already, is also baked into the very premise of alive Alex’s murder sometime after their one-night stand. Max might be a recurring character, but in short-enough time — the ATL TPTBs have done well enough to establish him as not just a “rando” and use him as a contrast to reflect the daylight between the 2 besties Annie, and Cassie’s friendship in spite of their starkly-different lives. Getting him grievously-injured is more than enough to drive a wedge between Annie, which a-gain, as I referenced already, is already present there with her disbelief at Cassie’s endless stream-of-troubles and ever-developing( read muddled) conspiracy-theories which from Annie’s PoV, very-understandably sets Cassie up as a loved-one at the verge of a complete psychological-collapse even as she can’t seem to want to even take an hour’s rest from her conspiratorial hypotheses and the increasing number of body-count wherever she turns out to be present ALWAYS ‘accidentally’. And therefore, between the very-thin tether of Annie only doing it for the sake of their friendship in spite of not believing her( “a friend in need..” and all that) serves as the bridge between the two. So with the grievous-injury ensuring his absence more than enough, there’s no need for him to be killed-off even by the end of following episode or the one after that as the writers have pulled-out no stops to ensure that this is beyond a veritable deal-breaker between the two best-friends, given the currently-functioning bridge which has been almost entirely destroyed significantly out of one’s fault by the end of this episode. In other words, what is clear that killing-off Max won’t just make Cass a sociopath antihero who can be taken as seriously as one takes anachronistical-misogynist Late Mr Doyle Sherlock and his own rock, Watson — at Best. It would make her worse given she convinced her unending subconscious-sadism to get others in-trouble for not-justifiable-enough in her Best frame-of-mind we have possibly seen[ as yet]: “For Annie?” She goes? The writers made it clear that even for a character as sympathetic to the audiences and as crucial to herself in-universe, it was actually like: ‘Would you be my yet-another cannon-fodder?’ And by pushing Annie over-the-ledge, who’s gonna help her? “Miranda Croft” is more-than-clearly a ruthless-assassin, the comparisons with Sōkolōvs and other vested-interests notwithstanding. So her being yet-another one of the possible targets is hardly enough for them to join forces anything remotely more than self-interests at the very foundation of their predicated to be ill-fated alliance. Assuming she turns herself to the FBI or the Agent Kimberly “Kim” Hammond who, irrespective of the unclear dynamics of career-longevity with her partner: Has good-enough reasons spelt-out over why she has to always act ‘once bitten, twice shy’ over his partner Agent White. So how much of else could she possibly of help? She is certainly on to something, but innumerable miles beyond, say.. Annie. Let alone Max. Need I bring up “Miranda”, a-gain? So who else is left? Her brother? Sōkolōvs? The intimating, enigmatic mob-boss of Cecilia and “Miranda” played by apparently-typecast Mr Richard “Ritche” Coster? Buckley? The rotting corpse of Alex dug-up from the grave? Errmmm.. Should I keep throwing names around?
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