While I’ve been up and down on the second season of Hijack, I truly held out hope that it would reach a thrilling conclusion. My main criticism has been that this feels like a movie script stretched way past its breaking point to cover eight episodes, but even an action movie screenplay usually ends with some visceral thrills that can make the previous dull spots fade away. Hijack barely provides that. There are almost no revelations, a death of a mediocre bad guy, and a predictable conclusion. It’s a disappointing end to a season that felt half-hearted all along and one that makes almost no logical sense when one considers the ridiculous machinations and coincidences required for its evil mastermind’s plan to conceivably work.
Let’s start there. Now that all the twists have finally been taken, here’s the plan that led to Sam Nelson hijacking a Berlin commuter train: Stuart Atterton, the head hijacker of Kingdom Airlines Flight 29 from last season, has been a seething cauldron of vengeance behind bars but somehow has remained funded enough to not only buy off a guard there but an MI5 agent named Robert Lang (Arsher Ali). Atterton collaborates with Lang to kill the two men he blames most for his downfall: Sam Nelson and John Bailey-Brown, the co-head of Cheapside, the syndicate behind last season’s hijacking. Their plan involves the death of Sam’s son, who they either killed in a hit-and-run or just took that opportunity to blame that accident on Bailey-Brown, turning Sam into a patsy that the authorities would believe wanted his son’s killer dead.
On the anniversary of Kai’s death, Stuart and Lang’s team convince Sam that his estranged wife Marsha is in enough mortal jeopardy that he needs to hijack a train, using the hostages to convince German authorities to bring Bailey-Brown to the bomb-strapped vehicle. Lang will then blow up the train, killing both Nelson and Bailey-Brown in one boom. It’s one of the most convoluted, improbable plans in action movie/TV history. However, the truth is that if the execution of this ludicrous plot had been tighter, it wouldn’t be as noticeable. We’re all willing to suspend disbelief if the thrills are there. It’s a product of the slack pacing of the season that one pauses to think how unlikely it is that any of this would happen.
Let’s start with what worked in this season of Hijack. There are some cool shots of the train running through the snowy German night after it comes above ground in the finale. Overall, this episode, and much of the season, has had a strong visual language, loving the shadows cast by the way different lights hit moving trains. The directors also use music well, both the score and needle drops, particularly over the closing credits. It’s not a matter of technical execution that sinks Hijack; it’s a script that barely justifies two hours of action pushed to eight. To be fair, the technical teams do the best they can to keep audiences connected through their craft.
And the performers are equally blameless. Yes, this won’t make the highlight reel when Idris Elba gets a lifetime-achievement award, but he’s certainly not bad, anchoring the season with a world-weary strength that captures a man who may bend but never breaks. Even better is season MVP Christian Näthe as Otto, the train conductor who participated for the money but also ends up with a chance to play the hero. Näthe really understands a man who was clearly reluctant from the beginning of the operation, even if requiring so much of a normal guy for hire is yet another thing that makes Stuart’s plot feel a bit inane.
The supporting ensemble is reasonably strong, too. Christiane Paul has the confidence to play a Berlin Federal Police Chief; Lisa Vicari conveyed the anxiety of being the dispatcher who gets Sam’s call; Clare-Hope Ashitey, Karima McAdams, Christian Berkel, and Arsher Ali all filled their roles well; and Toby Jones is pretty much always a welcome presence, a reliable professional who I’m sorry for suspecting was a part of the devious plan just because he’s been so in other projects.
As far as wasted cast members, that could be said about pretty much everyone in the Marsha subplot. Christine Adams gets little to do but flee. Max Beesley is just there to put pressure on Stuart and overhear the mastermind calling about his plan in truly remarkable coincidence. And that’s more than can be said of Archie Panjabi, who could have sat out this return as Zahra Gahfoor and no one would have noticed. She’s a better actor than this character, who has almost no impact on the plot whatsoever.
Where does Hijack go from here? There’s a bit of a threat in Lang’s speech at the end about how Stuart will never stop, implying he may try to orchestrate another plan to get Sam and Marsha Nelson, who he’s convinced destroyed his life. Could Stuart mastermind a third hijacking that involves Sam? If he does, the writers would be smart to set those stakes right from the beginning. Hijack works best as a hero-versus-villain tale without the fake outs and slow reveals that dragged down much of this season. Get Sam and/or Marsha aboard something else—a ship, a bus, a Wienermobile, it doesn’t matter—and make it clear that Stuart wants them dead and will take out a vehicle full of hostages to do so.
If this season ends up being a transitional one that strengthens the villain role for Stuart in a third outing, it may have been worth the trip. But the writers and producers need to tighten things up to get the suspense they want. Yes, the critical talking point of “should this have just been a movie” seems a bit overdone in today’s market, but the best action shows find their way to answer the question by justifying their length. And that’s where Hijack comes up way short of its destination. Maybe make the next season six episodes instead.
Stray observations
- • The final music cue is one of my favorites of both seasons: “Don’t Go To Strangers” by J.J. Cale. They really do dig up some impressive deep cuts on this show, and the opening credits track of “Kiss The Sky” by Shawn Lee’s Ping Pong Orchestra is a banger, too.
- • Is John Bailey-Brown dead? He was handcuffed to a pole on a train that exploded, so probably? At least Stuart got that half of the plan done.
- • One of the weirdest plot points in a season full of them has to be that Jess was actually a Moroccan Special Forces agent who had a tattoo of the logo of the pub in which this plan was put in motion, which allows them to connect the dots to inside man Robert Lang. Do people get tattoos of locations where they initiate evil plans often? And the suggestion that Sam left the coaster of that location as a breadcrumb to the authorities? Also strange. It’s really just a quick way to make Faber more suspicious that it’s one of his men, but he should have connected those dots without skin ink.
Brian Tallerico is a contributor to The A.V. Club.