Breaking Down the Thrilling Ending of Hijack Season 2

“Nothing exciting ever happens on the U5,” a security officer remarks in Apple TV’s Hijack. That character has clearly never seen the show. After the first season found Sam Nelson (Idris Elba) unwittingly involved in the hijacking of a plane, Season 2 of the show takes things underground, as Sam is part of a hijacking of a U-Bahn subway train in Berlin, specifically on the U5 route. This time, Sam is leading the hijack rather than trying to stop it. That’s because someone else is pulling the strings, forcing Sam to comply with the plan by threatening to kill his ex-wife, Marsha (Christine Adams), if he doesn’t.

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Sam has to get the train to the end of the line, where he can exchange the lives of the hostages for John Bailey-Brown (Ian Burfield), who helped organize Season 1’s Kingdom flight hijacking. Bailey-Brown is responsible for the murder of Sam’s son Kai, meaning in order to save his ex-wife, he’ll have to help free the man that killed his son.

In the penultimate episode of Season 2, we discover that the person organizing the hijack is none other than Robert Lang (Arsher Ali), an MI5 agent who’s working with Stuart Atterton (Neil Maskell), who was arrested in his failed effort to hijack the plane in the first season. He was thwarted by Sam two years ago, and Atterton has been desperate for revenge ever since, and has spent his time behind bars planning Sam’s downfall. 

In the Season 2 finale, the hijacked train full of hostages has finally reached the end of the line, and the handoff can happen. Though Sam successfully jettisoned dozens of hostages off the train, ensuring their safety, there are still over 100 passengers on board. But Sam hasn’t received an update on Marsha’s well-being; she’s still in danger and being actively pursued by hired hands of Atterton’s Cheapside Firm. Still, Sam agrees to let the passengers off one-by-one. 

They all get off safely, but something about the handoff feels wrong: Bailey-Brown, the man this whole operation was designed to free, doesn’t seem to know what’s going on, suggesting that he, too, is a pawn in a larger game designed by Lang and Atterton. Atterton wanted to use the hijacking as an opportunity to take out not only Sam but Bailey-Brown, removing any other trace of the Kingdom hijacking in the first season, and establishing his dominance over the Cheapside Firm, an international crime syndicate based in London. 

Lang is the man with the detonator, and since he’s the one who brings Bailey-Brown on the train, Sam senses an opportunity. He believes that Lang won’t blow himself up, allowing him to take down Lang and ensure his survival, as well as train driver Otto (Christian Näthe. Sam finally gets the opportunity to confront Bailey-Brown for killing his son, Kai. Strangely, Bailey-Brown laughs at the accusation. “Is that what he’s made you think?” Bailey-Brown asks Sam, revealing that he didn’t kill Sam’s son. Instead, it was a lie told by Lang to get Sam to do their bidding and hijack the train.

Meanwhile, Marsha sneaks back to the cabin and creates a large controlled fire outdoors to get the attention of the rescue helicopter—though it also attracts the two assailants hired to capture Marsha. But before they can get Marsha, the helicopter arrives in the nick of time. The hired hands surrender, and Marsha escapes alive. 

Lang gets off the train and, once at a safe distance, detonates the explosive. Though Bailey-Brown was still on the train and dies in the explosion, both Otto and Sam survive. Lang, however, thinks they’re all dead.  

Lang calls Atterton, who’s in his prison cell with a smuggled phone, to tell him the job is done and that both Bailey-Brown and Sam have been terminated. Though Atterton is angry Lang called him—“I call you, you know the system,” he tells Lang—he doesn’t hang up. Atterton doesn’t realize his room is wiretapped, and the police are listening in on the conversation. They now have irrefutable evidence of both Lang and Atterton’s involvement in the Berlin hijacking. Lang demands more money and a safe route out of Berlin, as the police know he’s involved. But before he can continue the conversation with Atterton, he discovers Sam, whom he thought he had blown up, is chasing him.

Lang escapes to street level and is pursued by Sam. After a short chase, the pair find themselves face-to-face with the German police and Faber. “It’s all over now,” Faber shouts at Lang, who refuses to get on his knees with his hands above his head (something Sam agrees to with no hesitation). Lang gets a call from Atterton and says to Sam, “You know he’s never going to stop.” The police issue a final warning to Lang, telling him they’ll shoot if he moves. Knowing there’s no way out, Lang attempts to answer the phone and is shot dead by police.

Atterton’s cell is disrupted, and he’s taken to the ground by police officers. Detective O’Farrell (Max Beesley), Marsha’s boyfriend, takes great pleasure in informing Atterton that both Marsha and Sam are still alive, meaning that Atterton’s plan accomplished nothing but failure. He walks away from Atterton, who furiously shouts threats at O’Farrell while proclaiming his own importance. But as he’s held to the ground by police officers after a second failed hijacking, his words feel more hollow than ever. It seems that Atterton’s well and truly finished, making a future hijacking scenario unlikely. 

At the end of the episode, Faber looks over Lang’s dead body. “I was blinded by obsession,” he says, disappointed at his own failure to recognize Faber’s betrayal. “So was I,” adds Sam. The two will have a lot to process after the events in Berlin, especially Sam, who’s endured his second unthinkable hijacking situation in a single lifetime. Thankfully for Sam, Season 2 of Hijack ends on a hopeful note. He’s reunited with Olivia, who gives him his phone. She tells him that Marsha is safe. Sam calls his ex-wife, who’s extremely relieved to hear he’s ok. He tells Marsha he’s right there with her, and the season ends.