The Flight Attendant miniseries comprises many twists and turns. This is an explainer on the occasions of the sequence finale and what they imply.
The Flight Attendant’s sequence finale “Arrivals and Departures” brings the sequence skillfully to a detailed, wrapping up the twists and turns of the central homicide thriller whereas additionally addressing the Show’s bigger emotional themes and character arcs. The HBO Max miniseries follows alcoholic flight attendant Cassie Bowden (Kaley Cuoco) as her life spirals uncontrolled after a drunken evening out with a passenger named Alex Sokolov. When she wakes up beside his useless physique the next morning, she steadily finds herself embroiled in a lot bigger conspiracy that threatens her sanity and her life.
A primary suspect in Alex’s homicide, Cassie spends The Flight Attendant season 1 desperately trying to find data that may exonerate her. Whereas attempting to trace down Miranda Croft (performed by Michelle Gomez), Alex’s enterprise affiliate, Cassie discovers a sophisticated conspiracy surrounding Alex’s dying and realizes her personal life is at risk. Regardless of her preliminary perception that Miranda killed Alex, Cassie finds an unlikely ally in her. Miranda explains that Felix, a murderer working for her boss, Victor, is the one who actually killed Alex and that he will likely be coming after Cassie’s subsequent. Whereas on the run, Cassie realizes that her boyfriend Buckley is definitely Felix, stalking her like he makes all his marks. Miranda and Cassie make a plan to go to Rome and lure Felix so Miranda can kill him. Miranda makes a pit cease to kill Victor and guarantee her personal freedom; however, she is injured and misses the flight, throwing their plans off stability.
In Rome, Cassie narrowly escapes an encounter with Felix, has a heartfelt and revealing dialog with Megan, and enlists her good Roman friend Enrico’s assistance. A dialogue with Enrico’s grandmother helps Cassie make a severe breakthrough regarding the childhood trauma that drove her to drink. She abandons her several little—bottles of vodka that she retains hidden in her purse, seemingly resolved to give up consuming. When Cassie and Enrico return to her lodge, Felix practically kills them each; however, Shane, certainly one of Cassie’s fellow flight attendants, arrives unexpectedly to save lots of the day. Everybody (even Felix) survives the incident, leaving Cassie to return to dwelling and manage her life once more. With Shane, Annie, and her brother Davey in her nook, Cassie appears towards a future that will likely be inevitably bumpy, however, in the end, brighter than ever earlier.
Who Is Felix?
Whereas the revelation that Cassie’s boyfriend Buckley is definitely psychopathic killer Felix happens within the penultimate episode of The Flight Attendant, “Hitchcock Double,” Felix’s journey is rarely chronologically defined till the sequence finale. Miranda tells Cassie she believes Felix is the one who killed Alex; however, the viewers don’t obtain concrete affirmation till “Arrivals and Departures,” when Victor, who ordered the hit on Alex, relays the main points. He confirms that Felix did certainly kill Alex; however, he did so earlier than getting a maintain of the cash Alex took. Cassie, having already taken it, left Felix empty-handed and unwittingly set the sequence’s occasions into movement. Later, when he’s about to kill Cassie, Felix retraces his steps, revealing to the viewers that he started stalking Cassie as early as Bangkok, following her all over the place after her evening with Alex. Cassie by no means noticed him following her due to she was all the time too drunk or distracted to note him, highlighting the methods during which Cassie’s alcoholic nature can have sudden penalties.
Felix confirms that he killed Sabrina and Agent Chavez, two victims viewers beforehand believed have been killed by Miranda. Disturbingly sufficient, Felix additionally appears to point to some precise romantic attachment to Cassie. He appears to be motivated not merely by way of obligation to Victor or his personal bloodlust but also by Cassie’s anger for ending their relationship. Whether or not this anger is genuinely felt or is simply an intimidation tactic is unclear; however, it’s indicative of merely how harmful and unhinged he’s. It also shows how Felix put items of himself into the Buckley persona, making him a real “Hitchcock double.” Although it is upsetting expertise that’s extra difficult than anticipated, Cassie and the viewers lastly be taught the entire reality about Felix.
Shane’s Involvement With The C.I.A
With Enrico incapacitated and Cassie at a bodily drawback towards a skilled killer, it’s Shane who finally ends up saving the day, arriving unexpectedly at Cassie’s lodge room with a gun and taking down Felix. Whereas Cassie recovers from the shock behind an ambulance, Shane reveals to her that he works with the C.I.A and initially started working with Imperial Atlantic to watch Megan, who has dedicated treason. Shane’s involvement with the C.I.A comes as a shock; nevertheless, it is smart {that a} federal company was trying into Megan, provided that she had been committing unlawful actions for a very long time and on a growing scale with no actual means to cover her id or actions from attainable authorities surveillance.
Shane’s presence reaffirms that there are certainly folks trying to shield others from hurt, even when it usually appears that folks like Cassie are on their very own, susceptible to being misplaced within the system, helpless. Much like Shane in this regard is Kim Hammond, an FBI agent who, when Cassie appears the almost definitely suspect, refuses to accept the simple reply and pursues the reality of Alex’s dying even when it seems unattainable.
Megan: What will happen to her in season 2?
Megan doesn’t get as uplifting an ending as Cassie does in The Flight Attendant’s finale. Whereas she and Cassie lastly come clear to one another in regards to the secrets and techniques they’ve been holding, Megan reveals loads about what motivated her to steal and promote data from Invoice’s firm to the North Korean authorities. Whereas at first, Megan thought there could be no hurt in her actions, the conspiracy started to develop greater and larger till it had spiraled out of her management. This lack of management mirrors the consequences of alcoholism in Cassie’s life, and the two ladies share a major second of understanding.
Megan additionally describes feeling invisible to those around her, most painfully to her son. She tells Cassie about the incredible feeling she received from committing espionage, doing one thing that “solely [she] may do.” Although Cassie reassures her that all the pieces will likely be okay, Megan responds, “Not everybody will get to be okay.” Due to her tremendous spy endeavors, Megan has to sacrifice all the pieces to get her household out of bother. She leaves behind a big sum of cash and the flash drive she used to steal data, which can presumably incriminate her however exonerate Invoice. Sadly, meaning she will be able to by no means return to her life at dwelling. After saying a tearful goodbye to her son on the cellphone, she boards a practice in Italy, presumably starting a life on the run.
What Is Subsequent For Cassie?
Cassie has a severe breakthrough of “Arrivals and Departures” after a dialog with Enrico’s grandmother that units into movement several vital adjustments in Cassie’s life. Whereas speaking with Cassie, Enrico’s grandmother asks her one of many greatest questions of the sequence: “Who of us has the house to hold different folks’ decisions?” The sentiment forces Cassie to confront the methods during which she has taken accountability for her father’s actions and permits her to lastly forgive herself for his dying, comforting her youthful self in a reminiscence of the accident. Again in the real world, Cassie takes the entire vodka out of her purse and leaves it behind, taking step one on her street to recovering from alcoholism.
Cassie returns dwelling able to make some main adjustments in her life. She reassures an involved Davey (performed by Gray’s Anatomy’s T.R. Knight) that she will likely be okay, “for actual this time.” When she later meets Annie at a diner, Cassie reveals that she has begun attending Alcoholics Nameless conferences. She exhibits Annie as a primary milestone chip, representing that she has been sober for what is usually a minimum of 24 hours. Although she acknowledges that will probably be troublesome, Cassie is transferring in the correct path. She resists the urge to take a drink on board a brand new flight, and Shane mentions attainable work for her as a “human asset” with the C.I.A, highlighting attainable new horizons for Cassie’s future and a chance to do one thing well.
Lastly, Cassie strides by way of the now principally empty lodge room in her thoughts, reflecting on her journey and potential C.I.A profession. The lights shut off as she exits every room; lastly, arriving within the bedroom, the place Alex’s copy of Crime and Punishment lies on the mattress. Although she considers leaving it, Cassie reaches for the ebook because the lights exit, signaling that. In contrast, she will be able to go away her experiences behind; she additionally doesn’t wish to as a result of they’ve allowed her to heal and to develop. The ultimate body exhibits Cassie smiling, a mix of relieved, hopeful, and excited for her future.
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Why Is Alex In Cassie’s Head?
Alex and the lodge in Cassie’s thoughts play an infinite function all through the sequence. Although their respective meanings are by no means explicitly acknowledged, it’s attainable to tease them out. The lodge room in Cassie’s thoughts is in fixed flux and is paying homage to different constructed inside worlds, just like the “thoughts palace” within the BBC sequence Sherlock. The lodge room is full of funeral regalia when she visits Alex’s memorial and provides a visually spectacular tower of vodka bottles when Cassie feels that Alex is judging her for consuming. Unlike lights flickering throughout moments of epiphany, different small visible cues point out that the lodge room is a visible illustration of Cassie’s lived expertise. Influenced by all that she encounters, the room usually depicts issues that Cassie is unable or unwilling to place into phrases.
Alex, in distinction, exists inside and separate from the lodge room. Most notably, he usually seems to Cassie outdoors of her thoughts in the real world, giving her recommendation or asking questions, signaling that he’s greater than a manifestation of her experiences. As early as the primary episode of The Flight Attendant, Alex struggles to know his presence in Cassie’s head; however, he nonetheless expresses one thing essential when he says, “I feel we each get that I’m not precisely the Alex you have been with that evening.” Alex is conscious that he is not really Alex, an essential clue to figuring out who or what he’s.
He appears to know Cassie intimately as quickly as he arrives and has unfettered entry to her thoughts, which each surprise and upsets Cassie. Over the course of the sequence, the two types an intense relationship, and within the finale, Cassie tells Alex she has fallen in love with him. Alex corrects her, saying, “Actually… it wasn’t me you have been falling in love with.” Although Cassie cuts him off, it appears to be understood that Cassie has come to like not Alex over time, however herself. Alex is just a method for Cassie’s thoughts to the course and perceives what she has been grappling with all season: her intimidating personal complexity.
The Flight Attendant’s Most Essential Story Is About Trauma And Habit
Whereas The Flight Attendant is a thrilling homicide thriller, it’s, at its coronary heart, an exploration of how trauma and habit can affect an individual. The sequence is in-depth research of Cassie, relating her adolescence and how her experiences and ache to influence her as a grownup and how she copes with a lot of that harm by abusing alcohol. Alex represents how Cassie usually feels break up in two, unable to actually confront the methods during which she is at odds with herself, particularly concerning her denial that she is an alcoholic regardless of figuring out it deep down. However, Alex additionally represents an inner battle that’s good – one which challenges Cassie to suppose extra clearly and to demand extra of herself. He also represents how Cassie has needed to be taught to take care of herself in a method that her father by no means did because of his personal taboo habit.
The message that “Arrivals and Departures” telegraphs, nonetheless, is that it’s by no means too late to heal. Regardless of all that she has been by way of, Cassie has the facility to confront her traumas, develop from them, and be okay. Although it takes probably the most harmful circumstances to make Cassie grapple and her habit and its root causes, she is ready to take steps to work by way of these points, get sober, and restore the significant relationships in her life. Cassie learns the right way to take accountability for her actions but also knows to cease punishing herself for others’ actions. Whereas The Flight Attendant seeks to entertain its viewers, it additionally takes a sincere and, in the end, hopeful to have a look at trauma and habit, displaying audiences that nothing is insurmountable.
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