Hijack Finale Recap: Was Sam Able To Negotiate A Happy Landing? Plus, Grade The Season
Apple TV's Hijack came in for a landing this Wednesday, with the last of the thriller's seven episodes. Was the landing smooth, or a bit bumpy, for Sam Nelson and the others aboard KA29?
The woman who shot dead the captain and seized control of the cockpit is named Amanda, and her first order of business was deleting KA29's flight plan, shutting off autopilot and setting a new course. Sam meanwhile finagles the only loaded gun away from Stuart — who has no idea who Amanda is — and then assures the other hijackers that the jig is up. (Did Terry get asphyxiated to death? Did I miss word on his whereabouts?) The big problem for everyone now is they have only an hour to fix their new situation.
On the ground, the crowd huddled at CTU scrutinizes the airline's stock drop — and how the best case, financially, for the freshly sprung Edgar and John is the worst case for the plane, in that KA29 would need to in fact be crashed into downtown London. Elsewhere, after Marsha tells Daniel about the strange call she got, from a delivery service confirming Sam's address, he darts off to Sam's apartment, where Kai had been hanging out. And at Heathrow ATC, Alice declared a Code 9 situation, with KA29 zeroing in on downtown London, and that triggered the deployment of some RAF jets to the airliner's side.
Sam hails Amanda via the intercom and appeals to her to just listen, but she rudely rips the receiver's cord out of the panel. Deevia then goes about handing back everyone's phones, though Stuart warns that if word gets out that they've lost control of the plane, the jets outside the window will shoot them down. Sam gets on the phone with Alice and at first lies about the sitch, claiming the co-pilot was flying the plane. But when Alice presses for the true truth, Sam loops her in on Amanda — who, in the cockpit, is anxiously awaiting further texts/instructions from Edgar.
On the ground, Home Secretary whispers to Foreign Minister Louise that seeing as he is already "damaged goods," he is willing to take the hit by recommending the plane get shot down before it can kill additional hundreds. Louise however formally decides to move forward with evacuations in downtown London, saying, "We cannot act against our own people" aboard the plane. The RAF jets in turn go cold and pull away from KA29. As for Edgar, he won't be getting any further texts to Amanda, seeing as John gets tired of waiting for the stock drop to make them even more money, and his his henchman execute Edgar at close range.
Back on KA29, the bearded guy who smuggled the guns onto the plan in the first place, as TSA agent Neela got distracted? He 'fesses up to Sam & Co. that he is a trader who was coerced into helping the hijackers. He then raises the concern that "it should be over by now," since it was all about the stock drop and a quick cash grab. So why hasn't Amanda changed course...? With the plane about to reach an "unmaintainable height" in just minutes, Sam (via handwritten messages held up to the cabin camera) appeals to Amanda as a parent, asking, "What would Elodie want? We ALL have family." Amanda is affected, and explains that she has been awaiting a message saying it's OK to land — and only then can she abort the crash. Sam claims that Stuart said "they're going to kill Elodie anyway," that there can be zero witnesses. Amanda then allows Sam, and only Sam, into the cockpit.
On the ground, Daniel is able to dupe the "cleaners" into stepping out of Sam's apartment, at which instant they are surrounded and arrested by SWAT (or the UK equivalent). Alice phones Sam, who reports that they have reclaimed control of the plane, but it is "flaming out" (running on fumes). When Home Secretary agrees to press no charges against Amanda, she agrees to land the plane. As the plane loses power and Amanda must steer it into a glide, Sam asks Alice to tell Marsha that "she was right," and he shouldn't have boarded the plane. Amanda then braces everyone for a hard bank left, and glides the plane to a very bumpy landing on a small airstrip in Northolt.
As Deevia evacuates the plane and Sam turns Amanda over to the police (who will not be arresting her), the SWAT team outside makes mistakes with their hijacker head count (mistaking bearded trader for Stuart). So where is Stuart? Sam is still aboard the plane, fetching a belonging, when the door slams shut, and a guns-waving Stuart starts hunting him — still angry about his dead brother Lewis, apparently. But Sam texts Marsha to run his mobile, which he uses to lure Stuart into a lavatory, and then get the drop on the baddie. SWAT them storms in and arrests Stuart, and Sam finally gets off this damn plane....
Did Hijack stick the landing? Grade the finale and all of Season 1 below!