Review ‘Hijack’ season 2: Apple TV Thriller Drags

In Season 1 of Apple TV’s “Hijack,” Idris Elba’s Sam Nelson boarded a Kingdom Airlines flight from Dubai to his home base of London. As a lawyer and astute negotiator, Sam quickly came to the conclusion that the plane had been hijacked and used all the skills in his arsenal to try to land the plane safely while keeping all 200-plus passengers safe. The first season worked for two reasons. There was Elba’s endless charisma and credibility, as well as the constant flow of tension and surprise, that kept the entire seven-episode arc afloat. In the second season of the George Kay and Jim Field Smith thriller, Sam finds himself in a very different kind of hostage situation. But this time around it’s almost entirely devoid of the brilliance and bingability that made its predecessor a fan favorite.
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Season 2 of “Hijack” begins just outside a U-Bahn station in Berlin, Germany, two years after the incident on board Kingdom Airlines Flight 29. The setting is different, and so is Sam. At first glance, he seems like the same stoic, sharp man from season 1, but when you look closer, he’s exhausted, downtrodden, and devious. He acts hesitantly and is unsure of his movements before finally boarding a busy U5 train in the middle of the morning rush hour. His uncharacteristic attitude immediately puts viewers on edge.
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Sam’s ex-wife, Marsha (Christine Adams), expands outward and is seen on a solo retreat in a remote, wooded area. The audience also meets Clara (Lisa Vicar), a new employee at the U-Bahn command center, and Olivia (Clare-Hope Ashitey), a woman who awaits Sam at the British Embassy in Berlin for their scheduled morning meeting. Otto (Christian Näthe), the conductor of U5, also appears. Even though he’s on his usual route, the engineer is even more irritated than Sam. Otto’s behavior is so strange that a station manager at one of his stops witnesses his discomfort and calls for a replacement. Things take a shocking turn when Sam breaks into Otto’s conductor’s car and announces that he is hijacking the train.
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Certainly, the show’s story is strongest when it focuses on the train and its passengers. There’s an insufferable former intern who once worked with Sam, a group of teenagers and their teachers going to a museum, and a young father trying to comfort his troubled child. As Sam takes control of the train, the audience watches as the passengers slowly realize that something is wrong. Most of the intrigue comes from watching these varied human behaviors in crisis and how quickly things shift and change when Sam’s plan is pushed off course or the police intervene in unexpected ways.
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Unfortunately, Season 2 of “Hijack” is determined to take itself more seriously than Season 1, and that’s the main problem. Instead of a streamlined storyline aided by a robust line of taut tension, the season is a jumble of plot points stretching between the past and the present. As a result, it becomes clumsy, cumbersome and tiring. While it’s clear almost immediately that Sam is taking revenge, he isn’t the focus of this story. Instead, numerous characters outside the train serve to further the plot. Berlin’s police chief, Ava Winter (Christiane Paul) and MI5 agent Peter Fabar (Toby Jones) float around like mismatched puzzle pieces in the story until they click together awkwardly in the final hour for a rather dull climax.
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Still, there are plenty of compelling themes to ponder here, including global surveillance, the costs and depths of revenge, and even the heartbreaking pain of grief. Unfortunately, this all detracts from the intense ebb and flow of the thriller that made season 1 so watchable. Furthermore, to believe that the same man would be caught up in another shocking international incident is too ridiculous for even the most avid TV buff. Despite the fantastic acting, “Hijack” Season 2 doesn’t have the steel to go the distance. Instead, Sam’s story would have been better left on that catwalk in London.

Season 2 of “Hijack” premieres on Apple TV on January 14, with new episodes released weekly on Wednesdays.