11/12 ForReel Score | 4/5 Stars

Welcome aboard and thank you for flying with Imperial Atlantic. Make sure your seatbelt is fastened and remain seated as we prepare for take off. The first season of The Flight Attendant was a wild cat and mouse game, packed to the brim with beautiful locations, lush partying, chaotic chase sequences, and brutal murders. It’s hard to imagine how showrunners Steve Yockey and Natalie Chaidez could elevate the thrills without crossing the line into absurdity. Yet the first two episodes ‘Seeing Double’ and ‘Mushrooms, Tasers, and Bears, Oh My’ are flawlessly executed and utterly exciting.

‘Set a year later, a now sober Cassie Bowden played by Kaley Cuoco (The Big Bang Theory) has moved to LA, is eating better, exercising, has a great boyfriend, joined AA, and is working as an asset for the CIA. Her new found side hustle fills the excitement and danger drinking used to provide. Nonetheless a tiger cannot change its stripes, so Cassie continually oversteps, breaks protocol, and runs straight into danger. This frustrates her handler Benjamin (Mo McRae, Empire) who repeatedly reminds Cassie she is a civilian.

While on an assignment in Berlin, Cassie witnesses her mark with a woman who looks just like her. She even has the same moth tattoo on her back, which is Cuoco’s real tattoo. Could this double be the friendly new flight attendant Grace (Mae Martina, Feel Good), old rival Miranda (Michelle Gomez, Doom Patrol), or someone completely new? Why frame Cassie? All intriguing questions set up within the first episode.

Following an explosion Cassie is brought back to “the mind palace”, where the audience gets to be inside her head, literally. However instead of finding dead ex lover Alex (Michiel Huisman, Game of Thrones), this season there are different versions of herself waiting. There’s the party girl, the hangover, the childhood self, and the flight attendant, all ready to go to war with her. Here Cassie is able to step outside of herself and see herself objectively. She just wants to put a brave face on and move past her trauma, but her old habits won’t let her move on so easily.

Production met with the creators of the beloved clone show, Orphan Black, for advice on shooting the mind palace. Using a motion control camera they would film Cuoco with a double, doing the blocking, doing the lines together, and the camera would memorize the take. Then they’d film a scene with just Cuoco as she has to match her movements, change her wardrobe, and do it all again. This technique was used to ensure each one of the doubles could organically interact with one another.

Cuoco continues to deliver a spectacular performance as Cassie. She has a knack for perfectly capturing the character’s insanity and lack of impulse control, fully stressing out the audience in the best way possible. Who would run a tale on someone while wearing a bright fuchsia coat? Cassie would. She struggles to understand the gravity of her situation, telling herself that working for the CIA is an act of service when in reality it’s a mere fix for her risky behavior.

The chemistry she shares with Zosia Mamet (Girls), who plays Annie, is wonderful to watch. Cassie and Annie are in a much healthier place, not at each other's throats anymore, but still critiquing one another for their ridiculous logic. Mamet’s monotone elevates her already funny one liners. The most notable and funny being, “Alternate plan. I go to the moon and I build a house, except there's no oxygen on the moon, So I f*****g die”. Rosie Perez (Fearless) is another standout. As little is revealed what her character, Megan, has been up to since trading secrets with the North Korean government, she sustains interest. Capturing the paranoia while remaining grounded and keeping audiences guessing how she’ll play into the season.

The second season brings many exciting guest stars to the show, most notably Margaret Cho, Alanna Ubach, Cheryl Hines and Sharon Stone, who will play Cassie’s mother. Stone has been uncertain about being casted as mom, not wanting to be perceived as a “golden girl”. Having been a fan of the first season, she was thrilled when producers showed interest in her, and that the material was harmousios with her vision.

Graphics director Jim Jones and senior motion graphics designer Taka Ikari deliver a new impressive animated title sequence, giving hints and clues where the season will go. A sea of donuts, a giant teddy bear, a gun full of pills, and all seeing moths, will have the audience investigating their true meaning. Taking inspiration from Cowboy Bebop, Catch Me If You Can, and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, the sequence fortifies the narrative that this is a fun tantalizing spy thriller.

Following a gripping first season, I was fearful about whether the series could amount to the same success or if it would fall victim to crowd pleasing. The first two episodes of The Flight Attendant have marvelously set up the mysterious and will have audiences hungering for Thursdays.

EPISODIC REVIEW: "The Flight Attendant"; Season 2 Takes Off And Soars High In First Two Episodes