Twigs - Hijack

A seven-hour flight becomes a nightmare.

[Note: This review will discuss elements of Hijack that were revealed in promotional material, such as trailers. If you’re someone who enjoys going into new shows knowing as little as possible, you may want to skip reading this review.]

Some TV shows were meant to be movies.

That isn’t to say a television series can’t do something interesting with a very simple premise. A lot of good TV shows are a simple premise that can be boiled down to just a few words. For example, Breaking Bad is about a desperate teacher cooking meth. The Walking Dead is about the zombie apocalypse. Yellowstone is about life on a ranch. But it’s within those simple premises that each of these shows find ideas within said premise that can be expanded into new storylines, episodes, and themes. A story may be simple on paper, but it’s the intrigue associated with the moving parts of a story that make for good television. The complexity of drama, really, is what makes so many simple premises on paper have the ability to expand and become larger, more engaging experiences once they’re presented as full-fledged shows.

Unfortunately, there are some premises that don’t lend themselves well to a serialized format. And the premise of Hijack, while intriguing and worthy of being put on screen, probably would have been better served as a two hour film than a seven hour TV show. Idris Elba stars as Sam Nelson, a business negotiator on a seven-hour flight from Dubai to London. During the flight, the plane is hijacked by a mysterious group of people who want to land the plane in London on their terms for unknown reasons. Not wanting to become caught in the crossfire nor earn the ire of the hijackers, Sam offers them assistance in keeping everyone on the plane calm until it lands, providing a safe passage for the passengers while giving the hijackers whatever it is they want.

But, while Elba is the face of the series, the show is truly an ensemble. Characters involved in the flight are constantly being introduced or weave in and out of the story when convenient. There are also many other storylines taking place on the ground, as the British government, air traffic controllers, and Sam’s family attempt to uncover the truth behind why the plane was hijacked. While the seven-episode series takes place over the course of seven hours, this intercut way of storytelling means not every episode is even an hour long. Instead, the important bits within that hour are focused on, condensing it while also focusing on a broad swath of storylines from all across London—and all around the hijacked plane.

If I had to give Hijack high praise anywhere, it’s with the show’s acting. Elba may be the star of the show, but Neil Maskell, Archie Panjabi, Max Beesley, and everyone else in the series were giving it their all. Maskell was a standout to me, giving a convincing performance as a hijacker who wasn’t quite sure if he wanted to do what he was doing, yet was arrogant enough to follow through with it. The way he played off of Elba was intense, and I’d love to see these two reunite in a future project. But overall, everyone in the series was doing their best to bring the story of the hijacking to life. The cast added an intense, thrilling aspect to Hijack the series would have suffered from if anyone else were cast in the roles. Their performances are what kept me tuning in to the series week after week.

Because I really wanted the rest of the series to be just as strong as its cast.

Unfortunately, Hijack leaves a lot to be desired while also delivering too much. There’s a major focus on the many ways the hijack is viewed from people on the plane and people on the ground. Major characters all have different perspectives on what’s happening based on their allegiances or amount of involvement in the hijacking—whether committing it or trying to thwart it. However, by the end of the series, there’s a sense that some of these storylines weren’t important to the overall plot. Instead of tying into the hijacking in a satisfying, meaningful way, much of what happens on the ground instead feels like it’s trying to flesh things out for the sake of fleshing them out. This isn’t the case with some parts, such as Beesley’s Daniel and his investigation into what’s going on. But, for the most part, it feels like there’s too many unnecessary additions to the miniseries that didn’t need to be there.

There were also some individual episodes throughout that felt like they were moving very slowly compared to the rest of the show. For example, Episode 4 focuses on Sam trying to help one of the hijackers who has been injured. This episode has some of the best performances in the show. However, much of this is overshadowed by the lack of tangible consequences that happen during the 45 minutes of tension the series provides. There’s only one event of note in the entire episode, and while the acting itself was stellar, the rest of the episode—writing, pacing, story beats—just didn’t feel as engaging or thematically potent as they could have been. I think a lot of this had to do with stretching out what feels like the premise of a film into a seven-hour miniseries. Episode 4 could have made for a powerful 15-minute segment in a film. Instead, it’s marred by its runtime, which makes the pacing of the rest of the show feel disjointed because of it.

But I believe the most disappointing part of Hijack is, sadly, the intriguing premise it promises. Despite not following the formula of a real-time series like 24 to a T, Hijack still promises to present the events surrounding the hijacking of a plane with one episode dedicated to every hour. It’s a cool premise that I feel like could be engaging if done with the right story in mind. However, the fact that only the hijacking is focused on despite how much is built up over the course of seven episodes leaves something to be desired. That is to say, the story doesn’t exactly come to a satisfying conclusion, since it ends with the end of the flight. However, because Hijack chooses to focus on so many interconnected storylines beyond just the hijacking, it leaves many questions unanswered and many conclusions open-ended. If anything, Hijack feels like a prequel to a different show. A show that no doubt would benefit more from the “one episode per in-universe hour” gimmick than Hijack did.

Overall, I was kind of disappointed with Hijack. I think the series was an interesting experiment, but I’m not convinced a hijacked plane was the right premise for this type of presentation. The acting was phenomenal and the series has good ideas. But, if I’m being honest, a two-and-a-half hour film with the same premise would have made the show much stronger. I get what they were going for, but it just didn’t land for me. However, I will say on a presentation level, I want to see more shows do what Hijack does by having one episode take place within the span of an in-universe hour. It was a bold decision that added to the tension of the series. Even if I wasn’t personally satisfied with how it panned out, part of me wants to recommend the show just so you can see the way it tells its story. Because there are some fantastic parts like Episode 4 that show what can be done with a presentation like this that you can’t get from anything else.

And if they decide to make a sequel on the ground, I won’t be opposed to watching.

***

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