‘Hijack’ Recap: ‘Brace Brace Brace’

8/2/2023

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Idris Elba as Sam Nelson in Episode 107 of ‘Hijack’ – ‘Brace Brace Brace’. (Photo Courtesy of Apple.)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for the Season Finale of ‘Hijack’. To revisit the previous episode, click here. Also, this piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the series being covered here wouldn’t exist.

Perhaps one of the most difficult tasks that exists for the creative brain trust that puts together a revolutionary and unique story… is figuring out how to end that story. Because endings are important and they must be done properly to please an audience, regardless of what the story is made of. But when it is special… the ending must be extra special. For the audience now has high expectations and they expect it to wow them as much as the story before it did, or the whole experience is a waste, and well… let’s not mince words… that was the difficult task put before Jim Field Smith and George Kay regarding their revolutionary series on Apple TV+, Hijack.

Because six hours of amazing twists and turns had to come together properly and had to continue to stun us and give us something satisfying and well… the good news is this duo and the talented cast and crew… did indeed stick the landing. For ‘Brace Brace Brace’ wrapped this story up perfectly, after initially offering up nothing but pure terror on Kingdom Airlines Flight 29. For when we returned to the plane in this tale, the passengers had indeed retaken control thanks to Sam figuring out that Stuart had the only functional gun, but there was no celebration to be had in vanquishing the hijackers. After all, the sleeper agent had the cockpit and there was no way anyone was getting in there… and they were changing course and heading toward central London.

Which meant, the Royal Air Force had to scramble jets, and the worst-case scenario had to be planned for. Since it really did appear as though KA29 was about to conduct an act of terror, and it was the lives of those passengers or the lives of innocents. Which made it seem as though… darkness was the endgame for this story. One where good people died, which would have been one incredible downer, but bold none the less. But this creative duo… wanted to do something different than just shock us and leave us in silence. They wanted us to walk out of this story feeling good, and in order to do that… the impossible had to happen. Specifically, good had to win the day, and the best parts of who we are had to seize control of the situation. Which is no easy task during a panic or while facing the end, as these good people were.

Holly Aird as Amanda in Episode 107 of ‘Hijack’ – ‘Brace Brace Brace’. (Photo Courtesy of Apple.)

But a stroke of luck and one man’s desire to do the right thing, brought forth a wonderful ending to this story. Now the stroke of luck in question… well that came forth courtesy of greed. Because the plan in the end was for those mobsters to make their money, order the plan to land, and move on with their rich little lives. But that wasn’t happening, because it became about the cash and nothing more, and that led… to internal rebellion. Where the mastermind was left dead and sadly… where the order to call the whole thing off, never arrived. That meant, the new pilot simply sailed along in silence, and everyone else waited to be shot down, which never happened thanks to cooler heads prevailing on the ground. But that quiet time… gave Sam several great ideas. One of which, was to get everyone’s phones back in their hands to call loved ones, to give them closure just in case since the unknown was ahead. And the second… was to try and talk the new pilot down.

In fact, the discovery of her phone, helped Sam to learn her name… which was Amanda, and he also learned that she had a daughter, and once he learned of the plan through her, and the broker of the stock deal… who was also on board… and realized that something had gone wrong… he worked to convince her… to do the right thing. To land this bird and save everyone aboard because if the plan had gone foul on the bad guys’ side, doing the right thing meant no harm would come to anyone or their families. And that led… to one powerfully tense ending. Wherein Amanda agreed to end this and let Sam into the cockpit so he could relay information on the ground to land this plane. Which Amanda did, albeit violently and just like that… so many survived and evil was vanquished because it didn’t get its way and with the authorities now involved, protection came into play for all. Including Kai since Daniel foiled that nonsense.

But what mattered more, was that justice was served. For all the hijackers were placed into handcuffs and while Stuart fought tooth and nail to not be caught, eventually… he was placed under arrest. Which meant… a happy ending came into play, one that was honestly… welcome and satisfying. Because let’s be honest, this wasn’t a flight full of flawed characters with dark pasts, who deserved this punishment. It was everyday people, good people in fact, and they deserved better. And by spending seven hours with them, and caring about them… the last thing we needed was shock and awe. We needed justice, and we got it, and the tension and the worry that preceded relief… was the perfect setup to bring this whole thing home and well… that is indeed all there is to say about this dynamic story. One that wowed us and took us on a phenomenal rollercoaster ride from start to finish.

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