Hijack (2023): Signal – Season 2 Episode 1 – RECAP

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Hijack Season 2 Episode 1 came out and this thing really surprised me with how they flipped the whole setup on its head, like seriously after watching season one where Sam Nelson was the hero saving everyone on that plane I was not expecting him to be the one taking over the train this time but I bet there is something else considering that cliffhanger at the end. The episode drops us two years after the Kingdom Flight 29 situation and Sam is in Berlin which is kinda random but whatever, everyone speaking English even though they supposed to be German locals is hilarious but I can live with that for the sake of understanding whats going on, I appreciate there is not much subtitle action. What really got me thinking was how the show builds up this entire tension filled hour making you believe one thing is happening when really Sam had been planning something completely different the whole time, you got this conductor Otto who looks like he about to puke every five seconds and clearly does not want any part of whatever mess he got himself into, then theres Marco this other guy changing train tracks in the tunnels who seems very much involved in the hijacking plan. The twist at the very end when Sam straight up tells Otto he is hijacking the train was wild as hell, I kinda saw it coming the moment he pulled out those master keys to unlock the engine room door but it still hit different actually hearing him say it out loud like that. What I cannot wrap my head around yet is whether Sam turned into the actual bad guy this time or if he trying to stop something way worse from going down, because the show makes it look like he went rogue and became a criminal but I am not buying that at all based on everything we know about his character from the first season.

• IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt19854762/
• Platform:

The opening scene sets up Berlin as this cold snowy place where Sam walks into the central station looking intense as hell, just carrying one small briefcase and waiting for the train to Hanover but you can tell something off about him from the start. He keeps ignoring calls from this woman named Olivia who works at the British embassy and she keeps leaving voicemails about some meeting he supposed to attend with a German officer from the Federal Office of Justice named Arnold Goth, apparently Sam been sending reports to the embassy about some guy he thinks was behind the plane hijacking from season one and this dude recently entered Germany through Hamburg. Meanwhile the Berlin police tactical unit raids an apartment after getting a tip about someone making bombs for a terrorist attack but when they break in the place is empty except for evidence that someone definitely was making explosives there, they find a fake ID card for a railway maintenance worker which connects to Marco who we see walking through subway tunnels messing with the tracks. Back on the train Sam notices this guy with a red backpack acting super suspicious and starts following him around thinking he involved in whatever about to happen, the guy keeps moving from coach to coach and getting off then back on the train right before the doors close which makes him look guilty as fck. Sam gets the two transit police officers involved and they end up dragging the backpack guy off at one of the stations to question him, turns out he just an asylum seeker who overstayed his visa and had his passport in the bag which is why he freaking out so hard about anyone checking it. The whole thing was basically a distraction that Sam used to get the cops off the train which I did not realize until the very end when everything clicks into place, pretty smart move if you ask me but also kinda messed up racially profiling the poor dude like that just to clear the train of police presence and how the hell did Sam knew? I mean does he wakes up in the morning and says, ok lets put things in hands of destiny!!.

Otto the train driver is where things get really interesting because this guy clearly under some kind of pressure or threat to go through with the hijacking plan, he supposed to be suspended from work so the fact he even driving the train raises red flags with his coworkers and the station authorities. During the ride he takes an emergency bathroom break and tries calling Marco to cancel everything because he cannot handle the stress anymore but Marco does not pick up since he down in the noisy tunnels working on the track switch, when Otto gets back in the engine room he told by the dispatcher that they replacing him at the next station with a different driver which sends him into full panic mode. Instead of stopping he just goes for it and starts driving the train at crazy high speeds while ignoring all communication from the control center, he blows past multiple stations without slowing down and eventually takes the train onto some abandoned branch track that not even on the railway network map anymore. The passengers start freaking out when they realize the doors not opening at stations and the train just keeps going faster and faster, some kid pulls the emergency brake but nothing happens which makes everyone lose their shit completely. Truth is that there is literally nothing happening so far other than speculation, at this point I know some people might find it boring and even drama and suspense lovers would find it just over extended but its when Sam tries getting into the engine room when things start making sense and its like the waiting was worth but it was just too little of the dopamine window, Sam uses his master key to force it open and physically pulls the brake lever to stop the train, this is when Otto finally admits something going on and asks for the transit police except Sam already got rid of them earlier.

The side plot with Sams wife Marsha is really depressing and gives me clues that something terrible happened between season one and now, she living alone in this cabin out in the middle of some forest looking absolutely miserable and a neighbor brings her flowers that got delivered to the wrong house, I suspect their son was murder and Sam got obsessed with the case that was not there for them, just the classic cliche story lines. Marsha mentions its an anniversary which makes you wonder what kind of anniversary but then again obvious their son death, Im sure its something dark like the death of their son Kai who completely missing from the cast list this season and does not appear at all in the episode. My theory is that Kai got killed by whoever was really behind the plane hijacking and thats what driving Sam to do all this crazy investigative work and take matters into his own hands, Marsha probably hiding out in the woods because Sam told her to stay away from the city while he deals with this dangerous situation. Her boyfriend from season one is nowhere to be seen either which adds to the mystery of whats really going on with her, she looks like shes been crying for weeks and the whole vibe of her scenes is just sad as hell. Back at the embassy Olivia hands over photos to Arnold Goth showing the suspect Sam been tracking and Goth looks shocked as fck at whatever he seeing in those pictures, this confirms that Sam definitely onto something real and not just being paranoid about the whole thing. The fact that the British government finally taking his claims seriously enough to set up a meeting means whatever Sam found out is probably a legit threat to national security, except Sam never shows up to the meeting because he already on the train executing his own plan instead.

The annoying intern character May who keeps following Sam around the entire episode turns out she worked with him years ago on some deal in Singapore and now shes trying to network her way into a job, at first I thought she might be involved in the hijacking because she will not leave Sam alone no matter how many times he tries to ditch her but it seems like she just really desperate for employment. She follows him from one wagon to the other even when he clearly wants nothing to do with her and eventually he tells her to email him her resume just to shut her up, was fkn hilarious. The show puts alot of focus on May which makes me think she gonna play a bigger role later on even if shes not directly involved in the terrorist plot. Otto and Marco definitely connected somehow maybe even related because Otto keeps trying to call Marco when he panics in the bathroom and Marco the one who changed the tracks to divert the train onto that abandoned route where it dissapears from the control centers radar completely. The whole operation feels like it was planned by someone way smarter than just these two guys, theres gotta be a bigger organization behind this whole thing that connects back to the plane hijacking from season one. Sam using a master key throughout the episode to open the machine room proves he been preparing for this hijack for a long time, he knew exactly what he needed to do and when to do it which means he either working with the hijackers or trying to stop them by taking control of the situation himself. I am leaning towards the second option because Sam does not strike me as someone who would put innocent people in danger unless he trying to save them from something even worse, maybe theres a bomb on the train or maybe the person behind the plane hijacking is one of the passengers and Sam needs to trap them. The episode does a great job keeping you guessing about what Sam really up to and why he willing to throw away his reputation and probably go to jail just to hijack this random train in Berlin, whatever his reasons are they gotta be pretty damn important to risk everything like this. Overall I thought this was an OK premiere that sets up a lot of interesting questions for the rest of the season, the tension stays high from start but then drags a bit with May and the other students in the train and thats where the episode feels over extend, but Idris Elba kills it as always playing Sam with that nervous energy that makes you uncomfortable the whole time. The production looks really good too with all the close up shots of buttons and doors that make you feel claustrophobic just like the passengers, they definitely upped their game compared to season one visually. My only real complaint is that some of the setup feels a bit convenient like how easy it was for Sam to manipulate situations and get people off the train, but I am willing to overlook that because the payoff was worth it. I am giving this episode a solid 7 out of 10 because it hooked me right away and left me wanting to know what happens next, if they can keep this momentum going for the whole season it could end up being even better than the first one.

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