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By Coren Feldman
Cassie Bowden has a splitting headache. She sits up in a hotel bed in foreign country, another morning waking up after drinking the night away with a stranger. But this time is different. When she looks over, she finds his dead body, throat slit, covered in blood.
Coming fresh off of The Big Bang Theory, one of the most popular (and yet, worst) shows of the last decade, Kaley Couco founded a production company and among other things, bought the TV rights to the thriller book The Flight Attendant.
Couco likely wanted to brush off the cheap laughs of Big Bang and show that she actually does have acting chops, and she absolutely delivers in The Flight Attendant.
Her character, Cassie, is an alcoholic flight attendant who's aimlessly wandering through life, having flings in different countries and getting blackout drunk on a regular basis. Her life quickly goes into a tailspin when she sleeps with a passenger and wakes up the next day next to his dead body with no memories of the night before.
In a panic, Cassie remembers the infamous Amanda Knox case and is terrified of being framed for the murder (she's fairly certain) she did not commit. In a frenzy, she cleans up all the evidence that would tie her to the case and throws it out in a garbage blocks away from the hotel. But as expected, things start to catch up to her quickly as the FBI and other dark forces start hunting her down.
The show is great for a lot of reasons, but first and foremost, it hits all the right beats. The show takes its characters seriously and gives them depth to explore, even while crazy things are happening around them.
Cassie's alcoholism is a great example. While other shows use substance abuse as a cheap way to make characters seem more complex and don't properly deal with the issues (I'm looking at you, Queen's Gambit), Cassie's addiction has a fleshed out explanation, is a key part of the story that holds her back, ruins her relationships and is actually addressed in a meaningful way.
The cast of the show is excellent, with outstanding performances from Cuoco, Michelle Gomez (of Doctor Who fame) and Rosie Perez. Which brings me to the next thing that makes this show so great - it's predominantly female. We're in an age where Hollywood is trying to tell more stories about women, but it's rare to see a show where the main -- and most of the supporting -- characters are women. It's even more impressive when it's done so naturally, without calling attention to itself. The show features mostly women because the story is mostly about women. No one was shoehorned in, it was written that way and played that way.
It's hard to pull off a good thriller, but The Flight Attendant does a phenomenal job at keeping you guessing, throwing wrenches in the works and not letting you close your computer (or TV if you're one of those weirdos) until you've finished. Cuoco and her production company have absolutely achieved what they've set out to do and proven themselves to be a force to be reckoned with.
So if you're looking to get hooked on a great, thoughtful, funny show that keeps you guessing, look no further.
Coren Feldman is the founder of CorenTV. He's also the founder of CorenYogurt but that hasn't really taken off for legal reasons (I've just been changing the label on Chobanis)