a review

https://variety.com/2020/tv/reviews/the-flight-attendant-review-kaley-cuoco-hbo-max-1234836289/

So, no, “The Flight Attendant” isn’t about some supernaturally smart woman who witnesses a crime and gets spurred into action. It’s about a wildly messy person who stumbles into something truly horrific and has to deal with it, a combination that threatens to bring down the carefree persona she’s so carefully crafted over the years. The story, based on Chris Bohjalian’s novel, is pitch black, especially when Cassie has to confront the dark corners of her memory she’s long suppressed. But with Cuoco at its center both as an actor and executive producer, the series has enough of a sense of humor to keep from sinking into annoyingly grim territory.

Cassie’s story would be more than enough to keep the show moving, but almost no one on “The Flight Attendant” — not even Annie or Cassie’s nervous coworker Megan (Rosie Perez) — is exactly what they seem. Everyone’s so shady, in fact, that tallying up all the salacious details can make the show seem flat-out ridiculous. But the actors bring enough of a comic spark to their sometimes unbelievable characters that it doesn’t really matter as long as you’re along for the bumpy ride, and the pacing of the show makes it hard to stop watching even if you try. (If that’s the case for you, take note: rather than roll out the entire season at once, HBO Max is dropping the first three episodes, then two episodes a week until the finale bows solo.) Arguably the splashiest entry to HBO Max’s original programming slate yet, “The Flight Attendant” is a fizzy cocktail of a show that goes down easy — which, for a nascent streaming network trying to keep its audience’s attention, might be just right.