Just over a year ago, business negotiator Sam Nelson found himself on a hijacked plane heading for London and managed to use his skills to help save his fellow passengers. It brought him some fame and some notoriety, but it’s something that he’s wanted to put behind him. However, he’s now travelling on Berlin’s underground train system and it seems that that trouble is never far away. What is the real risk facing him and fellow commuters and how aware is he of the new danger?
Whatever the truth, it appears that Sam Nelson is going to find out just how many lives are on the line…
*some spoilers*
There are some people with whom you really do not want to share public transportation. Bruce Willis was always Die Hard‘ing at Christmas, Sandra Bullock was a magnet for bad guys whenever her Speed reached 50mph, Kiefer Sutherland had to survive one bad 24 hours after another and Steven Seagal was always Under Siege or On Dangerous Ground somewhere before he moved to Russia. If you saw any of their characters enjoying a nice break in the next row you might as well include nefarious terrorists and ne’er-do-wells in the vicinity of your holiday plans … and then head for the emergency exit.
So, when Apple tv (previously Apple+) announced that there was going to be a second season of their 2023 hit Hijack, returning star (Sir) Idris Elba seemed to be joining the repeat-offender club, one where heroic sequels are greenlighted, but not guaranteed to be equals.
Elba (whose career has spanned the likes of Ultraviolet, Thor, Luther and Hobbs & Shaw to name but a few) starred in the first self-contained season of the show as Sam Nelson: neither a soldier, spy or convenient martial-artist…. just a great business negotiator whose flight home to see his estranged family goes awry when, yes, those pesky terrorists decide to take control. He’s the ‘right guy, at the wrong time’ etc etc., more akin to an everyman (if we were a bit fitter, smarter and once in line to be Bond) than Jack Reacher, but it helps he has the physique, gait and stare to spare in a crisis. In the first mini-series, the story was told in (almost) real time, Sam managed to splinter the hijackers’ loyalties, save most of the passengers and stop the aircraft being blown out of the sky above London. However – spoiler alert – this was all less about an ideological kamikaze mission and an attempt to send stocks surging/falling in a way that would profit certain parties on the ground. Almost every bad guy was either killed or incapacitated and even those holding Sam’s family were brought to justice. However, as Sam was allowed to return to normal life on terra firma, at least one of the bigwig financial felons got away – cue a potential escape hatch to a potential follow-up.
But even the most loyal viewer might have thought giving Sam another bad day was pushing the suspension of disbelief, even if the action moved from the open skies to the more enclosed subway train system of Berlin, Germany. In many cases you just have to go with the flow and be entertained in the moment, but how would the show actually justify it within its story? Given the ratings of the original, many viewers will have chosen to at least give it a try and… will have been pleasantly surprised by an opener that weaves its literal and narrative way through claustrophobic train carriages and begins to suggest that Sam’s presence on the European subway may actually be far from just taking a random bad turn. So far, so potentially taking a Pelham 123 approach, but the show, as ever, isn’t going to take us on a straight line to our final destination.
Bottle-episodes or ideas (with the story being contained in a limited location) rise or fall on how that situation is used and characters connect and here it’s once again used to great effect – with Nelson moving from carriage to carriage and seemingly all-too-aware of things that might be evolving around him. He points two patrol-officers in the direction of a ‘suspicious’ commuter – though he appears innocent enough in the end and when the regular train driver takes an unusual unscheduled break he immediately gets the platform guards to check him out. Is Nelson just demonstrating paranoia or PTSD or is he already in the midst of something suspicious? (This is a tv show with eight new episodes to fill, so let’s go with the latter).
The show also alternates between studio and location shoots, creating the kind of enclosed sweaty stress of a daily commute that many will recognise even if they’ve never been actually hijacked on the way to an early meeting. While some shows bend over backwards to be overtly-inclusive, the close-quarter collision of cultures, class, ages and agendas of a traditional train carriage provide an organic setting for potential unrest. Will the ex-colleague who ‘randomly’ appears to be on the same train be more than she appears? Is the nervous middle-eastern commuter with a back-pack hiding something? Will the school-kids look up from their smart-phones enough to know what’s going on? All these questions and more begin to shift around and affect outcomes.
Hijack heavily relies on Elba to shoulder the load – as a singular character around which the maelstrom circles its wagons and which he does with a self-deprecating weariness – and works so well because it alternates between the audience thinking it knows more than Nelson and Nelson knowing more than us… but we’re not always sure which is which. We know Sam Nelson is a great observer, monitoring actions, reactions and body-language and as a viewer, but he’s realistic enough to not break the laws of physics or wear a cape. He’s essentially a pissed off dad with a cynical view of the human condition. We also know incoming drama and high stakes will be a given. Sometimes we know what’s behind a door, sometimes we didn’t know there even was a door there until Nelson opens it! In the opener, we see a man whose radar is always active, shifting from foot to foot indicating he’s ready for anything or might simply want to be where he’s going. We slowly find out that he’s way ahead of us in most respects, but even the actions we see unfold might not add up in the way we expect. It’s revealed by the opener’s end that far from accidental, Nelson is pro-active not reactive and – ironically – appears to have engineered a situation to get the cops off the train deliberately. He then convinces the knowing but panicking train driver to go through with whatever plan was already in motion because… it’s Nelson who is hijacking the train? Clearly, we’re going to need some more back-story! (And having just watched the equally-entertaining second episode, those answers aren’t yet forthcoming).
First planes, now trains… can automobiles be far behind? (Next season, Sam Nelson is held captive in a Ford Escort?) In reality, Elba will soon be reprising another key character and fan-favourite, compromised ex-cop Luther (alongside Ruth Wilson) – hopefully a return to gritty basics after a bizarrely OTT mini-series Luther: The Fallen Sun. In the meantime, Hijack will more than suffice as solid tv and a continually great calling-card for everything Elba has to offer…
- Story9
- Acting9
- Direction9
- Production / VFX9
