Hijack – Season 1 Episode 4 “Not Responding” Recap & Review

Not Responding

Episode 4 of Hijack begins on a sombre note. The shot fired from Stuart’s gun in the dying moments of the last episode has taken a life. Someone is dead but it isn’t clear who. The passengers are shaking with fear. They dread the moment one of the bullets has their name written on it.

The whole dynamics of the hijacking have been changed. Stuart asks Arthur to initiate a countdown. Everyone has to be back in their seats by the end of it. If they do not comply, someone else will lose their life.

Lizzy, the little girl who had run off, settles into her mother’s arms just in time. Terry throws restraints in Sam’s direction to put on. The dead passenger is the girl who sat next to the Miller family. She wanted to find Lizzy and return her to Kate. Lewis, Jaden, and all the other hijackers are rattled. This was not in the plans. Stuart seems to be losing his marbles as he thrashes the comms headset when he hears the Romanian ATC asking for identification.

The British Foreign Secretary, Louise, is briefed by Zahra in a meeting about the situation. She strictly forbids any calls to be made out of that room until they get confirmation of the hijackers’ motives. 

Lewis confronts Stuart about the shooting. He explains how the plane is now under control, even if they had to deviate from the plan. He also mentions how “this is for Edgar and John.” We also see that Lewis is shot in his abdomen.

Marsha receives a phone call from people who are presumably associated with the hijackers. They pretend to be delivery persons and confirm from her Sam’s address. While bandaging up Lewis, Sam, who is tied up, says to Deevia that she must “do her best to help Lewis.” This is followed by an announcement from her appealing to any doctors on board to help. David, Liz’s father and Kate’s husband, expectedly looks towards the latter, who quickly shuts him down.

David is a doctor, it seems, but his wife isn’t in favour of her husband helping. Deevia further struggles to hold down the gauze and Lewis realizes that Sam needs to be let loose to help him. Sam helps and the bleeding stops, for now. To themselves, Lewis and Sam discuss how the latter has smartly made a bid to learn information from the former. Sam maintains that all he wants to do is get back home safely. By helping him, Sam has ensured that “next time, the gun would be waived at the person next to him.” He is only helping himself. 

Louise finally takes the Roman Interior Minister’s call asking for immediate action on Flight 29. The Minister threatens military action and Louise is updated by Alice about two unidentified aircraft flying next to the plane. Louise wants to hold off on making the call to the British PM, fearing the safety of the passengers, even if it means risking her own job. The passengers spot the aircraft flying next to them. Stuart explains to Jaime, who seems unsettled, that the “further we keep flying to the west, the safer we will be.”

Fearing that they will be shot down, Colette, one of the cabin crew, decides to risk her life and exposes her face to the pilots. She opens the blinds to the window and Jaden is seen manhandling her with a gun in his hand. 

Lewis’ bleeding gets worse. Sam tries to reassure him but he starts to spit blood. Sam cries out for help and David looks on anxiously. Robin realizes that if the plane remains non-communicative, Bucharest will think that they are a danger to them. The chances of getting shot down are high. Stuart recognizes his point and asks Robin to clear “the air up.” But the comms won’t work anymore since Stuart banged them up. Terry scampers across the plane to retrieve painkillers for Lewis. Sam takes out Lewis’ phone and notices it is connected to the wifi. He instantly calls his mother and watches Lewis emotionally bidding farewell to her. 

Marsha receives a voicemail that Sam has managed to send her. In the recording, he speaks out loud the number for Lewis’ mother and also identifies that his hands are tied. The PM has shrugged off the responsibility to take on the crisis and all now rests on Louise’s shoulders in terms of decision-making. Marsha calls Daniel about the voicemail and then sends it to him. Following this, David finally gets up and identifies himself as a doctor. 

The Romanian jets are instructed to shoot down the plane in a countdown if no response comes through. Daniel presents proof that the hijackers are British and that they are indeed headed for London. 

Louise communicates this and the shooting down is aborted by Romanian authorities. In the plane, Sam valiantly places an empty syringe in Lewis’ chest on David’s instructions. He just saved his life. Alice and the others breathe a sigh of relief as the Romanian jets disperse.

In a defining move, Colette bravely gets up and announces to everyone that the jets are gone and that they can open their blinds, despite Jaden flailing his gun around. The episode ends with the Home Secretary being delivered a list of demands by the hijackers. 

The Episode Review

With episode 4, the creators manage to find tremendous depth in the material that we didn’t know existed. This episode is definitely a surprise and indicates that Hijack has a more tangible idea of where it is headed. Idris Elba was breathtaking as Sam and the more we learn about him, the surer we are that he isn’t a run-of-the-mill character. The thought process behind his characterization also reflects in the storytelling, which has sprung a surprise with its maturity.

After the two-episode premiere, there were fears Hijack wouldn’t be a standout in Apple TV’s lineup. All of those fears seem to be allayed now as we fix ourselves on the unfolding fate of Flight 29. Slight improvements to the setting on the ground could very well elevate the show even further. But this is first-rate entertainment that you mustn’t miss out on.