The Hijacking of Flight 601 – Episode 2 Recap & Review

Death at Her Heels

Episode 2 of The Hijacking of Flight 601 starts with the plane flying over the Caribbean Ocean. Inside the plane, Marisol is freaking out, talking about how her palm reading shows that they will all die.

Barbara and Edie try to calm her down, and Edie helps her to the washroom but finds someone else hiding there. Edie demands the hijackers tell them where they are taking them since one of them says that they are landing in 30 minutes.

One of the hijackers, Borja, announces that The People’s Revolutionary Front has taken control of the plane and that the passengers will be the bargaining chips in their attempt to negotiate with the government. The plane is heading to Aruba, and if the President fails to agree to their demands, the passengers will die as martyrs for the revolutionists. 

Meanwhile, the manager of Aerobolivar Engineer Pirateque plays a recording of the hijackers’ demands to the board and suggests negotiating a ransom when the Airline’s President Chavarriaga walks in, ordering with finite that they leave the matter to the country’s President to deal with. However, Pirateque manages to overturn his command, and the board agrees to allow him to negotiate with the hijackers and keep the passengers safe.

Pirateque’s decision is not based on prioritising the passengers’ safety, but he intends to use it to win over the board, cement his position in the company, and take over Chavarriaga’s position as President. His biggest supporter is the flight attendant’s supervisor, Manchola. 

Flight 601 safely lands at Princess Beatrix Airport Oranjestad, Aruba, and Borja orders the captain to handcuff himself to his seat. Edie sneakily takes the telephone connected to the cockpit and listens as Borja demands to be put through to the El Dorado Tower, and Pirateque takes over the negotiations.

Borja asks to speak to a representative of the government, and Pirateque tells him that the President has agreed to make a statement only after the hijackers start releasing the passengers. Pirateque agrees to pay him the ransom, but he has to show that he can be trusted by releasing a hostage. 

Edie comes up with an idea to force the hijacker’s hand by convincing a woman hidden in the bathroom to pretend she is pregnant to get off the plane. The woman, Amparo, is frightened and offers to stay on board while they let go of another family with a young girl on board, but she finally agrees to follow Edie’s plan. Edie makes it seem that Amparo is pregnant since she knows no doctor on board can verify it. She confronts the other hijacker in charge of the passengers, El Toro, demanding to talk to his boss. 

Borja hears the commotion and leaves the cockpit to check it out. The copilot follows him and offers to check on Amparo’s condition. Lequerica realises that Edie is lying but plays along, but the plan does not pan out as Edie had hoped. Instead, Borja takes advantage of the situation to increase the ransom since more is at stake.

Edie is hysterical, but Borja is adamant, and he tells Pirateque to send him 400,000 dollars if he wants him to release Amparo. Edie regrets his decision since she has put a passenger in harm’s way and thinks she is not fit to be on the plane, but Barbara calms her down. 

Pirateque crashes the Chavarriaga’s party to convince him to pay the 400,000 ransom, but the President sticks to politics, willing to let a passenger die as long as it gives him a chance to get rid of Pirateque. He mentions that there is no media coverage in Aruba, meaning the airline’s image will not be affected because the news will never be released.

Pirateque uses Chavarriaga’s words against him when he calls a journalist and gives him an exclusive about the kidnapping. Inside the plane, the passengers are exhausted, hot, and out of water, so Barbara and Edie hand out cold towels dipped in ice and milk to cool them down. 

Amparo is still hiding in the toilet, afraid to get out, so the passengers must use the first-class bathroom. An altercation happens when a first-class passenger refuses to let another passenger with stomach problems use the restroom. Borja asks El Toro not to interfere and let them fight it out, but he eventually intervenes before it spirals out of control.

Barbara picks a fight with the first-class passenger, and Edie confronts her, saying that as flight attendants, they should always smile. Barbara says he is exhausted from smiling when she does not want to. Edie and Barbara talk heart-to-heart as she opens up about what she had to do to get a chance to wear the uniform and that her real name is Maria.  

Suddenly, a plane is heard in the distance. The journalist, Flaqo, arrives with his crew to cover the hijacking, and Borja lets them enter the plane for a live coverage of the hijacking. He announces that their demands include the release of the 30 students held as prisoners in El Socorro and 400,000 to finance the revolution. Borja says that they are willing to die or kill as long as they work to remove the curtains separating the rich and the poor in Colombia.

Edie shows Flaqo, the pregnant woman, in the bathroom, and Borja calls Pirateque, telling him he has 18 minutes to deliver the money, but he starts to tell him stories before calmly telling him that the board has authorised 200,000. Borja agrees to the deal, and Pirateque announces to the press conference that the company has agreed to pay the hijackers, so Borja orders the release of women and children. 

Pirateque, Manchola, and the employees are ecstatic that they have successfully negotiated the release of the women and children, and they excitedly await to hear the President’s speech, hoping to be regarded as heroes. However, the President warns against negotiating with the terrorists, saying that anyone who listens to their demands is an accomplice. He says that the Dutch police will handle the matter and are authorised to use any means necessary to deal with the hijackers.

Pirateque’s face drains all colour. Meanwhile, Edie helps the women out and sends Amparo a message to Manchola, saying that her children are home alone. At the same time, William is watching the television at night, and he sees his mother get back to the plane moments away from freedom since her friend Barbara is still being held hostage by the hijackers. 

Borja calls Pirateque asking about the money, but he tells them that the President has refused to negotiate and is sending the military to their location. Borja takes one of the passengers and drags him to the back, and three shots are fired while El Toro holds the communication device so Pirateque can hear the shots. 

The Episode Review

Episode 2 adds a dramatic flair to the narrative to illustrate the social and economic divide between the rich and the poor, which is one of the motivating factors for the hijacking. The whole episode kept the viewers on the edge of their seats, especially scared that Borja and El Toro would realise that Edie lied about the pregnant woman and possibly kill them.

The struggle for power in the company between Chavarriaga and Pirateque adds a frustrating aspect that stirs anger as their actions show that they are as bad as the hijackers, using people’s lives to advance their personal vendettas.

In the end, we sigh in relief as the hijackers release the women and children, but the tensions escalate towards the end, leaving us eager to find out what happens next. Did Borja kill the passenger? What will happen to Edie’s children who are home alone?

Will the President agree to negotiate with the hijackers, or are the passengers and the crew left to survive the militia on their own? What will happen when the military takes over the hijacking situation?