The Flight Attendant Season 1 Story Recap: A look back at Cassie’s roller-coaster ride in the fringes of crime!

Introductions

‘The Flight Attendant’ became what you would call in the movie language, a sleeper hit. Starring Kaley Cuoco as Cassie, the first season was essentially a murder mystery at the outset, but a more sincere and darker look at Cassie’s chaotic life. One twist after the other meant the action kept on going throughout the season. With hardly any lean patches, it was as enjoyable and commendable as they come.

The show proved to be an intelligent mix of humor and action. The handling of the narrative allowed Cuoco an opportunity to showcase her underrated acting skills. It also marked another instance of an unlikeable lead character pulling themselves together and redeeming themselves in the eyes of the audience at the end. Season two is nigh upon us and for those who haven’t been able to keep track of what happened in season one, here’s a quick recap of that.

Season 1

The Beginning in Bangkok

Cassie Bowden is a flight attendant for Imperial Atlantic Airlines. She is reckless and has a drinking problem. On one of the flights to Bangkok, she encounters a charming stranger, Alex. They meet at the hotel and sleep together. The next morning, though, Cassie finds Alex murdered in bed beside her. In a panic, she cleans up the mess, leaves her fingerprints on the broken wine bottle, and misplaces her ID somewhere. She leaves soon thereafter, fearing she has done the horrible deed in a drunken state.

Although while being questioned by FBI Agents Kim and Van back in the US, she realizes that there was another person with them the previous night. Through the strange callbacks with a dead Alex, she figures out her name: Miranda. Cassie feels as if she is the key to unlocking the mystery of Alex’s death and proceeds to visit his office looking for her.

Cassie Brings back a Stranger

She alerts the FBI with her move and in a moment of desperation, reveals that she was with Alex the night he was murdered. Her friend, Annie, who is also her lawyer, says that because the FBI does not have sufficient evidence against her, they’re letting her go. The previous night, Cassie has another argument with her brother Davey and sleeps with a stranger. Unknown to her, Miranda has taken Cassie’s information from her credit card and follows her back to New York. She breaks into her house, looking for more clues but doesn’t find anything.

Miranda, who is Cassie’s best friend, has her own problems to deal with but none bigger than conspiring with the Korean government. She steals data off of her husband’s computer and exchanges it for money.

Cassie’s Flashbacks and the Funeral Chaos

Through all of this, Cassie has several flashbacks to her childhood days. They do not reveal much but give a hint of some trauma that she carried forward into adulthood. Cassie decides to attend Alex’s funeral to gain more information on Miranda.

She is caught snooping and stealing papers from a company called Lionfish but one of Annie’s clients saves the day. Max, Annie’s computer-savvy boyfriend, helps Cassie make sense of the papers she stole. Miranda continues her probe into the matter but is asked by her employers to do another task.  Cassie again has an argument with Davey about their relationship and proceeds to sleep with Buckley again.

The Mystery of the Empty Planes

Now the picture starts becoming clearer. Alex’s parents own Unisphere where he worked. They also chartered empty flights from New Jersey to Maine once a week. While Cassie and Max investigate, they decide to look for more clues in Alex’s apartment. Something interesting manifests that will make sense in the end. Cassie is asked by Annie’s client to repay the debt by delivering a message to a prisoner. Little does she know that she is actually handing him his death sentence.

Megan’s husband now suspects wrongdoing from her. Max and Cassie locate an abandoned area linked to Lionfish. They notice that the computers there have details of dead people’s passports, including Cassie’s. When they’re discovered, they run from the place, but not before Max is run down by a vehicle.

Cassie’s Personal Life Spirals out of Control

Cassie pleads innocence with Annie for getting Max hurt by saying that they transferred data from the computer to a pen drive. But, she dropped it while running from the place.

Annie breaks ties with her, and so does Davey, who is annoyed with her for not seeing things from his side. Buckley and Cassie, who are still continuing together, are arrested by the police when an FBI agent following Cassie turns up dead.

Cassie redeems her relationship with Davey after flashbacks with Alex make her realize that she was indeed wrong.

Old Foes Turned Friends

When someone tries to murder Miranda, she bails Cassie out and they try to figure out who killed Alex. Miranda suspects Victor, her boss, is involved in the entire situation and has ordered their hit. They go on the run but do not take Annie’s help. Annie makes up with Max and declares her love for him. Cassie’s trauma is finally revealed: she feels responsible for her father’s death when they were driving in the car. This is why she has a drinking problem.

The book from Alex’s apartment reveals the true nature of Solokov’s ordeal. Cassie and Miranda are chased by Felix and in the mess, Miranda loses the book. But, Cassie is shocked to see that Felix is in fact, Buckley. He has been Victor’s man all along, keeping Cassie’s movements in check.

The Final Roll of the Dice

The Bangkok police have reconstructed the broken bottle and Cassie’s fingerprints are on it. Cassie and Miranda go to Rome to bait Buckley. Miranda also takes the money from Victor, her boss, and kills him. Annie gets her hands on the pen drive, thus proving Cassie and Max’s innocence to the police. Buckley overpowers them both but is neutralized in time by Shane, one of Megan and Cassie’s crewmates, who turns out to be an undercover CIA Agent. Miranda eludes Cassie and the police. Shane asks Cassie to become an asset for the CIA; an offer she thinks about with a smile.

 

So that’s the entire story of The Flight Attendant from Season 1 up to the end of episode 8 in a nutshell. There’s a lot more going on here – but that should be enough to get you ready for season 2!

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What did you think of The Flight Attendant’s story? Have we missed any crucial details in this recap? Do let us know in the comments below!