Plot: On the anniversary of Kai’s death, Stuart and Lang’s team convince Sam that his estranged wife Marsha is in enough mortal jeopardy that he needs to hijack a train, using the hostages to convince German authorities to bring Bailey-Brown to the bomb-strapped vehicle.
Season 2 of Hijack was underwhelming.
Pros: Hijack 2 maintain its thrilling, exciting & sweating tone from season 1. Idris Elba stills bring t to the roles of Sam Nelson. The story progression make sense also keeps fit with the narrative set from the first season. Adding Toby Jones, Lisa Vican & Karima Adebibe were welcome additions to the cast line-up. A lot of the tension I thought was at the underground mass transit system and the control centre & the structure this time smaller and tight so we can follow better.
Cons: Marsha’s plotline wasn’t that interesting to me. The passengers didn’t add anything but a bit annoying at times. The terrorist investigation was so out of place. I felt it the story drag at times & the finale felt out of the wind in my opinion.
Genre: Drama, Mystery & Thriller
Created by Jim Field Smith
Directed by Jim Field Smith, Shaun James Grant
Starring: Idris Elba, Neil Maskell, Christine Adams, Max Beesley, Archie Panjabi, Ian Burfield, Toby Jones, Eve Myles, Clare-Hope Ashitey, Karima McAdams & Christiane Paul.
Music by UNKLE, Richard Ashcroft, Wil Malone
Executive producers: Idris Elba, George Kay, Jim Field Smith, Kris Thykier, Hakan Kousetta, Jamie Laurenson, Tom Nash
Production Locations: Berlin, London England.
Cinematographs: Ed Moore, Steven Cameron Ferguson
Editors: Ben Whitehead, Johannes Bock, Carmela Iandoli, David Webb
Production companies: 60Forty Films, Green Door Pictures, Idiotlamp Productions, Archery Pictures
Network: Apple TV.
Casts & Characters:
Main
- Idris Elba as Sam Nelson, a lawyer and corporate business negotiator
- Neil Maskell as Stuart Atterton / Gerald Taylor, Lewis’ elder brother and the leader of the hijackers
- Christine Adams as Marsha Smith-Nelson, Sam’s estranged wife, a physics professor
- Max Beesley as DI Daniel O’Farrell, Marsha’s boyfriend, a Metropolitan Police officer
- Archie Panjabi as DCI Zahra Gahfoor, O’Farrell’s former partner and a member of SO15
- Ian Burfield as John Bailey-Brown (series 2; guest, series 1), a co-leader of the Cheapside Firm crime syndicate and the hijacking orchestrator of Kingdom Airlines Flight 29
Series 2
- Albrecht Schuch as Freddie von Neuenfels, a train passenger and sustainability consultant
- Christian Näthe as Otto Weber, a train driver for the Berlin U-Bahn
- Clare-Hope Ashitey as Olivia Thatcher, an employee at the British Embassy in Berlin
- Lisa Vicari as Clara Berger, a train dispatcher at the U-Bahn
- Dejan Bućin as Detective Zoran Beck, a high-ranking BKA agent
- Karima McAdams as Jess, a train passenger and volunteer medic
- Jasmine Bayes as Mei Tan, a train passenger; Sam’s former intern
- Toby Jones as Peter Faber, a senior British Intelligence official
- Christiane Paul as Chief Ada Winter, head of the Federal Police, Berlin Division
- Christian Berkel as Deputy Chief Roland Murnau, Winter’s second-in-command
- Arsher Ali as Robert Lang, an MI5 operative working with Faber
Recurring:
Series 2
- Thomas Kitsche as Timo Dönitz, a train passenger and father of a sick baby
- Ellie McKay as Orla, a train passenger
- Sasha Carberry Sharma as Fran, a train passenger
- Eysteinn Sigurðarson as Anders, a train passenger
- Matt Mordak as Pavel, a train passenger
- Gabrielle Scharnitzky as Petra, a train passenger
- Herbert Forthuber as Stefan, a train passenger
- Jessica Hardwick as Mansell, Marsha’s neighbour
- Jamie Michie as Gold, Marsha’s neighbour
- Andy Gätjen as Edward Diehl, Clara’s boss
- Dimitri Abold as Max, a train dispatcher; Clara’s colleague
- Langston Uibel as Colin, a train passenger and schoolteacher
- Felix Mayr as Lukas, a train passenger; teacher’s assistant
- Paddy Holland as George, a train passenger; one of Colin’s students
- Isobel Imade as Rebecca, a train passenger; one of Colin’s students
- Gretchen Mae Bean as Tania, a train passenger; one of Colin’s students
- Martin Oelbermann as Alexander, a train passenger
- Katrin Röver as Lena, a station manager
- Ben Willbond as Graham, Olivia’s colleague at the British Embassy in Berlin
- Sebastian Hülk as Dieter Wolf, a GSG 9 commander
- Daniel Fritz as Frohms, a German Intelligence agent
- Sam Sharma as Linder, a German Intelligence agent
- Olive Gray as Leah Dönitz, Timo’s wife
I still recommend watching this season on Apple TV+.
Rating: 6 out of 10 Stars
Ryan Balkwill:
Resident TV reviewer,
Level Best Art Cafe