Abhiroop Das
Co-created by Jim Field Smith and George Kay, ‘Hijack‘ continues the second chapter in its narrative with a transition from air to land, from a plane to a train, and from Sam surviving hijacks to becoming a part of a much more complicated string of affairs. Still reeling from the after-effects of the airliner hijack, Sam resolves to try any method he can to bring the mastermind behind bars. However, when his search ultimately leads him to Germany, things soon take a harrowing turn, with Sam finding himself in the midst of yet another hijacking. What starts as a cyclical mystery soon turns into a bigger quest for vengeance and justice in this thriller show, as exemplified by episodes 1 and 2 of the second season. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Sam Goes to Berlin in Search For Answers
‘Hijack’ season 2 begins with Sam in Berlin, Germany, in the middle of a chilly winter. While it has been quite some time since the Kingdom airline hijacking, Sam is yet to truly move on, and that is best seen in the phone call that follows. Olivia, an operative at the British Embassy, dials him about a scheduled meeting with the local investigative authorities, but he doesn’t pick up the call. Instead, he paces down the Berlin U-Bahn, making careful note of the many major and minor developments that take place in the station. Among these is a man with a large backpack who appears to be moving in a hurried fashion, and incidentally enters the same train as Sam: U5 Wagon 2600. With around 200 more passengers aboard, the scene is packed with numerous disparate stories that are about to link up in unexpected ways.
Elsewhere, a detective named Black conducts a large-scale raid into a mysterious house, which appeas to be empty by the time the police is inside. While Black’s team believes that the tip was faulty, he has a different idea, claiming that his target simply outpaced him. An employee ID card dropped on the floor places that man as Marko, and we soon see him at the rail line subway network, posing as a construction worker and making his entry. While the rest of the workers return to base, he manages to sneak deeper into the expansive tunnel system, slowly setting up the plan. At the subway control system, we are introduced to Clara Berger, an employee who is tasked with handling the U5 line for the day.
Sam Falsely Accuses an Innocent Man of Stirring Trouble
The scene returns to Sam, and we see that the train has moved through quite some stations with no hiccups in its routine. Next up, a group of American students enters the train with their teacher, and all except one of the students have no problems getting in. The lone exception, a teen named George, appears to have a fear of trains and has to be forced into the wagon. While Sam notices all of this, the bulk of his attention is still on the man with the large backpack, who appears to be moving even more suspiciously. Sam interprets the man’s erratic behavior as a threat and directs the attention of the two policemen on board onto him. In the next station, the man is forcibly pushed out of the car, and while Sam’s train departs, we see the man empty his backpack, only to reveal nothing incriminating.
Murmurs of Sam racially profiling a man begin to spread through the train, putting Sam in a tighter spot as the stations come and go. The driver, Otto, appears to be particularly tense, and ultimately requests a toilet break at one of the stations. This catches not just Sam’s eye, but also that of Otto’s friend, who is surprised that he is still driving. Inside the washroom, Otto rings up Marko, confirming that he, too, is a part of the plan that is about to unfold. However, when no response comes from the other end, and Otto’s friend begins to get suspicious, he has no choice but to return to his wagon and continue operations. His friend, on the other hand, informs Clara of this odd exchange, suggesting that Otto be replaced by a different driver at the next station. Otto does not take this development well, and in a desperate bid, chooses not to open the doors at the station, skipping it entirely.
A Hijacking is Underway, This Time by Sam
With Otto’s bold and puzzling move, the plan is no longer a secret, and both Clara and the passengers simultaneously make note of something being off. While most people, such as the teacher, believe this to be a technological glitch, wagon 2600 skips the next station as well, instilling fear into the hearts of many. Among these people is Sam, who quickly makes his way to the engine room’s door and begins banging on it. Elsewhere, Clara struggles to make sense of the wagon’s strange movement, not knowing that a short distance away, Marko is busy shifting the platform lines to push the train down an unregistered path, from where it completely loses all contact with the government.
Marko’s move is ultimately a success, and the train takes a sharp turn from the U5 to the U8 line, completely disappearing into an abandoned tunnel system. When it stops showing up on the system, Clara realizes that something has truly gone wrong, but is still unable to pin down what and why. Meanwhile, Sam turns out to have a key to the driver’s cabin and uses it to brute-force his entry and overpower the driver. In the most shocking development, however, is that Sam isn’t here to save the day, but actually knows Otto by name. As it turns out, this entire chain of events has been his idea this entire time, and his real plan is to hijack U5 2600, starting now.
When a desperate Clara tries to reach out to the wagon by radio, she is met with Sam’s voice, as opposed to Otto’s. By now, the entire operating room is listening in carefully to his words, and Sam makes an immediate declaration that he is hijacking the train and has one specific demand in return for the passengers’ safety. He urges Clara to contact the police forces and bring them to target a man named John Bailey-Brown, who fans may recognize as the primary antagonist of the previous season and the orchestrator of the airliner hijack. As it turns out, this also happened to be the subject of his conversation with Olivia, which never came to be. It is apparent that he has now abandoned a lawful pursuit, instead choosing to go rogue, even if it means jeopardizing the lives of hundreds.
Sam Nearly Goes Too Far in His Pursuit
As per Sam’s commands, Clara contacts the authorities, and within minutes, top officials get involved. This includes Ada Winter, leader of the police force, who takes charge as the primary communicator, alongside Clara, in this back-and-forth. While the plan is to slowly learn more about the hijacker and ease into a negotiation, she soon finds those tactics to be futile. By pure coincidence, however, the wagon is stopped within seconds of making the secret turn, due to George pulling the safety alarm. With the only way to undo it being manual, Otto has no choice but to go through the wagon and attract attention. Even when the train does get moving, however, his movements are enough to make some of the passengers suspicious, and that includes a cyclist.
Winter and her team are joined by Peter Faber, a member of MI6, who is consulting due to confirmation of the hijacker having a British accent. Unlike Winter’s peers, Faber believes collecting intelligence to be their top priority, as opposed to going on the offensive. As Clara finally figures out that the train is going through abandoned tunnels and is likely on the U8 line by now, a plan to stall the hijacking is made, with a single, unused wagon blocking the way. The plan works, agitating Sam and forcing him to get creative. When he steps out, the station’s control room is empty, and Otto helps him jumpstart the system and get access to multiple cameras. From here, it becomes apparent that the police have no intention to just roll over and listen to his demands, and an even worse development occurs later, inside U5 2600.
While Sam’s goal so far has been to keep the passengers out of the loop, these repeated delays begin to test their patience, and the cyclist makes his way to the driver’s door for answers. Otto’s blunder is to open the door to answer, following which the man hears radio messages about the hijack, and Sam has no choice but to pull the man in. From here, the man becomes his pawn, as Sam ties a briefcase onto his palm and makes him walk to the station. Around the same time, Olivia enters the room and identifies the hijacker as Sam, further leveling the playing field. In return, he threatens to blow up the cyclist if the empty wagon is not removed on time, and as the deadline lapses, a bright flash, followed by a system timeout, takes over the screen, leaving it ambiguous whether the passengers died or were blinded.
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