Hijack 2.1: A Tale of Two Vehicles

So, I reviewed the first season of Hijack in August 2023 after I saw the final episode.  It was a wonderful series.  Idris Elba in the lead role has been one of my all-time favorite actors since he played Stringer Bell in The Wire in the first decade of this century, and he was better than ever in Hijack, with standout acting from Eve Myles and other well-known actors.

The first episode of the second season, just up on Apple TV, has less action than the first episode of the first season, and almost no one other than Elba that I know in the cast.  It takes place -- or starts taking place -- in Germany, and features a train rather than a plane.  As my wife pointed out, that follows the pattern of Departure, with a first season featuring a plane crash and a second season a train derailment.  Come to think of it, Archie Panjabi starred in Departure, and also put in an appearance in the first season of Hijack.

There were two notable aspects of the first episode of the second season of Hijack [spoilers ahead]:

• Sam Nelson (Idris Elba) is on the trail of whoever it was who was ultimately responsible for the hijacked plane and most or all of the other crime in the first season.   Good -- that person or person eminently deserves to be brought to justice.
• The big reveal at the end of the first episode is that Sam is hijacking a train in Berlin in his drive to bring the ultimate instigator of the plane hijack to justice.  I'd say that's a pretty dramatic and cool twist, that I don't recall seeing before.

Idris is equally convincing in high-powered action and more low-key emotional turmoil situations, and I'm looking forward to seeing how that plays out on this train and beyond.

See also Hijack: Don't Miss It!