'The Flight Attendant': Zosia Memet as Annie is a joy to watch, here's why she should be lead instead of Kaley Cuoco?
Spoilers for 'The Flight Attendant'
'The Flight Attendant' fell short when it came to entertainment for quite a few reasons, mainly because we thought that Chris Bohjalian's 2018 novel that it was adapted from deserved better. While the series is a gripping watch, the almost one-hour episodes will have you wonder why Zosia Mamet was cast as the best friend Annie and not the lead, Cassie Bowden.
This is not to say that Kaley Cuoco's Cassie didn't do a respectable job in bringing the erratic drunken justice but we have to say that Mamet somehow managed to save the series. Mamet plays Annie, Cassie's lawyer who helps her fend off the FBI as much as she can as Cassie tries to figure out who killed Alex (Michiel Huisman), her one-night stand in Bangkok.
While we understand waking up to a dead body and not remembering the night before is daunting, we couldn't help but think Mamet could have pulled off Cassie a bit better.
As an attorney, Mamet delivers Annie exceptionally, it makes us want to tune in for more. She's an attorney that has some interestingly dodgy clients, and even had the nerve to ask Cassie why on earth she cleaned up the crime scene. Her main goal seems to be pleading with Cassie to not do anything stupid as Cassie still trods around dangerous territories to figure out what happened to Alex that fateful night.
Annie is intelligent, snarky when she needs to be, and the friend Cassie needs to balance out her crazy, in all honesty. You almost get tired of Cassie's stupid decisions, making you wonder if Annie would do such a thing had she been in that situation. It would have been a lot cooler if Annie was the lead character, or better yet was cast as Cassie, the lead character — yes, that would have changed the dynamic of the book, but maybe that's the liberty the series should have taken.
Mamet is able to deliver the sarcasm, and comedy the series desperately needed in a tense situation - not everything can be an "oh my god" moment. Every conversation Cassie has with Annie, you're tuned in and it's honestly because Mamet takes the cake in her delivery — the frank back and forth makes those scenes quite enjoyable.
Although, we have to say that Cuoco and Mamet have great chemistry on screen - their scenes are possibly one of the highlights in the series. It's not a series that will have you want to stop midway, it's addicting in its premise and genre, and so you'll want to know what happens next.
As far as secondary characters go, Mamet was an absolute joy to watch, and while Cuoco's delivery was excellent in her sloppy drunk, "I'm crazy" kind of way, the spotlight almost didn't deserve to be on her. The series isn't a binge-watch, but will only three episodes dropping at once, we can say that Mamet would be one of the reasons you'd want to keep watching.
The first three episodes of 'The Flight Attendant' premiered on HBO Max Thursday, November 26, and it will be followed by the launch of two new episodes on December 3, two episodes on December 10, and the finale episode on December 17.