Episode Reviews

This is a spoilerrific review of the whole season. I grew to detest the protagonist and actively root against her.In the first episode, Kaitlin Le tries to pump information from the sister of a disappeared passenger. To do that she pretends to know where the woman’s young nephew is being kept. When the woman learns that Kaitlin lied, she is understandably angered by Kaitlin’s exploitation of her grief and worry for her nephew’s wellbeing. Later on, Kaitlin receives some information that allows her to claw her way back on to the moral high horse. All through the show, Kaitlin mumbles sadly that sometimes you never truly know your loved ones. It’s too bad she’s better at hinting about knowing more than she lets on, than actually investigating what she thinks she knows.Kaitlin’s brother was on the missing plane and she suspects that he might have something to do with the disappearance. You would think that that’s where she would start because that’s the most concrete thing she has. But no, wild goose chase after wild goose chase as Kaitlin investigates theories that have nothing to do with her brother, posing as reporters (Verifying a reporter’s credentials in this age of fraud and trolling has apparently not occurred to these characters.) or friends, to ask grieving relatives obnoxious questions that the police have already asked. It’s like she’s so entitled that she thinks only her grief matters. Her grief licenses her to subject everyone else to her bull in china shop antics.Even as the show shifts toward Kaitlin’s brother, Kaitlin still doesn’t get opportunities to demonstrate her intellect. What she knows about her brother is meagre, quickly surpassed by clues that are sent to her such that it always feels like she’s being led around by the nose. The one time she actually uses her noggin to make a connection is too little too late. It’s dismissed as another red herring and subsequently overshadowed by the sequel hook.If this show had teeth, then the line it tries to thread between how it is realistic that someone might turn to conspiracies to seek distraction from an unpalatable reality, and how much conspiracy nuttery is too much, is pretty compelling. Kaitlin’s always a little too desperate to believe each time she latches on to a new conspiracy theory. By the time she’s proven right on something as nebulous as “It wasn’t a bird strike”, she has the credibility of a broken clock who accidentally gets the time right twice a day. The show gets this close to pulling off a pointed message that falling down the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories is the wrong way to grieve, but then undercuts itself with the sequel hook. I can’t say that I expected any better. Edited Nov 5, 19

One of the very best, well written, produced, acted and sound designed shows at the moment, and this season finale was even better yet - with a cliffhanger to end all clifhangers. A masterpiece!