Red Eye

The Fasten-Seatbelt Sign is On

Airplane thrillers are fundamentally ridiculous. You take a setting where people are already miserable—stiff legs, stale air, the silent war for the armrest—and then add a homicide. I’ve always found these stories oddly soothing; sticking characters in a pressurized metal tube makes everything feel like an instant pressure cooker. *Red Eye*, Peter A. Dowling’s ITV series, fully embraces that lunacy. It isn't trying to win any prestige awards; it just wants to make sure you don't change the channel.

Dowling is no stranger to mid-air disasters, having penned the Jodie Foster movie *Flightplan* in 2005. He’s back in the cockpit here with a plot specifically designed for a weekend binge. Dr. Matthew Nolan (Richard Armitage) is headed back from a conference in Beijing when he’s grabbed at Heathrow and forced right back onto a flight to China to face murder charges. DC Hana Li (Jing Lusi) is the frustrated cop tasked with bringing him in. Of course, once they're in the air, the body count in economy starts to rise.



The story is built on a mountain of coincidences. That whole geopolitical subplot about nuclear deals between Britain and China is really just a thin excuse for a much wilder, pulpy mystery. Yet, there’s a weird logic to how it all clicks. The moment a guy dies from his vegan meal and an emotional support dog follows suit after licking the tray, you’re either in or you’re out. I decided to stick with it. Whether you find that charming or idiotic really just depends on how much B-movie nonsense you can stomach.

The show only holds together because Jing Lusi plays it straight. Her performance as Hana Li is defined by a heavy, palpable exhaustion. You see it in her posture when Nolan starts complaining; the slumped shoulders and the slight clench of her jaw tell the whole story. She’s not some untouchable super-cop, just a professional who's annoyed to be trapped in a high-stakes mess at cruising altitude. While it's a huge deal that she's the first East Asian woman to lead a UK primetime drama, her actual performance focuses on making Hana feel like a real, capable person who is absolutely done with everyone’s bullshit.



Richard Armitage has basically perfected the role of the brooding, attractive guy who might have committed a crime. Because he’s so physically imposing—tall and broad-shouldered—he looks especially uncomfortable squeezed into an airplane seat. He’s great at looking sweaty and panicked. As he and Li move between the cabins trying to figure out who is killing everyone, their prickly, forced partnership is really the only thing keeping the show grounded.

When the second season recently dropped, it moved the action from a plane to a lockdown at a US Embassy and added Martin Compston as a no-nonsense security boss. It turns out the setup is surprisingly flexible. You can ditch the flight and trade it for diplomatic confinement, but the basic mechanics of the show don't change at all.



Is this high-quality TV? Probably not. In *The Independent*, Nick Hilton described the first season as "just about watchable," comparing it to staring at the flight tracker after a couple of drinks. He’s on the money. *Red Eye* is essentially trashy entertainment disguised as a high-end Sunday night thriller. But honestly, when you're looking for a distraction, a bit of scripted turbulence is exactly what hits the spot.