REVIEW: ‘Hijack’ Episode 4 — “Not Responding”

Created by Jim Field Smith and Mo Ali, AppleTV+ Original Hijack takes place over seven hours across seven episodes and each one is accelerating towards a breaking point. Last episode, Hijack ended on another cliffhanger, only this time death hit the plane and not the ground. After rushing the hijackers and causing chaos on the plane, furthered by a passenger losing her child in the madness, a shot was fired. Now, in Hijack Episode 4, “Not Responding,” mortality is real for the passengers and coming quickly for the hijackers.

Continuing the thrilling pace in Hijack Episode 4, the passengers have to deal with the death of one of their own and the new lulled complacency. Having switched out the blanks with live rounds, the hijackers take a dangerous turn leaving Sam (Idris Elba) to find new ways to save himself and the passengers. In an attempt to save one of the hijackers who was injured in the chaos—and the nicest one at that, Sam calls for a doctor on the flight. But the adrenaline isn’t pumping just because of the gunshots. Hovering over airspace, a country deploys fighter jets as the unresponsive plane chooses quiet instead of risking any communications being sent from Captain Robin Allen (Ben Miles) to the ground.

I’ve said it every episode, and I’ll say it again, the choice to spread a seven-hour event over seven episodes, giving audiences pieces of the story in “real-time” is what helps keep them on the edge of their seats. In a traditional series or even film, the anticipation of danger and results from consequences doesn’t feel immediate. In Hijack, particularly in Episode 4, the constrained timeline makes everything intensified. Every episode builds on the last and the kinetically frantic energy delivers hit after hit as the writers come up with new ways to make this hijacking more high-risk without losing its grounding.

Sam isn’t a spy or a trained fighter; he’s just intelligent. He thinks quickly and he isn’t against doing what he needs to to get back home. In this case, it’s exploiting someone in their seemingly dying moments to get a message to the ground. His choices are focused and ultimately you can see the risk analysis taking place behind his eyes. As Sam, Idris Elba is a fantastic watch. He can turn on the intimidation and then switch to empathy and every emotion in between.

While the fighter jets aim, Sam performs a medical procedure and the officials on the ground do what they can to stop the fighters from shooting down KA29. All of the developments weave into each other creating a curated and thrilling chaos that absolutely works. Expertly paced—again—and propelled by a stellar score, Hijack is for anyone looking for edge-of-your-seat viewing with a mystery that keeps growing.

Hijack Episode 4 continues driving the series forward well, making the stakes larger but still centering the mystery around the characters first.

Hijack Episode 4 is streaming now on AppleTV+ with new episodes every Wednesday in July.