The Flight Attendant is a mystery-dramedy on HBO Max that is based on the novel of the same name by New York Times Best-Selling author Chris Bohjalian. It stars Kaley Cuoco as titular flight attendant Cassandra Bowden who suffers from alcoholism. One morning, Bowden wakes up in a Bangkok hotel room next to a dead body with no memory of the events and must piece together the mystery for herself. Cuoco has received high praise for her work in the series with Rebecca Nichol from The Guardian calling her performance “one of the year’s best”. She was also nominated for her first Golden Globe in her 30-year career.
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Despite its heavy subject matter, The Flight Attendant is cleverly balanced with delightful comedy that teeters on absurdity. What’s more, it delivers a fairly honest depiction of a person struggling with alcohol abuse. It is one thing to party a little too hard on occasion, however, Cuoco’s character in the series is clearly suffering from psychological issues that prompt her dependence and over-consumption. From self-loathing to denial to hangovers, blackouts, and drinking on the job, here is how the HBO Max Series perfectly captures alcohol abuse.
A High-Functioning Alcoholic
Warner Bros. Television
Throughout The Flight Attendant, Cuoco gives the performance of her career portraying high-functioning alcoholic and flight attendant Cassandra Bowden. As the audience learns more about her character from episode to episode, it becomes evident that Bowden is more than just a social drinker. Cuoco’s Bowden is so dependent on alcohol that not only does she drink in excess during off hours and attend work the following day with a massive hangover, but she also quite often indulges while on the job. At surface level, her duties are being performed well enough to get by and her problem with alcohol abuse flies under the radar of her employer, however, her problem eventually catches up to her.
What differentiates Cuoco’s Cassie from other prolific television drunks, however, is that she doesn’t rely on alcoholism to provide the comedy in her performance. According to a March 2021 interview with inews, Cuoco talked about her character: “This isn’t someone who’s slurring in the streets all day long. She has a job, she has friends, she looks like she’s got her shit together, but she literally gets by because she is drinking sips of alcohol all day long. There’s a lot of comedy,” said Cuoco. “But I wanted to make sure that the alcohol was not the funny part. Alcohol isn’t a joke.”
Childhood Trauma as a Root Cause
The Flight Attendant examines Bowden’s childhood trauma, which is slowly revealed during her own investigation into the mysterious death of her passenger-turned-one-night-stand. Like any addiction, Cassie’s relationship with alcohol is complicated; she is perpetuating addiction because she was raised around addiction, and quite simply doesn’t know anything different. As Cassie comes to terms with her past and the guilt she carries with her, she embarks on a path toward recovery, finally accepting her problems rather than being in denial.
Furthermore, The Flight Attendant delves into Bowden’s depression and damaged relationship with herself, which drives her to self-medicate with alcohol in the first place. The actress recently opened up about her struggles playing the character in its second season while dealing with issues in her personal life, telling Variety, “One month in, I had an intervention on myself in my trailer — all my producers were in there. And I said, ‘I need help.’ It was interesting to say that out loud. And to have everyone be like, ‘Yes, we want to help!’ I’m a working woman, and so independent, and I really take pride in being able to do everything. Well, this time, I literally couldn’t.”
Impacts of Alcoholism
Every addict has to hit rock bottom to find the road to recovery and Cuoco’s character in The Flight Attendant is no different. Her version of hitting rock-bottom just happens to be waking up next to a dead body and wondering whether she could have been responsible for his murder. The dramatic realization that her drinking was now putting her in extremely unsafe situations was an eye-opener for her character. Moreover, the impact of her alcoholism was beginning to negatively affect her personal relationships as well. She damages her relationship with her brother and family by drinking during family time with his daughters, setting a bad example, and even encouraging them to lie to their parents. The humiliation Cuoco’s character suffers through all her bad decisions throughout season one does, however, usher her down a more righteous path.
In season two of The Flight Attendant, we see Cassie working towards her sobriety, although that doesn’t mean everything is coming up roses. Cuoco spoke with Marie Claire: “Every person’s journey through sobriety is their own, and people go through it differently,” she said. “For some, it comes easy and for others, it’s a lifelong struggle. Cassie was at her worst when she wasn’t drinking, she’s a functioning alcoholic and drinking actually kept her normal, in a way. This season, we’re taking it that away, so I wanted to make sure that there was something missing inside of her and she was trying to fill it."
No word yet on whether The Flight Attendant will return for a third season, however, Cuoco told Variety in May that “the plane has landed,” implying the show may not be returning.
