Cassandra “Cassie” Bowden is the role Kaley Cuoco was born to play. She has shown leading-lady chops ever since her comedic supporting turn in8 Simple Rules, which was originally led by thelate, great John Ritter. Since that show concluded, there’s of coursebeenThe Big Bang Theory. Even more recently thanThe Flight Attendant’s first season,Curb Your Enthusiasmfans could spot Cuoco in a laugh-out-loud, one-off role as Larry’s ignorant doctor. And at the moment, she’s simply crushing the Cassie character in season 2 of HBO Max’s hit comedy-drama.
The first season ofThe Flight Attendantis all about Cassie, a flight attendant who drinks heavily to avoid thinking about her childhood trauma. As she flies to Bangkok in the pilot episode, she spots a passenger named Alex (Michiel Huisman), whom she ends up getting drinks with after landing and later hooking up with him. When she wakes up the next morning, hungover, she is horrified to see that Alex is dead with his throat slit. The show is a roller coaster from there, featuring knock-out supporting performances by Rosie Perez and others. But it’s Cuoco who utterly owns the screen — and the show, for that matter. To fully realize her talents inThe Flight Attendant’s second season, let’s look back at Cassie’s finest moments from season 1.
Related:The Flight Attendant: What To Expect in Season 2
5Cassie Fights Alex’s Killer (Episode 8)
Let’s start with the finale, where Cassie again comes face-to-face with Alex’s killer — Feliks, played by Colin Woodell — who tracked Cassie all the way to Rome just like he followed Alex to Bangkok. When Cassie first arrives, she smartly flips the tables on Feliks by making it look like he was attacking her, getting him taken into custody for questioning by the airport security. But he escapes and catches up to Cassie in her hotel room later.
Cassie and Feliks get into a fight, and she manages to shoot him in the leg before Shane — a surprise CIA agent, played by a standout Griffin Matthews — intervenes. But it’s during the climactic fight where Cuoco really expands her acting pallet, showing off her ability to own the role on an action-star level. Who knew? It’s why Cassie’s fight with Feliks makes our Top 5 list.
4Cassie Loses It During An AA Meeting (Episode 7)
In the episode leading up to the epic finale was another Cuoco moment to shine. In order to get close to a contact for help disappering, Cassie attends an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. You can imagine how that goes for Cassie, who is still in denial about her drinking problem. The meeting triggers all kinds of bad memories and trauma for Cassie. She has a panic attack that sends her bolting out of the room. Up until this point in the series, Cuoco had consistently shown off her comedic flair. But it’s in this epic, heart-palpitation-inducing moment of glory where she also showcases her flair for the dramatic as well.
3Cassie Crashes Alex’s Memorial Service (Episode 3)
Earlier in the first season, Cassie has the brilliant idea of attending Alex’s funeral to make direct contact with his mom — all in an effort to uncover more details in Alex’s shady backstory, of course. Cassie enlists Shane to accompany her for emotional support. As if going to the memorial wasn’t a stupid enough decision, Cassie doesn’t even tell Shane the truth about it being Alex’s memorial. He’s not cool with that and ditches her to flirt with the caterers instead. Meanwhile, Cassie is left to roam the house. Her ultimate confrontation with some scary head-honchos during the service highlights more of Cuoco’s comedic-timing chops in the face of danger. It’s a terrific juxtaposition of TV genres, which is whyThe Flight Attendantis such a hit in general.
Related:Sharon Stone Boards The Flight Attendant Season 2 as Cassie’s Mother
2Cassie’s Cerebral Romance Confession (Episode 8)
Now, back to that mind-blowing finale — which also marks a turning point in Cassie’s life. Throughout the show, her psyche enters and reenters a sort of “dreamscape” where she converses with herself and a postmortem version of Alex in that infamous hotel room where she initially found him dead. In the first season’s final episode, Cassie makes peace with her past and with Alex by accepting that she wasn’t at fault for the fatal car crash that killed her father. She says goodbye to Alex once and for all. To signify this, Cassie revisits her dreamscape and slowly turns off all the lights. Her dramatic acting chops are again on full display here, earning this emotional moment a high place on our Top 5 list.
But of course, it was always Cuoco’s very first frantic moment from the pilot episode that takes the cake here. Cassie first met Alex on a flight, and after de-boarding, they spend a romantic night together — doused, of course, with alcohol. Come morning, Cassie is ready to embrace the day and perhaps spend more time with Alex. Unfortunately, their time together is cut short when she discovers that he’s dead in the bed beside her with his throat slit and blood everywhere.
They say “half of acting is reacting,” and Cuoco’s hysteria in response to her grotesque discovery is top-notch (re)acting at its finest. Cassie completely panics when she sees Alex’s dead body and immediately calls her friend and lawyer Annie (a dynamite Zosia Mamet). She doesn’t tell her what happened but babbles about Amanda Knox and the potential similarities in their stories. It’s a hoot to see what else Cuoco does in this immediate aftermath of the murder, which all certainly leads to the rest of the season’s outrageous twists and turns.
“As an actor, I like to be in the moment. I am incredibly reactive,” Cuoco once toldCollider. “I would not call myself a preparer. I never know what I’m going to do. I like to be in the moment and I like to react. I feel it as I go. Every take, you will get something different from me. Shooting this way, the technicality of it and having to work against my mirror image and my doubles, we had to throw that out the window. I had to be very exact in my movements and in my words.”
