TV Review: PAN AM 1.8, “Unscheduled Departure”
I am pleased to report that the most recent episode of Pan Am is, at least at this point, the best of the series so far.
rating: 4.5
I am pleased to report that the most recent episode of Pan Am is, at least at this point, the best of the series so far. It had action, tension, good character development and not even one flashback. This makes me quite happy. Our story begins with the flight crew headed to Venezuela as Hurricane Ginny hits the greater Florida area. This becomes a major problem for them, because as they fly one of the characters has a massive heart attack. They need to land as quickly as possible. Miami is out. The Dominican Republic is out. Cuba certainly isnt an option. This leaves Port au Prince, Haiti. They contact the airportmore or less. Theres no one from the airport actually on duty and the person who answers doesnt speak English. Fortunately they have Colette (Karine Vanasse), on board. Shes able to translate and they start doing an emergency landing, which was really well-shot and very tense. Once on the ground, they find out that there isnt a doctor anywhere at the airport or in the nearby area. The crew ends up paying for a Jeep, and Colette and First Officer Vanderway (Michael Mosley), drive to a village some distance away to find a doctor. On the way there, they pick up a refugee and on the way back, pick up gunfire. Back at the plane, Captain Dean (Mike Vogel), has done some math and realized that the runway is too short for the plane to take off at its current weight. The only choice is to lose some weight as quickly as possible and then try to get off the ground and divert back to Miami. This plan, which ends up involving the passengers luggage, is not well-received. I really did like this episode. Everything clicked in a way that the show hasnt clicked for me since it started its run. The writing was good, the pacing was excellent and the problems seemed realistic, though the eventual resolution to the issue of the Haitian refugee seemed a bit forced, though perhaps it will pay off in future episodes. Now, it wasnt a perfect episode. I was very confused as to exactly why the character of Sanjiv (the navigator who usually sits around in the back for the purpose of adding some color to the cast), wasnt on board. He was apparently on vacation, but Im not sure why the writers felt the need to do that. It seemed like the only reason to have him gone was to add a slight bit of artificial conflict to the final scenes in Haiti. I was also a bit bemused by the fact that the man who had the heart attack was basically Ed Asners character from Up, right down to saving his pennies in a Mason jar so that he and his wife could someday visit South America. But those are very minor complains. I enjoyed this episode. In fact, I enjoyed it so much, Im actually annoyed that I have to wait three weeks for the next one. It was everything I had wanted the show to be from day one, and I sincerely hope that they will find a way to keep up this level of quality from here on out.