By dropping not one, but two new episodes of the mystery thriller The Flight Attendant, HBO Max has sent viewers on a whirlwind of an adventure. After having left off with Cassie (Kaley Cuoco) dodging Marco’s question to move in together, getting the impression that Megan (Rosie Perez) is in some kind of vague and imminent danger and Annie (Zosia Mamet) and Max (Deniz Akdeniz) running into the sketchy criminals impersonating Cassie’s neighbors, we kick off episode three with the dangerous imposters listening in on Annie and Max’s conversation. Having obviously bugged Cassie’s house, we remain unsure as to why this couple is tracking Cassie. With her (real) elderly neighbors locked up in a closet, the two listen in as they both dye their hair blonde.
As Cassie attempts to decode the distressing emoji-only message sent to her by Megan through her son Eli, Cassie eventually concludes that Megan needs her to go to Iceland to give Megan a key.
Since the CIA has grounded Cassie, she needs to get creative. Attempting to barter with non other than our favorite Euphoria mom Alanna Ubach, who plays a flight attendant named Carol, Cassie lies and tells her she has a dying grandmother in Iceland and could really use Carol’s jump seat for one last visit. Getting desperate in her plea, Cassie decides to blackmail Carol, telling her she knows about the fact that she sells her “buddy passes” for profit, with many dubbing her “Black Market Carol.” Threatening to tell management, Cassie successfully gets the seat from Carol, as she’s now able to fly under the radar. That is until she sees that friend and CIA Agent Shane (Griffin Matthews) who is working her flight and is also there to chase down Megan.
While Shane doesn’t buy a word of her many excuses, it’s clear that Cassie has decided to laser-focus on Megan and her troubles to avoid very pressing issues of her own. Blowing off Marco for a breakfast date, not dealing with her dangerous doppelgänger, avoiding giving her boss Benjamin a debrief and leaving Max and Annie to decode the images included in the View-Master planted in her suitcase, Cassie retreats to her internal house of mirrors, meeting a new inner-self — the engaged, responsible Cassie if she only “made better choices.”
Landing in Iceland to find a country full of blonde people, Cassie’s paranoia surrounding the issue of her murderous double continues to sizzle. As she hits all the bars and restaurants she used to frequent with Megan, she runs into Shane, and the two sit down for some Svið, a.k.a. decapitated sheep head. While sitting with him, Cassie is notified that her credit card has been used to purchase chains, tarp, rope and more at the hardware store.
Meanwhile, Annie self-sabotages and panics while meeting Max’s parents, slipping her engagement ring into her purse to avoid that conversation with them. Telling Max and his parents that she’ll never want children, Annie and Max get into a huge fight after their visit — and then they walk into Cassie’s house, only to be knocked out and held hostage by the creepy fake neighbor couple.
After seeing that her card information is being used by her mystery twin, Cassie breaks down and is driven to the brink, doing her best to avoid drinking. Fleeing her hotel room to find an AA meeting, Shane meets Cassie in the lobby to show her how serious the situation is with Megan. Showing her an image of a dead man, Shane tells Cassie that a North Korean agent named Hawk is hunting Megan. After Cassie meets a man in AA who spoke about a woman he met from Long Island who reminded him of home, she finally tracks down Megan, only to find that she misinterpreted the emoji message.
Actually hoping that Cassie would secure a lockbox Megan left at home with dirt on the North Koreans, the pair are now left vulnerable. With Charlie (Margaret Cho) having kept Megan safe all this time, Hawk comes in for a drink at her bar. Megan and Cassie are forced to hide, but when Cassie’s phone goes off, the assassin get’s curious about who’s hiding behind the wall.
Conveniently taken out just in time, Miranda miraculously appears with a bloody knife in her hand after killing the man after Megan. Taking the girls out of danger, the group of ladies flee Hawk’s associates, steal a boat and hop on a helicopter to return safety home.
After the fake-blonde neighbors have Annie and Max tied up, they reveal they’ve been tracking Cassie to get to Megan. Eventually leaving the couple unharmed, Annie and Max run next door after realizing they took her engagement ring, only to find the elderly home-owners tied up in the closet.
After landing back home, Cassie and Megan see the news that Cassie’s double has murdered two people and dumped their bodies in the lake of a local park. Dropping Megan off at her AA sponsor Brenda’s house, Megan says she can’t stay the night and that she has to get to the lock box when Cassie convinces her to sit tight for one night.
Cassie heads over to the CIA offices to tell Benjamin everything when she sees that he’s a drunk mess. Apparently, the two dead bodies were two CIA assets. Cassie decides to self-destruct by sleeping with her boss.
