Drowning Women

"**Drowning Women**" is the fifth episode of the second season of HBO Max's *The Flight Attendant*. It released on May 5, 2022 on HBO Max.

## Synopsis

After finding potentially incriminating photos in Benjamin's office, Cassie seeks assurances from Shane, and continues to avoid Marco while Megan searches for an all-important lockbox.

## Plot

### Looking guilty

Cassie wakes up in the morning, finding herself with the naked Benjamin Berry of the CIA. She covers her face at what she's done. She observes a folder with a post-it note bearing her name. She opens it up and begins taking picture using her smartphone of the stuff inside. She hears Benjamin snoring and goes into her mind palace, telling sparkly Cassie that one of the photos shows her red glove. She says that the psych evaluation in the folder does not have her answers, that it's making her sound insane. Reading through the file, sparkly Cassie comments that Cassie looks guilty. She says it's just like the good old days. "Was I really like you?" wonders Cassie, saying she doesn't actually know what's in the file, so neither does sparkly Cassie. Sparkly Cassie shoots back that she knows that she had sex with her handler, that it's a better distraction than Feliks. Cassie asks why she would even bring that name up. Sparkly Cassie tells her to take it easy, that Benjamin is a classier distraction. "Plus, I'm not the one bringing stuff up in here, am I?" asks sparkly Cassie, and from a chair, depressing Cassie starts singing "Here I Come Again." Back in the office, Cassie scatters the file in frustration, then tries to put it back together. She leaves the office and heads for the elevator, only to find Dot Karlson behind her. They ask each other what they're doing there, Cassie claiming that she was just there to debrief Benjamin on Berlin. Dot tells Cassie that it must be hard, them not being to tell her everything. She suggests Cassie see a counselor, saying that Cassie seems a little on edge. Cassie says it's nice of her and boards the elevator.

Cassie gets in her car, eating Hot Tamales and calling herself an idiot. She calls Shane Evans, saying he told her to call when she needs help and she does. He tells her he's listening and she tells him that someone stole his identity and that she thinks they're with the CIA. He says he doesn't know what to say. She asks if he knows about the CIA analysts that were murdered at Echo Park. He tells her that he didn't know they were CIA analysts and she shouldn't either. She tells him that she has proof the killings are linked to the Berlin bombings, that they're linked by slides in a Viewmaster. Shane does a double-take, telling her to lay low until he can see what he can dig up for training. She asks what he means and he tells her that it's mandatory Imperial Atlantic Airlines continuing qualification training. "That's today?!" asks Cassie, groaning. He tells her to bring the Viewmaster, that it may contain trace evidence. He hangs up.

Back at Cassie's, Annie asks Cassie for her story, if she really photographed a classified CIA file after having sex with her boss. Cassie tells her she doesn't know why she did it. Max tells her it's not all bad, that they wouldn't have these files if she hadn't slept with her handler. Cassie mutters that she just wants one drink. Annie tells her not to say it, but Cassie says that she said it because she means it, that she will always mean it. She says the files make her look insane, reading off "narcissistic delusions," "borderline sociopathic tendencies." Max says that this may be how the CIA wants her to be seen. Annie says the most the files can do is paint the picture that she could be a killer. Cassie tells them that the red glove really is hers, and it's at the Echo Park crime scene. "I hate to say this, but whoever is doing this to you is, um, killing it," comments Annie. Cassie tells them that she's living for the trace evidence on the Viewmaster. "Um..." starts Max and they explain that Esteban and Gabrielle Diaz took the Viewmaster. "Oh my God," Cassie moans, saying she has to go to training.

Cassie opens the door, only to find her boyfriend Marco there. She reaches to hug him, but he asks why she hasn't been answering his calls. She mumbles, then says she has a really good reason, asking if they can talk about it later. She says she has a work thing and he comments that there have been a lot of "work things" lately. She agrees and he tells he loves her, but there's something going on, that they were talking about her meeting his daughter. She says that there is something going on, but it's with her and she wants to tell him, but she can't, so she has to go. He says that she can tell him anything. He asks how they can start a life together, but she tells him that he doesn't. She says she honestly does have a work thing and has to go now. He says he's trying hard to be optimistic, that it's important for his recovery. He says she must do better than "work thing," and she tells him she slept with someone else. She covers her mouth in shock, saying she didn't mean for it to come out that way. She texts a text on her phone from Brenda - "Cassie, call me." "Another work thing?" asks Marco and she tells him it's her sponsor, but he says she doesn't get to play the AA card with him. He curses and asks her to just tell him what happened. She says she doesn't know, that she forgot about him. "Wow," he comments. Inside, Max looks shocked and Annie covers her mouth. Marco says he could get over the cheating, but the last part is too much. She tells him her life is spinning out of control and that she's trying. He says he is too, but it's too much. He says his daughter would have loved her. "Bye, Cassie" he tells her and walks off. Cassie hyperventilates in shock.

### Go and get everything back

At the headquarters of the CIA, Dot visits Benjamin's office, commenting that she sees he pulled an all-nighter and asking how he's holding up. He says losing people is brutal, but he's fine. She asks if any theories sprung up, saying that she's been doing her own homework and it feels to her like an inside job. He asks how so and she tells him she wants to dig a little deeper first. She asks him why Cassie was sneaking out of his office disheveled. He says he must have missed her. At Imperial Atlantic, Cassie arrives and Carol Atkinson bumps into her. Cassie asks if she just body-checked her, but Carol claims not to have even seen her, that she didn't register. Cassie meets up with Shane, who says she looks like she's been crying. She explains that Marco just dumped her and there's still someone imitating her, asking him if he found anything out. He says that as much as he likes telling her that she's a crazy person, the security stills do show the double. He says it's nothing without context, asking if she brought the Viewmaster. She tells him she couldn't get it, showing him instead the psych evaluation. He asks how she even has it and she explains about her sleeping with Benjamin. He says his instincts are that stealing CIA files is bad, that they will take her away. She says she only "documented."

Jada comes up, asking Shane how Justin is, but Cassie asks her to give them five minutes. She asks if "the three of them feel comfortable working together" and Cassie asks what she means, if she's leading the thing. Carol then waves and Cassie realizes what Jada was talking about. She curses. As Jada begins the sessions, Cassie gets a call, which turns out to be from Brenda. She says that she's been texting her for hours, that Hildegard left. Cassie asks where she went. Brenda says that they had a chat and she was careful not to say anything dark or tragic, then went to make her some tea. Cassie apologizes, saying she'll call her later and hangs up, cursing out Megan. Jada calls over, asking if she'd like to join the group.

Megan arrives on Long Island. She enters a bar and her friend Cherri gasps upon seeing her. They hug. Cherri asks just where she's been and she tells her it's a long story. She says she's glad she's still there and Cherri tells her she bought the place, that she made more money stripping than she ever did as a flight attendant. Megan tells her she needs her lockbox back, but Cherri says she doesn't have it anymore. She says she rented a room to a woman named Wanda, who thought rent was optional. When she kicked her out, she took a bunch of stuff, including her lockbox. She said she tried calling, but never was able to get through. She asks why she would leave something like that with her and Megan says it's because nobody would think of looking for it there. "No offense." She says she thought it was a good idea at the time. Cherri says she's not sure she gets it and for legal reasons doesn't want to, but she'll get her box back. "I know where Wanda is now. She might shoot at us," she tells Megan.

Back in LA, Max and Annie work through the evidence, Annie asking Max if Cassie seemed okay when she left. "She was falling apart," says Max. Annie says they can't just sit around, that Cassie needs the Viewmaster. He suggests they call the cops, but Annie says they'll just put it in evidence. He says she has all the answers and Annie says that the Diazes knew some really specific things about them. "They must have bugged the apartment," agrees Max. "My God," replies Annie, it apparently being news to her. She looks around, then suggests that maybe Max could use the bugs, reverse-engineer them to catch the Diazes. He asks what they'll do then, if she's going to pull a Cassie and confront them. "I found them," he admits, pulling them out of his pocket. "Are they still...?" she asks, and he tells her he disabled them. He says that he can do a reverse-trace and Annie hands over his laptop, saying he has to do his "Max thing." "Okay," he agrees, getting to work. She starts to talk about what they discussed before, but he says he's in the Diazes' laptop. "Already?" asks Annie, surprised. He curses, saying that when the Diazes weren't punching him in the face, they were hacking into his laptop and got everything, his client info, history, everything. Annie asks if he can delete it. He says he can only see it, but can't do anything from there. Annie says they have to go and get everything back.

### Off the wagon

At Imperial Atlantic, Cassie, Shane and Carol are doing the training. Carol purposely misses Cassie's hand and tries to blame it on Cassie. Jada comes over, saying it's her turn for pop-up questions. She asks Cassie about a potential explosive device in an overhead compartment and what she would do. "We're doing rafts right now," says Cassie, but Jada tells her to go. Cassie describes what she would do. Jada tosses her another question. Jada walks away, apparently impressed with her answers. As she and Shane ready to practice CPR on a dummy, Cassie asks him just what she's going to do and he tells her that he'll look into it, but they have to do this now. She tells Shane that she's not fine and she needs his help. He says while he looks into it, she needs to leave it alone. "Are you?" he asks, but she tells him she's a year sober, saying that if the CIA is doing this to her, she will figure it out. He tells her to stop wishing it to be true, that the CIA is capable of terrible things. Carol asks if they can just finish the station, that if they're not paying attention, they're putting people at risk. Cassie tells her to fuck off, shouting at her, asking what the fuck she wants. "We have lives to save. Let's calm down," Shane tells her. Cassie gets up and curses, then runs off.

At Benjamin's office at the CIA, he notices a photo of Cassie on the floor. He goes through the file, suspicious, and calls someone in. It's the milky-eyed man. He asks him to put it back in the central files, saying that he'd like for there not to be a record that he had it out. "Done," agrees the man. Outside, Dot Karlson asks a woman named Vicki to pull the communications between Benjamin and Cassie. She asks if there's any specific time period. "All of them," Dot tells her. The woman stares and nods. Meanwhile, elsewhere, Cassie sits watching a video of synchronized swimming. It turns out that she's at Grace's place. She sits with her head in her hands and Grace tells her she can sit as long as she wants. She asks if Cassie came to talk or just to sit, saying she can do either. Cassie tells her that her life is a lot right now, that all of her other friends are going through her own stuff, and she just blew her relationship. She says she cannot catch a break, and she's losing her mind. She apologizes for being so needy and Grace says it's a lot of words.

Cassie says that she's sorry to put it all on her, but she was hoping she didn't know her well enough to judge her. Grace says that she is the person she should come to when the world is falling apart, that it's when she does her best work. "I have a sword mounted on my wall, I'm ready for the end days," she says. Cassie asks if she has anything for when you're being framed for international espionage. Grace just stares. She says that she can't tell if Cassie is joking and Cassie tells her that she is. Grace tells her that any time she needs to hide from life or talk, she's always welcome, that she likes her, even though she doesn't like most people. She says she has to go, offering Cassie a drink, but Cassie says she's good. She gets a text from Davey: "Excited about our trip tomorrow. How's the letter to Dad going? If you need any help, I'm here. What a big step. SO PROUD OF YOU!" Grace comments that she's popular. Cassie tells her that she's not, that she used to be a lot of things. She goes into her mind palace, where sparkly Cassie is pouring a giant version of the drink that Grace is holding. Cassie asks her just what this is and she tells her it would taste so good. "Dry mouth, sweating and nervous, the cold glass would feel so great..." She says she wouldn't even have to think about her broken heart as the room goes dark.. She tells her to just have one drink. She tells Grace she will have one, if she has time. Grace pours her one and she drinks up. Soon, Grace is pouring more and more.

On Long Island, Megan and Cherri arrive at Wanda's place. Wanda comes out and Cherri warns Megan not to get close to her, that she has a gun. Wanda starts shouting abuse at Cherri. Cherri tells Wanda that they don't want any trouble, to just give Megan her lockbox back. "Make me, bitch," Wanda replies and Megan gasps. She continues hurling abuse and Megan comes over, telling her not to talk to her like that. She calls Wanda a thief and freeloader, demanding she give back her lockbox. While Wanda isn't watching, she puts some mushroom powder into her drink. Wanda curses her and grabs the drink, going inside. Cherri asks just what she did. Megan shushes her, telling her to just wait 30 minutes. Back in LA, Cassie heads inside a store, its refrigerator packed to bursting with alcohol. Jenny comes up behind her and Cassie asks what she's doing there, saying it's starting to feel like she's following her. She tells her she's not going to do her podcast and she needs to stop. She notices Jenny holding a whiskey bottle and asks why. Jenny says that it's her boyfriend, that he's still hung up on his ex, who is a self-absorbed loser. She tells her not to drink because of a man and when she finds out he's horrible, don't drink then either. "But you're here," points out Jenny, but Cassie claims to just be there for party stuff. Jenny asks if she wants to come back to her place and not drink together, but Cassie says the party is tonight and she's busy. She tells her to listen, that sobriety is a journey. She says to put it down and get out. Jenny does so and leaves. After she does, Cassie enters the mind palace. She reaches for a bottle, then walks away, only to see synchronized swimmer versions of herself head to a pool and perform a routine. One of them holds up a bottle, which she takes. Back in the store, she grabs two. The second she is out of the store, she takes a drink. She smiles.

### Let's do this

Cassie returns home and starts upending stuff. She drinks and drinks and finds a note from Marco - "ill get my stuff this week - Marco". She stares at it, then wads it up and eats it, sobbing. She calls herself the worst and an asshole. She drinks some more, then starts packing up Marco's stuff, roughly. She starts tearing up pictures and screams. She calls Dot, but gets no answer. She leaves a voicemail, then leaves multiple voicemails, cursing her and telling her to pick up her phone. She calls Shane, only to get his boyfriend Justin. She tells him she has to talk to Shane, saying that he's the only other person at the CIA that she knows. "Um, what?" he asks and she clarifies "Central Intelligence Agency." Justin tells her that Cassie is on the phone, asking if he's doing something with the CIA. "She's a jokester," replies Shane, telling him to give him the phone. He heads outside, asking Cassie if she wants him to be happy, that he may have had a future with Justin and she may have blew it. He asks if she knows how hard he's worked to protect the people he loves. She tells him that she's the one who needs protecting, then apologizes, saying she didn't mean to tell him. She says her life is in actual danger and he asks if it's the actual danger of what happened in Iceland. Cassie sobs, saying that he's her friend, asking what happened to her friend. "He's working and you are drunk," he tells her. He says it's sad. She tells him she's not drunk, but he tells her she needs to sober up. He says when he's done salvaging his relationship with Justin, he will keep digging, but that has to be good enough for now. He hangs up.

Cassie returns to the mind palace, where better choices Cassie is now having a drink herself. She tells Cassie that she tries so hard to be good, but she's only window-dressing. She says she's there to make Cassie feel bad about the woman she's never going to be. "Never!" She asks Cassie what the point is, saying that she shouldn't even exist. "No, wait! You shouldn't fucking exist!" Cassie shouts that she's in control, but better choices Cassie slams a bottle. Cassie says that if better choices Cassie can break things, then she can too. She goes on a rage, tearing her place apart. She finds Davey's "Easy does it" bear. She squeezes it and says the phrase. She finds herself in the mind palace, surrounded by hundreds of them, all saying the phrase. In her house, she tells the bear that it thinks it's smart, that she will go where she can't hear anything. She takes off.

On Long Island, Cherri tells Megan that it's been an hour. Megan agrees, saying that she hopes she didn't use too much mushroom powder. Cherri asks her what happens if you use too much and Megan tells her "You kinda die." "Oh my God," says Cherri and just then, Wanda runs outside, screaming. She runs over to Megan and Cherri, then races off. The two run inside her place, only to discover that she's a hoarder and it's filled with tons of stuff. They begin searching and Megan discovers the lockbox under a pillow. She sighs with relief and kisses it. Cherri runs over screaming, holding a purse and saying that she knew Wanda took her stuff. Megan shows her the lockbox and they cheer. Outside, Wanda screams and Megan says she used too much powder. "Do you care?" asks Cherri. Megan says she'll call 911 when they hit the interstate to be safe.

Max stares at a screen, telling Annie that the Diazes are serious bounty hunters - fugitive recovery, intimidation, kidnapping. Annie says it's not surprising, given what they did to them. She says it's insane, asking just what they do. He says they have to see if they're online. "They're home," he tells her. "Let's do it." Meanwhile, blasting music, Cassie arrives at a beach. She takes the still chattering bear and makes her way down, collapsing at the edge of the beach. An airplane passes overhead and she cries. She gets up and shouts at the bear to shut up. She tosses it into the water. She finds herself in the mind palace, where sparkly Cassie tells her that it's tragic. She asks her just what this is. Cassie replies that she wanted her to drink, and now she has. "Isn't that great?" she asks, but she tells her that she said "sparkly and fun." Cassie replies that she made her throw away a year of sobriety and she replies that she honestly can't. "You did this!" shouts Cassie and sparkly Cassie replies that she didn't, and that Cassie didn't lose a year of sobriety either. Cassie says that she doesn't know what she's talking about and curses her. She replies that she's tired of her holier-than-thou attitude, saying they both know about March 21 and March 23. Cassie asks if she's really going throw random dates at her, if it's some sort of threat. "A threat?" asks sparkly Cassie. "Okay, let's do this."

### The truth revealed

She swirls around and Cassie finds herself at a bar, getting a drink. The camera cuts back and it turns out she's watching this from afar, sitting at a table with sparkly Cassie. "March 21," she tells her. "Six months into your year of sobriety. Oh, that's you." Cassie watches herself take a drink, then many more. She finds herself in a bathtub, drowning, depressing Cassie singing at her. "March 23, two days later," explains sparkly Cassie. She says that every time she tells someone that she's a year sober, it's a lie. She watches herself in the bathtub, sobbing. "No one knows, but you know," says sparkly Cassie, as a man shouts that Cassie is flooding herself downstairs. Sparkly Cassie asks her she knows her issue with the whole double thing. "Who the fuck would wanna be you?" Back on the beach, Cassie sobs, finally hit with the truth of it all. She pulls out her phone, then covers her ears as another plane goes by.

At the Diazes, Annie stares at the place, wondering just how many people they had to torture to afford a place like it. Max sees the Viewmaster, but they are forced to duck out of site as Esteban and Gabrielle come out and kiss. Annie whispers that she doesn't understand the attraction. Max gets up, goes in, and grabs the Viewmaster. Annie watches, wondering just what he's doing. She then peeps through the window at the Diazes, who about to have sex, but then Esteban's phone vibrates. He checks the phone, then Gabrielle calls for him and he races after. Max comes in behind and grabs their bag. Annie motions at him from behind the window, trying to warn him. He waves her off. They get back on the car. She asks if he's insane, that he could have gotten himself killed and it's just a ring. He replies that it may be a shiny rock overvalued by capitalism, but *he* picked it out. He told her that he'd been looking for months and when she opened the box and he saw her face, he just knew that he got it right. He says she's made it clear she doesn't care about the ring, but he does. "Annie?" he asks. She tells him that she called in a domestic disturbance complaint and it should keep the Diazes busy for a while.

On Long Island, Megan tells Cherri that she's done so much for her, but what she really needs is her car. Cherri's jaw drops and she starts to tell her she'll think about it, but then Megan holds forth a large stack of bills. Cherri takes it, agreeing that she'll buy another one. She tells Megan that she's full of surprises. Megan agrees that maybe it's so, but says if she gets through this, she just wants to get her life back together. Cherri replies that she just drugged someone, got her stuff back and bought a car with a brick of cash. She tells Megan she'll go far and they hug. She hands her the keys, telling her to drive safely. Megan stashes the remaining money in the trunk and takes off.

Back on the beach, Cassie is approached by Brenda. She tells Cassie she's lived her whole life there, but can count on one hand the times she's been to the beach. She thanks Cassie for the text message. "So, you slipped and fell," she tells her. She says that she now gets to choose how far she wants to fall. Cassie tells her she didn't choose to be there, that she just wanted to feel the way she used to feel: amazing and shiny and invincible. Brenda tells her that even after a year, the disease still waits for you, to pick things up where you left off. "I don't have a year," Cassie admits. She tells Brenda that she's a liar, that she slipped twice in New York and it's why she left, that she wanted to start over. She says that when she walked into the first meeting, she didn't want to be who she was before, a Jenny. She says she wanted her time in New York to count, to have six months. Brenda asks her how she could drive drunk to the beach everything she told her she went through with her father. Cassie tells her she knows, that she doesn't know why she did that.

She says that she was doing so well, but Brenda tells her she wasn't. She tells her to look where she is, that none of it works without rigorous honesty. She tells Cassie that she has to tell the truth, even when it's easier to lie. Cassie says she's back at square one. Brenda tells her that the point is she never left. She built her recovery on a house of cards and it fell over, like a house of cards does. She says that until she takes the first step and admits she's powerless over the dark parts of herself, she'll keep knocking down cards. Cassie tells her that starting over makes her feel like walking into the ocean and never coming out. Brenda tells her she tried it, but the waves just washed her back up to the shore, like she was nothing. She tells Cassie to take it from the lady who tried drowning herself: it's easier to just keep drinking. Cassie enters her mind palace. There is nobody there but her. The lights go out. On the edge of the water, the bear continues to chatter distortedly. Brenda hugs Cassie, caressing her shoulder.

## Cast

### Starring

* Kaley Cuoco as Cassandra "Cassie" Bowden

* Zosia Mamet as Annie Mouradian
* Deniz Akdeniz as Max
* Mo McRae as Benjamin Berry
* Callie Hernandez as Gabrielle Diaz
* Griffin Matthews as Shane Evans
* J.J. Soria as Esteban Diaz

with

* Cheryl Hines as Dot Karlson

and

* Rosie Perez as Megan Briscoe

### Guest starring

* Yasha Jackson as Jada Harris
* Mae Martin as Grace St. James
* Alanna Ubach as Carol Atkinson
* Izabella Miko as Cherri
* Jessie Ennis as Jenny
* Santiago Cabrera as Marco
* Shohreh Aghdashloo as Brenda
* Matt Gould as
* Erik Passoja as Jim Jones

### Co-starring

Special thanks to Monette Moio, Kaley Cuoco's stunt double, body double and acting double.

* Erica Ibsen as Cassie Double #2
* Kate Cochran as Cassie Double #3
* Melissa Prather as Cassie Double #4
* Betsy Moore as Wanda
* Mary Ann Welshans as Vicki
* Kara Luiz as Woman

* Synchronized Swimmers - Brittany Parks, Nicole Chin Shue, Amaya Gonzalez, Paige Ramsey, Ymajahi Folosade Pickard, Chloe Kautzmann, Nadine Brandl

## Trivia

* The song that plays during the closing credits is "Love Me More" by Mitski, a single from *Laurel Hell*.
* Regarding the episode's twist that Cassandra Bowden has not been sober for one year, actress Kaley Cuoco stated that everyone has things in their lives that they aren't honest about and that what broke her heart about Cassie in this season is that she can't even look at herself. She further stated that Cassie had to make these mistakes in order for there to be a show and that the season is ultimately about self-acceptance and self-forgiveness.

## References

1. ↑ Rowan, Iona (May 6, 2022). The Flight Attendant season 2 star Kaley Cuoco reacts to painful episode 5 twist. Digital Spy. Retrieved on May 7, 2022.