‘The Airport Chaplain’ (2026) Netflix Series Review - A Bland, Low-Stakes Airport Drama

The first episode of The Airport Chaplain, created by Elise McCredie and Jude Troy, is titled "God Complex," and it might as well be pointing towards the titular chaplain, Tobias Wallace (Hugo Weaving). He goes out of his way to satisfy travelers by helping them get their luggage, rescuing them from violent husbands, and even offering them a roof over their heads. In one later episode, he even drives two kids to their homes instead of following protocol, thus crossing all the boundaries of professionalism. Then again, this is what Tobias usually does: he defies orders to provide the best service to those who come to him for help. The Airport Chaplain, though, doesn't exactly view Tobias as someone suffering from a god complex. If anything, he is shown as someone with a "good complex." There is no suggestion that his acts of kindness in any way stoke his ego or that he enjoys being put on a pedestal. What comes through is simply Tobias' dedication to his job and his warm-hearted embrace of the lost, the depressed, the vulnerable. Tobias is an airport angel. He is the first person everybody calls in times of distress.

This doesn't sit well with Mira Ansari-Cole (Shabana Azeez), the new terminal manager. She is bothered by the free pass Tobias gets after violating rules and procedures. But there is a reason behind her discomfort, one that The Airport Chaplain gradually reveals to the audience. Mira hates the sexist attitude at the workplace. She thinks she is constantly undermined for being a woman, and even though she follows all the guidelines and conventions, a male boss undercuts her authority through jokes and subtle gestures—he tells her to look into the quality of the airport food and then dismisses his own suggestion with a chuckle. From Mira's perspective, Tobias is acting like an entitled man. During a security review meeting, she is shocked to see how swiftly Tobias and Johnny Flick (Thomas Weatherall) are dismissed and forgiven. As far as Mira is concerned, she has been criticized for lesser matters. She is pissed at this world that seems to favor men. No wonder she coldly interacts with her husband, who has been accused of some wrongdoing, and is less relieved than shocked on hearing the news that he has been found innocent.

But what Mira doesn't see is that people like Tobias and Johnny don't lead easy lives either. They have their own issues to deal with, and Johnny even wonders if he might be better suited for a different role elsewhere. Tobias' altruism might get under your skin sometimes, but when certain details about his past surface, you understand the source of his friendliness. His personal relationship with his daughter is already rough, and it's never resolved in The Airport Chaplain. Instead, he develops a father-daughter-like relationship with Asha Chawla (Kavitha Anandasivam) and gets to do all the right things and make all the right decisions for her. Even here, The Airport Chaplain leaves a somewhat bitter aftertaste, given that Asha heads back to her family, with whom she would have to engage in a tough conversation about her bad grades and the fact that she's out of college.

I wish some of that bitterness had also been allowed to explicitly enter the frame. When Tobias takes his "heroism" to an extreme by taking the liberty to drop two kids at their father's residence while their mother waits for them at the airport, both you and the characters know that Tobias is in deep, deep trouble. On top of this, he loses the kids, albeit temporarily, at one point, which further makes the situation tense. Yet, despite such chutzpah, negligence, and even the mother's threat that she will take her complaint to Tobias' superiors, nothing dramatic ever happens. Tobias, in fact, is off the hook in the next episode, courtesy of a depressed pilot—an incident that only highlights the importance of having Tobias as a chaplain. I wanted the series to do something about Asha's decision to call a boy to Tobias' house to have sex. I wanted the series to do something about the fact that Tobias often puts his co-workers' jobs at risk with his actions. I wanted the series to generate palpable psychological tension from the conflict between Asha and Tobias.

The Airport Chaplain, however, is too neat, too polished despite dealing with messy circumstances. It talks about machines replacing human labor; it talks about the stress faced by airport workers. There are important topics the creators decide to highlight through this drama, but the style is..."sweatless." The tone that The Airport Chaplain employs seems like an extension of Tobias' character: every potential conflict, every rough edge, is smoothed over by gentle smiles and polite resolutions. Nothing stings; nothing makes you truly uncomfortable. The show curiously comes across as "comfort food," which seems a bit weird given the issues it tackles. And still, if it manages to leave even the slightest impression, that's due to all the committed actors who bring their characters' physical and mental strain to life with effectiveness. Without them, this "airport" would have gone out of service by the end of the first or second episode itself. The Airport Chaplain should say thank you to its cast for making this bumpy flight seem effortless on its way to its destination. Good job, but at the same time, there is no denying how forgettable and bland almost everything here is. The entire thing comes close to hero-worshipping a single man. By the end, Tobias manages to win over the hearts of his skeptics and haters (Mira ignores his resignation letter). McCredie and Troy garland their chaplain, and it's unfortunate that in the process, they forget to make a drama with high stakes, grey characters, and staying power. It's nonetheless sufficiently watchable. Alas, that's the only big compliment it manages to get.