With LJ revealed by Layton as the murderer, a tribunal is convened to determine her guilt and punishment, but will justice really be served on a First Class passenger? Josie continues her hunt for Layton.

I have to admit, I wondered exactly how Snowpiercer was going to move forward with one of its central characters locked in a box, but it turns out pretty well, as there’s more than enough drama to go around.

LJ is due to stand before a tribunal for her crimes, but it hardly seems likely that the Folgers are going to let their little girl face anything approaching actual justice for her crimes. That’s a popular opinion as it turns out, and Audrey plays a strong hand to persuade Melanie that the ‘jury’ for the tribunal should be made up of representatives across the classes rather than just all First Classers. When Melanie relents, the Folgers unsurprisingly resort to whatever devious means they can think of to try to sway things in their favour, but they haven’t counted on exactly how careful Melanie is, and how far her own network of informants and support reaches.

Elsewhere, Josie is desperate to find Layton and rescue him from whatever fate may have befallen him. Layton himself is having some pretty terrible nightmares in the deep sleep, recalling the incidents of cannibalism in the tail and his own brutal role in putting a stop to it for good. Josie takes some big risks in finding him, and if that wasn’t bad enough she ends up dragging someone else into the whole mess, someone with actual things to lose, and a character who gets more interesting all the time.

Back at the tribunal, LJ confounds Melanie and the audience with her testimony, revealing things calculated to undermine Melanie’s authority and compromise the whole process by which she is being tried. The entire thing is unbearably tense, and a last minute intervention from Melanie herself serves to make things even worse in many ways. It seems that perhaps this woman who has masterfully calculated her way along in charge of the train in the mysterious absence of the real Mr Wilford is starting to lose her edge in the extended game of power plays and politics that is life on board the train.

It’s a fascinating episode, not least because it completely subverts the expectations of the viewer. LJ has essentially confessed (albeit only to Layton) and is clearly guilty. Revelations about her throughout the episode prove that not only is she a very strange and troubled young woman, but that her parents know this only too well. That willingness to protect their child even knowing the darkness which lurks within her is quite something, even if you strip away the consideration of their privilege to do so. It contrasts nicely with another character who acts nobly but in doing so may bring down serious consequences upon themselves. The difference as always – power.

Verdict: Tense, interesting and often surprising. Seems like solving the murders was just the start of the fun. 9/10

Greg D. Smith