As Zarah and Layton prepare to welcome their new daughter into the world, chaos and confusion reign on Snowpiercer as a series of terrorist attacks rocks the train.

Proving that things are never dull on the train at the end of the world, this instalment of Snowpiercer gives us possibly the tensest birth ever, mixed in with a series of escalating attacks. But to prove there’s balance in all things, we get some healing as well. Sort of.

Zarah’s labour is going to be anything but simple anyway, because of the experimental treatments carried out on her baby at Wilford’s behest by the Headwoods. Even with Doctors Headwood and Pelton on the case, things promise to be interesting, so of course Layton’s attention is dragged elsewhere by an arson attack which seems pointedly aimed at him.

As the episode wears on, that conviction hardens with another attack whose target cannot be in question. What’s interesting here is that the show doesn’t really hide the identity of the would-be terrorist from us, and given what’s gone on in previous episodes it isn’t that big a surprise either. Instead, the show focuses on what the impact of the attacks is. Layton is already skating on thin ice, having won back the train from Wilford. His authority – shaky before – is now positively rickety, and his fears at an unknown killer lurking somewhere in the shadows wanting to take him down on today of all days provides much of the tension here.

But as much as the episode focuses on destruction and the tension which threatens to tear apart the train once again, it also focuses on healing as well. Josie is understandably not in the most festive of moods as the train rings out the bells in celebration of Layton and Zarah’s new arrival, and she seeks solace as far from the rest of the train as possible. Instead – unusually for such a solitary character – she finds it in the attentions of another, themselves adrift and alone.

On a similar note, Javi finds himself paired with Sykes on some duties that don’t involve the Engine – Ben having judged him not to be fit enough for that task at the moment. Though Javi is hurt by this, the painting with Sykes may provide some unexpected benefits for the haunted engineer, who still sees his canine tormentor and hears their growl in his mind much of the time. It isn’t something I foresaw, but again goes to re-emphasise how, in this nightmare future, tribal allegiances are as mutable as water, shifting to fit whatever circumstances arise.

Even Wilford and Miss Audrey seem on a course to regain themselves, though on quite different trajectories. Wilford is still recovering slowly, painfully from Roche’s attack on him while Miss Audrey seems to hot something of a nadir in her personal descent and rallies in an unexpected fashion. Where either of them will go next is the real question.

It’s a powerful set of contrasts, all highlighting the central theme of a child which should prove a unifying force for the whole population but which may instead prove to the precursor to yet more conflict. As the credits roll, it’s clear that the next stage of that conflict isn’t far away at all.

Verdict: Beautifully thematic, using contrasting events and themes to tell a complex narrative. 9/10

Greg D. Smith