Layton is suspicious of Wilford’s motives in a recent revelation. Bess is struggling to cope. A new danger threatens the survival of the entire train.

I can’t really blame Andre for being a little sceptical of Wilford’s largesse in suddenly offering up information that might indicate Melanie is alive still, somewhere out there. Sean Bean’s genius engineer character has lied before, after all, and you never quite get the sense that he can fully be trusted. But then again, he certainly seemed to put a lot of effort into his working, and if there’s even a sliver of a chance that she’s still out there, can Snowpiercer afford not to take it?

Of course, nothing is ever straightforward on the train, and having altered course to pursue this faint hope, they run into a new hazard, which could well prove the death of Snowpiercer and everyone on it. Time for Asha to shine, as she’s the one to first notice and bring it to everyone’s attention and she’s also the one working hardest to solve the problem.

Asha has been struggling to fit in on the train. She’s become used to her own company, and she can’t quite get to grips with the idea of sharing space once again with other humans, nor the idea that there are green things and various other luxuries on board which she had felt gone forever. Caught stealing various items, she finds herself confronted by Ruth, but she’s doing better, able to finally relax, before that new danger arrives.

Meanwhile, Bess is struggling to really cope with life at all. She finds comfort and solace in one of the least likely places she might have expected, and it’s difficult to know as a viewer whether or not this is something in which she should place trust. This is, after all, a person who has been responsible for multiple betrayals but also someone who used to be a genuine force for good in the train. I want to believe in it, almost as much as I want to believe that Wilford’s brush with death might have actually had a profound impact on his character, but if there’s one thing this show teaches you, it’s the folly of trust…

As if to reinforce that point, LJ is up to her old tricks, looking for some Wilford Loyalists to run with as she worries about the implications of Melanie’s potential return. She finds what she’s looking for, and in the process we get a hint of even more sinister things being worked on in the shadows.

It’s an emotionally hard episode, with so many characters so strung out and so much tension laced throughout it. When someone is lost it’s a terrible sacrifice, but one which does at least reinvigorate Layton’s determination to get the train to New Eden. And as they finally catch up with Wilford’s mystery object, running its own path along the rails, maybe hope feels a little less fragile after all.

Verdict: Almost unbearably tense in places and feels like it’s building towards something big. 8/10

Greg D. Smith