The result of the trial has left unrest bubbling in Third. Till is living under the shadow of her actions. Layton is determined to get his revenge. But all will pale into insignificance in the light of a threat to every living soul on the Train.

Once again Snowpiercer works to subvert what you might expect to happen next, in the wake of Layton’s escape and Till’s not insignificant part in it. Osweiller has always been a slimy little so-and-so, and having walked away before Till’s return, he knows full well that he holds her life – with her new privileges and love – in his grubby little fingers, and he’s determined to turn that screw as much as he can.

Layton is still sick, but as he recovers from the after effects of the lockers, he has only one thought – revenge against the woman who put him there, and who is perpetuating the lie of Wilford’s continued existence. As he moves to take that revenge, it seems like nothing can possibly stop him.

And all this takes part against the backdrop of a threatened strike by Third, dissatisfied by the clemency shown to LJ, responsible for the cruel imprisonment and death of one of their own. The Train is full of various elements waiting to upset its delicate balance, and then fate intervenes in the form of an emergency that unites the whole Train in one, simple primal urge – survive.

It’s been clear for some time that Melanie is far more than a simple Head of Hospitality, and that she knows far more about the operation of the train than most people suspect. Here we learn just how intimately familiar she is with its workings and why. We also get an insight into just how much she is invested in the survival nit just of the project, but of humanity itself.

There’s more as well, as what seems like an obvious inference derived from the evidence before Layton is turned on its head by one simple confrontation. It’s of course always tempting to assume the worst of the people who run Snowpiercer and every action that they take, but there are always two sides to every story.

Faced with an existential threat, certain other concerns fade into the background, and each of the conflicts that are brewing resolve in interesting ways – some, it has to be said, more convincingly than others. What’s clear as the credits begin to roll, is that Snowpiercer has a lot more to give us yet.

Verdict: Fascinating overall, if slightly uneven in places. Keeps getting better and better. 9/10

Greg D. Smith