Snowpiercer – Season 4 Episode 5 “Engineer” Recap & Review

The Engineer

Episode 5 of Snowpiercer season 4 starts with Josie being confronted with the horrific choice – Big Alice for Liana. Ben speaks to Josie in confidence about this, urging her not to take the deal and reminding her that they need the engine and could do with fighting back and staging a rebellion.

When Layton hears about the deal, he realizes they need proof in order to verify everything. The Admiral doesn’t wait around, and speaks to Layton directly. He points out Zarah’s death was an unfortunate accident and he patches a phone through to Dr. Headwood, who confirms that Liana is still alive.

Layton makes the call and decides they should connect the trains. Ruth sighs deeply when she finds out but regrettably agrees to the terms. The two trains are connected, and in secret, Ben tells Layton that he’s working on an insurance policy over by the engine. When they make it to the facility, Layton is taken away from the others, to the depths of this lab.

Eventually he’s brought before the others, who are waiting in an office. Alex is there too, alongside Ruth, Ben and Till. Till explains that they have around 2 hours and 36 minutes before the train isn’t idle anymore. And even worse, this part of the facility they’re in is designed specifically to disorientate them so they lose track of time. The one missing from this group is Josie though, who happens to be down in medical. Unfortunately, Josie is injected with a sedative to keep her down.

The Admiral shows in the room and explains that Mel is off-site collecting climate samples, apparently. However, the one person who is here? The Admiral’s assistant? None other than Joseph Wilford. Oh my! It’s quite the reveal and Wilford points out that he’s on their side and was picked up by the Admiral whom he’s collaborating with. He’s the one who wants Big Alice and also took Liana too. Layton is livid and throws himself at Wilford, where he’s eventually restrained and held back.

When Wilford leaves, the Admiral points out that the passengers onboard the trains are going to be working to get everything ready, while they’re to remain “guests” (see: prisoners) until the world is a safer place again. Ruth warns the Admiral not to trust Wilford, but Wilford himself has a way of manipulating people. In private, he tells the Admiral that they should keep Liana and Layton separate for the time being.

Alongside Nima, Wilford heads aboard Big Alice and decides to modify the sub engine. The conversions are already underway as Alex shows up to see Wilford. Alex actually sees merit in their plan. She wants to try and help too while clearly playing recon and figuring out what the real end-game is here.

Wilford leads Alex over to see Mel’s work, back through the winding corridors and a back passage. In her lab, Wilford starts to worm his way into Alex’s mind, slipping his slimy tentacles around her doubts and trying to get her to see his way of thinking.

Back in the central room, Ben uses his engineering know-how to bust out the room they’re being kept in. After knocking out the guard, they make their way through the hallway and up the stairs. With little time and a big area to explore, Ruth decides they need to split up to cover more ground.

Ben and Till eventually find their way to Mel’s lab but despite knocking Wilford down, he hits the alarms and alerts the guards. Alex decides to stick around and not go with the rebellion, but does give them instructions for getting out. As for Wilford, he heads up to the main control room and demands they play ball.

Ruth finds herself alone and catching up with Layton. She’s close to hitting one of the guards wen she notices Layton being taken into an elevator leading down to parts unknown. As she scrambles for what to do next, Ben and Till work their way up to the Snowpiercer crew and enact their coup to get out. In fact, part of this includes keeping the hatches to the sub-train closed. The Tailies do their best to hold off the Admiral and his men, while Ben and Till try to release Big Alice. Unfortunately, the coupling system has been compromised, meaning they’re stuck.

Ben decides to sacrifice himself to set up the manual override to get them all free, along with sabotaging the Snowpiercer. In order to do that, he locks everyone out and kills himself in the process. His bravery saves them, as the two trains part ways. Big Alice is freed from Snowpiercer.

Back on the Silo however, Layton, Alex and Josie are still there. It turns out nothing is actually wrong with Liana and Josie is hooked up to the same strange blood transfusion we’ve seen the soldiers with. As for Layton, he’s shown Wilford holding Liana behind the glass, taunting him, as everything looks set to kick off in a big way.

The Episode Review

Snowpiercer returns this week with another action-packed episode and a big reveal with Wilford. It’s certainly unexpected and it throws a big spanner in the works as it appears that Wilford is the one pulling the strings, and he hasn’t lost any part of his usual manipulative ways.

The show has been a pretty decent watch so far and Sean Bean absolutely chews the scenery every time he appears on-screen. He really is a great part of this story and a worthy foe for Layton and co. to tackle. However, everything is set up nicely for next week’s follow-up, and we’ll have to wait and see where this one goes next.