If the first two episodes of Hijack Season 2 felt like a slow taxi down the runway, Episode 3, aptly titled “Baggage,” is the moment the wheels leave the ground. This is the chapter where the series stops circling its premise and commits fully to the descent into paranoia, grief, and escalating danger. The answers we’ve been waiting for begin to surface, but each revelation only adds more weight to the story’s already overloaded emotional cargo.
Despite lingering issues with the season’s new setting and structure, this episode is easily the strongest so far; sharper, darker, and far more urgent, the tension finally feels earned.
A Fiery Illusion and a Clever Lie
The episode opens with a deliberate misdirection. After Episode 2 ended on the suggestion that Sam Nelson may have crossed a moral Rubicon by sending Freddie onto the platform with a suspicious briefcase, “Baggage” wastes no time igniting panic. Smoke billows, flames erupt and for a brief moment, it looks like Sam has truly lost control.
But Hijack thrives on manipulation and this is no exception.
The explosion is a mirage, there is no bomb in the briefcase at all. What we’re seeing is smoke, theatrics, and a calculated bluff designed to destabilize the authorities just long enough for Sam to regain leverage. Freddie is returned to the train, shaken but alive, while law enforcement reels at the realization that they may have been played.
The opening gambit establishes the episode’s core theme - nothing is what it seems, and control is always temporary.
Sam Nelson, Finally Explained
One of the most important developments in Episode 3 happens away from the tracks. Olivia finally fills Winter, and the audience, in on who Sam Nelson really is and what’s driving him. The missing emotional context snaps into place with devastating clarity.
Sam and his wife, Marsha, lost their son Kai exactly one year ago. Sam believes John Bailey-Brown is responsible for his death, this isn’t just vengeance; it’s unresolved grief that has metastasized into obsession.
Armed with this knowledge, Clara begins attempting a softer approach, using Sam’s personal tragedy as a bridge rather than a weapon and with Faber’s guidance, she opens negotiations over the radio, hoping that empathy might succeed where force has failed.
For a moment, it seems to work. Sam sounds calmer, more human and almost ready to stand down. But Hijack has never been a story that allows peace to come easily.
When the Crowd Turns
As news of the hijacking explodes across social media, the tension inside the train reaches a boiling point. Passengers, now aware of their situation, grow restless and afraid. Panic spreads faster than reason, and Sam’s increasingly brittle demeanor does nothing to reassure them.
Season 2’s version of Sam is colder, sharper, and far less adept at reading a room. Where he once de-escalated with empathy, he now reacts with frustration. The fragile order holding the train together begins to crack, turning the carriage into a ticking emotional time bomb.
The sense that everything could collapse at any moment is palpable.
The Germany Revelation and an MI5 Cover-Up
Sam’s instincts prove correct when it’s confirmed that John Bailey-Brown is indeed in Germany. But the trail doesn’t end there, it mutates.
Records from the Hamburg border crossing, which should confirm JBB’s movements, have been deliberately erased. The deletion traces back to an IP address Winter immediately recognizes: a seemingly ordinary residential building secretly loaned by the German government to British intelligence.
The truth lands hard. MI5 has been protecting John Bailey-Brown all along. Faber is forced to admit he deleted the records himself when Winter threatens exposure, Faber scrambles to contain the damage, contacting his operative Lang with urgent instructions to photograph JBB immediately and identify who leaked the information.
The intelligence world closes ranks, but the damage is already done.
A Photo That Changes Everything Or Does It?
When Sam receives the image of John Bailey-Brown, his relief is instant and almost unsettling. He believes the situation is nearing its end. Logic suggests otherwise, the photo proves nothing about when or where it was taken, but Sam doesn’t question it.
That’s because the truth is far worse than he realizes. The episode delivers its most devastating twist when it’s revealed that Sam is not the mastermind everyone thinks he is. He’s being controlled. Someone else is pulling the strings, monitoring Marsha’s every move and sending Sam direct instructions.
The latest demand is horrifying that is to get John Bailey-Brown onto the train. Suddenly, Sam isn’t just a hijacker. He’s a pawn!
The Bomb Beneath the Tracks
As if psychological torment weren’t enough, the episode introduces a brutal physical threat. When the train loses power, Sam and Otto climb down to investigate the tracks. What they find removes any remaining illusion of safety.
There is a real bomb: massive, industrial, and mounted directly beneath the train.
If Sam fails, everyone dies, not just Marsha, not just him but every passenger becomes collateral damage; this discovery reframes everything that has come before. Sam’s erratic behavior isn’t recklessness, it’s desperation.
Murder in the Cab and a Dangerous Assumption
Chaos erupts once more when Freddie is murdered in the cab. Mei discovers his body and, without hesitation, assumes Sam is responsible. The accusation spreads quickly, igniting fear and fury among the passengers.
Sam doesn’t deny it, but, instead, he weaponizes it.
He dumps Freddie’s body onto the platform and finally tells Winter about the bomb beneath the train. The message is unmistakable that this is no longer a negotiation. It’s an ultimatum!
Faced with undeniable proof of the threat, GSG 9 is forced to retreat. The train begins moving again.
The Road Ahead
Episode 3 ends not with resolution, but momentum. The story is finally moving in the right direction, even as the danger grows exponentially. Sam is trapped between shadowy forces, a grieving past, and a bomb that could erase everyone aboard in seconds.
“Baggage” has raised the stakes and redefines them. The emotional weight, the moral ambiguity, and the sheer unpredictability of the situation make this episode the clearest statement yet that Hijack Season 2 is ready to deliver something darker, messier, and far more gripping.
Read more: Hijack 2026
