Apple TV+’s Hijack continues to tighten its grip with Season 2, Episode 4, a chapter that doesn’t rely on explosions or spectacle alone, but instead weaponizes suspicion, moral compromise, and the slow unmasking of hidden agendas. It initially looked like a single man’s desperate crime now fractures into something far more complex, as loyalties blur and the cost of survival grows heavier with every passing minute.
The episode is less about who controls the train and more about who controls the truth.
A Death That Changes Everything
The aftermath of Freddie’s death hangs over Berlin like a storm cloud. Until now, the authorities had been navigating uncertainty was Sam Nelson truly the villain, or a man pushed past his breaking point? Freddie’s body answers that question in the most brutal way possible. A life has been lost, and for Police Chief Ada Winter, that loss removes all room for doubt.
Berlin’s leadership realises they are no longer dealing with threats and bluffing; this is now a hostage crisis with blood on its hands. Despite internal resistance, the consensus is grimly clear: Sam’s demands must be addressed, even if doing so crosses ethical and political red lines.
Ada’s deputy, Roland Murnau, voices what everyone else is thinking handing over John Bailey-Brown is effectively delivering a man to his execution. Yet Ada believes refusing Sam will only invite further casualties. Her solution is cautious compliance: agree publicly, stall privately, and buy time.
It’s a dangerous gamble, but one she feels she has no choice but to take.
The Ghost Station Plan
The logistics of surrendering a prisoner without igniting a media firestorm become a problem in their own right. News outlets are already circling, and the optics of state authorities handing over a man to a hijacker would be catastrophic.
Enter Bergmanstrasse - an abandoned U-Bahn station, sealed off long before modern surveillance systems existed, becomes the perfect shadow location. No cameras, no witnesses, no digital footprint - it’s the kind of place where governments bury mistakes and possibly people.
John Bailey-Brown is extracted from his MI5 safehouse, with Roland Murnau personally overseeing the transfer. Meanwhile, British intelligence officer Peter Faber makes a final attempt to intercept the process, insisting the Germans are walking straight into the criminals’ hands. He argues that the hijackers want Bailey-Brown alive, not dead, and that extradition to the UK would neutralize the situation.
But his warnings fall flat, the Germans move first and faster.
Sam Faces His Captives
Back on the train, Sam steps into a role he never wanted but can no longer escape. For the first time, he addresses the passengers directly, laying bare the reality of their situation. He doesn’t posture. He doesn’t perform. He simply states the facts: the train is hijacked, explosives are involved, and resistance will only make things worse.
Phones are confiscated and tossed away, cutting the passengers off from the outside world and sealing their isolation, yet not everyone accepts Sam as the monster he appears to be.
Mei’s Dangerous Curiosity
Mei Tan, a former business associate of Sam’s, refuses to believe he is capable of cold-blooded murder. Her doubt isn’t naïve, it’s observational. She noticed something others missed: a man with long hair moving suspiciously through the train during the blackout.
When she tries to share her suspicions with Sam, he shuts her down. He can’t afford improvisation. Any deviation from the criminals’ plan could cost lives, possibly his wife’s.
So Mei investigates alone; her amateur sleuthing leads her into the empty carriage, where she discovers bloodstains and a hidden bag. But her assumptions collapse when she confronts the long-haired man, only to learn he’s not a killer, just a drug courier desperately trying to conceal contraband before police intervention.
Mei’s theory crumbles, leaving her exposed and unknowingly closer to the real danger than ever before.
A Threat Beyond the Train
Thousands of miles away, the danger expands!
At Marsha’s remote cabin in Scotland, what first appeared to be a home invasion reveals itself as a misunderstood rescue attempt. The injured man is Nick, an old friend sent by her partner, Daniel, after Marsha’s strange phone call raised alarms, but relief doesn’t last long.
When Daniel learns Sam is connected to the Berlin hijacking, he immediately understands the implication: Marsha isn’t collateral, she’s leverage. Nick tries to get her to safety, but the real predators have been watching all along.
The seemingly friendly neighbours, previously painted as harmless background, strike without hesitation. Nick is killed, and Marsha is forced deeper into the woods, alive but far from safe.
The message her is; Sam’s compliance is being monitored.
The Clue Sam Left Behind
Detective Zoran Beck continues to shine as the show’s quiet force of reason. Reviewing surveillance footage, he becomes fixated on an odd moment from earlier that no one else questioned, Sam purchasing a soda, only to discard it unopened.
Digging deeper, Zoran and railway officer Leon uncover a hidden clue inside the vending machine’s tray: a coaster from a Berlin bar called The Foxhole. The implication is chilling. Sam wasn’t acting impulsively, he was trying to communicate, knowing he was being watched.
For the first time, the authorities are close to realising Sam is being coerced, and they’re finally chasing the right people.
A Father’s Mercy
Amid the tension, Episode 4 delivers its most human moment. Sam encounters Timo and his infant son, Benji, who is struggling with asthma.
The child’s condition is deteriorating, and without medication, the consequences could be fatal, Sam doesn’t hesitate.
Despite the tactical risk, he arranges for Benji to be released into his mother’s care at a service stop. It’s a rare moment of compassion in an episode dominated by fear and one that reveals Sam’s emotional core. He’s not acting out of vengeance alone. He’s acting from grief.
He lost a son. He won’t lose another man’s child on his watch, Timo, however, is kept behind - a necessary cruelty to maintain pressure on the authorities.
The Killer Revealed
The episode’s most devastating twist arrives quietly.
Sam pieces together the crime scene clues - a jagged metal edge near the driver’s cabin, a torn shoulder on Jess’s jacket, and the logistical impossibility of anyone else moving unnoticed.
Jess, the medic, the calm voice, the woman Mei trusted, is exposed; she had the access with all the required knowledge and the nerve.
Freddie’s death was very much calculated. As the realisation settles in, the danger multiplies. Sam isn’t just surrounded by hostages, he’s sharing confined space with a murderer who knows she’s been discovered and Mei, unknowingly, is standing far too close to her.
Final Thoughts
Season 2, Episode 4 of Hijack is a masterclass in escalation as every reveal deepens the moral complexity rather than simplifying it. Heroes aren’t clean, villains aren’t obvious, and survival demands impossible choices.
The train is still moving. But now, so is the truth and it’s about to derail everything.
Read more: Hijack 2026
