In its second outing, Hijack Season 2 inclines a bit harder into suspense rather than exposition, as if the show is deliberately refusing to clarify Sam Nelson’s (played by Idris Elba) intentions even after revealing him as the architect of the chaos. And to add to that, the episode operates in a state of controlled opacity, introducing new characters and narration.

One of the most unsettling low-laying moments of the episode is the growing realization that Sam’s world extends far beyond the train itself. The brief return to his estranged wife, Marsha, now isolated in what appears to be a remote Scottish forest, reframes her earlier scenes in a darker light. What initially passes as an eccentric escape begins to feel deliberate, possibly enforced, suggesting that Sam’s plan may involve multiple locations, timelines, and layers of coercion.

The several secondary figures are pressure points at this point, rather than mere background players. No matter how unshowy or subtly their introductions are, they are purposeful, clearly indicating the said crisis is not built around a single act of hijacking but around a network of decisions that are about to unfold. 

The first concrete signal that something has gone catastrophically wrong emerges inside Berlin’s railway network control center, where dispatcher Clara Berger notices an anomaly that defies standard operating logic. The vanishing of the U5 Wagon 2600 is now a worry, while Clara escalates the issue immediately. However, an attempt to contact the train was not much help. The voice that responds is not Otto’s, and the situation crystallizes the moment Sam Nelson identifies himself. He makes no attempt to dramatize the takeover, calmly stating that he is in control of the train and that the safety of its passengers hinges entirely on cooperation.

Recognizing both the language barrier and the gravity of the moment, Clara takes over communications, maintaining composure despite the fact that she is still new to the job. As senior officials converge on the control center without clarity, it is only our experienced Edward Diehl who identifies the workaround Sam is exploiting. A long-abandoned maintenance tunnel, closed decades earlier after flooding, that allows movement between the U5 and U8 lines without getting flagged on modern trackers.

Authorities, meanwhile, respond by shutting the station down and evacuating the area, carefully managing public messaging to avoid triggering a panic. By the time the train begins moving again, the passengers remain unaware of the truth, as Sam’s plan continues to advance, still under wraps. 

The chaos with this hijacking case is far from normal. Unlike a regular passenger-fright with unruly bullying and unease, Sam Nelson is as clear with his objectives as he could be. In his early exchanges with dispatcher Clara Berger, he wastes little time before stating what he wants is not money, or passage, or any sort of publicity, but information. Specifically, Sam insists that Clara involve German law enforcement and trace the whereabouts of a man named John Bailey-Brown.

As the episode unfolds, it becomes apparent that this name is not a sudden fixation. Bailey-Brown is the figure Sam has been quietly pursuing for months, convinced that he, and not the officially blamed parties, was the true architect of the Kingdom Air hijacking that defined the first season. Surveillance footage from the Hamburg border confirms that Bailey-Brown has recently entered Germany, a development that has seemingly triggered Sam’s escalation from bureaucratic channels to extreme action.

Before the train hijacking, Sam had attempted to move through diplomatic and legal routes. He alerted the British Embassy in Berlin and pressed for a formal meeting with a representative of Germany’s Federal Office of Justice, Arnold Goth. The episode briefly revisits the embassy, where Goth, after waiting in vain for Sam to arrive, casually suggests that embassy staffer Olivia Thatcher drop the matter altogether, an offhand dismissal that carries troubling implications.

That moment quietly shuffles the entire situation. While it suggests that Bailey-Brown’s identity and past are far from unknown to German authorities, it is also kind of understood that his protection may be intentional rather than accidental. Despite his alleged involvement in an act of terrorism and the fact that he is wanted by British officials, certain elements within the system appear willing to look the other way.

'F1's Damson Idris Has the World Shocked as He Reveals His Rejections Including James Bond

Sam, likely sensing that the conversation with Goth, would lead nowhere, never shows up and instead chooses to force the issue into the open through far more dramatic means. The hijacking, thus, reads less like an act of desperation and more like a calculated response to institutional stonewalling.

'Hijack' Season 2 Review: Sam Nelson's Risky Leap from a Savior to Forced Vigilante Has a Lot to Answer

While Sam remains tight-lipped on his actual intentions, throwing off those demands throughout the episode, the show strongly hints that his objectives may evolve as the season progresses. Whether he is chasing justice, revenge, or something far more complicated remains unresolved, and that uncertainty continues to define his role as both protagonist and threat.

From the moment she takes charge, Ada Winter understands that time is her biggest enemy. Without knowing who has control of the train, negotiation remains little more than guesswork. Initially, the lack of accomplices or obvious identifiers makes the task seem nearly impossible, until help arrives from an unexpected corner.

Olivia Thatcher of the British Embassy in Berlin becomes the key variable. The moment she hears about the sudden shutdown of the U-Bahn network, she heads straight to the railway control center, where fragments of the hijacker’s demands begin to align in her mind. Once Olivia learns that the man behind the takeover is insisting on information about John Bailey-Brown, the remaining ambiguity disappears. The request mirrors Sam Nelson’s recent efforts closely enough to be a coincidence.

Olivia shares her conclusion with Ada, who takes no time to confirm the theory almost immediately. During her next exchange with the hijacker, she deliberately uses Sam’s name, and the reaction is, of course, felt through the screen. Following a brief pause, it finally dawns on them what the authorities had only suspected moments earlier: Sam Nelson is the man in control of U5 Wagon 2600.

Around the same time, Peter Faber arrives at the control center, and while his exact position is never clearly defined, his presence carries weight. The Berlin-based British national appears to operate somewhere at the intersection of business, diplomacy, and government access. Now, whether Faber is an ally, a liability, or something far murkier remains an open question.

The police investigative thread picks up where Episode 1 left off, with Detective Zoran Beck continuing to untangle the aftermath of the Berlin apartment raid. Though the suspect had already fled by the time police arrived, the scene itself spoke volumes. Bomb-making materials, combined with counterfeit U-Bahn identification cards, established a direct link between the apartment and the train hijacking.

In Episode 2, that link becomes far more concrete. During a secondary sweep of the apartment, officers recover a keypad-style mobile phone hidden inside the toilet cistern, an old-school burner, deliberately concealed and easy to discard. When Zoran examines the device, he notices there is only a single number stored on it.

As he dials it, elsewhere in the Berlin city, the call is not answered, but two cleaners hear a phone vibrating inside a drawer. When one of them opens it, the owner becomes immediately apparent. The wallpaper gives it away, and a customized welcome message on the television confirms it, this is Sam Nelson’s room.

The caller ID reads “Marko,” confirming that the man seen earlier navigating maintenance tunnels and preparing the route change had been in direct contact with Sam. The implication is just as obvious as ever. Sam did not act alone. He had help. With both Otto and Marko now tied to him through evidence, it becomes increasingly clear that it is definitenot a random hijacking. 

Away from Berlin, the episode briefly returns to Marsha Nelson-Smith, whose isolation in the Scottish countryside takes on a more unsettling tone. As she walks through the forest near her cabin, she speaks on the phone with DI Daniel O’Farrel, confirming that their relationship is ongoing, and, by extension, that her separation from Sam is very much intact.

Marsha makes it clear that she has had no contact with Sam for six months, which is precisely why a recent delivery has left her shaken. A bouquet arrives on what appears to be her birthday, yet neither Sam nor Daniel claims responsibility. Marsha is convinced Sam has no idea where she is hiding, and Daniel insists he had nothing to do with it.

'Hijack' Season 2 Review: Sam Nelson's Risky Leap from a Savior to Forced Vigilante Has a Lot to Answer

The implication is, honestly, suspicious and chilling at its best. Someone else knows her location and wants her to know that they know. That unease escalates when Marsha returns to the cabin and finds the front door. Her attention shifts upward toward the balcony, and although the camera withholds what she sees, her reaction says enough. Marsha is no longer as safe, or even alone, as she thought herself to be.

Back in Berlin, Ada and Clara attempt a calculated delay, staging a controlled obstruction at Alexanderplatz by halting an empty train on the platform. The move is designed to slow Sam’s progress while buying time to gather leverage. However, it backfires the moment Sam gains access to the station’s security cameras.

Realizing not all is transparent to him, Sam pivots instantly. When a curious passenger enters the driver’s cabin to investigate the delay, Sam seizes the chance. He straps his briefcase to the man’s wrists and forces him onto the deserted platform, making him a walking threat.

Sam claims the briefcase contains a bomb powerful enough to destroy both the station and the train. Whether that is true remains deliberately unclear. When the police refuse to comply, Sam appears to follow through. He triggers the device, and the security feed abruptly cuts to black.

‘Hijack’ Season 2, Episode 1 Ending Explained: What Just Happened in the Idris Elba Saga and What’s Yet to Come

The episode, as expected, ends with that ambiguity. The explosion may be real, or it may be something else entirely. An EMP device capable of disabling cameras seems just as plausible as an elaborate bluff. There is even the unsettling possibility that the “hostage” himself is part of the performance. What remains certain is that Sam has once again shifted the balance of power, and how far he is truly willing to go is still up in the air, ready to be unraveled in the next episode. 

Idris Elba’s Biggest Fear With 'Hijack' Season 2 Is Exactly What Fans Are Worried About

How did you like Episode 2 of Hijack Season 2? Let us know in the comments below.