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The second episode of Snowpiercer brings us a little more information about the killings in First Class and shows us that Andre Layton may be a good detective (not that we have any evidence to base that assumption on) but he’s terribly transparent about his motives for taking on the case — not that he had much choice but, for Pete’s sake, could he be any less obvious that he’s also trying to gather information about how long it takes to get from Point A to Point B when questioning a suspect?
And at only the second episode, the show is throwing characters and names at us that we’re supposed to know which makes it difficult to focus on the main story. But Episode 2, ‘Prepare to Brace’, also feels more grand than the pilot. Maybe it’s because the locations are further up the line than the cramped tail section but the sets just feel bigger than in the pilot. They still don’t have the same kind of movement, however, that was seen in the movie, instead using a handheld camera to simulate the motion … and possibly inducing motion sickness in some viewers prone to such things (waving hand).
But Layton’s investigation did illuminate a couple of things this week. Paying a visit to the nightclub car, Layton is allowed a visit with the woman we already know is his ex. She has some kind of power to ‘see’ things and help others see as well, and the pair were able to revisit their past before the world froze over, which ended in a quickie. How this relationship will impact Layton’s future — he wants to return to the tail to help the revolution take over the Eternal Engine, but if this romance is rekindled could he turn his back on those he’s already spent several years with? They already see him as a bit of a turncoat, and three of his friends were put into the ‘drawer’ at the top of this episode for their own attempt at getting the revolt started.
But the investigation has yielded some gruesome information. The body is missing its arms and legs … and penis. While questioning a man over a cup of ramen, Layton noticed the meat in the soup and decided they needed to pay a visit to the cattle car but they were not allowed in without a notice because it was butchering day. Unfortunately, the train is approaching an avalanche and needs to slow down but Melanie refuses, telling them they need to maintain speed to keep the electricity going. The impact sends one of the butchers smashing into the window, putting a hole in it with a steel instrument. The breach caused the windows to shatter, instantly freezing the men and the cows inside the car … and now compromising the train’s food source. This was a great bit of disaster movie production value.
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When they were finally allowed into the car after the accident, Layton was able to discover what he’d been looking for hidden behind the grate of a duct — the missing arms and legs of the victim (no word on the penis), suggesting there just may be a little cannibalism going on among the elite. Probably not hard to imagine considering how the train’s attendants treat anyone who violates the rules, i.e. the Tailies. As we saw in the movie, the punishment for disobedience or insurrection is the loss of a limb. Ruth Wardell, who seems to be the show’s stand-in for the character played by Tilda Swinton in the movie, threatens to take the arm of a child until the mother steps up and says she allowed her daughter to kill the three train guards. So her arm was stuck outside until frozen and smashed with a sledgehammer. It’s a good bet no one at the front of the train suffers like this.
Meanwhile, Layton tries to get a message to one of his comrades at the back of the train, drawing different cars on a strip of material in the hopes that the person will see it and pick it up as the guards are bringing him through the corridor. It all goes a bit sideways and Layton is nearly beaten to a pulp by the guards and it seems like the strip was not retrieved. Melanie is disappointed with Layton’s behavior but she needs him more than he needs her at this point. But with his ‘double agent’ status revealed and Melanie facing a real crisis with the death of their cattle, things can only get bumpier for the passegers of the Snowpiercer.
Snowpiercer airs Sundays at 9:00 PM on TNT.
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