TNT
We still don’t know why Snowpiercer blew past Melanie two episodes back, but by the end of this week’s episode we have a pretty good idea. And things aren’t looking great for Layton either. Could we see the last of both of them by the end of next week’s two-hour season finale? We also have to start wondering what happens to all of the other regular characters like Till, Ruth, Roche, Alex, LJ, Zarah, Miss Audrey, Bennett, Javi, Osweiller, etc who aren’t characters in the movie. Unless there’s another train out there, or this is a parallel universe, none of them are going to survive … except for Wilford.
Now that I’ve put that thought in your head, it didn’t look like anyone on Snowpiercer was going to survive this week after a water/hydrogen crisis put the whole train at risk. Not Big Alice, of course. There, Miss Audrey was living it up in the lap of luxury while Kevin waited on her hand and foot. Alex isn’t that happy she’s there, drawing all of Wilford’s attention away from her but still intently focused on getting back on Snowpiercer. But Alex is catching on to what Wilford is doing. She’s noticed Snowpiercer venting water, and she saw Icy Bob walking along the top of the train back to Big Alice. She also noticed their speed dropping and deduced that Wilford sent Icy Bob out there to mess with Snowpiercer’s water system. Miss Audrey condescendingly congratulated Alex for figuring it all out.
Layton, Bennett, Javi, Ruth, Zarah, Roche and Till have no idea why pipes are bursting and cars are flooding, and the speed issue is concerning especially as they are not far from their rendezvous with Melanie. Unfortunately there is only one person left who can look into Snowpiercer’s issues and that’s Breachman Boscovic … and he refuses to believe Wilford would have his entire unit murdered since they are one of the few factions still visibly and vocally loyal to him. But the situation is dire and he agrees to go outside to find out what is going on at the engine. And to his surprise he finds a large rail spike jammed into a vent. Knowing this could not have happened accidentally, Boscovic finally realizes Layton is telling him the truth about Wilford and is now firmly on Layton’s side.
But Layton is quickly losing support, not only among the denizens of Snowpiercer but perhaps one on Big Alice as well — Josie. Thanks to the goop baths she’s been taking, her skin is almost nearly healed and she’s looking more like herself than ever before. She’s also surprised to find Wilford at her bedside, offering her some help on how to deal with the phantom pain from her missing hand using a technique in which he places a wooden hand on a table next to her good hand, covering her arms and stroking both hands so that she ‘feels’ the sensation where the missing appendage should be. Wilford informs her that they’ll no longer be locking her door, and it isn’t long before she sees Icy Bob, in not great shape, after his venture outside. Knowing that the doctors basically built Bob, she wonders if they’ve also made modifications to her so she sticks her left arm through a port to the outside and … nothing happens. It doesn’t freeze, it doesn’t get frostbitten. Josie is thrilled but how will she use this newfound ability, and what was that visit from Miss Audrey about? Was she trying to tell Josie to keep fighting for Layton without letting on that she’s just playing Wilford?
Back in the engine, they discover a module is fried because of the spike and the only place they can get a replacement is from Wilford himself. With Wilford sentiments running high, it’s imperative that they get him to the engine under cover without anyone seeing him (of course someone does even in the tunnels). Wilford brings the module for Javi and Bennett to install but it does not have the desired effect. Wilford discovers Melanie had performed a hack on the system that can’t be removed without shutting everything down permanently so the only way to fix Snowpiercer is to manually shut it down and restart it.
This will require Alex to push the train from Big Alice — and she wonders if this is part of Wilford’s plan, which he denies because if this fails he loses everything — and the plan is set into motion. Snowpiercer is shut down, everyone starts praying, Javi isn’t working fast enough so Wilford takes over, he gives the call to restart the engine and … it’s a success. Smugly, Wilford takes over the intercom and basically thanks himself for saving everyone on Snowpiercer and at this point Andre knows he’s lost. He told Zarah if it all went to shit he’d send up a flair and he did just that right before turning the engine over to the head engineer, Joseph Wilford.
Now Layton is in custody, preparing for transfer to Big Alice where Roche promises they will take good care of him. After Andre is taken away, having a moment to say goodbye to Zarah, Roche also crosses the border to Big Alice. His wife and daughter are Wilford supporters so he had to make a decision for his family. Met by Miss Audrey, she escorts him to a room where he finds his family members are now in drawers. It seems that this is Roche’s fate as well.
It isn’t looking good for our main cast of characters, and we can only wonder what Wilford will have in store for Ruth. Maybe she can talk her way back into his good graces, saying she always put the needs of Snowpiercer first for his return, but that may be a hard sell. The two-hour season finale seems like it’s going to be one wild ride with sad ends for many of the characters, and that’s going to be a tough watch after this really depressing episode.
Snowpiercer airs Mondays at 9:00 PM on TNT.
What did you think of this episode? Tell us in the comments section below!
Share this post
