TNT
This is more like it! After a slow season premiere, Snowpiercer has picked up some steam to deliver a tension-filled episode as Layton and Wilford continue their cat & mouse game. But who is the cat and who is the mouse is yet to be determined.
On Snowpiercer, things are not looking great. The data they’ve been collecting based on Melanie’s studies and theories points to the fact that the Earth is, in fact, warming. It’s just going to be another century before it becomes anything remotely inhabitable. Everyone believes it’s time to turn back and recouple with Wilford’s part of the train, but Layton wants to check one final location that has shown the most promise for warming, a spot on the Arabian peninsula. His strong belief that this is the location they need to focus on is based on his … visions, the ‘dreams’ he’s been having of a tree specific to that area, one that he says he’s never even heard of before and only learned about after the visions and some digging in the library. So that all has to add up to something. The problem is Snowpiercer doesn’t have enough food to sustain everyone for that trip, especially now that they have another mouth to feed.
And that mouth belongs to new passenger Asha, whom Layton carried on board in the last episode. Asha seems to be suffering from some radiation poisoning, and she related to Layton how her group of scientists and family members where in the facility, surviving the freeze, not even knowing if Snowpiercer had survived, and then dealing with the effects of the radioactive power supply that eventually killed everyone else. What she’s going to bring to the table at this point is unknown, and how Wilford weasels his way into her life should be interesting. But with things looking dire on the train, Layton has decided that they should reunite with Wilford, but on their terms. The problem is they don’t know right now if they are behind or in front of Big Alice, so they will have to travel on an alternate track until they pass each other. And while Asha’s arrival and survival has given some hope that Melanie may still be alive out there, her daughter Alex refuses to entertain such thoughts. Why have hope only to have her heart broken again when they don’t find her?
On Wilford’s train, something is afoot right under Ruth’s nose in her hideout in the decommissioned First Class car. She spotted Javi and some others moving through the car and saw them working on some kind of device, what she perceived to be a weapon of some sort to use against Layton. She sent word to Pike via homing mouse, but neither of them know what it is. What it is is an EMP device to knock out Snowpiercer’s electrical system when they are in range. A test at 10% is successful and while Wilford is thrilled, Ruth and Pike are terrified. They need to shut this thing down without drawing any attention to themselves, and their only hope is Lights … who really has no idea how to shut down the electronics on an EMP.
But LJ and Osweiller may have come to their rescue after Os proposes to LJ. She’s head-over-heels and wants Wilford to be the first to know since he’s the closest thing she has to a father now. And Wilford is also thrilled, but for ulterior motives of course. A huge wedding in the Night Car is the perfect distraction, but with all eyes on the happy couple it also gives the Resistance a chance to disarm the EMP. But Ruth also needs Javi’s help and he’s still not mentally stable enough after the dog attack to do anything by drive the train. When Zarah attempts to ask him to help, he won’t even acknowledge that she’s in the engine with him so she resorts to a bit of trickery, telling Javi that Wilford wants him in First Class. That does the trick and off he goes.
TNT
But when he finds Ruth waiting for him, he immediately turns tail and says he has to get back to the dog. Poor Javi is terrified of being attacked again by that brute and Wilford knows it so it’s the perfect way to keep his engineer in check. But on his way back to the engine, passing through the wedding, Kevin questions where Javi’s been and takes a few goons to First Class, knowing they’ve finally got the Resistance leaders in their sights. He also alerts Wilford who tags along, and Ruth and Pike get word that Wilford is on his way. Knowing they need to get rid of the EMP, Ruth throws herself on the sword and awaits Wilford’s arrival. He’s actually surprised to see that the person he’s been looking for is Ruth, telling her that she should have remained loyal. She says she has, to the train, but she is willing to lose an arm if it gives the others time to shut down the device.
With the wedding ceremony over, Wilford has another spectacle to produce, making a show out of Ruth’s ‘treachery’. As they go through the motions and prepare her arm for removal, Pike and Lights accidentally activate the EMP, and not knowing what it is capable of doing, need to find a way to get it off the train. With Strong Boy assisting, they manage to fling the device off the train before it detonates, and when it does it sends a pulse through Wilford’s train and Snowpiercer. Luckily it was still at 10% power so there was no severe damage, but the EMP itself helped Snowpiercer pinpoint exactly where Wilford was. They take off on the second set of tracks, and just before Ruth’s arm was put through the hole to the outside, Snowpiercer flies past Wilford’s train, much to his dismay and the Resistance’s delight. Now Layton is definitely the cat, but can he catch that mouse or does Wilford have more nefarious weapons up his sleeve?
What did you think of this episode? Tell us in the comments section below!
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