As Melanie warned Layton before she jumped off the train into possible oblivion, he’s now alone with our clearly villainous Wilford in episode 4, “A Single Trade,” of season 2 of Snowpiercer.
As is the rest of the train. They’re together but they’re alone on the Earth.
That reminded me of the beginning of season one of Babylon 5: “Humans and aliens wrapped in two million five hundred thousand tons of spinning metal, all alone in the night.”
In this case, it’s a train of 2,746 souls all alone in the frozen whiteness of the world.
Or, in some cases, trapped with each other.
1. What’s the obvious Single Trade?
Tonight’s spotlight largely featured the Night Car and its’ proprietor, Audrey. She’s been the most skillful diplomat for the rebellion but this episode finally opens up her past and, not unexpectedly, it’s connected to Wilford. Very connected. To say they were lovers isn’t accurate. Audrey was a sex worker, a high-priced escort at 18, when Wilford found her.
Wilford obviously likes finding people young and twisting them to his will. In Audrey’s case, a suicide attempt that he initiated but also saved her afterward. The ultimate game of life and death. The pivotal trade Audrey makes in “A Single Trade,” is a therapy session in a private Night Car room. She entices Wilford into one. He hallucinates their past and then things get weird. Audrey’s not in danger but she feeds a submissive Wilford. (I’m not going to look at lemons the same way again after that scene.) It’s 9 1/2 Weeks but it’s not foreplay. Is Wilford a secret submissive? Or did Audrey take control?
The answer remains to be seen.
2. Is Josie the trade that matters?
Josie is alive but not well, suffering from frost burns that may never heal. That’s a lever that Wilford pushes, as his creepy doctors offer to bring Josie to their lab for treatment. (That cannot be good. Look at Icy Bob.)
I want to say this is a supremely stupid move. And it is. But it also makes sense. Josie is in pain, desperate, and wants to still protect the train. She knows her ultimate chances of survival are slim. But if she can gain information about Big Alice and Wilford that could preserve the safety of her Tailies, she’ll walk into the shadow of death.
Layton agrees because it’s what she wants and also because he does need more information on Wilford.
I do not believe this will end well. The best-case scenario is Josie going out in a blaze of glory.
3. The weirdest pairing: Alex and LJ.
The only obvious connection between them is their age. There were so few young people on Snowpiercer that they instantly recognize each other from preparations to board the train. They never liked each other. Still, Alex follows LJ to the top of the train, to a glass-globed lookout on the stars.
LJ is a stone-cold sociopath. Maybe Alex knows that, having been raised by one. But, still, she confesses to caring about her mother more than she expected. Will LJ use that information against her? I’m not certain how. It could be both of them were looking for some semblance of normalcy in what will never be a normal world.
4. Wilford has touched everyone on the train but the Tailies.
As “A Simple Plan” unfolded, it occurred to me as never before that Wilford picked every single person who boarded Snowpiercer and Big Alice. They were all his choices, for one reason or another. He’s had his hands in their lives, some early in their lives. Melanie he found at 17. Audrey was only a little older. A breachman confesses to working on Wilford’s payroll at 14.
But the Tailies? They put themselves on the train. They’re unknowns, untouched by Wilford’s influence save by those who kept them confined for years. They’re the wild card. And I think that’s why Wilford is afraid of Layton and why he originally had a plan to kill him.
5. There’s Hope!
Melanie, having accepted her suicide mission, is entirely absent from this episode, save for a distant ping that signaled she somehow did manage to reach the weather station. She’s alive and, more importantly, the data may reveal how fast Earth is recovering.
Continued belowIt’s good to see the show perhaps be able to move toward an eventual hopeful ending. But I enjoyed this episode more than any other so far this season for another reason: Melanie’s absence finally allowed the other cast members a chance to shine.
Audrey confronted her past. Alex confided in someone (not the right someone but still…). Josie took a great risk to serve the cause as best she can. Zarah joined hospitality, looking for another angle to power now that she and Layton aren’t together. Till allowed some of her fear and loneliness to show and even found a bartender willing to comfort her. Ruth complained that Layton doesn’t trust her and she needs him to do so.
All these scenes are so needed and there was finally room for them without Melanie taking up so much of the narrative. This isn’t a knock on Jennifer Connolly. I believe the show will work better with more characters having greater roles to play.
Bonus point
Audrey performed the song “Glory Box” in honor of the launch of the weather balloon and Wilford’s visit. The lyrics seem perfectly appropriate and made me want more performances from the musical theater veterans in the stellar cast.
