After the focus last episode on Melanie Cavill and her struggle for survival, I fully expected episode 7 of the second season of Snowpiercer, “Our Answer for Everything,” to roll back time and show why the train failed to stop to pick up Melanie as scheduled.
That’s exactly what happens in “Our Answer For Everything,” as we see events unfold violently aboard Snowpiercer. But we haven’t yet gotten to the moment of leaving Melanie behind. There are three episodes left to see if humanity can control its worst impulses.
1. Everyone is so tired.
It’s never been more clear than in “Our Answer For Everything” that all the passengers on Snowpiercer are only one step from despair and holding onto a semblance of normality by the thinnest of margins. Bess Till, with her turn at the opening narration, gives the episode its’ title by talking about the violence roiling the train. “We can’t stop. It’s our answer for everything.”
Till’s determined to stop it. Everyone else on Snowpiercer seems determined to give into it.
The “pastor” who is revealed as the leader of the false flag operation insists the train needs Wilford’s “order” but attempts to kill himself when found out. Audrey seems locked into a destructive relationship with Wilford because it provides a familiar purpose. And she convinces poor Kevin (not dead after all!) that he needs total submission to Wilford to find that same purpose. Pike, too, is disconnected from reality due to the violence he’s committed.
Even Layton is exhausted and sees few ways out. To save Pike from torture, Layton offers the rioters his own arm to be exposed to the cold instead. He seems to be carrying an unconscious death wish.
TNT has been running a message at the end of the last few episodes about ways to find help for those struggling with mental health issues. It’s needed.
2. Ruth confronts her actions toward the Tailies.
One of the most chilling scenes in Snowpiercer season one featured Ruth (Alison Wright) attempting to keep order in the Tail by exposing the arm of a child, Winnie, to the outside elements. Instead, Winnie’s mother volunteered to take the punishment instead. She lost her arm and died from cold exposure. Since the revolution, the orphaned Winnie has been Layton’s Taillie messenger.
“Our Answer For Everything” is the first time Winnie encounters Ruth again. Predictably, Winnie’s terrified. Not so predictably, Ruth is terrified too, not of Winnie, but of what she was capable of in service to the rules.
“I thought I was doing the right thing, following the rules. But that wasn’t right, was it? That was wrong. That was very very wrong. I wish I could take it back, Winnie. I wish that I could.” This season set Melanie on a path to redemption. It finally dawns on Ruth, too, that she must atone.
It’s also a contrast to the call for more order and more rules by so many passengers and, instead, is a call to think for oneself.
3. Audrey NO!
Audrey came aboard Big Alice in order to bring Wilford down. Instead, she’s either playing a long game by pretending to cooperate or she’s gone off the deep end and taken poor Kevin with her.
This show is no stranger to violence but the scene between Audrey and a broken, sobbing Kevin may be the most nauseating and chilling in two seasons. Wilford wants total submission to his will among his people. As Audrey remakes Kevin in that image, we see just how insidious Wilford’s brainwashing can be.
The intimate scene between Kevin and Audrey is one that reflects the rioting on Snowpiercer: Kevin chooses submission to Wilford as his purpose. The train appears to be doing the same.
Did Audrey do this to turn Wilford’s suspicion from her? It’s unclear.
4. The Orwellian Life Aboard Big Alice.
One of the most chilling elements aboard Big Alice is this insistence on submission to Wilford. This week, I noticed several posters hanging on the walls with Orwellian messaging, including “Team Work Makes the Dream Work.” On the blackboard of the mess is written “More Gruel!”
To paraphrase Khan Noonian Singh, Wilford offers the world order.
Continued below5. The splashes of red against a gray world appear again.
Red remains Wilford’s color, a contrast against the gray and white world. One scene features Audrey in the bathtub, submerging herself bit by bit until her face disappears into the gray as notes from “The End of the World” play over the scene. Is Audrey trying to escape or being re-baptized as a Wilford disciple?
In the visually stunning scene that ends the episode, the train loops around a corkscrew turn, allowing most of the passengers to see the rest of the cars. Many of the passengers have lit red candles in their windows to show their support for Wilford as the leader of the train.
Layton’s rebellion unleashed chaos that they can’t handle. They all want someone to tell them what to do.
