Welcome to Multiversity’s coverage of Snowpiercer, the television show loosely based on the 1982 graphic novel “Le Transperceneige” and more directly influenced by the 2013 film by Bong Joon-ho. In this second episode entitled “Prepare to Brace,” we follow Andre and Bess as they begin their investigation in the Night Car which eventually leads them to the agricultural cars where the cows raised on the train play a crucial role to the ecological balance of Snowpiercer. We also see more of Melanie’s role as the Voice of the Train as avalanches and a breach in Snowpiercer forces her to make tough decisions.
1. Comparing and Contrasting II.
I figured the pilot episode of Snowpiercer would lay out all of the elements it would carry over from the film, but in this episode, Kronole, the industrial waste that passengers use as a recreational drug, is introduced as a Tailie exchanges sexual favors with a security officer (i.e., a Brakeman) for Kronole. Layton also addresses the rumor of Tailies resorting to cannibalism (a significant story beat from the movie) by acknowledging that it happened and that he and a handful of other Tailies killed the leader of the cannibals and ate his heart. Whether or not this is true isn’t really the point for me, but I hope that the show will stop feeling like it needs to reference the movie when it really doesn’t need to. There are enough interesting things being developed in the cars and with the characters that these references cheapen the show and diminish the essential elements of Snowpiercer.
2. Whodunnit? But really, who cares?
It only took until the second episode for the murder plot to really lose me. I understand that this is the instrument for the writers to introduce passengers and to explore the train, but there doesn’t feel like there’s any weight to finding the killer aboard Snowpiercer other than the characters saying it to one another multiple times in the episode. I’d rather learn more about Melanie and the pictures she has of herself holding a child or Layton and his relationship with Zarah before life aboard Snowpiercer drove them apart. All in due time, I’m sure, but knowing we’ll be slogging through more scenes where Layton says something witty about the homicide or the fact that he’s a detective (we get it) is going to be painful.
3. Get in, Loser. We’re Going Crying (at the Night Car).
Both episodes have done an amazing job of giving each car its own personality. When we revisited The Chains, I could easily identify it as Layton and Bess stopped at a noodle bar to grab a bite to eat. This episode, there’s a focus on the Night Car, which was alluded to be a brothel or some kind of sex work car in the pilot episode. The audience finds out that the Night Car is actually a Neo-cabaret club with private rooms that act as sensory deprivation chambers where a host will lead patrons through guided meditation to give them some peace and quiet as they are transported from the hellish reality of Snowpiercer.
I love this kind of world-building. The fact that a space like this exists for its characters speaks volumes of the mental fatigue the average passenger on Snowpiercer experiences and the desire to mentally escape from their day to to day life just to be alone with scenes and sounds of water flowing as a host gives them room to relax. In the more public bar area, there’s a performance of “Say It Ain’t So, Joe” performed by the character Miss Audrey (acted by Lena Hall) and we see people openly weeping. It’s a surreal moment that is contrasted by the stark existence of the Tailies as the scenes cut back and forth between both cars with the music solemnly playing. It’s as if the scene is remarking that it’s completely valid for both groups of people to feel like they are suffering in their worlds. And frankly, it’s the suffering that makes it hard for both groups to humanize the other.
4. “A Fortress to Class.”
Early reviews of the show’s first five episodes seem to share a common criticism of how the show handles its discussion of class compared to the movie and that the format of television is too literal and too long to linger on the metaphor of the train. For me, this is a complete misunderstanding of Snowpiercer as a template for understanding class as it is not a story of class in and of itself. In other words, criticizing the writers of the television series for exploring class dynamics outside of the confines of the movie, is missing the point.
Continued belowIn this episode, we learn more about the apprenticeship program that the upper class cars offer to the children of Tailies. No such program existed in the film, rather the children were taken explicitly for child labor to literally power the train. Here, there’s a chance to explore the ways education and the promise for upward mobility may intentionally or unintentionally disrupt the outcomes of those put into apprenticeship programs. I’m curious what the writers come up with, because if anything, the writers’ take on class has been nuanced and necessarily expanded from Bong Joon-ho’s argument of “greed = bad.”
5. What exactly are the implications of the Drawers?
As the murder plot continues to unravel and Melanie and the hospitality staff are grappling with the idea of putting the wrong suspect into suspended animation, the Drawers linger in the background in ways that are completely unrelated to most of the story. There’s a particular scene where Melanie opens the door to the rest of the drawers as the audience sees rows upon rows of cabinets with, presumably, people in them. Is this where Wilford actually is? What effects will years of suspended animation have on the passengers? Is the process not as safe as it was initially thought to be?
