Now that we’re up to Snowpiercer episode 7, “The Universe Is Indifferent,” it’s finally time to head to the endgame of season 1 and that happens with the first big–but inevitable–death. Hi, and, yes, you may notice a change in focus as I’m taking over the discussion about this fascinating but also frustrating series. So far, it’s been unable to tell if it’s a crime drama, a political drama, or a revolution drama. Each focus would say different things about humanity on the way to extinction.
What does Snowpiercer: Episode 7: “The Universe Is Indifferent” leave us? Revolution story.
1. The Doomed Lovers
From the beginning, the Layton/Josie romance was the most star-crossed in the series. Josie knew Layton still loved Zarah. Layton couldn’t see past losing his wife. But after his own Night Car experience with Zarah, Layton realized he no longer loved her and finally professed his love to Josie. They had a night of passion. He says she’s so beautiful. Uh-uh. Add in the fact that Zarah is pregnant by Layton and my soap-opera trained viewers’ brain fully expected Josie to die. And so she does. But not without betrayal.
This is angst to the first degree for Layton, as his ex-wife who is also carrying his child is responsible for the death of the woman he loves. This could have been a pure fridging but it’s not because Josie makes her own choices. She knows she’s going to die and, like a badass, goes out on her own terms, even sending Layton a new recruit in Bess at the end. What a killer scene between Bess and Josie, one desperate but insightful, the other facing the dawning realization that she can’t be the person her job wants her to be.
And, hey, for a minute there, I thought the show was going to kill Melanie instead of Josie. Or kill them both. That would have been a fascinating move because taking Melanie off the page opens up chaos and would have ruined the impact of Layton’s big secret. But it seems that death will have to wait another day.
2. The Reflection of Reality
In the beginning of Snowpiercer, a detective from the lowest class, a Black man, is pulled forward to investigate the richest of passengers in order to find a murderer. A lower-class detective investigating the high-and-mighty is a time-honored crime story and could have worked well to uncover the slimy layers of the train, especially given the resonance if you remember that Diggs once played Thomas Jefferson, founder of a country, in Hamilton.
But uncovering the killers meandered and we saw little of Layton leading the Tailies in the middle episodes, as he was sidelined by the drawers and his recovery from the drawers. In the meantime, Melanie received a larger focus, bringing us to a white woman saving everyone on the train but refusing to take credit in the last episode.
Snowpiercer: Episode 7: “The Universe Is Indifferent” was written months ago. but sometimes art finds its moment like Watchmen and sometimes art gets superseded by the moment. Right now, it’s unclear which will happen with this series since it’s being wishy-washy about Melanie. On the one hand, it wants us to see all sides of her, maybe sympathize with her, especially given she’s also dealing with the First Class passengers in revolt. On the other hand, she’s pretty much the epitome of a supposedly well-meaning white woman making bad choices while supporting a broken system.
“To be an engineer on Snowpiercer, you have to make sacrifices and that can be hard. The needs of the train are more important than our own happiness. We’re engineers. We keep the world alive,” Melanie tells Miles, who’s been promoted to engineering. But what use is preserving the train if it kills most of the people on it?
3. Melanie Pulling a Laura Holt Aka The Plot Hole
Back in the day, I loved Remington Steele. The premise? A female private eye created a male boss so people would have more respect for what she said. Laura just pretended she was doing everything at the orders of her prominent and powerful male boss. Here it is in 2020 and Melanie has done the same thing, though it seems Wilford was a real person at some point. I find it hard to accept that Layton is the first one to figure out this aspect of the train. Others have to have seen through this, at some point, especially the people in first class who will insist on talking directly to the man in charge.
Continued belowIt’s a serious plot hole in the series. I can ignore it for a time but when you base a revolution on revealing a secret everyone else with power should have figured out years ago, it makes it hard.
4. The Glimpses of Private Lives
Every now and then, the show gives us a look at what its main characters are doing when not on duty. We saw Bess and Jinju in previous episodes. There’s also the community among the tail, Melanie and her engineers, as well as the group in the Night Car. But Snowpiercer: Episode 7: “The Universe Is Indifferent” brought us more insight into Ruth, the most cold-blooded of the hospitality team. This is the woman who was ready to nearly destroy a little girl and killed her mother instead.
In this episode, we watch Ruth relax while wearing a pretty floral dress become excited about a date. She confides her past to Nolan, about how she used to run a Bed & Breakfast, and how she met Mr. Wilford. This shows how horribly Snowpiercer has changed someone who was literally about helping others in the other life.
One other nice touch of a private wardrobe: once again Melanie wears her Yale baseball cap.
5. Vive La Revolution!
Layton unveils his ultimate plan for revolution: No division of classes, everyone equal, pulling together, to be the last hope of humanity. It’s idealistic but Layton already led a revolution in the Tail, where he helped impose equality among limited resources. Obviously, he wants to expand that vision. When the Third Class group objects to equality, Layton says “We don’t want your beds!” Heck, he points out that the first class has a bowling alley. Plenty of room there. (They also have that cool dining car with the aquarium that I have no idea how they keep clean. Or keep the fish alive so long! I know everyone who has ever briefly owned a Betta Fish is nodding with me.)
We have three episodes left in this ten-issue season and that’s not much time to resolve all this. Will Miles be able to open all the doors on the ten-mile train? How much blood will be spilled, especially since Layton’s willing to recruit LJ the sociopath to further his cause? And how much will Layton himself be corrupted at the end?
