Snowpiercer Season 3 Episode 2 Review: The Last to Go

| January 31, 2022 |

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This Snowpiercer review contains spoilers.

Snowpiercer Season 3 Episode 2

When situations change on Snowpiercer , there'south not much risk for the characters to absorb the effects of that change before having to act on them. Information technology wasn't all that long ago that Oz (Sam Otto) and LJ (Annelise Basso) were banished to sanitation, working as janitors for their various abuses of ability and crimes. At present, thank you to a little Wilford (Sean Bean) magic, they're having the Snowpiercer equivalent of the Royal Wedding, the Loyal Wedding ceremony. Pomp, circumstance, free drinks, a mean solar day off of work, and a chance to get everyone looking away from the super-weapon Dr. Headwood (Sakina Jaffrey) is building to take care of the Layton situation once and for all. Except for Ruth, that is. Trapped in her prove dungeon under First Class though she may be, it's hard to keep secrets from Ruth, the heart and brain of Snowpiercer's resistance move.

It's fitting that Ruth (Alison Wright), who e'er served the train to the best of her ability, continues to do that from the surreptitious. She's attuned to hearing without listening, to being in the groundwork, to disappear until she'south needed, and all those organizational and planning skills that fabricated her great as the caput of hospitality on Wilford's train make her a existent thorn in the side of Wilford himself, and a huge loss for his train. Ruth might have not been able to keep people warm or increase the food supply, just she was practiced at keeping people working and happy, in a style Kevin (tom Lipinski) lacks. Kevin's like Wilford's attack dog, he'southward not subtle nearly what he does, and he'southward got no demand to try. Sure, he can be friendly when needed, but those teeth are always on display.

Teeth are useful in an attack canis familiaris, and they're even more than useful in a charm offensive like the one Wilford launches off the back of the Folger-Osweiler wedding. Sean Bean is at his absolute best in these scenes, because he delivers a slap-up monolog, he's a captivating presence, and virtually importantly, he's got a weirdly dangerous energy when needed. His scenes with fellow monster LJ are surprisingly sweet and kind, because she gets her place and knows what she signed up for, only his ball-squeezing contest with Oz is incomparably unsettling.

For me, the part where Bean fondles Sam Otto'south hands is more agonizing, considering a lifetime of horror movies had me expecting the snap of a digit at any moment, and that information technology didn't come now only makes it more likely in the future. Bean has a very coincidental sort of menace, and he's able to utilize Wilford's power equally part of his performance by emphasizing his complete control in actually unexpected means. The testify makes great hay with that, and Christop Schrewe'south direction really emphasizes just how odd Wilford can be, and how Wilford projects his command in unusual ways, like making Dr. Headwood and Kevin lookout man him in the bathtub when he's not giving Oz a cup check correct earlier his wedding night.

At least the possibility of a train versus train war seems to bring his true nature to the front. Wilford is able to pretend to exist many things, simply what he can't hibernate is the happy gleam in his eye when it'south time to put someone else in their rightful place below him, exist the center of the railroad train's attention, or try out his latest invention.

Virtually of the focus of the episode is on Wilford'due south railroad train, and the wedding, and it'southward a good opportunity to dig into Wilford's psyche and see once once again how he controls the people around him even when they're not interested in doing his bidding. It's certainly a big shift from the fashion Layton does things, specially now that Layton is obsessed with finding the dragon's blood tree in Yemen, where the final of the hot spots are on the map retrieved prior to the degradation of the orbital satellites. Marisha Mukerjee's script does a solid job of providing issues for Layton and visitor to overcome, only the focus is rightly on Wilford's Loyal Wedding and the secret EMP generator tests Wilford is conducting at the far end of the train.

Wilford'due south scenes, specially with Oz and LJ, are menacing and funny all at in one case, while Pike, Lights, and Ruth'south attempts to disable the EMP are as tense as annihilation gets on the testify, thanks to the mode the scene is edited and composed. Christoph Schrewe does a solid chore with the actors, and has a nose for crafting tension, even in smaller moments similar Ruth'southward peeking in on Kevin at the beginning of the episode. The environment is then claustrophobic, and the show does such an effective task at creating an temper of paranoia for everyone fifty-fifty remotely connected to the scheming and plotting.

I'thou surprised that the two trains seem to be coming back together, simply the i thing Snowpiercer doesn't do is drag feet when it's time to execute a big storyline, and no doubt there volition be plenty of other things for the train to struggle with in one case all the pieces are dorsum together, assuming the state of war between Big Alice and Snowpiercer resolves itself that neatly. Naught seems to resolve neatly on Snowpiercer .