Snowpiercer continues to be a double-edged sword

Snowpiercer Episode 3 brings power struggles and a familiar drug

The theme of achieving and maintaining power is prevalent in the third episode of Snowpiercer. Even more so than now, you gain such power from what you possess and what influence you have within the system. For the most part, this message is conveyed effectively throughout the episode, from the crowd-pleasing fight night to the introduction of Kronole, the drug from the film.

Sure, it got a little ham-fisted at points with the cartoonish gang leader (Shaun Toub) and the rich naysayers whose only purpose seems to be explaining why Melanie’s schemes won’t work. However, these examples are outweighed by the intrigue of seeing how Kronole is used as a bargaining chip by people of all classes.

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Unfortunately, one area where the theme collapses in on itself is with the opening flashback, where Layton’s former girlfriend gets the opportunity to move out of the tail car and is subjected to scorn from everyone around her. This seems to contradict the idea of Snowpiercer apprenticeships.

Shouldn’t people aspire to better themselves and move up in the train? They seem to encourage that when getting their children into apprenticeship programs. It doesn’t make sense why everyone would suddenly treat this woman as a sellout for essentially doing the same thing. If anything, it causes me to care about the tail section even less than I already do.

The hero of Snowpiercer is a fish out of water, but we haven’t seen the water

At least this works somewhat as the foundation for Layton’s guilt. As he spends more time in the upper cars and garners more power for himself by working on this case, you can tell that he feels conflicted about not being with the other tail passengers. Even worse, he’s starting to enjoy how the other half lives. This is accentuated when he reunites with his adoptive son, who was accepted as an apprentice and is also enjoying the comforts of the upper class.

Sadly, this strength is undermined by a few factors. First, Layton has barely shared any scenes with this kid, so we don’t feel any impact from them being back together. That problem is exacerbated by the fact that Daveed Diggs was seemingly sleepwalking through a few scenes this week. Lastly, given this man’s repeated attempts to rebel and his utter failure to comply with the rules, the upper-class workers should not give him nearly as much freedom as they do. It seems that he can go anywhere without a chaperone and talk to whomever he wants by just asking nicely.

It’s tough to be the top dog in Snowpiercer

On the upside, these flaws in logic are mostly absent from the other passengers this week. Not only are the writers starting to lend some humanity to the supporting characters, but Jennifer Connelly’s Melanie continues to be the most interesting player here, offering a different perspective on the message and arguably making it more potent in the process.

Through her, we see that too much power can be a burden. In one affecting exchange, she pines for the simplicity of welding, as this would free her from the difficult administrative choices she has to make or the constant need to reassert her authority through subterfuge and morale-boosts.

Snowpiercer telegraphs its destination

The only major misstep in her development is the revelation that she uses edited audio recordings of Wilford to make the passengers think he’s speaking to them. This would have been an incredibly effective twist had it been saved for the finale. Instead, it’s casually played off as just another part of Melanie’s routine, which seems like a colossal waste.

Imagine if Psycho gave away the shocking reveal about Norma Bates half an hour in. Wouldn’t you feel robbed of some good old-fashioned suspense? Unveiling it at the end keeps us engaged through uncertainty and allows us to look back on the whole story in a new light once we know the endgame.

The impact of keeping this secret would have also been strengthened by the obvious star power at the center of it. Oddly enough, Wilford appears to be voiced by Sean Bean, who is set to join the main cast in Season 2. I guess they couldn’t get Ed Harris back from the Snowpiercer movie since he’s still stuck on Westworld. Poor sap. Granted, they could still pull a monumental twist with this character down the line, but that might be putting too much faith in these writers.

In the end, Snowpiercer simply can’t stay on the track

With its third episode, Snowpiercer continues to be a frustrating work that boasts just enough good ideas to give you hope and just enough bad ones to prevent it from achieving greatness. For every engaging step forward, the show takes a shortsighted step back.

What did you think of the third episode of Snowpiercer? Did you like how they introduced Kronole? Was the Wilford twist truly a waste?

Snowpiercer airs Sundays at 9 pm on TNT.