As the Snowpiercer and its thousand or so cars make their lonely way around the world, Sean Bean as the strange inventor Joseph Wilford continues to be interesting. Based on the 1982 French graphic novel Le Transperceneige by Jacques Lob, Benjamin Legrand, and Jean-Marc Rochette and the 2013 film by Bong Joon-ho, which was also based on the novel, the show takes place in a frozen, post-apocalyptic world.
After a climate experiment goes horribly wrong and causes the world to freeze, Wilford, a transport magnate, turns his luxury train with tracks around the world into an ark. The constant movement keeps the train running and also keeps the people on it, who are the last people alive, alive.
On the Snowpiercer, fights over class and power are alive and well. At the end of season two, chief engineer Melanie (Jennifer Connelly) seemed to give up her life to save the data about the earth warming up. The leader of the revolution, Layton (Daveed Diggs), had split a pirate train off from the Snowpiercer so that he could look for a new Eden, a place to settle on Earth where people could live.
Wilford wants to join the two trains together so he can have twice as much power and twice as much fun. Most of the regulars from the show come back. Bess Till (Mickey Sumner), who was a new detective before the freeze and is now part of Layton’s inner circle, might have a chance at happiness with the beautiful Miss Audrey (Lena Hall), the sultry voice and soul of the Nightcar, the den of vanilla vice.
Ruth (Alison Wright) trades in the teal of Hospitality so that she can lead the resistance without Layton. Career criminal Pike helps her (Steven Ogg). Bennett, the ship’s engineer (played by Iddo Goldberg), loves Melanie and the Snowpiercer with all of his heart. One of the most moving parts of the show is when Bennett tells Melanie that he will serve her and the Snowpiercer until the end of the world.
Layton (Katie McGuinness), who survived Melanie’s cold torture by turning into an ice woman, chooses Josie (Katie McGuinness) over his ex-wife Zarah (Sheila Vand), even though they have a child together, Liana. This gives the third season a soap opera feel. They decide that being co-parents is better than being a couple. Mrs. Headwood, played by Sakina Jaffrey, keeps trying out cold treatments on Baby Liana and other people.
Young people look up to awful people. Melanie’s daughter Alex (Rowan Blanchard), who hasn’t seen her mom in a long time because of Wilford’s brainwashing, tries to get back in touch with her and makes friends with Carly, the daughter of brakeman Roche (Mike O’Malley) (Esther Ming Li).
LJ (Annalise Basso) keeps going about her crazy, carefree ways, hooking up with Oz (Sam Otto), and getting married to him in a fun ceremony set up by Wilford to cheer up the sad and tired. The other engineer, Javi (Roberto Urbina), has PTSD after Wilford’s dog, Jupiter, bit him. (By the way, what happened to Jupiter after Wilford was kicked out into the cold?) Sykes (Chelsea Harris), who is in charge of security for Wilford, helps Javi deal with his bad dreams.
After Layton finds her in a nuclear power plant in North Korea, Archie Panjabi joins the show as Asha. She has been through terrible things, and now, as she tries to pay off her debts, she is a chance for Indian mysticism, flowers, and random Hindi sentences.
The show goes along well-maintained tracks. The Ouroboros episode where Layton is tripping the light fantastic after a head injury put him to sleep is a nice change of pace. At the end of season three, Wilford has been somewhat neutralized, but he will be back like the bogie that he is, and the train has again split up.
The show was picked up for a fourth season, and we still don’t know how the events will fit into the 2031 movie. Six months pass between seasons two and three, so it could still be 2021 or early 2022… I wonder if they are going to change the story or make it fit with the movie. Either way, it is a ride well worth taking.
Conclusion
The show takes place in a frozen, post-apocalyptic world. Sean Bean continues to be interesting as the strange inventor Joseph Wilford. Most of the regulars from the show’s first two seasons are back. Layton (Katie McGuinness) chooses Josie (Sheila Vand) over his ex-wife, even though they have a child together. Melanie’s daughter Alex (Rowan Blanchard) tries to get back in touch with her. The show was picked up for a fourth season.
