SNOWPIERCER Episode 2 Breakdown & Ending Explained

Welcome to the Heavy Spoilers show, I’m your host Deffinition and this video we’re breaking down the second episode of Snowpiercer.

The series is now airing on Netflix and for the next 9 weeks we’re gonna be breaking down everything you need to know about the brand new show.

Throughout we’ll be going over what happens in the second entry, it’s easter eggs and giving our theories on what’s going on on the train.

There will be heavy spoilers here so if you haven’t had a chance to check it out yet then I highly recommend that you check out right now. If you enjoy the video then please consider subscribing and dropping a thumbs up as it massively helps us out.

With that out the way, thank you for clicking this, now let’s get into our breakdown of Snowpiercer Episode two.

Snowpiercer Episode 2 Breakdown

Ok so the second episode picks up in the wake of the revolution from last week. We see things from the perspective of Josie who last time we learned was in a relationship with Layton and both were surrogate parents to a boy named Miles.

We see Ruth examining the wreckage and she once more dons the coat that Minister Mason wore in the movie, showcasing how cold it is in the tail end of the car.

She brings an announcement from Wilford and that all uprisings will not be tolerated and they take a child who was complicit in the deaths of six security guards. Just as they’re about to punish her by freezing her arm her mother stands up and instead asks that it be delivered unto her instead.

The mother’s arm is frozen instead and as we saw in the film this grueling punishment is carried out by placing someone’s arm outside of the train until it fully freezes and it is then shattered with a sledgehammer which too reoccurs here.

Missing arms are often a symbol on Snowpiercer of those that have dissented and we have already seen the character Evaughn from last week bearing this.

Here to make it even more gruesome they pour water over her arm to freeze it more.

EAT THE RICH

In the prison car the three that Layton convinced to stand down last week are sedated with Kronole and placed into drawers. This is clearly part of Layton’s plan to place sleeper cells further up the train and I love how the person delivering the sentence says ‘may God have mercy on your spark.’

Sparks instead of souls cement the use of the mechanical and industrial language. It shows that Wilford views people as parts rather than humans. In the movie we learned that he had been abducting children under five and enslaving them because they were small enough to fit into a certain section within the engine and this spark replacement definitely hammers home how the upper-class view those below.

The phrase Eat The Rich is uttered by Josie. This is a saying that has recently picked up a lot of attention in recent times of inequality but it actually comes from the 17th century where it is attributed to Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

The full phrase says “When the people shall have nothing more to eat, they’ll eat the rich”.

This means that when the upper class take so much for themselves because of greed, it will eventually lead to an uprising by those that have been left with nothing.

Is Melanie Really Wilford?

After the credits we cut to the Engine Room or rather Cavill’s compartment and the train is rocked by an avalanche.

We also see in her compartment that she has a picture of a child and last week it was teased that she had a daughter. She speaks with the engineers in first and due to the weather there’s a lot of danger that surrounds them.

There’s also a clue that Cavill isn’t actually Wilford as Havi asks Bennet how he thinks she can keep this up. He says seven years so clearly she has been masquerading as Wilford for that amount of time. Either he is in holding or this is the first time a tv show actually killed Sean Bean off before he was even able to make an appearance but I think it definitely adds a lot of weight to her not really being the character.

At one point her badge is upside down and the W looks like an M. M is of course for Melanie and Ruth adjusts this turning it back to a W. It is possible that even she could be in on it too and I love the symbolism of the M changing to a W perhaps showing that Melanie has changed into the character.

She speaks to those in first-class and we see that the Folger’s bodyguard has a gun. I’m sure that people aren’t allowed guns on the train if they’re not security but this may be a grey area with him being personal security. Anyway they’re not happy with Melanie and who knows she may even be overthrown in the same way that she overthrew Wilford.

The Investigation

Layton is kept in a cell and Beth and Roache comes to visit him. Beth and Layton are forced to work together throughout this episode even though she still bears the bruises of him knocking her out last week.

They go to the market car and begin interrogating people before the autopsy of Sean Wise. Because his body was found Nicky J has been taken out of suspension and we see Jinjoo caring for her. We don’t quite know what her role is yet but because she is able to go further up the train it does seem like she is a prominent figure. I’m guessing she’s a scientist and this would explain why she’s held in such regard but next to Melanie she actually seems like one of the most mysterious characters in the show.

Anyway after Layton and Beth find out very little they venture to the night car where we see a performance of Say it ain’t so Joe.

This is a real song by Murray Head and the singer said that he penned it in memory of fallen heroes which could exemplify how the train view the loss of the security forces in the wake of the revolution.

However another interesting aspect of the song that Head went on to state in 1995 does resemble a lot of things that we see in the show and modern society.

He said:

“Say It Ain’t So, Joe” was provoked by a seventies documentary on Richard Nixon prior to his resignation. The presenter was asking the editor of a small-town newspaper outside Washington, how, in the face of conclusive evidence and proof, his readers could still show such undying support for the president they elected. The editor likens the situation to a scandal in the twenties, when Joe Jackson, the famous baseball player, was rumored to have taken a bribe to sink his team in the final of the World series. His fans hung around the stadium chanting “Say it ain’t so Joe”.

Its use in the show could be a comment on how people still blindly follow politicians ignoring their bad sides. In the fictional world of the train it could show that though many worship Wilford as a deity some may really see him for what he is, a cause of injustice and inequality.

However it also shows the blind devotion of his followers that have it good and refuse to acknowledge the mistakes that he has made.

Layton And Zara’s Past

They interview the singer herself, Audrey and she must be somewhat of a celebrity on the train because in the market car we see posters of her hanging up.

She escorts Layton to a hypnotic aquatic room where he is able to meditate with Zara, his ex. We see how they met and that they were engaged at one point. But a girls gotta eat, and sometimes you gotta join a chain so you can run some train.

After reconnecting they reconnect and Zara tries to get Layton to stay up train but he is obviously torn by Josie and Miles being in the tail.

The autopsy is carried out and they determine that the butchers would have the capabilities to do this. We also hear cows mooing and see the livestock first hand. In the film it was said that all animals were thought to be extinct but there were chicken eggs so who knows if this was the case. Either way the cows are quickly wiped out after an avalanche starts so this could potentially be the reason that many thought they were wiped out.

We’re still unsure whether the show and film will connect but just something to bear in mind.

After things die down Layton and Beth discover a body in the freezer which has been used to serve beef in the market car.

We also see that there are suits that allow you to travel outside of the train and this means that it may be possible for someone to venture into the wilderness of the world. I dunno if that will happen just letting you know that the have the capabilities to go beyond the train if they need to.

Kronole Dealing

Another interesting aspect is that we see a brakeman dealing Kronole, though this is used as an anesthetic, the character should not have access to this so it is possible that a black market exists onboard the train and this would explain why in the film Namgoong was able to become a Kronole addict.

In the tail, Miles is recruited for an apprenticeship and he is separated from Josie. We don’t exactly know what kind of apprenticeship this is for but Miles obviously is very close to Layton and it could be another person up the train that helps him with the revolution.

Beth has a massive change of heart too and we actually see her go on a bit of an arc this episode. Initially she allowed the guards to push Layton around but after they start to crack the case she defends him from one, perhaps showing that Layton being brought up to the front will start to slowly change people’s minds and those in third may even join the tail in their uprising.

Unless you’re in first you’re pretty much there to be stepped upon and whilst third and the tail have been turned on one another through manipulation by the front, it is possible that they may unite which Beth definitely showcases.

Layton draws a map of the train as well leading me to believe that he indeed is still planning his revolution. He escapes his cell and leaves it for people in the tail that have been brought up to work. Layton allows himself to be used as a punching bag in order for them to get the information and it’s nice to see that being up the front hasn’t changed his principles.

ONE TAIL.

Melanie And Layton

Melanie obviously isn’t happy with this and she goes to visit Layton in his cell and she tries to explain the economy that exists onboard snow piercer. Layton reveals that he knows Sean Wise was an informant that was paid in perks and the only reason that they were investigating it is that he may have given things up about Wilford when he was tortured.

So, it does seem likely that someone on board the train, most likely the killer knows that Melanie is masquerading as Wilford. Now I think that Layton was pretty stupid to admit this because all it does is put him directly in the firing line. I think as the show goes on he will of course unearth that Melanie and Wilford are one in the same and this will then lead him to being taken out by Melanie.

If she was willing to kill or at least cage Wilford as we’ve theorised then it’s more than likely that she would do the same to Andre.

She could merely tell the tail that he had decided to live up train after solving the murder investigation and she could easily tell those up train that he’d decided to return to the tail.

It would be a perfect crime and who knows what she will do.

As for Wilford, we do know that Sean Bean is cast as the character on IMDB.

Melanie takes a long look at the prisoners in the prison drawers and it is possible that she even has the real Wilford stored away in them in case she needs to bring him out.

I definitely think that we will be seeing him in some form or another, but how exactly we don’t know yet.

Overall though what another cracking episode and I’m so glad we’re getting some great television like this in lockdown. Snowpiercer has had two solid episodes so far and I’m very excited to see how things develop going forwards and what other twists and turns we’re in for.