Snowpiercer, Season 2, Episode 6 “Many Miles From Snowpiercer”
Air Date: Monday, March 1, 2021 at 9:00 PM ET/PT on TNT
Reviewer Rating: 4 Stars
***WARNING: Some Spoilers Ahead***
This week’s installment of Snowpiercer concentrates on Melanie Cavill (Jennifer Connelly) and her mission inside the research center located in the isolated Rocky Mountains. With her departure two episodes ago, everyone knew it could be a suicide mission as she braved the elements alone with little provisions, but what happens in “Many Miles From Snowpiercer” is harrowing, nerve wracking, brave, and revealing. And then there are the rats…
Let me not get too ahead of myself. In most of my recaps, I give a bit of a play back with insight to several things I notice. In this recap, of sorts, I will reveal some of what happens, but I wanted to focus on the mental anguish Melanie goes through because of her isolation and the fact that she lost her sled with her rations. Hunger can do strange things to people. Melanie gets an eerie firsthand look at things she only heard about in the Tail of the train. Cannibalism.
As Melanie reaches the facility, she’s welcomed by a frozen guy with a bullet in his head. Inside, she finds a woman seated in a chair with self-inflicted cuts on her wrists. If ever an episode needed a PSA warning before, during, and after, it’s “Many Miles From Snowpiercer.” So, after enduring a treacherous hike through sub-freezing temperatures, a snowmobile that conks out mid-way, and losing her food, Melanie must power through all this ominous death to get the station up and running.
We know Melanie got everything to work because we heard the “ping” of the first balloon in episode four, “A Single Trade.” At this time, based on the events in episode five, “Keep Hope Alive,” we didn’t know what was happening because there weren’t any further pings from the station. Now, in this episode, we finally understand what’s going on. And it’s a lot. Especially for one person filled with guilt and regret to keep her company. It’s kind of like many of us during this current pandemic – sitting with our feelings, feeling our feelings, and not having a good time. Thankfully, we all have toilet paper now.
As the days linger, Melanie begins hallucinating, seeing Wilford (Sean Bean) who torments her, yet realizing she’s the only one there. She also sees Layton (Daveed Diggs) who sort of cheers her on but isn’t there to give her the high-five she deserves for creating a rattrap. Yes, there are rats in the facility. How are these rodents surviving you ask? Well, Melanie found out with a bit of help from halluci-Layton. She thought, why catch one when I can find out where they all are? So, she dips the rat in a black solution of water and filter charcoal then sets the little guy free to scurry away. The rat leads Melanie to a hole in the wall where she proceeds to break it down only to find a heat source and a plethora of rats. [I’m squirming as I write because they give me the creeps.]
Alexandra (Rowan Blanchard) shows up (in a hallucination) to help Melanie comprehend what she’s seeing. A “thermo” crack in the mountain allows heat from the earth’s core to vent through keeping the rodents warm (and procreating). And with some leftover arm Melanie finds in the fridge (remember, the dead people in the bunker, yeah, they ate the other guy with the bullet in his head), she baits the trap to catch rats. Yes, to eat. She lost her rations; she’s gotta eat something and she doesn’t want any of that frozen man-meat. [Dry heaving is normal when typing, right?]
Melanie experiences many things during the 30+ days inside the research facility. Aside from the hallucinations, she experiences real things like the antenna tower toppling over and cracking a window. She hurries to seal it up with the same type of goo that Pike (Steven Ogg) used on poor Terence (Shaun Taub) in last week’s episode. R.I.P. Terence. Melanie also relives moments from her past, seven years ago to be exact, that led her to the place she is in now – both physically and mentally.
We know from season one Melanie left her daughter Alexandra behind but not sure why. In “Many Miles From Snowpiercer,” we understand the circumstances that led her to make that difficult decision. Mr. Wilford empowers and wields cruelty like currency. As much as you want to find good in a person, his reasons behind the construction of Snowpiercer are as selfish as anyone could get. He only caters to the wealthy that were able to afford a ticket aboard the train. He wasn’t saving humanity for humanity’s sake. He saved enough people to please himself and his whims. He only allowed enough Third-Class personnel so they would be able to service him along with the First- and Second-Class cars.
There is so much to unpack in this episode that it must be watched to grasp the full range of Wilford’s egomaniacal ways. And if you suspected, as I did, that Wilford is trying to sabotage Melanie’s mission, it’s evident at the end of this episode. As Melanie tries to contact Snowpiercer, she’s met with only static. When she feels the rumble of the train approaching, she races out to meet the rolling beast, but it doesn’t stop. We see Alexandra pounding on the window as she watches her mother run toward her. Melanie drops to her knees.
Now that Alexandra has seen her mother is still alive, I know she’ll try to save her. The question is, what will Wilford do to thwart her plans?
For more on Snowpiercer, go to https://www.tntdrama.com/snowpiercer
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Judy Manning
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