Snowpiercer – Episode 9

Back on the good ship Snowpiercer and Melanie (Connelly) and the others are being held prisoner by the jack boots. Every so often, via a clipboard, one by one, they are being taken to a separate room.

Once in this room, they are strapped into a chair and then a mask placed over their nose and mouth. This has a hose which leads to the outside and, when opened, it freezes people from the inside.

When it comes to Melanie’s turn to be strapped to the chair, she tries her best to talk the jack boots into stopping, but they don’t, merely advising to take a deep breath, it is over quicker that way.

As they leave to allow the jack boot to open the valve to the outside, he instead sets her free, getting her out of the room and down, into the train, where she finds Jinju (Park).

Meanwhile, Pike (Ogg), finds Andre in third. He’s overawed with the food and what he’s seen in first and he wants some. He has a message for Andre; surrender, or the jack boots will gas everyone.

Andre (Diggs), all lock-jawed and dead set on making his plan work, suddenly goes soft when Zarah (Vand) tells him she’s pregnant, and it is his.

The tailies bring Roche (O’Malley) on board and he takes Andre to the committee where he will lose his head in turn for them not gassing everyone.

Once down below to be executed, it’s not clear why it just isn’t done whilst everyone is there, Roche pulls a gun on the Commander (Murphy) and, rather than just killing him, gets him to uncuff Andre.

Naturally, this results in a fight between them all, which is lazy writing frankly and it’s bad for Andre who has a timeline to meet.

You see, just before he was taken up train, Melanie made her way back down the train and found Andre and his crew. She says she can get him the train and remove the jack boots, and Folgers, in one go. They simply have to de-couple the train in two parts.

They agree to this, but there is a time limit, otherwise all of the rear train will be lost, and they’ll freeze, and the front of the train will starve.

Luckily, just as the Commander and his boys have Andre and Roche where they want them, a bunch of tailes come to the rescue. But they still don’t kill the Commander, just knock him out, of course they do.

Anyway, when Andre gets to where he needs to be to de-couple his part of the train, the part that will be lost, it transpires to be where the prisoners are being kept. Despite his best efforts, he can’t save everyone, point proven by Melanie.

James Hawes (“Black Mirror (TV)”, “Genius (TV)”) is in the director’s chair with Aubrey Nealon (“Orphan Black (TV)”, “Cardinal (TV)”), who last wrote episode six, back on writing duties.

Snowpiercer was good, but it’s all getting a bit cliched as it reaches the climax, although this feels like the climax so who knows what will happen in the final episode. We shall see.