In Review: Snowpiercer (S2 – Ep3) A Great Odyssey

Synopsis: In ‘A Great Odyssey’. Big Alice must help Snowpiercer navigate a treacherous new route. Melanie prepares for a dangerous mission off – train that could change everyone’s fate.

The Story

Picking the story up from last week. Melanie prepares for a mission off the train to try and establish how fast the Earth is warming back up. The preparation time allows her to spend more time with her daughter Alexandra. This mother-daughter time allows them to repair their relationship. Which will not impress Mr. Wilfred.

While helping with preparations. Layton tries some old-fashioned diplomacy with Wilfred by offering to regularly supply food in exchange for mechanical parts to help maintain the Snowpiercer side of the train.

Meanwhile, Wilfred continues to plot against the Snowpiercer side of the train, but there are signs of rebellion on the Big Alice side.

The Acting

Jennifer Connelly and Rowan Blanchard get to truly have a great odyssey in terms of playing out the mother and daughter relationship. Up until now Melanie and Alexandra have been on opposing sides. Indeed in last week’s episode, Alexandra was prepared to murder Melanie. But it seems that seeing the difference in cultures between the people on Big Alice and those on Snowpiercer has woken Alexandra up.

We also have a good scene between Melanie and Layton (Daveed Diggs) in which Melanie advises him to keep Ruth on his side. Also, Melanie and Ruth have a touching farewell.

Overall

‘A Great Odyssey’ sees both sides make preparations to try and live as best as they can with each other for the month in which Melanie will be off train. Layton is more interested in trying to foster cooperation between the two sides. But Mr. Wilfred and the Big Alice side have other ideas. Indeed Wilfred has his scientists working on making his security guard even more immune to the cold.

We also see some early signs of rebellion on the Big Alice side where we see a young woman reluctantly applaud Mr. Wilfred as he embarks on his morning inspection. That and the fact that Alexandra is beginning to warm to her mother could make for interesting drama in the weeks to come.

Overall, this was a solid and very character-driven episode, which saw some real growth for Alexandra.