Snowpiercer, Season 2, Episode 5 “Keep Hope Alive”
Air Date: Monday, February 22, 2021 at 9:00 PM ET/PT on TNT
Reviewer Rating: 4 Stars
***WARNING: Some Spoilers Ahead***
“A lie for hope.” – Layton
“Keep Hope Alive” may not have a PSA at the end, but it’s not for the faint of heart. I thought some disturbing things happened in “A Single Trade,” but I guess it’s par for the course in Snowpiercer. Many unsettling events occur throughout “Keep Hope Alive,” but some may be more perplexing than others. Lies, betrayal, spies, and death are all included in this revealing chapter.
Icy Bob (Andre Tricoteux) speaks! He’s quite loquacious, even giving Josie (Katie McGuinness) some very helpful tips on pain management and sound advice in dealing with The Headwoods (Damian Young and Sakina Jaffrey). As Josie remains on Big Alice for her frostbite treatments, she’s also playing spy for Layton (Daveed Diggs). As she sends messages in small vials through the weekly trade between Snowpiercer and Big Alice, eyes are watching, and it doesn’t bode well.
One message reads: “Coldman preparing. Wilford making a move.”
Everything that happens in “Keep Hope Alive” is chess move. Mr. Wilford (Sean Bean) is a crafty and clever man; he calculates before he moves any piece on the board. There are many important things that happen in this episode, some more significant than others.
A few key things I noticed:
Miss Audrey (Lena Hall) gets invited to dine with Wilford aboard Big Alice. Ben (Iddo Goldberg) and Javier (Robert Urbina) give her instructions on how to access a communication box in Big Alice’s engine so they can hear everything Wilford says. Easier said than done. Miss Audrey may boast that she’s able to handle the situation, but after what happened in the Night Car in “A Single Trade,” I am not sure if she knows herself anymore. Or she could be fooling us all making her choice to stay on Big Alice a step toward taking Wilford down.
Icy Bob could have revealed Josie’s betrayal instead, he helps her. His warning about The Headwoods, “They are not people you want to cross,” seems to be more ominous than these simple words. Why is he helping Josie? What’s in it for him? I’m sure he’s tired of being a guinea pig for trying to survive the frigid temperatures outside, but there has to be another reason for his aiding Josie.
After Terence (Shaun Taub) thwarts the trading from Pike in Third Class, Layton warns him about interfering. Terence is a cocky and confident guy. He counters Layton’s thinly veiled threats with one of his own – he knows Josie is the spy on Big Alice and he’ll rat her out. Not cool, dude.
Pike (Steven Ogg) may not be the most honorable or trustworthy man on Snowpiercer, but Layton saved him from being hanged in the cannibalism era in the Tail for a reason. Pike is the kind of guy you ask to take someone out. Terence really shouldn’t have attacked Pike, and he shouldn’t have ignored Layton’s offer to get a piece of the trade action. What happens between Pike and Terence is still haunting me. I can’t unsee that. Kudos to the visual effects crew. If there were any makeup effects, kudos to ya’ll too.
So, we haven’t seen Melanie (Jennifer Connelly) in two episodes, although we heard her “ping” in “A Single Trade.” But Ben and Javier haven’t heard another ping after launching more balloons. They all know if they tell people the truth, morale will sink causing a domino effect with Wilford and his devotees. Of all people, it’s Ruth Wardell (Allison Wright) who suggests they “lie.”
After the huge lie told in season one, I think she sees now the reasons behind Melanie’s deception of hiding the truth about Wilford being on board. Layton’s statement, “a lie for hope” holds more weight than ever.
Another message comes through warning Layton that the “Breachman” are going to attack. As Layton and Brakeman Roche (Mike O’Malley) try to head it off by going to “Muscle Breach” car, they only find Breachman Boscovic (Aleks Paunovic). As they talk to him, the scenes cut back and forth as hooded figures systematically kill the other Breachman. If the Breachman weren’t Wilford’s hired guns, who else could it be.
I’ve been wondering why Pastor Logan (Bryan Terrell Clark) has been hanging around Detective Bess Till (Mickey Sumner) so much. While he helps her when the Breachman taunt her in Third Class, his boxing lessons reveal a bit more. He tells her that maybe Layton isn’t the “right shepherd” to lead the Snowpiercer flock. Could he be one of Wilford’s spies? Is Bess going to turn away from everything she’s been through and join Pastor Logan?
There is a lot that happens in “Keep Hope Alive,” but it’s something that needs to be watched. There are little nuggets along the way, like how Wilford is keeping his beloved protégé Alexandra (Rowan Blanchard) in the dark about his plans.
As I’ve mentioned, Wilford is calculating. We believed all the clues that were being doled out. Did the Headwoods’ know Josie was awake during her (painful) debriding procedure as they talked openly of Wilford’s plan to have the Breachmen attack? Wilford knew there was a spy on his train, and if he’s going to get Snowpiercer back, he had to make Layton look like an ineffective and incompetent leader. But it’s not check-mate yet.
For more on Snowpiercer, go to https://www.tntdrama.com/snowpiercer
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Judy Manning
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