Snowpiercer – Season 4 Episode 2 “The Sting Of Survival” Recap & Review

The Sting of Survival

Episode 2 of Snowpiercer season 4 begins with narration from Audrey, pointing out how she was sent over to New Eden in order to warn about the train insurrection. That’s right, 9 months back, Mel and the others onboard Snowpiercer were stuck in a state of limbo, unaware that things were about to pick up in a big way. It’s here, where we begin.

Its been three months since the trains departed and there’s no word from New Eden. For Mel, she’s concerned as she hasn’t heard from her daughter, unaware that Alex is absolutely fine.

However, when they do receive a sign of life, it certainly doesn’t come from Big Alice or Eden. Some sort of rocket is launched into the air, followed by an explosion. This explains why Till and Ben head out to the wreckage, as they go to check on this to find out exactly what’s going on. After running away from the assailants, they make it back to Snowpiercer…only to find the Peacekeeping group onboard, led by Admiral Anton Milius.

This catches us up to the moments at the end of episode 1. With Ben and Till at gunpoint, they’re led up the train to Mel’s location. When Till tries to use the phone, she’s shot down. And with this single shot, it ends the peace they’ve worked so hard to build.

Thankfully, the panic button is hit by Audrey despite the comms being shut down, giving Mel enough time to see the guards coming and prepare accordingly. She shuts the door and plays hardball with the Admiral. Unfortunately, holding Ben up at gunpoint and initiating a countdown is enough for her to concede.

The Admiral takes control of the train and both Mel and Ben are forced out the control room and into isolation. Unfortunately, one of the workers in Hospitality is forced to ring an announcement over the tannoy, confirming that all passengers in First and Second Class are going to be “temporarily” moved to Third Class. He’s at gunpoint reading this out so he doesn’t really have much of a choice.

This message of peace obviously contradicts with Till’s bleeding shoulder. She wants to fight back and hit the peacekeepers, knowing there’s only a handful of them for now, but she’s bleeding out and super weak so that’s not going to happen.

Brought to Winston and Dr Pelton, they work to patch her up. And while this is happening, the Admiral turns the train East, off Wilford track and onto a new destination. Whoever built this did it quick, because according to Mel these tracks weren’t actually here 3 months back. Mel and Ben deduce together that this location is likely to be Djibouti, which is also where there’s a massive International military hub. They’re going for reinforcements.

With an hour to go until they dock, the group have no choice but to fight back while they can. And before time runs out. After hitting the guard outside the room and stealing his gun, they race down to the controls intent on slowing the train and buying themselves some crucial time.

While Audrey is questioned by the Admiral, Mel and Ben show up at Ruth’s HQ down in the bowels of the ship, right where she set up her rebellion against Wilford. Together, they hit the brakes but unfortunately, the Admiral has a countermeasure. He locks 100 passengers (including Audrey and Till) in a carriage and has one of his men shoot a hole in the roof and locks them in.

The man in Hospitality gets on the radio, confirming that in 20 minutes they’ll all freeze unless Mel concedes and stops what she’s doing. This guy thankfully does have some courage before he signs off to confirm there are two guards in the market area, meaning the Engine is likely to be lightly guarded. Mel and Ben deduce that they may be able to gamble on the airshaft.

Now, Mel’s plan involves heading to the Engine and from there, activating the failsafe. The general idea is that if the temperature drops near freezing, the doors will open to flush out the cold air. Mel can rewire from the engine to make this happen. But unfortunately, her only way is to crawl through the intake… from outside.

As Mel puts her plan into action, Audrey organizes the passengers while Till decides to head up and patch the hole in the roof. They manage to do so, using the bloody, alcohol-ridden bandage covering Till’s shoulder for good measure. It does buy them some time but the temperature continues to drop, and with minus 40 degrees around them, even the warmth from Audrey and Till’s conversation can’t help them here.

With the train decelerating, Mel makes it to the control room and opens the doors…just as Nima suddenly bursts in. He catches Mel off-guard as he explains what’s been happening with him. Now, the US Air Force flew him there to this bunker along with 80 scientists and engineers, tasked with correcting the government’s mistakes.

Mel doesn’t buy this though, especially given the Admiral’s hostility and shooting Till, to name but a few instances. Nima admits that he has quite the temper on him (you think?) but that it was necessary for them to dock here and switch tracks no matter what. 

Nima’s research has been working on sorting out warm spots around the globe, and this is obviously something Mel stumbled on last season. Nima wants to use Snowpiercer to launch their compound from the other side of the planet because right now, their warm spots are great but half of the globe is still in Deep Freeze. With the train, they could essentially heat the planet and connect up these hot spots like a web. Nima even has satellite images to show a whole bunch of people inside one of these spots (not New Eden though) living outside.

Ben and Mel discuss the implications of this some time later. They both deduce that if this plan is successful, there wouldn’t need to be any more Snowpiercer or a train to live on. Now, it would mean all the passengers have to work heavy labour, and with the promise of no military presence or guns either, it seems like a good deal. However, they can’t trust the Admiral… but they can trust that Layton and the others are still alive.

Mel parts ways with Ben, and heads into the research base. Fast forward 9 months and those onboard the Snowpiercer have had enough, Till launches a rescue mission over to New Eden after hearing the Admiral has plans to ambush New Eden. With the Peacekeepers already on their way, Till wants to get there and warn them before it’s too late.

Audrey manages to stop one of the guards at the doorway but in the scuffle, Till is held back and Audrey has to take her place. Choked, weak but thankfully still alive, the track scaler is sent down to New Eden, which fills in the blanks to those moments in episode 1.

However, Audrey doesn’t make it in time as we know. Liana is gone, and Layton is determined to get her back no matter what.

The Episode Review

The editing in Snowpiercer this season has been really good, with little mysteries springing up and more of the story being fleshed out in a rather unique way. This time, we see more of Snowpiercer rather than New Eden, and it’s explained exactly why we didn’t see much of it during the first episode.

Given the large ensemble it kinda makes sense to split these episodes up to focus on different players in the grand scheme of things, but I’d imagine we’ll see everyone converge together pretty soon given the way the story is playing out right now.

The whole drama with the Peacekeepers and exactly what they want is going to be an interesting mystery, and I can’t help but feel they make have an ulterior motive here. Quite where this leaves our characters going forward remains to be seen. One thing’s for sure though, Layton is on the warpath.