This seventh episode of TNT’s Snowpiercer sees more good news for Miles, but takes a dark turn that proves to Melanie Cavill fans that her tough exterior has some cracks showing as she goes a bit further off the deep end.
Be aware that this post contains major spoilers for episode 7!
Now that Layton is out of the drawer and fully recovered, his location has to be kept top secret at all times. But as you might imagine, this is becoming increasingly difficult, especially when Layton’s old friend Zarah rats him and Josie out to the authorities.
With Miles fast-tracked to the Engineer Apprentice program, Layton and Josie are worried that he might be brainwashed by Melanie, or that it might just be a trap to catch Layton, so they devise a plan to get him sick enough to be taken to the infirmary where Josie is waiting in disguise. She only has seconds to tell Miles her plan, but he agrees to remain part of the rebellion.
Meanwhile, another rebellion is brewing among the Folgers and Commander Grey who try to recruit Melanie’s sidekick, Ruth, for their cause. Ruth is understandably apprehensive about the coup idea (as well as quite upset that she was tricked into the meeting by thinking that Grey was interested in her), but she later changes her mind when Melanie treats her like garbage. The Folgers want Ruth to be “the new Melanie” and Ruth now sees that this idea might not be so far-fetched after all.
One interesting take-away from this meeting, though, is Ruth’s story of how she earned her role on Snowpiercer. She tells Grey that before the end of the world, a strange man came to her bed & breakfast and was so impressed by her service and hospitality that he recruited her on the spot. Of course we’re led to believe that this person is Wilford, although with Melanie claiming the Wilford name, we’re not sure exactly how this part will come together. My guess is that she met with Sean Bean’s character, who we’ll see in Season 2, but whether he’s the actual Wilford or not, remains to be seen.
After Zarah points out Josie as the one who helped Layton escape from the drawers, Josie is taken to an interrogation room where Melanie questions her alone. Brakeman Till tries to stay in the room, scared shitless that Josie will tell on her for helping aid the escape, but Josie stays true, even when Melanie freezes her pinkie finger with outside air.
episode 7 of snowpiercer should just be called ‘the downfall of melanie cavill’ but i still love her tho
— hanis (@hannn7) June 29, 2020
And this is really where things get both dark and crazy as there’s a lot going on here that you shouldn’t miss. After Melanie freezes Josie’s finger, she gets so upset that she runs off to the toilet to puke her guts out (this episode has a lot of puking, by the way). This shows us that, while Melanie is a complete hardass on the outside, some parts of the job still bother her after all these years.
While Melanie is cleaning up in the bathroom, Till comes in to find out if Josie told on her. But Josie assures her that not only did she not tell, she also called Till “one of us.” This touches Till’s heart and you can see a distinct change in her at that point. She seems to want to do anything to help the rebellion now, even while watching the pain in Josie’s face from the torture.
After Till leaves, Melanie comes back in to try to force Layton’s hiding spot out of Josie once more, even threatening to hurt Miles if Layton isn’t turned over. A fight breaks out between a now-handless Josie and Melanie, ending up with a leaking valve of outside air overtaking the room and freezing poor Josie to death. I know, right?!
I picked up on a few other foreshadowing tidbits in this episode that I thought were interesting. Terence, the drug lord of the train, was discovered as the one who stole the suspension drugs from the drawer room. When Melanie questions him about it, he promises to turn Layton over as soon as he sees him. Oddly enough, he later admits this to Layton, but we have yet to see who Terence will be faithful to. My money is on Melanie.
Also, early on in the episode, we see engineer Javi getting a little upset during a conversation about Wilford’s true identity. Javi is one of the few people who know the train’s darkest secrets, so it seems odd to me that his comrades, Bennett and Melanie, both seem to blow off his worry so easily. Javi wants them all to come clean about Wilford, but Bennett shuts that down right away. Personally, I think Javi is insanely jealous of Bennett and Melanie’s sexcapades (as we’ve seen him reveal in previous episodes as well) and will end up becoming quite a wrench in their plans further down the line.
At the very end of this episode, we see Layton approaching LJ Folger from the shadows. He knows that the spoiled rich girl dwells on gossip and secrets, so he entices her with a juicy one: “How would you like to know the dirtiest little secret on the whole damn train?”
I think it might be time for Melanie’s Wilford secret to leak out as her house of cards comes tumbling down.
We only have three episodes left of this season! What would you like to see wrapped up before the finale?
