With the second season of Snowpiercer hitting blu-ray today, I took some time to sit down and see if it is worth picking up and adding to your home video collection.
The first season of Snowpiercer ended with quite the surprise: not only was there another train traveling the frozen Earth, it’s being run by Mr. Wilford, who it turns out isn’t dead after all. Not only that, but his top lieutenant is Melanie’s believed-to-be-dead daughter Alexandra! With those mind-blowing revelations in mind, the second season of Snowpiercer continued the story of humanity struggling to survive an Earth that has frozen over.
I personally have mixed feelings about this season of Snowpiercer. The story’s initial premise, humanity surviving on a lone train, is effectively gotten rid of, which to me kind of ruins the concept, even if the “lone train” idea is somewhat restored early on in the season. I’m also somewhat skeptical of the Earth starting to warm only seven years after freezing solid, but to be fair “warm” seems to be a relative concept in this case.
The one part of season two of Snowpiercer that I thoroughly enjoyed is the addition of Sean Bean to the cast as the enigmatic Mr. Wilford. Sean Bean is scarily good at playing charismatic villains and his performance as Mr. Wilford is no different. As Wilford, you’re scared of what he can do, you’re kind of rooting to see him get taken down, but you’re also kind of curious to see what he’s going to do next, that’s what Bean brings to the performance.
That being said, I really don’t like how Melanie’s story arc came to an end. She was one of my favorite characters in the first season and I wanted to see her story continue past season two. Although there is that old saying to keep in mind: if you don’t see a body, can you be sure that a character is really dead? Snowpiercer has been renewed through a fourth season, so at this point anything is possible.
Mixed feelings on the season itself aside, the blu-ray release is full of a number of good features, mostly focused on the introduction of Mr. Wilford to the story, though given it’s an amazing performance by Sean Bean that’s perfectly understandable. The round table discussion about the new season is also worth watching because you get further insight to the characters. Oddly enough though, there don’t appear to be any deleted scenes, which is a big disappointment. It’s always fun to see what didn’t make the final cut of an episode, and most TV shows will have them, so it’s weird that none were included here.
As for recommending this season to pick up on blu-ray…I find myself stuck in the middle. While I can’t actively recommend it, because I don’t like where the show is taking the story, I won’t actively discourage picking it up either. Some shows just aren’t meant for everyone and I’ve accepted that I’m just not a fan of Snowpiercer.
Bonus Features
- The Great Engineer: Bringing the Mysterious Mr. Wilford Aboard: Go behind the scenes with the cast for an in-depth exploration of the god-like Mr. Wilford as brought to life by Sean Bean.
- Season 2 Overview: An exciting and exclusive look at the second season with the cast.
- Behind the Character: Mr. Wilford: The cast discusses the mythical character of Mr. Wilford played by Sean Bean.
- Season 2 Roundtable: Take a seat with the cast and crew as they have a round table discussion about the show’s characters and story.
- Daveed Diggs Season 1 Recap: The exciting first season of Snowpiercer is recapped through the POV of its main character Layton (Daveed Diggs).
Episode List
- The Time of Two Engines
- Smolder to Life
- A Great Odyssey
- A Single Trade
- Keep Hope Alive
- Many Miles from Snowpiercer
- Our Answer for Everything
- The Eternal Engineer
- The Show Must Go On
- Into the White
Snowpiercer: The Complete Second Season is available for purchase starting today!
