Snowpiercer Season 2 (2021) Review

Though I wasn't a huge fan of the first season of Snowpiercer, when the second season came around I decided to watch it and today the season finished and here is my review for it. The premise of the season sees Mr Wilford and his Big Alice train arrive to Snowpiercer where a conflict between him and the surviving leaders of the train commences. 

Main Character

Sean Bean makes his debut as Mr Wilford and he is honestly the best thing about this show. He is the injection of charisma and devilry that you can't stop watching him and his presence is what really drives the show. Wilford is such a fascinating character and his addition to the show is exactly what was needed to inject some real intrigue and depth to the show. Daveed Diggs is back as Layton and similar to the first season I just really struggled to care about his character, the actor is great but Layton is such a dull character that it really hurts the show. I actually thought this season he was even worse and actually pretty unlikeable at times and for me it really dragged down the overall quality. 

Supporting Characters

Jennifer Connelly's character as Melanie is given more depth this season even though she is in the show a lot less and even though her character is really important to the overall plot and Connelly does a good job with the work that she is given. Alison Wright as Ruth wasn't my favourite part of the first season but I thought she was fantastic this season, her character is really complex and really stuck between a rock and a hard place with Wright giving a great performance in the show. But the rest of the cast aren't that great or just don't get enough to work with. The train is full of characters and I just didn't care about a lot of them, Characters such as Bess, LJ and Audrey are just annoying and don't add much to the show which is a big shame for its female cast as it is a mixed bag in terms of the characters that they are given. 

Story 

The story is good, the conflict between Wilford and Layton is pretty interesting and the show does a good job in showing how conflicted the train becomes when Wilford returns and at least for the first act of the show it keeps this going pretty well. But this show gets really bogged down by some supporting characters and stories which could have easily been shortened or left out of the show to make it a more concise and effective storytelling experience. 

Script

The script, is quite effective in terms of the drama that it builds amongst the train, it continues the tension created by the season 1 finale and builds on it nicely and creates even more depth and drama. But this show takes itself incredibly seriously and at times it is a bit too heavy and also the show suffers from the plot being all over the place in terms of the different characters and the story that is being told. 

Style 

The style of the show does a good job with its visual style, it shows the difference between the different parts of the train and the class systems and how they have changed since the first season. The violence still feels very severe and harsh which fits the dystopian world that has been created in this world. But the pacing of the show just doesn't quite work, if they cut some of the plot or a couple of episodes then this would be a much better show. 

Overall

Overall, the 2nd season of Snowpiercer is an average show. It's funny cause the show does some things better then the first season but overall it is slightly worse and I just am not sure this show has a huge long term future and not one for people to rush to watch. 

Rating - 5/10