I am enjoying season 2 a bit more, but it’s still plenty annoying in many of the same ways as season 1 (in particular how it tries to make us care about Layton as a leader without doing anything to earn it). And I’m really not a fan of shows that resurrect “obviously” dead characters, to the extent where if you don’t see their dismembered but recognisable corpse, they’re probably not dead. It’s exploitative and it usually just means the writers aren’t willing to commit.
Finished it now. I like that Season 2 tried to do a little more character development, at least for a handful of the characters, even if it didn’t always ring true (Ruth’s arc was handled in a particularly hamfisted way). But arguably it exacerbated the main sin of the first season - ignoring life in the Tail in favour of the adventures of Layton - by extending that indifference to ordinary people’s lives to the entire train. We never really got a sense of how the vast majority of the passengers were actually experiencing the turmoil of season 2 unless it directly involved one of our protagonists. What are Tailies eating now, for instance? Do they get real food? 99% of the screen time was devoted to the same dozen or so characters and their plotting.
Relatedly, one of the big themes of season 1 was the delicate balance of the train, how even small disruption could have massive consequences that weren’t easily recoverable from. Even slowing down slightly caused power outages and could only be sustained briefly. Sure some of that was propaganda, but not all, and it was a powerful source of tension. In season 2 that was just thrown out the window. There were massive calamities. The train stopped multiple times and experienced massive damage. Nearly all the Breachmen were killed. Janitorial was turned over to a bent cop and his psychopath girlfriend. Sure Big Alice had supplies, but it didn’t even have enough food for its own passengers. And yet we got no sense that outside of the immediate crises the narrative wanted us to focus on, there were any real issues.
Dayumn, season 4 confirmed.
January 24, 2022.
Back on tonight!
Anyone still watching this? I sat through the first couple episodes of the new season but I’m not really seeing any reason to continue. It’s totally dropped what little interest it had in the social dynamics of the train(s) in favour of drama between the main characters whose motivations are just as all over the place as they ever were. Wilford has lost what menace he had, so basically all the show has going for it at this point is drip feeding tidbits about a post-ice age future, which seems like a really bad direction to take the show in.
I still haven’t seen season 2, heh.
I stopped watching a few episodes after Jennifer Connelly ‘left.’ I tried the first few episodes this season, but I found I didn’t care about any of the characters, and things were proceeding too slowly for the plot to keep me hooked.
I really enjoyed season 1.
Yeah, I think that would have been a good place to stop.
Glad to hear it, I am now 2 seasons behind. But I really did enjoy the first season. :)
Sad trombone.
It is unclear what will happen to TBS and TNT’s current slate of scripted programming, but for the moment, it is apparently status quo for returning series like “Snowpiercer.”
“For the moment.”
How very strange. I don’t really understand the ins and outs but it’s been showing on Netflix here in the UK. If it’s already completed, it seems odd that Netflix wouldn’t just show it - I’d imagine they can get it for cheap, if they don’t already have some form of agreement?
it’s entirely possible that TVLine’s reporting is conflating “the rights to control the franchise” and “US rights”, but the article does acknowledge the Netflix deal, so maybe not. Either way, I’d say it’s far from certain the final season would stay on Netflix. If the producers have the global rights, pretty much any realistic acquirer is going to want a global licence. That said, Netflix is probably the frontrunner for that licence. It may even have some kind of last look rights as part of the original deal.
The only reason to not show the completed final season is likely that they are using it as a tax writeoff. Disney + has been doing the same crap and it’s gross.
I get that cable networks like TNT are abandoning original scripted series due to high production costs and low ratings, but it seems kind of idiotic to have a completed fourth season of a show which you paid for already and that you know has a viewership, and just decide not to air it at all.
I suppose there is a complex tax write off involved somehow that would be worth more than the advertising revenue gained from airing the final season. Snowpiercer is just the most recent in a long line of scripted original cable series to be killed off thanks to streaming networks hoovering up all of the original scripted content. Hopefully it will land on Netflix or somewhere. The irony is that as cable dies, streaming networks are now having to offer subscription plans with ads just to retain subscribers, so eventually we will all be spending $120+ a month to watch our favorite shows on a dozen streaming channels with ads in a grotesque mimicry of cable television.
Except we won’t, because we can just subscribe to a couple at a time, unlike cable.
I think it’s more about having to pay residuals to the actors.