Snowpiercer, TV Shows

Snowpiercer Season 2 Episode 4 Recap – A Single Trade

Miss Audrey

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We see much more of Miss Audrey’s backstory in this episode, as she reveals a bit more of her time before the big freeze under Joseph Wilford’s service, but it gets dark… really dark.

We’re four episodes into this second season and already we see more and more of Wilford’s vulnerabilities leaking through. His obsession with Miss Audrey is obviously a weak point that I imagine will be further exploited later, but for now we mainly get to see him grovel on his hands and knees.

Warning! This post contains major spoilers for Season 2, Episode 4.


This episode opens up with a look at the state of trade between the two trains. This includes the common exchange with everything from fresh fruit, vegetables, and weed, to what Miss Audrey explains as the trade with a dance for a smile.

But we also get a glimpse into a more substantial trade between Audrey and Mr. Wilford. You might remember in the first episode of this season when Wilford off-handedly asked about the state of the train, but specifically mentioned Audrey by name. And now we know why.


It turns out that the two have a history together. As Audrey later explains to Layton, she was a high-class escort before the world ended, and eventually found herself exclusive to Wilford. When the world was freezing over and Wilford was establishing his doomsday guest list, Audrey exchanged a life with him for a place on his train.

But at some point she changed her mind and ran away, successfully hiding from the man for seven years. Now that he’s back in the picture, Audrey is visibly terrified. “I spent years washing my hands clean of him,” she tells Layton.

We later find out that Wilford once did to Audrey as he did to Kevin by giving her the blade to slit her own wrists. But after she did the deed, he apparently decided to save her while still scarring her wrist for life as an eternal reminder. But the emotional scars were much deeper.


So the main storyline of this episode involves Wilford offering a big trade with Snowpiercer: his team’s medical treatment of Snowpiercer’s frost-bitten patients (including Josie) for a night on the town visiting Snowpiercer.

Of course it’s obvious that he only wants to get closer to Audrey, despite the fact that he claims he’s doing it to gain some insight into Melanie’s whereabouts outside of the train.

Layton heads over to Josie to discuss the situation while Wilford’s scientists say that Josie’s skin damage is more severe than the others’ and will require time on Big Alice.

Does Josie really want to go through with this, knowing full well that Wilford may actually know who she is and may have planned this whole thing to get Josie into a closer, more accessible position for him to harm? Or will Josie be able to successfully pull off her plan to be a pipeline behind enemy lines?

But before Josie is taken away, she gets to meet up with Miles, whom we haven’t seen all season. The kid has really grown!

What’s funny about this is just last week Stephanie wrote an article wondering where Miles has been this whole time. He was a big part of the early episodes in Season One when he was groomed to become an engineer, but then he just kinda vanished. Well, it turns out that he’s just been studying to advance his new engineering career with a specialty in life systems. He tells Josie that he wants to be the first colonist to leave this train. Foreshadowing!


And now for the main event. Wilford and three of his (suspiciously hand-picked) crew members are brought to Snowpiercer’s night club car to watch a live launch of the weather balloon that Melanie will connect to for real-time meteorological research data. That is, if Melanie made it to the research facility alive.

So the tension is high as the balloon is launched and the wait begins before Melanie is scheduled to connect. This gives Wilford and Audrey enough time to sneak back to a private room and enjoy themselves. Well, Wilford enjoyed himself. Yikes.

The two return just in time for the countdown to the balloon’s ascension to 35,000 feet… then 35,100 feet… then 35,200 feet… but still no Melanie. But wait! The big red CONNECTED word lights up the screen and everyone cheers with excitement. Well, except Wilford.


In the final scene, we see Josie lying in her recovery bed near Icy Bob. Wilford sneaks up to peer at her through a window, but when she turns her head to look, he’s gone. He’s being awfully secretive about his observation of Josie, which means that Layton’s suspicions were spot-on: Wilford knows who Josie is and is planning something.

Some other takeaways from this episode:

  • Wilford loves mangoes about as much as Kevin loved those chicken wings.
  • Sean Bean’s shaking, sweating desperation here in Snowpiercer is brilliant. It’s not quite Boromir-clawing-after-the-One-Ring desperation, but close.
  • Till mentioned that there are 2,746 people on Snowpiercer, for anyone keeping track at home.
  • The last Aussie alive met the other last Aussie alive! It’s kismet and I hope this turns into something.
  • Till officially gets more action than Layton
  • The friendship between Alex and LJ scares me.

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    Shawn has been infatuated with the post-apocalyptic genre since he wore out his horribly American-dubbed VHS of the original Mad Max as a child. Shawn is the former Editor-in-Chief at Massively.com, creator of the Aftermath post-apocalyptic immersion event, and author of "AI For All," a guide to navigating this strange new world of artificial intelligence.
    He currently resides on top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere with his wife and four children.

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