Snowpiercer Fails To Recreate The Movie’s Darkest Reveal

TNT’s Snowpiercer season 1, episode 2 makes an attempt to recreate the darkest moment in the movie, but it falls short. Based on the French graphic novel Le Transperceneige and directed by Bong Joon-ho, Snowpiercer received critical acclaim across the board for its story about a large group of passengers forced to live together on a 1001-car train in a post-apocalyptic setting. The focus of the film is the oppressed people living in the tail section of the train, who are determined to take the engine and break away from the class system that’s been imposed upon them.

The TV adaptation of the story follows the same basic premise by centering on Layton (Daveed Diggs), one of the “Tailies” (the name given to the people who live in the tail). Like the main characters in the film, Layton’s ultimate goal is to stage a rebellion and take the engine from the mysterious “Mr. Wilford“, but his approach is much less direct. The Snowpiercer series premiere sets up the plot for the rest of the season by having Layton – a former homicide detective – solve a murder on the train. Layton’s new job gives him a chance to secretly gather information and carefully execute a plan to take the train.

In Snowpiercer episode 2, Layton and Breakman Till (Mickey Sumner) are working the murder case when the “rumors” that the Tailies are cannibals are brought up. Layton surprises Till by revealing that they’re much more than just “rumors“. He tells her of an incident where he and several of the Tailies killed the leader of a ruthless gang. They split his heart into pieces and they each ate one, including Layton, so that everyone involved couldn’t claim innocence. Till just stares at Layton in disgust when she hears him casually admit to being a cannibal.

The cannibal reveal isn’t original to the show. It happened in the Snowpiercer movie as well, but it packed a much greater emotional punch than how it came out in the TV version. After fighting their way the engine, the movie’s protagonist, Curtis Everett (Chris Evans) tells Samgoog (Song Kang-ho) that he’s a cannibal. A visually upset Curtis is in tears when he morbidly confesses, “You know what I hate about myself? I know what people taste like. I know that babies taste best.“

It’s an incredibly dark line, and a horrifying statement to say the least. It’s a moment that reveals just how far the Tailies sank to survive. It paints a grim picture of the tail, as it shows it to be a place where people had to give up their humanity just to survive. With Curtis’ admission, the movie makes it clear that its main character is no hero, but is instead a product of the world that he lives in. It’s a depressing scene packed with meaning and emotion, which is more than what can be said of the story that Layton told Till in the Snowpiercer TV show, which came out flat in comparison to Curtis’ “I know that babies taste best“.

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