Snowpiercer: The Complete Second Season... Reviewed!

Many many thanks to WB for providing a copy of Snowpiercer: The Complete Second Season for the purpose of this review. My opinions are my own.

If you aren't familiar with Snowpiercer, it's basically a show about people on a train with no other place to go except where the track leads them.. because the world has become a frozen wasteland where death is automatic if they step out into the cold. It's not about what's going on outside of the train as much as what's going on in an even longer train now (over 1,034 cars long). That said, all aboard... because it's going down (let's review)!

Story: When it comes to Snowpiercer: The Complete Second Season... you will be happy to know that it starts off exactly where it left off, so if you saw season one... no need to worry about some time jump.

Snowpiercer had a change of the guard in season one... and Layton (played by Daveed Diggs) now runs the train, but with Big Alice now attached to them and the real Mr. Wilford standing up (see what I did there)... the war rages on to a deeper degree. The writers took an already interesting show and made it even more interesting. You'll be happy to know that more of the back story has been unlocked for select people and your jaw might drop when you find out who's connected to who on both sides.

Snowpiercer can be described as chess in my opinion, and it was once the tail of the train and some service car members vs Uptrain and certain members of the hospitality department. These people went to war with each other utilizing tactics that had everyone fighting for survival... and quite a few people died (duh of the day).

I know they came together as one train at that time, but it was only to an extent, and it wasn't like they were just going to forget what happened. Mr. Wilford (played by Sean Bean) quickly ripped the bandages off of any wounds they had, and the fighting was back on (for some)... as far as Snowpiercer goes. Big Alice has a lack of trust + resentment as far as some members of their side go also, but it's a bit more covert... so you get a good mix of soft hand and heavy-handed action. You will find that members in uptrain were already pro-Wilford based on the great lie from season one and that only aids in his influence. Mr. Wilford is a piece of work, you'll love to hate him as season two rolls on.

Luckily in this season... you do get a change of pace when a certain someone embarks outside the train for a potential future. I won't go any further as far as that goes... you'll see the rest for yourself, but it certainly gears you up for season three (in a bit of a WTF way... but it does).

Visuals: Visuals are nice and crisp in this show, and just like the first season they were able to pull off various shots for our enjoyment. Medium, medium closeups, and full shots were shown the most but they also had panning, aerial, etc. One of the best shots I saw was when a martial artist kicked someone and sent them flying through glass, the camera was slightly lower, and... it was an awesome way to capture the can of whoop-ass (and they cut it to make sure that the shot was captured accordingly).

Certain episodes had info for viewers at the end based on how sick this guy is.

Audio: The audio in this show was solid. Of course, you have the train sound in the background, but it wasn't overpowering... you knew you were inside and in what area based on how much you heard it or not. The sound engineer(s) knew what they were doing, down to the sound of boots on the floor of train cars, the poop being dumped into bins in compost, etc. It was done right and allowed for the experience to be enhanced. The audio is 1080p DTS-HD Master Audio.

DTS-HD Master Audio: This is the top dog of DTS audio formats, and can be thought of as DTS’s equivalent to Dolby’s TrueHD. Master Audio provides up to 7.1 channels of uncompressed surround-sound audio. - Home Theater For Dummies, 3rd Edition

Price: Pricewise, you can get your hands on Snowpiercer: The Complete Second Season... for $24.98 (on DVD) & $29.98 (on Blu-Ray + Digital). The price is worth the experience, and you may find yourself inviting others over to check it out.

Season two is served up in 10 exciting episodes on the railway.

Special 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.
• 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).

Story 5

Visuals 5

Audio 5

Price 5

5 out of 5 Cool Points

Support us below!

Black Friday Deals are here... check em out!

Snowpiercer: The Complete First Season... Reviewed!

Before I jump in... shout out to Warner Bros for providing a copy of Snowpiercer: The Complete First Season for this review.

The Uptrain vs the tail... the have's vs the have nots. That life on... Snowpiercer.

Story: I had no idea what this show was about, but I like what I'm seeing. Snowpiercer is a train that is basically the only option for survival (basically Noah's Ark on a track). Either you're welcomed aboard with a ticket or you fight your way aboard and end up in... the tail if you manage to survive the onslaught from the train's guards. This fight was justified because you either make it on or... you literally freeze to death as an aftermath of global warming. That's how this show opened and introduced Andre Layton (played by Tony Award Winner Daveed Diggs)... one of the main characters of the show and leader of the tail.

On the Snowpiercer, they have all sorts of things including farm cars where they grow fruit and vegetables, raise livestock, have sea life, an education system, nightlife, restaurants, and so on. The so on includes holding cells, and the dreaded drawers where they place people in some sort of medically induced coma as punishment for crimes (and sometimes other things). They've basically tried to fit life into a train that consists of 1001 cars as it circles the globe fingers crossed for a thaw to take place.

You have the Tail, Third-class, Second-class, and First-class (duh of the day). Each class has its own types of work... minus the first class from what I see and the corruption gets dirtier as you make your way from the tail up. First-class more so had the money and power outside of the train and bought their way in. 2nd class is more so medical class, engineers, and other professionals who were brought in to work. 3rd class is more so labor workers and guards... basically the major cogs in the machine who have no choice but to work or relocate down to the tail.

The only work the tail has access to is sanitation work... but you quickly find out that the tail has allies in the 3rd because some of them were tailies themselves. It's really art... imitating life with someone at the top pulling the strings behind a curtain, with Melanie Cavill (played by Academy Aware Winner Jennifer Connelly) acting as second in command.

A woman who was granted a way out of the tail... also extended that pass to Andre by spilling the beans on his former profession as a detective. His skills were showcased while solving a crime, and I thought the show was going to be about him solving crime aboard the train while he collected intel to overthrow the train... but that wasn't all. There was a sinister twist, and I have to say that I was looking forward to each episode to find out how the scales would be tipped. I won't spoil it for you but...  there are a lot of moving parts in this show so it's best to watch the show with no distractions if you want things to be as cohesive as possible.

After the climax of season one... let's just say there are 994 cars left and it got that way with some creative tactics to pull off a much-needed rebellion, which is only the beginning. There were a lot of wounds to lick... and a lot of resentment at the end of season 1, so I have no idea how it's going to play out in the next season but I'm ready for another ride on the tracks after they threw in that hook at the end.

Visuals: The visuals were crisp in the show, I wasn't crazy about the initial cel shade presented in the opening... it wasn't that appealing but I wondered if that was done to fill the scene until the physical portion took place (perhaps to keep things on the budget). What I appreciated about the show's visuals is that... (yeah) you had the unforgiving elements outside + the grit of the tail, but you weren't stuck looking at that during your entire experience. They switched it up more than I assumed they would, I thought it was going to be a... cold train but it had lush environments, vibrant, cars that represented the target environment almost to the point that you forgot you were on a train.

The night car doesn't disappoint.

Shots weren't merely eye level either, they had a gang of dynamic shots. A woman swam down to get a sea urchin in a very nice vibrant shot that made me wonder if she was somewhere else in the world... until they presented a different shot revealing that it was a part of the train. They had a challenge with this show (in my opinion) because they had to figure out how they were going to make shots dynamic on a train that was essential... linear, and with all the praise this show has been getting... they knocked it out the park. I've already begun to watch season 1 over again... and didn't realize I missed certain things that connect the dots for me even more. One of my favorite shots was in episode 8 when they brought in that blurred shot and increased the focus as one of the members of hospitality polished a spoon in First-Class, it was very clean and the transition to her working showed me how much pride she took in her work (whether I like her or not is beside the point).

Here a little taste of uptrain in one of their fine dining restaurants.

Audio + Extras: The audio in Snowpiercer is Grade-A, it gave us the sounds in the environment (i.e. a wall of clinging bottles in 3rd class) + the on-going rumble of the train in the background without it overpowering everything else. The train's sound is very subtle and there is no need to make the rest of the audio compete. You still get the music and sound effects to add to the suspense + the sound of the train increasing when necessary... but I didn't find myself rewinding to find out what someone said due to a bad mix.

Extras include:

• Overview

• Class Warfar

• Jennifer & Daveed Behind-the-Scenes Interview

• The Train

• Behind the Curtain: Art of the Frozen World

This is how you do extras. That's what I'm talking about, extras don't break the bank but they definitely add to the package and give fans of the show a bit more to enjoy for buying the physical product. I even made peace with the opening of the show after finding out that this show has a novel, so they opened the show with that look to present them bringing it to life.

Price: Pricewise... Snowpiercer: The Complete First Season rolls in at $24.98 on DVD + $29.98 for Blu-Ray + Digital Copy. Now... this is what I'm talking about, price a show in a way that sells. $24.98 works for DVD & $29.98 is definitely the sweet spot for the show and its award-winning cast.

You can grab Snowpiercer: The Complete First Season here for $5 less than the SRP on DVD or Blu-Ray!

Overall, man... this is a damn good show. I would've liked to see them do more with Andre's detective skills... but the show kept me guessing, I had no idea where the tracks would lead but they're heading in the right direction from what I see. This is only the beginning. By the way, I knew I saw Daveed Diggs before... possibly in person at a Gala, but... definitely on Sesame Street (of all places). He's Mr. Noodle's brother... Mr. Noodle! 

By the way, the show is so popular TNT has renewed the show for a season 3 ahead of season 2's debut!

Story 5

Visuals 5

Audio + Extras 5

Price 5

5 out of 5 Cool Points

Support us below!

PS5 or Xbox X|S: Still unsure? Consider this!