'Snowpiercer' Episode 7 Review: Melanie Cavill's on the edge as the train hurtles towards disaster
Spoilers for 'Snowpiercer' Episode 7 'The Universe Is Indifferent'
Keeping a secret or staying loyal comes at a price. Sometimes the price is life and Josie Wellstead (Katie McGuinness) makes the ultimate sacrifice in a bid to save Layton (Daveed Diggs) and Miles (Jaylin Fletcher) in 'The Universe is Indifferent'. As the series inches to a close, it latches heavily onto the intrigue factor and builds it up one plotline at a time. By the end of the episode, the question still remains: Is Melanie Cavill (Jennifer Conelly) torn between right and wrong? How much longer before she goes over the edge? How much longer before the sharks smell blood?
The episode deals primarily with Melanie interrogating almost every person in connection with Layton's escape. Terrence goes first but is unable to help. Zarah Ferami (Sheila Vand) is the one to give Josie up, but not before she's forced to choose between the unborn child she's carrying or give up Layton's whereabouts. This may have saved the life of the two most important people she may care about, but it snuffed out an integral character. Parallelly, there's a storyline of Ruth Wardell (Alison Wright) offered a chance to be the next voice of the train.
With the first-class passengers growing frustrated and losing faith in Melanie, the attention shifts to Ruth. The Folgers makes her an offer, but Melanie is too adamant to force the truth out of Josie. She snaps at Ruth without paying attention. While that's a tale to be saved for later, this marks the start of Melanie's downfall. Miles gets fast-tracked to the engineer section and that might be one of the key storylines that is sure to spill on to Season 2.
The other highlight of 'The Universe Is Indifferent' is Bess Till (Mickey Sumner). With Josie in her last minutes telling her that Bess was "one among them", it added a new layer to the brakeman's character who has been at war within herself since the start of the season. From this, it is safe to assume Bess is in support of the tailies and Layton and this might be one more obstacle Melanie has coming her way. But again, it is still hard to put Melanie in the bad person's throne.
But time's running out. With the mounting pressure to shut down Layton and safeguard her position in the train, Melanie will have to choose a side. Except, she's made enemies of both the tailies and the first-class. Only time will tell before Ruth displaces her and the consequences will surely not be a pretty picture. For now, Layton's weaponizing his secret and after the news of Josie's death, he's out for revenge. 'Snowpiercer' continues to impress. The episode does a fairly good job of playing the cards close to its chest, leaving less room for speculation.
Unpredictability makes this episode worth the watch.
'Snowpiercer' airs Sundays 9 pm ET on TNT.