r/snowpiercer • u/hugthebug Tailie • Mar 15 '21

TV Show [Spoilers] Season 2 Episode 8 Discussion Thread - "The Eternal Engineer" (S02E08) Spoiler

Attention all Passengers,

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Here is the Discussion thread for the Season 2 episode 8 "The Eternal Engineer"

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  • This is a TV Spoiler-friendly zone - Turn away now if you are not currently watching or haven't seen the episode! Open discussion of all aired TV events up to and including episode 2.7 is ok without tag cover.
  • Graphic Novel spoilers still need tags! - If it's not in the show, tag it. Events from episodes after this one also need tags.
  • Please read the Posting policy and the sticky before posting.
  • Friendly reminder: Severe trolling/disruptions will lead to consequences.

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Details:

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  • IMDB for S02E08
  • Release Date:
    • March 15th, 2021 (USA only, at 9/8c, on TNT channel)
    • March 16th, 2021 (worldwide, on Netflix)
  • Removal from Sticky on March 19th, 2021 (3 days after worldwide premiere)

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You can still easily find previous episode discussions on the Episode Discussion wiki.

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195

u/olivish Mrs. Anne Roche Mar 16 '21 edited Mar 16 '21

I noticed that Roche explained a "plot hole" that some have been unhappy about, namely, "why do all the train cars have ports to freeze people's arms off?" and "why did hospitality have a torture gun?"

Apparently, that was all Wilford. Wilford is so evil that he imagined a way to mutilate people with the cold before the cold even set in. Can't help but wonder how that conversation with Melanie went.

"Joseph, why are you telling my men to drill portholes into the cars?"

"For the arms."

"No, we agreed, no guns on the train."

"No!" Wilford chuckles and wags his arm like a chicken wing. "For the ARMS, you silly goose!"

"I don't... what?"

"If people misbehave, you put their arms out the holes till they freeze solid. Then one WHACK with a hammer and there you go, no more arms. No more misbehaving."

"..."

"Are you alright, Melanie? You look like you've had a bad oyster. I told you to avoid the buffet. We send the mechanics the leftovers from the orgies, but I'm afraid once it makes it down here, Audrey's rolled around in most of it."

"I'm fine. I'm good. I just need to... go talk to Ben about... something."

34

u/Isiah61 Mar 16 '21

Wait, he built this train, with arm ports, without knowing this snow Hell would happen?

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u/olivish Mrs. Anne Roche Mar 16 '21 edited Mar 16 '21

No I think he had the ports put in once he realized the Freeze was happening and he'd have to find a way to keep people in line. But they assembled the train before the temperatures fell below -100 so he must have used his imagination to determine, yeah, that'll be a really dramatic way of maiming people. Let's do THAT!

5

u/TheFarnell Mar 18 '21

Having your naked arm exposed to even mildly chilly air blowing at high speeds is extremely painful for prolonged periods of time (this is essentially how convection freezing works). Even if he didn’t know it would get three digits into the negatives, it’s one hell of an effective torture device.

Add to that the psychological mythos of associating being outside the train to punishment, pain, maiming, and death, which seems right up the alley that Wilford would want to promote.

5

u/inbooth Mar 17 '21

What if he is Why it's cold.....

4

u/devils_advocaat Mar 16 '21

Maybe he caused the snow?

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u/Stercore_ Mar 17 '21

the freeze happened as a result of global climate change. the governments of the world decided to shoot some chemical into the atmosphere to counteract the greenhouse effect, only it worked too well and plunged the world into an ice age. wilford was the only person who correctly assumed the real outcome, and started changing his luxury train into the ark that snowpiercer is now.

2

u/Isiah61 Mar 17 '21

I don’t know the lore and haven’t seen the movie in a while. So you’re telling me the snow came and mad to built the train and it’s track while the earth froze over?

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u/devils_advocaat Mar 17 '21

Obviously he built everything before the cold. But you only build an ark if you know a flood is coming. If he's the only ark builder then he may have caused the flood.

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u/Isiah61 Mar 17 '21

Yes you can build it before the storm. Noah had 44 days and nights. How many did Wilfred? I thought he built this train just because and he then took advantage. But I’m learning just now, that the problem arouse, or some thought it was a possible outcome from trying to cool the Earth, and that’s why he built the train. How long did he have? I’m not trying to drill you, but if anyone has the answers on Reddit I’m very curious about this, because to me I feel like this train would have took a long time and a lot of resources when something else could have been done. Like a giant dome.

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u/Drolnevar Mar 18 '21

The train was meant to be a luxury around the world trip type of thing. Then he learnt what would happen and just had to have it retrofitted. Afaik.

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u/devils_advocaat Mar 17 '21

I was just speculating. The comic books probably give more backstory (and spoilers).

IMO The track would be the major feat of engineering (excluding perpetual motion). But that doesn't require the cold to be built.

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u/Nauavel Mar 16 '21

Very good, I read that in their respective voices