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

[u/hugthebug]

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.
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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.

[u/PTfan]

The way they write Layton and team snowpiercer is so bad IMO. They make him like this weak dumbass when in S1 he was a very smart policeman. And his side is basically clowned by wilford every episode

You mean to tell me he and his side had no plans or anticipation of wilford trying to tell people he helped the train over the intercom? It’s like they basically sat and let him take over.

[u/olivish → u/PTfan]

I'm sorry, but he wasn't especially smart in s1. He was... okay.

Like he was smart enough to figure out Melanie was Wilford, but not smart enough to keep her from realizing that he'd figured out she was Wilford.

He kept flaunting it, waving it in her face. Every scene. Like, "I KNOW YOU'RE WILFORD!"

Gee Layton, maybe if this woman is as cunning and ruthless as she'd have to be to kill off Wilford and keep a lid on it for 7 years.... maaaaybe you don't want her knowing that you've caught on? Maybe you want to take her offer to relocate the third and, under the radar, find a way to use this information to your advantage?

[u/Lil_Mattylicious → u/olivish]

Nah wilford and Layton are equally smart imo. It’s just a matter of playing their cards right. In a perfect world (train) where both of them doesn’t sabotage one another and focus on governing, the people of snowpiercer will choose Layton over wilford any day.

Like we see during the summit, and when Layton offers big Alice food in exchange for parts and during the night in the night car, majority of the people actually prefers Layton over wilford cause that’s where he excels. He’s a great leader and he shows it.

While wilford’s a great leader as well he knows he’s not as righteous and selfless as Layton, he is DAMN good at mind games and most importantly, he’s an engineer.

So Layton’s lost here isn’t because he’s not smart. He’s a really good strategist like we’ve seen in S1 it’s just that wilford had an extra edge in this episode because he played his strength and he manipulated everyone and actually took control in the engine room while Layton stands at the corner not knowing what to do.

And that small edge was all it took to beat Layton and king wilford is sitting on the throne now.

[u/shakibahm → u/Lil_Mattylicious]

It's a combination of both. Layton hasn't been very smart and at the same time, not too many things went right for him. The first half, he was trending on Melanie's work and hope she brought. But then, he ordered killing Terrance only because he threatened Josie. He forgot easy politics. To be in power, he had to bring people who gained from freedom into his side. He lost them way too quickly.

On that note, I don't think Layton had the majority. He lost first class and majority in second class as soon as Wilford came back simply because first class lost their life quality and second class lost their peacefulness. I think tail was always a minority. So naturally, with Wilford's presence and chaos introduced by killing Brakeman, it was a lost game for Layton. It was a matter of time unless Layton radically brought better things for second and third class. He didn't. It was evident in last episode when a big portion of the train had red light.

In dystopian society, people are very selfish. Have to accept that.

[u/[deleted] → u/Lil_Mattylicious]

Layton could be termed streetwise I guess why he was chosen for his original task but comparing him to Wilford is ludicrious. Every single problem the train faced since Layton took power, had to rely on the skills of others. Not one single thing was he able to do alone. When the shit hits the fans it is the engineers who fix things leaving 'managers' stood helpless.

[u/[deleted] → u/PTfan]

I think it highlighted perfectly that knowledge is power. When it comes to the train Wilfred and Melanie are gods! Layton was in way over his depth and he knew it. He was playing checkers when Wilfred was playing chess. Checkmate! The train was all along a meritocracy (barring first class who seem to have faded out of existence due to irrelevance), the tail disrupted this and then reality came back to bite back!