Is it good timing that Netflix had ordered a series about human life almost coming to an end, with earth freezing over and the last surviving people circling the globe in a train? Well it must be, because season two of this apocalyptic drama has just dropped.
This sci-fi series has a long history – originating as a French graphic novel, then adapted into a 2013 film directed by Parasite’s Bong Joon-ho, it’s now made its way onto Netflix where we explore the dark dystopian premise at a slower pace. Well, with the train doing continuous laps of the earth, there’s no rush is there?
This locomotive is like a Great Western Railway taken to the extreme – the upper class, rich and wealthy are in the front carriages, the middle classes in the middle, and the underprivileged at the back. It’s a bit like the film High-Rise, but here we’ve switched a tower block for a National Rail nightmare.
It is riddled with commentary on class, wealth distribution and greed, as the back of the train attempts to infiltrate the front. But there’s also bucket loads of soapy drama, ticking all the trashy boxes by adding in a love-interest and some gory fight scenes. Plus, season two ups the anti with a rival rail, called Big Alice. In terms of trash TV, what more could you want?
Sonia Saraiya in Vanity Fair thinks Snowpiercer is a “soapy, ambitious sci-fi… that takes big swings and follows through, engaging with not just class struggle but also leadership, loyalty, compromise, and coalition.” Whilst in The Telegraph Catherine Gee says “the series is a stylish and refreshing take on a detective drama.”
The Guardian’s Lucy Mangan says “In short, it’s perfect. Sit back, relax and take in the trash.” It seems she’ll be pleased with the news of a season two, with the Independent’s Ed Cumming saying “anyone who has stuck with it this far will relish the details of the train’s operation and its inhabitants.”
We actually rate this as a bit of a hoot, probably not top of your list if you haven’t seen some of our other recommendations, but a kind of extreme edition of Murder on the Orient Express, and who doesn’t love that?
First shown May 2020. You can watch the trailer by pressing play on the show image, or by clicking here.
