Snowpiercer - Season 2 Episode 1 - Reaction Post
I didn't previously know that the tailies had actually invaded the train. I assumed they had been brought on board as servants etc.
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Text that's underlined is where I couldn't work out what they were saying. Melanie's terrible for that.
Ah, so Layton used to be a Homicide Detective, he was brought forward to solve a murder.
7:10 Who's the guy on the radio to Melanie? Ben? Looks a bit familiar.
14:00 Melanie walks into Mr Wilford's carriage and OH walks into the room just as we hear - I think - a small chuckle from Sean Bean. So I hit pause because I want to enjoy the moment in peace!
Yet another thing I didn't notice the first and second time through - and I wouldn't have done on the third viewing if it weren't for a couple of people mentioning it on twitter - is that Mr Wilford has a display cabinet with 3 or 4 swords in.
Hitting Play ten impatient minutes later:
14:13 Wilford says "I was half hoping she'd [the dog] would eat you", and Melanie says "Wow, your train has dimmers". It took half a dozen replays to get that, she is so difficult to understand sometimes.Tbf it's not exactly what you'd expect to be the first thing she wants to say to him.
15:05 God, he's got leather slippers on with no socks. And old man's ankles, oh Sean I didn't need to see that. *flashes back defensively to Sharpe taking off his trousers in Sharpe's Enemy prior to getting into bed with Teresa. Very nice legs.*
15:35 "I like a good swashbuckler, don't you?" omg what a line from one of the best swashbucklers ever.
16:45 "Actually, East all rander until very recently."
17:05 "She's not mine to surrender". Wow, the look of pain on Wilford's face as he takes that in and says "Then whose is she?"
18:30 "Their society is a shambles up there, but exackersursee". I can't even pick out the same syllables each time to write it out phonetically and I've listened 6 times so far.
18:35 Damn, Sean, belly.
18:45 "They were ard (out of?) morphine and I didn't see any jackboots (Really?)
Christ, I hope I get used to the way they talk, this is going to take sodding 3 hours per episode at this rate.
23:35 WTF is going on in that side room? Looks like she's chopping up limbs into joints of meat???
24:55 "Don't get immediately, we're just ask some questions" This is really tiring.
25:25 "Never tur woss er ive
31:45 "One QP Amazing Alice". Nope, not a clue what's in that bag he's just handed over in exchange for fruit. [Later worked out it was weed, but I have no idea what "QP Amazing Alice" actually means.]
33:00 Aaand, we do get to see Mr Wilford in the bath lol. Nicely muscled arms and shoulders but definitely a belly. Get a glimpse of both his tattoos, both obscured but not covered up.
36:15 Blimey, the tailies are storming Big Alice and I'm worried for Mr Wilford, naked in the bath. I'm guessing he's prepared, though give he doesn't even know what tailies are, maybe not. Ah, right, Mr Wilford is in the very last carriage, dining with Melanie. 39 carriages between him and the action.
37:10 He's got an official taster. Just thought, when makers of a show go on and on about something it's very often a failure. For this show, they keep going on and on about Mr Wilford's luxurious lifestyle and his wonderful outfits, but none of that is actually very exciting or capable of carrying the plot forward. Let's hope they've actually got some plot and character lined up too. [ETA I saw a written interview with Sean where he said he joined early enough to have some input to the S2 scripts to improve things. It's odd - in tv/zoom interviews he comes over like he wouldn't say boo to a goose, but here he is quite matter-of-factly talking about having power and using it.]
37:30 Wilford talks about the beer and then Melanie says "A many tay ee ar perus". She is the most difficult person to understand.
37:45 "Send in Bob!" "Icy Bob or Wheely Bob?" "Who do you think?" with full Sheffield. Lovely.
43:45 I didn't notice this first time through - when they're stopped and he's ordering Alex to disconnect Snowpiercer, he glances through the window and sees the snow falling. He does a very subtle double take just after he says "Come on now. Alex. It's all right," then the camera focuses outside for a second while Alex and Melanie are staring at each other and possibly don't notice. So it looks like he actually has that information before Melanie and Layton do.
44:10 Not sure what happened there. Alex flicked the switches to disconnect the trains and there was an explosion somewhere down the line. And now the two trains are apparently permanently connected.
"She got yah dubs" - Is she calling him Dubs? Why? Mr Wilford is definitely looking worried now. I still think the makers are celebrating form (his riches and clothes) over function (what he's actually planning to achieve) right now. Not a single sign yet of what his plan is or even that he has one beyond making demands.
44:50 Mr Wilford is out of focus in the foreground and suddenly in the blur of nose and eye socket I can see Neil Byrne.
All the reviews talk about Sean chewing the scenery, bravura performance and all that, but what I'm seeing is a supremely confident rich man being natural. And a bit undermined suddenly.
I just went back to look at the opening credits because I don't remember seeing Sean Bean's name there. It is, but the credits start with Jennifer Connelly and Daveed Diggs, then loads of other randoms and then finally "and Sean Bean" right at the end, which seems incredibly disrespectful. But I vaguely remember reading something about that, and managed to find that "Usually, big name actors prefer to be the first in order, but if they cannot get that, they want to be named last, because it's more prominent and people remember." So if he went at the top, he wouldn't automatically be above Connelly and Diggs, because they're both (apparently) as big names as he is, and they were the stars last season. Presumably he wouldn't want to appear third on the list after them, so he - or his agent - has gone for last. "Last billing usually designates a smaller role played by a famous name."
And now I'm looking at a photo of 25-year-old Sean Bean in his very first television part (one year out of RADA, I think), while also watching present-day Sean Bean - a man of great status and history - taking part in a Zoom call to promote the new season of Snowpiercer. Surreal. That boy, well, young man, in the photo probably had no idea whether he would ever get another part in anything at all. But with a walk like that and legs like that - in white jeans and boots! - I bet he got quite a lot of interest.
~ ~ ~
Text that's underlined is where I couldn't work out what they were saying. Melanie's terrible for that.
Ah, so Layton used to be a Homicide Detective, he was brought forward to solve a murder.
7:10 Who's the guy on the radio to Melanie? Ben? Looks a bit familiar.
14:00 Melanie walks into Mr Wilford's carriage and OH walks into the room just as we hear - I think - a small chuckle from Sean Bean. So I hit pause because I want to enjoy the moment in peace!
Yet another thing I didn't notice the first and second time through - and I wouldn't have done on the third viewing if it weren't for a couple of people mentioning it on twitter - is that Mr Wilford has a display cabinet with 3 or 4 swords in.
Hitting Play ten impatient minutes later:
14:13 Wilford says "I was half hoping she'd [the dog] would eat you", and Melanie says "Wow, your train has dimmers". It took half a dozen replays to get that, she is so difficult to understand sometimes.Tbf it's not exactly what you'd expect to be the first thing she wants to say to him.
15:05 God, he's got leather slippers on with no socks. And old man's ankles, oh Sean I didn't need to see that. *flashes back defensively to Sharpe taking off his trousers in Sharpe's Enemy prior to getting into bed with Teresa. Very nice legs.*
15:35 "I like a good swashbuckler, don't you?" omg what a line from one of the best swashbucklers ever.
16:45 "Actually, East all rander until very recently."
17:05 "She's not mine to surrender". Wow, the look of pain on Wilford's face as he takes that in and says "Then whose is she?"
18:30 "Their society is a shambles up there, but exackersursee". I can't even pick out the same syllables each time to write it out phonetically and I've listened 6 times so far.
18:35 Damn, Sean, belly.
18:45 "They were ard (out of?) morphine and I didn't see any jackboots (Really?)
Christ, I hope I get used to the way they talk, this is going to take sodding 3 hours per episode at this rate.
23:35 WTF is going on in that side room? Looks like she's chopping up limbs into joints of meat???
24:55 "Don't get immediately, we're just ask some questions" This is really tiring.
25:25 "Never tur woss er ive
31:45 "One QP Amazing Alice". Nope, not a clue what's in that bag he's just handed over in exchange for fruit. [Later worked out it was weed, but I have no idea what "QP Amazing Alice" actually means.]
33:00 Aaand, we do get to see Mr Wilford in the bath lol. Nicely muscled arms and shoulders but definitely a belly. Get a glimpse of both his tattoos, both obscured but not covered up.
36:15 Blimey, the tailies are storming Big Alice and I'm worried for Mr Wilford, naked in the bath. I'm guessing he's prepared, though give he doesn't even know what tailies are, maybe not. Ah, right, Mr Wilford is in the very last carriage, dining with Melanie. 39 carriages between him and the action.
37:10 He's got an official taster. Just thought, when makers of a show go on and on about something it's very often a failure. For this show, they keep going on and on about Mr Wilford's luxurious lifestyle and his wonderful outfits, but none of that is actually very exciting or capable of carrying the plot forward. Let's hope they've actually got some plot and character lined up too. [ETA I saw a written interview with Sean where he said he joined early enough to have some input to the S2 scripts to improve things. It's odd - in tv/zoom interviews he comes over like he wouldn't say boo to a goose, but here he is quite matter-of-factly talking about having power and using it.]
37:30 Wilford talks about the beer and then Melanie says "A many tay ee ar perus". She is the most difficult person to understand.
37:45 "Send in Bob!" "Icy Bob or Wheely Bob?" "Who do you think?" with full Sheffield. Lovely.
43:45 I didn't notice this first time through - when they're stopped and he's ordering Alex to disconnect Snowpiercer, he glances through the window and sees the snow falling. He does a very subtle double take just after he says "Come on now. Alex. It's all right," then the camera focuses outside for a second while Alex and Melanie are staring at each other and possibly don't notice. So it looks like he actually has that information before Melanie and Layton do.
44:10 Not sure what happened there. Alex flicked the switches to disconnect the trains and there was an explosion somewhere down the line. And now the two trains are apparently permanently connected.
"She got yah dubs" - Is she calling him Dubs? Why? Mr Wilford is definitely looking worried now. I still think the makers are celebrating form (his riches and clothes) over function (what he's actually planning to achieve) right now. Not a single sign yet of what his plan is or even that he has one beyond making demands.
44:50 Mr Wilford is out of focus in the foreground and suddenly in the blur of nose and eye socket I can see Neil Byrne.
All the reviews talk about Sean chewing the scenery, bravura performance and all that, but what I'm seeing is a supremely confident rich man being natural. And a bit undermined suddenly.
I just went back to look at the opening credits because I don't remember seeing Sean Bean's name there. It is, but the credits start with Jennifer Connelly and Daveed Diggs, then loads of other randoms and then finally "and Sean Bean" right at the end, which seems incredibly disrespectful. But I vaguely remember reading something about that, and managed to find that "Usually, big name actors prefer to be the first in order, but if they cannot get that, they want to be named last, because it's more prominent and people remember." So if he went at the top, he wouldn't automatically be above Connelly and Diggs, because they're both (apparently) as big names as he is, and they were the stars last season. Presumably he wouldn't want to appear third on the list after them, so he - or his agent - has gone for last. "Last billing usually designates a smaller role played by a famous name."
And now I'm looking at a photo of 25-year-old Sean Bean in his very first television part (one year out of RADA, I think), while also watching present-day Sean Bean - a man of great status and history - taking part in a Zoom call to promote the new season of Snowpiercer. Surreal. That boy, well, young man, in the photo probably had no idea whether he would ever get another part in anything at all. But with a walk like that and legs like that - in white jeans and boots! - I bet he got quite a lot of interest.