Snowpiercer Season 1 Episode 8 recap: These Are His Revolutions

Snowpiercer Episode 8 sees the train finally go to war.

Melanie Cavill has constructed a fantasy for the passengers of Snowpiercer—a fantasy built on a lie that is going to come crashing down around her.

As we march towards the end of the first season, the pieces of the puzzle that is the eternal engine and train fall into place, to reveal a very disturbing picture.

Snowpiercer Episode 8: Mutiny in First

Andre Layton may be grieving over the loss of his partner, Josie, in the previous episode of Snowpiercer but that doesn’t mean his head isn’t in the game—revolution for the Tail.

He’s enlisted the most unlikely of allies—LJ Folger, the privileged young murderer who will do anything for excitement and power.

Miles brings LJ to the engine room to see for herself that Wilford no longer exists—never one to listen to orders, she hovers near engineer Javi to confirm that he isn’t Wilford and then barges into Cavill’s room to confirm. In the process, she steals a picture of Cavill’s late daughter for her own nefarious uses later.

With LJ’s confirmation, her parents and Commander Grey inform Ruth that Cavill has been lying—they insist that Cavill be brought before the passengers in First to answer for her lies.

Cavill has no idea the ambush she is walking into when her presence is requested at First—Grey and the Folgers accuse her of lying and insist that they see the engine and Mr. Wilford for themselves.

Grey also puts Cavill under arrest when she tries to fight back—the picture of her daughter that LJ uses against her only makes her look more guilty. Cavill doesn’t have nearly as much control as she’s led herself to believe.

The Truth About Wilford

Unbeknownst to Bennett and Javi, Miles is well aware that the First are going to come to the engine room demanding answers—this is all part of Layton’s plan for the Snowpiercer revolution.

When Grey and his armed men come knocking, Javi panics—he wants the truth out there, and he doesn’t have the security of being Cavill’s partner. He lets Grey in but Bennett manages to seal off the engine room.

Javi caves immediately—turns out Wilford has been dead since departure. He has had nothing to do with the running of the train.

Ruth is devastated—she’s been betrayed by her closest confidante, but more than that, she has lost the one hope she had been clinging on to this entire time. Though Ruth tells Grey that she is concerned that the passengers will have no one to believe in, it feels like she’s the one who needed Wilford far more than the privileged people of First.

This betrayal from Cavill doesn’t sit well with Ruth and she wants revenge—she can’t seem to see that the only reason why anybody is alive on Snowpiercer is because Cavill has been working non-stop to ensure that.

Nor does she accept that the atrocities that have been committed—often by Ruth on Cavill’s orders because she’s too cowardly to do it herself—were all Cavill’s doing and not the will of some unseen god-like creator. Is she afraid of her own complicity in these crimes?

Ruth is so concerned with her own beliefs and loss that when she finally confronts Cavill about her lies, she doesn’t actually listen to what Cavill has to say.

The eternal engine was built by Cavill—Wilford was merely the face of the company and the one who sold tickets. He didn’t even believe that the train would keep people alive—his plan had been to come aboard and spend his last days in debauchery.

In other words, Wilford would have destroyed the train and killed everyone in a year. Cavill did what she had to—she left him by the tracks to die while she took Snowpiercer and its passengers on its everlasting journey.

But all this falls on deaf ears—Ruth doesn’t care about the truth; she only wants revenge. And she plans to get it any way she can.

One Tail, One Train

Cavill’s downfall is the first step in Layton’s plan to win back the Snowpiercer. All across the train, the Tail have planted their people for maximum impact.

Dr Klimpt—a recent addition to the revolution—and Lights (Miranda Edwards) work through the morgue car with plans to take over Third. That doesn’t work out because Brakeman Osweiller has been to the Tail enough times to recognize Lights.

With Brakeman Bess Till by his side—after she’s warned her girlfriend, Jinju, to stay away from Third—Layton heads back to the Tail, who are elated to see him.

They prepare for their biggest revolution yet, armed with weapons and words, and Layton promises them that by the end of this they won’t be ‘One Tail’, but ‘One Train’.

The Brakemen in Third may not have heard this chant but they feel its power—their job is to stop the Tail from getting further but Layton and Till’s confirmation about Wilford’s absence seals the deal. Also, there are only 400 Brakemen and thousands of Tailies—they’re not going to win this fight, so they step aside. Point one to Layton.

The Last Australian (Aaron Glenane) joins Miss Audrey to free the Tailies trapped in the drawers. Whatever Klimpt has been trying to do with the drawers clearly isn’t working because Strong Boy wakes up speaking Mandarin—he couldn’t speak at all before and definitely doesn’t know Mandarin. What is going on here?

They also manage to free Z-Wreck, whose condition is yet to be confirmed. The third detainee—Pike—is missing from the drawer.

Despite all the planning, Grey has managed to get Pike out for dirt on Layton and the revolution. Bribed with a chocolate cake, Pike spills immediately—Layton is a good man and he abhors bloodshed. The revolution has already been bloody—so many deaths on all sides and that was just in the Night Car.

Pike suggests that the best way to win is to push Layton to breaking point—the more losses he racks up, the worse he’ll fare. Grey already has a plan in motion for this.

Final Thoughts on Snowpiercer Episode 8

This first season of Snowpiercer has had a number of ups and downs but this episode was its best yet. Action, drama, and suspense all rolled into one to make for an exciting installment that brings together various plot points and sets up the two final episodes of the show.

What did you think of Snowpiercer Episode 8? Is Pike on Layton’s side or is he betraying the Tail? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. 

Snowpiercer is currently airing weekly episodes on TNT and Netflix.