Review: 'Snowpiercer - Season 2' Spins an Elegantly Unique Narrative

Full steam ahead! As audiences came to the climatic episodes of "Snowpiercer's" first season, Jennifer Connelly's Melanie Cavill found herself in a dangerous predicament when Daveed Diggs' revolutionary Andre Layton led a rebellion to restore a democracy among the last remnants of humanity that found themselves circling the planet on a speeding train while a frigid ice age rages globally. Rejoining this TNT original for its second season, the train has been slightly derailed – on purpose!

After integrating himself into the "upper-class" cars while investing a series of homicides aboard Snowpiercer, Layton (Diggs) made clear his intention to restore a working democracy aboard the speeding train. Melanie Cavill (Connelly) has been more determined than ever to tighten her grip on maintaining order aboard the vehicle, and has been convincing the intrepid travelers that she has been working under the orders of their benefactor, Mr. Wilford.

Even as a rebellion lead by Layton finally turns the tide to equalize power aboard the train, Snowpiercer is suddenly overtaken by another locomotive engine. Enter Big Alice! And a big reveal: Wilford (Sean Bean) has commandeered the tracks. With his far bigger, superior, and more intimidating engine now attached to Snowpiercer, Wilford demands total obedience. In complete control, he brings the trains to a full stop.

With Melanie coming face to face with her past, and now confronted with the egomaniacal whims and manipulations of Wilford, the stakes have never been greater. If she is unable to get this engine back on its track, the future survival of every man, woman and child aboard Snowpiercer will no longer matter – the race would be over. To ensure survival, alliances must be made with Layton and Cavill find themselves in unique positions of power, If they are to succeed, they'll have to work together against their common foe.

Darkly claustrophobic and set in a dystopian future none of us would like to see come to pass, "Snowpiercer" continues to prove an elegantly unique narrative spinning out of the best-selling graphic novel series and based on the film from Academy Award Winner Bong Joon-Ho ("Parasite"). The series capitalizes on its remarkable cast, bolstered this season with Sean Bean's addition as the dangerously duplicitous Mr. Wilford. Fans of "Game of Thrones" will be thrown for a loop.

"Snowpiercer" streams on TNT, with new episodes every Monday at 9:00 pm.