Warning! The following contains spoilers for the Snowpiercer episode "Keep Hope Alive." Read at your own risk!
Chaos had overtaken the final minutes of Snowpiercer's latest episode, and as the train rushed to discover who was behind the murders of the Breachmen, one character made a stunning decision. Miss Audrey was set to return to Snowpiercer, and with nothing holding her back at the border, opted to stay with Mr. Wilford and not return to help Layton and the others with counter-intelligence on Big Alice. She also made that decision in full view of Ruth, making the act pretty blatant, but is her shocking betrayal all that it seems?
It's a question I found myself asking after seeing Audrey earlier on, seemingly terrified to come face to face with Mr. Wilford once again. Did something change, or was her experience not entirely what we thought? Another possibility is that Miss Audrey is playing the long game and appearing to get closer to Wilford in an effort to really hit back against the leader and gain Snowpiercer some breathing room. Is that what could be happening here?
To answer that question, I spoke to Miss Audrey actress Lena Hall about her character and finally asked the question I've been wondering as far back as Season 1. What exactly is this strange power Miss Audrey has on people, and how would she describe it? Hall gave a very thorough answer, which really got me thinking about how crucial she may become in the later stages of Season 2.
I think it's empathy and hypnotism all rolled into one. What she's able to do is use techniques that people use in hypnotism to really get people in a vulnerable and open space where they can actually explore parts of their mind they may have blocked off because it's too traumatic to go through again. Kind of blacking out those traumatic events. She's also able to use her empathy and her forms of being able to feel someone else's feelings. She's kind of a sponge of emotion. There's a lot of people out there in the world that will feel someone else's emotion and it'll affect them. I don't know if you've ever had that where someone's super angry and you're talking to them and you get really angry as well. You sponge in their emotion. Well, she's an ultra sponge. She can ultra sponge in these emotions, and she can actually help people move through them because she's feeling it at the same time they are. She can better help them feel the emotions and move through the emotions and get past them in order to feel. A lot of us we like to bottle up everything and anything trauma that happens we'll bottle it up and push it down and 'It didn't happen, it didn't happen' instead of facing it head on and acknowledging it and moving through the emotion. That's what she does best and that's how she's able to heal. It seems mystical, but it's based in actual things that people do like past life regressions.
Beyond the demystification of one of Snowpiercer's most mysterious characters, Lena Hall's talk about Miss Audrey revealed that she's a person very in touch with her own feelings. Snowpiercer has shown her interacting and getting into the minds of several characters in the series, and while Mr. Wilford has done the same, is he able to work his magic on someone like Audrey?
The point I'm trying to make is that someone so acutely aware of the human psyche and able to empathize would probably be harder to sway and subdue than most people. And yet, we don't see a ton of struggle from Miss Audrey, which has me wondering if she's slowly working her way closer to Wilford's side for a longer play down the stretch. Then again, if that were true, you'd think she'd give someone a heads up over on Snowpiercer, though it does add to the commitment of the bit.
Ruth certainly seemed concerned about Audrey not crossing back over to their side of the train, but the rest of the powers that be were too concerned about the murders of the Breachmen to take on anything else. That said, I'm sure they're going to wonder what went down soon, and whether or not Audrey staying on Big Alice will do the Snowpiercer more harm than good if she commits to the decision. Let's hope she changes her mind soon because I'm not sure I'm too fond of her chances of survival hanging with the unpredictable Wilford.
Snowpiercer airs on TNT Mondays at 9:00 p.m. ET. For more on the series, be sure to read up on some of our past interviews on Season 2, which include Daveed Diggs' thoughts on the return of Josie.
