Warning: SPOILERS for Snowpiercer Season 2, Episode 2 - "Smolder to Life"
Snowpiercer season 2 references an infamous bathtub moment in The Godfather Part II, but pushes it to even creepier levels than the acclaimed Francis Ford Coppola-directed sequel. In Snowpiercer season 2, episode 2, "Smolder to Life", Mr. Wilford (Sean Bean) accepted an invitation to a summit aboard Snowpiercer from Andre Layton (Daveed Diggs) and Melanie Cavill (Jennifer Connelly), where Wilford initially planned to have Alexandra Cavill (Rowan Blanchard) assassinate Layton. Wilford foreshadowed his plot with the strange and bloody way he disposed of Kevin McMann (Tom Lipinski).
Kevin's demise harkened back to how Frank Pentangeli (Michael V. Gazzo) took his own life in a bathtub in The Godfather Part II. Frankie Five Angels was a caporegime in the mafia controlled by Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), but he felt slighted by his Godfather, who was now based in Lake Tahoe, for not helping Pentangeli against rival mobs back in New York. Frankie survived an assassination attempt by the Rosato Brothers and, believing Michael betrayed him, Pentangeli turned state's evidence as the star witness implicating Michael Corleone. However, Michael flew in Frank's older brother Vincenzo (Salvatore Po) from Sicily and, when Frankie saw Vincenzo at the senate hearing, he immediately recanted and claimed he knew nothing of Michael Corleone's illegal activities. Visited in prison by Tom Hagan (Robert Duvall), Frankie agreed to commit honorable suicide "like the Romans" in exchange for his family being protected by the Corleones. Frankie Five Angels drew a bath, slit his wrists, and bled to death.
In Snowpiercer, Mr. Wilford practices a similar bathtub ritual to Frankie Five Angels' in The Godfather Part II, but Wilford's method is even more disturbing. After Snowpiercer and Big Alice's prisoner exchange of Melanie Cavill for Kevin McMann, the billionaire Messiah welcomed Kevin to his private quarters. Wilford even drew Kevin a bath, banished Alex to Big Alice's cockpit, and invited his Head of Hospitality to strip down and get into the tub. Wilford then also disrobed and joined Kevin but his goal was to intimately interrogate McMann about what he told Layton when he was a prisoner on Snowpiercer. The terrified Kevin confessed that he ate buffalo wings that Layton offered him, which told Snowpiercer that the people on Big Alice are starved for fresh food. Mr. Wilford then produced a straight razor and ordered Kevin to slit his wrists - which a tearful McMahon did, and he bled into the bathwater he and Mr. Wilford shared.
During Layton and Roche's (Mike O'Malley) interrogation, Kevin defiantly announced that he "adores", not fears, Mr. Wilford. Certainly, Kevin proved his devotion to his employer and spiritual leader when Mr. Wilford put that loyalty to the test and asked him to open up his veins. It speaks to the power that Mr. Wilford holds over his followers, not just on Big Alice, but also aboard Snowpiercer. Layton is well-aware that the fact that Wilford is alive has galvanized his devotees on Snowpiercer and the pro-Wilford pockets of loyalists are breaking Layton's democracy in its infancy, including through violence against people from the Tail Section.
Of course, it's hard to believe Mr. Wilford invites everyone who betrays him into his private bathtub. He didn't extend an offer to Melanie when she was his prisoner, for example, not that Cavill would have accepted. Then again, it's unlikely anyone on Big Alice has acted against Wilford's orders or interests before, so Kevin may have been the first victim of Mr. Wilford's disturbing method of capital punishment. Mr. Wilford is certainly charming and eccentric, but he has now also proven to have a kinky side that makes him an even more compelling and provocative villain. Whether or not Mr. Wilford got the idea of making people slit their wrists in a bathtub from The Godfather Part II isn't known - though he is a David Bowie fan who is fond of a good soak in his tub - but Snowpiercer's Messiah figure made Frank Pentangeli's Roman suicide ritual even more chilling.