Bound By One Track
Episode 4 of Snowpiercer Season 3 starts with the train slowing thanks to a track blockage. Specifically, carriages from Big Alice. With Alex still haunted by the memory of Melanie, seeing her in the carriage alongside her, Alex tries to keep a level head and deal with this issue. These carriages have been anchored to the track. The only solution is to get in and out with some batteries to try and release the cars. Meanwhile, Wilford ends up drawing on the walls, trying to work out where the train is situated. When Snowpiercer comes to a grinding halt (to let Ben and Alex off), he chuckles as he realizes he knows exactly where they are. It’s two weeks away until they reach New Eden, and Layton has Asha speak to the others about what they can expect to find when they arrive. Pike shows up late to the party and he’s not happy. After so many deaths and what he perceives as Layton leaving them, he’s disillusioned with the whole gig. Getting dressed up, he waits for Ruth with a banana, which links back to an earlier promise they made to share one when they survived. Despite Ruth having a lot on her plate, with her shifts starting again, she eventually agrees to join him. As they sit together and eat, Pike is guarded over his past. He refuses to tell her who he was, but does flirt with her a little. She doesn’t object though, and eventually the pair wind up kissing. He believes Ruth should be leading the train but she’s quick to dispel that idea. Onboard the abandoned carriages in Big Alice, Ben questions Alex’s mental state, given what they find. There are numerous dead bodies in their bunks, with one among them a girl called Shilo. This happens to be Alex’s old childhood friend. These men and women were killed in the middle of the night to cull the crew and keep the others alive. These were sacrificed for “The Essentials”. Wilford actually snatched Alex up in the middle of the night, taking her away from this nighttime massacre. For Alex, she both hates and misses him, bringing up a confusing cocktail of emotion. While this is going on, Asha begins to suffer from horrific visions of the past. With blood-soaked walls and violence bouncing around in her head, Till catches up with her later on and takes the woman back to her quarters. Layton learns about Wilford’s prenatal gene therapy on Zarah and he’s livid. However, Mrs. Headwood encourages him to talk to his wife before making any assumptions. Once there, Layton learns that she did this willingly. She made a choice, deciding to give their daughter an advantage in the future. Zarah also gives Layton a choice too – get over it or carry around the rage he’s got. However, they’re both interrupted by problems plaguing Alex and Ben’s mission. One of the carriages is malfunctioning and the pair are struggling to release the mechanism. Layton believes the only way to solve this will be bringing Wilford in to talk the pair through via radio. Unfortunately, Roche shows up before Wilford first with a syringe and injects him right in the heart. After what he’s had to go through, this attack is the least Wilford deserves. However, there are bigger problems with the train right now and with Wilford’s life hanging in the balance, Layton decides to abandon the mission. Alex refuses though, leaning on Melanie’s vision to guide her and “see” the train carriage for how it once was. Following a distinct frost pattern across the carriage, Alex manages to find what she’s looking for and release the carriages from the tracks. With Wilford in critical condition, Alex and Ben had back aboard the Snowpiercer after a successful mission. The train is back on the move again, while the ghosts of the past continue to swirl and haunt our various passengers.
The Episode Review
Snowpiercer returns with a bottle episode this week, minus Wilford going into critical condition of course. The whole chapter essentially works to show the horrors Alex has had to endure and why she’s so conflicted when it comes to Wilford. Those conflicted feelings can also be applied to Pike as well, who’s becoming ever-more disillusioned with Layton’s ideas. This sets up a nice conflict between the group but beyond that there’s not a lot else going on this week. While the episode is never boring, it does feel a little stagnant and it feels like the plot to reach New Eden may well be stretched out across the whole season. However, the story sets things up nicely for a bigger conflict on the horizon but quite whether that will materialize into a more exciting season in the process, remains to be seen.
