Snowpiercer Season 3 Episode 9 Review: A Beacon For Us All
Diana Keng
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As the penultimate offering of the season, Snowpiercer Season 3 Episode 9 stands out as it doesn't stir the pot as much as it upends the whole damn table.
And talk about plumbing the extremes of emotion.
From Melanie's dramatic return from near-death to her even more dramatic overthrow of the New Eden dream, we prepare for a helluva finale as we sit at the brink of decision on Snowpiercer, one thousand and twenty-nine cars long.
It's always exciting when Snowpiercer reveals a new feature.
The genius of making the train over a thousand cars long is that there are untold resources we have never even glimpsed.
I mean, who imagined that there would be a carnival car before Car 272 was unveiled on Snowpiercer Season 2 Episode 9?
So it really shouldn't be a surprise that they have a crane lift INSIDE the train that can then swing an entire maintenance vehicle into another train car.
It's also neat to realize the fishbowl lookout is useful for something besides witnessing the effects of EMP weapons and reading by daylight.
Melanie's use of intermittent suspension to survive without food for over half a year is simultaneously horrifying and inspiring.
Keeping in mind that everyone who has survived the Drawers has been traumatized by the experience, the mere thought of purposely putting yourself into that waking death for a week only to do it again and again for months is brutal.
It's brilliant! She saved herself through suspension, her own last resort.
Wilford
And this is after she spent all those months in the climate research station in isolation, eating rats and hallucinating.
It's a grade-A survivor's tale, told in two parts.
Ben: How'd you endure it?
Melanie: Well, I'm super stubborn. Plus, I knew you'd find me.
Many fans have lamented Melanie's absence from the train this season and her appearance as a "ghost," as it were on Snowpiercer Season 3 Episode 4 -- appearing to Alex and Wilford as an advisor and sounding board, respectively -- only served to whet their appetite for her actual return.
Given only one hour to reintegrate her into the train and launch her into the conflict, her reunions with loved ones are a rapidly accomplished laundry list.
Alex is there when she wakes up, and after all their separations and estrangements and misunderstandings, it's gratifying that mother and daughter finally connect emotionally.
Alex: Can I tell you something? I kept you alive. In my head. I imagined what you would say, what you would think.
Melanie: You were with me too. All the time.
It's only fitting that the subsequent reconnection is Ben.
After all, Ben's been living his life for Melanie's dream and data since she disappeared.
As actor Iddo Goldberg told TV Fanatic at the season's start, Ben's always got Melanie in his head. Interestingly, this is also the first and only time in the series that Ben has had the opening voiceover.
For a single moment at that hospital bed, there's a glimpse of a happily ever after for this trio of engineers.
Their love for each other is evident, and Melanie's still in such a daze from the suspension drugs that her brain hasn't kicked in yet.
These two are her emotional anchors, but Melanie is a creature of intense intellect, so it's not that hard to believe she chooses to betray them by (figuratively) derailing the New Eden plan.
Positive thinking's great, just not if it replaces critical thinking.
Melanie
What is a little hard to believe is that she recovers from months of suspension drugs, malnutrition, and dehydration in less than a week to the extent that she's able to work out "the math."
But before the conflict of faith and facts begins, we have another idyllic reunion in the engine.
While Javi gets the hug, and Alex, Layton, and Ben are standing nearby, we understand this is a reunion between Melanie and the engine itself.
Before the warming data, before Big Alice, before Layton, before even The Freeze, Melanie had Snowpiercer.
Her belief in the engine and its train broke her from her mentor, parted her from her child, and enslaved her to a deception, yet it has never wavered.
And looking at it that way, it occurs to me that the risk that she isn't willing to take isn't the lives of the passengers; it's the well-being of Snowpiercer.
In her mind, preserving the train is the same as saving humanity.
Javi: I can't believe Ben lied to me.
Melanie: It's not about the lie, Javi. The data and the facts on the ground don't justify the risk.
Javi: Um, okay. It is about the lie. But, anyway, you threw down the chaos, and it's working.
She carries out her decision to blow up Layton's plan with deliberation and calm.
And, once again -- like when she stole the train in Chicago-- she sacrifices the relationships in her life to do what she believes is right.
Melanie: I know you're upset. Ben, the turn is coming, I had to do it.
Ben: No, but you did. Unilaterally. I almost forgot that's your move.
Melanie: it is our job to keep these people safe, Ben.
Ben: You betrayed me. And you killed our hope.
Melanie: I'm sorry.
Ben: Goodbye, Mel.
I'm not absolutely sure she was ready to lose Ben. Maybe she thought he'd have her back?
Meanwhile, her chaos opens the door for the Wilfordites and all their crazy.
Leading the pack is LJ, and that's a real shocker, right? #NOT
It might just be me, but she's been spiraling ever since she got her dad's spare glass eye back.
I love you too, but don't think I won't sacrifice what I love to get what I want.
LJ
Poor Oz. Who would he speak to about a divorce? How many times does a guy have to have his genitals threatened before he realizes he needs a better plan?
I did have a hope that we'd go a week without a body count, but we can always count on Wilford for some pragmatic homicide.
To be fair, Roche hasn't been back on the job long, and the brakemen have backslid to their old lax ways.
Audrey was able to buy her way past them (via LJ and the eyeball) on Snowpiercer Season 3 Episode 6, and you can be sure Bess Till would never have accepted a cigar from a prisoner no matter how smooth.
Audrey: This place mattered once, and I let it all go.
Till: No, this place wasn't special. You were.
Speaking of Bess, how adorable are she and Audrey?
I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting a redemption arc for Audrey, and I certainly didn't expect it to run a romantic route through Till, but I'm full-on #TeamBaudrey (as the kids are calling it.)
Melanie's decision severs (or at least complicates) many other relationships that could hold the balance against Wilford's return to power.
Will Ruth back Melanie and return to enforce the Cavill version of Order?
Will the Tail stand with Layton, knowing that he lied to them -- his "people" -- and possibly deducing the lie is why he killed Pike?
Layton: You're going to be foggy for a while. I learned that the hard way.
Melanie: Guess I never apologized for locking you in a Drawer, did I?
Layton: We'll tally all of it up one of these days.
With the hope of New Eden dashed and his daughter's happiness at risk, on whose side will Roche come down?
As you watch Snowpiercer online, anticipating the final showdown of the season, cast your mind back to previous season finales.
Snowpiercer Season 1 ended with Layton condemning seven cars of passengers -- including many, many Tailies -- to their death in order to safeguard the New Train Order for which he had fought and compromised.
Snowpiercer Season 2 ended with the destruction of the aquarium car to facilitate the theft of the pirate train.
If they can, how will they top those climactic titans?
Pull your engine into your comments below and off-load your best thoughts and theories!
Diana Keng was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is a lifelong fan of smart sci-fi and fantasy media, an upstanding citizen of the United Federation of Planets, and a supporter of AFC Richmond 'til she dies. Her guilty pleasures include female-led procedurals, old-school sitcoms, and Bluey. She teaches, knits, and dreams big. Follow her on X.
