Snowpiercer Season 3 Episode 7 Review: Ouroboros
Diana Keng
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Templates create structure, but they do get old, and it's interesting that The Powers That Be tap Snowpiercer Season 3 Episode 7 as the first episode to open without a character voice-over.
Whether this is in acknowledgment of Layton's unconscious state taking him, in essence, away from "Snowpiercer, one thousand and twenty-nine cars long," or if the entire adventure is an unspoken introspection on Layton's part. It shakes up the pattern to which we've grown accustomed.
The reveal of what caused Layton's "vision" of New Eden is a tricky ingredient to throw into the mix. New Eden is literally his brainchild. Now that he no longer has absolute faith in it, will he be able to lead the train there with conviction?
The narrative borrows a lot from The Wizard of Oz and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, reframing the frozen, Western Eurocentric world of Snowpiercer as a tropical world, overlaid with South American flavors.
Like Dorothy looking for the Wizard in Oz, Layton finds himself in search of the Tail Boss who can send him home, meeting familiar faces playing new roles along the way.
Layton: Where is here?
Till: This is Snowpiercer.
Layton: This is not Snowpiercer.
Till: No, it is. And it isn't. You'll recognize people, but they're not the same as they are out there.
Layton: You're the same. Sort of.
Till: I'm a librarian. And I know things.
Till being a guide and ally isn't much of a stretch, and neither is LJ as a power-crazed sadist. (Shades of Alice's Red Queen, perhaps?)
Many of the conflicts and undercurrents introduced this season are present in Layton's subconscious with novel twists.
Javi and Sykes's friendship is more flirtatious and light-hearted in this wonderland devoid of PTSD. At the same time, Roche and Wilford's animosity beautifully symbolizes the battle between Law (i.e., Roche) and Order (i.e., Wilford).
The significance of Zarah being The Cartographer is deep and layered.
She draws the train's map as a lemniscate or figure-eight. Layton later describes it as a snake eating its tail, which the episode's title, "Ouroboros," references.
Layton: Power's in the Tail. It's upside-down.
Tail Boss: There's no up, no down. The train is cyclical. It's a cruel loop.
The idea that the train -- and hence, the power within the train -- is cyclical is reflected in how jumbled the established classes of passengers are in Layton's mindscape.
Being the first major character in the series to move from one class to another, Zarah personifies that blending of classes through determination and adaptability.
In the real world, Zarah seizes the opportunity to clear the air with Josie, describing her dislike of life in The Tail and its culture of survival. It's probably the truest speech she's ever made. Maybe motherhood has changed her.
She also makes it clear that she harbors no interest in being Layton's long-term partner in anything beyond parenthood.
She's opening the door to an intriguing arrangement if Josie and Layton step into it.
It might seem a little odd to most audience sensibilities, but with a finite number of other people around at the end of the world, it probably wouldn't be a unique one if more people were having babies.
Now, back to Layton's fever dream.
Note the change of Wilford's logo to the death mask logo.
Snowpiercer has always been about survival, outlasting the death brought on by the cold triggered by scientists trying to reverse the climate change caused by human activities.
Josie: Most will run but some will seek. Hide or cheat, we'll always meet. My present, past, and future keep. Who Am I?
Layton: Josie.
Josie: Who am I, Mr. Layton?
Layton: Death.
Before Tail bouncer Josie gives him the riddle, her first question is, "What do you want?" and, if you think about it, the answer is meant to be the same.
Everyone Layton talks to about going to the Tail asks him if he has a death wish. In his mind, death is the final destination.
The password to get into the Tail is "death." It is The Word that Zarah mentions. It is the answer to the riddle.
LJ brings death to the cantina. Layton brings death to the Tail Boss, his own daughter, Liana.
Pike, as the Chaplain (!), reminds Layton that his choices have killed people. Many people.
Layton: Oh, god.
Pike: Indeed, brother, your hour draws nigh. Confess your sins, and you will be absolved.
Layton: Of what?
Pike: There are a pile of bodies in the cantina. Start there.
This message resonates when Layton realizes that his New Eden "vision" is nothing but a construct his mind invented from the last image he saw as he passed out in Asha's nuclear shelter.
What if I was so desperate to give everyone a future that I made one up? I can't lead this train if all I have is a lie.
Layton
There's a lot of purpose behind this deviation of narrative format. It's clever, full stop, even if it doesn't move the action forward because it lays track for the push to the season's climax, foreshadowed by Wilford's proposal that Melanie is alive.
Putting Layton in peril provides space for the other characters to settle the petty issues that would waste a lesser show's time.
On a grander scale, Till bringing Audrey to Layton to help bring him back feels like a critical turning point. To be sure, Audrey's made some personal choices to heal from hitting rock-bottom with Wilford on Snowpiercer Season 3 Episode 6.
Remember yourself. You're searching for something but you don't know what. You're trapped, Andre. You're holding onto something that isn't real.
Audrey
Meanwhile, in his head, Layton's a mess.
Keeping in mind that everyone in his comatose world is an aspect of himself, Ruth's distrust of him is his own insecurity, LJ's attack is his own fear of being found out as a fraud, and inadvertently bringing Pike's bomb to Liana is clearly the paranoia of fatherhood catastrophizing the outcome.
Josie as a gatekeeper is pretty on-the-nose, but my favorite Layton aspect is Ben as The Forger. So many meanings can be read into this.
Ben has been a quiet but key lynchpin to Layton's leadership.
Yes, he only supports Layton in the absence of Melanie and as the alternative to Wilford, but his knowledge of the engine and the train has been vital.
As The Forger, he is the first step in getting Layton home. He is the only one who can make the papers Layton needs to cross the border.
Starts to wear on you, doesn't it? You tell yourself your cover story so many times, you start to forget what's real and what you made up.
Ben
It's a fitting role for Ben to play in Layton's mind. Gold star, writers!
So, where does it leave us? What does the future hold?
Layton's woken up filled with doubt.
Wilford's seeded the possibility of Melanie's survival.
How will this play out? After you watch Snowpiercer online, drop your best theories into our comments below!
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.
