The Last To Go
Episode 2 of Snowpiercer Season 3 begins with Ruth doing her best to brave the cold. Hiding out in the back-end of the train, she manages to evade Wilford’s men while using rats through the pipes to communicate with Pike, who happens to be further down the train. It seems Wilford is up to something and that something comes in the form of an EMP pulse. That’s bound to cause absolute chaos for their resistance plans but more so for Layton and the others. As this weapon is located in the last car, it looks like it’s going to be used as a weapon against the other train. And the experiment they conduct, complete with an electrical wave rippling through the carriages, is testament to its devastating strength. Further down Big Alice, Osweiller asks Lilah to marry him. She of course says yes and immediately skips off to tell Wilford, who’s still jovial after the EMP experiment. He also sees this as a great opportunity to bring the common folk together and ignore the perils on the train, at least for the time being. Osweiller sees straight through this PR stunt and ends up fighting with Lilah right on the eve of their wedding. His words are echoed by Wilford later on when he visits Lilah, slithering into her subconscious and keeping the young woman by his side. For Osweiller though, Wilford threatens him to stay in line, especially after bringing up the side-hustles he was engaged in during season 1. Meanwhile, Layton and Ben check the ice records they’ve gathered. Melanie’s research is definitely correct, the ice is heating up but it’s not hot enough to be habitual yet. At least, not for a whole century. The only promising location they have is an Arabian hotspot in Africa which could be the key to their salvation. However, the crew don’t have enough food to feed everyone. The only solution Layton can see is to get their train back from Wilford. Before they launch their offensive, Layton wakes up the researcher, whom we learn is called Asha. She’s shocked that the train survived as she’s soon shown around. While Asha settles in, Layton researches the tree he’s been seeing in his visions. Now, it would appear that this is a Dragon’s Blood tree and it grows in the Gulf of Aden. He tells Bess in confidence, who encourages him to keep his visions a secret. The last thing they need is another crazy person on the train! So how did Asha survive? Well, apparently there were 34 of them originally and they were using the plant’s residual power to survive. Most were Korean scientists but marauders took out half of them during the early parts of the apocalypse. Then the cold and radiation poisoning kicked in. Asha survived – but barely. Javi is looking the worse for wear and has clearly been roughed up by Wilford. When he heads down-train by request, he finds Ruth who asks for his help as an engineer. Javi is skittish and tells her that the weapon is to use against Layton. Beyond that though, he refuses to divulge more and scrambles back up the train. Meanwhile, Ruth leaves Pike in charge while she awaits Kevin’s arrival. She’s surrendering. While the wedding goes ahead as scheduled, Kevin shows up and gives Wilford a knowing nod. Of course, Ruth surrendering is a play to distract Wilford enough so the rest of the resistance can disrupt the EMP pulse. With time ticking away, Pike and the others manage to knock the weapon out the back, with less than 30 seconds to go. As it tumbles and explodes, the full force of the EMP pulse ripples through Big Alice and even hits Layton’s train too. However, it also has unintended positive side effects. Wilford is blind to what’s happening but Layton and the others have a lock-on the origins of this blast. It’s not far away either and Layton believes they can get the drop on Big Alice. Wilford is livid and he takes his anger out on Ruth, preparing to freeze her arm off, just like they used to in the days of Wilford’s original rule. Layton and the others rock up just in time though. As war is set to arrive, the episode comes to an agonizing end.
The Episode Review
Snowpiercer bows out with a pretty decent episode, one that continues to push the two trains in unexpected directions. The inclusion of Asha and her plight is a nice touch, and it’ll be interesting to see if there are any other survivors other than her lurking about. Meanwhile, the show continues to deliver compelling drama with Wilford managing to capture Ruth after she sacrificed herself for the good of the train. It’s still unknown whether Layton and the others will manage to take back Big Alice from Wilford, especially after how much drama unfolded at the end of the previous season for this hierarchy to be split in two. With a battle coming, things certainly look ominous and action-packed for next week’s follow-up. Quite who will come out on top, remains to be seen!
