Just like the train, the list of characters on Snowpiercer seems to go in circles.
This is a review and recap for “Snowpiercer” Season 3 Episode 8, “Setting Itself Right.” Spoilers below!
If you’re not one of the main characters in the show, it looks like if you speak the prologue you’re signing your death warrant. As such, this episode focused a lot on Asha. In the first few minutes, we learn that she’s been assigned to the gardens, she has been stealing food from the market to stockpile in her room, and to save her nephew back at the power planet, she poisoned all the other people there. And then her nephew was lost anyway. This explains a lot about her actions on the train.
Based on Wilford’s information, the crew decides that Melanie could be alive in a track scaler, which is a small, self-isolated maintenance train. Battery-powered switches on the tracks have been activated in areas Snowpeircer hasn’t been, so someone is moving around out there.
Yet, when they divert course, it turns out they are heading into a massive cloud of what ends up being hydrogen sulfide (though why it’s red is beyond me, as hydrogen sulfide is colorless), presumably from a volcanic eruption or vent.
Of course, Andre claims Wilford put them on this track on purpose, which he denies. He claims the train is sufficiently protected against the corrosive aspects of the gas, though this leads me to wonder whether the tracks are also?
The crew decides to proceed through the gas. They batten down the hatches and confine all the people to their rooms. This leads to some fun drama amongst the characters!
Oz and LJ
Oz has some strange idea about pickling vegetables and leaving the train with LJ. She finds this preposterous and seeks out other Wilford supporters, namely Doctor Headwood. She agrees to provide the doctor with a flesh sample, though we’re not told why. At the end of the episode, it’s also revealed that someone is undergoing “treatment” in the lab, though we’re not shown who.
Till and Audrey
In the classic “locked in a room together” trope, it’s clear something is going on between these two. Not only did the ladies have some tension last episode, but Audrey uses her guided meditation to help Till work through her feelings of guilt over her actions as a brakewoman and in the revolution. I’m still convinced Audrey is seducing Till for her own reasons, but that remains to be seen.
Roche and Carly
In a very cute scene, Roche and his daughter bond some more over their shared grief. Then, in typical embarrassing-yet-endearing dad mode, Roche shares some “extinct technology” (Exhibit A, below) with his daughter, and they dance to “More Than This” by Roxy Music.
Zara and Wilford
Zara, ever blunt, asks Wilford was his deal is with helping the crew find Melanie. He won’t say, but she accuses him of hoping Melanie will be divisive. She then lets him hold Liana (which, honestly, had me worried, especially when he walked near the railing), and he asks about whether she’d noticed any traces of genetic manipulations in her daughter. Not yet!
Sykes and Javi
Leading us into the central conflict of the episode, Sykes is trying to help Javi overcome his fear of Jupiter when they are asked to check out a leaking scrubber in the agriculture zone. It won’t seal, and though they are wearing masks, Sykes is overwhelmed by the toxic air. Javi pushes aside his panic and rescues her. No mouth-to-mouth though. Still …
And, because there aren’t any other people who can apparently deal with this, Layton and Asha head to another leak to seal an intake that won’t close. The access hatch is too small for them to fit in their suits, and Andre, being that type of person, offers to go in suitless. Asha bashes him with a crowbar, disrobes, and jumps in instead. She manages to close the valves but inhales far too much gas. As she’s dying, she asks Andre to describe his idea of New Eden to her.
Despite Asha’s demise, the ending is a hopeful one, as they leave the cloud to find a signal, presumably from Melanie! And we viewers are shown a little track scaler pumping its way down the tracks. Is it Melanie? Or someone else?
The next episode airs on March 21 / 22!
