Snowpiercer Season 3 Premiere recap: Calculus of finite resources

Miss Audrey’s casual rebellion on tonight’s Snowpiercer Season 3 premiere took six months of preparation only to end in a single puff of smoke…

Yet, asking Alex to ‘just do the calculus like Joseph’ inflicted more damage to her psyche than any weapon ever could. Alex is caught between Melanie’s dream of oasis and the reality of dwindling resources in Mr. Wilford’s present.

This Snowpiercer recap contains spoilers for “The Tortoise and the Hare”.

Miss Audrey’s minor escape tonight was an inside job without resistance, a symptom of a larger ‘virus’ permeating through every corner of steel aboard. The bourgeoisie uprising against the proletariat. Lack of comfort.

Trading in one’s present for hope of a better future, chaos with no guarantees… While Wilford’s order, for good and bad, is within immediate tangible grasp.

The realities of chasing after Melanie’s ‘ghost’ are descending upon Layton’s movement. Food stockpiles are at a low, faith in the train’s safety without Mr. Wilford at the wheel, spiraling.

889767 – Snowpiercer 301: Lena Hall – Photograph by DAVID BUKACH

Ben falls through ice

Ben pursued hope for Melanie’s eden on tonight’s Snowpiercer Season 3 premiere. A quest for warm spots for humanity to live in again, sans trains.

Unfortunately, the train began overheating for Alex leading to an immediate evacuation… Only for Ben to fall through a sheet of ice to an underground bunker lab of sorts. Layton and Josie decided they would rescue Ben in the 15 minutes of time Alex needed, leading the front of the train almost entirely unguarded except for Beth Till.

Miss Audrey recognized the moment as her chance to talk sense into Alex to go home to ‘daddy’. It worked by latching onto Alex’s insecurities. Audrey told Alex that Melanie was gone and soon so the food on board would be gone too.

At the same time, Alex has began recognizing she’s missing the finely tuned experience of Mr. Wilford, Melanie, and Ben (and likely Javier).

Javier by the way seems traumatized by Wilford, like Kevin before him post-bath. Mr. Wilford applied cream to heal Javier’s facial ice burns while Javier remained in silence.

An injured Ben would make it back on the train courtesy of Josie but Layton had stayed behind. Letting curiosity get the better of him about a strange red light in the lab bunker. In turn, Layton would be ambushed for his efforts by an unknown individual.

Kevin and Mr. Wilford topple the underground resistance

The veneer of Mr. Wilford’s civilization is built upon the majority ‘comfortably’ suffering while the elite live lavishly. Mr. Wilford came up with a medieval style punishment for those working for the resistance on his train in exchange for warm baths… He had literal waste in buckets be splashed all over those who bathed by Pike, dirtying them right back up. As one resistance collaborator put it, “It was worth it” but her tears and facial expression told a different story.

Mr. Wilford clearly prides himself on psychological warfare as the top tool in his arsenal to govern. The ‘rehabbed’ Kevin went the distance on tonight’s Snowpiercer Season 3 premiere, suggesting a cull of the train’s population on his own. Mr. Wilford smirked and indicated wouldn’t be necessary as of yet but obviously appreciating Kevin’s newly found gumption.

Meanwhile, Ruth found herself in a 1984 style nook, living by a heater in secret on the frozen part of the train. Pike who led her there seems much more unsure Layton’s ever coming back, and could be setting her up down the line.

Snowpiercer Season 3 Episode 1 would conclude with one of either Layton or the mysterious figure carrying the other back to the train to a smiling Josie. Who’s carrying who? Tune in next week to Snowpiercer on TNT for the answer!

Looking for more Snowpiercer TV Series coverage? Be sure to read:

– Katie McGuinness talks Snowpiercer’s Josie Wellstead (Interview)

– Snowpiercer’s Lena Hall on Miss Audrey & Josie’s Beauty Talk (Interview)

– Snowpiercer’s Lena Hall on Miss Audrey ‘fixing’ Kevin (Interview)