While it is truly sad that we haven’t seen Jennifer Connelly’s Melanie in weeks, one of the greatest strengths of Snowpiercer is its ensemble’s depth. In the early seasons, the show very quickly fleshed out its more minor characters to the point where — this season in particular — they feel like the true leaders of this little society. Layton may have led the initial Tailies revolution, but now Ruth feels like the true leader of the former Snowpiercer passengers.
Melanie may have been the face of Snowpiercer in Wilford’s absence in season one, but Ben has always been the one true engineer, the train’s conductor. This week, those decisions to make these characters important and fleshed out pay dividends as we say good-bye to another main character. The opening narration for this week comes courtesy of Ben, who recalls the tough split decisions made in the first few days of the Snowpiercer’s initial departure and all the people they left behind — between this and the episode being titled “The Engineer,” the death flags are flying high.
But before we get there, we have to resolve the Admiral’s offer from last week: Big Alice for Liana. It seems like a pretty dumb deal to take, given that the train is the only way to keep alive the dozens of people living in New Eden, and there is no guarantee that the Admiral will even deliver on his end. But that doesn’t matter because we’re dealing with Layton’s logic here, and nothing can beat his resolve to sacr.