It has become clear that the last season of Snowpiercer traded its sci-fi tone to become a post-apocalyptic western. New Eden is the archetypical frontier town, with people coming together despite hardships to build this little slice of heaven, and The International Peacekeeping Forces are the army of scoundrels arriving by train into town to wreak havoc and destroy everything. Now, the third to last episode teases the show’s endgame, with the entire town of New Eden coming together to defend their home from the invading army, High Noon -style.
It’s the calm before the storm, a sweet episode of heartfelt reunions and talks about preparing for the worst, but after last week’s nail-biting episode, this is a bit of a letdown that significantly slows things down. We start with Javi, who wakes up — alive! — after blowing up the bomb on the train tracks, clearing up the path for Big Alice to finally make it back home. They’ve gone through many hardships, but as Javi’s voice-over narration says, humanity’s biggest strength is that we can overcome obstacles by creating.
Now, the most important creation in a decade, New Eden, is under threat. Though there are still doubts over whether there is merit to the Peacekeeping Forces’ mission, mostly due to Melanie and Alex staying behind to help it, Ruth convinces them that the Admiral and his people care only about power and control. They could run, take the train, and go back to circumnavigating the world, but they’d ha.