‘Snowpiercer’ Season 4 Premiere Recap: Snakes in the Garden

Snow drill

Snakes in the garden

Season 4

Episode 1

Editor’s Rating

3 stars

***

Photo: David Bukach/AMC

It’s been two years since we last saw the Snowpiercer brave the elements, but the post-apocalyptic drama is finally back for one final round as it reaches its final stop. In case you don’t remember much about the show — which was canceled by TNT despite having wrapped up season four until AMC stepped in to pick up the final season — this is an adaptation of the 1982 French graphic novel by Jacques Lob and Jean-Marc Rochette The Transparent. The graphic novel was previously adapted into a film by Bong Joon-ho in 2013 as his first English-language film, Snow drill.

While not a direct film adaptation of either, the first season of Snow drill was pretty similar to the feature film – the leader of the Tail section of the Snowpiercer, a train that circles a post-apocalyptic frozen world, leads a revolution to improve the lives of his people and uncovers a conspiracy at the front of the train. Except the show quickly began telling its own story, one that was as silly and cheesy as it was heartfelt and moving, with plenty to say about revolution, class warfare, and the hardships of leadership. It also gives us a giant mutant man who’s immune to the cold and looks like Solomon Grundy.

Season three concluded with Daveed Diggs’s Andre Layton — the former detective turned revolutionary leader of the Tail — dividing the remnants of humanity into two groups. Half remained on the Snowpiercer, living as they had before, happy to remain aboard until the train eventually disintegrates, while the other half followed Layton aboard Big Alice (a second train built by Sean Bean’s Wilford) to a small spot in the Horn of Africa warm enough to support life.

This is true Snow drill begins its fourth and final season. The premiere, “Snakes in the Garden,” is essentially a nonlinear narrative that moves back and forth between shortly after the end of the previous season, specifically when Snowpiercer sees a rocket explode in the distance, and nine months later, when those who were separated are well and truly settled into what they call New Eden.

After three seasons of being stuck in the confined space of a train, it’s creepy and exciting to watch Snow drill spending so much time outdoors. We see vast landscapes, and also a large and thriving settlement in New Eden. Over the past nine months, the survivors have built homes and buildings; they’ve actually grown crops, grown their own blueberries, and baked their own bread. Alex (Rowan Blanchard) has even figured out how to use Big Alice to generate electricity for the entire settlement while using very little energy. Things seem to be going very well. The people have a democratic government and hold regular town hall meetings. (Although the council often meets as an excuse to play cards.)

Perhaps most impressive is how New Eden has transformed both Layton and his enemy and ally Ruth Wardell (Alison Wright). For Ruth, who started out as Snowpiercer’s primary martyr before realizing her mistake, it’s deeply satisfying to see her become a leader and mayor of this community. Wright remains a highlight of the show, showing a deep concern for the well-being of her people and an ability to remain calm under pressure (unlike Layton). Meanwhile, the season opener shows that Layton was actually capable of stepping down as leader after his controversial lie to the passengers in season three. The show (and Layton) acknowledges that revolutionary leaders don’t necessarily make good peacetime leaders, and that managing a resistance and an army isn’t the same as managing a city. Wilford himself recognized Layton’s qualities as a salesman and public speaker, who was able to convince others to join him in his endeavors. But the last time Layton was responsible for the remnants of humanity, he stole a train and killed a bunch of people in the process, so this works out better for everyone.

Except, unsurprisingly, there’s trouble in paradise. Even though the people of New Eden are much better off than either train, they don’t really feel united when it comes to sharing their paradise. Layton has some of the passengers work on repairing the train they wrecked to reach New Eden, hoping that Snowpiercer can join them, but people like Oz (Sam Otto) are vehemently opposed to the idea, and there are concerns that New Eden won’t have enough space—let alone food—to support both groups of train passengers. Should they even share? After all, the people of New Eden took the risk and risked freezing to death to find this warm place, while the people of Snowpiercer chose to leave them and move on. If they didn’t take any risks and put in any work to build this place, why should they get the reward? This is the crux of Snow drilla series that — from the very beginning — tackles the politics of survival and how to slow the apocalypse, knowing that ultimately you have to choose who gets what share of the resources.

To make matters worse, someone is sabotaging New Eden. First they disconnect the power supply, then they destroy the communication relay. The episode essentially plays with the question of whether this is a human threat or something else, with the camera slowly creeping into New Eden and stalking Layton from the shows and above the settlement. It’s not the first time Snow drill Hints at the supernatural, of course, since last season played around with visions quite a bit. Various characters get visions of Jennifer Connelly’s Melanie, while Clayton gets the idea to go to the Horn of Africa to seek shelter for a vision of a tree he had after falling into a nuclear reactor. Add in the voices of unseen people in Oz who for some reason speak Gaelic and you have a nice little mystery that echoes the murder investigations of the first season.

There’s not much time to dwell on whether the incidents in New Haven are divine punishment or sabotage by an angry citizenry, however, as the image of Lena Hall’s Miss Audrey on a riser warning everyone on New Eden that “they’re coming,” as well as the arrival of a snowcat (a vehicle not present on either the Snowpiercer or Big Alice), make it clear that this is a very human threat. Unfortunately, by the time Layton realizes it, it’s too late. Dr. Headwood (Sakina Jaffrey) conspires with a heavily armored soldier to steal Layton’s baby, and in the process, they murder Zarah (Sheila Vand), Layton’s ex-wife and the mother of his child, by pushing her off a cliff.

After all this, we flash back to that day nine months earlier, when Ben (Iddo Goldberg) and Till (Mickey Sumner) went outside the Snowpiercer to investigate the rocket. It turns out they are ambushed by the same heavily armored soldiers who would kill Zarah nine months later, who invade the Snowpiercer to find Melanie. Welcome back, Snow drill! We are ready for another round of chaos.

• Dr. Headwood, a devoted follower of Mr. Wilford, clearly hints at his involvement in stealing the baby, right? After all, he had her experiment on the unborn baby and for unknown reasons gave him resistance to cold.

• The soldiers, each with a different animal theme, are led by a menacing Clark Gregg, who announces himself as a member of the “International Peacekeeping Forces.” Someone arriving at your house with a death squad obviously exudes “peace.”