Summary
“Life Source” splits its time between New Eden and Snowpiercer, as Layton tries to secure a democratic vote and Ben and Till uncover a worrying plan.
You can take the man out of the train, but you can’t take the train out of the man – or something like that, anyway. In other words, Episode 3 of Snowpiercer Season 4, “Life Source”, conspires to get Layton and several other key characters back on Snowpiercer as soon as possible.
What does that mean for New Eden? Well, we’re not sure yet, but the signs aren’t good. By the end of the episode, almost all of the characters we care about have left with Layton, which suggests that there might be a cull in the near future (poor Roche!). But you never know.
Anyway, let’s break it all down.
Democracy
The last time we saw Layton, he was going bonkers at the end of Episode 2, determined to find a way of pursuing Snowpiercer and finding Liana. He’s still like that at the start of “Life Source”, especially after figuring out Doctor Headwood had time to plan the kidnapping. But while Layton’s fury is understandable, his reaction is kind of ridiculous in context.
This was probably Ruth’s point when she said that Layton was a wartime general, not a peacetime leader. He’s adamant about taking Big Alice to catch up with Snowpiercer, seemingly unconcerned about the fact that the locomotive powers New Eden. He lashes out furiously at his friends for not immediately supporting him, taking nasty shots at Oz, Josie, and Ruth, which doesn’t exactly make him feel better.
When Layton takes it upon himself to unplug Big Alice and finesse a short-term solution to provide temporary power to New Eden, Sykes physically stops him from leaving while Ruth sorts out a public vote. The only way of doing this is democratically. Letting Layton chunter off with the engine just because he’s angry makes a mockery of the system Layton himself helped to implement.
Needless to say, people vote for him to take Big Alice anyway, at least in part because he appeals to them – rather desperately, as it happens – as a father. But the fact that almost all of the Tailies, Josie, Alex, and even Ruth decide to accompany Layton is a death knell for New Eden. I can already see Roche’s heroic self-sacrifice scene now.
Snowpiercer | Image via AMC/Netflix
Routine Maintenance
While the premiere focused almost exclusively on New Eden and the second episode was set almost entirely aboard Snowpiercer, Episode 3 splits the difference, with half of the runtime devoted to Layton’s struggles and the other half to Ben and Bess Till.
As a reminder, things aren’t going well aboard Snowpiercer. The crew is being forced into extended periods of labor and dropping like flies, and Ben and Till are particularly in the bad books for facilitating Audrey’s escape. But Milius has a problem that only Ben is qualified for, and he agrees to let him take Till along to fix it. If he manages to pull it off, Milius promises to reduce the working shifts down to a negotiated ten hours.
What the two of them discover is a plan that Till suspects is to gas the passengers of Snowpiercer. But her initial theories that the Admiral has canisters full of cyanide ready to go turn out to be false. When she tries to sacrifice herself and the Admiral in one fell swoop, it’s revealed that the canisters are actually full of a tranquilizer.
This is bad news for Big Alice since the trap is set up at the rear of the locomotive. Milius is planning to ambush Layton and the others when they arrive, which he has predicted they will. At this point it seems highly unlikely that Till and Ben will be able to warn them before they arrive, but you never know.
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