In Review: Snowpiercer (S3 – EP8) Setting Itself Right

Synopsis: In Setting Itself Right the train detours from New Eden and an environmental catastrophe threatens everyone on board.

The Story

Having discovered the possibility that Melanie Cavill could still be alive in last week’s episode. Layton decides to go for a detour in the hopes that they can pick her up. But the plan goes a bit pear-shaped when they run into a fog of volcanic gases. This forces Layton to consult with Mr. Wilfred who assures him that the train’s systems can cope with the gas. However, things take a turn for the worse when one of those HVAC systems that Wilfred has such strong faith in fails. Meaning that someone will have to manually solve the problem, which means certain death.

Added to all of this. Layton is starting to doubt that New Edan. The place he’d dreamed about doesn’t exist.

The Acting

Daveed Diggs puts in a solid performance this week as we see some cracks begin to appear in Layton’s faith in his dream. We get a particularly strong scene at the start of the episode where Layton expresses his doubts to Asha (Archie Panjabi). This scene is particularly poignant given what happens to Asha later in the episode.

Also putting in a good performance was Rowan Blanchard as Alex Cavill. The discussion she has with Ben about whether her mother Melanie may have survived or not is brilliantly acted. As well as particularly important given that Alex had very little time in the show’s second season to get re-acquainted with her on-screen mum.

Overall

This was a really strong episode. Archie Panjabi gets a great final scene to go out on. I also liked the mystery surrounding what Dr. Headwood was up to given that it will likely have consequences down the line. The visuals of the volcanic storm were really good and somewhat of a daunting site when seen from the train’s point of view.

Overall. Great episode. I can’t wait to see what happens next week.