Snowpiercer: Melanie’s Return Creates The Series’ Best Twist

Warning: SPOILERS for Snowpiercer Season 3, Episode 9 – “A Beacon For Us All”

Melanie Cavill’s (Jennifer Connelly) return in Snowpiercer season 3, episode 9 saw her betray Andre Layton (Daveed Diggs) and New Eden in an amazing twist. Melanie miraculously survived over six months alone in the frozen Earth by commandeering a Wilford track vehicle and sustaining herself with the same suspension drugs used in the Drawers. After Mr. Wilford (Sean Bean) determined that Melanie was alive and following Snowpiercer, he told her daughter Alex (Rowan Blanchard), who, in turn, helped mobilize Layton’s leadership group to successfully rescue Melanie.

In the months that Melanie was believed dead, she never left the thoughts of Snowpiercer‘s main characters. Layton’s mission to find New Eden was to honor Cavill’s memory since it was Melanie who acquired the data that proves parts of the Earth are starting to warm. Meanwhile, Alex and Wilford each coped with the loss of Melanie in their own ways. Alex kept her mother’s memory alive and imagined speaking to her while Wilford also secretly misses his formidable nemesis and envisioned having Cavill back to match wits with. Bennett Knox (Iddo Goldberg) also carried the scars of losing Melanie as her significant other for the past fifteen years, and Ruth Wardell (Alison Wright) still thinks of the years she was Melanie’s best friend and worked alongside her as the Heads of Hospitality. Melanie’s return was a joyous occasion for her closest friends and Snowpiercer delivered heartwarming reunions between her, Alex, Ben, Ruth, Javier De La Torre (Roberto Urbina), and Layton, who was once Cavill’s fiercest rival.

The warm welcome Melanie received upon her return is what made her turning on Layton and New Eden so shocking and powerful. And yet, it was also perfectly in character for Melanie. After she acclimated back aboard Snowpiercer, Engineer Cavill checked the data about New Eden that Layton’s team worked from to set course for New Eden on the Horn of Africa. As Mr. Wilford warned when he met with Melanie, the data is inconclusive and suggests a dangerous course of action that could doom Snowpiercer. Cavill also knew that Layton lied to the passengers about New Eden being an idyllic paradise they can all disembark and live in. Further, Melanie and Wilford know the unstable tracks that lead to the Horn of Africa could derail Snowpiercer. Thus, Melanie interrupted the train’s farewell party to sabotage Layton and reveal to the passengers he lied to them about New Eden – essentially reverting back to Snowpiercer season 1 Melanie.

Of course, there’s irony in Melanie holding the fact that Layton lied to the train against him since she herself posed as Mr. Wilford for seven years. In fact, Melanie marveled at the Snowpiercer Layton’s leadership created, where there are no classes and buffer zones and the whole train works together. But Melanie’s turn echoed when she stole Snowpiercer from Wilford. At her core, Cavill always considers the survival of the passengers and unilaterally does whatever she thinks is best for their welfare. Melanie can be cold and ruthless when she needs to be, if she believes she’s right. In Snowpiercer season 3’s case, Melanie took over the engine and betrayed Layton even though she knows it also puts her at odds with Alex, Ben, and Ruth, who are New Eden believers.

Melanie betraying Layton isn’t just an incredible twist that stabs at the audience’s hearts after Snowpiercer‘s happy reunion, but it effectively sets up another war. The train must now take sides between Layton and his New Eden dream and Melanie, who doesn’t want to risk nearly 3,000 lives on Layton’s lie. Meanwhile, Mr. Wilford is a wildcard who murdered the Brakemen guarding him and has sprung himself from confinement. Wilford has loyalists aboard the train like LJ Folger (Annalise Basso) who want him to regain power. The stage is set for a three-way conflict between Melanie, Layton, and Wilford for control of Snowpiercerand the train may not survive to see New Eden if this war is waged.

Snowpiercer Season 3 airs Mondays @ 9pm on TNT.

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