Snowpiercer Review: The First Blow (Season 3 Episode 3)
Snowpiercer Season 3 Episode 3, “The First Blow,” unsprings the coil of tension that’s been building for a climactic showdown.
It’s almost surprising that we’re getting an episode like this so early in the season, despite its inevitability. Narratively, you can only keep the two sides separated before they’d have to cross again.
This is logically about as quickly as you could do it without feeling like you are stretching out the season past the point it can handle.
It makes sense wanting to do this kind of episode as early as you can. Think of it like dominoes: even if you’re only setting up a few, it’s still very satisfying to watch them get knocked over.
If Lost and Game of Thrones taught us one thing, it’s that characters reuniting is one of the most cathartic things that a writer can do for the audience.
This is no different. It’s really a testament to the show’s writing and character development that we care as much about these relationships.
One of the things that Snowpiercer has always been extremely successful at is the way it makes trains the height of excitement. The logistics of train warfare here is top notch.
It’s not hard to imagine another show not being as adept at that as this one is.
The show is faced with a bit of a problem now, even though this is the perfect point to sideline Wilford. It’s lacking a really antogonistic force without both Melanie and Wilford in the picture.
The way forward for the series is still fairly clear with their search for New Eden but there is a void that it will have to contend with now.
There’s never truly been a point in its run where they haven’t been contending with someone. The transition to something else will be a weird one.
Ideally, this is an avenue where the show can mine a lot of really dramatic material. What does it mean to go from fighting to not having to anymore.
Will this newfound democracy continue or will excuses to delay it pop back up?
This series has always been about conflict and class struggles. What will it look like for that to be less evident?
The urge for nihilism on a show like this is really strong, which is what makes this turn to paradise so appealing.
An element of hope is necessary and the direction towards that is really encouraging.
What did you think of this episode of Snowpiercer? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Snowpiercer airs Mondays at 9/8c on TNT.
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Drew Koenig
Drew has an ongoing, borderline unhealthy obsession with pop culture, but with television in particular. When he's not aggressively trying to get out of a perpetual state of catching up, he can be found passionately defending the ending of Lost. More of his online work can be found at The Lost Cause and he also co-hosts The Lost Cause Pod.