AMC Review: ‘Snowpiercer’ Unites Its Passengers Against One Last Threat in Final Season Four

Facing an uninhabitable planet and navigating class warfare has been arduous enough for the passengers of the Snowpiercer train, initially 1,001 cars long. The television adaptation of Bong Joon-ho’s 2013 film, itself based on the 1982 French graphic novel of the same name, has taken a distinctly different approach to its source material throughout its initial three seasons. As it executes its final revolution, old enemies become reluctant allies again as these hardened passengers face one last fight for survival.

The journey to life for this show has not been an easy one, initially ordered by TNT back in 2016 before eventually premiering in May 2020. TNT’s move away from scripted programming almost left the fourth season with no home at all, but AMC opted to pick it up to allow diehard fans the chance to see how it all plays out in the end. For the uninitiated, there’s plenty to catch up on, and even for those who were paying close attention through the show’s season three finale in March 2022, it can be hard to remember exactly who betrayed who most recently and whose worldview is currently dominating.

Without spoiling too much, season four begins with two groups of Snowpierecer passengers: those aboard Big Alice, led by Layton (Daveed Diggs) and Ruth (Alison Wright), who have opted to give life outside a try at the famed New Eden, and those who remained aboard the rest of the train, piloted once again by Melanie (Jennifer Connelly). At the start of the season premiere, Till (Mickey Sumner) and Ben (Iddo Goldberg) run from an apparent trap outside of a briefly stopped Snowpiercer before the show flashes forward nine months to the idyllic New Eden, only later revealing the sinister nature of what befell their friends still on the moving train and where they’ve been up until the present moment.

The introduction of a new villain for season four, Admiral Milius (Clark Gregg), is a worthwhile pivot considering the weighty influence previously felt by Wilford (Sean Bean). Yet he was always a part of the train’s world as its designer and eventual warlord, and so bringing someone in who has never experienced the luxury of this futuristic, world-traveling locomotive changes the dynamic in an intriguing way. Declaring himself an officer of the International Peacekeeping Forces while pointing guns to crewmembers’ heads is the ultimate contradiction, one that signals a revised lawlessness of this dystopian future where the powerful – and the armed – are able to get their way through superior resources and firepower, provided that the unhappy masses don’t opt to resist (spoiler alert: they will).

Part of the initial appeal of this series was the idea that every remaining person on Earth was aboard this one train. Wilford showing up with Big Alice at the end of the first season changed all that, and the show has introduced a few additional survivors since its start. The notion of an entirely separate project running concurrently disrupts this show’s narrative but also makes some sense, since those aboard Snowpiercer, even in third class, might have mistakenly thought themselves to be the last of humanity and therefore chosen for a special purpose. The rotating narration featuring a different character each episode has always allowed this show to tell its own story, ignorant of what’s going on in the rest of the world that they didn’t believe was actually out there.

Expanding this show’s universe for its last season is a productive choice, offering a leaner, sleeker product than the show has sometimes felt like in its lengthy trips back from the engine all the way to the back of the train. Yet each episode is packed with content, showcasing its surviving characters who have made considerable progress in their recoveries from near-death experiences and chosen to fight alongside those who previously tried to kill them. Gregg is a formidable addition whose turn is both authoritative and chilling in a far subtler way than Bean’s, and audiences will surely enjoy the build-up to a confrontation with the consistently great Diggs. Comparable concept-wise to the fourth (and at the time final) season of Prison Break but far better in execution, this show no longer looks much like what it used to be, but it’s managed to morph into something new, inviting audiences along for one last twist-filled ride that shows it at its finest.

Series Rating: 7/10

Awards Buzz: The show has only ever earned one Emmy nomination – visual effects for season three, and there’s no reason to expect attention now, despite the awards history of cast members like Diggs, Donnelly, and Wright. But it might be just the right time for the Saturn Awards or various technical guilds to honor this genre fare that’s going out with a definitive bang.