Melanie (Jennifer Connelly) returns on Snowpiercer Season 4 Episode 9, “Dominant Traits,” the penultimate episode of the entire series. Once she understands the depth of Nima’s madness, our dear Ms. Cavill steps up to the plate in fine form.
RELATED: Catch up with our recap of the previous Snowpiercer episode, “By Weeping Cross”
The problem with knowing you’re the smartest person in the room is you’re probably underestimating the person more motivated to outsmart you. Dr. Nima Rousseau (Michael Aranov) illustrates the dangers of putting pride ahead of the science he’s crowned himself the god of.
Snowpiercer, “Dominant Traits”
Of course, Mel has to be canny about subverting Nima’s plans. Her life and Alex’s (Rowan Blanchard) hang in the balance. Although he has some warm feelings for Melanie, he’s shown he has no qualms about eliminating obstacles in his way. It was honestly rather helpful for Wilford (Sean Bean) to take out both Milius (Clark Gregg) and himself and allow Nima free rein.
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There’s a clever twist to the opening monologue device here. Someone’s always counting train cars, and that opening voiceover has been a tidy little throughline in the series. Odds are good that Andre (Daveed Diggs) will have the final opener as a bookend to the series, or maybe they’ll switch things up and have him voiceover the closing scenes.
Personally, I’d love to have Roche (Mike O’Malley) or one of the young people—Alex, Carly (Esther Ming Li) or Miles (Jaylin Fletcher)—be the final word on the series. They may even give it to Melanie. It’s just one of the many questions I have about the finale.
RELATED: Read our Snowpiercer recaps
Showdown in New Eden
As Nima races to prove he’s humanity’s savior, potentially dooming them all in his haste, New Eden hunkers down to prepare for yet another apocalypse. Melanie and Alex reunite to work against Nima. As the clock ticks down, Melanie finally reveals where the other half of Alex’s genetic material came from. Yeah, I think we all know who that’s going to be. But #NoSpoilers.
The battle for the engines was never going to be pretty. The Silo’s forces are better armed and better trained. But apparently, New Eden’s been built with plate metal that withstands sniper bullets. It’s amazing how effectively necessity births invention, isn’t it?
Only one more stop on this line, folks. What do you hope to see as Snowpiercer rolls to an end?
Snowpiercer drops new episodes every Sunday at 9 pm EST on AMC, BBC America and AMC+.
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