Snowpiercer 3×05 Review – “A New Life”

Snowpiercer season 3 episode 5, ‘A New Life’, showed Layton and Zarah becoming parents to a baby girl. Also, Layton’s life is in danger (again!). I’m looking forward to seeing how all of the threats will impact his daughter down the line.

Frankly, I wasn’t expecting Zarah’s pregnancy to end on a happy note. Due to how things usually go in media, I really thought that Zarah or the baby was going to die. So, it was nice to see the writers not killing anyone off to cause manpain for Layton.

Seeing Layton trying to help Zarah during the early stages of her labor made for some comedic moments. I understood why Zarah asked him to leave her with the doctors and go handle some other stuff on Snowpiercer (which I’ll get to in a bit).

Even though Zarah and her daughter were okay by the end of ‘A New Life’, the birthing process wasn’t without complications. Turns out, the cold-resistant genetic therapy Dr. Headwood had been doing led to a side-effect that caused Zarah’s body to drastically lose heat. I was actually worried about Zarah’s fate for a moment even though she’s one of the most boring characters in the ensemble.

With Layton and Zarah’s daughter being genetically modified, I wonder if she will experience any side effects as she grows older. The current episode showed Josie’s cold-resistant procedure causing parts of her body to go numb. So, there’s a chance the baby might face certain difficulties, too. Let’s see.

Talking about Josie, with Layton getting to parent a child with Zarah, I felt Josie’s emotional turmoil. I guess Layton’s supposed to be Josie’s soulmate? And even though she’s happy for him, the thought of Layton possibly forgetting about her caused her pain. I liked seeing Josie bond with Ben as he taught her how to drive Snowpiercer. He lost Melanie after being her boyfriend for more than a decade. He’s not even sure if Melanie’s still alive out there. If you ask me, I think Melanie will show up. I have hope!

While the current episode had Ben and Josie get hot and heavy with each other, I’m not sure if the two will become an actual couple. Ben did say that Layton still loved Josie. So, will she try to get back with Layton? Hmmm. I’m not the biggest fan of such relationship drama.

I do think that Ben teaching Josie how to drive Snowpiercer will come into play in the upcoming story. With five more episodes to go, I wouldn’t be surprised if Ben is made to face danger or even death, leaving Josie to captain the train.

Ben giving Josie such a lesson made sense because Javi is not doing well. I liked how Ben reached out to Sykes to help Javi deal with the trauma caused by Joseph. It’s revealed that Joseph tortured Sykes years ago back in Big Alice. Similar to Javi, she too was attacked by Joseph’s pet dog. However, Sykes was able to heal with time. Here’s to hoping she’s able to help Javi do the same.

As for Joseph, unfortunately, he’s going to make it. Personally, I would be okay with Joseph dying, but I guess the writers still have plans for him. Seeing Alex continue to stay by his bedside made me roll my eyes. Alex really needs to rethink her feelings for Joseph. Yes, he raised her, but he’s also a ruthless villain. Alex needs to move on from him.

Another interesting interaction occurred between Pike and Ruth. I liked the verbal push-and-pull between the two as they tried to make the other see their perspective and how what they were saying was the right course of action. I don’t know about you, but I’m with Ruth (for now). There’s no reason to cause any more drama on Snowpiercer by undermining Layton. It won’t do anyone any good.

Here’s to hoping Pike had a change of heart after crushing the detonator because the way he put Layton’s life in danger wasn’t cool. I get that they aren’t the closest of friends right now, but Pike needs to chill. The two shared history and seeing Pike plant a small bomb to injure Layton made me sad. At least wait and see if New Eden even exists before taking Layton down?

Another character I hope changes for the better is Audrey. She got a little talk from Bess about finding the strength to leave Joseph and going back to becoming the version of Audrey that used to help people. Will Audrey accept Bess’s advice? I have my fingers crossed.

What did you think of ‘A New Life’? Do you think someone other than Pike will try and hurt Layton? Where is Miles?

Feel free to share your thoughts below.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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