Snowpiercer – Season 4 Episode 7 “A Moth to a Flame” Recap & Review

A Moth to a Flame

Episode 7 of Snowpiercer season 4 starts 3 years back, with Captain Milius believing that loyalty is the connective tissue keeping everything in check. When he betrays the then-Admiral, deciding to conduct experiments behind the company’s back, he’s reprimanded for it. In fact, he’s relieved of his duties and warned that if he betrays her again, he’s going to be court marshalled.

Milius spirals, and he sabotages everyone in the lab, dispersing that toxic gas into the atmosphere. He double-crosses everyone, and works alongside Nima to try and “save humanity”. In reality, he actually kills his own wife who was in the lab at the time and the one who betrayed him. This is why he’s so cold and ruthless, and he shows it here, as he throws his wedding ring in the bin.

Back in the present, Mel returns to the lab after doing her work out in the field. The Admiral is there and she wants to test their new numbers to make sure everything is safe. However, she’s unaware of everything that’s transpired, along with how Wilford and Layton are on the lower levels working to try and fix the lift.

When the group hear rappelling ropes down, it’s clear that the soldiers are en-route. Layton believes they should pick them off one at a time like fish in the barrel, controlling the doors and leading them to their death. This works pretty well, while Wilford hooks up a large speaker to amplify noise levels and incapacitate the guards long enough to set off explosives at the exits.

Meanwhile, over at New Eden, Osweiller shows off one of the bombs he’s found at Whiggins’ camp. It’s clear they’re connected in a chain with a receiver on one end. The people are getting angsty and word has already got out about this. However, Till manages to radio through as a glimmer of hope.

They’re on their way back but they haven’t swept the bridge or the route back in, so Big Alice is forced to an abrupt stop. When they find out about the bombs, the little happy reunion is cut short as everybody tries to work out what move to make next.

Mel quickly realizes Alex is in the facility and confronts Nima about it. Now, it turns out Wilford and Milius sent her away on an atmosphere check simply to buy them time to get Big Alice in. He claims he doesn’t know why they need the train back, but it doesn’t take long for her to learn Alex is on the decommissioned floor. She takes Nima’s wristband and rushes off.

As she heads down the stairs, she ends up running into Layton and Wilford. The trio talk, with Wilford waving off the Admiral’s plan and simply calling him a madman. Mel didn’t know about Liana, as it turns out, but Wilford points out that she’s on floor 17, in the infirmary. Josie is also there too. After disclosing this info, Wilford decides to confront the Admiral about his double-cross..

Layton finds Josie, who reveals Headwood has Liana. She races off and finds the doctor, and after an impassioned speech,  actually hands the babe over without a fuss. However, it would appear that Liana had an IV attached to her…but why?

As for Wilford, he tells all the guards inside the control room that Layton and Melanie are not allowed to board the train no matter what. However, the Admiral happens to be right behind him. He takes Wilford down into the depths of the facility and watches as he freezes to death.

Only, it turns out this was his plan all along. Given the Admiral is alone, and not flanked by guards for some reason, he turns his back on Wilford while his hands are freezing… and has his breathing tube ripped out from his helmet. After a little monologue, he kills the Admiral outright and takes control of the facility.

Mel and Alex reunite and the former is shocked when she finds out what’s been happening to those from the Snowpiercer. Her world crumbles when she finds out Ben is dead. Everybody gathers together, but there’s a problem. Wilford has new rules, and demands that he be onboard this train.

Nima though, of all people, decides that although the Admiral is gone, they shouldn’t abandon his plan. Mel steps up and takes charge of Snowpiercer, demanding Nima stand down. However, she doesn’t trust him and has Alex go and secure the engine.

When Alex leaves, Mel reveals the bad news. It turns out she has new data, alongside Alex’s, and their Gemini is not ready to launch just yet. There are higher levels of radiation than when the ozone layer was destroyed.

Gemini doesn’t just counteract CW-7, it also erodes the atmosphere too. Oxygen levels deplete and in fact, they’d all die if it is released. Nima refuses to believe the truth and the pair go back and forth on the matter. Nima eventually snaps and points out he’s been working on this for 15 years and doesn’t want to be wrong. However, the freeze only happened 9 years back.

Through all of this, Layton and Wilford come face to face once more. When he finds out Wilford has come in from the outside, he realizes that he used Josie and Liana all this time.

With a gun pointed to him, and Wilford facing the end, he decides to smoke one final cigar but it’s laced with poison. As he passes out (you can never write this guy off, right?), Layton realizes that they should have been keeping a better eye on Nima, who was the one who actually launched CW-7 in the first place and froze the world. But why?

Over at New Eden, the gang find bombs attached to the tracks and Javi clears the way, believing he can disarm it himself by freezing it. When he removes it from the track, we cut inside the train and hear an explosion outside.

Unfortunately, things go from bad to worse for our characters. Not only does Melanie get knocked out with gas by Nima, but Layton and Josie are disconnected from the main train and left on their own with nowhere to go.

The Episode Review

Everything is really starting to pick up in a big way now as we move into the business end of this final season. Nima double-crossing everyone and going ahead with this plan is an interesting twist, especially as it plays into Wilford’s sin speech about pride.

Wilford’s pride has always been his train and securing that no matter the cost. As for Nima, his pride stems from his research and making sure this remains with him and the plan goes ahead no matter what. Its a nice way of tying everything together, and the manner at which the Admiral is killed also plays into this too, given his pride surrounding killing Layton on his own and having the satisfaction of watching him freeze. Which obviously backfired.

Understanding that Nima was the one who set off the CW-7 chain of events in the first place is a big shocker, but it remains to be seen exactly why he did this (unless I’m missing something) and why he’d destroy the world in this manner. Hopefully we get some answers in the episodes ahead but Snowpiercer has been an enjoyable watch so far and this episode is no exception.