This article contains spoilers about details of the plot, ending or both of this media. Proceed at your own risk.
Snakes in the Garden is the first episode of the fourth season of Snowpiercer. It is the thirty-first episode overall. The episode aired July 21st, 2024 on AMC+.
On July 8th, 2024 the episode was unexpectedly made available on a Belgian streaming service, without further comments from AMC.[1]
Synopsis[]
IMDB: Months after Snowpiercer and Big Alice parted ways, Till and Ben encounter unforeseen enemies when Melanie sends them off train on a reconnaissance mission. Meanwhile, the residents of New Eden face uncertain times and unknown adversaries.[2]
AMC+: The Snowpiercer crew marvel as a rocket shoots through the sky, crashing nearby. Melanie sends Till and Ben to investigate. Flash forward to nine months later, New Eden blooms.[3]
Intro[]
| “ | The end of our line... That's what I thought when the train split apart. Who knew we'd end up like this? Turns out, my mother was right. Before she passed on, she held my hand and said, "don't worry son, endings are just beginnings in disguise." This is a new beginning, a New Eden, filled with survivors looking for a second chance. No doubt the open sky's been a gift. But growing food, generating power, fighting unpredictable weather, it's been a struggle. Almost as hard as trying to make contact with our friends. Wondering if they're still alive out there, on Snowpiercer. 879 cars long. | ” |
| — Andre Layton | ||
Plot[]
Snowpiercer stops near the rocket that was launched and Bennett and Till go out with snowmobiles and sleds to investigate the rocket. After arriving at the crash site, Till conversates about how she spent the summer in middle school because she was afraid of being made fun of because of her braces as they collect sample parts from what's left of the rocket. As Ben checks the outside temperature and radiation levels and Till theorizes what caused it to crash, their radio connection with Snowpiercer' is interfered with. Ben then comes across a piece of the rocket with sprayed text that reads "DON'T RUN." At the same time, Till notices multiple survivors (soldiers of the International Peacekeeping Forces) getting up from the snow, realizing it's a trap. They start running back towards Snowpiercer shortly afterwards. From every EVA car the train is stormed by them, Till and Ben being taken hostages. Audrey happens to come across them, and their leader as he takes his helmet off. He introduces himself as Admiral Anton Milius from the International Peacekeeping Forces. He goes uptrain with Till and Ben, telling them they will be taking him to Melanie Cavill.
9 months later in New Eden, Layton rushes through the corridors of 3rd class cars to a couchette to re-unite a small bunny doll with Liana. Josie and Zarah are also there, both of which were looking after Liana while Layton was gone. Shortly afterwards, they leave for "work" and exit the line of 3rd class cars in the New Eden railyard and walk towards the "main street" of New Eden. Many people are at work, growing food and generating power. As they walk through the town, Zarah notices the greenhouse had grown blueberries, but at the same time Javi walks up to Layton and informs him about the transceiver glitch and the far relay being too close to the edge of the pocket. He thinks that they have got about 1 week before Snowpiercer reaches radio range and that the atmospheric conditions are not helping. He asks Josie to run diagnostics, check the heatline or move one of the relays. Josie complies and the group splits up to go to work, with Zarah heading to the clinic.
Layton and Ruth discuss about the plans for New Eden and the reconstruction of the old Trestle Bridge as they eat breakfast in the cafeteria (the former Mess Hall car of Big Alice). They are soon interrupted by Astrid, who informs Ruth that Sykes needs her in AG-SEC, "something about the irrigation in car 814." Ruth requests this to the "ever growing list of problems" to be discussed during that night's council meeting before leaving. Layton also leaves a little later and walks towards a shed below the Trestle Bridge, where residents are fixing the bridge. While helping with the repairs, Layton and Z-Wreck have a little conversation, the latter joking about everyone complaining when they have clean skies and open air. However, Boki and Oz suddenly get into a fight, with the former slicing the latter's hand. Layton breaks up the fight between them as they both blame each other.
After being told to do so by Layton, Oz gets his hand stitched up at the clinic (the former Headwood's Lab of Big Alice) by Zarah, with Dr. Headwood taking care of Liana. As Oz is stitched up, he questions why they're trying to reunite with Snowpiercer. Zarah, trying to be positive, brings up that Oz used to play piano in the Night Car, and that if Snowpiercer returns, he can play it again. Oz however simply thanks her for the stitches and leaves.
During the evening, the council meeting takes place between Layton, Ruth, Roche, Javi and Josie. They discuss a little about Alex's whereabouts and the strain on their limited resources, but Layton interrupts the meeting and with the other convices Ruth to have a game of poker with drinks for the evening as they have had not had one in a while. As they play poker, Ruth states that Snowpiercer coming into New Eden would be more problematic as they would have more shelters to build and more mouths to feed, but Layton says Snowpiercer comes with it's own resources. Roche then jokes that Javi isn't even paying attention, before the latter shortly winning the round and displaying his poker skills. Suddenly, the town is plunged into darkness as the power goes out. Javi leaves, walking towards the power station as rain pours down. He finds one of the cables disconnected from the station. After connecting it back and restoring power, he hears a rocks sliding behind him, as if someone is out there playing some sick joke. Later, before going to bed, Layton brings up the incident, joking about who would go behind town hall and trip over a cable.
The next morning, Javi hears a radio frequency. Thinking it's Snowpiercer, he tries to communicate, but he gets nothing other than glitchy static. He goes out to report this Alex. Back in the couchette, Layton and Zarah witness the first step Liana has taken. Meanwhile, Oz has some coffee in his tent up on the mountain, before starting to hear a voice. He gets out of his tent with a pipe wrench to investigate who's there, but he finds nobody. Javi arrives at Big Alice's Engine, where Alex has been investigating seismic data. When Javi tries to question Alex, she replies that she is too busy to talk. He still tries to talk Alex into it and eventually tells her that it's Snowpiercer, but Alex tells him to stick to science.
Later, after being told by Javi, Ruth rushes out to Layton and Josie to tell them about the news. Layton knows Snowpiercer can't come through if the bridge repairs aren't finished yet, but Josie insists the relay should be fixed first to tell Snowpiercer of their existence. After being requested by Ruth, she goes off to investigate if the relay is the reason they lost the signal. Layton then goes off to get Boki to investigate the next relay, which is 6-7 hours track away. At the bottom of the bridge, Layton asks Z-Wreck if he has seen Boki, and he replies that he didn't show up that morning, and neither did Oz. He walks away afterwards. Oz is spotted when he is at the main street buying bread by Zarah and she tells him to get the stitches redone after he had used that hand. Layton then arrives at the cafeteria and asks if anyone knew where they last saw Boki. Lights speaks up to Layton, telling her she just so happened to see him coming out of the engine with a "crate" heading towards the hills. He thanks Lights before walking off towards the engine to question Alex.
Meanwhile, Josie reaches the peak and the relay tower, to find it tipped over. She notices that the relay box was damaged from behind and looks around to see if anyone else was possibly there. She later brings it to the town hall and shows it to the council. Layton asks if Alex said anything to Javi relating to Boki, but he states that she talks to Mr. Sprinkles more than she does to him. After some more questions about Mr. Sprinkles, Layton gets back on topic and states his thoughts of this being a sabotage. Ruth simply leaves this to be something for the council meeting again and asks Javi if he can get the relay repaired with Josie's help, before having a private talk with Layton.
Meanwhile, Dr. Headwood heads out of the clinic, telling Zarah she'll be back by afternoon, telling her Boki needs another skin treatment. Zarah is clueless to Headwood's actual reasoning and informs her Oz never came back to get his hand stitched again. Headwood simply tells her she's a kind soul and leaves.
Layton theorizes this isn't protesters, but it's someone testing how the council will respond. Ruth emphasizes Layton regrets stepping down, but Layton disagrees thanks to Liana. After both having a drink, Layton goes off to ask Alex if she can tell where Boki is. After arriving at the engine, Layton tells her that he had missed her sarcastically as she had not showed up to the last 4 council meetings, with Alex using the excuse of being busy and that she does not have time to play card games. She mentions that Melanie said big minds should solve big problems, and Layton jokingly asks if her pet bird is one. Alex tells him that Mr. Sprinkles is a dedicated scientific collabrator and asks him how he knew about the bird and if he saw Boki with the bird. Layton tells her he had wished he would. Alex tells him Boki will be back and he is not on an "errand" but is helping her gather data on magnetic fields, barometeric pressure and seizmic graphic readings around the edge of the pocket. She then shows Layton on the laptop that they're having small but real and concerning earthquakes and that she's trying to figure out if atmospheric corrosion is a corollary end of the earthquakes. Furthermore, she tells Layton that there's something missing that doesn't make sense. Layton agrees, telling her there is a lot of that going around.
Boki approaches near the end of a cliff around the edge of the pocket, before putting the box down. He then opens the box and pulls out Mr. Sprinkles from it, before releasing him up and into the sky. Josie, who is climbing back down the mountain from repairing the relay, notices Mr. Sprinkles as he flies and chirps. She then takes out binoculars and looks out towards something else which alarms her, and she rushes back down the mountain.
Meanwhile, Layton is returning from the engine towards main street when he hears something on the rails approaching. He turns around to see that it's a Track Scaler. Confused, he walks over and inspects the track scaler, before opening the door to see who's inside. To his shock, it's Audrey in rough shape. When he tries to question her, she is only strong enough to tell him that someone is coming. Layton grabs Audrey and starts carrying her.
Oz is alerted by Zarah when she arrives at his tent, but quickly calms down. While Zarah stitches Oz's hand back up, he questions her on why she's doing this. Zarah simply tells him she wanted to see how it's like to be an outsider, to be neglected. She tells him she can relate. Oz tells her he doesn't want to live on the train, that they've stopped. She tells him she wants to see her in the town hall to talk about Snowpiercer's return, but he thinks Snowpiercer is gone and that they're all dead. She questions Oz, him stating it was first whispers in the middle of the night but if she listened she could hear them. He thinks he knows who's responsible and that LJ won't stop following him, before stepping out of the tent. He says they're here and have come to haunt New Eden because they didn't build it, but Zarah is creeped out and leaves Oz by himself.
Ruth congratulates the colony of New Eden after the reconstruction of the bridge had finally concluded and the entire council for their gratitude. However, they are interrupted by Layton as he carries Audrey and plops her down on a table. Ruth immediately wants the room cleared, but just then the power goes out again. Layton then connects the dots together. He tells Ruth someone isn't coming, but rather they're already here. They've been here. He then panics and goes off to find Zarah. Meanwhile, before Zarah went off to stitch Oz's hand, Roche had come into the clinic to take care of Zarah untli she returned. He was still there until Dr. Headwood returned and the power cut off. Moments later, he is pistol whipped on the back of his head by Rat. Layton meets back up with Josie, who tells him she saw a snowcat, something which New Eden doesn't have. Layton confirms neither did Snowpiercer have any, and they run off into the clinic. They find nobody but an unconcious Roche and Liana's bunny doll.
Zarah is climbing back down the mountain towards the main street of New Eden, when she hears familiar baby crying. She recognizes that it's Liana and runs down the mountain, until she comes across Dr. Headwood and Rat. Headwood tries to assure Zarah there's nothing to be worried about and that Rat is a friend, but she isn't convinced. She wants her daughter back but Rat does not let her near Headwood. She struggles aganist Rat, trying to get Liana from Dr. Headwood. At the same time, a panicking Layton tells Ruth what has happened and that Josie is already searching the hills. He needs her to go to the clinic and heal Roche and volunteers to search the hills. Javi gets volunteers including Z-Wreck and Lights to guard the hills. In the clinic, Ruth finds Roche and Audrey, both unconcious, laying down on beds and looks after them.
Meanwhile, Josie continues her search until she comes across Boki. He tells her that she needs to come with him and hurry. He leads her to the bottom of a cliff, where lies Zarah. Josie, shocked by her condition, tries to talk to her, but she can barely muster up anything. She tells Josie that someone took Liana and to take care of her, assuming they will get her back, before stating she can't feel anything as her final words and tragically passes away. Shortly later, they show up with Zarah's body, where Layton runs over in horror. He asks where's Liana, so desparate to find her and get her back, but Josie heartbreakingly stops him and tells him it's too late and they've already gone.
Later, in one of the former tail cargo cars, Zarah's funeral is held with old tailie means, reflecting how the tail used to do their funerals. Layton and Josie sit down by Zarah's body, the former having let his hair down from a ponytail. He turns to Josie and tells her he's going to find out who took Liana and kill them, no matter what it takes.
Quotes[]
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Cast[]
Main Characters[]
- Daveed Diggs as Andre Layton
- Mickey Sumner as Bess Till
- Alison Wright as Ruth Wardell
- Iddo Goldberg as Bennett Knox
- Roberto Urbina as Javier De La Torre
- Rowan Blanchard as Alexandra Cavill
- Mike O'Malley as Sam Roche
- Katie McGuinness as Josie Wellstead
- Sam Otto as John Osweiller
- Clark Gregg as Anton Milius
Guest Starring[]
- Lena Hall as Miss Audrey
- Sheila Vand as Zarah Ferami
- Sakina Jaffrey as Dr. Headwood
- Aleks Paunovic as Bojan Boscovic
Co-Starring[]
- Fraser Aitcheson as Lion
- Hersel Andoh as Wolf
- Zara Antwi as Baby Liana
- Nowa Crawford as Rat
- Miranda Edwards as Lights
- Tommy Europe as Gazelle
- Greame Guthrie as Ace of Spades
- Jane McGregor as Astrid
- Emma Oliver as Winnie
- Kwasi Thomas as Z-Wreck
- Olga Zippa as Buffalo
Trivia[]
- This episode premiered early on AMC Plus, which is a common feature of the app for AMC shows.
- With this episode, both Miss Audrey and Zarah Ferami are downgraded to guest stars from main characters. LJ Folger, who died in The Original Sinners, has been removed entirely.
- The name of the episode isn't mentioned either in the opening monologue or anywhere in the script. Presumably, Snakes In the Garden refers to New Eden as the garden, and the International Peacekeeping Forces as the snakes who's threatening it.
- The fates several characters following the events of The Original Sinners is revealed:
- Ruth is leading New Eden with the help of a council consisting of Layton, Javi, Josie, Roche and Alex who is often absent.
- Josie has been regaining feeling, has continued her treatments with Mrs. Headwood and is in a relationship with Layton.
- Layton stepped down as leader in favor of a life with Josie and Liana and wears his hair in a ponytail rather than down. After Zarah's murder, he noticeably has returned to his old hairstyle.
- Alexandra Cavill has been using the Big Alice Engine to monitor strange seismic activity with the help of Boki and her pet bird, Mr. Sprinkles. She is also experiencing various nosebleeds.
- John Osweiller has become a recluse and a drunk who is convinced that everyone on Snowpiercer is dead and LJ's ghost is haunting him.
- Bojan Boscovic has regained the ability to speak and appears to have resumed a normal life. He is also aiding Alex in her research.
- Sykes is working in Ag-Sec.
- There are revealed to be more post-Freeze survivors, presumably military, with the International Peacekeeping Forces.
- Big Alice has been partially removed from the tracks and is being used as New Eden's housing. In addition, the residents have been repairing the Old Trestle Bridge in the hopes of reuniting with Snowpiercer.
- Layton resigning and forming the democratically elected New Eden Town Council is the fulfilment of his promise to call for democratic elections on Snowpiercer after the First Snowpiercer War, something that had been derailed by the arrival of Wilford and the need for Layton to declare martial law.
- Javi is revealed to be a talented poker player.
- It's confirmed that cars which were not taken apart are still referred to as by their numbers that would've been used if they were still in Snowpiercer's consist. There are a total of 150 train cars in New Eden, leaving Snowpiercer with 879 cars since the spilt of the trains in The Original Sinners.
- It's confirmed in the short while Oz worked in the Nightcar in Season 3, he sometimes played a piano, a talent that he had revealed in The Show Must Go On.
- The thumbnail for this episode on AMC+ (as of 7/21/2024) is not even from this season.
Body Count[]
- Zarah Ferami (Pushed off a cliff by Rat.)
See also[]