'Snowpiercer': Why ending the show with Season 4 was the right choice
Contains spoilers for 'Snowpiercer' Season 4
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Snowpiercer's journey began in 2020 on TNT. Jennifer Connelly and Daveed Diggs starrer post-apocalyptic series, based on the 2013 film of the same name, ran for three seasons on TNT until its switch to AMC+ for the fourth season.
'Snowpiercer' Season 4 premiered on AMC+ on July 21, pairing the lead cast members one last time to fight some old and some new villains. The fight for survival continues in this season too as the dangers ahead of them could be fatal for the entire planet. Despite the high-stakes drama this season, we are glad that the show is coming to an end.
'Snowpiercer' was on the verge of decline
'Snowpiercer' has had its successful run with three seasons and honestly, Season 4 felt a bit dragged. We had begun to feel the fatigue of this life on wheels. While it was interesting to see the passengers finding a warm spot in the first episode of Season 4, the introduction of new villains and a secret military bunker called Silo, only led to confusion.
The cast was spread out at four different locations- Silo, Snowpiercer, Big Alice and New Eden. And to be honest, it was tiring to keep track of chaos at all four locations all at once. If the show hadn't chosen to conclude this season, we may have quit it by ourselves.
We've seen numerous examples of shows that overstayed their welcome. 'Snowpiercer’ choosing to end before that happens is a sign of creative maturity.
'Snowpiercer' didn't know what to do with its villains
Joseph Wilford (Sean Bean) was the show's biggest villain until Admiral Milius and Nima arrived in the narrative this season. And once it happened, Wilford's place as a villain diminished. We were enjoying the entry of Clark Gregg as Milius, the formidable villain until the show messed up with how things ended for him. For a soldier such as him, he died quite easily and quickly without any solid action.
Even Joseph Wilford's end was too bizarre for a villain whose terror was spread across three seasons. And when a show doesn't know how to deal with the strongest characters, it's better to call it quits.
The protagonists of 'Snowpiercer' no longer captivated us
Daveed Diggs as Andre Layton and Jennifer Connelly as Melanie Cavill are the show's lead protagonists. It had become too tiring to watch them fighting against each other and then pairing up to fight common enemies. It had started to appear that the battles on the train would never end.
Despite Connelly being the star of the show, she would appear for an episode or two for the entire seasons while Diggs would get mixed up over one issue or the other on the train. And whatever interest we had left in both was killed off in Season 4. Connelly was absent for most episodes while Diggs became the most annoying character of the show. Ending ‘Snowpiercer’ at this juncture made sense, both narratively and creatively.
'Snowpiercer' Season 4 is available to stream on AMC+