Snowpiercer: In defense of Melanie Cavill

Melanie tries to put humanity first on Snowpiercer Season 1

It’s not easy defending a murderer. But what if murder is good for the whole of humanity? I do think Melanie did something bad in order to protect the human race on Snowpiercer Season 1.

During Episode 8, she explained why she committed mutiny. She shared that she left Mr. Wilford on the platform when Snowpiercer took off, because Wilford was only in the train for himself. He didn’t care about saving humanity. It was all about him and the luxuries for the rest of his life.

Melanie knew that everything had to live in a delicate balance. And it sounds like over the years, there have been issues with that balance. Smoked salmon is no longer possible because they ran out of woodchips, and we know that all cattle have now gone. It puts strain in places that should never have been a problem.

But Melanie constantly thinks about ways to deal with things. She wants people to survive.

She could have cut off the Tail

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After the incident with the cows all dying off, Melanie needed to find a way to save power. The train needed the cow’s methane but now would have to run of other types of power; power that wasn’t as good.

There was the suggestion of cutting off the Tail. That would allow for more food for others. It would offer a chance to conserve power instead of heating the back of the train or providing light.

But it would have also meant killing off hundreds of humans. Sure, they didn’t have tickets for the train. They weren’t even providing a service like Third. Yet, Melanie couldn’t consider killing so many people. She needed to save as many humans as possible, so she found a way to keep the Tail.

She wants hope for the future

Deep down, Melanie knows that the train isn’t going to last forever. With that, she’s putting a plan together with the hope that the human race can survive in the future. That’s what the drawers are for.

She’s marking people of different races, jobs, and classes. She wants to keep the diversity of humanity.

While she wants to keep the class system on the train, it’s mainly because she knows that this can work. Everyone has a part to play, whether it’s the money they put into building the train or the work they do on the train. She doesn’t see a socialist society working and fears is could bring a premature end to the human race.

Everything she’s done has been for the people. It may not seem like it, and part of her may have been on a power trip after a while, but she does want everyone to survive if they can. And it’s going to mean some difficult decisions coming up.

What do you think about Melanie’s actions on Snowpiercer? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Snowpiercer’s finale airs on Sunday starting at 9/8c on TNT.