What is Alex's plan back in New Eden in Snowpiercer?

Alex continues to seem to play both sides in Snowpiercer, and it’s hard to tell which side her loyalty lies. It looks like she may have a plan up her sleeve, though.

Caution: This post contains SPOILERS for Snowpiercer Season 4, Episode 8.

We worried about Alex’s fate after Melanie was gassed at the end of Snowpiercer Season 4, Episode 7. We picked up in Episode 8 to find that Alex was in the Engine and taking over. The Animal Squad member in there allowed her to do the job. After all, she is the only Engineer to be able to drive the train at this point.

Alex isn’t afraid to ask questions, and she will read between the lines. She knows manipulation tactics thanks to Wilford, and she has already seen how Nima explains things when he is trying to hide the truth. So, it didn’t take long for her to figure out that he wasn’t telling her the truth about Melanie. She’s just smart enough not to call him out.

Would Alex really destroy New Eden in Snowpiercer?

It even looked like Alex was willing to work with Nima. She found out what he really wanted, which is to set off his chemical to save the world that he had frozen. He needs Big Alice to do that, which seems to be the real reason Milius wanted that train.

Getting Big Alice means destroying New Eden. Could it be that he and the Animal Squad see burying the town in an avalanche as the more humane thing to do for New Eden’s population? Once Big Alice is taken, the town can’t survive and would die a slow death.

Whatever the reason for the planned avalanche, it looks like Alex is on board with the idea of taking Big Alice. Would she do that, though? Is she really willing to operate the track switch to get Big Alice? It seems a little off for Alex’s character considering the friendships that she has made. Sure, she’s science before friends, but she also wants humanity to survive. How can humanity survive when some of the best of them (like Ruth and Roach) have been left to freeze?

It's more likely that Alex has some sort of plan up her sleeve. At the end of Episode 8, she didn’t want Wolf following her into the room with the track switch. It suggests that she plans on doing damage rather than taking Big Alice.

This would make sense. Nima made it clear that Melanie’s schematics suggest waiting a little longer to perfect Gemini. Hearing that, Alex knows that Nima’s Gemini as it is right now is likely to cause far more damage than hope, so she’ll want to find a way to make sure Melanie’s suggestions are put in place. The best way to do that is to destroy Big Alice’s chances of getting out and saving New Eden.