In The Last Car, we see Stacy, a college student headed home for Thanksgiving break, visions of ham, turkey, family and boyfriend in her head, eager to get underway. She impatiently awaits her train, which finally (after what she described as feeling like it took "months") arrives, and she counts herself lucky to get a seat in the nearly empty "Last Car", after having to stand on previous trips due to the lack of seats.
She soon finds out, however, that all is not as it seems on the Last Car; a kind elderly lady comments how strange Stacy's "bracelet" is (hint: it's her watch), and a young boy keeps changing outfits (camouflage, football player, etc) without physically changing; a middle-aged man also has a box of sandwiches which is seemingly never-ending, including her request for some hummus. The real terror happens, however, when the train goes through tunnels - which the other three occupants of the Last Car clearly dread, but have resigned themselves to accept. In a Tunnel, dreamlike (in the nightmare sense) strangeness occurs; often horrifying strangeness. It becomes clear by the context of the episode that Stacy, along with her fellow passengers, is dead; how this happened is not explained, nor is she at first aware of it. That said, others have mentioned that they are in some form of Hell - but is that really the case? I debate this based upon the fact that the passengers show love and kindness to one another - not something that one will ever find in Hell. There are comforts offered - the man with his infinite sandwich box, always eager to offer something - and also the elderly lady, who knits a shawl to comfort Stacy, who complains how she finds it cold in the tunnels. So, not quite Hell, but definitely after death, in a place of long periods of tedium, followed by regular frightening passages through the Tunnels - but also a place with warmth and compassion between the short periods of horror. Many people have it worse on Earth.
She soon finds out, however, that all is not as it seems on the Last Car; a kind elderly lady comments how strange Stacy's "bracelet" is (hint: it's her watch), and a young boy keeps changing outfits (camouflage, football player, etc) without physically changing; a middle-aged man also has a box of sandwiches which is seemingly never-ending, including her request for some hummus. The real terror happens, however, when the train goes through tunnels - which the other three occupants of the Last Car clearly dread, but have resigned themselves to accept. In a Tunnel, dreamlike (in the nightmare sense) strangeness occurs; often horrifying strangeness. It becomes clear by the context of the episode that Stacy, along with her fellow passengers, is dead; how this happened is not explained, nor is she at first aware of it. That said, others have mentioned that they are in some form of Hell - but is that really the case? I debate this based upon the fact that the passengers show love and kindness to one another - not something that one will ever find in Hell. There are comforts offered - the man with his infinite sandwich box, always eager to offer something - and also the elderly lady, who knits a shawl to comfort Stacy, who complains how she finds it cold in the tunnels. So, not quite Hell, but definitely after death, in a place of long periods of tedium, followed by regular frightening passages through the Tunnels - but also a place with warmth and compassion between the short periods of horror. Many people have it worse on Earth.