Alice in Borderland Season 3 Episode 3 Recap

Episode 3 of Alice in Borderland Season 3 deepens the chaos as the Zombie Hunt game fractures the human ranks. Ikeno emerges as the dominant voice for the humans, pressuring players to use Shotgun cards to kill Zombies rather than relying on the scarce Vaccine cards. But paranoia spreads as fast as the Zombie infection. Nobu, a boy ordered to take out one of the Zombies, is infected himself and hides away, fearful of Ikeno’s authoritarian control.

Ikeno believes outright execution is the fastest route to victory, but Arisu sees another way. He finds Nobu and plays against him while harboring a secret. Meanwhile, Rei and Ikeno face off. Rei, ever manipulative, warns that Zombie Cards will soon outnumber humans and tempts Ikeno with a deal to join their side. He refuses, sparing her life but causing another player, Masato, to die.

Later, Arisu plays against Rei. She argues that the Zombies will inevitably win—they multiply too quickly while humans tear each other apart. The supposed “trust barricade” strategy is revealed as nothing more than a façade. Rei confesses she intended to become a Zombie eventually, but Arisu surprises her by flipping a card that transforms her. It’s then revealed that Arisu has been a Zombie since the very beginning, concealing his status all along.

The infection spreads rapidly. Arisu turns Tetsu, the drugged player from the Sacred Fortunes game, while Nobu infects Mr. Kazuya in the final round. When the game ends, the results are decisive: 32 Zombies remain versus 13 Humans. The Humans are eliminated, and the victorious Zombies celebrate, electing to bring Rei with them as they move forward.

READ MORE: Alice in Borderland Season 3 Episode 2 Recap

READ MORE: Alice in Borderland Season 3 Episode 1 Recap & Review

Meanwhile, the focus shifts to Usagi. She had followed Ryuji in search of answers about her father, unaware that he was being manipulated by Banda. To enter the Borderlands, Banda coerced Ryuji into drugging Usagi, placing her in a comatose state so she would join the games. Now a pawn, Ryuji admits his fascination with Borderland and his long-held desire to witness it firsthand, even if it means endangering Usagi. She, however, remains reluctant, her thoughts consumed by her father’s memory.

Their next ordeal is the Runaway Train game. Players must travel through eight train cars and reach the front carriage to stop the driverless train. At each stop, the connecting doors lock, and after 30 seconds either oxygen or poison gas fills the car. Each player has five neutralizing canisters but can only use their own supply. They cannot backtrack, forcing them to push forward.

Each carriage also contains a canary in a cage, acting as a warning system. If the bird dies, poison has been released. The group wastes a canister in the first car, then confirms poison in the second. By the third carriage, they begin cooperating and manage to save resources. But another challenge emerges—other trains are running alongside them, suggesting multiple groups are playing at once.

The fourth car divides the team. One passenger theorizes that the pantographs above the carriages determine which cars release poison, and he’s proven correct when unmasked players die in agony. But in the next round, his theory collapses. The train model differs, revealing their previous survival was pure luck. With three cars left and only two canisters remaining, the group makes a fatal miscalculation, wasting another canister and leaving their survival on a knife’s edge.

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