Snowpiercer Season 3 Episode 8 review: Snowpiercer bids adieu to Asha

3/5

Story: Asha, the nuclear plant scientist that Layton rescued early on in the season, is finally finding her groove aboard Snowpiercer. Turns out, she’s got quite the green thumb and she’s making the most of it in the train’s Ag-section (Agriculture). Wilford’s theory that something or someone is moving on a track section close to where he abandoned Melanie has Snowpiercer set course for said destination to see if it is really her. Along the way, though, they run into trouble – kilometres and kilometres of track shrouded in poisonous volcanic gas. Shouldn’t be a problem if everything aboard the train functions the way it is meant to be, but then that is rarely ever the case, right? So, when a leak of the volcanic gas threatens the destruction of everything in ag-sec and poultry, human intervention is required. Can they get the job done though?

Review: The big surprise of Season 3, apart from the reunion of the runaway pirate train and the rest of Snowpiercer, was that Layton and co had found a survivor – one who would let him push his case to set course for New Eden, somewhere in the Horn of Africa, where he believes humanity stands a chance at recolonizing the earth. Layton’s firm belief stemmed from a ‘vision’ he had while in the basement of the nuclear plant he found Asha at. Turns out, his vision was nothing but a glimpse of a calendar in her bunker. There’s no New Eden out there, which, only a handful aboard the train know, as of now. It will, of course, become public info in due course of time, but until then, there’s got to be some new drama aboard the train, right?

First, we had Melanie Cavill’s iron-fisted operation of life aboard Snowpiercer in Season 1, then there was a change of guard in Season 2 when Mr Wilford caught up with his runaway train on the 40-car supply train, Big Alice. Season 2 was also when after over seven years aboard the train, Melanie realized that there may be scientific data to prove that the earth is actually warming up. She’d need to head out to a scientific research centre to confirm this though, so, off she went, and Wilford wasted no time in showing that his reign would be even worse. He also left her to perish out in the cold at the end of the month of research by not letting Snowpiercer slow down to pick her up, forcing Layton, Ben, Till and Alex to take off with a few cars in the hope of finding Melanie before it is too late.

With only two episodes left in season 3, Snowpiercer is finally the closest it has ever been to finding Melanie, well, presumably her. Something or someone has been moving on the tracks along the section where she’d been abandoned and Wilford’s theory is that it could be her. Of course, the one’s in charge of Snowpiercer jump at the prospect of finding Melanie and head off in the direction of this ‘movement on the track’. But just as they change course, Snowpiercer runs into a massive cloud of poisonous volcanic gas. The great engineer that he is, Wilford had, apparently factored all of this into the design of his train, so, all should go well, provided everything works the way it ought to. But then an emergency presents itself, which requires human intervention, and at the end of it, Asha sacrifices herself for the greater good of the train.

It just felt like a waste of time given how invested the story seemed in the survivor of the freeze, only to have it all end in a flash. It would have been interesting to see the dynamic between Asha and Melanie (if it is really her out there); but alas, that’s not to be. The question now, of course, is why Wilford is suddenly so interested in having Melanie back on board. Guess we’ll find out soon.

Verdict: Sad as it was to see the last of Asha, with Wilford back in action, it appears there will be more power struggles aboard Snowpiercer as long as it continues to plough through those icy tracks.