Warning: SPOILERS for Snowpiercer Season 3, Episode 8 - "Setting Itself Right"
Asha (Archie Panjabi) shockingly died in Snowpiercer season 3, episode 8, just as the resurrection of another character thought dead was teased. Snowpiercer was already reeling from the bombshell Mr. Wilford (Sean Bean) dropped that Melanie Cavill (Jennifer Connelly) may still be alive. Looking for Melanie meant diverting course from Snowpiercer finding New Eden, the warm spot on Earth that Andre Layton (Daveed Diggs) realized he made up. However, Snowpiercer encountered a corrosive and toxic volcanic cloud that could have killed everyone aboard had Asha not tragically sacrificed herself to save the Great Ark Train.
Asha was introduced in Snowpiercer season 3's premiere and the fact that she survived alone in a Korean nuclear plant for years was already unbelievable. Layton inadvertently fought Asha when they met and his oxygen deprivation coupled with seeing a photo of a dragon blood tree on a calendar led to Andre believing he had seen a "vision" of New Eden. Layton brought Asha aboard Snowpiercer and she counted herself as part of his inner circle. However, Asha was clearly suffering from trauma and had difficulty adjusting to life among the passengers of Snowpiercer. Yet Asha agreed to support Layton's lie about his New Eden vision by claiming Andre found her there. Asha was just beginning to find a role for herself as part of Snowpiercer's Ag-Sec farming group when she gave up her life to save the train.
Asha's quick death where she didn't even finish out all of Snowpiercer season 3 was definitely a surprise but it's also a waste of a character who was just starting to get interesting. Asha was a compelling study of someone suffering from extreme trauma but, unfortunately, she was quickly relegated to a background character in spite of Snowpiercer's coup of casting an actor the caliber of Archie Panjabi. At least Asha did get to have some touching moments like attending a dance party in the Night Car, which is now run by the married L.J. Folger (Annalise Basso) and John Osweiller (Sam Otto). Asha's sacrifice was also noble; there's no better way to exit Snowpiercer than by heroically saving the train, but it's still a case of audiences hardly getting to know Asha before she was killed off.
Meanwhile, Snowpiercer teased another dead character who isn't dead after all. Dr. Headwood (Sakina Jaffrey) is secretly experimenting on an unidentified male character in Headwood Labs, and she took a skin graft from L.J. as part of her treatment of the mystery man. Dr. Headwood's patient could possibly be her late husband, Dr. Headwood (Damian Young), who died of influenza during the six-month time jump between Snowpiercer seasons 2 and 3. It would make perfect sense that Dr. Headwood would attempt to resurrect her beloved husband if this is the case. However, the visible hand of Dr. Headwood's secret patient is suffering from severe frostbite, but perhaps this is because Mrs. Dr. Headwood is giving her husband cold immunity like Josie Wellstead (Katie McGuinness) and Layton's infant daughter Liana.
Snowpiercer has resurrected several dead characters - including Melanie Cavill, it seems - so it's not a surprise that yet another one is coming back from the beyond. There's even a chance Asha could come back to life, although her death appears to be definitive. Hopefully, Snowpiercer's character comeback won't be Kevin McMahon (Tom Lipinsky), who already cheated death once. Still, Snowpiercer just traded the life of season 3's most interesting new character to tease bringing back two familiar ones in Melanie and Dr. Headwood's patient. It's also a shame that Asha died before she even got to meet Melanie Cavill so that Archie Panjabi could share scenes with Jennifer Connelly.
Snowpiercer airs Mondays @ 9pm on TNT.