Castlevania Season 3 review

I remember when Castlevania season 3 hit last year, I didn’t know what to think. Season 2’s ending was quite a bit different than what was expected and it left the doorway open to various possibilities. Whatever would be in the third season would escape any possible confines of the games, tangentially only using concepts from Curse of Darkness. What ultimately resulted is something of a mixed bag, but we’ll get to that in due time.

The third season can largely be broken up into four main areas, picking right up about a month or so after season 2’s ending.

Firstly, there’s Alucard, who continues to take care of the Castle but is plagued by loneliness and is sorta even going batty, at one point talking to makeshift Sypha and Trevor dolls. This situation changes with the introduction of Taka and Sumi (Toru Uchikado & Rila Fukushima)

These two are vampire hunters hailing from Japan who were enslaved to Cho, the Japanese vampire from last season you probably forgot about. When Cho left for Europe, the two hunters killed Cho’s thralls and freed many others. They’ve traveled all this way hoping to learn more from the tragic prince. Although Cho is now dead, the fact remains that vampires continue to be a threat, and her demise will create a power vacuum. Intrigued, in need of companionship, and in charge of both the knowledge of the Belmonts and Dracula, Alucard accepts them as students in hopes of creating a new generation of hunters.

And boy does this not go anywhere worth a damn. It really feels like Alucard has a story because he’s popular, not because they actually had anything for him to do. Taka and Sumi are bland as fuck and do not add anything. We get a playful training sequence, the two pressing bizarrely hard on why they’re barred from certain rooms of the Castle, acknowledgment between the two that Alucard must be lonely and wanting to keep them around.

But the most infamous part is an out-of-goddamn nowhere threesome which starts off fine but turns to the two binding Alucard for information, but not in a sexy way. Well, I guess you could call it erotic violence.

The two seemingly want control of the castle with grandiose visions of their own Empire. Of course, Alucard has a magical sword, so it doesn’t end well for the two power-hungry hunters, and that’s pretty much it. Everything about this is so bizarre and misplaced. Not helping matters is that this does not at all mesh with the other goings-on in terms of pacing. What occurs in the other three tales feels like days or weeks, but whenever we cut back to Alucard, it barely feels like a day has passed since we last spent time with him. How they stretched this out until the last episode with so little depth is anyone’s guess. The only thing gained from this is Alucard shunning off outsiders...which isn’t far off from where season 2 left off anyway, just a bit more extreme.

A completely fair criticism that gets lobbied against this season is that the cynicism is cranked to 11, and while that’s mostly applied to the next part I’ll be discussing, I’m going to go out on a limb and say Alucard’s is truly unnecessary. There is no narrative justification for any of this and is just thoroughly unpleasant for no reason. It’s a shame too because Alucard passing down knowledge to a new generation of vampire hunters is something I do like the idea of. Maybe that’s something they could revisit down the line. Eric got the Alucard spear somehow.

But this? Alucard’s entire story should have been cut. His narrative is hot glued to the side of this narrative contraption and the time he takes up should have been spent elsewhere.

Secondly, there’s Carmilla and her forces along with her three sisters: Morana- the strategist, Striga- the military commander, and Lenore- the diplomat. (Yasmine Al Massri, Ivana Miličević, and Jessica Findlay)

Carmilla’s grand scheme is to take over a weakened Eastern Europe to ensure a flow of sustenance with human livestock. However, attempted campaigns in the West have weakened her forces severely. Hector is still in her clutches and provides endless possibilities for rebuilding an army as a forge master, but is in dire condition, kept naked in frigid conditions and fed only moldy bread. His current state, along with monsters being loyal to their forge master, exudes a bit of a dilemma. This leads to Lenore focusing her efforts on seducing Hector, first by offering quality food and kindness.

But this isn't as straightforward a process as it initially appears. Hector isn’t taken for a fool and isn’t trusting of Lenore, but his retaliation only results in a severe beating for the forger...and a blanket. The diplomatic mistress isn’t at all deterred and follows through once again with kindness the next day, bringing an apple in exchange for fairly simple questions. The routine continues on throughout the season, and this particular story has been...somewhat controversial for how unpleasant and disturbing the manipulation is. A lot of that comes down to the fact that Lenore’s ability to wiggle into Hector’s already fragile mind isn’t terribly unrealistic, nor does he have much of a choice being a prisoner.

There is that initial conflict present, of course. But nonetheless, Hector’s life does slowly see improvements from the food and eventual clothing Lenore provides. Lenore goes on to point out that Hector never really had any clue of Dracula’s true intentions, while at the same time reinforcing the idea that Carmilla is at the very least honest in her endeavors. This continues with Hector eventually being allowed on walks with Lenore, albeit while leashed like an animal. He gains a new larger cell with improved bedding and a desk with some books relating to vampire culture. Sexual tension also forms between the two, Lenore moving her face and lips close to Hector’s own, referring to him as a “Good boy”.

Eventually, you see a sense of trust as Lenore begins asking Hector for permission to visit- even though it’s irrelevant given him being held captive and all. But it gives a sense of normalcy and respect which aids in putting Hector at ease, and it makes it all the worse when Lenore does outright fuck him in all the ways, including binding him with a cursed ring that enslaves him.

I honestly don't have an issue with this story. Yes it’s creepy, manipulative, abusive, and fucked up… but it’s supposed to be. Manipulation and a false sense of security is Vampire 101. Granted, I’m not going to say you shouldn’t be bothered, everyone has their own thresholds and all that. But I just don’t see this being that much different than any other instance of a vampire enslaving someone, just a lot more detailed and roundabout in the method. It's well told and seeing it unfold is fascinating, perhaps even more so knowing that it's not going to end well.

Now from a meta standpoint, given all the things that came out with Ellis (Allegedly). Yeahhhh that’s a whole other can of worms and there’s really no way to separate that being in the back of one's head. It makes the fact that’s there are two major instances of sex being used to trick and abuse people have horribly grody real-world connotations, no matter how tangential.







The third tale is sort of a conspiracy plot and serves as the main event. Sypha and Trevor find themselves in a village, Lindenfeld, where things are considerably askew.

Among the town is a group of monks led by a man named Sala (Navid Negahban), all of whom have a strange penchant for Dracula and his cause and wish to destroy those responsible for his death, causing Trevor and Sypha to keep their heads down.

Unsurprisingly, a group of lunatics with runic armbands also causes concerns for the leader of the town, The Judge (Jason Isaacs), who eventually seeks the help of the two monster hunters. He fills them in on how a monster attack upon the village resulted in one of the beasts crashing into the Church, and after many strange lights, an eerie quiet. Ever since, the monks were changed, barring the townsfolk but accepting deranged outsiders who began wandering into the town. Most concerning is that pieces of the creature were removed from the church, but not enough for a full body.

Additionally, a strange man by the name of Saint Germain (Bill Nighy) seems to be aware of Trevor being a Belmont, as he was once a family friend, and recognizes the crest upon Trevor’s clothing. Germain has his own interest in the Monks and their priory, primarily because it contains a doorway to the infinite corridor which leads to many other worlds. Germain, who is, in reality, a powerful magician, lost a loved one within the strange realm and he seeks to reunite with them.


After a while, the trio converges. Germain having gained limited entry to the priory due to his academic knowledge and assistance with the church’s many books, but further investigation into the basement is hindered.

Trevor and Sypha- mostly Sypha, perform their own investigation. Sypha’s keen eyes catch that the monks are armed and (along with Germain) notice that the armbands are an alchemical symbol for sulfur or hell. Furthermore, strange symbols begin appearing around town carved into buildings, posts, houses, and more. Sypha understands the symbolic representations, none of them good. But the exact purpose is unknown.

Eventually, enough Monks are out of the church for Germain to sneak into the basement and discover that indeed the monster, referred to simply as “The Visitor” is still present, but crucified to the wall. Its blood is collected in a sulfuric rune. Meanwhile, Trevor and Sypha catch a monk defacing a house with their strange carvings. Capturing the unholy man for interrogation doesn’t reveal much outside of the fact that the majority of the cult has left Lindenfeld to spread their demonic gospel. The silver lining is that this means there are very few cultists left and the Judge can ready his men, leading into the finale.

There isn’t really much to discuss here since it’s mostly one large action beat as everyone assaults the Chuch- and it’s a damn good one at that. But the story elements are fairly simple. All the buildings which had runes carved into them burst into flames, and since this was at night when most people were in their homes, a large chunk of the populous dies in the blaze. Their souls are collected by the Visitor to control the infinite corridor and open a gateway to hell to revive Dracula. Saint Germain attempts to gain control for himself, but it’s to no avail. He eventually strikes upon the idea of simply controlling the beast itself, which works and prevents Dracula's resurrection. The corridor switches to a place more familiar to Germain, who thanks both Sypha and Trevor before departing into the mysterious realm, leaving them to finish off the remaining creatures.

Oddly enough, despite the conspiracy angle and the mysteries surrounding both Germain and the cultists, this is one of the most straightforward and I believe the best of all the stories this season. For as simple as it is, they manage to draw it out across 10 episodes without it ever overstaying its welcome or feeling padded out. The cutting back and forth between all the other stories surely helps in that regard, but there is enough revealed here in a well-paced manner that simply works from start to finish, arguably obtaining the best balance of any story within the first three seasons.

Saint Germain in particular was a nice surprise. It helps that the character wasn’t much of anything in the one game he appears in, which makes him easily malleable into this odd somewhat pompous fellow who is clearly putting on a charade to hide his true self and motives. The man can’t help but make references to various out-of-place- and out of time- concepts and objects, which aids in still making him seem bizarre to the cast, but also remarkably well-informed to the audience. This is even seen with his attire which is more renaissance than contemporary.
They also do a fairly decent job hooking the audience with a few tidbits here and there in flashbacks/dreams, yet never revealing too much about him as to keep up his mysterious aura.

If I do have one minor criticism of this specific chronicle it’s that after all the fighting is over and the demons are slain, Trevor and Sypha discover that the Judge (who was killed by Sala who subsequently also died) was a child killer. This isn’t out of nowhere, there are many obvious hints to this throughout the season. But it does feel like the main point is to give one last gut-punch to Sypha. For most of this season, she has been wide-eyed and plucky, a source of joy amid all the cynicism. She’s not ignorant to the serious nature of what is happening, she’s just happy to help. But in the end, most of the village is dead, and the person she and Trevor helped was a monster. I don't think it's entirely pointless, and we'll come to see Season 4 play with Sypha's apprehension going forward. But it still definitely feels like Ellis flaunting that cynical edge just because.

But, despite this being the finale for this season, there is still one more story we haven't talked about, and that is Isaac.

Isaac is hellbent on getting revenge against Hector and is still stranded far away. Most of his journey is spent getting from one place to the next while building an army to take on Carmilla, all while searching for a transmission mirror. It is not very interesting. When I first watched this season, I couldn't figure out if Alucard's or Isaac's story was the weakest. Alucard’s serves no purpose and is tacked on, whereas Isaac’s feels like they had an endpoint in mind but not much in between.

In theory, Isaac’s travels are meant to represent a conflict of his own hateful cynical desires and outlook upon the world by interacting with generally good-natured and kind-hearted people, or at least those kind to him. This is mostly seen when he’s sailing across the sea, the Captain of the vessel he’s upon has a philosophical discussion with him about the nature of humanity and if Isaac’s abilities could instead be used to improve it.

This is an interesting idea, and to their credit, Isaac and the Captain do engage in some enjoyable banter in addition to those philosophical viewpoints, which will have payoff next season. But overall, Isaac’s story this season doesn’t work primarily because he is so single-minded and blinded by hate that he’s never shown to not interpret any sort of confrontation as anything but the ugliness of humanity... while he has an army of gore covered monsters by his side. The dude just can’t understand people taking umbrage with that. I’m not kidding when I say half of his interactions are: Meets nice fellow that gives him pause, shortly afterwards a group of soldiers take issue with the monster army he brought into town, Isaac lapses into hating (and killing)  everyone again, then repeat once again. This isn’t Nightbreed, that angle doesn’t work here and frankly, it’s flat-out stupid. There are much better ways to give a character conflicting emotions or have characters be jerks to them. What’s frustrating is they come close. Just over halfway through the series, Isaac converses with one of the more intelligent of his creations, a fly creature who remembers his human life in Athens.

He was a philosopher who was condemned after the state religion became Christianity. He sold out others to preserve his own life, but in the end, he was killed anyway and condemned to Hell for his actions that resulted in the deaths of many more.

Moments like that work much better for giving Isaac cause to remain apprehensive, questioning what is truly right in a mad world. They just come too late and too few.
Thematically, Isaac’s struggle between the good and ill of humanity and his entire worldview is a good direction- the execution is wrong and nonsensical.

Any sort of nuance with his character is mostly tossed out the window in this scenario, resulting in just a maniac in a script that seems to think he’s deep. Compounding these issues is that in contrast to the other three narratives, Isaac is in a constant state of travel and therefore has almost no consistent cast interactions. I will say he runs into characters more interesting than Sumi and Yaka in Alucard’s story; The Captain, FlysEyes, and even an elder Devil Forger voiced by the great Barbara Steele. But again, these are fleeting, if enjoyable moments.

The only other interesting occurrence in Isaac’s story is during the finale when in his search for a transmission mirror, he assaults an entire town full of enslaved people by a mad magician. I’d go as far as saying it’s one of the best action scenes with some truly captivating presentation. I just wish there was more satisfaction from his story than just set up for the next season.







Now after all that, you’re probably thinking “Wow, that’s a lot of characters and four separate storylines that don’t ever converge for a 10 episode series” and you’re right. The grand crux of season 3 is that there’s too much going on...and yet not enough. Episodes typically perform a juggling act between the four storylines, usually featuring two or three in any given episode. To put it bluntly, it doesn’t work all the time. Don’t get me wrong, it’s often well-paced and edited quite brilliantly. But the fact of the matter is it’s still too much in the grander scheme of things. It’s not infuriating, as the overall short nature and binge format does help in this regard, but it also means there less breathing room which could have circumvented some of the issues I have. It’s just disappointing.

Sypha, Trevor, and Germain certainly have the most intriguing of all the tales and it’s the most fleshed out. The mystery goes in a sensible direction and watching it unfold is a delight, if incredibly obvious. (Thank god this dropped all at once, lest a studio mandate randomly change the ending because of fan speculation) Carmilla’s section becomes engaging as Lenore’s seduction of Hector progresses, although your mileage may vary on that. Failing that, I don't think your other options will so much for you.
This doesn’t mean Season 3 is bad, but it is certainly rougher than one would hope. However, I will say season 3 is a lot more engaging than 2 was. 2 felt stretched very thin, clamoring to fill an episode quota which resulted in the three main heroes spending a majority of their screen time in a goddamn library. This season at least contains a variety of scenery and actual occurrences...even if two of those narratives leave you wanting more than is offered.

Despite those problems, there are still qualities to Ellis’ writing. As with prior seasons, the dialogue is often funny and snappy, at times even clever. Some lines, along with the excellent voice work, can in fact do wonders for the shortcomings in earlier scenes. Be it The Captain (voiced by Lance Riddick) providing a quick sensible retort to Isaac, or Saint Germain calling Trevor the Jesus of murder or some other outlandish denomination. Small character moments between Sypha and Trevor are also some of the most ridiculously adorable bits that help alleviate the otherwise dour tone.

Striga and Morana aren't too shabby either. They have a limited presence, but one which gives just enough for me to enjoy their addition and want to see more of them.

There’s also a central running theme to all the stories that tie together wonderfully, that being the importance of connections and/or the crushing reality of betrayal. Be it Sypha and Trevor, or Saint Germain and his lost love, Alucard and both his desire and need for companionship, Isaac’s turmoil with others yet in need of help, and even the twisted nature of Lenore needing Hector if nothing more than as a tool.

If I do give any additional commendations to the show, it’s that the animation is the best it has ever been. Battles are more fluid, dynamic, and play well to the strengths of each character, Sypha especially. They had a lot of fun with her power combinations, floating across ice platforms, flying up in the air, or icing a floor and rocketing across it like freaking Iceman. It blows anything in season 2 out of the water.

Trevor, and surprisingly, Isaac, each gets a big action moment as well. Trevor even does the flame whip.

Hell, despite my issues with Alucard and Isaac having back burner plots, the final episode is edited in a fascinatingly frantic flurry of sex and death by jumping between all four plots, which is impressive regardless of the narrative shortcomings.

The overall creature designs are also far superior to prior seasons. There’s both a nice diversity among the lineup and quite a lot more color. Black and Grey with glowing blue eyes is no longer the predominant aesthetic. There are even some more cameos from various game creatures like Legion (Or an allusion to) and even Malachi.

Season 3 is something I'm quite conflicted over. The show is undeniably the best the series has ever been up to that point. There are major improvements to the show overall and I enjoyed my time with it. There's nothing particularly so egregious that I would avoid watching it. But for as much as there is I do enjoy about season 3, I also have enough complaints to where I only enjoy about half of it. It's hard to say that if I were to ever come back to season three that I wouldn't be skipping through a few segments- particularly Alucard's.



But we're not done with the series yet. Next time I’ll be continuing on with Castlevania with the fourth and final season.



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