Season 3 – well done for redeeming so much of what was
wrong with season 2. We had metaplot almost from the very beginning, that kept
raising its head on a regular basis. It added a structure to the whole series
that the last season missed. We had the regular daily task of artefact hunting,
which was really well done because it showed that even when they have extreme
things going on, they still had to keep doing the daily grind, they couldn’t
just stop artefact hunting.
By bringing in HG Wells again (who is an awesome and
nuanced and deep character that I love) they tied in a lot of season 2 and made
it a lot more pointful. They also built a lot on the previous season’s
character growth – especially with Claudia and, to a lesser extent, Pete. I
don’t think there was an episode that fell flat with me – and there were
several that were utterly must-watch TV. The plot was maintained, the pacing
was good with plenty of menacing foreshadowing, it was excellent, exciting,
emotional and tense viewing. And yes, it was menacing – and there was even a
sense of “anyone can die” which is really hard to do; you expect some people to
be untouchable, this show is challenging that.
And the world building was excellent – we saw so much
more of the previous warehouses, how the warehouse system worked and a greater
expansion of both the Guardians and the importance of the Regents and what they
mean (though I do rather think they’ve deviated a little from what the regents
were in the first season). It really expanded the world out and, as ever, the
artefacts were pretty well done, drawing on actual people and actual history.
We had some new characters with Steve and Regent Jane. I
loved Regent Jane, her relationship to Pete, her work with Myka and her friendship
with Mrs. Frederick. I really hope she becomes a regular character (albeit with
some reservations). Steve I liked when he appeared, though he was dogged by
some unfortunate commentary, he fit in a lot better than I imagined he would
with a new character parachuted into the team so late in the day
I am not happy with Myka’s character development, again.
In season 1 she was confident, capable, dogged with issued over her partner
dying, certainly, but still capable. Since then we seem to have developed her
by having her constantly beset with insecurity. Her leaving the warehouse, her
doubts and fears about her looks and high school reunion in season 2 and now
further doubts of her capacity as an agent (when, unquestionably, she is the
most capable of all of them), her capacity to do her old job let alone this one
and the constant need to shore her up and reassure her.
Inclusionwise, I have a lot of the same complaints. The
regular POC characters, Mrs. Frederick and Lena are still stuck playing
extremely minor roles. We have some diversity among the characters they meet,
but not many. The one heartening element is the diversity they have among the
regents, but even they are promoted to obscurity and rarely make an appearance.
And, as much as I love Regent Jane (and am resisting calling her Regent
Janeway) I suspect she’s there to replace Mrs. Frederick.
We finally got a gay character – which took them long
enough after 22 Episodes. And while I generally liked Steve, like Lena he’s
clearly secondary behind the big four, often disappearing and not appearing for
much… and when he did appear there always had to be something to make me sigh.
Claudia instantly put him in the “gay friend” box (and even used those lines).
Pete dropped his ridiculous jokes in, we even had one of the artefact users
drop comments about him not being married (why? Pete never has and he’s older).
I liked that him being gay wasn’t forgotten – but they could have used a better
method to remind us.
The big bad was also a disabled man – which is a fair
trope, especially since his evil was directly linked to his disability: he used
an artefact to allow him to walk again, but it also filled him with darkness.
I think you can tell that media – any media, books,
games, TV series – have been well done when they manage to convey emotional
impact. And the season finale of Season 3? Is like a kick in the gut. The
scenes were powerful, full of emotion and full of massive tension and really
heartfelt, painful goodbyes. It was heart wrenching television, sat-on-the-edge-of-your-seat
television, it was get-angry-and-scream-at-the-screen television. In short, it
was epic, brilliantly performed and guaranteed to make everyone hunger for
season 4. I’m glad that I actually am doing a recap here and didn’t watch it
when it first came on, otherwise I’d be cursing the wait.
Artie has a watch Artefact that will certainly be able to
reverse some of the damage – but how much will be restored? The Warehouse is a
certainty – but HG Wells?
Mrs. Frederick? Steve Jinks? (Yes, a spoiler patch) I’m horrendously nervous about the
next season just because I do not know how much they will save.
