#castlevaniaseason4

(SPOILERS AHEAD)

Listen, I'm happy that Lisa and Dracula are alive and get to be together again and I know they’re overwhelmed by what happened, but I’m surprised they treated their own son like an afterthought. Yeah, they just got back to the land of the living and have a whole future ahead of them and want to spend lots of time together but it's not like they weren't already spending eternity together in Hell. They were already reunited, but they never had the chance to meet their son again - until now. They have a second chance at their life together as a couple but also a second chance with their child and being a family too and it doesn’t seem like a huge concern to them. 

I can understand maybe Dracula being a little hesitant or even nervous to confront his son and may need time to gather his thoughts and feelings in the best way to address it with him after what happened but Lisa? She never even got to say goodbye to Alucard? Hasn’t she been thinking about and missing him too? In her final scene she even calls him “that poor boy” like she could be talking about anyone and not her own child. I’m not a parent, but I think if I was separated from my kid without saying goodbye I’d be thinking of little else than seeing them again and making sure they’re okay. 

Yeah, he's a grown man now but they don't know what he's doing or how he's been dealing with their loss. He could be miserable and alone for all they know and they still choose to go traveling and have fun together instead of giving their child some peace and closure - not just for him, but for themselves too? Does Lisa know that her son murdered her husband in her name? If so, wouldn’t she want to help them through that knowing they’d both be carrying a heavy burden of guilt on both sides? She was the epicenter of a deadly struggle between them and she has so much power to help mend that bridge between them. 

And yeah, they said they’d see him eventually, but I think if they showed up one day, possibly far down the road and Alucard found out they’ve been around for a while but didn’t bother to show themselves that that would hurt a bit. This would be the second time that people Alucard loved chose to be together over being with him? Sypha and Trevor left him to go off on their own adventures too knowing he was/could be going through a rough time. 

SPOILERS AHEAD

Going to preempt this by saying I loved season 1 and 2 but didn’t care for season 3 at all and it actually hurt my view of the whole show, so I went into this season unsure if I’d like it and actually glad it was the last one. Luckily though, I did think it was a vast improvement and had a good time viewing it, even though I still feel that a lot of season 3 was unnecessary. 

I didn’t care for Alucard’s storyline in s3 at all and assumed that he’d start this season in a much darker place as the show was clearly hinting that he was capable of being more like his father. However, this season starts exactly where he started in s3 - lonely and little crazy - but not showing any strong signs of trauma. It’s almost like what happened to him in s3 didn’t matter at all? Personally, I would have started this season showing him in the castle in a much darker state when Greta arrives at his door seeking his help, which would be a direct parallel to Lisa meeting Dracula in the first season. This would have a lot of benefits as it would hint to the audience that there’s a future romance between them and further highlight Alucard physically in the same place as his father and a similar current mental state aka distrustful and hardened towards humans (recognizing he’s in the same position as his father was could also help him realize he doesn’t want to go down that path which can help him snap out of it). Anyway, Alucard sees this woman and feels compassion for her (because no matter what he has a huge heart and remembers what it’s like to want to help people) and decides to go with her. This would all still be very fast, but at least it’d give a little time to showing a briefly darker Alucard and have a nice “full circle” moment to the very first scene of the series. I’d also show him be a little more closed off at first to interacting with her and others and see him open up more slowly until the end of the season we see him in the opposite place as where he started, happy, open and surrounded by people. 

I squealed so hard when the trio reunited ya’ll! I’ve been looking forward to that more than anything and it was glorious! 

I still think it’s sad though that Alucard mentioned Trevor and Sypha all the time when he was alone but they never cared to mention him like they don’t even remember he exists. I would have liked to have known how they felt leaving him or wonder how he’s doing or something, especially earlier this season to setup for them meeting later. Even a few quick lines could have helped. 

Also, Trevor and Sypha are literally tracking down people who want to resurrect Dracula for goodness sake, why wouldn’t you want to tell or include Alucard in that, maybe as the person who killed him in the first place and knows him better than anyone he could help you!? 

I’m sorry, but I didn’t care at all about any of the Targoviste storyline and I’m not sure I even fully understand why it was necessary at all. Honestly felt like a waste of time. Didn’t care for Varney or the other vampire either. The twist was interesting, but beyond that, I really wasn’t interested. I also wasn’t fond of the Reaver (?) storyline either, that was just gross to witness.

For all the wonderfully long and thoughtful conversations most of these characters have, there’s a distinct lack of it with the trio. No, Trevor isn’t very eloquent and no, Alucard doesn’t really say much but I feel we get to delve so much deeper into the psyches of every other character but them and I think that’s a huge waste of potential. In fact, I think there was a lot of wasted potential in some regards. The show spent so much time on characters and storylines that ultmately weren’t very important when they could have had more meaningful conversations between the main characters. Like, have Trevor and Sypha talk about what they want for their futures to hint at her pregnancy so it doesn’t come out of nowhere later. Have Trevor and Sypha mention Alucard to set up their reunion with him later. I just wish they’d spent the time to set stuff up more and explore what really matters!

It goes without saying that all the action was jaw-droppingly good. Bravo to all the animators!

Trevor is one of the main characters of course, but I wish his final fight was... I don’t know, set up more? It’s such a huge moment of spotlight that didn’t feel entirely earned. In fact, throughout the whole season he didn’t really have anything especially important or special to do so it felt a little... out of nowhere? I would have liked to have seen this season pay special attention to him and really let him shine more than ever - especially if he did end up dying.

Also, I know they wanted to give him his moment here, but Alucard and Sypha definitely could have flown up there and helped him out! 

Also, don’t think about Alucard holding Sypha as she cries right after they think Trevor is dead. PS Alucard is so soft towards Sypha it really makes my heart melt.

I didn’t expect to feel sad about Lenore’s death but that scene was so beautiful. 

Carmilla went out like a boss. Amazing fight. However, I wish she had stayed the main villain instead of throwing Death in at literally the last minute? She was setup for so long and ultimately I don’t feel like what she did really mattered.

Hecor and Isaac were great this season and I’m happy they’re happy together. 

Still not sure how I feel about Saint Germain though? Glad he came around in the end I guess. I assume his decision to save Trevor at the end was to give him and Sypha their happy ending even if he couldn’t have his.

The ending made me so happy, ya’ll. So happy. They all get to live together in peace and raise babies and Alucard will get to reunite with his parents and make peace with them and I’m just so happy for everyone, my God.