TV Review: "Blood of Zeus" (Season 3)
The Netflix series comes to a somewhat triumphant but also frustratingly uneven conclusion.
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Warning: Full spoilers for the season follow.
I’ve been a fan of Blood of Zeus ever since the first season premiered all the way back in 2020. It is, I think it’s safe to say, one of the most unusual and visionary adaptations of ancient Greek myth that we’ve seen on our screens in recent memory. Its blood-soaked and deeply tragic narrative is very much in tune with much of ancient Greek myth and, though it may take some getting used to, its anime style also proves quite adept at capturing the beauty and the brutality of the myths of antiquity.
The third season resumes the story of half-siblings Heron and Seraphim (voiced by Derek Phillips and Elias Toufexis, respectively), and their reluctant alliance. Their primary arc this season revolves around rescuing Gorgo (Rachel Rosenbloom), a human priestess, from the Underworld. Complicating their story is the decision by the powerful Gaia (Jean Gilpin) to unleash Cronus (Alfred Molina), who has been imprisoned for eons thanks to his son, Zeus, to punish the Olympians for their constant warfare and restore some measure of balance to the world.
While I enjoyed many aspects of the final season, I have to say that it shows many signs that this show was cut off before it was ready to say goodbye, necessitating some rushed storytelling choices and a finale that, in its last few moments, really stumbles and leaves the viewer with far more questions than answers. Before I get to that, though, I do want to sing the show’s praises, for there are still many things to love about this final outing.
The most notable of these is, of course, the main villain, Cronus. Chillingly voiced by Alfred Molina, Cronus has had a long time to nurse his grievances against the Olympians and their imprisonment of him and, upon his release, he shows himself to be utterly heartless, quite willing to hurl the gods into oblivion, ensuring that their essence is completely obliterated. Obviously we’re meant to see him as a terror and a monster–because he is–but this doesn’t mean that he doesn’t also have a point about the Olympians, including Zeus. In the past two seasons we’ve seen the extent to which pretty much everyone on Mount Olympus is a shitty person, capable of stabbing anyone in the back, including one another. Molina really sinks his teeth into the role, demonstrating that he’s as compelling as a voice actor as he is live-action.
At the same time, however, the series also shows that even villains have their softer side. This season pays a great deal of attention to Hades and Persephone (Fred Tatasciore and Lara Pulver), the latter of whom even ends up sacrificing her life so that the former can save their children. As in the original myths, the Olympians contain multitudes, which is precisely what makes them so compelling and so similar to the mortals whose lives they often treat as expendable.
This season also has some pretty remarkable action set-pieces, and I was particularly impressed by those involving the fire-breathing monster Typhon, yet another weapon in Gaia’s formidable arsenal. Watching this creature belch flame and destroy everything in its path–human and Olympian alike–feels like it’s been lifted right out of the Titanomachy. Watching this creature rampage through the ranks of the gods is like something out of a nightmare, particularly since it seems to be nearly unbeatable. Indeed, it’s only Heron’s sacrifice that enables its eventual destruction, leaving Seraphin clear to destroy Cronus.
While I found this to be a captivating season, I will also admit that its small run of episodes–this season only has eight of them–as well as Netflix’s truncation of the overall run–ensures that it really struggles to bring its two plot threads together until near the end, and while this is accomplished somewhat seamlessly, you can still tell that the creators had much more time in mind. After all, we’re dealing with two very significant storylines, one which could very well bring about the end of all of the gods and usher in a new era of Titan domination, while the other gives both Heron and Seraphim a chance to right at least some of the wrongs of the past. In short changing the show in this way, however, Netflix ensured that the show, despite the undeniable genius and ambition of show creators Charlie and Vlas Parlapanides, could never really live up to its own exalted expectations.
Take, for example, the very last scene. In the final moments of the series Heron and Seraphim are reunited with their mother in the Fields of Elysium. In some ways this is a moving sequence, particularly given the extent to which both of our heroes have grappled with her death since Seraphim killed her way back in the first season. To see her forgive this broken son of hers is a heart breaker and, had the season been given the time that it needed in order to help flesh this out it would have landed more effectively.
However, the last that we saw of Seraphim he was pulling his weapon out of a dead Cronos, which begs the question: how and when did he die? Is he still alive and has just been given a sort of free pass into the Underworld so that he can see his mother again? For that matter, what about his relationship with the priestess Gorgo, who seems to have just disappeared between one moment and the next? While I understand that some narrative coherence has to be sacrificed when a show is cut short of its intended development, there are just some questions and lacunae that are too wide. Given the tone of much of the discussion on Reddit, I’m not the only person to think that the show really dropped the ball in those last few moments.
Sadly, these final moments, alas, leave Blood of Zeus feeling like a mangled wreck of its former self. While I didn’t hate all of the last season, I think it’s safe to say that it in no way measures up to what came before, and that Netflix deserves a fair share of the blame here. Like so many other streamers, they’ve decided that it’s easier to cut their own series off at the knees rather than giving them the time that they need to flourish and to grow into the series that they clearly aspire to be.
That said, I want to end by once again drawing attention to the things that I enjoyed about Blood of Zeus. I appreciate the risks that the series was willing to take in its adaptation of Greek myth, as well as its ability to excavate the darker and bloodier elements of these stories. Classical myth is a canvas, and Blood of Zeus proves that there’s almost no limit as to what you can paint upon it.