It took me a while to process what I just saw after completing Castlevania Season 3 on Netflix. The ASMR like voice acting, the dazzling but mixed quality of animation, and the multiple storyline streams are enchanting. Still, when the spell wore off, I realised what I was left with is a disappointment.

I should have seen it, but I was blinded by my fondness for the game franchise. It all began with season one, which was basically an epilogue. Season two was actually season one, and it ended with an anticlimactic and rushed whimper.

Season three, and it is weird to call it season three, feels like the same engine that ran out of steam at the end of season two, trying to climb a hill.

Perhaps its four concurrent trunks of main storylines and its many iterative branches, that makes it feel tiring. Perhaps it’s the lacklustre story that could have been condensed from 10 episodes to less than half of that. Or, perhaps it is the fact that the whole endeavour was just to set up season four.

All I know now is I was disappointed with Castlevania season three.

Of course, it has its merits, mainly the complex character development of Issac and the intriguing case of Count Saint-Germain. They were enough to get me through the season, but I don’t think it is enough to get me to season four. And to think that despite Caslevania having such a rich mythology, it all boils down to carnal desires.