Primal season 3
Spoilers for Primal season 2.
After Spear dies at the end of season 2, his body has been laid to rest. But a necromancer with some fiendish purpose for him raises his body and sets him on his enemies. And yet, necromancers may die, and their creations left untethered...
It was not as bad for me, but I know the ending of season 2 left a lot of people feeling cold. For one, having Mira have sex with Spear while covered in burns just looks ridiculous, and for another the finale has a timeskip showing their daughter growing up, seemingly as the next protagonist. I don't know if the writers did that because they thought they weren't getting a season 3, or if they wanted to move onto a new protagonist; in either case, the fact they started off this season by resurrecting Spear was odd to me, that said they weren't sticking to their guns.
But the story we get is quite compelling. It almost feels sacrilegious to talk about it using words, since Primal is a show almost entirely about a setting where we, the viewers, can't understand the characters, but that narrative rule is pushed to its limits here. There are some fairly heady topics brought up and laid out without words, like cults, belonging, family and memory. Even as the first half of the season is slow and meandering, it feels compelling for the journey Spear is going on to recover his memories. And for a trope I'm not too fond of, the amnesia is treated well enough that I didn't mind it.
Mira's journey to track down Spear was also fun to watch, not least because she's pregnant for a lot of it and still remains a badass. Her relationship with Fang also gets a spotlight here that felt natural, a mutual grieving with someone who's a friend of a friend. I quite like that Fang does not like Mira at all, and has to take some time to get used to it.
Everything surrounding these plots are mostly just fine. There's no enemy that felt compelling enough to stand out, and especially with Spear's change into a zombie, there's no enemy that can hurt him for long. The fights with the other characters are more tense, and any fight where Spear's goal is not to kill the enemy, but these don't happen too often. There's a notable good fight in the finale, but the rest blur together.
I think season 3 is a dip in quality for this show, with the caveat I don't think it's gotten bad. Far from it; Primal is a singular show with a singular storytelling style, and continues to stand out as one of the modern greats. It's well worth your time investment, and gets a continuing recommendation from me.
