Blood of Zeus Season 3 Review: Titanomachy 2.0 Ends in a Cheat Code
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
“Merey Karan-Arjun aayengey!” (Translation: My Karan Arjun will return)
That’s an iconic dialogue from the 1995 surprise Bollywood Blockbuster ‘Karan Arjun’, which follows two dead brothers re-incarnating to avenge their family. Heron and Seraphim in Blood of Zeus season 3 feel like the Greek Karan and Arjun, since technically, both of them get a second shot in the living world to avenge their family/lovers. Maybe the comparison doesn’t make sense right now, but if you’re a Bollywood enthusiast by any chance, you’ll know what I mean when you see the final scene.
The brothers continue to dominate the story, but let’s not forget it all started with the love-hate romance between Zeus and Hera, which is simply diabolical! And season 3 of Blood of Zeus returns with the consequences of their fallout, with the creators delivering a blood-soaked finale promised by season 2’s cliffhanger. If you’ve been following this animated show by Charley Parlapanides and Vlas Parlapanides, this edition kicks off with some unexpected deaths – major Gods are squatted like flies.
“The time has come for the Titans to return!” exclaims an angry Gaia at the end of ‘Blood of Zeus‘ season 2, awakening Typhon, a powerful monster, to the horror of all the Olympians. If you remember, the last episode ended with Hades betraying Heron’s trust by stabbing him, this when Heron was offering a peaceful power transition to the Olympians following Zeus’ demise. Although unlike other megalomaniac Olympians, Hades is driven by his love for Persephone.
Season 3 thus brings Gaia’s prophecy to life. She doesn’t just unleash Typhon, but also frees some other terrifying Titans who were imprisoned in Tartarus, so that they can end the reign of the selfish, scheming Olympians like Hera, Hades, and Demeter, among others. This sets the stage for another brutal, era-ending Titanomachy, and the creators surprisingly do not serve viewers the kind of earth-shattering war that ‘Titans Versus Olympians‘ deserves. Instead, a significant chunk of the season is spent on side-quests, the most important being Seraphim’s efforts to find a way to bribe Charon so that he can let his dead lover Gorgo get passage to the Elysian Fields and end her suffering as a wraith.
Eight episodes long, the creators spend too much time on Seraphim’s quest, at a time when the world order is dangerously at stake and Titans are wreaking havoc on Earth. Of course, Seraphim being Seraphim, doesn’t really care about what the Gods or Titans are up to. Heron, on his part, agrees to aid Seraphim, so for the first time, the brothers aren’t at each other’s throats and spend some quality time together, even if most of it involves almost dying or fighting others. Their brotherly bond is a slow-burn story of sibling love, as they eventually stand by each other through thick and thin.
The other sub-plot follows Hera’s efforts to bring back Zeus from the underworld so that he can help the surviving Olympians end the terror unleashed by the newly risen Titans. Hera and Zeus’ love story is the origin of toxic relationships in the Greek world, first she schemes to end him, then tries to bring him back. Anyway… after solidly setting the ground for an epic, violent war between the Titans and everybody else, the creators then cheat viewers by quickly wrapping up the beef in one episode! While yes, it was high time ‘Blood of Zeus‘ got a decisive “end of story” finale, it was far too swift. Although, to be fair, we do get a rousing emotional finale, which includes the signature tricks of the Olympians to get themselves an easier-than-usual victory.
The animation quality remains the same, although, given the grim war-like atmosphere that pervades all the episodes, the color palette of ‘Blood of Zeus‘ season three is dominated by darker tones and bleaker shades. My primary complaint with the animation remains the same: that considering the grand scale of its Greek mythology, the backgrounds continue to be lacking in detail and un-impressive. But since the characters are Gods, demi-Gods, larger-than-life figures, and demons, at least the character designs are engaging and expressive.
Usually, shows tend to feel over-stretched, but with all the side-quests packed into ‘Blood of Zeus’ season 3, the creators should’ve either added a bonus ninth episode to deliver a gorier, bloodier climax or extended the finale by 10–15 minutes. Fans hoping for an epic war that fractures the human realm might find the final showdown underwhelming, but the emotional payoff holds strong. Overall, this is a solid follow-up season that just falls short of reaching a truly titanic level of entertainment.
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