#Yaz and Sammy fuel my life I love them so much

[hyperfixation-tangentopia]

I'm so sorry for the menace I'm about to become in relation to Camp Cretaceous, by the way. Usually I have irl people to dump it onto but with Events I no longer have irl people to dump it on so...yeah

[takerfoxx]

Finished Camp Cretaceous Season 3! And honestly, I think this was the best season yet. Had more of the stuff I wanted (dino survivalism, uncovering the mysteries of the park) as well as actually putting in the effort to have real suspense and be actually scary!

So, hey, spoilers.

Okay, to let's get this out of the way: I've never cared for the "indo" look of the hybrids, not on the Indominus, not on the Indoraptor, and not on the Scorpius Rex. I know it's meant to look sick and wrong, but even so, it always kind of just bugged me. That being said, full credit for them making the Scorpius Rex(es) actually intimidating. I always hated how half-assed the Indominus scenes were, and while a little more effort was done with the Indoraptor, it couldn't overcome the shitty script. But here we had characters we actually cared about facing a genuinely scary threat in an extended confrontation that was actually well-directed and paced. So, cheers to that.

Also, cheers to also making some herbivores threatening as well. Nice change of pace.

I also really liked how the final few episodes lined up with the opening for Fallen Kingdom and gave us a more in-depth look at what was going on. I've also really come to appreciate Henry Wu as an antagonist. Sure, I feel that taking a fairly decent if somewhat short-sighted character who dies in the book and only has a single, non-villainous scene in the movie and turning him into a Lewis Dodson mad scientist is kinda...eh, but it honestly does work, and I can appreciate a bit of ham. And I like how he was more humanized in the show. Still a ruthless bastard, but you see him panic, you see him doubt himself, you see him get worried, and you see him actually express concern for other people, albeit only a little.

I also like how Ben's arc was paced. Yeah, we all knew that he wasn't going to stay on the island, but that whole bit was given room to breathe and felt like something the character would naturally do.

And always glad to see more of Blue, who is pretty much the only character from the movies that I unironically love.

Speaking of which, the return to the OG visitors' center tugged at some real nostalgia heartstrings, and I LOVED the callbacks to the kitchen scene and the final battle between the raptors and the rex. Collapsing the center on top of the Scorpiuses made for a great send-off to such an iconic location, though it would have been awesome if they also showed the velociraptor corpse still trapped in the freezer.

Though why did the ovens still work? Were they still hooked up to the power and gas lines that fuel the island?

Also, Kenji has really grown on me, as I thought would happen. Yes, he was a pain in the ass, but he was given some great character development over the whole show without losing his personality. Also, I really liked the switcheroo about how we are made to think that he would be the one looked down upon for going rogue and stealing the laptop when instead the show leaves him with the moral superiority, since he was the one who refused to gamble with Brooklynn's life.

As for individual episodes, I guess the one at Kenji's apartment was my favorite, since it gave us a new apartment and a new dinosaur threat, so it made for a nice change of pace. The idea of a predator that's docile when on its own but a threat when in a group was really neat too.

Personally, I would like to see Yaz get more focus, as she does seem to be the least developed. Yeah, she's had her arcs, but little to do with her past and mostly her overcoming her physical setbacks and social aversions, so digging into her history would be swell.

I do feel that there was a little too much forced drama at the beginning, which made those first couple episodes a bit of a chore, but that evened out after a bit.

Sammy and Kenji bonding as goofballs made a lot of sense, and was a hoot.

Always glad to see the Baryonyxes again. RIP to Grim.

Okay, season 4 will probably be gearing up soon. I heard rumors that they might end up washing up on Site B, which would be really cool, as we've done pretty much most of what we could do on Nubular. Though wasn't it strip-mined of all of its assets by Masarani? So could there still be dinosaurs there? I wouldn't mind them ignoring this though.

No guesses as to the dino that stowed away, as there's way too many possibilities.

And finally, goodbye Bumpy, the bestest of girls.