Castlevania Season 4 is Tired and I Feel That
Castlevania Season 4 Episode 1: “Murder Wakes it up”
Spoilers are happening. Go watch Castlevania Season 4, if you haven’t.
My favorite description of our collective experience for the last year and a half is “the timeline that God abandoned”. We are faced with The Pandemic combined with enough political (and actual) turmoil to last a dozen lifetimes.
And so we escape to TV. Castlevania Season 4, of course, reminds us that there are happy endings after all and that everyone is so tired.
Tiredness is a central theme in season 4. Of course, sometimes action heroes mention their lack of sleep just to prove how tough they really are, but this show makes it a theme. The exhaustion of the war between the night creatures and humankind has taken its toll on humans and vampires alike and substantial screen time is given to talking about it.
Castlevania Season 4 Episode 4: “You Must Sacrifice”
Sypha and Trevor after fighting for weeks on end are so tired they literally walk away from a quest to take a break. “Hold on, give me 5 minutes of quiet,” is not something that action heroes say. Ever. This exhaustion also shows up in the townsfolk in Targoviste. Whether above ground or protected in the vaults below, the people have been living in constant fear and are so tired they can’t think. They are literally sleepwalking through life. It is almost like they have been living in a pandemic of their own for the last 18 months.
The theme encompasses vampires as well. Striga and Morana, even with their superhuman abilities, decide to give up on the wholesale conquering of humans… because they are tired of the constant warfare against a stubborn enemy. Striga even says that she, in all likelihood, could win against the human resistance, but doesn’t want to because it would be a slog that lasts forever. There is a problem in your army when the field general decides to call it a day.
Furthermore, the ability to be tired separates out those who survive in the series and who meet a grizzly end. Those that don’t tire, are destroyed. Carmilla with her plans to dominate the world is murdered in her own castle, Ratko and his dreams of returning to a world of unbridled warfare dies at the hand of Trevor, and even Death (who is not quite Death but maybe Death) is destroyed in the quest for more souls to consume.
Castlevania Season 4 Episode 4: “Walk Away”
This is a thought-provoking theme to pick up for an incredibly violent and visceral action series. It is novel to see our action heroes (and in some cases villains) just plain get tired. Who thought the war to control humanity would be so exhausting? My guess is it stems from the fact that Season 4 was greenlit in March of 2020, just as the world locked down… and since the production studios are located in the United States, the staff may have been a bit tired already.
In the end, after the exhaustion, we find hope in our tired characters. Not only are the big bad guys defeated, but our tired people can rest and begin acting like there is a future. The townspeople organize and the light of civilization, once flickering in the darkness, begins to burn brighter. Alucard finds his purpose in leading a new town with Trevor and Sypha. Striga and Morana, the pair of ostensibly evil vampires, decide to throw the remnants of their kingdom away… to just be in love for a while. Even the night creatures, under the tutelage of Isaac, begin working toward rebuilding civilization. Isaac himself, a stoic and glum character throughout the series is reported as being “happy”. It’s a refreshing end to a show that was so dark at times.
For me, it is just a little bit of therapy. I am living in a pandemic and just started watching over a newborn and her mom (my wife), so I feel it. I am tired. It is validating to watch our heroes tire out and ask for a break. After all the epic battles are finished, it is nice to see a fleeting glimpse of redemption and hope.
