Ragnarok season 3 review: Fantasy series ends with a dud

Ragnarok season 3 concludes the series with Magne’s war against the Giants coming to its inevitable climax. The episodes are streaming on Netflix.

Story

Magne continues waging war against the Giants, even if it’s a legal one. Meanwhile, he takes the hammer for a swing, which is detected by the Jutuls who nip Magne’s budding efforts against them. The truce comes to an end.

Magne’s hammer scares the Jutuls and this power over them goes to his head.

His behavior changes drastically as he becomes more and more distant from his loved ones and closer to Saxa, who keeps him under her spell to enjoy privilege and power over Ran and Fjor.

Magne loses the hammer and Fjor’s plan to kill him fails. The gods come together again but there’s chaos and discord due to Magne’s personality.

Wotan helps Magne snap out of his arrogance and he leads the alliance once again. The inevitable battle arrives and ends with a forging of peace instead.

The Giants bow down to the New World Order while everyone seems to flourish in their life, except for Magne, whose mind is still rife with trauma and the battle he must inevitably face.

Performances

David Stakston is the highlight of the series finale as his character goes through a drastic shift in personality that feels very genuine and immensely entertaining.

Jonas Strand Gravli continues to deliver a moving portrayal of a young man troubled with isolation amidst loved ones and family.

Positives

The runtime keeps being overlooked yet one of the best parts of the show, as six episodes do make for a sufficient run for the narrative succinct and comprehensive manner.

The performances across the board are what make the affair a worthwhile watch this time around as well.

The few special effects and CGI shots that the Ragnarok series finale makes use of do so in a most dexterous spotless way, with little to no flaws therein to take one out of the story or immersion.

Negatives

Ragnarok season 3’s climax seems rather confusingly disappointing, as the culmination of the entire Jutuls v Magne saga is this ambiguous mess that feels overtly familiar and clichéd.

The route of “it’s all in his head” seems like such a cop-out from a mature, meditative route. Metaphors can work fine without the crutch of trauma response giving way to hallucinations and fantasy.

What a dull and disappointing end to the Jutuls who all move ahead with their lives merry and then some. Fjor relishes killing the weak and innocent and yet goes scot-free at the end, enjoying his romance with Nora like he deserves a happy-ever-after.

Ran’s weird subplot with the counselor makes little sense. She also gets to live the same life as before, only that she has to live it while accepting this bogus “New World Order.”

Talking about this irritating new world order, what even is the point of this not-even-half-a-victory for Magne, Edda, and the victims of the Jutuls?

A “progressive”, “green”, and “eco-friendly” move by climate-destroying corporates is almost meaningless, and yet it’s supposed to be some hopeful change here.

This is also to be blamed upon the entire choice of not expanding Jutuls v Magne into a wider battle involving a conscious collective uniting against the capitalist climate destroyers.

A battle such as that sees the Giants being brought down and perish to convey an effective message against the same evil corporate lords that actively destroy the real-world climate.

Instead, the show chooses a series of duds for closures and explanations, even destroying its own fantasy by shoehorning clinical reasons for Magne’s mythological war against the capitalist overlords.

Ragnarok season 3 abandons Show-not-tell when treating Laurits’ arc in the series finale since his turnaround after feeling rejected by everyone hinges only on Jens.

He’s not given respect or acknowledgment by his brother or Jutuls until the very end.

He’s supposed to be a trickster and during this final phase of the story when stakes are so incredibly high for him and his serpent offspring, he’s only there to get strangled by Fjor, sulk, and be a side character.

Verdict

While banking on many factors that make the series a great fantasy affair, Ragnarok season 3 fails to give a satisfying closure to the characters and the story that seemed to have been heading for an all-time high for its denouement, but crash lands before it ever hits a peak.

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Also Read: The Chosen One review: Fantasy drama wastes its premise & potential