The fifth and final season of Camp Cretaceous arrives on Netflix very soon – promising to bring the stories of the Campers to a close as we reach the climax of the Mantah Corp story arc and the wider show. As with prior seasons, Netflix and DreamWorks Animation were kind enough to give us an advance peak at this season. In this article, I’ll share my non-spoiler thoughts on the final season of the show and how it concludes Jurassic’s first adventure into television territory. Let’s dive in!
The most important thing about any climatic season is how well it continues the story which has been established over prior seasons – and the fifth season does a good job at picking up where we last saw the Campers in season four of the show. This series runs for twelve episodes – and that means there is a good opportunity to really progress the story forwards, with plenty of scope for additional plot threads to be established and resolved over the course of the fifth season. Whilst the season is successful in wrapping up the overarching Camp Cretaceous story – I have to be honest that it does it in a way which I personally did not find that engaging. This series felt very akin to season two for me – in that it was a decent story with some exaggerated elements at times, but it largely felt as if it didn’t do anything particularly groundbreaking for the final outing. It’s a fun ride but fundamentally it is more of Camp Cretaceous – and I can’t quite decide whether that is a good or bad thing this many seasons into the show.
When it comes to character arcs – we get some interesting development for the characters who we have followed throughout the series, as well as some great character building for others who appear throughout the fifth season. It was nice seeing relationships between some of the characters beginning to blossom in this season, and we get some interesting conflicts which tie well into the themes of growing up and finding your own identity. There were a couple of moments which propelled some of the characters forward but for the most part these are more of the characters who we’ve grown to know and love – with a couple of reveals thrown in here and there. Darius continues to be the heart of the show and has some great moments to shine in the fifth season – but the other characters get opportunities to develop and grow in other areas too. I was satisfied with where we left the characters and think the show does a good job of allowing them to grow into young adults over the space of five seasons.
Another important thing throughout the season has been dinosaur variety – and that hits a bit of a peak in the fifth season of the show. Don’t expect many new animals throughout the fifth season, as it really functions more as a ‘greatest hits’ showcase for some of the other animals who we have come to know and love throughout the rest of the season. There are some cool moments packed into this season – with some foreshadowing for events we know unfold in Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom and Jurassic World Dominion, and also some fun callbacks to some of the most iconic dinosaur moments we have seen in the franchise – but there isn’t anything which breaks the mold in this season. I think, in retrospect, I would have liked to have seen more variety in the dinosaur encounters which are present throughout this season, but I understand why the scope of this series was perhaps more restricted for its final outing. I think fans will enjoy what is present in the fifth season – but it perhaps doesn’t build to the climatic heights that many more mature Jurassic fans may have hoped for.
One of the things which adult fans have clamored for most out of Camp Cretaceous is connections to the wider canon – and the fifth season of the show certainly feels as though it has some connections to the wider Jurassic lore. I think many of us have hoped that the seasons have been building up to a conclusion which is more grounded in the pre-existing lore of the franchise – and whilst we have some fun integrations into the wider story of the franchise, I couldn’t help but feel a lot of the connections were very surface level. It felt as if there were some moments which presented us with interesting elements from the franchise and made some good connections, but then did not build on them any further – lacking the depth and detail which a television series can often afford to these connections. If you had been expecting the fifth season of the show to dive deep into canonical connections, then there are certainly some moments which you will enjoy – but I think you will be left wishing that there was also a lot more of those moments packed in throughout the season.
It's fair to say that as the conclusion of a five-season story, the fifth season of Camp Cretaceous had some big shoes to fill. Whilst there are some interesting moments interwoven into the fifth season of the show – part of me ultimately feels as though this season was just more of Camp Cretaceous, and that season three may have been a more conclusive point at which to end this show. The season does reach a point which is quite clearly the end of this story – but it doesn’t feel quite as earned or as definitive as the ending of the third season. I think that Season Four and Season Five of the show explored some interesting concepts and packed in some compelling elements, but ultimately, were more of the show – and never quite hit the highs of that epic Fallen Kingdom tie-in which we saw at the end of Season 3. I am sure that the casual audience for this show (and, indeed, younger fans) will get a lot of fun out of Season 5 – but for those of us who are more invested in this franchise and its world, you may find yourself walking away a little indifferent to how Jurassic’s first episodic outing has ended.
In closing – the fifth and final season of Camp Cretaceous isn’t a bad season by any stretch of the imagination. It doesn’t feel as bombastic as the second season and feels a little more aligned with the franchise thematically than the fourth season – but it is ultimately more of Camp Cretaceous and doesn’t quite hit the high point I would have liked to see the series reach for its ending. If you enjoy the characters and the concepts explored in this show, then you will have fun with it – and there certainly are moments which will make you smile – but just don’t expect anything which will blow your socks off.
That’s it for my non-spoiler review here on The Jurassic Park Podcast. Stay tuned for plenty of spoiler deep-dives once the series releases later this month – we’re excited to chat about all things Season Five with you very soon!
Written by: Tom Jurassic