Well, it’s been a few days, and hopefully by this point you have all had the chance to consume the goodness that is Jurassic World: Chaos Theory Season 3. If for any reason you haven’t had the opportunity to check out the new season of the show, then click off of this article before you do, as I don’t want to spoil it for you. For those of you who have…we have a lot to discuss. Let’s start with Soyona Santos and The Handler.
I loved the way that Soyona’s relationship with The Handler was handled throughout this season. It felt like a really difficult professional relationship, where neither person was particularly keen on the other and their way of doing things. I really enjoy how Soyona is symbolic of modern technology and The Handler represents more traditional approaches, with the two ultimately clashing in the climax of the season. Throughout the show, we get elements of Dodgson manipulating The Handler to further add to the tension, setting both characters on a clear path for collision. I loved how well this tension was handled, and felt The Handler’s death at Soyona’s hand was a fitting end to this arc. I also loved the constant back-and-forth about possession of the Atrociraptors, and the revelation that they were created by BioSyn…with more existing in BioSyn valley.
An important element throughout this season is the interweaving of Barry Sembène and the French Intelligence Agency. Whilst we see some of this unfolding in the joint operation with the CIA in Jurassic World Dominion, we get more of a flavour for it in this season – uncovering that Barry was investigating the dino trafficking before the events in Malta, and that by the end of the black-market incident, he was fully aware of the connection that BioSyn shared with the trafficking industry. This is interesting as it suggests that even in the background in the third act of Dominion, organisations like the Dangerous Species Division would have already been preparing to make a move on BioSyn. They just didn’t get an opportunity to do that before the locust swarm broke free. This does, however, allow us to speculate that Barry and other characters may have been actively involved in the formation of the sanctuary at the end of the film. This is something I hope a subsequent series of Chaos Theory acknowledges.
We can’t talk about characters without talking about our new named dinosaur – Smoothie. The reveal of Bumpy’s child absolutely melted my heart, and almost made me cry. I love how Smoothie acts as an anchor for Kenji’s character throughout this season, giving him an emotional motivation which grounds him within the story. We get to spend a good amount of time with Smoothie as he adapts to the world around him which I enjoyed quite a bit, and he is used as a vessel to explore an interesting relationship with Nonna and her opinion on dinosaurs. This further builds out the sense of the broader world present in this period of the Jurassic universe, and helps to create another interesting perspective on dinosaurs in the wild. Smoothie also acts as a catalyst for us to move to BioSyn Valley in the next season, with the ultimate reveal that Bumpy has been taken by the organisation and moved to the valley. This suggests this is likely to be where Chaos Theory finishes its story.
All of us were questioning whether Ben’s girlfriend in Italy really existed. This season proves that she does, by introducing Gia into the fold. I loved that Gia was an aspiring palaeontologist and museum exhibition director, creating the potential for a fun connection to Doctor Henry Loomis and the world of Jurassic World Rebirth down the line. I love how Gia is used as a vessel to explore the outside perspective on the tension the group feel over their relationship with Brooklynn – calling out some of their behaviours to create interesting dynamics in some of the scenes. Her and her Nonna provide a welcome addition to the wider universe here, and also help to add new perspectives to the wider Jurassic universe and our understanding of how normal people react to dinosaurs in the wild. They were great inclusions and I am glad we saw them added to this season.
Another new character introduced is Davi. Davi presents himself as a former Brooklander, finding Brooklynn when she is undercover in the Malta Black Market. Through her relationship with Davi, we get to see just how corrupted Brooklynn has become during her investigation into Soyona Santos. There are moments where Brooklynn threatens Davi with the returning Lystrosaurus and even sets the Atrociraptor laser pointer on him, showing us an interesting parallel between her and Soyona. This parallel is mortifying for Brooklynn, and sets her on an interesting path for the rest of the season. I love how Davi filled this antithesis role, introducing an interesting and poignant question. When investigating something dark or dangerous, how do we stop ourselves from complicity? Interesting food for thought.
One thing I wanted to make sure I touched on was how this season helps to grow both Dodgson’s character, and the broader story about BioSyn. Whilst I would say that neither are the true heart of the story here, we do get an interesting insight into just what BioSyn have been up to. It is revealed in this season that BioSyn own the Malta Black Market, and are in the process of handing it off to Soyona Santos in an attempt to clean their public image and prevent their association with the market from ever becoming public. I loved this detail. It gives us a real flavour for what else BioSyn might have been up to in the years during the Jurassic World trilogy, and even perhaps beforehand. Don’t get me wrong – there isn’t a lot of expansion here. But what we do get gives a nice flavour for the kind of organisation BioSyn is and the kind of man Lewis Dodgson is, and it’s exactly what I wanted to see after Dominion. I am glad the creators were able to include it here.
I alluded to the use of the Pyroraptor in my non-spoiler review, and I wanted to touch on how this show really took advantage of Pyro being a feathered dinosaur. Having the Pyro leave an ominous trail of feathers wherever it went was such a smart way of not only building tension, but also creating a unique new characteristic based on this fact that it was a feathered animal. I really love that Pyro gets so much screentime throughout this season as it is a genuinely awesome dinosaur which is handled incredibly well. I hope that in a fourth season of the show, we may get to see similar expanded sequences with animals like the Therizinosaurus, Dreadnoughtous and Dimetrodon given their limited presence in set pieces in Dominion. There is a lot of potential for these animals to be put into interesting new scenarios, so I can’t wait to see what’s in store.
There are a few ongoing themes throughout this season which I think worked well – particularly the reluctance of many of the crew to help Brooklynn after she seemingly abandoned them. That tension crescendos with Sammy and Yazmina breaking up, something which I am sure will be emotional for long-term fans of this show. I am curious to see how a subsequent series builds on this and hopefully finds some form of resolution which brings these characters back together. Interestingly, apart from reuniting the crew and rescuing Bumpy, the rest of the upcoming story feels largely unknown. The story of season three ends with Soyona Santos apprehended by Barry, meaning her story arc is largely concluded. This suggests to me that we could see some different and interesting final character arcs to round out the story of Chaos Theory. Part of me is excited to see where this all ends, but part of me doesn’t want to say goodbye to these characters which have been part of our lives for several years at this point. Whether we get a fourth season remains to be seen – but I hope we see more soon.
In conclusion, I love how the third season of Chaos Theory expanded on the events seen in Jurassic World Dominion and added more context and depth to them. It feels like everything which happens in this show only serves to strengthen the payoff in Dominion, and I am grateful for that correlation. I really enjoyed this season of the series, and am excited about the prospect of BioSyn Valley in our next instalment. Hopefully we get to experience the next chapter in this story sooner rather than later.
What did you think of the third season of Jurassic World: Chaos Theory? Let me know what you think in the comments below, and stay tuned to The Jurassic Park Podcast for more news on the future of the show as soon as we have it.
Written by: Tom Jurassic