Castlevania Season 3, Episode 9 recap: The Harvest

Episode 309 of Netflix’s Castlevania gets sexy and violent.

Castlevania has gotten sexy before, but “The Harvest” really kicks it up a notch, wasting little time before showing us Hector (Theo James) getting it on with the vampiric Lenore (Jessica Brown Findlay). It’s not all about love or lust, however. Isaac (Adetokumboh M’Cormack) is still in a city enthralled by a mysterious magician, forced to battle is a large army of spiritually enslaved humans. Rather than simply leave these minions dead, Isaac transforms them into addition night creatures to build his own army.

Things start to get crazier, though. Under the spell, these slaves form a giant, flying ball composed of human beings, occasionally ejecting people as weaponized projectiles. At another point, as Isaac enters a building looking for the magician, human waves in snake-like patterns follow him, weaving their way up a staircase. It is, without a doubt, one of the more memorable moments of Castlevania so far, and actually a bit funny.

Castlevania: Slaying the magician / Lust and betrayal

By no means is this magician a weak foe. In fact, when Isaac finally locates him, he almost gets put under his spell, too. However, we all know Isaac’s a little too special to end up a random addition to a teeming mass of a human well. Instead, he ends up killing the Wizard. Sure, this ends up sending many humans plunging to their deaths when the spell is broken, but it’s not like it’s Isaac’s fault overall.

In scenes of more subtle madness, Alucard (James Callis) actually gets seduced by Sumi (Rila Fukushima) and Taka (Toru Uchikado). However, they end up springing a trap on him mid-coitus, and Hector similarly gets tricked into wearing a magical “enslavement ring” by Lenore. So, while this season of Castlevania has had slower, more contemplative moments, things are obviously still happening.

Castlevania: The return of Dracula?!

As these strange things occur, the episode occasionally shows us events in Lindenfeld, and things aren’t looking too good for the place. Sala (Navid Negahban) has indeed summoned some very dark forces, and they end threatening to overtake Trevor (Richard Armitage) and Sypha (Alejandra Reynoso), as well as Saint Germain (Bill Nighy) and The Judge (Jason Isaacs).

As new night creatures are freed to attack humans, we get some dramatic imagery, such as some guy holding his own intestines in his hand. Yes, it gets pretty brutal. As the “harvest of souls” enters the night creature in the Priori’s basement, Sala is pleased. It gives Trevor and Sypha plenty of work, as she uses her magic and he uses his “Morning Star” whip. Interestingly, we see that a portal has opened up into Hell, and Dracula (Graham McTavish) is there with his vampire bride, Lisa (Emily Swallow)!

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