The fourth and final season of Jurassic World Chaos Theory has been available on Netflix for a few days now. Many people have experienced the dinosaur moments and set pieces which bring this season to a close, so it feels like an apt time for us to dive into a spoiler review.
If you missed them, we have also dropped a long-form spoiler podcast, and a fun Spoiler Interview with Executive Producer Scott Kreamer, where we get a fun confirmation on the name of Smoothie’s father, amongst other awesome insights from development of the show.
If it isn’t already obvious, this is a spoiler review – you have been warned!
We’re going to start at the deep end here – and talk about the injury which Ben receives in this season. Beyond questioning the plausibility of surviving such an injury, I felt that the emotional rollercoaster of whether Ben would survive or not was handled incredibly well in this season. There were moments where I felt certain that Ben would die here, and that created quite a sombre tone throughout the second half of the season.
The weight we felt with questions about Ben’s mortality here definitely juxtaposes the safety that we have seen in recent films. I feel like recent Jurassic movies have been too scared to put main characters in genuine danger, but here it genuinely felt like this could have gone either way, and I really appreciated that.
Ben’s arc isn’t the only one handled well this season. From reflections from Brooklynn about the guilt she feels for getting her friends into this situation, right through to the handling of platonic feelings in Brooklynn’s relationship with Darius, there is a lot of well-developed coming-of-age subject matter handled here. Particular praise has to go on the handling of Sammy and Yaz’s reunion, and how it felt natural and grounded in the situations many of us have experienced in our own lives.
Dinosaur usage is a real highlight throughout the fourth season for me. We finally get the debut of the Triceratops (albeit it fleetingly!), but beyond that some of our favourite animals from Dominion get the opportunity to flex their muscles in this season. The Giganotosaurus gets some good screentime throughout, as does the Therizinosaurus – but the real standout for me has to be the use of the Quetzalcoatlus.
The Quetz is used in an attack on one of the BioSyn Valley observation towers, with the azhdarchid landing on the rooftop of the tower and using its long beak to attack the campers. This sequence feels distinctly different to anything seen with the animal in both Dominion and Rebirth, and made me grateful that we got to spend more time with it this season.
We can’t talk about dinosaurs without touching on the conclusion for the story of Bumpy and Smoothie. Both of these Ankylosaurs are reunited in an adorable fashion, with the later even taking on a Dilophosaurus and winning as both animals and the campers attempt to escape the flames of the locust swarm. Seeing these animals in safety at the very end of the season was a nice way to round-out the use of some adorable herbivores which many fans feel a connection to.
A big part of this fourth season is the connectivity to wider elements of Dominion’s story. We get lots of connections here – from the outbreak of the locust fire swarm, to the Dilophosaurus pursuing out crew into the hyperloop tunnels. Our campers even find themselves in the courtyard of BioSyn Valley moments after the climactic battle of Jurassic World Dominion has concluded.
I think, truth be told, this is where this season lost me a little. I think tie-in works when it is handled with care and caution, but here there are lots of moments of overlap which can come across as a little contrived at points. On a couple of occasions, the timeline feels a little bit wonky, and whilst there is nothing which ruins the story here, I do feel like less might have been more here.
Overall, I felt like Season Four of Chaos Theory was a much smaller and more self-contained story. A lot of this season felt focussed on concluding the emotional arcs of the characters we have spent many years with, which is not necessarily a bad thing. I do feel like this came at the detriment of larger-scale set pieces which connected to the broader lore, but I don’t feel this is the fault of the show.
Chaos Theory Season Four has undoubtedly come out at a weird time for the Jurassic World franchise. We have a recent film entry which seemed to blindside many brand partners and feels disjointed when compared to the broader story which is unfolding here. It is perhaps, therefore, no surprise that Chaos Theory Season Four was forced to keep it’s focus purely on the restraints placed on it by the plot of Jurassic World Dominion.
For what the series is, this is a satisfying conclusion to the story of the Nublar Six – with emotional beats resolved in a way which feels rewarding. But I can’t help but feel like this could have been the start of a wider story if Universal Pictures took the care to treat Jurassic like other film franchises with expanded lore and storytelling potential.
Huge thanks to Dreamworks Animation and Netflix for providing access to Jurassic World Chaos Theory Season 4. You can stream the series now on Netflix!
Written by: Tom Jurassic