This review contains spoilers for 12 Monkeys Season 4, including the two-part series finale, "The Beginning." For more on the series finale, check out our interview with the showrunner to explain that surprise ending.
12 Monkeys achieved the seemingly impossible in its final season by answering every question, completing each loop and, most importantly, rewarding not only the intellectual but also the substantial emotional investment of its audience.
The series has always delivered in terms of the trippy, slippery details of time-travel, but its power comes from its heart. We care about these characters the way they care about each other. Last season our heroes were working against each other, and much of this season was about them coming back together for one last try. A large chunk of Season 4 found Cole and his allies seeking out “the weapon” created by the Primaries of Olde. The scavenger hunt across time element was fun, but the reveal of the Primaries’ actual goal was devastating. Just as “To Serve Man” was a cookbook, the weapon made “for Cole” was made not for him to wield, but to destroy him. Cole is the solution and the problem, the cure and the virus, the slayer and the demon, which makes sense to Cole: He’s never really seen a way out of this.
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12 Monkeys achieved the seemingly impossible in its final season by answering every question, completing each loop and, most importantly, rewarding not only the intellectual but also the substantial emotional investment of its audience.
The series has always delivered in terms of the trippy, slippery details of time-travel, but its power comes from its heart. We care about these characters the way they care about each other. Last season our heroes were working against each other, and much of this season was about them coming back together for one last try. A large chunk of Season 4 found Cole and his allies seeking out “the weapon” created by the Primaries of Olde. The scavenger hunt across time element was fun, but the reveal of the Primaries’ actual goal was devastating. Just as “To Serve Man” was a cookbook, the weapon made “for Cole” was made not for him to wield, but to destroy him. Cole is the solution and the problem, the cure and the virus, the slayer and the demon, which makes sense to Cole: He’s never really seen a way out of this.
Continue reading…
Continue reading...