You Must Sacrifice
Episode 4 of Castlevania Season 4 sees Sypha and Belmont together discussing their journey. They take 5 minutes away from everything to discuss their options. Belmont is done reacting and decides to start taking action instead. Meanwhile, Alucard answers the call from the villagers and arrives with his sword and shield, easily dispatching these creatures from Hell. There, he meets Greta, the villager in charge. He confirms that the rider is dead and apologizes for what’s happened. It turns out their group have been attacked four nights in a row. Despite knowing Alucard is a half-vampire and clearly crazed, she’s relying on his help. And out the latrine staggers Saint Germain, who’s alive and well after the end of season 3. With Saint Germain stuck in the corridor and losing control of the different worlds, this conflicted man is faced with a real moral dilemma. Opening portals, he eventually finds his way to an alchemist who claims the one he hunts has left and progressed forward. The only way to reach her is to sacrifice everything and embrace alchemy. Of course, in doing so that means he needs to spill blood and control the corridor. Just like the first episode of this season, a montage then ensues which sees us cut through time. Saint Germain studies magic and eventually gives his all to control the Corridor. This includes killing, something he vowed not to do. Through the relatively short period of 8 weeks, Saint Germain essentially sells his soul, conspiring with Dracula’s worshippers in a bid to control the Infinite Corridor. Part of this plan also involves bringing back Dracula, cleverly weaving all these different subplots around bringing Dracula back. Even more alarming however, is the reveal that Saint Germain has been playing these villagers as fools this whole time. Back in the present, Alucard realizes the one possibility of saving these villagers involves moving them into the castle. This seems to be part of Saint Germain’s goal… but to what end?
The Episode Review
How far would you go to bring back the person you love? Would you sell your soul? This is the question gripping the latest episode of Castlevania, one that’s explored in more detail across the episode. Seeing how Saint Germain “escaped” the Corridor and slowly whittled down into madness helps to explain his character and why he’s descended so far from where he was last season. This works well in the context of the story, reflecting the state of the world which seems to have grown even more maddening since the last time we left off. So far season 4 has done well to juggle all these different characters and the ending certainly hints at more action to come. As we move into the second half of this series, Castlevania looks like it’s prepping for an explosive finish to the season.
