Little do they realize that the force behind the various "monster of the week" appearances is none other than the Queen of the Underworld herself, Amaru, and she's taken control of the body of sweet little Kate (Madison Davenport) to carry out her plans, although Kate is fighting like hell not to get lost in it all. Remember when the creepy blood from the blood well snaked into Kate's dead body? Yeah, that happened, and now she has the ability to turn people into dusty husks by stealing their souls. Not cool. If Amaru is to be beaten, the whole gang will have to get back together, along with some new faces along for the ride.
Kate's brother, Scott (Brandon Soo Hoo), is now a Christian rocker leading a band called Fanglorious, while Professor Aiden Tanner AKA Sex Machine (Jake Busey) has his own creepy sex cult going on with students who want to get turned into Culebras. Ranger Freddie Gonzalez (Jesse Garcia) is separated from his wife and child, but is now acting as the "Peacekeeper" for the Culberas - my, my, how things have changed; while Santanico Pandemonium (Eiza Gonzalez), who now goes by her real name, Kisa, or La Diosa for those Culebras who still worship her, is running an underground fight club for Culebras and humans alike. Right hand to Lord Venganza is a Culebra named Ximena (Emily Rios), who fights somewhat begrudgingly alongside Freddie and the Geckos, and we also meet Burt (Tom Savini), a Culebra warrior who might just look familiar, since he played the original Sex Machine in the movie. We even get to meet Sheriff Earl McGraw's daughter (Nicky Whelan). And then there's Carlos, whose remains were scattered hither and yon at the end of last season. Sometimes you just need a man with Carlos' talents, though, and if there's anything From Dusk Till Dawn has taught us, it's that no one can be counted out unless you see them turn into a pile of smoldering ashes, which is good, considering the current situation. If these various demons are going to be defeated and Amaru stopped before she opens the gates of hell to rule the earth, it's going to have to be all hands on deck, whether or not they want to work together.
These are not your run-of-the-mill demons, either. Working right under Amaru is Brasa the Sun God (Maurice Compte), who presents a big problem to Culberas, what with his sunbeam-shooting hand and all. Then you've got the Skull Keeper, who literally controls people by ripping out their skulls and turning them into human puppets. There's El Caporal, an ancient "rancher" and scorpion-like creature who kidnaps Culebras to drain their venom and enslave them. There's a blockhead named Olmeca - no seriously, his head is literally made of stone and covered in ancient writing - and there are a trio of Jaguar Warriors, led by Zolo, who is quite a formidable fighter. A sewer monster named Cipactli gave me Mexi-Cthulhu vibes and Itzpa gives all new meaning to a woman scorned ((shudder)). Last but not least is General Tatuaje, whose tribal tattoos can move from his body to those he touches, causing them to become his warriors and slaves. Needless to say, it's going to be a bumpy season.
I really enjoyed this season and found the back and forth between the timelines over the last six months to be an interesting way to handle what happened to everyone since the show last aired. There's also some great fan service this season like an insane asylum called Nicotero State Hospital, showing a little love to Greg Nicotero for his epic effects work on the show. There's also a great scene where Richie shows his medical marijuana license to Burt at his smoke shop and the picture on the license is none other than Quentin Tarantino, in an obvious nod to his role as Richie in the movie. It's clear Rodriguez and company had as much fun making the series as they want the fans to have watching it, which is awesome.
In addition to all of the cray-cray characters, great fight scenes, and over-the-top bloody gore we've come to expect from the show, this season is also jam-packed with special features covering the various Xibalban baddies, featurettes focusing on two pivotal characters, rundowns of the various episodes, a fight scene featurette (which was very cool because I learned Zane Holtz is a brown belt in martial arts), a deleted scene on Brasa's introduction, audio commentaries on certain episodes, and one on the two iterations of Sex Machine, which is really fun. There's a lot to love here.
Overall, if you've been a fan up to now, you definitely need to see From Dusk Till Dawn: Season Three and how everything plays out. While this may or may not be the end of the series (although that has yet to be finalized), if it ended like this, I'd be okay with it. I'd like to see one last season to fully wrap things up, since there are a few questions about where certain characters ended up, but overall, it wraps quite fittingly and if this is it, it's been one hell of a ride.
