I am not a huge fan of this season. There have been some bright spots but I feel like it's just starting to build momentum and there are only like 2 episodes left.

So, it is hard to imagine this was not a two-part series finale. After this and The Borgias, it is clear no Showtime series I fall madly in love with lasts beyond three seasons. But see you down the road, seasons 25 of Billions and Ray Donovan.

I will be honest, I have qualms with this as the end of the series:

- It is just flat out strange how Eva Green is all but entirely absent for the two hours preceding her character's world-saving self-sacrifice. Her submission to Dracula and subsequent reversal feels rushed.

- Despite a dashing, subtly menacing performance by Christian Camargo, Dracula ends up a bit of a wash. He just abruptly flits away. And his swaths of vampires are always too easily defeated to be as threatening as they should be. The shot of the frogs pouring out of the drainpipe is scarier.

- The character of Catriona is a sexy, ass-kicking Victorian answer to Lara Croft, and I am glad we met her, but there is this slightly strange dynamic here, too. We end up seeing much more of her than Vanessa during what is presumably the series' end game, and we only met her an episode or two ago.

- Similar to Dracula, Dr. Jekyll, while played well by Shazad Latif, is a bit under-served. "Lord Hyde" falls rather flat as fan service, though maybe it becomes more interesting if you dig into the idea of Hyde's cruelty and vanity already being intertwined with his more noble qualities, no transformation required. I still want more.

- Disappointed Ethan never encountered Lily/reanimated Brona. He never knows what his friend Victor did. Oh, and on the subject of Victor: "Hey, bro, haven't seen you in a year. Want to come with us for the fateful suicide-mission showdown?" "Sure."

- The first season is heavy on Egyptian lore which never went anywhere (they continued with the end-of-days arc, but sans a connection to Egypt), even though the delightful Lyle is headed to Egypt. I wish Lyle was in more of the third season.

On the plus side, the series is as gorgeous and Gothic as ever, and the finale contains plenty of shadow-shrouded, visceral imagery, as well as fine acting. The combination of the art direction, costume design, and music is as sweeping and persuasive as ever.

John Clare's character arc is fascinating, poignant, and wrenching to the end. The final shot reflects what seems clear to me: John Logan ended up most interested in him and Vanessa among his ensemble, even if Vanessa is slightly underutilized at the end. Billie Piper also receives a few more showcase moments; she nails the monologue explaining her baby's tragic death. Dorian's final scene is also excellent, though this registers to an extent as a consolation prize for an iconic character never entirely woven cleanly into the series' tapestry.

Confirmed as a series finale on the Showtime YouTube page.

And I can barely find any response to the finale (love, outrage, confusion) online because Jon Snow went to war tonight. Damn it.

I say this with love, but as great as this series was in regard to acting, atmosphere, emotion, and suspense, there was definitely a bit of a made-up-as-it-goes-along quality in regard to John Logan's character development. The whole, for example, of Ethan's status as a werewolf, the significance and history of which seemed to waver frequently. And, in the end, his wolf powers were not remotely necessary to defeat Dracula or save Vanessa. In fact, Dracula spent around 10 minutes trying (and failing) to fight a group of humans, not even overcoming a 60-plus-year-old psychoanalyst.