Chapters. (Season 3)

Or: How It Feels To Lose A Friend

*Chapters.'* third season is subtitled **Bad Things Happen At Noon**. Created by Mike Barkhoff, it follows the second season and sees a new setup for the series. Unlike the prior, episodes are no longer released monthly and are collaborative in comparison, which had all of its episodes written and directed by Barkhoff.

For this season, Barkhoff directs every other episode while guest directors handle the episodes in-between. Notably, this season saw the directorial debuts of Dylan Van Hauen, UGK David, Skyler Neher, and Nakota Conrad while also showcasing the writing style of Ron Gomes with his first script being adapted (the first of a planned many between him and Barkhoff). Season 3 is made up of old episodes, filmed and then unreleased, and new content. It has no particular theme strung throughout the course of the season, but still carries a light one across several episodes.

Season 3 was met with critical acclaim in the same regards of the season before it. A fourth season was announced in an episode of Barkhoff's new series Living Free, which followed this season and released in September of 2021. Barkhoff revealed after this, however, that the fourth season wasn't going to come immediately as he wanted time away from the series to concoct more original narratives and let the series breathe so it didn't feel too similar.

## Background

Season 3 was originally to be titled "Broken Stars" and follow both nonfictional and fictional celebrities as they cope with new expierences and fall apart. Barkhoff decided to delay this concept, feeling another conceptual season would ruin the series for himself and the audience.
He took unreleased projects and used them to form "about half" of the season.

Barkhoff knew "almost instantly" after wrapping Season 2 that he wanted Season 3 to be a more collaborative effort, citing many episodes of Season 2 as being, in his eyes, "rushed and exhausting" due to him being the sole contributor.

## Production

Due to the setup of the season, many episodes were in the editing stage or already finished and stored internally or externally on laptop or hard drive.

The new episodes, however, began filming just a little over a month before the first episode premiered. Barkhoff's use of collaboraters was similar to how he and Jarrod Van Hauen collaborated with Death, My Darling, where he would send dailies to the episode's director to opine the camerawork and acting. The scripts were all honed by the collaborator with Barkhoff extending a helping hand. The stories, also, were all partially set up by Barkhoff, save for the episode "Limbo", which was Ron Gomes' contribution.

Due to the nature of filming, continuing the film style quarantine just for extra safety among the crew, Season 3 was overall filmed in little more than a month. Ron Gomes' guest writer credit "Limbo" had been sent to Barkhoff prior, but he asked for Gomes to allow him the use of it as an episode. This was the last episode to be finished due to the usage of multiple actors during the final stage of COVID-19, which still brought difficulty to the overall set.

## Marketing

The season employed no marketing before premiering March 30th, 2021. A share of the aired episode was the reveal of Season 3's airing. A poster was released within the week on Barkhoff's website.

On May 30th, 2021, exactly two months after the first episode, Barkhoff sent a tweet and deleted it, in which he said:

> Just got Episode 14 of Chapters. done. They're out of order, so we got 1 more (Gomes') but I'm thrilled to share these w/ u.
>
>

He then released another tweet, again deleting it within a minute, where he revealed the episode titles:

> Sozzy - Revisitor - Vent Sess - Your broadcast to... - Limbo - (The) Syringe + Communicator - Drip / in no order
>
>

Barkhoff confirmed the episode sequencing on July 11th, as well as updating the IMDb page. The day prior, he had shared a picture of Limbo's title card to the company Facebook, hinting that the episode had wrapped filming. A specific episode he revealed the title to was nowhere to be found and, due to this, it remains to be seen where and when, if ever, The Syringe will be released or seen.

Like previous seasons, which each featured at least one particular episode with a poster and trailer, this season's was Ron Gomes' Limbo. Also like the previous seasons, this season's experimental entry was Your Broadcast To... which was made to mimic a radio show, with a black screen and vocals only (in Season 1, an episode was Black and White, and in Season 2, an episode was entirely silent).

Reportedly, an early contender for a later episode in the season - presumed airing around October - would have been a clip from Dylan Van Hauen's debut feature film. However, due to that aforementioned film beginning filming much later than expected, this idea was shelved. It was also later reported that the season would wrap before October, even.

## Themes

Season 3 employs themes of moving on and moving in (quite literally, as two episodes feature a character moving into a new house). It also focuses on death heavily, and draws on revenge, ego, and pettiness.

After the season wrapped, Barkhoff suggested a theme he hadn't seen anyone mention: the loss of a friend. As Barkhoff put it, "I was going through a loss of one of my own in life - someone who I got along with well in my middle years of where I'm at now. I found out just about right before the new episodes began filming that he betrayed my respect for him. As I do, I used art to familiarize myself with the way life is. And because of that, a lot of the episodes are sharper than I would usually make films. I'm not holding back because I'm going through it. That's why ego and narcissism are concepts I drew into the picture, too."

Unlike Season 2, which fit the same theme in several episodes, the theme for Season 3 is varied in weight, and can be more focused in one episode or entirely drawn out for a timeframe. For example, Episode 8 of Season 3, the "artistic specialty" episode of the season, ends on a bleak note because, rather than trying to fit a similar theme, Barkhoff wanted the artistic collaboration to also be heard. He asked Delfs, that episode's director, what he would do in reality if faced with a circumstance similar to that, and suggested Delfs make that the ending.

## Cast

Mike Barkhoff appears in Episodes 1-4, 6-13

Anessa Smith appears in Episode 9, Limbo

## Reception

Season 3 of Chapters has received acclaim, though it is notable that the first three episodes received less lively reviews in comparison to Season 2. Beginning with Episode 4, the season has received steadily rising positive reviews. All episodes but one hold a minimal of 9/10 on IMDb as of current date.

Episodes 4 and 5 were noted positively for their comedic roles brought to the table of the usually dark show, while Episodes 1 and 3 were met favorably for being "unique". Episode 2 has received positive reviews for it's acting and camerawork but has been criticized for being "effortless" by some and "not going anywhere" by others. Episode 6 was met with positive reviews for it's camerawork and the acting of Mike Barkhoff, while Episode 7 received critical acclaim for it's "inventive style" of carrying on a 'diss track'. Episodes 8, 10, and 12 were each met with positive reviews but received minor criticism for being "basic" in premise, while Episode 9 was met with critical acclaim and gained notoriety for Gomes' debut film as a writer. Episode 11 received very positive reviews due to it's camerawork and unique style, with many complimenting Barkhoff's way of making the episode unsettling - it has been singled out as an example of his best directing styles. Likewise, Episode 13 received critical acclaim, sharing many aspects as Episode 11's reviews, but also saw acclaim gifted towards Barkhoff's acting, too.