Replaying it for nostalgia and it really is an absolute banger of a season. It adds such a complexity to this solid but uncomplicated series. It ditches what didn't work about previous seasons and highlights what does.
What really works is just the thesis of the very story. The series has always been good at sticking with gags that you'd think would be one-offs. Season 3 escalates by just keeping the camera on these two goofballs as the jokes melt away and the real consequences they promised you start to set in. And when the jokes vanish you're just left with the real heart of it all: the two best friends who want to go adventuring together and how that bond refuses to break in spite of all the ways its bent. A perfect ending without an equal.
What really works is just the thesis of the very story. The series has always been good at sticking with gags that you'd think would be one-offs. Season 3 escalates by just keeping the camera on these two goofballs as the jokes melt away and the real consequences they promised you start to set in. And when the jokes vanish you're just left with the real heart of it all: the two best friends who want to go adventuring together and how that bond refuses to break in spite of all the ways its bent. A perfect ending without an equal.