It's weird to remember how, when Netflix launched, all of its series were very, very targeted to adult audiences. Now, in these post-Stranger Things days, it seems like nearly every other new series launching is tailored for teens — albeit much savvier, more adult teens than those in the pre-streaming days.

And within that parameter is a fascinating range of tones, characters, and narratives, not to mention a real emphasis on diversity. From its beginnings, On My Block has been a standout example of this: Set in a rough area of Los Angeles, the series focuses on four friends growing up in a neighborhood where gang violence is as much a part of daily life as homework and dating, where at one moment, a character might be obsessed with a Goonies-esque treasure hunt, and in another, a young woman gets killed by a stray bullet at her quinceañera.

To be clear, On My Block is, tonally, one of the wildest shows on the air today, but there's something about that which feels appropriate to capturing what it's actually like to be a teenager — both the extreme mood swings, as well as the inescapable sense that no matter what the actual stakes might be, things feel like life and death.

In the third season, that life-or-death threat doesn't change. While, at the end of the second season, the core quartet — Cesar (Diego Tinoco), Monse (Sierra Capri), Ruby (Jason Genao) and Jamal (Brett Gray) — were able to take down the Prophets, a new heavy known as Cuchillos (Ada Luz Pla, delightfully sinister, especially in her initial introduction) tasks them with tracking down the missing criminal behind the legendary Roller World heist. It's a quest that brings them both to the set of a viral Rebecca Black-esque music video as well as to the point of considering actual murder (or "premeditated self-defense"). These kids are now more grown-up than ever, and also more conscious of the daily dangers they're dealing with, even in between lighter gross-out storylines featuring more vomiting than Knives Out.

Speaking of adulthood: The kids on On My Block aren't just sexually active, but at times obsessively so (even if they're "dancing solo"). While the on-screen action is never very explicit, the dialogue sure is (at one point, a character talks about how he's had so much sex recently that he's been "milked dry"), and while there's a question as to how much actual teenagers talk like this, in the world of this show it is a fact that these kids do definitely talk like that.

While relatively inexperienced when the show began, the ensemble has definitely escaped any awkward growing pains. Gray, as Jamal, takes on more heavy lifting as comic relief this season, while Ruby continues to deal with more emotionally complex material (a credit to Genao, whose performance has grown more and more nuanced with each passing year). It'd be nice to see Monse get more of a proactive role, as her biggest issue over the course of the season is her decision to leave behind the neighborhood and attend the fancy boarding school that could mean a whole new life for her. Meanwhile, Cesar remains torn between family, his love for Monse, his friendships, and his seemingly unavoidable fate to join life on the streets.

While the four leads remain front and center, breakout Jasmine gets a lot more to do, not only more incorporated into the team's quest but also becoming a love interest. (This might be one of the best aspects of the season; Jessica Marie Garcia's character has always had the potential to reach Kimmy Gibbler levels of annoying, but thanks to the sympathetic writing and the way Garcia captures her innate self-confidence, she's instead a welcome pleasure.) Like many teen dramas, the adults surrounding them are quite secondary, though Jamal's dad Dwayne (Eme Ikwuakor) gets brought into the action in unexpected ways (which lead to some of the season's darkest moments), while Monse's father Monty (Reggie Austin) stands out as one of those all-time-great Supportive TV Dads.

At eight episodes, there's very little fat to trim in this season, though some of the subplots might not have been essential to the plot (seriously, that was an awful lot of vomit). However, there's plenty here to please the show's loyal fanbase, which leads to me mentioning this: If you love On My Block, be sure to binge the whole season as soon as possible.

This is because, while Season 2 featured a pretty massive cliffhanger in its final minutes, there is some level of resolution to the final moments of this season. However, there's plenty to indicate what might happen in a future fourth season, which is currently in flux (and will be determined to some degree by the viewership numbers when it first premieres).

The bittersweet fact, of course, is that Netflix has established a recent pattern of the "third and final" or "fourth and final" renewals, so there's a decent chance that there's at least one more batch of episodes possible here. But, given that Season 3's renewal took some time to happen, and in fact seemed relatively precarious at the time, there's legitimate cause to be concerned that this might be the last time we get to find out what happens On My Block. And that would be a shame. This show at times delivers the textbook definition of emotional whiplash. But on the other hand, it's often a hell of a ride.

Rating: ★★★ Good