Critical Role’s The Legend of Vox Machina delves deeper into the characters' psyches and delivers more bloody battles in this week’s trilogy of episodes. As the group pursues the Briarwoods, early signs of romance start to bubble up.
This production continues to wow with their casting, and now also their staffing. The scriptwriter for Episode 4, "Shadows at the Gates" is none other than Ashly Burch, the voice and mocap actress for Aloy in Horizon: Zero Dawn and the upcoming Horizon: Forbidden West. Burch was a writer on Adventure Time and Mythic Quest, where she also portrays Rachel, a quality tester. Guest voices in these three episodes include Dominic Monaghan, Gina Torres, Sunil Malhotra, Anjali Bhimani and Eugene Byrd.
Burch has appeared periodically in guest roles on the Critical Role web series, so her involvement with The Legend of Vox Machina is not surprising but very much welcome. Her episode stands out for its emotional maturity and character development that never feels forced or contrived. Episode 3 ended with the team in an emotionally fraught state, and Episode 4 needs to see them patch things up if they have any hope of successfully pursuing the Briarwoods.
Following their messy stalemate with vampires Sylas and Delilah Briarwood in Episode 3, Vox Machina is put under house arrest by Sovereign Uriel, who is under the spell of Sylas Blackwood. With the Guards of Emon confiscating their weapons and, well, standing guard, Vox Machina is left to pick up the pieces of their damaged relationship in the wake of Percy revealing…what exactly? That he has a possessed mask? No one, including the viewer, can be sure what’s going on there, because Percy is not opening up on that topic. What he does describe is the bone-chilling way the Briarwoods murdered his entire family and usurped their place as rulers of Whitestone. Percy now thirsts for vengeance against them and various colluders.
Elsewhere, Delilah Briarwood uses dark magic in a graveyard to call up some undead wraiths. Surely they’re just going to help her run some errands. Errands like killing a group of mediocre mercenaries. With everyone concerned about Percy and trying to escape house arrest, no one seems to notice that Pike is spiraling after Delilah damaged her amulet last episode. Pike hasn’t been able to feel the Everlight’s power since the fight, and has taken to constant prayer in an attempt to reach her goddess again. But it's not working.
Following a failed escape attempt, the guards separate the mercenaries into smaller groups, pairing off Percy and Keyleth, Grog and Pike, and Vex, Vax and Scanlan. It’s the perfect way to get these characters into a place where they can say things they don’t want the whole group to hear. Peeling off from Scanlan, who is engrossed in Delilah’s book of magic, Vex and Vax discuss the possibility of striking out on their own. It’s clear this brother and sister pair find it hard to rely on anyone but each other. Which makes the crush Vax is opbviosuly developing on Keyleth all the more complicated.
Sequestered in the chapel, Grog is restless and disturbing Pike’s meditation. These two are an odd couple. Despite his bumbling and brash nature, Pike never seems to find Grog’s behavior annoying or rude– even when he accidentally eats a barrel of the ashes of her dead ancestors. In fact, Pike admits to Grog that she is at a loss, spiritually, and can’t connect to the Everlight. Grog clearly doesn’t have answers for her, but the moment is heartwarming and cements that these two have the strongest friendship among the group.
Keyleth and Percy are another story. In her own awkward way, Keyleth shares that she is in effect living in exile from her family and the Ashari. She has to complete a set of trials before she can return to her family, and if she can’t complete them she can never return. Percy seems to appreciate her attempt at empathy but reminds her, “Whether you succeed or fail, your family is still alive.”
Delilah’s wraiths show up and they’re a doozy of a monster. Titmouse Animation wins the day again here, with darkly warped ghouls whose attacks are blink-and-you’re-dead fast. The way these things suck the life from their victims, causing black bile to flow from their eyes and mouths is shudder-inducing. The Guards of Emon are swiftly exterminated, save for Captain Jarrett (Eugene Byrd).
Hearing the attack outside, Pike rallies and commands Grog, “do your Grog thing.” This apparently means “punch through the door.” After breaking out, Vox Machina joins the fray and are badly overpowered. Captain Jarrett is down to a torch as his last weapon— and it turns out that was the trick all along! The wraiths are afraid of light, but the torch is burning down. And Pike can’t summon. The situation is looking incredibly dire– almost everyone is down for the count, except Keyleth, who is, again, freaking out. Tapping into something primal, light bursts from Keyleth’s hands, flooding the room and burning the wraiths, weakening them enough for the rest of the group to attack.
With the threat defeated, Jarrett now sees the Briarwoods have to be stopped and lets Vox Machina leave house arrest. Percy tries to leave on his own, but the other members stop him and demand they go together. “No more secrets,” Vex tells him. It seems like Vex and Vax are staying with the group too, at least for now.
Pike, however, is not going on this trip. She has to make a pilgrimage to her temple to try to tap into her power again. Critical Role fans will know Pike’s frequent absences and sudden reappearances in the story were not plot-driven but due to Ashley Johnson’s scheduling conflicts while filming NBC’s Blindspot. Nonetheless, her goodbye with Grog is touching, and the new medium presents an opportunity to explore what Pike could have been doing outside the main questline. Every Dungeons and Dragons circle consisting of employed adults is used to scheduling around the players’ jobs. For the Critical Role team, it has to feel good that what began as their passion project is now a sustainable gig.
Episode 5, "Fate’s Journey," is a road trip episode. Before leaving town, Scanlan, Grog and Percy go to procure a wagon while Vex, Vax and Keyleth attempt to rob Gilmore’s Glorious Goods. Remember, these are mercenaries, not heroes. In a classic, “that roll was not successful” move, Gilmore (Sunil Malhotra) catches the would-be robbers in the act. Instead of punishment, he offers to sell them the supplies they need to fight vampires. There’s a bit of flirting between Keyleth and Vax, which Gilmore encourages, to the disdain of Vex.
On the road, Scanlan explains what he’s been reading in Delilah’s magic book: “some messed up s***.” Working through the Ancient Abyssal text, Keyleth deduces the “zipper t***” Scanlan has been reading about is actually a ziggurat, “an ancient structure used for contacting gods.” But their study is broken by the soft sobs of Grog. Grog misses Pike. When Vax tries to comfort him by saying Pike will be ok on her own, Grog replies “She’s stronger than all of us. I’m worried about us without her.”
This episode’s fight breaks the usual mold and does what can only be described as “Dungeons and Dragons does Fast and Furious.” Rotting canine monsters attack the wagon, causing a chase scene through a murky wood. At the end of it, the group is safe but all their gear from Gilmore’s tumbles over a cliff. These things do happen in D&D, but narratively, what was the point, either of losing the gear or going to Gilmore’s to buy it in the first place? We already know the odds are against our mercenaries after seeing the power of the Briarwoods in Episode 3, so having the group lose their resources in this episode feels a little useless, in terms of raising the stakes.
Vex is starting to become visibly annoyed by every interaction between her brother and Keyleth. Vax obviously has a bit of a crush on the druid, but reassures Vex that “no one will come between us.” If it weren’t for the leg work earlier episodes put in setting up the siblings' co-dependency, this plotline would come off as a shallow woman vs woman conflict. Instead, it’s building up to a possible falling out between Vex, who has suggested leaving the group multiple times, and Vax, who is adapting to trusting others.
Episode 6, "Spark of Rebellion," begins in a secret meeting of the resistance in Whitestone, led by Archibald Desnay (Dominic Monaghan). They are interrupted when a giant rips the roof off their hideout, eating a few rebels Attack on Titan-style. The Briarwoods control this giant, which patrols the city, destroying any resistance members and their hideouts. Guards rush the hideout, and take Archie prisoner. He is put in the dungeons, and tortured by Captain Kerrion Stonefell– one of the names engraved on Percy’s gun, alongside the Briarwoods.
In seeking shelter from the giant, Vox Machina make contact with some resistance members who show them how to reach Keeper Yennen (Gina Torres), a religious leader in Whitestone who secretly supports the resistance. Yennen has known Percy since he was a boy, and she informs him that his childhood friend, Archibald Desnay, is leading the resistance. Breaking Archie out of prison is imperative if the Briarwoods are to be defeated. “The only way to win is if the resistance is strong enough,” Yennen explains.
While Vox Machina figures out a jailbreak plan, Pike is still at a loss on her spiritual journey. She blames Delilah, believing she must be cursed, but the High Cleric (Anjali Bhimani) intervenes: “No curse, no spell, could sever your connection to her light. Whatever is blocking you is inside of you.” Sounds like Pike is in for some serious introspection next episode.
After several proposals, Vox Machina settles on a plan in conjunction with the resistance: half the group will go through the front door, half through the back. Simple enough? Along the way, good-hearted Keyleth convinces Vex to free all the prisoners, not just Archie. But of course Stonefell is not going to let his prisoners leave easily. In the ensuing struggle, Percy finds the opportunity to don his plague doctor mask and confront Stonefell. He fires his gun, and when Stonefell is dead, his name disappears from the gun’s barrel.
The mask clearly changes Percy somehow: when he removes it, his eyes are totally black and expression crazed. Vax approaches Percy, who points the gun at his friend. Percy goes on a tirade about getting vengeance as “the last of the De Rolos” and in the final twist of this episode, Archie reveals that Percy’s sister, Cassandra, is alive. Though Percy thought her dead, she actually lives in the custody of the Briarwoods. Walking away from the burning prison, Percy wistfully says, “I have a sister.”
Vox Machina are getting closer to defeating the Briarwoods, but viewers are only left with more questions. What entity possesses Percy when he puts on the mask? How will Pike reach the ever light again? When will Keyleth realize Vax is totally into her?
Episodes 4, 5, and 6 of The Legend of Vox Machina are currently streaming on Amazon Prime.