Worth: $17.50
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Cast:
Laura Bailey, Taliesin Jaffe, Ashley Johnson, Liam O’Brien, Matthew Mercer, Marisha Ray, Sam Riegel, Travis Willingham
Intro:
... the writing and acting dig ever deeper into the richness of the characters, furthering their multitude of engaging storylines while still setting things up to potentially go even bigger from here …
Right from the start, picking up where the first season left off with the draconic Chroma Conclave breathing havoc upon the city of Emon, Season Two of The Legend of Vox Machina immediately promises an extra-large helping of the first season’s bombast and scope.
A hell of a promise, considering that the first season managed to outclass vast swathes of modern adult-oriented animation with its storytelling and gleefully vulgar sense of humour. It’s a promise that Critical Role and co. deliver on with gusto.
The animation by South Korean-based studios Production Reve and Red Dog Culture House doubles down on the muscular power metal aesthetics of both the main franchise and its origins in imagination-rich tabletop role-playing. And because the narrative has been healthily expanded, not only are the fight scenes as jaw-dropping as ever, but the locales behind them show more variety this time around as well. Episode Seven, ‘The Fey Realm’, in particular, brings showrunner Chris Prynoski back to his roots, with enough warped psychedelia to recall fond memories of his work on the drug trip scene in Beavis & Butthead Do America.
As for the deft characterisation that has made Vox Machina’s adventures so engaging across so many different mediums, that too has been strengthened here. Everyone, from the dark and brooding Vax to the lovable lecher Scanlan, gets their chance in the spotlight – never succumbing to Main Character Syndrome at any point (which even the first season, with its focus on Percy, fell into at times), and their respective arcs are all furthered to enriching effect. Even more evident is how much the characters’ relationships with each other have been fleshed out, adding to the ‘sword-and-sorcery James Gunn’ aesthetic of this unlikely family of chaotic adventurers.
From that rock-solid foundation, the way the show continues to explore large-scale themes through the characters reaches the appropriately mythic level that the setting requires. Much like the story itself, distilled from hours upon hours of gameplay into another tidy 12-episode package, the notions of life, death, strength, family, and destiny that the writers regularly juggle around are concentrated down to their purest and most hard-hitting elements. And for as many enjoyable call-backs as there are to the original live-play series, familiarity isn’t required to get the full impact of the arrowhead-sharp emotional blows that this contains. The show is able to transition so smoothly from these kinds of moments, to Scanlan singing about pissing and wanking… it’s a feat of magic that would have even Elminster wondering how it was accomplished.
The Legend of Vox Machina: Season Two improves on the already-mighty pedigree of the first season to deliver even greater riches. The animation continues to spread out wide, as the writing and acting dig ever deeper into the richness of the characters, furthering their multitude of engaging storylines while still setting things up to potentially go even bigger from here (a third season has already been greenlit by Prime Video). Here’s hoping the recent news about the Open Game License doesn’t stop things as they get really damn good.