Critical Role: Episode 60 and 61 Review

By: I.Am.No.Man

Critical Role Review: Episode 60 Heredity and Hats

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Summary: Vex and Vax lead their companions into Syngorn. They reconnect with their father, stepmother, and half-sister, steal a hat from a High Warden, and learn more about the Shademirk Bog and Fenthras’ Bow. The companions coerce Garmili the fawn to lead them into the Moonbrush towards the Shademirk Bog.

Why to Watch: Liam and Laura get a more in depth look at their backstory and character development when they visit their father’s home and see him with his new wife and child. Garmili features again in this episode and leads Vox Machina into more mischief. This is also the first Live episode of Critical Role, filmed in front of an audience of enthusiastic fans.

Highlights:

Home: (22:40)

Grog’s helpful tip (39:00)

Daddy Issues (46:15)

Lady of Whitestone (54:40)

Scanlan, Hat connoisseur (1:42:30)

Percy and Scanlan calm the angry grass (2:21:40)

Trinket saves the day (2:31:22)

Lowlights:

Technical difficulties Video cuts out at (29:13) and they have to briefly recap what the cameras missed. Audio cuts out a couple of times for a few seconds around (1:45:00).

Live Audience: While I think the idea of a live audience is fun, I do think that the loud cheering and clapping distract a lot from the flow of the story. It sounds like the show has been set to a laugh track which really detracts from the genuinely funny moments.  The actors also ham up a lot of scenes to get a reaction from the audience. Also, the audio and video quality are not as good as usual because of the change in location. I’m hoping that future live episodes will be a little more relaxed and a bit better quality.

Episode 61: Denizens of the Moonbrush

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Summary: Vox Machina venture deeper into the Few Wilds in search of Fenthras’ Bow lost deep in the Shademirk. They encounter talking tigers, and bears, and werewolves along the way. Somehow, the adventurers end up in a binding contract with a clan of lycans to desecrate a pixie shrine in some kind of strange Feywild turf war.

Why to Watch: Dive deeper into the bizarre Feywild and it's inhabitants. There's werewolves, and pixies, and...genocide with a hint of desecration. The world building is interesting and the character role play has its moments.

Highlights:

The Sound of Music (38:00)

Vax shows off his dance moves (48:40)

Dance, Scanlan, Dance (1:02:00)

Lycans, Lycans everywhere (1:10:30)

Pixie City (1:54:50)

Desecration 101 (1:59:00)

Beautiful Rolls (2:10:00)

Keyleth’s attempt at recon (2:22:08)

Vax tries to be a hero (2:29:22)

Scanlan sings a song about his…cube (2:41:00)

Grog is statuesque (2:46:22)

Those little fuckers (2:54:00)

Lowlights:

Audio Quality: The audio from the music crashes around (1:15:00) interrupting an intense moment with crackling static and a pause in the story while they try and resolve it.

Story Progression: I found myself losing interest in the story about halfway through. The Lycan vs Pixie mess that the group got themselves in was much less exciting than the usual Critical Role fights.

Review:

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Honestly, these two episode were a bit lacking for me. I thought episode 60, the live episode, went about as well as it could have. It wasn’t one of my favorites based on the story and the role playing but hopefully later live episodes work out the kinks. I am wondering if the Feywild is just not my thing. I got pretty bored by the end of episode 61 and missed the more action packed episodes. Some people may really enjoy the kooky, ‘Tim Burton” like feel of the Feywild, but I could do with a little less “flower-picking, ditsy” Keyleth trouncing through fields and more beast battles and puzzle dungeons.

Coming up on Critical Role: Next episode sees the companions facing the massive rapids that block their way into the Shademirk. It’s also another live episode! What mischief and danger lie in wait for Vox Machina? Find out next week!