Critical Role Review: The Legend of Vox Machina Episodes 7-9 (Spoilers)

By: I.Am.No.Man

Episode 7: Scanbo

Another solid start to the penultimate trio of episodes in season 1! Scanbo's solo mission was definitely a hot topic for the long time fans. Even now, it's one of the most talked about heists in Critical Role History. It's so rare to get these solo missions and have it go off so spectacularly. I do feel like the scene may have lost some of the 'edge of your seat' stress that watching it live for the first time on stream had. I still remember the feeling of watching Sam Riegel masterfully improv his way through one of the most insane and difficult encounters by himself and come out with such magnificent moments as Triceratops Scanlan and a backwards swan dive off the burning roof into the safety of Bigby's hand. Regardless, there was something amazing about seeing all that chaos condensed down and animated.

Now that Scanlan's had his heroic moment in the spotlight, we'll see if the writers can hammer us with his more emotional story lines in the upcoming season (or two!).

Percy also had some moments in this episode to reveal just how deeply his demons are ingrained. The rest of Vox Machina is growing increasingly worried about Percy's dark side coming out. Orthax has been making more pronounced appearances in recent episodes. Haunting Percy's reflection and twisting his shadow. At one particularly dark point, as Percy is contemplating how much to reveal to Vox Machina about that mysterious "unnamed barrel", Orthax twists Percy's shadow to make it look like he's pointing his gun at his own head.

Speaking of The List, Percy's first fire arm is quickly becoming its own character in the series. The demonic nature of the gun and it's list of names is much more prominent than on the stream. Taliesin kept his list pretty close to the chest for quite a long time on stream, but we ain't got no time for that with only three episodes left this season! Plus, new fans have a much shorter time to be able to learn NPC names and how they relate to Percy's backstory so things have to be much more clear and explicit for the series.

How about that cliffhanger though! Percy and Cassandra had quite a bloody reunion. I do find myself wishing I was coming to the series completely fresh to experience the drama and suspense for the first time again.

Episode 8: A Silver Tongue

This episode opens with the emotional conclusion to episode 7's cliffhanger. Vox Machina come in to Percy and Cassandra's rescue and corner Professor Anders for the ultimate confrontation. This iteration of Professor Anders is a bit different from the streamed campaign but it made for a very fantasy-epic confrontation that fit well with the animated story. It was interesting to see a literal 'silver tongue' as a source of power. Not sure if that was my most favorite of the 'gifts' bestowed by the Briarwoods, but hey, it works well to distinguish the villain and set up that emotional moment of brainwashed Vox Machina versus Percy.

Of course the vicious death scene in this episode continues to push the envelope of just how gruesome a cartoon can get. If you thought the entire team curb stomping wights into oblivion, or watching nameless guards being gutted was up there on the gross scale, then this death scene sure topped that list. I never thought I'd watch Percy shove a loaded gun into someone's gaping mouth hole.

How about that resurrection scene between Keyleth and Cassandra? I loved that dramatic moment of silence that went on just long enough to make you uncomfortable before the scene bursts back into the dark humor its so good at. It'll be interesting to see how much they can develop Cassandra's character over the final three episodes.

Percy had that wonderfully cinematic moment of literally shedding his dark persona to rush to his sister's side. So cool. Sure, it's not subtle, but honestly that's not what this show is about. It's great to see these exceptional moments thrown in to these blisteringly fast paced episodes.

Of course, Vox Machina has no time to rest. The siege on the city continues and a horde of reanimated corpses stands between Percy and The Briarwoods.

Episode 9: The Tide of Bone

This episode had it all. The conclusion of Pike's spiritual reconnection journey, an emotional NPC death, Vox Machina flexing their growing heroic powers, and villain backstory reveals!

We got to see Delilah coming into her new necromantic powers. And Silas finally shows that he's just along for the ride that Delilah has brought him on. We're getting to see the Delilah that would break the world for her love. There were also more mega hints at Vecna's coming. We can only hope that the series does well enough to snag a third and final season to bring the Vecna arc to fruition.

We got a brutally emotional scene as Vox Machina and the Whitestone rebels show down against the zombie horde. Archie, our sweet doomed boy, finally met his end and pushed Percy to a new breaking point. This is the first time that Percy has to finally accept his leadership role. Up to this point he's been deferring, or deflecting his way out of any sense of being a group's leader. Now though, with Archie meeting his end against Duke Vedmire, Percy takes one more step closer to becoming the Lord of Whitestone.

There were some amazing call backs to the campaign in this episode. Percy finally said his entire name on screen for the first time! Vax shows off his fancy belt of returning as he dagger, dagger, daggers his way through the zombies, and Pike's spiritual weapon absolutely wrecks the field.

There was also a lovely little nod to pop culture fantasy. In an obvious nod to Lord of the Rings, Vax and Grog shared a little moment on the battle field as they took out two giants and they both try and claim the coolest kill shot just like Legolas and Gimli do during the Two Towers.

Pike finally gets her shining moment. After spending two episodes trying to reconnect to her spiritual god, she finally makes a breakthrough and comes in clutch at just the right moment. I'm sure not everyone loves the more literal examination into Pike's spiritual nature. But I think that the episode did a good job of showing how Pike can break the mold of traditional 'lawful good' nature of clerics. She gets to wreck face on the battlefield, protect her friends with her divine connections, and still be her crass and hilarious self too. We get every flavor of Pike in this episode. She shows just how incredible a support character she can be. Healing Scanlan's gross zombie arm, boosting her companions with divine weaponry, and literally dropping the jaws off some skeleton's with her awesome abilities. Love me some badass support characters!

We got to see two other fantastic team ups this episode. Grog and Scanlan revisit the Grog Fastball move when Scanlan uses his magical hand to catapult the goliath up into zombie giant's head. Watching Grog hack a giant in half was grossly satisfying. Then Vex and Vax show off their twin team up capabilities as Vex creates an arrow step ladder up zombie giant number two so Vax can stabby stabby the guy to death. Keyleth also came in hot with another sunlight spell that leveled the battlefield and sparked the fight into final showdown territory. Silas is ready for his rematch.

Anna Ripley finally makes her on screen debut and Percy's dark side comes out to play again. We'll see just how much the show will be able to dive into her history with Percy and dig into their intense rivalry.

Episode 10 promises to be just as intense, gruesome, and terrifying as the last few episodes. Stay tuned next week for the exciting finale to season 1! I can't believe the final three episodes are already here. Let's see if the final three episodes can completely knock season 1 out of the park and set up an incredible season 2.