The Legend Of Vox Machina (Season 2) Episodes 4-6 [Review]

By: Mithrandiel

The series continues to impress in the latest batch of episodes: our heroes navigate a tragic loss, Keyleth makes an important step in her personal journey, and Grog discovers that his new toy isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Episode 4

In this episode we witness the conclusion of the party’s involvement with the Slayer’s Take. After Vex was struck down by a deadly trap, Zahra and Kashaw emerge from the nearby tomb, with Kashaw springing into action to try and bring the smooth-talking archer back to the realm of the living. While he does his best to carry out a resurrection ritual, being in the temple of the Matron of Ravens - overseer of death - seems to be working against them. Seeing her haunting shape preparing to whisk away the soul of his sister for good, Vax makes a desperate plea:

Take me instead you raven bitch!

Interested, the Matron seemingly restores Vex to life, only after severing a mysterious golden thread that connected Vax and Vex previously. In a flash, Vax realizes he is now wearing the Deathwalker’s Ward.

With Vex seemingly out of the woods, Zahra is able to turn her attention to retrieving the legendary armor that seemingly apparated on Vax’s body. Releasing a powerful demon from her locket, she expects that it will petrify Vox Machina, she will re-capture the demon and claim the vestige.

Ah. If it were only that easy.

Instead, the demon gets carried away, and Vax is drawn into a powerful vision in which he battles the Matron’s former champion: Purvan Suul. After a brutal battle, he emerges victorious, and The Deathwalker’s Ward appears to be properly “activated”. Vax gets to work demonstrating the newfound power he has been entrusted with, destroying the monster.

Despite the victory, Vax is sullen - he’s unsure just what exactly he’s signed up for, and it appears the relationship between The Twins becomes more strained by the day.

Episode 5

The episode opens with a flashback to Keyleth’s childhood, when her mother departed on her Aramente. This journey is considered to be a rite of passage for the aspiring leader of the Air Ashari, where they complete trials with the tribes representing Water, Earth and Fire. A young Keyleth begs her mother not to go, but is instead given a lesson on how to manage her fear and become a more powerful Air Ashari.

Returning to the present day, the party is returning from the sunken temple when Scanlan notices a nearby volcano appears to be active. Keyleth recognizes this to be Pyrah - home of the Fire Ashari. She’s alarmed to hear the volcano is active, as it means that the tightly-controlled rift to the fire plane must be in danger. Despite an urgent plea to Vax to re-direct and help her people, Vax is more consumed by wanting to address the looming threat of the Chroma Conclave. Upset, Keyleth shapeshifts and takes off without them, realizing that Pyrah has been under attack by hostile creatures from the realm of fire after Thordak tore through the rift.

We also see a couple familiar faces in Pyrah: Allura and Kima, who are revealed to have escaped the attack in Emon. They, along with Keyleth’s father, are working hard to seal the rift, but ultimately need Keyleth’s help to finish the job.

Meanwhile, the rest of Vox Machina eventually arrive at Pyrah, with Grog’s blade, Craven Edge, growing more thirsty with every passing hour.

Keyleth is asked to seal the rift to the fire plane, but tearfully admits that she hasn’t been completing her trials - citing fear of failure as the main reason she’s held back. After her father is injured and it appears that she’s the only one who can do what needs to be done, Keyleth reflects on the lesson her mother taught her in the opening scene about air: Fire can’t live without air. We were made to pass through it.

Stepping into the fire plane, Keyleth takes on a formidable, fire-bound form and closes the rift. Emerging on the other side, she is acknowledged as having completed her Fire trial, and is encouraged by her dad to keep on her path. Oh, and also to keep a close eye on Vax too.

Episode 6

Grog has been having a rough time of things ever since he picked up Sylas Briarwood’s bloodthirsty blade, Craven Edge. While he has certainly given it some healthy feedings, it continues to grow more and more hungry. Plagued by a nightmare that he would turn on his friends, Grog feels cornered by his circumstance.

While he wrestles with this, the heroes journey into Rimecleft, where they meet Kamaljiori: Osysa’s mate, and keeper of the hidden knowledge they need to uncover the additional vestiges. After being presented with some options on how to get the information they seek, the party chooses to attempt to wound the ancient sphinx.

Despite their recent advances, the group is quickly dispatched, leaving only Scanlan remaining. The gnome takes an alternative approach, singing a grand ballad worthy of an 80s film end credits as Kamaljiori is successfully “wounded” by the song. After gifting an additional vestige known as Mythcarver to the group, the blade gives Scanlan a vision of two more vestiges: a powerful bow nestled in the Feywild, and a pair of gauntlets that appear to be worn by a goliath very similar to Grog.

As the party contemplates strategy, they are set upon by Umbrasyl. The acid-breathing dragon does battle with Kamaljiori, and while Vox Machina is able to get a few hits in, they are still vastly outclassed. Grog appears to make some strides in hurting the dragon, but after drinking deeply of Ancient Dragon blood, Craven Edge possesses Grog, causing him to impale Pike when she attempts to snap him out of his murderous rampage so the party could teleport to the Fey realm.

With their cleric injured, Keyleth rushes a plane-shift technique, but Umbrasyl seemingly disrupts it, as Scanlan, Pike and Grog are split off from the rest of the party. The rest of the group arrives in the ephemeral, beautiful fey realm.

Overall Thoughts

I am continuously impressed with the pacing of Legend of Vox Machina. It may read as a bit on the fast side for those familiar with the original material, but newcomers are likely thrilled with the action and worldbuilding that is coming out of each and every episode. Character spotlights are being done exceptionally well in this 2nd season. While the 1st season was more centered on Percy, we’ve been given so many wonderful insights into the other members of Vox Machina, providing a more well-rounded dynamic when the action heats up. It’s also helping to increase the emotional stakes for the viewer.

The animation also continues to deliver in a big way. Episode 4 in particular was a real treat: between the glimpses into the Calamity and Vax’s supernatural speed in his battle against the demon, it featured some amazing movement and impactful shots.

Shortly before this last batch of episodes was released, it was announced that Amazon Prime is very pleased with The Legend Of Vox Machina, as well as the potential for future Critical Role content: they just greenlit a Mighty Nein adaptation (and a movie…!) After all, why not? If the episodes we’ve seen so far this season are any indication, there’s no reason why fans wouldn’t be hungry for as much of this content as they can get!

With two vestiges in Vox Machina’s line of sight, their healer injured, and the party split, things aren’t looking too promising! Still, with the interesting changes they’ve made to the plot so far, I’m excited to see how things progress next week.