The Legend of Vox Machina (Season 2) Episodes 7-12 [Review]
By: Mithrandiel
[Make sure you take a look at our previous reviews here and here!]
The latest season of Legend of Vox Machina hit the ground running with the destruction of Emon, and hardly came up for air over these last four weeks. With the aid of the legendary Vestiges of Divergence, key members of our unlikely band of heroes are attaining impressive skill-sets and powers, and while longtime fans could appreciate the slow-burn over hundreds of hours of gameplay, watching the action come to life in the latter half of the season was a real treat.
The closing episodes were sectioned out into two, 3 episode releases.
Episodes 7-9 followed the party following their unexpected separation due to a botched plane-shift.
Vax, Vex, Percy and Keyleth spent some time in the Fey Realm, searching for the legendary bow: Fenthras. After Vax and Vex have a tense encounter with their father, and meet their half sister Velora, they proceed to locate the bow in the middle of a cursed bog, wresting it from an archfey who is really into Vex.
Meanwhile, Grog, Pike and Scanlan remained in Exandria, near the city of Westruun. There, a certain ancient dragon named Umbrasyl had taken up residence, collecting tribute for Thordak while enlisting a ruthless band of half-giants known as the Herd of Storms: as we find out, this is Grog’s old crew. We see Grog’s blood-soaked origins with the Herd of Storms, serving his uncle Kevdak - who happens to wield one of the Vestiges: the Titanstone Knuckles. We also see the key moment that took him away from that violent path.
Episodes 10 brings to life one of the most iconic episodes of the first campaign. In The Killbox, Vox Machina assists Grog in battling Kevdak for control over the Herd of Storms. After a brutal fight, the team emerges victorious, and the heroes count three vestiges within the party. However, it seems like it still might not be enough when faced with the might of Umbrasyl.
Episodes 11 and 12 depict the drawn out battle against Umbrasyl in three phases, while also bringing to light the fact that everyone’s favorite schmoozing bard, Scanlan, is actually a father! After abandoning Kaylie and her mother, Scanlan is faced with a new set of internal struggles that alternates between heightened feelings of self-preservation, and wanting to “do a hell of a lot of things right” to make up for the lost time with Kaylie, and try to make her proud of her old man. (I have feelings about this that I’ll unpack in a separate article.)
Looking back on the second season after it’s over, there are a few key takeaways for me:
The action was insanely good. Right from the jump, the quality of the action sequences definitely was on another level this season. From Vax’s encounter with the not-Beholder, to Vex’s nimble rain of arrows in the fight for Fenthras, Keyleth’s freakin’ tree stride/fire elemental combo move, Grog’s battle against Kevdak and of course, the fight against Umbrasyl - you could definitely spot the influences not only from anime, but also great American cartoons like Castlevania. While the theater of the mind does a great job crafting these scenes for older fans, the depictions this season were amazing.
It’s much easier to follow character arcs/narratives. It’s impressive enough that Matt and the team were able to maintain a consistent D&D game for the better part of 7 years, let alone his ability to drive a broader story and foster space for the characters to grow. However, this took place over many weeks, months and years, and these incremental changes could sometimes be lost on players in the moment. The concise story delivery of the animated series means that we’re able to more succinctly track the evolution of various characters as the show progresses. For example - seeing Vax move from an apathetic survivor to devoted champion. It’s not such a fast turnaround that it seems unbelievable, but contained enough that the viewer can appreciate the evolution of the character.
Dragon animation is much better. My key gripe from the last season was that Brimscythe looked very rigid. The rest of the animation looked pretty solid, but it stood out in a bad way. It was great to see right from the premiere that they changed the approach on animating the Chroma Conclave. The result was a much more fluid set of antagonists, and the investment really paid dividends in those final episodes.
Fantastic environments and overall animation quality. From the stark cold of Vasselheim to the stunningly psychedelic landscapes of the Fey Realm, to the Blood Pool of the Matron of Ravens and beyond, Season 2 of Legend of Vox Machina had some insane environments. The care and detail put into bringing these spaces to life was observed in every tiny detail. This care also extended to the mannerisms of the character models. While they’re assisted by world-class voice actors, to be sure, the facial expressions and body language was an absolute delight throughout the series.
Overall, I was extremely impressed with the latest season of The Legend of Vox Machina. I’m sad that we have to wait another year for the next batch, but also excited to see how further narrative tweaks might elevate the story so many of us already know and love.
