Legends of Vox Machina: Season Two Episodes 1-3 Review

 The Legend of Vox Machina season two kicked off with a literal bang. Like a lot of them. Lots and lots of explosions as our asshole heroes face off against not one, but four dragons! “Rise of the Chroma Conclave,” “The Trials of Vasselheim,” and “The Sunken Tomb” threw the crew of Vox Machina into their most dire adventure yet.

Calling back to the last time I reviewed The Legend of Vox Machina, I do want to note again that I am a relatively new fan of Critical Role. The tv show was my introduction that got me interested in the web series. Since then, I really struggled to try to get through those early streams of campaign one. That is until I found YouTuber Supergeek Mike who has a really great series he does called Critical Role Demystified, breaking down the essential lessons and takeaways from each Critical Role episode. He was so incredibly helpful for me to start getting into the series that I think all new fans should check out his channel. But as I’m still not that far along, I would still call myself a relatively new fan of Critical Role who just happens to now know who Tiberius is.

There are a couple of reasons why I’m noting this. The first is why I am looking at The Legend of Vox Machina as just a tv series and not as much as part of a bigger franchise. When watching season one, I never felt like I needed to know the Critical Role lore to follow along. This is the second point that I’ll get into later in this article because these three episodes were the first time where I felt a bit left out of the Critical Role know-how as a new fan.

I want to start with the good stuff though, because my god, was this a hell of a season two opener. As often as season one slid into some more sinister moments, “Rise of the Chroma Conclave” feels like a sledgehammer smashing its way into a darker middle chapter for the series. That episode is brutal from start to finish in the best way possible. Any sense of hope is lost second by second with each death, sometimes by major characters. Not even our heroes have their plot armor fully strapped on as they take plenty of hits as well. It’s a fantastic setup that this journey isn’t going to be as straightforward as the Briarwood arc was. Our characters are going to struggle, and I’m so here for it. Neal Acree’s score adds so many layers to the tragedy unfolding. I have a sneaking suspicion that the Vox Machina season two soundtrack will end up on my top albums of my Spotify Wrapped again at the end of the year.

All three episodes are gorgeously animated, letting Titmouse show off why their company is one of the best in the business. Each new location is breathtakingly beautiful as the crew truly get to flex their creative muscles. I’m sure there is going to be some back and forth about the CGI used on the dragons and the Sphynx. It is very noticeable that they are animated completely differently from everything else. But I found that hauntingly purposeful, adding to the overall effect of them. It made those beings seem otherworldly than our everyday heroes. I loved that about it.

Of course, the heart of The Legend of Vox Machina is the characters, and my lovable assholes are back in full form. One of my minor criticisms of season one was it did feel like a few characters got less focus than others. Already season two feels a bit more balanced, allowing each person to get equal moments to shine in these first entries. I also always love when the teams get mixed and matched together in different groups. One of my favorite moments of “The Trials of Vasselheim” was Pike and Percy pairing up as diplomats to ask the leaders of Vasselheim for help. Pike is a holy person and Percy is trained in diplomacy, so they’re a very good duo for this task. I honestly cannot remember them sharing a major scene together in season one, so moments like these are truly wonderful to me. This is just one example of many.

I also enjoyed how these three episodes set up all the characters to have their own arc. I was aware of a few early reviews like IGN’s that noted that every member of Vox Machina will have an episode focused on them. I am so here for this as a new fan! The relationships of this group are what carried the first season, but I want to see who they each grow into as individuals too. I already really love what they’re doing with Grog, who was probably the member coming into season two who needed more to do character-wise. I’m scared for my sweet man, especially with that evil sword he got from the Briarwood arc messing with his mind.

I only had one big criticism of these first three episodes which I alluded to above. It was really the first time that I felt like I was out of the loop as a casual fan. It was the first time where I felt like I needed to know Critical Role lore. I mulled over it what exactly the issue was, and I couldn’t put my finger on it. I then realized it wasn’t just one thing. It was a culmination of multiple moments that added up to a ‘Death by a thousand cuts’ sort of problem:

There is way too much information crammed into these episodes for a new or casual fan.

It started with little moments like Allura and Kima fighting back against the dragons of the Chroma Conclave. Both used magic to do so, but at no point in season one did it ever allude to that they had these abilities. Same thing with Gilmore. The series went from only a few people having abilities to now suddenly everyone does. I guess I should have assumed since this show is based on Dungeons and Dragons. But I’ve just started venturing into the world of tabletop gaming, and it’s only been with Star Wars 5e for a podcast I’m part of. So this shift for these characters was something that wasn’t on my radar. Don’t get me wrong! It was awesome to see them battling it out with the dragons! But it was just the beginning of this feeling.

There is so much information thrown at the viewer in these first three episodes. The thing about the Briarwood arc is that it was more straightforward. There were fewer locations with a clear-cut mission of stopping the baddies and saving Percy’s home. Already in season two, we’ve been to multiple locations, got a lot of gods thrown at us, put in some of our main casts’ backstories, and given a history lesson of some big event in the past when the season’s MacGuffins were made. I literally cannot remember what any of these things are typing from memory. This was on top of being introduced to Kashaw and Zahra (whose names I had to look up just now) and had to establish all of that too. The layer of the Raven Queen is also tossed in there. The only reason I know that name is fans on Tumblr being like, “OH SNAP! It’s the Raven Queen!” and I’m over here like, “Should I know that person already? What’s happening?”

All together, it felt like one too many things put in at once. Maybe if back in season one, there was a better establishment where everyone in this world apparently has magic or can use magical items, that would have been helpful. In the end, it was the dump of world-building that dragged down these episodes for me.

I’m not going to sit here and put down the amazing feat of taking hundreds of hours’ worth of content and streamlining it into 25-minute episodes. It’s so impressive that they were able to do any of this in the first place. But this time around, it felt like I got too much exposition. It was the first time watching The Legends of Vox Machina that I wish I did have more understanding of Critical Role’s game mechanics and the world, characters, and history they crafted. I felt like was standing outside of the circle of really understanding all of this. I usually rewatch the episodes for fun because I love the show so much. This time, I’m going to have to rewatch the first three episodes out of necessity so I can commit everything to memory.

And granted, this is just my opinion. If you’re also a casual fan like I am and you were able to go along just fine with it, I’d love to hear from you in the comments!

Regardless, I am so happy The Legend of Vox Machina is back. There’s a reason I listed it as one of the best shows of last year. I’ve desperately missed all of these characters, and after that heck of a cliffhanger, I cannot wait to see what the rest of season two brings us.

Last thing: Grog better get to keep his beard! Look how happy he is!