The Legend of Vox Machina: The Feast of Realms (1x03)

Okay what the FUCK actually though this is so good I'm crying.

Cons:

Uhhh... I guess I'm going to say what a lot of people are saying, which is that a 22-ish minute runtime feels very short? I don't care that things are changed/shortened/removed, and I'm already getting a little peeved with seeing people criticize along the lines of "but Vex got two natural twenties in the stream, she should have had this epic moment yada yada..." this show wouldn't be sustainable as a story if they actually followed the role of the dice in every instance. Of course Delilah doesn't fall on her ass in her opening villain reveal fight, y'all. But even though that's not at all my gripe, I will say things happen so quickly that I do wonder how people new to the story will react! Percy has like two lines of dialogue about the Briarwoods. One, "they took everything from me", and two, "they killed my whole family". I mean, sure, that's the important information to impart, but it certainly doesn't leave a lot of room for these reveals to breathe.

Very minor clunky moment that felt like they had to cut something for time, when they realize Vax is in trouble and Pike says "ugh, we lost the ticket?" to get their weapons back from coat check... there should have been a beat where the Matt Mercer NPC refused to give them their stuff without the ticket, but it wasn't there so I kind of blinked at that moment. Super minor, but there you have it. I can't spend the whole review in utter adulation, that would just be embarrassing.

The Legend of Vox Machina: The Terror of Tal'dorei Part 1/Part 2 (1x01/02)

I've decided to break this sucker up, reviewing the two-part premiere and then moving on to episode three in a separate review.

Let's just start by screaming: OH MY GOD IT'S FINALLY HERE!!! Also, if anyone actually bothers to read this and you are not familiar with the stream, warning for some spoilers as to characterization and future relationships developing between various members of the party. And then let's dive right into my thoughts!

Cons:

While ultimately I am very, very pleased with what I've seen of the show so far, as is tradition I will start off with my personal gripes.

My biggest complaint? Well, the humor, honestly. It's odd, because I think the first couple of scenes of the first episode had a lot of weaknesses that then mostly disappeared from the second half, and from the second episode entirely. The show was front-loaded with so much adult humor that felt to me almost... self-conscious? Like the show was posturing a bit too hard, trying to set its tone so you wouldn't mistake it for a kid's cartoon. And that's all well and good, but for me it felt a bit jarring. In the first ten minutes of the first episode, we get plenty of swearing and the gruesome deaths of the generic opening adventuring party... fine. But we also get Keyleth throwing up directly into someone's mouth, which is disgusting, we get a shot of Scanlan's balls, we get Scanlan peeing directly onto a man's legs... I don't know. Does anyone else think some of this stuff was a little try-hard? For me, the moments of comedy that did work were a lot more subtle and character-driven, and I'll talk about that later.

Doctor Who: Eve of the Daleks (2022 New Years Special)

Now this is what I'm talking about!

Cons:

All through this past season, I've been complaining that I wanted more interactions between Dan and the Doctor. And while there were certainly a couple of improvements in that regard, I still feel like I don't get a sense of their friendship as its own entity. Yaz and Dan? Yes, I totally get their deal. But Dan and the Doctor still feels a little weak to me.

I felt like there were a couple failed jokes with our guest stars of the episode, Sarah and Nick. I liked a lot about them, which I'll go into momentarily, but there were a few things that seemed almost too... farcical, like they weren't really human beings? Especially Nick. Is Nick... homeless? A hoarder? A stalker? The joke is supposed to be no, he's just an awkward, earnest weirdo, but... the thing about keeping all the items his exes had left behind, prompting Sarah to wonder if he's a serial killer or whatever, then rant about how strange he is, leading him to sacrifice himself to the Daleks in one of the loops? That's... a bit of an odd energy, to be quite honest.