Anna Ripley... hey girl hey. Perfect episode is pretty much perfect...
Cons:
I loved seeing the backstory with Delilah and Sylas, I really did, but once again I think of this through the eyes of someone new to the story and I feel like it would be kind of confusing. Yes, Sylas and Delilah visually look a little bit different, but there's nothing at first to indicate where or when they are. If I didn't already know, I might not have placed this as a flashback right away. I think even a "x-years-earlier" text over the image would have been sufficient to solve for this, and maybe it's not as confusing as I'm making it out to be, but I did notice that one thing.
Pros:
As I said, I did love the Briarwood flashback, though. That's what's beautiful about the these villains. They will fucking go so hard for each other. Delilah will turn to dark magic without thinking twice, and Sylas will be like "hell yeah, I'm cool with it." Their love for each other is spooky in its intensity, but it also adds this amazing dark romance to their villainy, so that at certain moments you kinda... root for them to win a lil' bit. In the best way. Also I keep forgetting Matt is Sylas, he's doing such an astounding job with the performance. "Trust in the Whispered One, for we are his blood" is such a metal villain line for a cartoon baddie, I'm kind of obsessed with it.
Showing the corpses on the Sun Tree waking up and becoming zombies... what a way to start the episode proper! They really milked the creepiness and inherent tragedy of that dead little girl for all it was worth, didn't they. The imagery throughout the whole episode was gruesome and pulled no punches, which is exactly what I've come to expect from this show. It makes the moments of triumph for our heroes shine all the brighter!
Let's start with Keyleth and Vax! We've got Keyleth being a big damn hero and Vax being the one in need of saving, which is perfect. As Vax says, they "make a pretty good team", and it's super cute to see. The two of them holding their own in battle is giving me all the feels! And of course Keyleth later gets a bad-ass moment that stalls their enemies, shoving ice at them and freezing the hoard in place. Vax is duly impressed, and Vex is duly impatient with his awe... very true to the campaign dynamic, of course. Vax keeps calling her Kiki and my heart skips a beat every single time.
And then: "hey, you know I'm in love with you, right?" Simply ICONIC moment from the stream. They change the circumstances around quite a bit, but I honestly think it works really well. There, it was in the aftermath of the Anders fight, when things had reached a moment of calm. Here, it's the somewhat stereotypical "we might be about to die so I need to confess" thing, which just feeds into Keyleth's incredulous reaction all the better. It's not exactly the time for big dramatic love conversations, Vax! She has a dang point. I liked that there was a hint of humor here with her response, but you can tell that she was shocked and moved by his declaration, and they lean in, clearly drawn to one another... it's cute as fuck, it's romantic as fuck, I am all about it and can't wait to see what else happens.
And then let's turn to Percy and Archie... oof. The start of this episode sets up Archie's inevitable demise, as Percy and Archie have a bit of a back-and-forth about who is supposed to be leading this rebellion. Percy has doubt that he's the right person for the job. Archie tries to hand him power, and he rejects it. Cass encourages him to take charge as the rightful heir of Whitestone, and he can't quite take that step. We know he has to have that moment of taking authority, and unfortunately...
It takes Archie's death to make it happen. God, that death scene. It was a little obvious that it was coming, they did the cliché thing where they were quipping and happily talking about old times in the midst of battle, right before he gets SLICED IN HALF by Vedmire... but I didn't mind that it was a little predictable. It just amped up my dread all the more for losing this character. I am so surprised by how much they made me care about Archie in so short a time. I really was digging the childhood best friends vibe, and his death actually impacted me quite a bit.
And so it's in the aftermath of this tragedy, as the bedraggled resistance are gathering to make a last stand against the hoard, that we get the first recitation of Percy's full name: Lord Percival Fredrickstein von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III. "Today is for Archie, for the de Rolos, for Whitestone!" This was a great moment, and I love that it wasn't too overblown? Like, it was big, and people cheered, and it seemed to help with morale, but Taliesin gave it a somewhat muted but still firm delivery that really worked for me. He's not necessarily sure leadership is what he wants, but he'll take it now it's on hand. And then Grog rounds it out quite nicely with: "let's kill fucking everything!"
Vex and Percy have a couple moments I want to highlight, although their stuff is more in the background, less obvious a focus than Keyleth and Vax. She's the one who pulls him away from the fight when he's frozen in shock at Archie's death. She also reinforces what Archie and Cass have both been saying, as she tells him: "Well, fearless leader? Lead!" I love these two. Their support and belief in one another is something really special.
And of course in the Perc'ildan corner, a couple moments... first is right before we get Bad News in action, when Vax says: "yeah, I don't mean to rush you..." and Percy says "then don't." I just loved their delivery there, they have this relationship that's filled with just so much heat, not necessarily in a good way all the time, but it's simmering underneath. And then a moment that I am honestly obsessed with. They are surrounded, it's just before they're going to get their deus ex machina moment with Pike, and they're retreating to the Sun Tree. Vax pulls Percy up into the root system, and they stand there holding hands as they speak of how it's an honor to fight alongside each other, and give these little nods of acknowledgment. I just... love that things like this have made it into the show! There are all the obvious relationships that need development, but then there are the ones that could have taken a backseat and instead are getting more of a spotlight than I ever could have hoped... Vax and Percy, my beloved somewhat rarepair...
Scanlan had a great little arc in this episode as well. I was more nervous about Scanlan after the beginning of the show than I was about the others, just because he's So Much, but they've managed to give him a lot of humanity. He's more than the comic relief, and the amount that everyone cares about him is extremely touching. He's panicking in the hideout, scared of the undead, and Vex smacks him, which of course he says is kind of hot... but then when he gets grabbed by the zombie, Grog yells in fear, Vax goes in for the kill, Vex rushes to his side, Keyleth mournfully tells him she can't heal the necrosis, Grog offers to cut off his arm. Everyone just cares so deeply for everyone else and I can't believe how well they're doing the found family vibes! They even have this moment of joking, which to me reads as Vex trying to reassure/buck up Scanlan's spirits: "Could be worse," she says. "How?" "Could be my arm." Just excellent.
Scanlan and Vedmire get a little reprise of their conflict, and this time Scanlan is forced to run. With his arm out for the count, his magical options are severely limited until he gets healed later on. I like this little repetition from episode seven, and the way Archie dies saving Scanlan from Vedmire. It makes sense that those two have this little interplay of conflict, but that the town of Whitestone collectively gets the kill on Vedmire in the end, after Percy gets one shot in on Archie's behalf. A great wrap-up to that side villain.
PIKE! 'Sup, indeed! So this is what I was talking about last episode with like... maybe I didn't like some of the stuff with Pike, maybe I didn't quite think the buildup worked right, but the payoff is undeniably amazing. How can you not love a gal who shows up as an astral projection, kills a bunch of bad guys with a divine glow of godly power, heals Scanlan's arm, jokingly accepts a marriage proposal, and then buffs the entire rebellion's weapons with holy power to make it a fair fight? Fucking incredible.
I can't believe they actually included the "marry me" / "okay, let's do it. Right now" moment. That was such a funny thing in the stream and it worked so well here. It's little things like this that tell me how much work and love everyone is pouring into making this show something for the community to enjoy. It's not just the broad strokes of the plot, it's a show made up of fan-favorite moments left and right, while still providing something new and fresh.
Pike also gets the line: "May your weapons shine with the divine virtue of the Everlight. Now go crush some fucking heads!" That's the perfect wrap-up of what she's learned from the Everlight, that she can be the crushing heads girl and the divine virtue girl at the same time. We love to see it.
As always, the fight sequences are impressing me not just in their scope and violence, but in the little moments between the characters. Vex and Vax spend most of these episodes developing relationships with other characters. We've got both of them and their moments with Percy. You've got Vax and Keyleth, Vex and Scanlan... but then we get the combo attack here, with Vex helping Vax with the giant kill. Meanwhile Scanlan, newly healed from his necrosis by Pike, does the fast ball special by throwing Grog up using Scanlan's Hand, and we get that competitive spirit with Vax and Grog each taking down a giant, with Vax bringing his to the ground first and claiming victory. How very Legolas and Gimli of them, I love it.
Once again, we've got an episode chalk full of action and energy and I felt the frenetic pace of it all the way through. I can't even imagine how difficult this would have been to animate, considering it's not just the seven main characters, but the entirety of Whitestone rising up. Archie and the rebels, Yennen and her flock coming in to join the fray, fighting against a whole dang army of the dead. I was so happy with how it turned out. I have to imagine this was the most expensive episode they had to animate.
And then that ending. They sneak in through the hidden tunnel of the castle. We get a cute little moment with Percy and Cass... Percy apologizing for not coming back for her. This moment is rife with so much pain and also dread. Cass has been through so much. Will it really be that easy? I love the mingled hope and also dejection of Percy's whole arc this season. He's been bent on revenge and revenge only for so long, but he accidentally picked up a group of people he actually cares about, and now he's got a sister as well? What does that mean for his goals moving forward? It's so fascinating and well done!
We meet a certain lady in a certain dungeon, and if you haven't seen the show before I'm not spoiling much to say that this is Anna Ripley, and we Love to Hate Her, y'all. Percy mentioned her briefly before, as one of the names on the List, and next week we're going to get to see this shit played out in fascinating detail. They shot it so well, with the entirety of Vox Machina plus Cassandra all crowded around the dungeon cell, Vax helping Anna to escape. They think she's an enemy of the Briarwoods and thus a potential ally of theirs, so when Percy storms forward, the demonic glint in his eyes, mask appearing seemingly from nowhere, gun in hand, it hits as an extra shock, sort of a moment of oh no, not again... and then we end with Keyleth calling out to Percy, telling him to stop...
I can't believe that's the end of the episode! I am suffering! I know what happens and I'm still suffering, that's how fucking good this is!!!
Oh, as a final note, the Pike song during the credits was great! We get some Pike backstory thrown in there for flavor, which is such a fun way of doing things... I hope we get more of those in future seasons, just rounding out aspects of the cast that we might not get to see discussed.
Dang, this show is good, y'all.
9.5/10
No comments:
Post a Comment
I'd really appreciate hearing what you think!