The Legend of Vox Machina: The Ascension (4x12)

The season went so fast, as usual!

Cons:

One thing I've noticed about myself watching this show is that I don't really like stories about fate, because like... I don't believe in fate in the real world, and even in a fantasy setting it is something that tends to either remove agency from the characters for their choices, or just becomes like this inexorable battering ram that makes the ultimate outcomes feel inevitable no matter what anybody does. I wouldn't say this show goes as far as doing that, it's not that serious, but... I still find myself squirming in discomfort over the idea that Vax was fated to die killing the Whispered One, and then Keyleth says "fuck fate" and that's like... a literal mechanism within the story. It's hard to explain it entirely, but I guess where I'm going is that in the campaign originally, Vax's death at the hands of the Whispered One was more or less random happenstance during a combat, and the fate/inevitability angle is more about the fact that the Matron of Ravens doesn't like people thwarting death entirely, right? Like, Vax dies because he's killed in combat, and he comes back because the Matron grants him temporary reprieve, both unwilling and unable to fully return his life to him. Here, it's murkier because the Whispered One literally says "if you do this, you'll die" to Vax, like it really is this destiny that you can't fuck with. And that's just not as interesting of a story to me, personally?

The Legend of Vox Machina: Let the End Begin (4x11)

Okay, I actually quite liked that episode on its own merits! I'm going to try and be a little more brief.

Cons:

My one big "con" is a continuing issue with the Pike arc, and I'm going to try not to repeat myself here. Pike makes this speech to Grog's corpse, and she lays out how she feels like she and the rest of the group have failed in their task to protect people, by leaving so much suffering in their wake. She feels like Percy and Vex, Keyleth and Vax, and Scanlan, all abandoned her in some degree, and this feeling is manifesting as anger, more so than guilt about her own culpability. Love it, great, makes perfect sense. But then she says that everyone thinks of her as perfect Pike who has the Everlight's blessing, and she says she's not: the Everlight left her.

The Legend of Vox Machina: The Poisoned Ear (4x10)

I feel rather mixed on this one.

Cons:

I said in last week's episode that I didn't approve of the Grog choice, and I stand by that here. No matter what direction they went in, it would feel odd and anti-climactic. Here, we get to see that Grog's body is intact, and that life might be able to return to it. So that basically tells me that for these last three episodes, Pike's arc is going to be about whether or not she should accept what the Whispered One is saying, if it means it might save Grog... or if she can find another way to bring him back without succumbing. And that's... I mean, I guess that's fine? But I just keep thinking that structurally, you could do this same story without Grog having been visually ripped to pieces at the end of the last episode. Like, okay, imagine a reality when Grog gets pulled into the portal and he's trapped over there, and then Pike follows him with the others trying to stop her and looking on in horror. Then Pike shows up and the cultists have Grog trapped or under a spell or poised to be the next great sacrifice, and the Whispered One uses that as leverage to have his lore-drop convo. Then, back in Whitestone, the rest of the gang can be determined to go rescue Grog and Pike together, believing there's a chance both of them might be alive. Taryon even says it as he sends them off, telling them to bring their "friends" back. Plural. What would be structurally different if Vex, Vax, Percy, and Keyleth didn't believe they knew Grog's fate already, and thought of this as a rescue mission to save them both? Tl;dr, I'm legitimately not sure what a Grog death does here, thematically, beyond just giving us that really dramatic moment at the end of episode nine.

The Legend of Vox Machina: The Temple of Truth (4x09)

Let's... discuss under the cut, shall we?

The Legend of Vox Machina: The Bard’s Lament (4x08)

I feel like I can sense that people will have mixed feelings about this episode, and... yeah, you can count me in as well.

Cons:

It's tedious and unhelpful to just go around saying "but in the campaign..." every time something isn't adapted the way I wanted it. But on the other hand, this show inherently has an odd relationship to the idea of fan service, maybe more so even than other adaptations. There are certain moments, certain character beats, that are already legendary within the source material. And I gotta be honest... this wasn't a very satisfying replacement for the way the Bard's Lament episode goes down in canon. In the animated shows, everyone left on good terms last we saw them at the end of season three, and then we show up here and Scanlan is hesitant and weird and thinks that Vox Machina brings out the worst in him... I don't know. The impact of "what's my mother's name" was just not there at all with this.

The Legend of Vox Machina: The Ghosts of Whitestone (4x07)

Yes, Laudna, I'm going to go ahead and call this one "fun" scary!

Cons:

I am hyper-sensitive to hetero-normative stuff, especially in shows where I feel like they are good about not being too rigid in that regard... so I have to point out that I definitely did roll my eyes at Delilah taunting Vax with the future he could have if he lived, and that future was... having a lot of babies with Keyleth? I don't know. Is it just me, or is that tedious. We saw Scanlan have visions of growing old and becoming a patriarch of a family a few seasons back. We know that Percy and Vex will have a bunch of kids some day. Is the tragedy of Vax's impending death that he won't get to "settle down" with Kiki and become a father? That was never really the vibe I got from the original source material. This is a small thing, a nitpick, really, I just wish there was an imagined future that Vax was afraid of losing that didn't have to evoke the idea of having kids. That doesn't always have to be the symbol of a hoped-for future, ya know? I am also side-eying the idea of Keyleth and Delilah being parallels, what with Keyleth wanting to try and save Vax the same way Delilah tried to save Sylas. I always thought Percy and Vex were the obvious Briarwood parallel but whatever.

The Legend of Vox Machina: We Are His Blood (4x06)

I am such Perc'ildan trash. Fuck.

Cons:

Man, the Doty thing was a little anti-climactic, I remember feeling Emotions about that during the campaign. Huh.

I am excited about the reveal hitting right at the midpoint of the season, of who mysterious cult leader lady is, BUT, this is another one of this situations where I can't avoid thinking about the campaign, and like... the raw power of the audience and the characters finding out collectively in a moment of dawning horror who was standing in front of that crowd making that speech... oof. Nothing can top it. I kind of can't believe we don't get to be discovering this alongside Vox Machina. As an adaptation change, it felt like it packed less of a punch, especially since I thought it was so clever to hide her in plain sight throughout these first few episodes.

I left this vague on purpose; spoilers abound under the cut. 

The Legend of Vox Machina: De Rolo's Eleven (4x05)

This was a really fun episode!

Cons:

Okay. So. The Vax thing with the blight. I don't want to go into the full long rant about what I don't like about this, because I do want to see where we land a little later on, but in short, it really bothers me that Vax is dying from a punishment set by the Matron. Like, I think the Matron is... allegorically, symbolically, she is the inevitability of death. She cannot be avoided forever. But she's not vindictive, she's not punitive. In the campaign, Vax dies in a combat encounter just kinda by random happenstance, and the Matron gives him a short time back among the land of the living to finish up some things... but she's not the cause of his death in the first place. To me, this change kinda fucks with the theme. Even if you take away the randomness and say he's dying slowly of a magical terminal illness, sure, I can see why that's the direction they want to go. I don't mind a change. But it shouldn't be the Matron's doing. It makes her more straight-forwardly into a villain, which I don't think she should be. Vax can regret the path that led him here for a lot of reasons, but he shouldn't, ultimately, blame the Matron personally for the hard road he has to walk. I feel like that undercuts what is beautiful about the story.

The Legend of Vox Machina: Taryon, My Wayward Son (4x04)

Okay I do truly love the name of this episode lol.

Cons:

I do think giving Tary this big cathartic moment with his dad is perhaps a wee bit premature. I understand that Tary is not Sam's character in the animated show, he's not temporary-replacement-Scanlan in the way he was in the campaign, which added a lot more of a heart-wrenching element to what was going on with that character. Still, meeting the shitty dad and having the group discover how bad Tary's been treated all in the same episode where Tary learns and processes the truth and has his moment of triumph... maybe a little less impactful than it could have been. I get it, there's a lot they have to fit in.

Renewing my confusion/frustration with whatever is going with Pike. When she goes "we don't have that kind of relationship" about her and the Everlight, I wanted Vax or someone to be like... "huh? Why? What happened?" And then I wanted Pike to explain herself! I suppose I could end up happy with where this all goes, but for the time being I remain flummoxed.

The Legend of Vox Machina: The Coronation (4x03)

Ohhohoh. Keeping with the tradition of having a dope-ass third episode, I see.

Cons:

I can't think of anything to complain about. I guess I wonder if Cerkonos's fate will be explicitly shown to us later, if the ambiguity intentional, or if I'm supposed to understand he's dead? They squished his eyes in pretty good there (ewww) but didn't do a full head explode-y situation like that one scene in Game of Thrones so... unclear.

The episode hangs a lampshade on the fact that the Matron's warning to Vax is very vague. In fact it hangs two lampshades. This does not make it less irritating though. I think maybe this would have been a little better if the Matron had been more explicit about the warning, but had been uncertain herself as to the timing. Kind of a "dark times are coming, there are people fucking with death itself, power is coalescing and as my Champion it's important you be ready." Something. This is a nitpick, it's still always soooo cool to see the Matron, her design in the show is sick as hell.

The Legend of Vox Machina: Trial By Water (4x02)

Okay, episode two! Maybe not my favorite, but not bad by any means.

Cons:

I love Keyleth very much, and I am so proud of her accomplishments, really. I will say, though, there's something of a diminishing return with all the fake-out "I'm on the verge of death and all is hopeless and then BAM I got a major glow-up and became an elemental and saved the day!" It was so cool when it happened during her fire trial. Then it kinda happened twice on her earth trial, as first her father and then Vox Machina briefly believed her to be dead until she popped out of the earth as a bad-ass rock monster. And now here, in her water trial, same thing. She's defeated, but nope! She's not! Hooray! There's nothing I can point to here that was poorly done, it's just the very nature of it being something we've seen twice before, you know?

The Legend of Vox Machina: One Year Later... (4x01)

We're back!!

Cons:

I thought the gimmick of cutting between Vex and Percy as they each deal with their moments of peril worked to a point, but as it kept going it felt like it was interrupting the flow and the momentum of their respective scenes a bit. Maybe I'll feel different on a re-watch, it was just a tad jarring at spots.

The way they have adapted Pike's religion stuff is maybe the most confusing part of this animated show to me. It's the one thing they've had to basically build whole-cloth without the campaign for a guide, and I often find it a bit unfocused and unclear. I am cautiously optimistic that this story-line with former adherents to the Everlight turning to the Whispered One will position Pike to finally come into alignment with her goddess in a way that feels satisfying to her as a character and to me as a viewer. My fear, though, is more unfocused story-telling where it's unclear if Pike is trying to embrace her position as a cleric or run from it. At some point I think we kind of need to settle in, here. The character with a complicated and greatly conflicted relationship to a goddess on this show is Vax. We probably don't need the same thing with Pike.

Bob's Burgers: Smellbound (16x15)

Truly goofy, I loved it!

Cons:

I don't think I have a single complaint at this time, honestly!

Pros:

I love it when this show becomes like a giant group project where everybody is involved and then they succeed lol. Such a simple desire and this show is so good at fulfilling it! We have a goofy problem, that the beach has been overrun with dead fish, and the smell is bad enough to cancel a beloved yearly holiday. The kids, Louise especially, are really disappointed, so they decide the only way to fix it is to find a way to clean up the fish. How? Build a giant catapult! But without the funds to do that, they are reduced to asking Mr. Fischoeder to help move one of the rides from the wharf and use that as a giant trebuchet. This plan works only when Bob agrees to ride with the fish and pull the lever at the right moment to release them all into the ocean.

Bob's Burgers: Stuck in the Middle with Hu(go) (16x14)

Going to rapid-fire review this because we have two new episodes to talk about!

Cons:

Bathroom humor isn't really my thing so the stuff about Teddy needing to poop was just kinda... eh... I also in general could have used a greater degree of shenanigans regarding the lost ring. They jump to Teddy eating the ring as the explanation so quickly, but it would have been fun to do more of a scavenger hunt and upend the restaurant looking for it. As it is, Linda just kinda finds it at the last second, anticlimactically.

Outlander: And the World Was All Around Us (8x10)

Once upon a time, in the year 1991, Diana Gabaldon published the first book in her epic series, titled Outlander. Here in 2026, 35 years later, book readers are eagerly awaiting the tenth and planned final installment of the series. We got eight seasons of a TV show, and much like the loathed final season of Game of Thrones, the creators of this show had the unique challenge of ending their story when the source material has yet to conclude. Do we think Gabaldon told them something about the ending-ending as she imagines it? Do we think something in this finale is born out of the seed of Gabaldon's ultimate intentions with these characters?

Welp. I certainly hope not, anyway. This was a nearly unwatchable episode of TV. Let's dive in!

Bob's Burgers: Driving Miss Ragey (16x13)

A really cute one!

Cons:

Often with this show I don't have any real complaints I just have a note for a missed opportunity... this week it's that I wanted something to happen in the restaurant that Teddy would have to be "in charge" of. Or even better, nothing happens until he leaves to go help with the broken door, and then the rando customer is sitting there and a whole crowd of people comes in and he takes up the mantle to run things in Bob and Teddy's absence. I don't know, could have been funny to see something come of all that.

Grey's Anatomy: Bridge over Troubled Water (22x18)

I want to be nice, but I can't be too nice. A lot of this stuff sucks!

Cons:

I'm not going to harp about Owen and Teddy too much here, I actually have compliments to pay them later. But I will say their big emotional reconciliation scene just felt kind of... tepid to me. The fact that they're leaving the show is the only reason I'm cool with them getting back together. I still think they are utter poison for each other and make each other worse.

Checking in with our other established relationships that I hate, I don't have a ton to say about Jo and Link other than that I think I'd be excited to explore their story lines next season if they were still just bffs who weren't supposed to be in love and married. They just don't give off that energy at all, and it makes everything about them feel so... paint by numbers. Bland.

Outlander: Pharos (8x09)

I love Lord John so much, I'm willing to look past a lot of stuff that's not good about the show these days... he's my weakness...

Cons:

Obligatory statement that the Faith thing and Fergus's death still feel pointless and cruel and neither played into this episode at all. Jamie talking about his son William meanwhile I'm like... you're supposed to be in intense grieving for Fergus but of course he doesn't come up at all... whatever.

I also felt like the time jumping in this episode was kind of perfunctory and bizarre. Even as a book reader I had sort of forgotten Bree was even pregnant and I kind of chuckled when suddenly in voice-over Claire was just like "oh yeah, here's Davy" like. What an afterthought.

Bob's Burgers: Children of the Carn (16x12)

This was a really cute main plot!

Cons:

I wasn't really that invested in the subplot, about Teddy seeing his therapist at the restaurant and having a crisis about her being a weird eater. There just wasn't a lot of meat here. I feel like I'm split straight down the middle when it comes to Teddy plots, sometimes they're extra fun and sometimes they don't really offer me anything.

Pros:

There was one joke I liked, which was Teddy saying that the therapist was his closest friend that he paid in order to talk to, and Bob was like... "well..." lol. That made me chuckle.

Grey's Anatomy: Through the Fire (22x17)

Oh my god if Kwan is leaving the show... I don't know how I'm going to cope with that.

Cons:

As is typical with this show I do have a long list of complaints. I believe next week's episode is the finale of this season so it'll be interesting to see which of these plot threads is something that will carry over, what ends up resolved next week, etc. etc... I'm going to try and rapid-fire this because there's a lot to cover.

Simone and Lucas sleeping together is a big no from me, obviously, I'm so tired of these two. I also feel like it's weird that there was no actual apology from Lucas for blaming Simone for Katie's death, they just kinda... ignored that elephant in the room? Ugh.