Archibald... I'm a little bit in love...
Cons:
This episode was the strongest we've had since episode three, which is no surprise since it's got all that creepy angsty goodness with Percy and the Briarwoods and all that. But I have basically the same "cons" as the other two episodes carrying through, which I'll highlight briefly:
Unfortunately the Pike stuff is where the weakness comes for me. I don't want it to be true, but it is. We see her wandering around trying to connect to the Everlight, and then when she remarks that it's not working because of Delilah, the priestess says: "No curse, no spell could sever her connection to your light..." and something like "whatever is keeping you apart, it's inside of you." And then Pike says: "You're saying... it's not a curse, it's... me?" Just... what an awful line. No offense but yikes. It's just a blunt, repetitive restating of what the priestess just said, and once again everything with the Pike subplot feels like it's treading water. I'm not sure why they've structured it this way at all. I really wish Pike had gone with them on the road to Whitestone, and maybe further character beats could have shown that she's losing her connection gradually, tying directly in with her choices and behavior... then she could peel off for her own subplot for an episode or two. But as it stands, I just don't feel like her absence from the group was earned or justified, and despite what they're telling me, the sequence of events is still: Pike's magic worked fine, then a bad guy broke her necklace, now her magic is on the fritz. That's not an interesting development. I need to understand where Pike's doubt is coming from in order to connect with why we're spending time on this.
A few script awkwardnesses, like I've brought up before. One is in the really funny door scene with Vax, Percy, and Scanlan. Everything about the scene was great, except at one point Scanlan says out lout "ugh... fucking doors!" That's the kind of small detail I'm talking about. That line could have been cut, it's implied by everything around it. I also really liked Keeper Yennen, but the line "oh, but you're not the same. Little Percival, what have you become?" was such an in-your-face statement, as was Percy's response: "I am what they made me." This is the kind of thing you can imply with a lot more subtlety and make the moment hit harder, instead of just coming out and directly saying the thing.
Honestly, though, this episode truly did kick ass, and I'd like to talk directly about that!
Pros:
I haven't paused to talk too much about the animation because I've been focusing on story and character, the area I feel more comfortable speaking to, but I'll just say that I love all the atmospheric detail in Whitestone. The dreary atmosphere, the oppressive muted tones, the giants stomping around, but how you see glimpses of them and don't ever zoom out to get the full effect... obviously the shot of the Sun Tree there at the beginning, setting an immediately bleak tone... I just think it's working so well to show how far we are into the depths, and it should feel really rewarding when they manage to eke victories out of this dreary place.
We get a number of new characters here, the most important being:
Stonefell. I like that he's something of a one-note villain, because we already know the Briarwoods are our Big Bads of the season, and we have various minions that they will need to fight their way through first. This one is a huge beefy dude who loves torture and killing, and as Percy says, "you were the one I was least looking forward to" so we know this guy isn't going to be the most groundbreaking.
And then Archibald Desnay! What a great change from the stream. It's been a while, but I recall Archie was an old man who had been a mentor/advisor to the de Rolos... and here we have him changed to a childhood friend of Percy... god, I can't help myself from shipping Percy/Archie a little bit? Probably thanks to Taliesin Jaffe's and Dominic Monaghan's amazing voice talent, I was immediately swept up in how much these two clearly care for each other. Percy's return home, so many people recognizing him, and having this connection, this affinity for someone... god, what great moments with Percy slamming against the cell and yelling for Vax to free him, and Percy supporting Archie on their escape attempt, Archie going back to cause a distraction... Archie wondering if he's dead when he sees Percy, because of course he'd think his friend was dead all this time... I loved all of it.
We also get a sense of the arc of the Whitestone story more completely, as Vox Machina somewhat unexpectedly connects with a rebellion group and realizes that one way forward from the current travesties of the Briarwoods is to stage a revolt and help the town to rise up. Percy is not there to be a leader, but maybe he might learn to be one along the way... great stuff with Keeper Yennen, played beautifully by the incomparable Gina Torres. And I liked the rebels, we got little moments to flesh them out slightly as characters, before watching most of them get cut down by Stonefell and his crew. Effective way of making things feel personal for the rest of our crew, while of course everything is already very, very personal for Percy.
I also felt like this might have been the strongest episode for comedy beats that we've gotten so far... in past episodes, so many of the jokes failed to land for me, even if they weren't awful, they just didn't grab my attention or actually make me laugh. But here, I can find several examples of funny moments that got a chuckle from me! I liked Keyleth, Scanlan, and Grog each having a different break-in plan, the silly animation showing them on the map, and then Vax deadpanning: "those are all bad plans and you should feel bad." Scanlan gets his beret, Grog's utter devastation at the empty kegs of ale, and then his reluctant sacrifice of the ale at the end as Vex does a Fluffernutter on it to kill the guards. Great stuff. Of course, the comedic highlight is the doors sequence. I loved Vax struggling, they got in the part of Scanlan hurting himself, and then Percy climbing up to the window and then falling on the other two, his delivery of "I fell out the window"... all so funny. And then of course later Vax picks the lock on Archie's cell in two seconds flat, proving that the back door thing was a fluke.
Lots of great smaller character beats to discuss. I love that Keyleth has the instinct to cut down the bodies from the Sun Tree, which is compassionate but also impractical, as Percy says when he points out that the area is clearly being watched. A great setup of the dichotomy between these two. We also have Grog and Scanlan sniping about the giants, we have Vex taking charge on planning their rescue mission and Scanlan pushing back against her but ultimately following her lead. We have Keyleth wanting to rescue the prisoners, and Vex agreeing even though she knows it makes things harder on them. It's hard for me to separate how well I already know these characters from the stream, but I do feel for the most part like they're managing to get in enough moments to establish what their individual personalities and priorities are.
Let's talk about my boy Percy, though... he gets another creepy mask moment, with another one of those epic Taliesin improv lines directly adapted, as he takes off the mask so Stonefell can see who has come to avenge the de Rolos, and then insults him by saying he's the one he was looking forward to the least. Percy gets great one-liners with his other big adversaries this season too, and I love that each one of them has been lovingly adapted for the screen, complete with freaky Percy mask and smoke and then the full on monstrous look on his face when he takes the mask off... shooting again and again when the man is clearly already dead...
And then swinging the gun on Vax when he rounds the corner, and Vax getting pissed off at him, and Percy saying "no one will stand in my way"... this kind of thing is one of my favorite aspects of the show thus far, that they're really taking the time to emphasize all sorts of different relationship dynamics. They could have swapped Vax with Vex for this scene for the inherent drama, since we know Vex/Percy's relationship is a big focus. But they left it with Vax and Percy, developing their particular friendship and the tension there, which, if they adapt certain things about the story moving forward, is going to be a pretty big aspect of these two men.
And then there's the Cassandra reveal! Hell to the yes! Percy's "I have a sister" moment was so touching, and then we immediately swing in on Cassandra and see that she is possibly working with Delilah... I love that Cassandra doesn't speak here, that the full extend of her allegiance isn't made clear to the audience. Does Sylas have her under his thrall? Is she playing double agent? Who knows! (I mean... I know, and everyone who watched Campaign One knows, but that doesn't count).
This episode made me especially curious as to how it would come across to a new viewer. I had a lot of fun with it, I felt like the things that happened at this point on the stream were represented in a new and fresh way, pushing the story forward narratively, but I wonder how it's all landing for someone who isn't eagerly awaiting certain iconic moments and lines! In any case, I'm greatly enjoying myself and can't believe I have to wait a whole week for the next part of the adventure...
9/10
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