The Legend of Vox Machina: Into Rimecleft (2x06)

Eyyyyy we're splitting the party, this should be good.

Cons:

Okay. So. Keyleth encouraging Vax to talk to the Matron of Ravens... I get why they added this little detail in, but to be honest it's a characterization change I'm not sure about. Keyleth in the streams has always  been very dismissive or even distrustful of the gods. It feels weird that she should be the one to gently nudge Vax towards exploring that relationship. Maybe I'm misremembering and Keyleth says something to him in the stream too, it's hundreds of hours of gameplay and character choices aren't always 100% consistent, but this just rang false for me as a Keyleth moment.

Literally I have no other complaints though, this episode is perfect.

The Legend of Vox Machina: Pass Through Fire (2x05)

KEYLETH MY BEST FRIEND KEYLETH. I love her so much. She was made to pass through fire! I'm weeping!

Cons:

Okay, okay, I loved this episode, but I do have to say this: people are always joking about Keyleth basically just... being the Avatar from The Last Airbender, and... yeah. The fact that her eyes glowed a solid white before she entered the Avatar State - I mean, became a Fire Elemental for the first time - didn't really help with that comparison. It's a little much, I'll admit. Still cool, but c'mon. I was thinking on this, and I think part of the problem was that while in isolation, Keyleth's big moment passing through fire was perfect and I genuinely adored it, it felt like a culmination with very little build. I don't know how they would have done this pacing-wise, but maybe one more scene in an earlier episode where Keyleth is talking about her Aramente, mentioning how she needs to figure out how to face it, would have led to this better. I also might have liked this better if her dad hadn't been around? This is a small thing, but I feel like we almost played our cards too soon, giving Kiki this glow-up, when her true culminating moment taking place with her people comes much further down the line. If they had maybe saved having her dad around for that later moment, that could have been cool.

This is a tiny thing but I don't like how Pike calls Grog "buddies" like... in the plural? Why isn't it just "buddy"? Drives me a little crazy every time.

The Legend of Vox Machina: Those Who Walk Away (2x04)

I got the Vax punching Percy scene, I'm a happy camper.

Cons:

I can't overstate how much most of my complaints about this show are nitpicks. It feels like we've gotten such a bounty, something so much better and cooler and more intense than I ever could have hoped for. So when I'm talking about things that missed the mark for me, it's really only a matter of being thorough. Of being so impressed with this show that I expect the absolute best from it. My complaint is a little difficult to articulate, but during the pivotal Vex resurrection "take me instead" scene, it felt like the pacing, or the blocking, or maybe both, were just slightly... off.  Pacing-wise we go from the weeping at the end of season three to suddenly everyone being like "oh yeah, shit, we should be trying to save her", which just felt like they prioritized the fucking stunning ending of episode three over the beginning of episode four making sense, a little? Vax is sobbing like he believes she's really dead, and then suddenly he says "somebody do something!" like he's still in the middle of figuring out what's going on. Just a little awkwardness there.

There's this particular shot where Vex's spiritual self has flowed upward, and there's the golden thread connecting the twins, and the Matron of Ravens is looming over them, and it just looked kind of awkward with Vex's form laid out in this weird ghostly way... I think if I were going to do this, I wouldn't have had Vex's soul float out of her body at all, I would have kept the string connecting Vax to where Vex lay on the floor. Or I would have done a less tangible representation of Vex being taken away, like an orb of light or something. Like I said, this is nitpick-y to the extreme.

The Legend of Vox Machina: The Sunken Tomb (2x03)

Liam O'Brien, how dare you...

Cons:

This isn't really a con, so much as a point of confusion... where did Kash and Zahra go at the end of the episode? They seemed to find Purvan's tomb and wander down it, but then Percy also found the tomb? So they're in the wrong place? It just felt strange that they ended up somewhere else with no resolution or cliffhanger for those characters. I guess we'll find out in episode four?

Pros:

Such a good blend of tone in this episode. So many funny moments, and then mixed with such abject tragedy... the basic structure of the plot is just that the gang goes on a journey to find the Deathwalker's Ward, which is the first Vestige of Divergence they've been told about. Along the way they banter, they fight weird fish people monsters, they have a not-so-friendly rivalry going with Zahra and Kash...

The Legend of Vox Machina: The Trials of Vasselheim (2x02)

I've got to say, this show is bringing such joy into my life right now...

Cons:

I thought visually that Vasselheim wasn't quite as cool looking as I wanted it to be? Individual details were cool, but the first view of the city as a whole, that first big sweeping view, wasn't quite as impressive as what we saw of Emon or even Whitestone. I don't know, maybe I need to re-watch to appreciate it more.

This is an exposition-heavy episode, what with Highbearer Vord briefly meeting Vox Machina just to tell them no, then to the Slayer's Take, then down to see Osysa. It's a lot of information imparted very quickly, about the ancient history of this world, and setting up the Vestiges of Divergence fetch quest, and meanwhile we're cutting back to Grog's subplot. So once again I'm in the position of saying I enjoyed all the individual things I was seeing, but wish there was another five minutes so the transitions between all these different scenes and characters and concepts could have a bit more breathing room.

The Legend of Vox Machina: Rise of the Chroma Conclave (2x01)

We're back!!!! Since I have three of these to review, I'm going to try (and probably fail) to keep each review quick and snappy.

Cons:

I think one of the things about this show is that I want more of it? So I might criticize the pacing of a lot of the episodes, and that's because when the characters do get a moment to breathe and check in with each other, I'm enjoying it so much that I just want more. For this particular installment, I could have used a bit more time there at the end in Whitestone. Cassandra and Keeper Yennen being conveniently right by the Sun Tree when everyone emerged felt like such a blatant way to tighten up the pacing, and everything was moving so fast that we didn't even really have a chance for Keyleth to say hi to the Sun Tree, or for us to check in with Percy a bit more about how it felt to be back home. It's good, don't get me wrong, the details they do choose to include are excellent, I just feel that I haven't been given all the things I'd love to see. If every episode were just five minutes longer, I think it'd be more or less perfect.

Uriel's death felt a little... unceremonious? And honestly I think that's okay, I think it makes sense that it happens fast, and amidst chaos, but it feels odd to me that our main characters don't even seem to know that the Sovereign has been killed. They know Emon is in terrible trouble and that the dragons have taken over, but Uriel's death happened so quickly and never got remarked on again. It's a small thing, I'm sure we'll get more focus on the implications of this when we're back in Emon later down the road.

Bob's Burgers: Cheaty Cheaty Bang Bang (13x11)

I started watching Bob's Burgers a couple of years ago, but per my own self-imposed rules about reviews, I am just now getting to write my very first review about the show, having caught up to current episodes airing! This is a fun show, a distraction for my brain, good vibes and calming colors. I might not have a ton to say week to week, but let's dive in!

Cons:

I think of all the stories happening here, Gene's was probably the least interesting to me this week. He has a song stuck in his head, a jingle about fish delivery, and he keeps singing it over and over. The only real "punchline" here is that by the end, Louise has the jingle stuck in her head too, which Gene thinks of as a victory. It's not bad, it's just a background gag that didn't really do much for me.