The Legend of Vox Machina: The Echo Tree (2x08)

Ahhhh Percy and Vex my babiesssss.

Cons:

I've been thinking about the "Lady Vex'ahlia" moment and why I'm not 100% happy with this adaptation. I'm pretty happy, but there was something holding me back from loving it unconditionally. First of all, they changed the kicker line to: "Despite your relationship, do watch your manners towards a noble." Instead of just ending on "do watch your manners" which is stronger and cleaner. I think the point would have gotten across without adding the extra words. But more important than that, I think the atmosphere of how that happened on the stream was just so... intense, and memorable, because it was in front of a live audience, there were screams and applause, and you saw Laura's overwhelmed reaction. And Syldor was legitimately put off-balance by it. It was a blow that landed.

Here, I didn't need it to be a big huge mic-drop moment, I'm fine with it happening in only private company the way it would have from the stream version too. But I don't like the change that Syldor doesn't even hesitate before scoffing at it and saying it's just a stupid ploy. I wish he had been a little unsettled. I wish we'd seen him offended or confused or just... at all affected by the whole thing? He brushes off Percy's big grand gesture, and he brushes off Vex snapping at him, as if it doesn't matter at all. I get that there needs to be some build to something bigger, but I feel like it made the moment less fun because of it.

Also, this is fine for me as someone who's watched the stream, but the fact that Syldor lives in Syngorn, and there's also a character name Saundor all in the same episode... too many similar sounding S-names. That must have been annoying.

I had a question just logistically speaking... where exactly is Wilhand Trickfoot supposed to live? Because at the end, they're talking about how they have to go to Westruun. So he's not in Westruun? Even though the Grog backstory from the next episode seems to imply that his whole redemptive moment with Wilhand was happening where his herd had taken over? That just confused me a bit.

Pros:

To start off, I love the twin vibes on "we seek an audience with Ambassador Vassar" from Vex, and then "Ugh... we're his children" from Vax. So good. This episode appropriately shined more of a spotlight on Vex, but you still saw the solidarity between the two of them. Each has their own shit going on at the moment, but the strained awkward family vibes were exquisite. We see how Vax is willing to throw down with his dad from the jump, but Vex is still holding back yelling at him until the moment when she snaps at her dad for insulting Percy.

And yeah, while I wish there had been something to punch up the big "Lady Vex'ahlia" moment just a smidge more, I was otherwise totally 100% satisfied with the way the Percy/Vex stuff played out here. We got another one of the best shippy lines from the show, where Percy tells Vex he's known a lot of people with titles and money, "and none of them are worth you". My heart!!! And speaking of hearts, we have Vex opening up to Percy about how difficult things were for her and Vax growing up, and Percy says that she has a pure heart, that it's wonderful, and nobody can take that away. Percy, my baby! He's being so sincere and kind and gentle, and it's killing me! He also made her a cool new arrowhead, which was 100% the Percy method of flirting from the stream, so I'm glad we got a nod to it here.

A detail I have to point out because a part of me will always be Perc'ildan trash, is that Percy started defending both of the twins from their dad right from the jump, saying "your son and daughter are leading the fight." Hell yeah, Percy.

We got to meet Velora, and she was as adorable and perfect as I ever could have imagined! Vex giving her the blue feather is just the sweetest. This is a moment that really complicates and enhances the twins' drama with their shitty father. They have a cordial relationship with their step-mother, and they adore their little sister so much. It's not some one-note thing where they resent the family Syldor has built without them. There are layers here, and they (rightfully) do not blame a child for the sins of her father.

The whole Saundor encounter was amazing, everything I could have wished for and more! Saundor looks SO COOL. He's sexy and creepy and I love that he says all these awful things to Vex in this really seductive, simmering voice, but then the second she rejects him he says "you bitch!" and just starts snarling at her like any creepy incel bitter loser would. It's such a good turn, and it makes the point eloquently without spelling it out for you. Everything about the corrupted forest, the tree, the bow, the effect on Vex when her eyes go all dark and she nearly succumbs... it was so tense!

Meanwhile we get Vax, Percy, and Keyleth teaming up to defeat a couple of walking tree creatures that are trying to keep them away from helping Vex. I loved the teamwork, of Keyleth getting Vax's knife off him and Vax cutting Percy free once he was free himself. Then you've got Keyleth going into her Fire Elemental form again, and walking through the trees using her magic to defeat them. Not only was that an adaptation of one of Marisha's most brilliant Keyleth moments in the whole game, it was also a reminder/reaffirmation of this cool new ability she has to turn into a giant fire being, so we can be reminded that she has that card up her sleeve for more fights down the road.

And now, after Vex declares that her "heart is someone else's," and stabs Saundor with the arrowhead Percy gave her, she is officially in possession of Fenthras, her very own Vestige!

I heard people complaining that they've stripped away some of Vex's complexity, making her nothing more than a girl with daddy issues and an angsty anime love interest and I... I mean, okay, if Vex is your favorite character you're going to notice the shortcuts they've taken with her character for the sake of the shortened format. Same as if you love Keyleth most, or whoever else. But I personally think the final scene, where she declares that she's not going back to Syngorn because she's not ready, proves that there's so much more depth to her character than just a few cliché traits. Because you'd expect one of two things, here, right? You'd expect her to either go back and throw her victory in her father's face, or you'd expect her to declare that she's enlightened now and no longer needs his approval... but it's neither of those things. She still needs to face him, but despite the fact that she won Fenthras from Saundor and confronted the insecurities within her, she's not ready yet. It's a journey that will take longer than a single incident, much like Keyleth's self-confidence is much better now than it used to be, but she still has her moments of doubt.

I know I keep saying it over and over again, but I'm so impressed with how thoughtful they've been to every character getting their due on this show. There are seven main characters and a ton of important side characters and in a D&D campaign there are no protagonists. It's a hard sell to adapt, and I think people go too hard on it if their favorite moment didn't hit the way they wanted it to, or if a character they're less interested in got a big important moment when they felt their fave should have gotten it instead.

And so Garmelie helps our heroes out of the Fey Realm, and then transforms into a tall, imposing figure with a different voice, and universes in his eyes... I'm so excited to see where this all goes.

One thing that was so great about this episode was the parallel between meeting Syldor and meeting Wilhand. Even as Vex and Vax's father puts them down and accuses them of just coming to him because of his status, we see Wilhand emerge from his front door, give Pike a big hug and admire her cool new armor, and immediately set to work helping Grog out without really asking many questions. Casting Henry Winkler in this role was inspired, I was instantly charmed by him.

There wasn't a ton of motion here for Grog, just a pill that he had to take with some... ahem... assistance from Scanlan, and no improvement on the weak, noodle-y muscles front. The gnomes are ready to head off after the vestige they know is in Westruun, but Grog has some news for them. That Vestige is in the hands of his uncle, and he killed Grog with them. Dun dun dun....

I loved Travis's line read on: "Hi, Pop Pop. I fucked up." I also love how Grog gets the comic relief treatment but there's still a real gravity and grief to him over this situation. It's no small thing, to lose your strength when it's such a big part of how you identify yourself. I know what this is all building to, and I'm going to scream so loud when Grog tells us where his strength comes from in next week's batch of episodes...

So yeah! Say goodbye to the Fey Realm for now, and we're off to Westruun to meet some of Grog's family in the final installment of this week's drop. Man, they go by so fast, I wish the seasons were twice as long!

8/10