The Mighty Nein: The Zadash Job (1x08)

God damn, that was some incredible fight animation! So much going on here.

Cons:

Broken record, but yeah, now that I've seen the shape of this first season and how Essek was deployed as a character, I really would have done things differently. I kind of wish he'd been a presence this season in a way more similar to how Yasha was. Like, we see him, we get these glimpses, he shows up out of nowhere during a climactic moment to play keep-away with the beacon. Imagine if Trent saying "Essek?" was the first time we'd realized that they had a preexisting relationship. Imagine if we knew Trent had an off-screen conspirator in the Dynasty, and this was how we found out who it was. (By "we" I mean show-only watchers, of course.) This is all to say, Essek going after the beacon, failing to get it, and ending up seemingly in Trent's hands at the end of the season maybe would have worked better for me with a different arc for his character this season. I'm less frustrated than I was at some earlier points, but still not 100% sold on how they decided to do this.

I was a little iffy on how I felt about the Traveler's appearance! I almost feel like we could have held off, and had him show up for the first time sometime in season two. It felt a little unmotivated to have it happen here, like they just wanted to give Jester some sort of character beat in the finale. I didn't hate it, but it maybe didn't need to be here? 

This doesn't count as a real complaint but just like... generally speaking, the fact that this season is already over is bonkers lol. We barely get to know them before we have to wait forever for more? They took a big swing this season with a lot of it being setup, and I think in the future I might get more out of this show when watching it in a more binge-like format.

Pros:

This was a freakin' awesome finale, though, I don't even know where to begin. Structuring the whole thing like a heist was a brilliant way to flash through a lot of setup quickly, with the Gentleman laying out the plan, and seeing various parts of it enacted as we lead up to the moment of truth. It's maybe a little silly, the idea of the Luxon Beacon being on display at a big fancy gala, but silly in a good, D&D heist kind of way, so I'll forgive it. I love every little moment of interaction between the Gentleman and Jester, it's so heartwarming that he seems to be on the same wavelength as her, amused by her antics. Another great moment is Fjord stopping Caleb from stealing a spell-book and basically telling him to make a choice if he's working for the team or for himself. I love that that tension is carrying through even to this moment where climactic world-building stuff is being set up.

The combat between Trent and the Kryn forces, with our Mighy Nein sort of... incidentally involved with their own heist, was honestly such a brilliant way to do this climax. Because, like, you've got them all contributing to the plan, you've got Nott braving the water in the sewers, and Jester climbing up high to set off the distraction, Molly as the carriage driver, Beau and Fjord on the inside of the party, but when it comes to the moment, the game of keep-away with the beacon isn't with the Mighty Nein at all. It's Essek and his forces, and then Trent and the Volstruckers. If not for deus ex Yasha showing up at the very end there and killing that random Kryn soldier, the Mighty Nein would not have gotten their hands on the beacon at all. That was always the thing about the Mighty Nein as a party; they didn't want to be involved, necessarily. They weren't the visible heroes with name recognition, they were... the weirdos on the edges of things, who ended up suddenly thrust into a position of responsibility. I thought the way this finale broke down was a great way of demonstrating that.

At the risk of the rest of this just being a list of things that I thought were cool, I gotta say: Fjord disguising himself as Caleb? Cool. Beau's "Tracy" moment? Cool. Caleb hesitating at Trent's offer and Nott seeing that and doubting him? Ouchie, in the best way. I also love the way the Molly story is going, so many things getting woven in early that are going to pay huge dividends down the road. I loved that Jester was the one to push through the scary glowy red eyes and get him to come along. And then we get Fjord's sinister glow-up during the confrontation in the sewers, and Jester is also what gets him to snap out of it. She really is the beating heart of the group, isn't she. I adore it. And I loved that we got a pause, a Dramatique Moment, when Essek and Caleb first clap eyes on each other, even though neither one knows who the other is or that this is going to be significant in any way. I know, and that's enough, thanks.

Also, just a general shout-out to Pumat Sol returning here, I was so glad he got a nice spotlight in this episode. I wondered if they'd get a different voice actor for him but was so pleased they stuck with Matt! Plus, Dust of Deliciousness... planting seeds... 

Now that we've reached the end of season one, I will probably take a pause and then go back and re-watch the whole thing with a friend. I might end up sharing some more overall thoughts on the season once I've had a chance to view it as a cohesive object! There's so much that's good here, I just definitely felt tripped up by the structure and pacing in ways I wasn't expecting. Super excited for season two, I hope they get to make like seven seasons of this so we really get all the juicy goodness of campaign two in animated form.

8.5/10