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.

Pros:

This was a solid episode! Definitely felt like a bit of a breather after the intensity of episode three. Cool to go to a new location, cool to see Vox Machina greeted as celebrity heroes by someone they clearly cannot respect. I loved (or rather, experienced the appropriate degree of horror) seeing Umbrasyl's head mounted up on the wall. That was intense.

Percy and Grog is a team-up you don't get all too often, but it's the two of them who stay with Howard Darrington to distract him while the others do their investigating, and it leads to some fun shenanigans. We get the Deck of Many Things, or... no, I'm sorry, the Deck of Infinite Possibility... and luckily we don't have too many horrible outcomes from it yet, just some silver, and a murderous unicorn. Winner for most yucky moment of the episode for me was Grog playing dolls with the dead unicorn there at the end lol. And poor Percy, stuck with Grog for such a long time! I enjoy their long-suffering older brother, chaotic younger brother vibe as a duo.

The main thread follows the twins, Keyleth, Pike, and Tary as they go out to a nearby mine that contains the mineral the creepy cultists were using in the last episode. Tary's dad has lied about this mine being shut down, and at first Tary is convinced that the people working the clearly open mine are traitors trying to frame his father... but by the end, when said father actually shows up and berates his son and takes full claim for being an evil piece of shit, Tary is convinced of the truth. He manages to trap his father after saving the day with the rest of the gang.

The thing about Tary is that he's wicked annoying but also you feel so, so bad for him all the time. The bit where he says it was on his list to save his friends, but of course first to make some friends... awwww. And then telling his father that Vox Machina has shown him more kindness and love than his father ever had, and their reaction of like... oh jeez, that's not good... so funny. Vox Machina has seen him so far as a means to an end, an irritant, but you can tell throughout this episode that their horror at his father's shitty behavior is genuine, and is starting to make them see this guy in a new light. The last ultimate pity-Tary moment comes when he makes his grand speech telling off his father, then realizes Doty is back at home in sleep mode and so wasn't able to record any of it. At least he gets a proper welcome to the group, now that he's fucked shit up and confronted his parental issues!

I always want to compliment this show when they give us different match-ups than usual, so along with the Grog and Percy team-up, we also had some good Keyleth and Pike moments, what with Keyleth pretending Pike is pregnant and about to give birth in order to get rid of a guard, and later Keyleth saves Pike when she falls in the mines after having her spooky Whispered One vision. I'm glad the team knows now at least a bit more concrete information about this creepy cult... I have a feeling they're going to be finding out even more real soon.

This episode, I think, isn't destined to be one of the big ones that everyone always remembers, but it put some pieces on the board and continued to push the story forward. I'm excited to see more of Tary... they could never make me hate you, my guy.

8/10