![]() ![]() Courtesy of Prime VideoĪfter spending the majority of its first season focused on Jaffe’s Percy, The Legend of Vox Machina shifts its focus to some of the other members of its eponymous team. Grog’s journey, in particular, combines the epic and personal in a way that should not only please Critical Role fans, but also the casual viewers who were first drawn in by The Legend of Vox Machina’s eclectic brand of fantasy storytelling. The season’s first six episodes also effectively set up several compellingly introspective arcs for Vax, Grog (Travis Willingham), and Scanlan, all of which pay off to great effect in The Legend of Vox Machina season 2’s final half. The season’s first half crackles with an alluringly adventurous spirit as Vox Machina sets out for various new locales and joins up with a handful of new characters. Thankfully, the rest of The Legend of Vox Machina’s latest 12 episodes don’t struggle with those same issues. That, in turn, makes the season’s Vex and Vax-centric detour into a trippy alternate plane known as “The Feywild” feel less engaging than many of its other subplots. While The Legend of Vox Machina season 2 does try to add depth to her self-worth issues and greedy tendencies, the character’s depiction is ultimately too stiff for any of her biggest moments to feel as impactful as they should. Bailey’s Vex, for instance, remains the source of many of the series’ most cringeworthy lines. Not all of The Legend of Vox Machina season 2’s emotional detours work as well as others. ![]() That’s especially the case for Scanlan (Sam Riegel), Grog (Travis Willingham), Vax (Liam O’Brien), and Vex (Laura Bailey), all of whom have to put themselves through considerable emotional turmoil in order to earn their Vestiges. The Chroma Conclave’s arrival also sets up the dramatic engine of The Legend of Vox Machina season 2, which follows its central heroes as they are forced to seek out a handful of powerful weapons known as the “Vestiges of Divergence.” As was the case in the Critical Role campaign that inspired it, their pursuit of the Vestiges forces the members of Vox Machina to confront personal issues both new and old. By wiping out its first primary location, the series is forced to send Vox Machina to new cities and regions that hadn’t previously been explored, which gives The Legend of Vox Machina season 2 an expansive scope and visually rich variety of locations. However, much like it did in Critical Role’s first campaign, Emon’s destruction does serve as an efficient catalyst for the rest of The Legend of Vox Machina season 2. Visually and emotionally, the animated series doesn’t shy away from the death and devastation that is caused by the Chroma Conclave’s attack. Many are killed and the city of Emon is utterly destroyed during the attack, which forces Vox Machina to flee to Whitestone, the very city Percy (Taliesin Jaffe) and his friends spent most of the first season of The Legend of Vox Machina trying to save. The new season’s premiere installment follows all seven members of Vox Machina after they and the citizens of the royal city of Emon are suddenly ambushed by the four giant, villainous dragons who make up the powerful collective known as the Chroma Conclave. Courtesy of Prime VideoĪs Critical Role fans will already know, The Legend of Vox Machina season 2 wisely picks up right where its first left off. Fortunately, those moments are far more common in The Legend of Vox Machina season 2, which greatly expands the series’ fantasy scope, but does so without ever losing sight of the friendships and emotions that make it so fun and pleasing to watch. It was for that reason that The Legend of Vox Machina season 1 was often at its best whenever it was actually able to replicate the sense of camaraderie and theatrical drama that made so many viewers tune into Critical Role in the first place. The events of the show are, in other words, based on the story that the core Critical Role cast created together over the course of several years. The series is, instead, based on the first Dungeons & Dragons campaign that was broadcast as part of the online tabletop role-playing web series Critical Role from 2015 to 2017. Unlike practically every other fantasy TV show - live-action or otherwise - that’s being produced these days, The Legend of Vox Machina isn’t based on a preexisting book or video game. That’s not because its high fantasy story or eccentric group of misfits are all that unique, either. In its second year, the adult animated series remains one of the more interesting shows that’s on the air right now. The Legend of Vox Machina Season 2 is a bigger, darker, and more ambitious season of television than the first. Certain characters still feel too one-note ![]()
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