by Mike Hilty, Contributing Writer
One of my favorite shows of all time is Community. During an episode of Season Two, the study group plays a game of Dungeons & Dragons to help a fellow student through a tough time. It’s one of the best episodes of the show because it perfectly encapsulates just how involved you have to be to play, and how much fun someone can have while playing, too. People get emotional, like with a lot of activities, but it hopefully is all balanced out by the fun you can have if you truly give yourself to the campaign. Dungeons & Dragons is a blind spot for me. I’m surrounded by friends who play, including my sister. Still, there’s something very daunting about getting started with it because it’s hard to pick where to start.
It’s something I struggled with a little at first while trying to find my footing with The Legend of Vox Machina, which is based on campaigns from Critical Role.
Season One of The Legend of Vox Machina is some of the funniest and best television that Amazon Prime has to offer. I struggle a little to follow all the Dungeons & Dragons meat and potatoes the show is offering, but that doesn’t change my level of enjoyment of this group and their quest together. Vox Machina checks a lot of boxes I’m looking for in a show: it’s funny, and it has characters I care about, action, and a compelling story. There’s just something about this ragtag group that I enjoy.
Thankfully, Season Two picks up right after the events of Season One, and we get right back to another question.
Season Two’s quest involves finding a way to bring down the Chroma Conclave, a group of four dragons out to reign destruction and terror throughout Tal’Dorei. The Chroma Conclave has four distinct dragons with different colors and attributes. This is a welcome change from dragons who only spit fire. The animation on the dragons, and the whole season really, is stunning. The colors, the backgrounds, the shading — everything about them is beautiful, even with how menacing they’re supposed to be.
There’s something to be said about the pacing of The Legend of Vox Machina. There’s always something going on, and with several members of the group to follow, each of them gets a chance to showcase their skills and be an important part of the story. It makes all the episodes fly, and easily binge-able. This does unfortunately mean that you have to watch the story from beginning to end in order, because you’d be lost if you were to skip around. There’s not a lot of fat to trim off with these episodes; most everything matters. This is something that shows can struggle with sometimes, particularly on streaming services, but not The Legend of Vox Machina. There’s something to reward you for paying attention the whole time, while also rewarding you for sticking with the group.
Season Two also dives deeper into more backstory about group members. I loved this for Season Two because we’ve already gotten a chance to get to know this group on one quest. We’re now invested in all of them, so to get more of a backstory on other individuals is a welcome sight. Tragedy and struggle befall all the members of Vox Machina. We see Vex and Vax (both voiced by Liam O’Brien) being treated badly because they are mixed race, Grog (Travis Willingham) just murdering people without remorse, and Scanlan (Sam Riegel) “falling in love” and leaving her behind to continue questing, in perhaps the funniest moment for me in Season Two.
These characters working both together and separately are what makes The Legend of Vox Machina worth watching. They’re different, they have tragedy, and they work incredibly well together. Each of them has something they bring to the table that comes in handy during the quest against the Chroma Conclave. The characters, though, are brought to life by the voice performances. I believe that since these performers are all seasoned character and voice actors, they know how to bring characters to life better than someone more mainstream. It’s also a testament to the writers, who clearly understand that characters matter just as much as the spectacle one would expect for a compelling story.
Season Two of The Legend of Vox Machina ups the ante from Season One, and levels up with strong character development, stunning visuals, and amazing performances. As someone who doesn’t understand a lot when it comes to Dungeons & Dragons, Vox Machina rewards people in the know without punishing those who aren’t. I’m not sure I would go as far as to say Season Two is better than Season One, but without having the pressure of introducing all the characters and setting up the group, Season Two just dives head first into a great quest. This is easily one of Amazon’s best shows, and I do hope they continue to invest in it for years to come.
Score: 8/10
The Legend of Vox Machina is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video
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