The Legend of Vox Machina S3E3 "Vexations" | Reaction & Review | Critical Role

[@ghurcbghurcb]

Haha, Percy's and Vex's "talk" in the start of this episode happened in the campaign almost word-for-word. Laura very much surprised the table with Vex's choice of attire.

[@daniberrieful]

"I open the door completely naked"

[@smashbrandiscootch719]

Well, Minus Percy trying to be a nerd about his booze.

[@michaelkemmet834]

The moment I saw Percy with the bottle and glasses, I uttered a "holy shit - we're doing Before and After!?!"

[@kindredXrepair]

"we're going to start with the courage" :)

[@DarksideGmss0513]

And this one is simply called courage will start with the courage​@@smashbrandiscootch719

[@patrickwaldeck6681]

Vax and Percy meeting in the hallway basically being the spiderman pointing meme sent me into orbit.

[@overworked30407]

the anime-ness of the whole morning after. chef's kiss

[@huntercool2232]

Keyleth and Vax: **having an emotional moment saying that they can’t be together** Vex and Percy in the next room: **cheek clapping noises**

[@SCUBAguypnw]

Scanlan's Magic Nightclub, Remember the key he grabbed at the end of the last S2 episode.,,

[@miafiolekova5817]

Didnt he call it Scanlans Magnificent mansion in the campaign?

[@CandleLight129]

@@miafiolekova5817 That's probably what it's a reference to. I think they mostly referred to it as just "the mansion" in the campaign, but the spell was Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion so he may have thrown his own name in there at some point. I can see them completely redesigning it as a magical nightclub for LoVM though.

[@miafiolekova5817]

@@CandleLight129 oh right, I forgot about the copyright rule. Ye makes sence.

[@carlotacosta9193]

I fucking LOVED the new Draconia twist Alos, i think that the splitting the party has two main reasons: first, to ease animation (it's harder/animate to draw big group), and second, for time puepises (essentially have two plot lines executed at once)

[@variansloth]

last season an animator mentioned how much work it is to have 7 party members in a scene at a time n now there's allura and kima there too so theyre gonna split the party as much as possible haha. love the commentary!

[@jasonmarbach]

Seeing how they used Draconia to embody certain elements of Orion’s whole deal without actually using Tiberius was honestly perfectly handled.

[@kaniamia]

I was so surprised to see Draconia even exist in the show. I genuinely thought they were going to avoid any reference to the dragonborn whatsoever. I hope this is a sign that some private conversations have been had and the hatchet has thoroughly been buried. I can’t imagine they’d have made these connections if they thought that there was any chance of it stoking any sort of resentment.

[@jasonmarbach]

@@kaniamia I think the hatchet was buried long ago, at least on CR’s side, judging by their statements over the years. It’s still good that they folded in the aspects that mattered without opening the can of worms involving the character or his actor directly, though.

[@kaniamia]

@@jasonmarbach He’s still an active voice actor himself, so I really hope that he’s doing well and is in good emotional space now, and that CR decided to incorporate this location that’s so tightly knit with his character because they knew he’d be fine with it.

[@jasonmarbach]

I gotta be honest, I don’t think about him at all except when there’s a small moment like this in LoVM. Stuff that dude did back then really, really rubs me the wrong way. Supposedly he’s doing better now, and good for him if so. No judgment from me, we’ve all been down before, self-inflicted or not. So yeah, no judgment. But also, no pity or spare thoughts, either. That’s just me, maybe.

[@jonathanhibberd9983]

@@jasonmarbach It's interesting though. A red dragonborn mage with a crush on Allura. There are at least some superficial similarities to a certain former member of Vox Machina.

[@operative2136]

Not sure if you guys have seen Calamity or not. But the character they mention that has the plate of the Dawnmartyr is Zerxus Ilerez, who was a very prominent player character from Exandria Unlimited: Calamity.

[@LordDonnington725]

Holy shit!! I didnt put that together right away. When she said the name, something clicked in my head like I recognized it but didnt think twice. Thats insane

[@jackakimbo5718]

I have to assume it's just a little nod to fans who watched Calamity. That specific Zerxus ending up as some merchant seems...off. And he's referred to as a demon here (though the show seems to not be doing the D&D split of demons/devils being different things altogether)

[@daniberrieful]

​@@jackakimbo5718 Hes the Champion of Asmo. He could be doing anything. I do believe we will actually see him for 1-2 episodes this season though. They would not drop that name and have it lead to someone else.

[@CandleLight129]

That's where I've heard the name!!! Really hope they got Luis Carazo to voice him.

[@LordDonnington725]

@@jackakimbo5718 Sam said in one of the interviews that we might see characters from other campaigns, who weren't in the original stream. This could be who he is referring to

[@isamocha1719]

Season's 4 & 5 have already been greenlit, so it's happening =)

[@RolandLory]

Wait, 4 AND 5? Is there even enough material for that? Cuz if they keep this same pacing, everything should be done by the end of season 4.

[@offcenterideas]

I somehow doubt they can (even at the current pace) end the Chroma Conclave arc this season.

[@RolandLory]

@@offcenterideas why not? there's not a lot of stuff left, next 3 eisodes to get armor and kill frost dragon, then 3 episodes for preparation and another 3 episodes to kill thordak, cuz a lot of stuff got mixed, some things that were after death of umbrasil already was shown in second season

[@offcenterideas]

@@RolandLory But why rush things? There's still plenty to play with and expand, especially stuff that plants seeds for future shows. They'll likely kill Thordak this season, sure, but that still leaves Raishan.

[@RolandLory]

​@@offcenterideas well, obviously spoilers ahead for anyone who would want to read discussion I see what you mean, and yes they might end season with Thordak and leave first three episodes of season 4 for Raishan, but let's be real, there's not a single better moment to end a season than "bards lament". Even more, I can't imagine how they could put this moment somewhere in the middle of a season.

[@CandleLight129]

A red dragonborn sorcerer who wears teal robes, has issues with Kima over her relationship with Allura, and was killed by Vorugal in Draconia. Additionally she ended up betraying Vox Machina and showing some pretty toxic personality traits. Now why does this feel so familiar?

[@TheMovieCouple]

👀👀👀

[@Step43099]

@@CandleLight129 I also noticed that but I didn’t have all those extra details 🤣🤣

[@TrackMaster844]

@@CandleLight129 Are you referring to a certain former member of CR?

[@CandleLight129]

@@TrackMaster844 I mean, I feel like they're the ones making the reference, lol. I'm just picking up on it.

[@GamiCross]

Dustin: "All of this is super new" 😅Oh, not as new as you think...

[@markm1261]

Whoa Wendy starting off with a vengeance with Ripley I can respect that. This was a good episode. I’m glad you confirm that it’s different and helps me realize I did not miss anything. That representation of hell was wickedly nice.

[@jetvulcan2020]

with percy and vex I just keep woundering if trinket is in the room just watching like dogs and cats sometimes do if they are in the room

[@michaelkemmet834]

Re: The magical nightclub Scanlan was referring to There's a particular spell Scanlan used almost nightly for almost half of the campaign(once he was a high enough level to cast it). And remember that Scanlan grabbed a magical key from Umbrasyl's lair at the end of last season. Looks like Scanlan discovered its purpose but hasn't told the rest of the party yet.

[@tlaragihai5953]

Poor elven siblings just can`t allow themselves to love :((( And poor Percy and Keyleth have to deal with this :(( I think Kima survived that fall because no way Matt would give his precious ladies to anyone. They must be okay.

[@JnEricsonx]

::coughs in Mighty Nein:::

[@thedarkknight2221]

It’s crazy how Laura Bailey in real life is just as insanely gorgeous as Vex. I do hate the reason though that Vax gave for why he couldn’t move forward with a relationship with Keyleth. It’s too much like Aragorn and Arwen from LOTR. If I were in Vax’s position, I would want to spare the woman I love from centuries of grief and pain, but I would also trust and have faith that she would move on and remember the good times rather than the pain of the loss.

[@nightingale8178]

While I agree with you I'm gonna play devil's advocate (its been a while since I saw c1 so I draw mostly from tlovm and memory) Vax's visions are mostly (not all) show original, that substitutes additional player and character knowledge. I belive they are pulling the emotional state of vax from the c1 in combination with him being pretty lost on his visions. Vax is brave (reckles), charming and pretty open, but also depressed as shiit. Keyleth is awkward pure but also emotional and angry. Yes I do agree that Vax handled that pretty poorly. He is not the smartest in that field for sure, but he is way too preocupied by his visions to judge the situation correctly. Edit: To word it better. I belive Vax thinks of himself as essentialy dead man walking. He has no perspective on the future with him being there which is pretty dumb, but these visions do be confusing.

[@kenle2]

​@@nightingale8178 I think you are correct. Vax keeps getting these weird, scary memes from his "boss", who literally is the CEO of Death, Inc. And now they're "warning" him about Keyleth and overwhelming grief. Plus, the whole "I'm becoming a rotting corpse" in most of his visions. I'm suprised he's not in a fetal position in his room all day.

[@devoncelis9613]

Episode 2 had spice, but episode 3 had spiciness.

[@AlephSharp]

I think people want 5 seasons and a movie: next season Take this Down, then Whispered one, and then Wedding one shot

[@JaySpotTx]

Ofc Pike referring to another member of the group she never told about her feelings. What a great post campaign discussion call back.

[@OneWingedAngelsBand]

I feel like it will be 5 seasons. Without spoiling anything, I feel like Season 4 will be FUN FUN FUN (if you know, you know) and Season 5 will be the finale against the Whispered One.

[@m0rph1ing]

Pretty sure Orthax was tied to Ripley in the campaign. Percy's soul was trapped by her gun and VM had to fight Orthax to release Percy from it.

[@ghurcbghurcb]

(Spoilers for the rest of the season) The way Scanlan spills red wine all over himself... Feels like foreshadowing.

[@ProperlyGaming]

Spoilers: I wonder if they are gonna include his resurrection and then leaving this season or end the season off on his death.

[@hhylobates4098]

@@ProperlyGaming Bets are on for the ending to include the Lament, theres been too many hints about fractures in the group for it not to happen.

[@luisspragg1546]

Cannot wait for Glintshore, the fight with Vorugal and something i suspect may happen in the last episode

[@ProperlyGaming]

Are you speaking of a the lament? Cause whilst that's gonna be sad it's also setting up my favorite character of the entire 1st campaign.

[@jonathanhibberd9983]

@@ProperlyGaming Doty? 😁

[@offcenterideas]

I do believe we'll be seeing season 1 of Mighty Nein before season 4 of Vox Machina. I think they're planning to juggle both shows for a couple years.

[@Jeffjway]

Wonder if they would overlap the M9 Vokodo arc with the End of Keyletb's Aramente in VM.... Not in-show timing, real life timing.

[@hhylobates4098]

@@Jeffjway Unlikely, since Keyleths Aramente will probably be done next season, while Vokodo wouldnt be until like season 5. So unless they pause production of Vox Machina for 6 years to only work on Mighty Nein they wont overlap.

[@offcenterideas]

That could be challenging given how deep into C2 Vokodo is, but it would be a neat storytelling synergy.

[@JnEricsonx]

I will bug the F out once M9 starts, I started watching M9, my first non animated CR last spring. By this past August I have met all of CR, Sam, Travis, Taliesen and Liam 2x each.

[@andrewhuerta7168]

If you want to rewatch C1 I believe there are some channels who have done C1 Abridged. Also, where is Larkin?!?!?! IYKYK

[@Starsaber222]

Did you expect them to take a little girl to Draconia with them? I assumed that was her name since she first showed up.

[@magicalataj6168]

Here we go!!!

[@smashbrandiscootch719]

ABSOLUTELY NOT 4 seasons and a movie. Theres WAAAAYY too much left to cover. 5 seasons minimum. A good portion of the LoVM fans are also anime fans and there is NOTHING worse you can tell an anime fan than, "We're adapting the last hundred chapters of the manga into two movies!!!" When an animated series turns into a movie it means either there are problems at the studio or that they ran out of money. Its always rushed and they have to cram everything into a short runtime. That would be the worst fumble they could possibly make.

[@princeFjord]

6:40 For those who know. I love that they included the Pike's yeah in here. [Spoilers>] It was revealed at the campaign end by Ashley that Pike had a crush on Percy but never had the courage to do anything about it and also the timing did not allow for that to happen. During games, fans theorized who it might be but no one knew for certain since Ashley never revealed it until the end. Hopefully, they do something with this in the show.

[@Rezinstance]

First, loved the reaction. Second, I personally feel like the character of Dola was Matt and some of the other cast working through some yet unresolved trauma with how things went down with Orion, one of the founding members of Critical Role that officially left the show less than 30 episodes in. Given what we know of Orion's treatment toward the CR family during and after his departure, also that Dola just happens to be a red dragonborn, the same colour and race as Tiberius, Orion's character, who had a special relationship with Allura, which was also true for Tiberius in the campaign, whom Matt has always said, Allura is basically his own stand-in character, whom betrays Allura, Kima and Vox Machina due to them not receiving accolades they believe they earned... It's all a bit too similar to real world events. I'd like to clarify, none of this is criticism, just an observation I found interesting. I'd be interested in getting thoughts from others, especially those who know of the circumstances mentioned.

[@SoloStudiosOfficial]

I get the comparison, but I don't think it's fair to make these kind of assumptions when there is so much that we don't know about the personal circumstances of the cast. It is just as likely that they only wanted to acknowledge Draconia's existence within the animated series' portrayal of Exandria. In the original campaign (spoilers ahead), Draconia fell to the Chroma Conclave off-screen, and when the party travelled there, they found that the surviving Ravenite dragonborns had allied with Vorugal for their survival. The animated show takes a different approach and changes the order of events as well as some of the underlying motivations, but the broad strokes are still very similar.

[@elbruces]

@@SoloStudiosOfficial It's not so much an assumption as a theory. Red dragonborn from Draconia who's jealous of Allura & Kima's relationship, wanted fame and accolades and ends up being antagonistic to the group. Those are simple direct observations. And they're similar enough that you'd think the CR writing staff would have re-written that to avoid them if they didn't want them in there intentionally. It doesn't seem like the CR folks to do that sort of thing, but the fact is those similarities are all there, and there are too many of them to wave away as mere coincidence.

[@Rezinstance]

@@elbruces I'm glad I'm not the only one, it seems, that noticed and clocked these things. While I don't think Solo's cautious attitude is unwarranted, you'll notice I never used any language to suggest that this was definitely the case, just that this was my feeling as to their motives with these parallels I was observing. There are no guarantees, but it is very interesting.

[@miafiolekova5817]

Well. Mayhaps they will mention something about this during the watchparty on Friday. Or maybe not.

[@francisforgues8464]

If the cast wanted it to be a nod to tiberius with respecting the fact of not including tiberius i personnally find it nice. I liked the nod. What happen between orion and CR isnt our buisness but a small nod to the fan of the show is always fun. And if it the case i find it respectful

[@Deined]

Assuming Vox Machina finishes off the Chroma Conclave this season, it's _probably_ a safe bet that Vorugal doesn't survive tomorrow's round of episodes ...

[@Deined]

Hah, called it. 😄

[@Eimi.Signo.]

I always love watching your reactions to the episodes! I watched the whole first campaign, and for the most part, I'm ok with all of the changes they had made up until this point. Having to smash so much into so short a time makes it impossible to show how everything happened. There is only one thing so far this season that I found disappointing - Vax and Keyleth's relationship. Specifically, I don't like how Vax is the one with reservations, but in the campaign it was Keyleth. She knew that finishing her Aramente would mean that even in the best of scenarios, she'd still watch all of her friends die and dealing with that was a huge part of HER story right to the very end of the campaign. That depth of character growth was one of the things that drew me to her, so giving it to Vax instead is disappointing. Otherwise, they've done well with these first three episodes! And by the way, Keyleth isn't a full elf, she's a half elf like the twins (half-elf can be a people of mixed racial background). But 20th level druids basically live until they choose to become one with nature, so Marisha explained that as when an Ashari finished the Aramente, they were destined to live and lead for centuries.

[@TheRealZevoxx]

As I was watching this episode I couldn't help but make a probably unrelated connection to Tiberius... but there was so much similarities. Kind of felt like a big middle finger haha. Which didn't bother me, Tiberius was problematic ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@redyns99]

It's intresting how they dealt with Tiberius as someone that is jealous and betrayed this old friends.

[@Abhayabhayam]

S3E3.?? It's out ?!

[@Rezinstance]

They release in batches of 3 weekly.

[@laurahart1337]

I'm so excited to see what happens next. No joke they're doing a great job creating both new and showing off what did happen in the campaign.

[@DarkSwan01]

I am just surprised of the reference in Epi 2 about the demon. Even though I didn't watch the mini series if it is who I think it is and seeing if there is a return voice wise in the next set of episodes.

[@neintales1224]

Dola was the one who told them 2 of VM had to stay behind. She needed actual VM members there to give to Vorugul. I mean, it could have also been for a bit of a bottle moment conversation, but Dola would have insisted that SOMEONE from VM stayed behind to be 'lookout' or she wouldn't be delivering for the deal with the Conclave.

[@warriorwitchwillow]

They would have to skip so much if they only did 4 seasons.

[@connorpike23]

This is by one of my favourite episodes out of the entire show I was shocked with how early and steamy it got. I can't wait for the rest of this season. Love the show