As the third season of The Legend of Vox Machina races toward its conclusion, a long dreaded event played out, though maybe not the way many expected it to.
*note: as always, full spoilers are discussed in this review. Especially for this batch of episodes, do not proceed unless you are fully caught up.
As expected, the penultimate set of episodes for this season were full of heartbreak and plenty of emotional drama. The story was split between Percy’s story arc reaching a pivotal moment and the conflict with Thordak reaching a stunning conclusion in the following episodes:
- Episode 7: Cloak and Dagger
- Episode 8: Siege & Silence
- Episode 9: Thordak’s Throne
Even those who had never seen a single episode of Critical Role’s original campaign could tell that a showdown between Percy and his one-time tormenter Anna Ripley was inevitable. The difference is, older fans knew exactly how this confrontation would end, at least they thought they did. Once again, the writers of The Legend of Vox Machina found a way to take an iconic confrontation and turn it on its head, leaving everyone surprised and heartbroken.
As expected, Percy did confront Ripley on the remote island of Glintshore, but that’s where the similarity more or less ends. Instead of the group confronting Ripley together, Percy ends up confronting Ripley (and her demon helper Orthax) alone, making for a pulse-pounding fight where you desperately want Percy to make it out despite everything about the scene screaming the opposite. I give full credit to the writers for giving us a sliver of hope that things were actually going to end differently before suddenly yanking the rug out from under us and figuratively stabbing us in the heart.
*final spoiler warning*
Percy’s death is everything I’d hoped it would be. In the original campaign it was one of the most upsetting moments prior to the endgame chaos because it was the first time a player character had died, seemingly forever as they were in a remote location at the time. Now in the show we have a death that’s all the more heartbreaking because he died alone, the others don’t find him until he’s already gone. There’s a further irony in how Percy died, in that he actually attempted to show Ripley mercy, directly leading to his death. It showed tremendous character growth on Percival’s part, but it also shows how being kind can get you killed if you offer it to the wrong people.
The scene with Percival’s body, with Matt Mercer singing a haunting song over the moment, is truly one of the most heartbreaking since Vex (temporarily) died in The Sunken Tomb in season 2. Seeing Vex’ahlia find Percy and realizing that her chance of a relationship with him is just gone is, well, extremely painful and Laura Bailey (Vex’s voice actor) will rip your heart out with the pain in her voice.
Of course in the campaign the death didn’t stick, but in the show…fans were alarmed at how permanent and final Percy’s death feels. For the record, I’m certain that Percy de Rolo will be back as he has far too great a role to play to be replaced now. However, given that there are only three episodes remaining in the season, I can’t shake the possibility that we may be waiting until the very end of the season for Percy’s equally iconic resurrection scene. I would hope that the writers wouldn’t make us wait until season 4 for this moment, especially since season 4 isn’t confirmed as of this writing, but these days who can really say what will happen?
Interestingly, Cloak and Dagger ends with Ripley still alive, which shocked many as longtime fans were expecting Ripley to receive her legendary comeuppance for killing Percy. While I admit to being disappointed that Ripley’s punishment was put off yet again, I firmly believe that moment is still happening, it will just be under different circumstances, the way many things have played out this season. More on that at the end of this review.
The rest of this episode batch focuses on dealing with Thordak once and for all. The previous assault on Whitestone by Thordak’s young made it clear that the battle couldn’t be put off any longer. This battle has been teased since the dragons arrived at the start of the second season, and it lived up to all the hype and more.
What really makes the Thordak fight exciting is, even though you know our heroes aren’t going to lose, there’s plenty of doubt whether or not anyone else will survive the battle. The heroes spend a great deal of time gathering forces and making battle plans, all of which almost immediately disintegrate upon contact with the enemy. Though, to be fair, this could also be an homage to the original campaign, as Vox Machina’s plans have been notorious for either being non-existent or they work but not in the way they intended.
I love that Pike continues to get the spotlight, particularly in this battle. It’s been mentioned before in interviews that this was done partially because Ashley Johnson, who plays Pike, was largely absent for chunks of the first campaign due to work commitments and therefore missed out on a lot of these events. Seeing what the events would be like if Pike had been present has been fantastic, and she gets an absolute epic moment when she finally gets the magical Plate of the Dawnmartyr to work for her.
However, the best part of the fight might be the final moments between Vax and Thordak. While Pike’s attack shattered the magical gem in the dragon’s chest, it didn’t kill him, and so Thordak attempted to fly away to regroup and fight another day. Vax, who recently learned Thordak was the dragon who killed his and Vex’s mother, won’t allow that. In a moment of pure artistry, both visually and how the scene is put together, we see Vax deal the killing blow to the dragon while thinking of his mother in a flashback. It’s hard to explain just how perfect this moment is, but the rest of the season will be hard pressed to create anything close to it.
Speaking of, I’ll conclude with speculations on how the end of the season will play out. As mentioned before, there are only three episodes to go. One last dragon, Raishan, is still alive, and based on cast interviews we know she won’t survive the season as it was assured the Chroma Conclave arc would conclude with season 3. That being said, I suspect the series is leaning towards having Ripley and Raishan join forces and they will battle Vox Machina together. It’s not a baseless thought either: Ripley has worked with most of the dragons in the Conclave before each was killed, so it stands to reason she would link up with Raishan.
There are many plot threads left to be resolved and it will be interesting to see what is resolved in the final episodes and what, if anything, will be left to wait until a future season.
Season 3 of The Legend of Vox Machina will conclude on October 24, 2024.
