I will readily admit that I have never taken the time to watch the Critical Role campaign that serves as the source material for The Legend of Vox Machina. I cannot bring myself to sit through the 373 hours of gameplay—and the 73 hours of other stuff—knowing that I would lose focus about 15 minutes in at the hands of my ADHD. D&D action plays will probably never be my thing, but animated fantasy series always will, and Vox Machina has continued to be a shining example of everything the genre can be.
It is rare that a show can be three seasons in and continue to be just as good as it always has been. People often look down at animation when it goes beyond the boundaries of their childhood favorites, but if everyone could get past their preconceived notions of the medium “just being for kids” they would learn that some of the best television writing comes in the form of animated science fiction and fantasy series. Whether it’s Avatar: The Last Airbender, or Invincible, or Delicious in Dungeon, the half-hour format lends itself to fast-paced storytelling filled with drama, humor, and plenty of action without feeling bogged down or dragged out like live-action series of the same genre. Vox Machina is no exception, and while Season Three picks up where we left our mishmash of heroes, it quickly whisks us away into the next phase of the adventure with no hesitation.
Thordak—voiced by the late Lance Reddick—is still on the loose and despite Vox Machina initially rejecting Raishan’s (Cree Summer) offer for an alliance, they cannot seem to keep her out of their business. Keyleth (Marisha Ray) wants nothing to do with her, but everyone else ends up accepting that Raishan is the enemy of their enemy, and Keyleth is left feeling railroaded. Raishan’s tenuous allyship is not enough to defeat Thordak and his ilk, and Vox Machina must face the fiery realm of the Hells of Despath in order to stand a chance against the complete destruction of their homes.
Handling an ensemble is hard enough, and Vox Machina does something this season that a lot of shows are afraid to by purposefully sidelining some of their characters in order to make sure that the story moves along smoothly. Grog (Travis Willingham) doesn’t do much outside of being the comedic relief, a stark contrast from last season, but had the writers tried to give him more to do in the form of a fully fleshed-out development arc, he would have gone from a classically lovable oaf to a character resented for being forced into the middle of a very streamlined narrative.
In exchange for Grog’s minimized role this go around, we are blessed with the world of Exandria expanding all around us, whether it is with secondary characters getting more of a spotlight, or magic new and old weaving its way into everyone’s lives. Allura (Indira Varma) and Kima (Stephanie Beatriz) are the heart and soul of episodes four and five, and it’s really wonderful to see a relationship between two women viewed as something for the straight couples in the series to aspire to. They are the ideal we get to see after spending three seasons watching multiple couples dancing around each other, and their simple existence as people who are committed to each other kicks Percy (Taliesin Jaffe) and Vex (Laura Bailey) into gear and pushes them towards accepting that their feelings for each other are real.
The core of this season truly is the power of love, but Vox Machina is smart enough to make it look so cool that you would never think to call it corny. Keyleth and Vax (Liam O’Brien) finally start to resolve the tension between them this season, too, and while they finally have the space to be happy together, the journey there is still rife with interpersonal conflict. After their kiss in the season premiere, the pair are still prone to second-guess their feelings. Vax has seen a future where Keyleth is alive well after the rest of the Vox Machina crew and he loves her too much to pursue a relationship with her if she is going to be alone for the majority of her life after he’s gone. Keyleth, on the other hand, is finally ready to be in a real relationship and does not want to deal with Vax’s hesitancy. It’s the perfect way to cool down a slowburn romance that is nearing its resolution.
While this is a show that is inherently about the power of found family, there is also a good amount of love led by blood-family reconciliation that weaves itself into the binding thread of the season. Scanlan is separated from the crew several times as he attempts to initiate a meaningful relationship with his recently discovered daughter, Kaylie (Aisling Franciosi). While this is one of the more straightforward sidequests of the season, it is still full of nuance and complexity on both sides of the situation. Kaylie has no reason to have any faith that Scanlan will actually be a good father to her—he’s been absent for most of her life and a disaster when he was present—but she still yearns to have a connection with him despite what her gut tells her. Scanlan, in turn, is torn between trying to reconcile with his daughter and keeping his commitment to Vox Machina, working to take down Thordak and what is left of the Chroma Conclave. We as the audience are understanding of why Scanlan is so flip-floppy between everyone, but no matter what decision he makes, someone ends up hurt physically or emotionally. The apocalypse does not wait for anyone to get their family drama in order before it comes, and the same is true the other way around.
In the end, Scanlan is able to convince his daughter that he truly cares about her with the help of Pike (Ashley Johnson), Keyleth and Vax are able to get over the roadblocks they built between each other, and even Percy and Vex, who are so afraid of expressing their feelings that death comes between them, get a happy ending by the season finale. Do not be mistaken, the peace that Vox Machina rewards us with at the end of this season is hard-earned. Percy may be the only character in the main cast who faced permanent residency in the afterlife, but there were plenty of near-death experiences to go around this season. The stakes always felt real no matter who was in peril, minor character deaths don’t feel superficial, and even with Thordak defeated in the end, the damage that the Chroma Conclave did to Exandria still looms.
The season concludes in the best fashion possible, sending the heroes of Vox Machina off in separate directions after they restore some semblance of peace to the world. Obviously, they will not be kept apart forever. There are plenty of threads left loose to make up the foundations of a potential fourth season: What consequences will Vax face after defying the Mother of Ravens and reattaching Percy’s spirit to his body? What untapped power does Pike have inside her that is keeping her locked in the crosshairs of Gods and immortals alike? Who are all of those people in hoods at the end of the finale and why are their eyes bleeding everywhere? If you haven’t already muscled through the hundreds of hours of live-play that Critical Role has to offer, you are likely to find the answers you seek there. At the very least, the quality storytelling where Vox Machina finds its roots will hold its own, but I’m inclined to set up camp and wait for the recently-confirmed Season Four.
Animation is the dream vehicle for a story like this, and if Prime Video does the smart thing it will give Vox Machina the space to work out the remainder of its story on its own terms. It has the distinct advantage of never being beholden to the limits of the physical world, live-action production budgets, or the uncanny ambiance of Volume Stage technology. The animators at Titmouse and Production Reve have done incredible work bringing this show to life—from fight scenes to set designs to the timing of the physical comedy—and if this does even the smallest bit of work to bring adult animated television close to the center of mainstream pop culture, that is just another accolade for them to be proud of.
There’s nothing that Vox Machina cannot do in its current form, and with a new Critical Role series coming by way of The Mighty Nein, there will hopefully be enough from this franchise to last us until the end of the decade. There is no other fantasy media around that has been consistently successful while remaining true to itself, and the next installment of Vox Machina cannot come soon enough.
