The Legend of Vox Machina S3 E7-E9 Thoughts
Writing out some initial thoughts –
The non-verbal storytelling in the scene where Percy says “I’m in love with you” was cool to appreciate intellectually in a “I see what you did there” way. The way the sun shines on Vex’s face with Percy’s confession and then how it disappears again as Vex isn’t sure how to handle it and her issues get in the way. And then how Vex: “Percival I’m…” Vax: “Disarmed” uses Vax’s line to describe Vex’s internal state.
My favorite scene in E7 that stuck with me the most and was the most evocative and impactful was Vex’s vision of Percy burning alive in fire and screaming. That was GREAT.
I’m still processing how I feel about the whole Ripley and Percy confrontation, right now I feel like overall it fine, but it could have been better and I feel like it’s partly my fault for having such high expectations. I just wanted it to be more psychological and really build upon all the pithy angst with Percy’s history with Ripley and Orthax, and it ended up being a more of a plain action fight scene. That’s not to say the fight scene was bad. Like that tiny little flashback of Percy being tortured by Ripley induced by the gas was great, and I wanted that sort of thing to carry through more. Not to say the action sequence was bad, though. It was cool that it was an environment with infinite guns for Percy to pick up, the comment about Vax making the fall and roll looking easy was fun, and the feeling of Percy being injured and all alone in a one vs. many battle and still holding his own was neat. But because he was alone it meant the dynamic between him and Ripley had to really shine to carry the sequences in the absence of Percy’s dynamic with his friends, and I didn’t feel it quite got there.
Seriously, fuck Ripley. “Mages killed your family” fuck off. Would not be surprised if she was directly responsible for killing at least one of the de Rolos.
I did notice how closely they are paralleling her backstory with what she did to Whitestone. She’s doing exactly what was done to her. The Assembly attacked the town specifically for the rock/mineral resources, which is what she did with the Briarwoods to create residuum and also just recently in E6 to steal more residuum.
I am shocked that Percy didn’t die protecting Vex. I would have bet money that that’s what was being set up, particularly because Vex saved Percy AGAIN in the Whitestone battle.
The initial fake-out of Percy being mortally wounded and then him pulling out the protective metal from his shirt was great, playing with the moment a lot of fans were expecting.
I’ll have to go back and watch it again, but on first watch I wasn’t sold on Percy’s speech to Ripley right before she killed him, and like’s he’s halfway to smiling while offering her mercy. Like maybe there’s a world where they really emphasized that Orthax and not Ripley was primarily responsible for everything she’s done this season (500 DEAD, 800 WOUNDED) and emphasized Percy empathizing with her soul being corrupted by Orthax where it would fit better? I get they are pushing Percy in a lighter (i.e. opposite of dark, not frivolous) direction this season, but they spent so much time on how Percy feels responsible for Whitestone and protecting it, and then teased us (boo!) with darker Percy at the end of E6 that they then didn’t deliver on and didn’t really show how he could go from “washing my hands in Ripley’s blood” to what we got in E7. Also, the speech itself didn’t even really make sense, talking about bringing her to justice, but then also talking about her future contributions, as if justice wouldn’t be execution or life imprisonment anyway. Vox Machina kill bad guys all the time, and this is where you get precious? It would have made a lot more sense to me if Percy not killing Ripley was aboutwhat he wanted for himself and what it would mean for him to commit the act or not commit the act, instead of making it about Ripley.
But ultimately I’m assuming Ripley and Percy have a 3rd (!) and final showdown coming at some point, so I don’t have to hang my hat on this scene in particular being the end all and be all. I’m thinking of this as more of an intermediate step in the Percy / Ripley arc and am glad there’s hopefully more to come and more for the writers to say on the matter.
Maybe if this encounter wasn't darker / more psychological like I was hoping, that is still yet to come, and the problem is the expectations I had were more for a "finale" of an arc vs. when it ended up being was a stepping stone along the way that can't outshine what's to come.
I think they could have made the mortal wound hit the audience harder. You could barely see he was injured, it went by kind of quickly without a lot of time for Percy to react, and then he was just still on the ground. There’s so much you could have done – focusing on him in what he realizes are his last breaths, trying to drag himself away from Ripley and leaving a trail of blood on the floor, etc.
I also have mixed feelings about the song overlaying Vex finding Percy at the end. It didn’t prevent me from feeling things, but I’m also not sure it was the most emotionally effective punch they could have thrown.
What did VM do with the massive factory of guns? Kind of important. Also what about all the guns that were in there? Are we supposed to believe Ripley took them all? It didn’t seem like there was that much time between the fight and VM entering the factory.
I’m surprised they didn’t tie Pike not being able to access the Everlight’s healing powers into the end of E7, like with Pike frantic not able to access her powers while trying to do something, anything over Percy’s dead body.
Orthax has been begging to eat Percy this whole season, they made a point to explain that Orthax gets the souls of the people killed by Ripley’s weapons, and then Ripley shoots Percy with said weapon. No me gusta. Mmm nmmm. No thank you. Haaaaaaaaa. Literally just got goosebumps thinking about it.
LOST MY MIND at the opening of E8 being VM meeting Percy for the first time. Was not expecting that at all and it was such a TREAT and I LOVED IT and it was also a balm for the soul to see that beginning and have another moment with Percy right after he died. That was a great, great choice.
The thing that hurt the most in episode 8 for me was the full frame image of the stone sculpture of Percy on the top of his casket. It wasn’t seeing his body or anyone reacting to his death, though I appreciated that they showed Vex really deeply affected by it. Something about the stone, it just looks so much like him and really drilled home that he’s gone, part of history and the past now. I would have liked to see more reactions from characters and for the episode to sit more in the emotion of loss and grieving rather than having to quickly gear up into the attack on Thordak instead. I can kind of rationalize Vox Machina not being devastated and keeping going because 1) they’ve already processed and recognized that they could die doing what they are doing so it’s not like this is an unthinkable shock, it’s a probably outcome and 2) they need to keep pushing on the existential threat that is Thordak, but still like other episodes I think this episode suffers from trying to fit too much into it. We didn’t even get a proper reaction from Cass.
Really enjoyed Vex and Syldor getting to hash things out more
The way they did Kash getting killed was great. Like, you could see the massive amount of blood, but then he stands up and you’re like “oh, wait, he’s okay after all”, and then you realize that nope, he actually is very dead. Great work keeping the viewer on their toes there.
The action fighting Thordak was awesome. The carnage. The screams. The violence. Armies getting mowed down. You could really feel the impact and weight of everything. The only scene that felt a bit weird to me is when they stopped the music and the intensity and Thordak just stood there for Scanlan to have a quick chat with him. I’m sure there’s considerations about how you just can’t blast at 100% the whole time, but the Scanlan / Thordak scene felt like we suddenly took the foot off the pedal and was weirdly ‘folks just standing there chatting’.
I thought they did a great job balancing giving Pike her huge moment with the Plate and then also giving Vax the final kill. Both felt like huge, earned moments and special for both of their characters without detracting from the other.
Over and over they were like “For Percy!” when fighting Thordak but Thordak didn’t kill Percy?? Like I know indirectly, without Thordak, they wouldn’t have gotten into the Glintshore situation to begin with, but still seemed kind of odd.
Even though we've still got the 'to be continued' with Raishan, because we don't know what she's doing and what the stakes are of her still being alive doing her thing, I don't feel the threat of her yet and Thordak still feels like the big bad so E9 feels a lot like a finale to me.
