Caduceus baking a cake for Jester while they’re stuck on their boat during the peace talks bc she wants pastries but they can’t leave… And Jester loving the cake sooo much even though it’s kind of bad bc she’s so happy he made it for her… 🥺🥺🥺 I love Team Cleric sooo much.
I feel comfortable doing a major update on my journey through Critical Role campaign 2.
Some might ask "Why episode 99 instead of 100?" and the reason should be obvious for those who already watched the show but in case you havent there are two major reasons.
First of all, episode 99 feel like a good cutting-off point. This episode shows the culmination of the campaign longest Plot thread that had been looming since the beginning and does so in a satisfying (if not action-packed) manner with most of the characters in the campaign reaching a point you could theoretically end it and you would feel they got some degree of closure if not a complete arc and only one or two major plot threads remaining.
the second reason is that episode 99, which btw was their HUGE celebration of FIVE YEARS of doing Critical Role and cheering for another five, was the last episode before the Pandemic forced a months long hiatus and having the group having to re-work things to be able to operate safely.
Because of this I feel justified in marking down episode 99 as a sort of "end of part 1" deal to give my thoughts in an orderly manner.
For starters I had heard the early criticisms of the campaign starting off un-focused, which was blamed to a more "open-world" format with the characters constantly changing idea of where to go next. Having witnessed it, I can say for certain the show was a bit unfocused at the beginning. This is in part due to the players not really knowing yet what they wanted to do or still finding the group's dynamic, but I think it is also in part due to the conflict of, as described by Liam at one point, the players dying to give out details about their characters, but most of the characters keeping their stuff close to their chest and not trusting anyone just yet.
In this regard, the character of Jester was essential, I feel, to keep the campaign moving, since she was a really good pillar for this early part as someone very upfront about herself and also an agent of chaos who was really good at actually building a dynamic with the rest of the group. it's not surprising she became such an iconic character.
I think it says something about Jester that I find her the easiest to picture as she is, rather than as Laura Bailey. Also, as a tiefling, I feel I cant imagine her as anything BUT a tiefling, while I might sometimes need to be reminded which race are some of the other characters.
Speaking of tiefling, I feel like I should mention Mollymaurk, a character who I wasnt really aware of his existence until I began preparing to watch Campaign 2, since I have believed Cadeuceus had always been Taliesin's character for campaign 2. Molly is... a character who existed.
I think Taliesin's Molly was the one who nailed the best the whole "Anti-Hero" nature of the Mighty Nein. Someone who wasn't a hero, was here to hopefully make some coin. That being said, I dont think he was as charming as Taliesin wanted him to be, I kept forgetting he was in the group and I did not feel he had as many memorable moments as the rest of the Nein.
He was, however, a perfect example of a character whose death progresses the story. Because his demise shifts the entire party's dynamic and, unlike some npc, his abscence is inescapable for the rest of the campaign moving forward, forcing a situation nobody, not even Matt, had planned for their character arcs. Including the introduction of Caduceus, who ended being what I felt was the thing that was lacking in the group. The biggest irony of Caduceus being quieter than Molly is that Caduceus had a lot more of a pressence than Molly. and his relationship with Fjord was something I did not see coming.
Mostly because Fjord was only slightly ahead than Molly in terms of me knowing they existed. Mostly because Fjord was in the opening (okay, molly technically is, but you get me) and Fjord was... honestly, He was just there right until way later, when I finally realized he was supposed to be a dork, and we got into his arc to become a Paladin. that was when his character really picked up for me and became a lot more interesting. His arc into becoming a Paladin was also so different from Vax's last campaign that it was fun to watch.
Beau was the character I was looking forward the most. because as a monk she felt she would have some fun combat. and it is in fact a bit interesting the minor, unplanned arc she goes through of Stunning Strike initially failing to quite connect every time until the Lorenzo fight when stunning him with her last Ki point completely shifted the combat in their favor.
Yasha I always knew I would like however, remember when I said I could not imagine Jester as anything BUT a tiefling? I often find myself forgetting Yasha is non-human, mostly becaus eher status as an Aasimar fely more like a mechanical thing than something that quite fits her. Unlike Nott, which everything regarding her race informs everything about her character arc.
It is, however, hilarious that Sam restoring Nott into Veth leads to the character technically becoming worse due to losing an awesome trait and Sam vowing to not use the new one. Her relationship with Caleb was something I did not see coming.
Which speaking of Caleb. Liam plays Caleb exactly how I would play them, by which I mean I am the weirdo who sees no reason to play Wizard if you are not constantly filling your spellbook with spells you will probably become too overwhelmed to use.
Overall. I do think the beginning of the show is a bit of a bore. it takes time for everything to take into place. and there are a few times when I think in hindsight the party took the least interesting route. I do think the point when the series picks up is when they steal their first ship, the Mistake. The arc that follows helped a lot in making me endear to the group. and then going to Xorhas was probably when I definitely felt on board with this.
Those are my overall thoughts so far that I can tihnk of. I might do more stuff if I cant put more stuff into words, but that is it until I can think of something
Today I was once again reminded of the utter mayhem that would have ensued had the COVID lockdown gone into effect a week earlier (before episode 99). We would have had to wait an unknown number of months to know if Fjord was permanently dead or not. The chaos. The memes. Zombie Fjord would have become a thing. Fjord/Vax as a ship probably would have wound up with a surprise following. Spike in angst fics about the M9 dealing with his death. Episode 97 Brjeaus shenanigans would probably be much less memeable given Tragedy™. At least 4 niche memes would have sprouted.
