The premiere of the fourth season of Critical Roles “The Legend of Vox Machina” on Amazon Prime is finally here and MeinMMO editor Caro had enough time to watch exactly one episode. She definitely wants more, but unfortunately it’s more of a need than a want.
Exactly at 9:00 AM, I sat in front of the TV to watch the first episode of the fourth season of “The Legend of Vox Machina”. I am a big fan of Critical Role, accordingly also of the two animated series on Amazon Prime about the heroes of Vox, but also The Mighty Nein.
At the start of the new season, I was looking forward to seeing familiar faces again, who face a truly dark threat this season. And yes, without giving too much away: I had a great time throughout the entire episode. However, I was disappointed that the episode was already over after just over 20 minutes.
And I don’t mean that as a veiled compliment, looking for a hook, but seriously. Especially after The Mighty Nein, the short duration of the episodes of The Legend of Vox Machina is a real thorn in the side of such a great story.
I ruined the premiere for myself and it’s my own fault
One of the changes I found so great in the animated series of The Mighty Nein was the longer duration of each episode, which increased from about 20 to 40 minutes. This gave the plot more time to unfold in an episode, to get to know the characters better, and simply to dive in properly, which is absolutely worthwhile with the stories of Critical Role.
Returning from The Mighty Nein to The Legend of Vox Machina, I was already worried after watching the second series, which unfortunately confirmed my fears: 20 minutes is simply too short.
The silver lining: This is a “problem” that can be easily circumvented. And Critical Role itself offers that. While only one episode per week was released after the first three episodes of The Mighty Nein, Amazon releases a whole 3 episodes of The Legend of Vox Machina every week. Just like they have done since the first season.
Those who watch the episodes as a kind of “triple feature” can easily bypass my experienced feeling of “Is that it?” My advice is: Don’t do it like I did and always watch the episodes in a triple feature.
The season start still impresses and gives me the same feeling as Grog
Apart from the short episode duration, I really liked the first episode of season 4. Even though we don’t see all the members of the adventure group yet.
Grog sums up the current status of the group at the beginning in a charming little song, so that no one feels left behind:
Percy and Vex live together as Lord and Lady in Whitestone, Keyleth and Vax are still on Kiki’s Aramenté mission, Scanlan and his daughter are dead haven’t contacted for a long time, Pike has reached an absolute low point, and Grog just wants to smash something together again.
In summary: The group misses each other and their joint adventures. After they were able to defeat the Briarwoods and the Chroma Conclave, Vox Machina faces a threat that becomes clear in the first episode:
The activated dark orb from Delilah Briarwood is still active, undead creatures are appearing, and the end of the episode gives a glimpse that fans of cultist horror and undead can look forward to.
I enjoyed a lot in the first episode. We get to see a cool creature, a really well-animated, parallel sequence between Vex and Percy, more moments between the best friends Grog and Pike, and a rich whiner voiced by Sam Riegel, who actually isn’t an annoying addition but is fun to watch.
As a fan of Critical Role, I know (at least roughly) what to expect this season, which is why it hurts even more that I had to stop watching after one episode. Job and all, well.
I really sincerely recommend that you watch the fourth season at least three episodes per watch session, and if you don’t know The Legend of Vox Machina yet, definitely give the series a chance!
Have you already checked out the fourth season? And what do you think of the shorter episodes? Do you perhaps even find them better than the longer episodes of The Mighty Nein?
Critical Role has already teased a lot for the fourth season, including some new voices that will be heard. One announcement was particularly “Critical-Role-ig”: Vox Machina gets an iconic voice from Lord of the Rings, the reveal is typically Critical Role
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