Almost a year after the debut of its first season, we are finally back in the incredible world of Exandriaready to follow the new adventures of the fantastic group of mercenaries (but perhaps we should start calling heroes) that we had learned to love during the first 12 episodes of the show. Well yes, The Legend of Vox Machinaanimated series distributed by Amazon Prime Video in four tranche from three episodes each and taken from the first campaign of Dungeons & Dragons by the acclaimed group of Critical Role she’s back, and she’s done it with great style, maintaining the level of season 1 and raising the stakes even higher. Promoted by review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes with the 100% positive reviews from critics (as also happened for the previous one), this second season does not disappoint expectations and offers fantastic hours of entertainment that delve into the mythology of its world and its protagonists, while introducing new dynamics and subplots that give great freshness to the narrative.
Here is our spoiler-free review of the second season of The Legend of Vox Machina. Enjoy the reading!
There is always too little talk about The Legend of Vox Machinaespecially in Italy, a country where the show is still the preserve of only a small niche of fandom hardcore and who still proves to be too little attentive to Western animated series that are not purely comic. A real shame this, especially if we talk about animated series which, on the other hand, are donating new life to an entertainment genre which, especially from the point of view of fantasy, presents endless opportunities (much more than live action products) in the rendering of action scenes involving visually impacting environments, weird magic and lots of action. Well, the second season of The Legend of Vox Machina, from this and other points of view, represents a small jewel of serial animation capable of making the most of everything that the media has to offer for its narration. But let’s go in order.
The second season of the series opens exactly where we left off, with the attack by the so-called Chromatic Conclave, an alliance between four fearsome and very powerful dragons, to the city of Emon, capital of the Kingdom of Tal’Dorei. A crackling start that projects our protagonists into what will be the fulcrum of the arc of the season: the search for a way to counter the enemy and prevent his plan from happening. While tracing consolidated narrative styles and topoi typical of the fantastic genre story and of the “hero’s journey“, the series, however manages to be fully original, always introducing interesting narrative cues and that they don’t know they are used, which is even more incredible if you think that the vast majority of the scenes we are going to see are the result of the mere improvisation of the players with respect to the story narrated by the Dungeon Master and of the will of fate expressed through die rolls.
So here, between adrenaline-pumping and frenetic sequences we find the half-elf twins The wax fire e Vex’ahlianthe young druid Keyleththe gnomes Pyke e Scanlanthe genius Percy and the as strong as naive goliath (half-giant) Grog, protagonists to whom it is really impossible not to become attached. After the introduction of the group and the arc dedicated to the recapture of Whitestone of the first season which had seen the character of Percival as a great protagonist, the second season also aims to better explore the characterization of the characters who, although already well presented and recognizable with their strengths and weaknesses, we had not yet been able to explore better. Between flashback that they call the origins of the protagonists, new encounters and a past that comes back to the surfacehere is the plot of the series thickens with numerous twists and sequences capable of significantly changing the tone based on the occurrence.
More carefree and goliardic moments (an element deriving from the typical conviviality of role-playing games), which do not hesitate to introduce scurrilous and more vulgar elements not suitable for the younger audience, alternate with sequences which, as in the first season, have very little serenity. Dark and mature situations in fact introduce scenes of great impact both from a visual and emotional point of view: faced with important choices and extreme situations our beloved characters show their humanity, their weaknesses and their fallibility as never before, I look very often ignored by other similar products that favor strong and glorious heroes. Not that the series lacks epicness: if already in the first season we had been able to witness violent and imaginative clashes in their surrender, in the second season of The Legend of Vox Machina the action is felt even more. Thanks to a great work on the animations and a great imagination from the point of view of rendering the craziest ideas of the protagonists and their magical skills and abilities, the fights are not only engaging, but also capable of stirring up the viewer, especially if accompanied by such a soundtrack.
If in fact music had already been very important in the first twelve episodes of the show, thanks to the character of the bard Scanlanit assumes an even more central importance in the second season, going to play a fundamental diegetic role for the narrative itself as well as serving as an accompaniment to the most agitated and most exciting scenes.
Because even this second roundup of episodes of The Legend of Vox Machina exudes great passion from every pore.
A great gift to all fans of a brand that has become a legend, born in turn from the mere desire to have fun and which over time has become a reality capable of captivating spectators from all over the world. A passion and dedication that can be found in the incredible adaptation work compared to the original game campaign, faithfully reproduced but with changes that made the narrative more suitable and attractive for a TV show, very different from long role-playing sessions. Thus, between small cuts, reworkings and entire dialogues exactly identical to those improvised in the countryside by members of the party, the original soul of Vox Machina has never failedabove all thanks to the great performances by the close-knit group of professional voice actors who, in addition to reprising their roles, carefully supervised the entire operation, from production to script to final rendering.
Se viewing in the original language is almost a must given the prominent names involved in the voice cast, starting with the seven protagonists (Sam Riegel, Travis Willingham, Laura Bailey, Taliesin Jaffe, Ashley Johnson, Marisha Ray and Liam O’Brien) passing through the great Matthew Mercerwho doubles many characters in the series, up to guest star of high caliber that populate the episodes (from Billy Boyd to Henry Winkler), the Italian version is also very appreciable. Very faithful to the original both in terms of adaptation and the choice of its interpreters, we advise fans of the series to give a second vision to The Legend of Vox Machina in Italian too to discover the rendering of dialogues, idiomatic expressions and songs.
What to say then?
The second season of The Legend of Vox Machina confirms what was good about the first, upping the ante with a horizontal storyline of larger proportions and more ambitious, and providing great entertainment for an adult audience, between splatter scenes, lots of action and mature fun, yes foul-mouthed, but also capable of subtleties and witticisms. A series suitable for fans but also for anyone who loves fantasy and is looking for a fresh product, capable of entertaining and making people think. While awaiting the arrival of the third season, fans of the brand will be able to sleep peaceful dreams: a new series linked to the Critical Role brand, mighty no was recently announced by Amazon Prime Video! We sincerely can’t wait. And you?
