Created by Critical Role Productions and Amazon, The Legend of Vox Machina Season 2 once again follows the misfit band of mercenaries directly after the events of season 1 where they come into conflict with the Chroma Conclave, a faction of dragons who have invaded the city of Emon and now plan to lead a devastating path of conquest across Tal’Dorei. To stop them Vox Machina must travel to new lands and realms to collect mystical artifacts that are the only hope in slaying the Conclave but their journey will have them face their past demons and force them to make great sacrifices.
The first season of this series was an absolute blast full of unhinged hilarity, violence, and characters brought together through fantastical storytelling that was very unique and engaging. Critical Role did an incredible job bringing the story and characters of their D&D (Dungeons & Dragons) campaign to life in the first season and they do so again in this second season but this time majorly raise the stakes of the ongoing adventure and hugely expand upon the character arcs, making us feel more emotionally attached to them.
Last season largely focused on Percy since the story was mainly about liberating his home and facing his past, but this time around the crew is explored in great detail on their new journey. I loved that we got to see more of the back story of characters like Vex, Vax, Keyleth, Scanlon, and Grog and we see great changes with them that will impact their future.
The main cast once again does a terrific job in their respective roles, giving us hilarious, exhilarating, and emotional moments with each and every one of the beloved characters, making for many satisfying moments. Seeing them experience personal growth in their own ways definitely served as the major highlight of this season.
We also get a whole new batch of colorful characters, all voiced by awesome guest stars and others who put their full effort into their performances, making the story even more fun. There are many threats in the form of strange monsters the group faces on their journey, similar to season one, but the main antagonists in this season are the dragons, all of which are voiced brilliantly and are absolutely terrifying. Vox Machina were able to kill one dragon in season 1 but now they are up against several more who are much stronger and even more deadly.
From the very first episode, the Chroma Conclave’s power is shown right off the bat as they manage to take over Emon with ease and bring great destruction and death without ever getting a scratch. They serve as the perfect villains for this season and give our heroes the fight of their lives, making them resort to desperate measures at great costs.
The story this season feels bigger in scale, not only because of the raised stakes but also because of how we get to explore way more of the established world, with new locations and characters making it truly feel like an epic journey. Season 1 was more grounded and personal as it was mostly set in Whitestone, but here we get to see much more variety, adding to the thrills of the adventure and expanding certain themes.
There are also a lot of twists and turns the series takes, making the story feel unexpected and setting up major things to come for these characters and their potential fates.
Adding to the bigger scale is of course the action and animation, which I feel have been improved upon compared to the first season even though the animation in the first season was already perfect. There’s also so much more variety and beauty in the animation as we get to see new lands and realms that feel so different from what we’ve seen in this world already. As for action, there’s definitely a lot more absurd gore and violence this time around that can be equally very funny but also emotionally shocking as it really adds to the weight of the story and characters without coming off as gratuitous.
We get much larger scaled battles with the inclusion of more dragons and other new beasts that appear in this season. Also once again the music for this series kicks ass, featuring a great score and some gut-busting original songs that definitely were unexpected.
The second season is just as awesome as the first but this one definitely dials up everything to the max going even bolder and crazier than before in the best way possible and never loses sight of what made it so investing to begin with. A season 3 is expected, especially since this one ends on a rather shocking note. I can’t wait to see what things Critical Role has up its sleeves for the future of this wild bunch. I’m going to give The Legend of Vox Machina Season 2 an A+ = 99.
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