The final week of Critical Role and Amazon Prime Video’s The Legend of Vox Machina is here! I can’t decide if I am excited to see this season tied up or devastated that it is already over. Both? Definitely both. Episode 10, “Depth of Deceit,” picks up right where week three left off as our heroes head through the dungeons of the castle and Percy (Taliesin Jaffe) comes face to face with another ghost from his past. Let’s not waste any more time here and dive right in!
DISCLAIMER: This is a recap and, by nature, contains more spoilers than dice rogues roll for sneak attacks. If you haven’t gotten the chance to watch it yet, we suggest heading over to Amazon Prime and checking it out!
“Depth of Deceit” opens as Percy, covered in black smoke, aims his pepperbox at the woman in the cage (Kelly Hu). We see flashbacks to how this woman tortured a younger Percy for Lord and Lady Briarwood (Matthew Mercer and Grey Griffin), which means I’m on team Percy here.
And, of course, the opening credits roll as the gunshot goes off.
But Cassandra (Esmé Creed-Miles) thinks she might be helpful, so she knocks Percy’s gun wide and the shot misses. And who is this woman? None other than Doctor Anna Ripley. Percy just wants to remove her from the board, but Cassandra and the others agree that she is the only one who has any idea what the Briarwoods are actually up to.
While Vax (Liam O’Brien) unlocks the cell, Scanlan (Sam Riegel), Pike (Ashley Johnson) and Keyleth (Marisha Ray) have a private chat with Percy. The smoke thing is getting a bit out of hand and they are worried he might be losing his mind. Pike tries to take a look into his soul and it’s a touching moment for all of five seconds until a literal fire surrounds him, complete with a terrifying smile and giant claws that lash out. Pike tries to urge Percy to seek help in a temple, but they have bigger fish to fry at the moment.
With that behind him, Percy interrogates Ripley and the group learns that the Briarwoods are no longer in the castle but under it. They are at the Ziggurat (you know the zippertwat Scanlan read about!) and getting ready to do some nefarious things. Percy still doesn’t think this is enough to let her live, but Cassandra convinces him otherwise. He agrees to let her join but doesn’t let her hang onto anything, including what looks like a failed pepperbox experiment. Let’s just say that she is lucky she is low on the list of people he wants to kill right now.
“Depth of Deceit” shifts to outside the gates where Keeper Yennen (Gina Torres) has arrived with the rebellion. After a rousing speech on her part about taking back their home, the battle against the Pale Guard begins. Yennen is about to release the entire might of the Dawn Father on these vampire wannabes.
Back down in the dungeons, Scanlan tries hitting on Cassandra only to be stopped in his tracks by the nefarious big brooding brother. Ripley tries to get on Percy’s good side (does he even have one of those?), but he isn’t up for chatting about old or new times. He does get her to explain exactly what she was doing for the Briarwoods, though. Using the residuum from Whitestone, she restored and reinforced the Ziggeraut for them. But, like everyone else, she has no idea what they are using it for.
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Ripley shows them a secret passageway and before anyone can check for traps, Percy sets one off. Surprisingly Ripley saves his life, but he doesn’t seem to be thankful. Instead, he forces her to take the lead in case anything else happens. On the way down, Grog (Travis Willingham) and Pike chat about her new glowly powers while Vex (Laura Bailey) chides Vax about how she warned him about certain vines having thorns.
Upfront, Ripley tries to get Percy to open up about his pepperbox and even insults the intelligence of the rest of his group. She is really digging her own grave here. Cassandra gives him “not compliment-compliment” about having a unique mind and it’s a cute moment but I just can’t shake the feeling that things aren’t right here. They finally reach an open area and Grog rushes to protect everyone from the stone person with a weapon. Good job, Grog. Don’t listen to Vax; you just keep being you.
As Vax gets closer to one of the tombs, Cassandra tells everyone they are in the family crypt. And they aren’t alone! The rest of Percy’s family, well, the undead ones, have come out for a visit! Pike and Keyleth may feel conflicted about facing off against the family, but Grog is having a field day! Ripley tries to pick up a weapon, but Percy isn’t having it. She tries to warn him that she isn’t who he should be worried about, but poor Percy has enough worry for everything.
In the next room, the group has come across their evil archnemesis – a door. “Oh Grog, you are so mighty, and I am so weak.” Vax. That’s it. That is all you need to know from this episode. One strong Grog later and that door is gone. The group continues forward and Vex tries to confide in Vax that she doesn’t trust Ripley. But he still might be sour about her vine comment from earlier.
Scanlan breaks it to the group that they have enough evidence against the Briarwoods to head back to Emon and clear their name. But Percy isn’t willing to walk away now or give the Briarwoods the chance to finish whatever they started. Scanlan blames the whole suggestion on Keyleth and the group moves forward. Poor Keyleth, we know the truth.
“Depth of Deceit” takes us into Anders’ (Stephen Root) domain, where Scanlan almost mistakes residuum for drugs and we don’t get to see where that trip would have taken him. While all eyes are on the center of the room, we see Percy’s gun add a new name to the barrel. Cassandra De Rolo. And instantly, we know why her attitude had us second-guessing her every move. Across the room, she hits a mechanism that shuts our heroes in, but Vax is fast enough to make it out onto the otherside.
Percy and Vex rush over to find Vax and Cassandra ready to face off against each other as Lord and Lady Briarwood come strolling up. Vax tries to fight them off but finds himself charmed yet again. Then, Cassandra explains that she was never on Percy’s side and how she has a new family now that he has abandoned her. Percy and Vex watch as their siblings turn against them and it’s devastating. Utterly devastating. As they walk away, Sylas has Vax hit the acid trap and the room slowly begins to fill.
With Percy’s brain malfunctioning at the moment, Vex tries to come up with a plan, but we realize she is struggling too. Pike and Grog try to smash down one of the glass windows only to find it pretty solid. Ripley thinks they need to buy themselves some time by cutting off the acid, so Keyleth uses vines to try and do it. However, the plumbing here sucks and the vines cause it to break in a way that the acid runs faster.
With some quick thinking from Scanlan, everyone piles on top of the purple hand and Grog snatches up Percy.exe failed. Vex knocks some sense into him and promises that the people in this room will never abandon him as Cassandra did. They need his help right now, so he needs to pick himself up and get this head together. And he does because Vex is always right.
Scanlan drops some pretty heavy rifts and gets the purple hand closer to the ceiling, where Percy and Pike find the controls for the doors. They realize, however, that the other half is where the drain is. And in the most heroic (and dumb) thing we’ve seen, Grog strips down and takes a swim in the acid. Thankfully, Pike is able to keep him healed long enough for Percy, Ripley and Grog to pull the lever and wash the acid down the drain.
Acid gone and Grog’s junk intact, the group heads off towards the Ziggurat. “Depth of Deceit” comes to a close as the Briarwoods, Cassandra and Vax make their way up the stairs of the giant temple-looking building. It turns out that this ritual needs a blood sacrifice and they now have two to choose from. Excuse me, but no one is sacrificing Vax. Okay? Thanks.
RELATED: Check out all of our recaps for The Legend of Vox Machina!
What a way to kick off the final week of The Legend of Vox Machina. This episode may lack heavy fighting and murder, but it sure does pack a punch. Grog is great and saves the day on three occasions which makes him the best character there ever was; no, I won’t be taking questions at this time. We get the chance to watch them solve a trap and some more character development. It is a fantastic episode overall, except for the Vax thing. I need Vax to not be sacrificed in any way, shape or form. Thanks.
We don’t have time to waste! Let’s jump right into episode 11!
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Who I Am: A nerd by the strictest definition. I enjoy diving straight into my favorite fandoms without a care in the world. I live on video/board games, fantasy movies and TV, and all things geeky.
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