We have hit week two of Amazon Prime Video and Critical Role‘s The Legend of Vox Machina. And folks, this week is a doozy. In the animated series first three episodes, we watched as the “greatest band of mercenaries” went off to slay a dragon (and lived) and then find themselves at a pretty swanky dinner party where Percy’s (Taliesin Jaffe) past came back to haunt him. We left off with quite a cliffhanger, so without further ado – let’s dive into episode four, “Shadows at the Gates!”
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!
“Shadows at the Gates” picks up right where we left off. Sovereign Uriel Tal’Dorei III (Khary Payton) decides to throw Vox Machina into the dungeons for how they treated the Briarwoods (Matthew Mercer and Grey Griffin). However, Arcanist Allura Vysoren (Indira Varma) comes to their aid and gets them house arrest instead. Vex (Laura Bailey) tries to get Allura to understand that Uriel is under the Briarwoods’ spell. Still, while Allura feels that something is off with the Sovereign, she isn’t ready to just let Vox Machina ruin this tender relationship with Whitestone.
We jump to the Briarwoods in question, who are high tailing it back to Whitestone when Delilah realizes that her book is missing. She is a wreck over everything, while Sylas is as cool as a cucumber. He knows they can get it back and I don’t like that twinkle in his eye. I mean, I do. But I don’t.
Queue the intro and my dance-off in my living room.
At Grey Skull Keep, Captain Jarett (Eugene Byrd) is laying down the law for Vox Machina as Scanlan (Sam Riegel) tries to get his lute back. Let the man entertain his friends, Jarett! The group finds something to entertain themselves, but it seems that no matter what anyone does, someone else is annoyed. Grog (Travis Willingham) is lifting weights too loudly for Percy. Vax (Liam O’Brien) is worried he will turn into a vampire when Vex makes him realize he still has a reflection. And Pike (Ashley Johnson) is barely paying attention to the group seeing as she is more worried about her connection to the Everlight.
Grog thinks they should just break out, but Vax doesn’t want to be fugitives against the crown. Scanlan believes they would have better luck with Delilah’s book, including some pretty messed-up stuff. If they can translate it, they might be able to clear their names. However, Vax points out that he can’t do it and the middle finger salute begins. If this hasn’t happened in your Dungeons and Dragons home game yet…it will. Their minor kerfuffle awards them a reprimand from Pike and Vex uses the moment to remind them that they all need to talk.
She wants to know why Percy didn’t tell them about his past, but Keyleth (Marisha Ray) wants to know more about the smoke. We all do, Percy, spill it. His explanation? That his pepperbox burns black powder and that must be what they saw. Seems logical…for now. But we do get some Percy backstory out of him! He opens up to the rest of the group about how the Briarwoods arrived, killed everyone, turned their most trusted people against him and, in the end, left him the last remaining De Rolo alive. Percy knows that they aren’t going to let him live, so now is the time to get a move on. Emotional damage. Emotional damage.
Speaking of the Briarwoods, “Shadows at the Gates” jumps to them again, but this time at a graveyard. And I know I should be questioning why Delilah finds these places pleasant, but I spend my time visiting the graves of famous historical people, so, girl, same? But she isn’t here to pay them a visit. Delilah is here to raise herself some dead henchman.
Back at Grey Skull Keep, Percy leads the group down below towards a hidden exit. It’s quite dark, but both Pike and Keyleth can’t produce any light for them. Pike still hasn’t opened up about her issues with contacting the Everlight and Keyleth is struggling with her own issues. It doesn’t matter because Percy has found what he is looking for. But, on the other side, Captain Jarett is waiting for them. Obviously, they can’t be trusted together, so he splits them up and takes away all the silverware.
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While Scanlan makes a sandwich because he 100% wants to and not because the guard told him to, Vax and Vex decide whether it’s time to cut and run on their own. They know they can make it out; they made it out of Syngorn alive after all. But, it looks like they aren’t ready to turn their backs on their newfound family just yet. It totally doesn’t have anything to do with how adorable Scanlan looks making his sandwich at the moment. But that would be my reason.
Outside, some pretty creepy shadow monsters are taunting the guards. Inside, Pike finally opens up to Grog about not being able to reach the Everlight. His advice – just scream a little louder. He may only have an intelligence of six, but the man has his moments. Also, this solidifies my choice of Grog being my spirit animal, but I think I should unpack that another time.
“Shadows at the Gate” jumps back outside where those shadow creatures aren’t just taunting anymore. They are causing some major issues but thankfully, don’t pay any attention to our boy Trinket (Mercer). The crew inside still don’t know what is going on, though, as Percy and Keyleth share a bit of their past and fears with each other. It’s scary that someone as young as Keyleth needs to think about never seeing her family again. And props to Percy for telling our Keyleth that she is worthy. Because we know she is.
The commotion outside finally reaches their ears as Jarett and his men head outside to check on what is going on. And more shadow murder happens. Vox Machina jumps into action to protect themselves when Jarett and what is left of his guard rush back in and blame them. They must be some pretty good mercenaries to kill his men while also being locked away. Thankfully Jarett is a bit smarter than that and realizes that something else must be going on just in time for one of those shadow creatures to arrive and head straight for Scanlan and the book.
It’s time to play catch with the book as the group tosses it back and forth and tries to fight against the creatures. Unfortunately, things don’t go so well and the group, along with Jarett, are forced to fall back. Please take a quick moment to enjoy that the table from Critical Role’s live show has made it into the game. Now back to the creepy shadow creatures. They feel like they are safe until Keyleth gets shadowed and the lights go out. Without a way to deal any damage to the shadows, the group struggles in their fight.
That is until Jarett sets his sword on fire and Pike realizes that the light makes them weak. She tries to call upon the Everlight, but nothing works and she finally opens up to everyone that she can’t do anything. This means everything falls to Keyleth. And after some encouraging words and the screams of her friends, she casts Sunlight and man oh man, does she light up the room. Get it? I’ll see myself out now.
With light on their side, Vox Machina takes this fight to the next level and does what they do best – kill stuff. It’s an all our shadow murder fest and we couldn’t be happier. With the threat gone, the team regroups and decides that now is the best time to leave. No one is safe in Emon with the Briarwoods after them. With their word that they will avenge Jarett’s men, he lets Vox Machina leave.
“Shadows at the Gate” comes to a close, with Percy trying to sneak out on his own, but the group isn’t about to let that happen. They are going to join him on his crusade to Whitestone as long as he stays honest with them. However, Pike needs to walk a different path. She will take Grog’s advice and go somewhere where she can talk to the Everlight directly and say sorry. Grog offers to join her, but she knows that they need him and that this is something she needs to do on her own. Cue the crying guys. It’s okay.
RELATED: Check out all of our recaps for The Legend of Vox Machina!
What an episode. Seriously, The Legend of Vox Machina has had me on the edge of my seat for four whole episodes. It is the perfect mix of lore/world-building and action with little nostalgic hints to the live-action games. Seriously, blink and you might miss the table! This series has mixed comedy and action while also giving us heavy stakes to think about. What could possibly go wrong with the group heading out to Whitestone to deal some much-needed revenge against the Briarwoods?
Let’s not waste any time and dive into the next episode!
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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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