TV review
Sometimes, an entire season of a show can be distilled to one important line of dialogue. In the case of Season 4 of “The Legend of Vox Machina,” it’s an impassioned “Choose your own fate!” directed from one friend to another as they clash — literally and figuratively — against each other, the powers that be and what it means to truly control your own destiny.
But what makes the new season of the animated series so thrilling is how the crude, impulsive, golden-hearted heroes of the group known as Vox Machina answer that demand. Because while those answers don’t come easy — they’re often soaked in blood and grief, trauma and regret — they do reflect the stakes at hand: the fate of the world.
At the end of Season 3 of “Vox Machina,” our eponymous group of ragtag adventurers had done the seemingly impossible: They felled the monstrous dragons of the Chroma Conclave and saved the continent of Tal’Dorei from their wrath. (There was also a soul transfer, a god-given curse and a cliffhanger involving creepy cultists.)
Season 4, the first three episodes of which premiere Wednesday on Prime Video, takes place a year later. (The vulgar, hypercolorful recap at the beginning of Episode 1 is a thing of beauty.) Vox Machina has split up into smaller groups, with each at first seemingly fine being apart from one another, but once you peek beneath the surface, it’s clear no one is OK.
But they don’t stay separated for long. A new threat emerges — involving those aforementioned creepy cultists, blood rituals, mysterious visions and an ominous being known as the Whispered One — and it’s up to the world-saving crew to do what they do best. And along for the ride is one of the best parts of Season 4: the new character Taryon Darrington, delightfully voiced by Wayne Brady. An uproarious mix of unearned bravado and earnest charisma, Taryon is a chaotic joy in every scene he’s in.
The series continues to cleverly adapt from its source material (the “Critical Role” web series), being faithful when it matters and adding creative changes all its own, like a fantastic midseason “Ocean’s 11”-style heist planning sequence that had me in stitches.
Across 12 episodes, Season 4 expertly evolves the series’ sense of morality, painting a world in which there is no black and white, only gray and blood-red. (“Vox Machina” isn’t shy with its graphic violence, FYI.) It pits fate against free will, and questions the fundamental elements of self. And it’s a potent reminder that actions, no matter how well-intentioned, have consequences.
A jaw-dropping final episode presents more questions than answers, but at least we don’t have to worry about the series’ fate: A fifth and final season has already been greenlit — and it can’t get here soon enough.
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