TV review<\/h2>\n
Sometimes, an entire season of a show can be distilled to one important line of dialogue. In the case of Season 4 of \u201cThe Legend of Vox Machina,\u201d it\u2019s an impassioned \u201cChoose your own fate!\u201d directed from one friend to another as they clash \u2014 literally and figuratively \u2014 against each other, the powers that be and what it means to truly control your own destiny.<\/p>\n
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\u2019t come easy \u2014 they\u2019re often soaked in blood and grief, trauma and regret \u2014 they do reflect the stakes at hand: the fate of the world.<\/p>\n
At the end of Season 3 of \u201cVox Machina,\u201d 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.)<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
But they don\u2019t stay separated for long. A new threat emerges \u2014 involving those aforementioned creepy cultists, blood rituals, mysterious visions and an ominous being known as the Whispered One \u2014 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\u2019s in.<\/p>\n