Critical Role: Family Gathering

July 22, 2019 1:15 PM - Season 2, Episode 71

The Mighty Nein spend a day in Nicodranas, reuniting families and causing several members to question their next steps...
posted by booksherpa (8 comments total)

So, I guess Sam decided not to switch characters... seeing the family reunited was lovely, tinged with sadness from knowing Veth still has to cast disguise self.

Every once in a while, I am reminded of just how good Matt is all the time. This episode, he had a fair amount of dialogue as Dairon, Yeza, Luc, and Marion, plus playing Essik and Blude, sometimes multiple voices in a scene, and each character is distinct.

I was amused by the issues with the teleport, which were just Matt following how the spell works, something I know because I tweeted at him and he responded! *squeeeeeee!*

I'm super excited for more Clay backstory, and some Taliesin-focused stuff. If I had to pick a favorite player (aaaah! no!) it would probably be Tal.
posted by booksherpa at 1:28 PM on July 22, 2019 [2 favorites]

"Let us not meet at the hot tub"
posted by nubs at 6:32 PM on July 22, 2019 [1 favorite]

Playing all of those NPCs in one game is rough - especially when you're doing voices for all of them.

And yes, the not-hot-tub conversation was great, especially with the 'Oh, I forgot about the war room!' comment fifteen minutes later. I wasn't expecting Beau to be truthful, or Dairon to seem to be okay with it (also, the depiction of Dairon as being very Beau-like causing Beau to have a lot of small revelations).

Nott giving her kid a grappling hook and a puppy! After all they've been through they deserve to be a little spoiled, I guess.
posted by dinty_moore at 11:44 AM on July 24, 2019 [1 favorite]

I'm super excited for more Clay backstory, and some Taliesin-focused stuff. If I had to pick a favorite player (aaaah! no!) it would probably be Tal.
In that case, I think you will love this question from their SDCC Talks panel (Skip to 26:45)
posted by coriolisdave at 12:25 AM on July 27, 2019

Taliesin is just adorable. So is Caduceus, for that matter.
posted by booksherpa at 8:00 PM on July 28, 2019

Playing all of those NPCs in one game is rough

Yeah, this is one of the areas I am in complete awe of Mercer; for me handling one major NPC roleplay in a session is usually pretty draining - here he does how many? And each one has a unique voice and personality.

Anyways, one of the interesting choices he's made in this campaign is around family - Marion is fully supportive of Jester, and Yeza is also fully supportive of Veth/Nott. Both of these backgrounds for the characters could be potential sources of drama, conflict, tension and threat, but Matt appears to be steering away from that in favour of making these family relationships safe spaces for the characters along with the M9 as a whole. It'll be interesting to see what dynamic is at play when (if) Beau reconnects with her family.
posted by nubs at 8:00 AM on July 29, 2019 [2 favorites]

That's a great observation, nubs. There's a lot of plot around birth family, chosen family, community - Yasha was turned out of her community and lost her wife, Beau ran away from her family but found a community in the Cobalt Soul, Caduceus is missing his family (literally and figuratively), Caleb killed his and chose the Scourgers until he ran away, Fjord's family is unknown, as was Molly's though he clearly had a chosen community. Jester's storyline is also about her chosen family (fellow Traveler devotees) coming together.

And of course, everything they do is about them finding their way with each other, learning more about one another, choosing to be honest, figuring out how to work together, and maybe gradually coming to want the same things. I think Yasha's turning and Fjord's change will bind them as a group. The tragedy of Molly's death began a process that is just starting to be completed, I think. In a way, Fjord is finally putting people ahead of ambition and self. This will be a fascinating change. Hmm.... that might be the base for an interesting Talks question.
posted by booksherpa at 12:19 PM on July 29, 2019

Maybe it's the way Jester says it, but "Nicodranas" is my favorite place name in this world. Actually my respect for Laura Bailey as a player has grown a lot, I think her S2 character is more of a commitment than her S1 character, but nevertheless she always steps up correct to the mic, and she's very funny.

FWIW my favorite player is probably Liam, but just because I respect the kind of, "Let's tone down the silliness and get on task" kind of role lol
posted by fleacircus at 4:18 PM on May 17, 2021 [1 favorite]