Amazon Prime Video’s original series The Legend of Vox Machina season two episode seven entitled “The Fey Realm:” starts with the team being separated from each other. During this the viewer sees Travis Willingham’s Grog face the consequences of his choices involving his cursed sword. Ultimately, he choices his friends over the power of the sword as he does not want to be a monster. This is a result of him seeing how scared his friends are of him when he is possessed by the sword. In his mind, he knows that the sword is evil and before he was okay with that as long as it made him strong. Now that he sees how dangerous it is when he nearly kills one of his best friends, he realizes the sword was a crutch and not a source of strength. The interesting part about this is how as he breaks the sword it leaves him in a weakened state. This could be considered as a type of rebirth for his character as he now will have to start over to find his strength. Also, Grog’s story can be compared to someone overcoming an addiction and is now detoxing.
Additionally, as the rest of the team continues their quest the viewer gets a hint at how dangerous the Matron of Ravens could be to Liam O’Brien’s Vax’ildan. This is due to how the entire environment acts scared of him when he comes close to anything. This is demonstrated by how the animals avoid him at all costs. Not to mention that the magical water stream reveals a horrific reflection of Vax. In his mind, he sees that things can only get worse for him as the Matron of Ravens seems to be the keeper of his soul. Which means that he will probably soon be taken over by her to do what she wants. The viewer can assume that at one point he will have to leave the team. Deep down what he fears most is that he will end up hurting his sister as she tries to save him.
At the end of the episode, the viewer sees that Vax and his sister are now forced to return to their old home. This will likely bring up some old issues given as how they both suffered due to their father hating them for being half-elf. This could be a wonder opportunity for the series to touch on the subject of racism and how it should not be tolerated by anyone. Overall, the series continues to establish a connection with the viewer as it sheds light on to some more obscure topics such as family issues, addiction, and codependency.
Rating: 8.5/10