For the last few years, “The Legend of Vox Machina,” an animated series adapting the first campaign of the popular DnD web series “Critical Role,” has flown under the radar as the strongest offering in the fantasy genre on TV. Released on Prime Video alongside big-budget shows like “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” and “The Wheel of Time,” it actually began as a Kickstarter project and outdoes both in terms of quality. With three seasons released, a fourth coming next year, and a fifth and final season confirmed, it was only a matter of time before its second campaign was adapted. The surprise came in January 2023 when this adaptation was announced soon after the finale of Vox Machina’s second season, and almost three years later, the first season of “The Mighty Nein” has arrived.
Set in the same world as “Vox Machina,” the show has little connection to its predecessor, welcoming newcomers and longtime fans. There are a few references, but they are subtle enough not to encroach on the story at hand. The plot revolves around the theft of the Luxon Beacon, a powerful relic that ignites tensions between the human Dwendalian Empire and the elven Kryn Dynasty. Before the opening credits, it is established just how dangerous this relic is, and its horrors persist throughout the season.
War seems imminent, and in the midst of this chaos, we are introduced to a diverse group of misfits with chips on their shoulders and secrets in their pasts. They are not a team at the start; in fact, the first half of the season builds up to most of them being brought together and forming The Mighty Nein. But there are only six of them. This slower pace allows the audience to sit with the characters and get to know them as they interact and form bonds with one another. The middle half of the season is stronger when it comes to the interactions, and the cast, reprising their roles from the web series, are all phenomenal.
Of course, condensing tens of hours of tabletop gameplay into just eight forty-minute episodes is no small task, and the strain shows at times, with obvious exposition used to highlight groups or concepts the characters would already know. Earlier this year, I wrote a column on the detriment that a standard eight-episode season of the streaming age causes many fantasy shows, both live action and animated. “Vox Machina” bucked the trend with twelve episodes a season, albeit with shorter runtimes, leading to a sounder structure. Whilst “The Mighty Nein” uses its time efficiently, a few more episodes could have helped to flesh out the characters and improve the pacing.
Even one more episode, taking the count to nine, would have been better and allowed for an obvious meta joke. As such, not everything quite comes together, especially when the first two episodes go back before the beginning of the campaign to show how smaller groups within the Nein met. The political intrigue set up in the pilot amounts to little, placed in the background for most of the season to accommodate the main cast, who are only dragged into the conflict in the final few episodes.
It was the correct choice given the episode count, but the switch doesn’t quite work. The finale pays off most of the threads set up over the course of the season and adds a few more for the future, but ends on a note that feels like there should be one more episode of falling action to process what just happened. Most likely, season 2 will resume where they leave here, but my initial reaction as the credits rolled was that it did not feel like the end of the season.
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Despite time constraints, the writing is solid, with the occasional overreliance on crass humour, and is enhanced by strong vocal performances. There is a wild range of guest actors, from Lucy Liu to Mark Strong to Tim McGraw, whilst the campaign’s Dungeon Master Matthew Mercer is able to voice more complex characters who are integral to the story, especially elven academic Essek, who feels just as fleshed out as the player characters that make up the main cast. Of those seven, Ashley Johnson’s Yasha has the least to do, absent for half the season and only seen in brief snippets away from the action.
The show also holds back the introductions of the most eccentric and entertaining characters in Jester (Laura Bailey) and Molly (Taliesin Jaffe) to introduce the quieter, sombre characters. The spotlight of the season is placed on Caleb Widogast (Liam O’Brien), the exploration of his backstory in the fifth episode impeccably intercut with present tensions within the group, creating the season’s strongest episode. Rounding out the group are Nott the Brave (Sam Riegel), a goblin thief with a drinking problem, Beau Lionett (Marisha Ray), a cocky monk recruited to unmask corruption, and Fjord Stone (Travis Willingham), a half-orc sailor who survives a shipwreck in mysterious circumstances. All get their moments and are underdogs you can’t help but root for individually and as a group.
The setting of Wildemout contains more European, particularly Slavic, accents than Vox Machina’s Tal’Dorei. Caleb will often talk in Zemnian, which is simply German with a different name. This gives the feel of a rich, lived-in world that stands on its own, whilst composer Neal Acree’s sharp synth score creates a stark contrast with Vox Machina’s traditional orchestra, and certain magic has a science-fiction sound to it, especially a battle in the finale. Despite many jokes, it is also a dark story, and in fights, it is common for blood to splatter across the camera to sell the horrific acts of violence depicted.
The animation style is identical to Vox Machina’s, keeping continuity in the wider world the shows share. It does look more fluid than the animation found in an episode of “Invincible,” which has episodes with comparable runtimes. It dips in quality occasionally – episode 2 has some especially rough moments – but overall it is a gorgeous show, the setting allowing varied locales and playing around with colours. Of all the characters, it is clear that the animators had the most fun with Jester’s magic, although everything is well-designed and diverse. In places where you do not need dialogue to tell which army has appeared, you can tell by their armour.
With a second season already recorded, “The Mighty Nein” and Critical Role’s influence on the fantasy TV space is not going away any time soon. But don’t expect any announcement of a Campaign Three adaptation in the near future; that is a completely different beast. For now, I will happily take many more seasons of “The Mighty Nein.”
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