Monday 10 June 2024

TV

Doctor Who
Real Time Episode Two

Videos

Critical Role
2x28 Within the Nest [2nd half]
2x29 The Stalking Nightmare

I was somewhat trepidatious heading into this run of episodes — with three of the (excellent) regular cast gone and a parade of guest stars in the offing, would it be below-par filler, treading water until the 'real' heroes returned? As things turned out, quite the opposite — not just major, game-changing plot turns (thanks, rolls of the dice!), but interesting locales, exciting combats, memorable NPCs, and some brilliant guest stars (Sumalee Montano clearly received a lot of love from the fanbase, and rightly so, but Ashly Burch is fantastic too).

I'd probably still say Midnight Espionage is the best individual episode of Critical Role I've seen so far (as a game, there's an element of luck about what events occur and plot points appear within one episode, and that one landed so many great bits), but the six-episode run from The Hour of Honor to The Stalking Nightmare is probably my favourite extended arc (or two, really) so far. Phenomenal.

[Watch Campaign 2 (again) on YouTube, or Twitch, or Beacon.]


Talks Machina
#76 'Converging Fury' and 'Within the Nest'
[Watch it (again) on Internet Archive.]