#imogen and caleb parallels continue

[utilitycaster]

also this has been on my mind since a few people in the tag have been posting about C2 rewatches but it's really fun for me that Imogen, Fjord, and Caleb all considered leaving the party, the first two specifically because they thought they might endanger the others. Charismatic casters in Critical Role be like "I might be the problem."

[captainsspnanon]

C3E78 - reaction

No Liam! Sad times :( This is the second time he’s missed a game (my mom just watched the C2 episode where Marisha jaegered Caleb, she’s on such a great parallel watching as she bounces back and forth between the two campaigns)

I was very surprised by Fearne’s very physical reaction continuing after the end of last episode, but then I wonder if a part of it is above table. Not anger from Ashley, but her going ‘oh this is the first time I’ve actually been at the table during one of these moments, I’mma take it for all it’s worth!’. I mean, she wasn’t there when Scanlan left, she wasn’t there when Molly died, she wasn’t there when Fjord was going through his big power adjustments, so a part of me thinks that maybe a small part of Fearne’s reaction may be Ashley just reveling in being there for the moment.

Did NOT call the Delilah resurgence, nor did I even consider that Laudna could view this as a betrayal, but I’m loving it! I’m really happy that Marisha is leaning into the Delilah aspect more and more and Matt meeting it perfectly with voices, wisdom saves, etc.

CONSEQUENCES! Holy shit, con down 2 permanently???? Pretty sure a greater restoration won’t fix this! I am FASCINATED. There HAD to have been an outside conversation about this – I feel like it’s completely flipped from how it left off at the end of last episode? I mean, Narrator!Matt was saying how Ashton was now “unprecedented”, Taliesin was talking about high risk high reward, and Ashton’s physical body was certainly being described as a combination of earth and fire. But now here, their eyes are back to normal, their arm is now just a bigger mismatched earth arm, the gold veins are back to normal, and the shard got REJECTED. I just can’t imagine Matt choosing to do this without having some sort of conversation beforehand, even though I know he’s played with Taliesin for years even before CR. I wonder if it came from Taliesin though, if he could have wanted Ashton to fail for this…. I can think of so many different conversations above table, but this is just a full 180 from end of last episode, and honestly a harsh punishment from Matt. I’m all for it, and I’m so excited to continue this, but I would be VERY surprised if Matt did this on his own without any above table talk.

The vision that Ashton talks about seeing themselves with their family, and seeing that they were bad, and everything being their fault makes me think that Taliesin may have chosen the outcome of the shard being rejected, though of course it’s all pure speculation.

(Side note, can we talk about how Ashley is absolutely gorgeous and Taliesin’s hair is fucking phenomenal??? I like the Caduceus swirls a lot more than I liked the Percy geometric. Okay I’m done being distracted)

I was trying to figure out why I was enjoying this episode more than a lot of C3, and I realized that it’s because this is very reminiscent of the M9 relationships. It’s been a long time since we’ve had real interparty conflict with the Hells, whereas that was M9’s bread and butter. I’m hoping this isn’t something that’s just fixed by next episode, because I am THRIVING. I know that C3 has mostly been about external conflict (the solstice), but the PCs have all been….well...almost ‘shallowly’ connected? I don’t feel like that’s the right word, because there WERE true relationships between the group, but I just feel like the internal conflict is always so great at deepening the relationships.

(I’m actually doing this write up AS I watch, rather that after I watch the full episode as I’ve been doing for most of C3)

I am genuinely surprised about how everyone is being very aggressive towards Ashton. I didn’t expect FCG to lash out as hard as they are, and Imogen is cutting NO slack. Again, missing Liam at this moment as I would really love to see where Orym would fall on this, but a tiny part of me is a bit glad, as I don’t know if the conversation would have gone the way it’s going if he was there. And while I didn’t expect it, I am LOVING it. Sam is thriving! And honestly? Big growth moment for FCG here too, even a dozen episodes back I’m not sure they would have reacted this way.

LOL Ashley’s face when FCG asks Ashton how they could hurt Fearne because she’s so wonderful.

God the Fearne and Chetney dynamic is SO GOOD. He scolded her, gave her advice, tried to boost her confidence, maybe was a little offended that she was going for Ashton instead of him, helped her redirect her anger towards a more constructive destructive outlet…. Travis is SUCH a good player, y’all. And Ashley!! UGH I am so glad we get her for so long. *chefs kiss*

Fearne and Laudna/Delilah just off on their own, and holy shit I did not expect that harshness from Chetney, though I suppose I really should have. He’s always been incredibly pragmatic, and we’ve never seen how he would react with a betrayal of trust before.

This...this is both a new and an old perception of Laudna, or rather, it’s bringing new context to the woman who still plays with dolls and assumes they come alive at night. I really REALLY hope we get to see more in this vein, this is FASCINATING.

Alright, a lot of this is now post-watching rather than mid-watch. I really strongly speculate that Taliesin talked to Matt about having Ashton not fuse with the shard. All his RP this episode really feels like he planned to have the backlash and guilt ahead of time. I wonder if he felt that this would be the best way for Ashton to move forwards? Of course, definitely still can be wrong here and this could all be in the moment, but it just feels too off for Matt to have done it without some sort of discussion.

I can’t even begin to sum up how I feel about the feywild trip. It’s needed, I’m excited, I want to know what’s going on with Birdie, what’s going on with Fearne!