critical role is just. moving improvisational storytelling between a found family of incredible performers that rattles my brain and has reminded me of the good in the world on bad days. also watch laura bailey nearly start crying because she gives herself such intense psychic damage by laughing at an innuendo about beef as matt mercer laughs at her. these are equally essential parts of the show.
i'm finally catching up on the last two months of critical role and i just finished episode 79... i am not well... the blindfold game... the directions.....
I know I gave Cal Imogen’s lightsaber design in Survivor as a joke but seeing it in important cut scenes makes me feel a certain way and now I’ve decided its actually gonna be a thing (ramblings and survivor spoilers under the cut)
Imogen first ruins Cal's day in the Lucrehulk on Koboh when he goes to rescue Zee (and maybe a couple more times after that), but I think their most prominent encounter happens in the Observatory before he kills Dagan. That's where I've planned their last "boss fight"
It's their most intense face-off cause up to that point Imogen has underestimated Cal or he's managed to escape/she's let him go for her own amusement. She's not messing around anymore - can't afford to when Tanalorr is within reach. Things conclude in a true stalemate and they ended up accidentally switching weapons during the struggle. So Cal is stuck with Imogen's lightsaber for a bit and vice versa.
To his surprise, her saber doesn't resist him and he has no choice but to rely on it to save his life by putting a stop to Dagan. Now, with Dagan dead, his deal with Imogen is off and the only path to Tanalorr that she has is..... through Cal. Once again, they essentially want the same thing. But she detests him. And she wants her shit back.
By the time she tracks him down on Jedha, Bode has thrown a wrench into everything and fucked off with the compass. Imogen finds Cal unconscious, reaching for her lightsaber, and seriously considers smothering him right there, but she grinds her teeth and kicks him awake because she knows she needs his help and he needs hers.
Imogen senses the Dark Side within him after they find Cere and she likes it. So she "forgets" to reclaim her lightsaber for a bit to see how it all plays out. After all, a dark weapon can feed dark urges. She thinks this will finally make him interesting.
What she doesn't quite realize is that Cal's saber has an affect on her too. She realizes after seeing what it’s done to both Dagan and Bode that Tanalorr won't be the solution to her loneliness - that nothing will unless she's willing to let emotions in and make herself vulnerable. That is something she will not compromise on (not for Cal at least). The best outcome she can come to terms with is assuring that the Empire won't have the advantage of access to Tanalorr.
Imogen will not ask for her lightsaber back before she leaves, though. She takes it and gives Cal a stern reminder of who she is. It's almost more for her own sake as she doesn't want to forget either. She vows the last bit of mercy she will ever show him is letting him live and disappearing from his life for good. Her lightsaber never really feels quite the same after that..... but not necessarily in a wrong way.
In conclusion: Kata makes both of them friendship bracelets
ben was an ass i hate him so much. if i were nick and i had to sit next to ben during a study hall there would be so much tension and i wouldve beat his ass bro. she ate that monologue up in paris too, she totally fucking called ben out and i am so here for it