With possibly some justification, our heroes are imprisoned. With, also, possibly some justification, they don’t think it’s fair; there’s clearly more to that devil toad than met the eye, ear, or quaking audience of terror. There’s nothing to do but this: JAILBREAK!
Our cast is finally together in one place, and they’re not too happy about it. In a shift, this is the first episode without much of a teaser, and it moves straight to the action.
The opening scene in the jail is hilarious, as they work to get to know one another while being interviewed by the officers. It’s amazing how each character is so totally themselves during this scene. Fjord tries to reason with the detectives. Jester is enjoying the drama of the situation. Beau responds belligerently. Caleb responds in Zemnian. Nott is clearly drunk off their ass, and headed for a massive hangover. And poor Molly is still, while enduring imprisonment, processing the fact that he’s not only lost his entire family, he’s being blamed for it.
The jail is pretty hellish, with a human and a Kryn Dynasty guard. While two nations live in the area, in many ways they seem more integrated than I would expect. It’s fun that it’s Fjord who breaks everyone out, and Jester who shows more power than I believed; up until now I thought that except for healing, her power was more illusory than anything else, but that lollipop hit the wall quite hard.
What is cool for me about the storytelling of this show is how they’re building up these characters to support each other. We’re seeing the payoff of those early episodes now. Beau’s investigative skills and Caleb’s magic come into play as they begin the hunt, searching for the death toad and evidence to prove their innocence. They’re able to follow clues to a very, very creepy location, and what seems to be a very subdued, different Toya. When they find Toya, however, it’s Nott the Brave that reaches out and does her best to save what she sees as a simple innocent girl... and starts a sequence which brings the team together in a powerful way for the first time. The fight against the toad is well scripted and choreographed, and it’s touch and go for our heroes while Nott and Jester try to heal Toya. In the end, the fight is won, but the battle, for some of them, is lost.
I love that Nott loses it trying to help Toya, that Jester is confounded by the Traveler not helping in her hour of need, that Molly in the process of mourning Toya during a very emotional funeral seems to gain some measure of balance for the loss of his friends in the carnival – and pulls a card for the team: Home. They head back to town. On the way, Molly also shows Jester the reverse of the card: and it is the Traveler, giving Jester a little joy and hope in the midst of despair.
I’m not sure I’m too happy about that. Having Jester face the whole Traveler thing head on seems like the most important thing we can do to develop that character. There has to be a whole lot more back story about that, and hopefully we’ll get to see it soon.
Back at the town, the team finally declares themselves the Mighty Nein, with Jester finally getting it right! The team seems ready to break up here, each going there separate ways, but in their attempt to provide proof of the Evil Toad’s death, they wind up seeing Owelia’s handiwork, since she’s killed most of the guards in the town and the jail is full of bodies. Caleb is clearly freaking out about this, when one of the Volstrucker, Owelia sets off a trap and appears – making Beau and Caleb both say “she found me” and stare, startled, at each other – but before more can be said, Owelia attacks! And it’s a cliffhanger till we meet episode five.
During all of this, Essek is shown working with Ikithon, sharing the secrets of the Beacon – even demonstrating how to use it. They start killing people to experiment with the artifact. This is not going to end well. Ikithon, as you might think, is a very, very quick learner, and before too long it’s pretty clear that he won’t need Essek much longer, if at all. Since Essek’s mother is getting worse exponentially, and Verrat is now in the know about Dierta’s Typhros, what we have is a character stuck between the proverbial rock and a hard place, and it looks likely he’ll explode. I admit I'm not sure I like Essek yet... but he has pretty good broody vibes, and I'm here for it.
Mighty Funny
Beau kissing her pythons in the beginning of the police interview will make me laugh forever.
Jester’s alternate name for The Mighty Nein (Including the Traveler, of course:)
Nott calling Fjord Noodle Arms (who’s she kidding???)
How long was Toya under the spell of the toad? Is there a whole world of those creatures, or did something possess the toad, and then Toya?
What is that interdimensional rift they discovered and how is it going to play into future episodes?
Overall
Episode three was fantastic, but this episode goes even further and clearly demonstrates what The Mighty Nein can be capable of as an ensemble and as a series. 9 out of 10 dimensional rifts.
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