Review: The Mighty Nein “The Mighty Nein”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

The Mighty Nein officially form to stop the Devil Toad and save Toya. Meanwhile, Essek learns about Trent Ikithon’s true sinister intentions with the Beacon.

OUR TAKE

We finally have our title drop! Our eponymous group has officially come together…minus Yasha, Ashley Johnson’s character who briefly appeared in the first episode. Apparently she won’t be very present in this first season, supposedly to reflect how her attendance during the early part of the campaign was spotty due to her being on the TV show Blindspot at the time. But that’s neither here nor there, and what’s important is that we get to see the present party members properly work as a team, both to escape from their prison, but also in defeating the Devil Toad that went wild and destroyed Molly’s circus. While they naturally don’t all trust or like each other right away, having a shared goal naturally leads to them finding that they’re not so different after all. After being set in separate pairs for the first few episodes, we now get to see Jester talk to Nott (who apparently is a woman, who knew), Beau and Fjord talk to Caleb, and Molly…kinda just yells at everyone for being part of the incident that destroyed his life, though he eventually comes around. The point is that they’re a team now and can learn to like each other and help lend a hand in the increasingly deadly fights to come, such as the one they find themselves in at the end of the episode.

Though the more consequential events happen away from the group, with Essek and Trent Ikithon, the ones at the root of the conflict. For one, this gives Matt Mercer a full character to play, which makes sense considering he’s the DM that made all of this happen. And while I haven’t watched the campaign this story is based on, I’m fairly sure that this subplot is original to this series, seeing as these would all be things happening away from the player characters’ purview. It also gives us a better explanation of the function of the Beacon to the Kryn, as it holds their souls when they die and uses energy from alternate and previous lives to help them reincarnate. But Trent sees a different, more offensive use for it, which was probably obvious to anyone who first saw him and how he just screams “evil wizard guy”. We’re now halfway through the season, which is crazy to think since the series hasn’t even been out two full weeks, but it’ll be fun to see where this first season lands.