@@yooooo8600 M9 didn't "disrespect" the Clay family, this is insane hyperbole. When they freed them from petrification, the group found humor in the way the Firbolg's spoke, specifically Cad's father. Cad literally tells them it's fine more than once.
@@TheQuiet94 I agree with TheQuiet. Caduceus's whole dynamic with his family is of deep love, intertwined with ungodly amounts of teasing each other. With how close he's gotten with the rest of TM9, he's entrusted them to that sort of level of "privilege" to do it too. Like TheQuiet said, he says multiple times that it's alright.
@@TheQuiet94 It really wasn't just about his direct family tho, half the party was super disrespectful towards the temple and stuff, there are entire scenes where they are trolling the petrified inhabitants there by doing random shit in their houses or the whole pinecone thing that Nott did, both despite Cad asking them to not do that - also the whole part where Cad is super concerned about gathering up all the broken pieces of all the shattered petriefied people and Beau just throws the petrified head of someone in the lake for shits and giggles or the part where Nott is like "are we sure we wanna waste that expensive super glue on reviving your aunt?". Honestly tho, the worst part was really that the other *players*, not just their characters in general were kinda frustrating in that episode and kinda kept pointlessly hogging the spotlight in an episode that should haven been 100% about Caduceus and his family - the few scenes we did get like him an his sister were just so great!
It's a bummer when folks feel frightened to RP. When I come to the table, and I rarely do, novice here, I come with a personality because I want us to be enthralled.
This is one of the most intense and memorable moments in all of Critical Role and the DM did not say a single word the entire time. You don't need a DM to tell a great story, you just need to care enough to do it.
I think the best part about this scene is right afterward, the exchange with Scan / Grog 'Grog - Can I ask you a question? Scan - No, I will not go whoring with you one more time Grog - No, I was going to ask what your mothers name was. Scan - It was juniper... thank you for asking Grog- Im sorry I didn't know that Travis and Sam were the undisputed goats of C1
@@nickfidler6908 a coincidence by it just so happended that Sam explored what is very rarely explored among group of adventurer friends that play/adventure for years. They don't know shit about each other really unless the story involves their backgrounds. So Percy, Twins, Grog, Pike, Keyleth all had their families introduced, but no one ever asked Scanlan's story. And while Sam was making shit up on the spot he played this so well. I just wish he told Percy properly when he did this outburst about his parents, especially since Sam did see it coming or just remembered Percy's parents name. It would only add up to the scene if Percy ended up being angry at him for no reaosn(even at their reunion) because he did remember their name which shows that Scanlan did care about all the stories he lived with his friends, but no one ever cared to explore his. Truly a little tragic story, kind of wish it had some more tragic consequences when Scanlan was gone. But I Am also happy he got good ending with Pike and his daughter, even started criminal legacy of the meat man. I hope campagin 2 and 3 also bring such topics. I'm only 40eps into campagin 2 and Nott and Caleb seem to be going this dramatic route and i love it. I hope to see such outburst
One of the most shattering parts of this is Matt. He doesn’t say anything he lets it happen, but when Laura says they got the figurine and she looks to Matt for confirmation and he just shakes his head. In every session he has the final say, and he just confirmed to Laura the fear of not caring about Scanlan enough to do that simple thing for him and making sure Matt knew.
I mean in fairness, they covered him in pudding as a lark and then showed him off to his daughter after he expressly told them how much his relationship with her meant to him... so this has always had a real strong feeling of party consequences to their fuckery.
It is, but Sam himself has said if it was someone else Scanlan would have been joining in the fuckery. It's important to remember that neither side was right here.
@@tylerdurham6091 While this is true, it's hard to picture the party pulling that type of shit with any of the other members. So there would be no "fuckery" to join in the first place. Even if Scanlan tried to do this to another party member unprompted, I'm pretty sure the other characters would've called him out. The fact of the matter is that every party member death up to, and past this point was treated seriously, even Keyleth's infamous cliff death elicited a concerned and alarmed response from Vex in universe. This was the only instance where it's treated with any sort of levity.
@@Birthday888 That's ingoring a lot of context. Scanlan's death was given the same amount of gravity when he died and during the resurrection. They only made a joke of it afterwards. Scanlan took longer to wake up because Sam couldn't be there. I don't buy,them only doing this to Scanlan under those curcumstances. Grog and Vax, for example, could easily have used that opportinity to escalate their prank war.
Honestly I agree! As it was being done I felt uncomfortable due to his drug abuse and having his daughter there but seeing his reaction here solidified how the characters did overlook Scanlan as a deeply troubled person. They reacted with contempt to his drug use and didnt check in on him after dying the first time. This is so well done by the cast because the consequences feel real, Sam brings Scanlans hidden pain alive in the way that real people have an outburst once the pain gets too strong.
@@tylerdurham6091 Yeah, because none of the other party memebers have a child who would have seen their parent killed and treated like that. It's real tone deaf when it's Scanlan and Kaylie.
What gets me about this is that watching prior episodes, Sam actually telegraphed Scanlan's isolation and insecurity for a really, really long time, but the party took it for a joke. Mercutio Syndrome. This was the simply masterful payoff of something that had been in the wind for a while, and really not something you could pull off with most groups while still hoping to have a group afterward.
@@FrostyTheSnowPickle TBF this comment feels like something the party would say. Over the course of their adventures scanlan was throwing calls out for help and they all laughed along. Sadly this happens irl many times, as a lot of people will cover up insecurities, depression, anxiety, and trauma with humour.
Listing off everything they have done for all the other members of the party before ending it with "Whats my mothers name?" Fuck man This whole monologue is so powerful, they're all such amazing actors
Actually, I do. I've orbited many groups of friends, and a less serious version of this situation often happens People are bad communicators People change And people prefer to stick to doing what they're used to doing even when it's bad And this is the result
I hope that The Legend of Vox Machina continues to air until the entire campaign has been adapted, 'cause dammit, I wanna see this moment fully brought to life in animation.
If they do go through the whole campaign (they'll have to rework the Whispered One a lot because of how tied he is to D&D lore) I feel they are doing a pretty good job setting up the initial conflict between Scanlan and the rest of the party. Vex calling Scanlan "gnome" to his face when telling him to mind his own business (episode 1). Saying she won't die saving the life of that gnome in episode 5. No one taking Scanlan's suggestion to focus on Delilah's book seriously until the Wraith's invaded the keep and nearly killed them trying to get the book back, making sarcastic comments about his ideas and suggestions, like maybe Fince was trying to assassinate Krieg. In fact, so far in the animated series, only Pike and Grog have taken Scanlan seriously. Scanlan suggested that Fince was trying to assassinate Krieg and it was Pike who confronted him about it using Scanlan's logic. Grog has been openly honest with Scanlan about the things Vex told him about Scanlan "having dick for brains" and encouraging him when Scanlan was practicing his polymorph scroll/spell. He also didn't make fun of Scanlan's failed lightning spell (clearly his first attempt at it in combat) and just said it needed some work.
@@Dragon_Lair Man, you're totally right. I'm still so stunned at the fact that the show even exists, I didn't even connect those dots before I read your comment. It's so cool how much they're setting up right from the get-go, and it'll be so cool to see how non-critters react to some of these iconic moments. Everything about Critical Role feels to me like a ray of sunshine in what is otherwise the darkest timeline.
@@AlasdairGR Well, Vecna is very much a D&D lore thing and Legend of Vox Machina has gone out of its way to remove all things related to D&D, copyright wise, because it is not officially Dungeons and Dragons. The campaign initially started out as a Pathfinder game and the cast moved to D&D 5E for the stream so it mixes both. As a result, the actual cartoon has to not use the lore of either.
@@AlasdairGR It's the same reason why "Bigby's Hand" had to be changed into "Scanlan's Hand". Since just about all of the campaign is homebrew they can include most of it, but they can't outright name spells or most likely include huge figures in the lore like Vecna. There might be some wiggle room by exclusively using his title of the Whispered One, or they can make it Vekna idk, I don't know enough about this sorta stuff to really solve the issue.
It also is a big thing for Scanlan too since he felt he broke his promise when he died fighting Raishan and just how he felt he needed time away from his family of Vox Machina due to the frustration he felt as well as I’m sure some fear because of the fact he died.
I love how when Sam asks "what's my mothers name", if you look at the faces across the table, you see genuine looks developing across the others faces as they try to remember if they know or even even asked and all just go "oh...shit"
This legit made me cry...like the emotion is too real...and it's actually pretty spot on with the guy who wears the biggest smile also has the biggest demons...and is usually fighting them all on his own while the set of his friends set their shit on his shoulders thinking out of everyone he is the most put together..but in reality he's the one falling hardest apart...and they don't even know him...but to be fair Scanlan really is secretive, he doesn't share often and he doesn't show his true feelings often..he's always acting like the funny guy...
Despite sam being the funny character,scanlan actually has a few points that are true. So when he chosen to do this it made sense to his character development, that's why it sticks, sam can also be a good actor so he's not as little skill as he thinks he is. But we know that
But if they really wanted to find out they could have. No one really though about him that much until this point. And even said he was "just a dude" which really seemed to upset him. I think he resented the fact that even though he cared about vox machina they didn't seem to care much about him or even bother to check on him in moments of crisis.
@@johanlassen6448 You have to give people reason to ask though. Scanlan played the happy funny guy to the others and they took him at face value, what more did he want? For them to ask about his tragic backstory apropos of nothing? It's a two way street, and it's wrong for Scanlan to blame others when he made no attempt himself to step on to the street. If he believed that none of the rest of the group cared about him at all, he should have broached the topic with them before it reached breaking point.
He posted a picture of himself and how he prepared for that confrontation for that night. He had printed up Percy's family's names and had the list in front of him because it would make sense that Scanlan would know them, because as Percy said, their names are on the walls.
That little “f-ing hell” from Laura gets me every time. Because as someone who has been on both sides of conversations eerily similar to this that absolute blindsided feeling- gosh. That hits different
Agreed. As someone who forgot something I saw as tiny, I brushed it off as something that didn't matter and only realised after it was far too late that it meant the world to the other person, and then had it happen to me... It's soul crushing. Realising that this tiny action that costs the people you would move heaven and earth for *nothing* and they still didn't do it? Couldn't be bothered, didn't care, it wasn't important enough to them? When it was the only thing you'd asked if them in your entire relationship? It crushes you. Because you'd still move heaven for them, but your arms start to buckle when you're moving earth.
4:42 Honestly maybe the most underrated part of this scene. Scanlan's inner monologue is probably "Really? Good fucking job you've asked me my age once? Do you remember the answer though?"
I love it when “comic relief” characters get to get loud and mad at being relegated to “comic relief” it’s got to be one of my favorite tropes/trope subversions of all time and this is one of my favorite examples of it
my favorite wasn't a character moment but a player moment. When the conclave attacked, and Travis rolled a 21 to hit. He picked up his damage dice and Matt said that he missed. The wave of "Oh shit" washing over all of their faces was priceless.
Same. This had so much emotional nuance/realism AND drama to it. It was unexpected and did not play into any fantasy tropes at all. Definitely the most iconic in-character moment of the campaign (we all know what OOC moment was the most iconic).
You mean Tarrion Darrington, the man who sacrificed his only real friend in a fight that had nothing to do with him and started an adventuring company who took on charity work to help the less fortunate in order to right the wrongs of his father? That Tarry?
@@zangor3005 I'm more referring to how Liam reacted at the end of the episode. Tarry turned into a pretty solid character, but he was much less so when first introduced.
"Is that all you heard? :C" grog realizing that his low persuasion role when they were reviving meant it didn't go through... And marisha fucking laughing at him lol
You've got to wonder what it's like DMing a moment like that. Letting one Character completely turn and knowing it's going to be so much extra work but yet, it's so good that the hardwork is worth it
While I think a DM would think that in general (and it would be fascinating to have such a moment), IIRC Matt got a bit of a heads up, and suggested Sam go for an artificer character for his change of pace (and he also narrated them finding Taryon before Sam introduced himself as Tary).
Had a session where the party’s reckless decision to go seeking a dangerous guarded treasure got one of them killed, the next session had a lot of anger emotion blame but eventually understanding and catharsis, led to some great rp. Some of my favorite moments as a dm is when I get to sit back and just let the players take control of the story and let them play out their own drama
4:11 you wondering why Marisha is taking notes like a mad man in campaign 2?......... when scanlan asked the question "whats my mothers name" i bet she also didn't remember his mother's name. and idk if she was in the scene or not.... but being that close to such a scene.... and the look on her face of wanting to know the answer but being mad at herself for either not knowing or not being there in character probably gave a little push to why she takes so many notes in campaign two. and i could be wrong, maybe her character in campaign 2 just likes to take notes and remembers thing more easily. or maybe marisha likes to take notes.... but i bet this is ones of those things that kinda pushed her over the edge to take more detailed notes.
I think in general she always took a lot of notes as a player when they streamed, because I feel like it was referenced in campaign one at some point, but she could've really went in deeper with notetaking over time. When they all started out in D&D/Pathfinder she probably never thought about taking notes int he beginning, hence why she doesn't speak up or seem to remember Juniper. That said, I'm like 75% sure she wasn't in this scene. It sounds familiar like Keyleth walked off to either buy more stuff or talk to one of Whitestone's officials about how things were going on post-Chroma Conclave.
That "No we didn't" from Travis was so defeated, wow. Knowing Sam Riegel as the funnyman, this hits even harder. Beware of the moment when the jester doesn't feel like joking.
The truth is they never really thought about scanlan that much up until this moment, they never tried to talk to him about his past or see how he was doing.
Also, it feels like the players were just mad at Sam for leaving on some level, and that meant that none of the characters except for pike and grog exploring life w/o scanlan
IIRC he spent the last few episodes before this getting high... Everyone knew it and treated it like a gag. They didn't see that it was self destructive behavior. Really great character development by Sam.
I love Sam so much. You know what's fucked up though? This wasn't ever really properly resolved in the campaign. He came back and they went right back into the final arc without really talking anything out. Realistic, perhaps, but narratively there was still a lot to be explored here. Oh well.
@@phffffbt He was though? The whole "I've asked your age" thing sums it up pretty well, Sam played Scanlan as a joke and stopped him from getting close to the other members and shot them down whenever they asked if he was okay, they eventually stopped prodding him because they figured Sam was playing him as a joke (which he was). This whole thin was Sam's way of saying "I'm gonna play more serious from now on", none of Scanlan's points are valid here and that's kinda the point.
@@Errrrrrrick You seem like one of those people who started with C2 and are used to "Serious but funny" Sam. C1 Sam was NOT taking Scanlan seriously at all and would blow off other member's attempts to get him involved in the RP, he liked dicking around and having fun with it. I can tell you without a shred of doubt that Sam did not always play seriously, he started playing seriously after this episode. Also, are you saying Sam himself was depressed, or that he was always secretly playing Scanlan as depressed? Cause both are bullshit lol and Sam would be the first to call you out on it.
Watched campaign 1 all over again not too long ago. All I could remember leading up to this episode was the disrespect from the other party members (cough cough vex cough) towards scanlan and then scanlans self destructive behavior (trying to smoke the spice and almost dieing, etc. etc.). Like the dude was obviously in a dark place and the rest of the party just kind of laughed about it?!?! No one to one sit downs and trying to figure out what was wrong just "Haha funny man being funny and almost died, don't do that again!" It really brings into light everything that leads to Scanlan finally snapping. While it was sad to not have him around, I think it was the shift the rest of Vox Machina needed to experience.
Absolutely. In many ways, I feel Scanlan's blow up and departure is exactly the kick in the pants that Vox Machina needed to stop thinking about themselves first and foremost. They (the characters) never took Scanlan seriously, save for Pike and Grog, and no one really took the time to try and get to know him even as they saw he was in a downward spiral. Vex even saying he was just some dude right after praising everyone else in the group. They definitely needed Scanlan in the hells and he wasn't around to help them any more probably helped them stop taking his presence for granted. Then Tarion Darrington enters the scene, a living personification of all of Vox Machina's worst traits, shoved right in their faces. It put them in a position where no matter how skilled or famous they were they were being treated and talked to like they were the side show to the leading man, Tarrion himself. Sure, they quickly put him in his place in the pecking order but Tary never stopped treating them like side characters in his story and didn't even bother learning their names before Pike forced him to, except Percy. After the year-long break for Vox Machina and Scanlan's return, I feel all the characters went through some much needed character development.
@@Dragon_Lair And I’m sure Scanlan needed to do a lot of soul searching while he was away, which is also why he likely felt he needed to apologize to the party for how he walked out on them due to his frustration at how he felt he broke his promise to Kaylie when he died.
@@BryonYoungblood Yeah. While VM didn't treat Scanlan right in many instances, it's not fair to them to throw it back in their faces and accuse them of not caring about him when he never brought any of his issues up to the party.
@@flameknightdragon Yes, but that's because we have hindsight. Scanlan was actively trying to tell them everything was fine until things went to far and he reached his limit. He never told them how he felt until he felt as if he had to leave. If someone does something that you aren't cool with, and your only response is to not tell them and keep saying that you're okay, then part of the responsibility of them not realizing that you're hurting lies with yourself.
It’s also great because Tarion is a reflection of Vox Machina’s worst traits. Terry takes the wind out of their sails very quickly when he doesn’t recognize them, puts himself before them, and treats them as additions to HIS adventures, and he is remarkably self-absorbed, exactly how Scanlan felt Vox Machina were behaving.
I plan to watch the first campaign after I catch up with the second one (at at 98) but just from this clip a lot of the jokes that Sam makes as Nott fall in to place. I didn't understand why the whole table laughed when they asked Nott what her mothers name was.
Pootis Spencer of course she does. Her father was a lying shitbag while her mother was actually there for her. Of course she values actions over promises which to her are just words
I find myself in his situation sometimes, because I am queit often. And i usually crack weird lines that some generous people would interprate as jokes
While he probably played it as a joke the drug stuff kinda makes sense when you think about it. Scanlan has a lot on his shoulders and no one to really speak to. When he held onto the 8th or 7th spell just to convince Jaret to get drugs and the story he used to convince him was probably a truer story he never told.
In the group's defense, the actual characters never knew he saved that slot. And only Vax and Keyleth were beginning to realize he was smoking weird shit. Scanlan doesn't quite have the right to be pissed that nobody knows him when he guards himself off the others. Could Vox Machina have treated Scanlan better? Yes, and they should have. But they literally did not know Scanlan had issues with them.
holy shxt. not only is this top class role-play/acting, it invokes me to check back my own relationships with my friends. we all have that one jokester in the squad, and damn, that just hits. I just feel bad.
I love this cause it’s basically scanland is basically all of us who are alone and think we have people who care about us but probably truly don’t . He shows all that emotion and says everything that we have always wanted to say
No such thing as "just" acting. Whenever you act or roleplay, you're letting someone else inhabit you for awhile; and I think this clip shows that every person, even fictional ones, deserve to matter, even if only for a moment.
if this part of the campaign ends up getting animated i don't know if i'll be able to cope. when i was watching c1 for the first time i went into this episode knowing scanlan leaves but having no other indications or spoilers about what was coming. i cried harder during this scene than any other time in campaign 1, second only to vax's farewell and the end of dalen's closet
even when listening to this whole thing the first time around, i thought it was in such bad taste to dress a dead body up in a nightgown and smear stuff on it.
Oh 100%. If there was a royal fuck up that VM had no defense for, it was that. The other shit was stuff Scanlan kind of hid and kept at his own discretion. But this was just punching down.
Dude, I always wondered what this "what was my mother's name" thing was about (besides a possible jab at BvS) but this is gold. I can completely understand Scanlan because unfortunately I've been that guy in the group. (Minus the awesome lymrics and magic)
Mine is sort of going through this right now. I've played a careless warlock. I tend to come off as a "look out for myself" type of character. Last session someone said I only care about myself. The whole group laid into me. I had to remind them how often I've done things for them. Sliding from a hidden door on a hill and put myself between a demon and our hurt cleric. The time I switched places with the rogue as a violet of Aries came at her. The time I talked down a dragon (massive persuasion role) and a few others I listed. I didn't do that for the mission, I did that for my friends. The only people I thought cared about me. I don't have parents or family in just the one I've built. It felt really good finally making them realize I'm part of the family to
I will never forget the moment I pulled over to watch this instead of listen. One of the best moments in Critical Role, as far as I am concerned. What a group of actors we have to enjoy..
Ya know. If they went on adventures for everyone else's issues and individual journys...and didn't even know my mother's name. Something so important to the character. I'd lleave. I would no longer be part of the adventuring group.
I joined Critical Role for ExU1 (and now C3), and I don't have the time to go back and watch hundreds of hours to catch up on C1/C2. But this clip... damn. I really hope LoVM lasts enough seasons to make this scene happen.
It also shows that even though you know (or think you know) what a person is like and care about them in earnesty, you can still miss so many simple yet crucial things about them.
Love this scene but man, looking back, if scanlan's self-isolation wasn't really his own fault in the end. His friends used to try and ask if he was okay, or just innocuous questions about him and his past, but he always joked, lied or otherwise deflected so they never knew if something was ever actually wrong or not. Honestly this moment is even more powerful when you realize this is the anger of a man who is just starting to realize he's the reason his friends treat him the way they do, and he takes out that rage on them instead.
It's a rough situation. Everyone had fault leading up to this. Yes, the others tried to get to know Scanlan and he wouldn't let them and that's on him, but the others weren't treating him all that kindly either. From Vex calling him just a dude, no one taking him seriously when he made it very clear that his highest priority was keeping his promise to his daughter because he desperately wanted to do right by her when all she's known is him doing wrong, Vax regularly manhandling him and lastly, the prank of tying him up and covering him with pudding right after he was brought back to life. Something that absolutely no one else did to anyone else in the party who had died. Scanlan laughed off attempts to get to know him and deflected but the others were not treating him well either. All sides were at fault leading up to this.
But see, that's the thing: there are a million and one reasons someone might not be comfortable opening up. But if you truly care about someone, you keep asking and supporting. (Not pestering or prying, just occasionally ask things.) Because you want to get to know them, even when they're too scared to let you in. A true friend does their best to keep reminding you that they're there and interested whenever you're ready for them. They didn't do that. They asked a bit, heard him deflect, and just went, "okay, then, we don't care enough to keep asking, we're fine assuming things about you instead". That's what hurt him: their indifference.
@@IceMetalPunk It also feeds into his insecurity that the only reason why the party keeps him around is because he's the little funny man who makes jokes and sings songs. Of course he's going to deflect.
@@IceMetalPunkto be fair to them, it didn't help that he has stupid high deception and out rolled them pretty much every time they asked him about himself and how he was. When he said he was fine their characters believed him 100%
Scanlan asked Vax about that, and the conversation ended with Scanlan asking Vax if he loved him. Vax replied, "you are entertaining and I would hate to see you go." Rough.
