The debut episode kicks off with the execution of Thjazi Fang, an adventurer turned revolutionary in the city of Dol-Majkar. Fang's execution is witnessed by numerous people from his past, including former adventuring partners, family, and shady associates. Although Fang is charged with being an arcanist (magic appears to be heavily regulated in the new setting of Araman), him and several associates seems to have worked out a means of escape, but the magic ward meant to aid his quick escape fails and he dies in the first fifteen minutes of the episode.
The rest of his episode slowly introduces the large cast of players involved with Thjazi over the years, as well as brief glimpses as to why he was killed on fake charges. Liam O'Brien plays Halandil Fang, brother to Thjazi and the person responsible for organizing his funeral. Various well-wishers from Thajzi's past arrive at the funeral, starting with Halandil's ex-lover Thaisha Lloy (Aabria Iyengar), former subordinate Azune Nayar (Luis Carazo) and timid necromancer Occtis Tachonis (Alex Ward).
The episode mostly focuses on Thjazi Fang's funeral, with various players making sometimes welcome and other time hostile entrances. Old acquaintances attempt to track down why Fang's escape from death failed, including Teor Pridesire (Travis Willingham) and tracker Kattigan Vale (Robbie Daymond) and discover Fang's longtime pixie partner Thimble (Laura Bailey) on the brink of death. Thimble was attacked in a flophouse owned by Fang while crafting the ward meant to help him disappear, meaning that Thjazi was betrayed by someone close to him and who knew of the conspiracy to help him escape execution. Meanwhile, various arcanists seemingly involved with Fang in recent years also arrive, including the masked warlock Bolaire Lathalia (Taliesin Jaffe) and dwarf wizard Murray Mag'Nesson (Marisha Ray). Both were named in Thjazi's final words, although the manner of their shared conspiracy is unclear as of now.
Araman is a place where the gods were driven out or killed 70 years prior, but religion still plays a major part of the intrigue of the show. Sam Riegel plays Wicander Halovar, a noble turned priest who attempted in vain to stop his family from executing Fang. Whitney Moore played Tyranny, a demon turned aspirant who serves Wicander. Both worship "the Light," a sort of guiding force upholding morality but lacks a metaphysical presence like traditional fantasy gods. Meanwhile, Vaelus (Ashley Johnson) arrives at the funeral in a state of perpetual mourning for her lost elven god, searching for a stone stolen by Fang and Thimble. At the mention of Thimble's name at Fang's funeral, a mysterious shattered mask retrieved by Thaisha on Fang's behalf begins to re-form upstairs, a mask that looks suspiciously like the one worn by Bolaire.
The biggest surprise of the episode was Matthew Mercer's character Sir Julien Davinos. Davinos was a rival to Thjazi Fang and bested the rogue during his failed rebellion twelve years prior. While the other PCs are mourning Fang's death, Davinos seems to celebrate his old foe's final defeat and even spits on Fang's body at his funeral. Interestingly, Davinos is also a childhood friend of Fang's estranged wife Aranessa. The other characters all seem to have reasons to stick together in the episodes to come, but Sir Julien seems to be at natural odds with the other characters, although a curse seems to follow him from the funeral that could entangle his path with the other characters.
Although much has changed with Critical Role's new campaign, the dramatics and deep roleplay remained the same. Despite the large cast, table chatter was kept to a minimum and everyone seemed to get a spotlight to showcase their character. To the credit of the everyone on the cast, there was very little stepping on of toes, despite the many moving parts and the deep heapings of intrigue introduced over the first few hours of the campaign.
I also enjoyed that the worldbuilding of Araman, a brand-new campaign world, largely took place without Mulligan's exposition. There are lots of intriguing teases of what this world was like, but it was mostly left for the players themselves to introduce. An elf mourning their fallen god and arguments over a newly formed religion highlighted the tension of a world without gods, while natural rivalries between houses teased out the political intrigue of the world. We know very little of Araman's geography or ways, but the world feels very lived in thanks to how immersed each of the players seemed into their respective characters.
Of course, a four hour commitment for any piece of media is going to be a hard pill to swallow, although those wanting to jump into Critical Role will find no better place than this first episode. Critical Role hasn't lost a step despite its changes and I for one can't wait to see how this new campaign plays out over the coming years.
