‘Critical Role’ 3×34 recap: What Dreams May Come
Death is just a waiting game on Critical Role!
‘Critical Role’ 3×34 recap: Campaign 3, Episode 34 “What Dreams May Come” Aired September 15, 2022
In the light
White light consumes all. And in that burning illumination visions flash through their eyes. Each of the (remaining) Bells Hells see snatches of forgotten memories:
Fresh Cut Grass catches a glimpse of their life from before the Calamity, living in a world where sentient automatons were common.
Chetney sees loves that he’s had and lost– always a lady killer, that Chet! His world shifts and he sees the red moon flashing above, calling to his werewolf nature, pulling it out of him.
Laudna, clinging to life, sees her family home in far away Whitestone. She sees her last fateful dinner before Delilah Briarwood killed her to send a message to adventure’s Laudna had never heard of. And she knows fear– the fear that she no longer knows where Delilah ends and she begins.
Ashton remembers their family. And a ritual gone terribly, terribly wrong.
Imogen stands in the heart of an exploding star. She is walking with her mother through a field. Then Otohan is there, in the memory and in real life. Her mother’s voice reaches Imogen across time and memory. Telling her to run.
With a psychic blast of power, Imogen shoves Otohoan away.
Consequences
The white light fades and the Bells Hells are at the center of a crater. The buildings that once stood on the street around them are nothing but rubble. Otohan is gone. It’s the only mercy. Dungeon Master Matt Mercer turns to Marisha Ray (his wife) and tells her to make her final death saving roll. She’s already failed two. Fail another and Laudna is dead.
Marisha rolls a natural one and hearts all across Critterdom break. Laudna is dead. So is Orym and Fearne.
Fresh Cut Grass has one remaining spell left, and he uses it to revive Fearne. It’s a tactical move– The Bells Hells know each other well enough by now to know that Fearne has healing abilities. But it puts Fearne in a Sophie’s Choice situation.
Save Orym or Laudna?
Fearne’s Choice
I do not envy Fearne for being put in this situation. Not a single one of the Bells Hells wanted to weigh in on this decision. And neither Liam nor Marisha wanted to speak up for their characters.
There was a argument that Laudna has been dead before, so maybe she can come back again? No guarantees. In the end the choice proves too painful for Fearne. She flips a coin.
And revives Orym.
Safehouse
Ashton throws Laudna’s body over their shoulder and the Bells Hells race through the streets of Bassuras to Imahara Joe’s. The tinkerer is one of the only friends they’ve made in the city, and he proves himself to be a great one.
He hides the Bells Hells beneath his shop, protecting them while the Paragon’s Call comes searching and giving them time to rest and regroup. They let Treshi out long enough to breathe and lick their wounds.
With their magic restored they send messages to summon their airship and warn Lord Eshteross that Otohoan may be after him. Fresh Cut Grass also cast peaceful repose on Laudna, preserving her body in the hopes they can resurrect her later.
But when the spell took hold, they felt something else too. Something malevolent held at bay. Delilah perhaps? Preparing to take Laudna’s body for her own? Or to stop Laudna from becoming truly undead. We don’t know. Hope we will never know. (Fingers cross, yall!)
Escape
All that’s left for the Bells Hells is to race to the edge of town to catch their flight. They make it, fit with bumps, bruises and broken hearts. For now it’s back to Jrusar and the hope the Lord Eshteross knows someone who can bring Laudna back.
As Delilah said, “Don’t worry…. Death is but a waiting game.”
Watch Critical Role Thursdays at 7pm PST on Twitch and YouTube! Check out last week’s Critical Role recap here, or watch me talk about all the highlights and theories here!
Critical Role 3×34 Highlights
- Does Chetney’s vision mean that he was originally transformed beneath a Rudius flare? This moon is everywhere, people!!
- Imogen was shook by the memory of her mother. As far as she knew, her mother left right after she was born. But this memory suggests otherwise. Perhaps her memory was tampered with.
- I died when Marisha left the table!!!! Laudna was the perfect character for her and I am going to hold out hope that they find someone
