The play may be over, but the show goes on

Critical Role Campaign 4: Here in the Dark

+ bonus

I'm so glad nothing bad has ever happened to any member of the Panto family, and they all lived happily ever after

So in Canada and the United States (and I'm sure other places but I know it re these two) in parallel to stripping status of indigenous folks by revoking it if you lived off reserve or joined the military and in parallel to residential and day schools, there was a specific and concentrated effort at justifying removing indigenous children from their homes and adopting them out to "civilized" families. This became the prominent form of indigenous genocide as the residential schools started getting shut down in the late 50s, hence the name Sixties Scoop.

This phenomenon has not ended nor did it begin in the 1960s, this name represents the peak in government backing and overall share of impact.

Social workers were given quotas as to how many indigenous children they removed from their homes. Birth Alerts were put in place on the basis of indigenous identity and ancestry of the mother, Birth Alerts being the practice of putting a note on a pregnant mother's medical record so that when they gave birth, social services would be immediately notified so that the child could be placed in foster care while the mother was assessed for competence. Most of these babies were never returned. This is why Birth Alerts have been outlawed in many parts of Canada.

Many of these children were not only not returned, but were adopted across international borders and denied citizenship in the country of their birth due to lack of documentation access. One prominent case involved denying an indigenous man his birthright citizenship because his adoptive parents had his name legally changed from his indigenous sounding name and he didn't know what his birthname was to request access to his own birth certificate. My grandmother's birth certificate doesn't have her birth parents on it and she was not born in hospital, and her name is biblical, so that she would not be disappeared like him.

I can't stop thinking about last episode for Wick in general.

The warmth and respect between Thimble and wick, a bond forged in battle.

The way Hal and Murray keep making digs at Wick, displacing their anger at house halovar/the sundered houses at him. Which i love btw it shows so much interesting personality details about both of them. I might do another post when ive formulated it better but in general i think murray is playing up the character flaw that brings her into conflict with azune, and hal is showing how much he's barely holding together and how overwhelmed he is, and reflects the way he's been much more brash lately. Can't wait to see how that works out (/pos)

The fact that occtis and Julien both assured wick it wasn't his fault, incidentally being the only two personally familiar with how terrifying Primus is and also the other two people that Wick was trying to go rescue there.

How Tyranny keeps showing her hurt at Wick leaving her behind.

People LOVE to talk about how Bolaire could just kill his victims rather than subjecting them to mind theatre torture while starving them to death. They say that 'even though Bolaire only preys on people who hurt him or his friends, it is still morally wrong to take their agency and harm them rather than killing them outright'. They say that this justifies how Thjazi treated him.

....But Thjazi could've taken Bolaire off between those victims, put him in a box, and effectively 'killed' him / put him into stasis, if he was so damn horrified by the morality of letting Bolaire walk about in his city.

He chose not to do that.

He instead chose to treat Bolaire, a sapient person, as a tool who he possessed and controlled, while subjecting him to dehumanising cruelty every step of the way. Even if Bolaire is a dangerous parasite who hurts people, Thjazi chose to torment him over a prolonged period rather than 'ending things' immediately. While still letting Bolaire torture his victims.

The fact that Erika decided to create a character involved in sex work and that while there are hints of how complicated that actually is in practice, both Erika and Aabria have utterly refused to play a PC and NPCs who are ashamed of that work. These characters have preferences of how they work and are comfortable and settled in that, and their dreams aren't to stop working necessarily, but to have things like trees and sunlight and a better work-life balance. Chee in particular in this flashback has plans of building a place made for the workers, instead of a distant company that runs the house she works within.

Mmmmmmmmmm

Murray.

I’ve touched on it before, I’ve got to say it again

I think our self-professed hick wizard has a big bitter bias against anyone swinging sorcery around, friend or foe, and it is still yet to be addressed even as it threatens to turn into a very real issue for the Schemers 2.0 going forward

I already dissected my thoughts on this regarding her treatment of Azune up to the threshold of the House Einfasen meeting and the Tachonis case. But we got some fresh barbs in for episode 31. Blink and you’ll miss them, but they’re there.

Like, what is this? Murray, what is this?

I want to say it’s the comical drunkenness talking, but it’s not one step removed from how she belittled him in the Overture as he was fresh off of the nightmare revelation of his faith’s lie, followed by rescuing Teor with Tyranny

Murray’s the only one in the party who snipes at Wic like this in the gathering, with Thimble happily stunned to learn that he tried to rescue her and the others at Obrimus Manor, Occtis reaching out to ask if he’s alright and offering the Shield glyph, and Bolaire declaring outright that he trusts Wic completely.

When we get this:

Murray’s comment has been the only real barb in the mix, even with him having confessed to murdering someone under duress of Primus’ threat. I feel like the same suspicion-momentum that has Murray dumping out tidal waves of conspiracy theories based less in her divination augury than simple pessimistic what-ifs—the same paranoia that horded the lion’s share of protection for the Hallowed Round and painted a picture of a group Sundered House ritual simply because Primus was showing back up in town around the same time as the play, the same paranoia that pushed Thjazi’s intentions past ‘complicated’ and into ‘yeah I think he’d risk a theater full of innocent people for his cause’—intertwines with this ongoing Always Suspect/Accuse the Worst of People with X Trait habit of hers

Thjazi obviously wasn’t a sorcerer, and she even held him in enough esteem to weep at the thought of his last words being Help Murray, believing in her, only to need next to nothing in terms of evidence to start theorizing his roguishness could translate into utter ruthlessness to the point of gambling his brother, his theater, and Dol-Makjar itself; that he might have been tied up with the Sundered Houses (derogatory) by intention or mistake

With Wicander and Azune, people who have only been trying their best to do right by others, putting themselves in danger, and compromising their own identities for the Greater Good, there is still that unspoken “mystery reason” that keeps young Lord Halovar (rich sorcerer son of a Sundered House) continuously on her shit list despite all points of his character showing it to be unearned, and Captain Nayar (sorcerer and actor-chameleon Arcane Marshal plant risking everything every day at work by winning over Einfasen and Halovar) who she’s known and mentored since he was a teenager and has never once given her reason to doubt him. Innate pessimism and habitual suspicion blended into prejudice

Even the little compliment she saves for Azune

feels like it carries the same under-the-breath accusation laced in telling him ‘he’s so good’ at playing the role of a villain in service to villains; that Azune, very best friend that he is to her, dare not betray her trust in him as she entrusts her special wizard baby boy student to being asked to testify so help her god  

just

Marisha is building the tension under this so well and I’m rocking back and forth waiting to see who or what will burst the bubble of it all to make Murray have to confront it without hiding behind denial and metaphors. Distrust and derision have already lost a lot of footing since the Overture days, to the point that she can’t claim it’s logical or safety in skepticism anymore, let alone in the Scheming days ahead. It’s just her being cruel and an ass because of somebody's unavoidable physical/magical trait. A trait she has long since painted in her mind as a marker of class and laziness and lordly foulness, regardless of the actual character of the person who possesses it. And with the playing field being set up as it is, I think—almost hope—that the results turn ugly enough that it can’t be ignored anymore

Wic is probably going to be on the receiving end of more nettles from her regardless of how well he does with his undercover work—but Tyranny is going to be right there, having his back, standing up for him and calling out bad faith takes. Azune is going to still be at work, probably twice as hard now as Einfasen ramps up the pressure to be their own mole to the Creed and personal agent among the Arcane Marshals, meaning more ‘play the villain’ acts that will court yet another unpleasant patch between him and Murray ala the Demodus situation. How many strikes until he finally cracks?

I don’t know

That the reason Bolaire was getting upset about hearing that the other rituals had to be completed, was because he knew that he would be required to participate?

That Mara's comment about "You'll be protected. Now that I know that you're the missing halfling weapon, I'll die before I let someone throw you in a box" could be interpreted not as message of goodwill, but one of intent to complete the afterlife mission at all costs, since Bolaire is currently the only lead the Cloak has on a halfling weapon component?

Bolaire wearing anyone else:

What are you doing here?

Thjazi neglected to check up on Casimir's status with the Crow Keepers

Thjazi asked both Hal and Aranessa to leave the rest of their families for him

Thjazi simultaneously worked with Azune and the company that separated him from Mayali/stranded him as a child

Julien's significance to people Thjazi cares about didn't factor into the decision(s) to harm and endanger him, threatening others by extension. "By extension" is a concept Thjazi really ought to wrap his dead head around, because his stunt for Thimble, who didn't require Julien's help and previously told him to leave, could have resulted in the deaths of Occtis, Mara, and Alba. Thjazi's disregard for that jerkass knight he's stuck with could have caused some of the most suffering to—of all people—Thjazi's widow, his sister-in-law, and his closest partners

Bolaire, despite hating Thjazi, wouldn't have cut him with the shears, because he has other relationships he wants to preserve. Thjazi discounting this resulted in a punch attempt that would have hurt Misha, not just Bolaire. Feels rather emblematic