Title: Burrow’s End
GM: Aabria Iyengar  
Players: Brennan Lee Mulligan (he/him) as Tula (she/her), Isabella ‘Izzy’ Roland (she/her) as Lila (she/her), Erika Ishii (she/him/all) as Ava (she/her), Siobhan Thompson (she/her) as Jaysohn (he/him), Rashawn Nadine Scott (she/her) as Viola (she/her), and Jasper William Cartwright (he/him) as Thorn Vale (he/him)
Streaming Service: Dropout

If you missed it, catch our reviews of the first and second episodes!

We return to our favorite petite predators, catching up with our family of stoats after the death of the bear and those parasitic chipmunks. Grief takes center stage, and as we learn more about the past, the stability of the group comes more and more into question.

A crack forms in the beginning when Lila and Thorn Vale discuss the Blue and the monsters which Thorn Vale intended to use the Blue against. While he believes he’s connecting with his niece, she sees his obsession with the Blue as being like her father, which leads her to secretly tell her mother he is bad while Thorn Vale walks away thinking he’s made progress.

Lila blames her father and the Blue for her father’s death, but hearing this pains Tula who grows upset with her daughter. We’ve seen Tula’s grief for her late husband, Geoffrey, and she discusses it with her sister, but the anger and disappointment at knowing how Lila views her father’s unwilling absence increases the tension in the already fractured group.

Prior to speaking with her daughter, Tula had discussed her late husband with her sister, Viola, who is pregnant. Performing a funeral for the dead bear, Tula mourns that her husband was alone, and those who loved him were unable to say goodbye, when he died. The two sisters reconnected and shared their fears and desires for the future; however, Tula held back her true feelings about the Lukura, which come crashing down to some degree due to Lila’s conclusions about her father’s death and how the Blue is bad.

Added into the mix of grief, Ava mourns her own husband and the loss of most of her children upon overhearing her younger daughter is pregnant while Thorn Vale, Olliver, and Teedles mourn the lost Lukura members upon being reunited.

Lila manages to translate writing that Teedles and Olliver found on a piece of wood, telling the stoats to follow their instincts and go toward the light, which grows more concerning when Thorn Vale goes up a tree to scout and sees a second blue light source which is implied to be like second sun.

Despite reluctance on Tula’s part, they head toward the blue light and the strange building from which it emanates.

Highlights

The more we learn, the more this season toes the line between science-fiction and fantasy. Thorn Vale describes the monsters as unfathomably huge two-legged creatures with hairless yellow skin with large reflective eyes, suggesting humans in HAZMAT suits. While this could go toward the NIMH side of things, there is also the possibility of a blend with a modernist magic approach. HAZMAT definitely leans more sci-fi, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Siobhan remains a treat as Jaysohn. She leaps into his energy and enthusiasm, embracing the mad excitement of childhood. Putting her whole body into it from Jaysohn’s dreaming to his excited wrestling, Siobhan steals every scene that she’s in.

Final Score (4 out of 5 Stars)

This heavily emotional episode manages to compound the already high tension. Izzy’s Lila, Siobhan’s Jaysohn, and Brennan’s Tula create an emotionally beautiful and hilarious family dynamic even just among themselves, and the connections between them and the other three players furthers the story as the complexities of their pasts come to light. The teaser for the next week’s episode suggests a more overt leaning into the refugee aspect of their story, leaving an uninhabitable home behind in hopes of finding safety but being caught in the crossfire of cultural differences.

Stupendous Stoats, Mystical Mustelids, and now Excellent Ermines — Aabria Iyengar continues to playfully alliterate our players, renaming the group each episode. Maybe the next will be Radiant Rodents, or perhaps she’ll use Courageous Caravan. If you have any guesses, we’d love to hear them in the comments below or go over to our Discord channel to join the conversation.

Featured Image: Dimension 20

The Boss Rush Podcast: The Flagship Podcast of Boss Rush Media and the Boss Rush Network

The Boss Rush Podcast – The Boss Rush Podcast is the flagship podcast of Boss Rush Media and the Boss Rush Network. Each week, Corey, Stephanie, LeRon, and their friends from around the internet come together with other creators, developers, and industry veterans to talk about games they’ve been playing, discuss video game and entertainment based topics, and answer questions solicited on social media and the community Discord. 

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