Title: Misfits and Magic
GM: Aabria Iyengar
Players: Erika Ishii (she/they/any) as K (she/they/any). Lou Wilson (he/him) as Whitney Jammer (he/him). Danielle Radford (she/her) as Sam Black (she/her). Brennan Lee Mulligan (he/him) as Evan Kelmp (he/him).
Streaming Service: Dropout

Returning in the thick of it, we start this episode with Brennan rolling for Evan’s life. Though well-intentioned, her took him from scarred to the edge of death over a poorly healed bone. Unable to work his way to beat a 30, Evan dies.

His friends panic. Jammer performs CPR, instructing Sam to cauterize the wound as K grabs Evan’s shadow in a desperate attempt to keep him here. The shadow gestures to Evan’s backpack, and K desperately searches, hoping to find something in there to save him.

Having arrived in the midst of this, Fergus steps in, and when Sam can’t get her wand hot enough, he tells them to stop. As they struggle and fail to bring him back, Evan haunts his shadow, present but removed in the doorway that his shadow now creates for him.

Evan loots his own body after picking up his belongings. His shoes are one of the first things he takes, maintaining that same attachment in death that he had in life. Afterward, he kicks his corpse into his backpack. Sam stops him, begging him not to hurt his body.

There’s a clear disconnect between Evan and his death, but he slowly puts it together, recognizing that it wasn’t an attack from an enemy but something K did. Our shadowy specter easily falls back into line with Jammer, expecting them to work Dr. B’s mission, but Evan doesn’t protest when Jammer proclaims their new mission, and their most important one, is to get Evan back.

Evan lived in survival mode, but the way Brennan plays him after he dies, the detached yet with every nuance almost stretched to its limit, is absolutely chilling. After speaking with Victor, who brought back his bulldog who is now invisible, the group goes to an iceberg which Tabby calls Qohlye for the creature who lives there.

Noticing his presence is negative for Jammer and K, Evan asks Sam to carry him, and the two comfort one another, but while his presence comforts Sam, Evan remains a bit detached despite efforts to reassure her.

As K buries herself in research, unable to look at her friends out of guilt for what she had done, Jammer pushes ahead. Desperate to find a flow state, the leader of our Magical Misfits struggles with his emotions welling up and threatening to slow him down. Jammer uses his built-up magic to enchant his sock to help guide him to anyone who he gives a nickname to in hopes of using it to help find the way to bring Evan back.

In the strange afterlife, Evan hears weights drop and hears Jammer coming for him, coming a bit back to himself, but the sound of hooves follows, and a creature beyond their knowing reaches out, questioning their preference. Sam carefully asks the Qohlye how to bring Evan back to how he was before his arm exploded.

Confused and overwhelmed, Evan panics and tries to game the system. The Qohlye drops a book that, if Evan learned the language, he could absolutely destroy or recreate the world. In a moment that’s rather foreboding, he puts the book in the bottom of his backpack.

Jammer takes the moment to unload, revealing the massive pressure he feels between helping others and taking the opportunities to be the best version of himself. His monologue hits so incredibly hard. The Qohlye clearly agrees, appearing and knocking Jammer down before it sits upon his chest.

K’s desire for truth and to fix the world receives a rejection from the Qohlye, who emphasizes that she cannot save everything, suggesting she narrow her focus on what she can be done. The creature also offers her a door, and K opens it.

Evan sprints toward his friends, embracing his friends before panicking when he realizes he’s naked. In a flash, the iceberg vanishes, and the group find themselves on an island.

Highlights

What is grief if not love persevering? K, Sam, and Jammer all react in such different ways to Evan’s death, varying from shutting down to refusal to accept facts. In a magical world, it’s hard to just let things go, especially when your friend manages to possess his own ghost, but the confusion and loss which this cast portrayed struck at the very core of loss.

K, as the responsible party, grapples with her best intentions and the gravity of her failure. From the moment they landed, they saw small spells worked while larger ones failed, yet in a moment of rejuvenation and healing, she reached for the stars rather than starting small. Erika plays her as avoiding her friends’ gazes, sinking into herself which fits not just with her guilt but with the behavior we witnessed in the first episode. She’s been hiding away, running and isolating physically even as she attempted to share magic, and when magic fails her, she falls back into research.

Panicking, Sam desperately tries to ‘wake him up’ before struggling to even do a simple spell as she broke down over her friend’s dead body. She’s the one who begs Evan to not kick his corpse, pleading that he not hurt her friend and comforting his spirit. Of Evan’s three friends, Sam noticed the distance and apologized for it even before his death, expressing regret that they hadn’t stayed in contact, and the sweet interactions between the two as Sam continues to desperately try to communicate to Evan how loved he is was so beautifully and haunting acted out by Danielle. Her performance had me in tears.

Jammer went into mission mode, leaping in to try CPR, and when that didn’t work, he’s the one who immediately got the information they needed and proclaimed their new marching orders, stating plainly that bringing Evan back took priority over everything else. While he didn’t give any big speeches, the stalwart determination as he dropped his usually friendly and joking countenance hit me hard as Lou looked absolutely broken when Brennan first revealed he’d failed the roll.

Final Score (5 out of 5 Stars)

The beauty at the core of Misfits and Magic has always been the friendship between the characters, and how even broken, flawed souls can connect and find solace within one another. While the first season had some intense moments, Evan’s death and the aftermath as everyone worked to resurrect him served as a powerful catalyst to unveil new facets.

Sam and Evan had some beautiful interactions in earlier episodes, and Danielle’s acting really drove the dagger of Evan’s death in. If Aabria had elected to allow Evan to be truly dead in that moment, I can easily imagine the incredible fan art that would’ve arisen alongside the Sherlockian refusal to accept our favorite sad boy was truly gone.

With Evan back, how will his death weigh on his friends? We already have a hint that K will face consequences, or at least a well-deserved rant from Evan in the next episode, but beyond even Evan’s death, their interaction with the Qohlye promises future problems. Let us know what you think 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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