The Mighty Nein Season 1 Episode 7 Review

The Mighty Nein

Prime Video

Season 1 Episode 7

Belonging

After the Mighty Nein prove their worth, The Gentleman offers another assignment – to steal a mysterious Kryn artifact. Competing desires, however, lead the Nein on separate journeys throughout Zadash. While in the Dynasty, Essek betrays Verrat after a devastating loss.

The political intrigue continues as Trent (Mark Strong) orchestrates not only his release from custody but his ascension to one of the most powerful people in the king’s inner circle and even his proteges realize that he might be too powerful to topple now that the king has seen the power of the beacon up close. It’s a great scene that opens the episode because it reminds the viewer of the stakes involved for the Mighty Nein as well as the ruthlessness of the powerful people they face.

The story continues to heat up when Caleb’s past decides to return looking for him in Zadash. The Nein themselves have completed their mission and returned to The Gentleman who has a new mission for them. One that will set them on a direct path that will intersect all the stories and events happening around them. As they contemplate whether to take the mission or not, cracks within the group continue to grow and it looks like the team is set to end their alliance. It’s a wonderfully sweet moment between the characters and their departure profoundly impacts Nott (Sam Riegel).

The Nott/Caleb relationship is beautifully sweet and engaging. O’Brien and Riegel create some great, emotional moments with their characters and you instantly begin to care about them and what happens to them. In contrast, Essek (Matthew Mercer) finds himself dealing with the consequences of his actions as he is confronted with the truth of his connection to the theft of the Beacon. It’s a great scene that ramps up the danger for Essek as the Mighty Nein find themselves in a state of relative peace.

With the Mighty Nein separated, each member gets the chance to explore certain plot points including Mollymauk (Taliesin Jaffe) following Kri to determine how the Tabaxi knows him. It’s a great scene that shows another instance of Molly using his powers and how unique and interesting they are. Fjord (Travis Willingham) goes searching for purpose in his new powers and Caleb meets possibly one of the best (and my personal favorite) side characters of any campaign.

I cannot say enough about how visually stunning this series is. Everything from the characters to the backgrounds and environments look amazing. There is a scene that is highly emotional involving Essek and his mother and both the art direction and acting are beautifully done to convey the somber emotions of the moment as Essek is put into an impossible position that upends all of his carefully laid out plans and also reveals something I didn’t expect.

Events start to bring the group back together as Fjord learns more about what his patron wants from him and Nott finds a way to forget by teaming with Jester to pull a prank that will attract her patron The Traveler. It is one of the only action sequences in the episode and it is a really fun aside to some of the heavier moments of the story. The story has some great pacing as things move back to the members of the group coming together in small ways as well as Caleb making an ill advised trip that will teach him a valuable lesson.

Eventually, events transpire to create a new and interesting dynamic for the Mighty Nein and Essek’s journey takes a dark turn that leads him to an even darker path.

The Mighty Nein continues to amaze and astonish me both with its visual flair and imagery, but also with its attention to the characters within this beautifully animated world. This is a group of lovable misfits still trying to learning who they are while immersed in events that they have no idea how to navigate and the complexity of their stories and relationships continues to keep me invested.