by Emily Maesar, Associate TV Editor

Fantasy High: Junior Year
Episode 10 “Cursed Out”
With Brennan Lee Mulligan, Emily Axford, Zac Oyama, Siobhan Thompson, Lou Wilson, Ally Beardsley, and Brian Murphy
Streaming now on Dropout.tv

“Do you think it’s possible that my god is Kristen?” - Fig Faeth (Emily Axford)

We continue where we left off, with the Abernant sisters at the burned down husk of their former home. Adaine (Siobhan Thompson) questions Aelwyn about what kind of work she’s been doing for Kipperlilly Copperkettle—to which the answer is smuggling in components for her, including some arcano-tech, like what was under the stage.

There’s something so lovely about these two bonding, after everything they’ve gone through in the first two seasons of Fantasy High. Aelwyn has certainly grown and evolved, given that she’s not a villain anymore, but even Adaine has grown up a fair amount. Her empathy and true love for her sister is the kind of character arc you can only dream about. (Even down to her casting Tasha’s Hideous Laughter on her again in this episode, like she did in the first episode of season one—but this time Aelwyn chooses to fail, and they have a lovely time.)

Rix (Brian Murphy) and his mom are still in the car, talking about the Frostyfaire case that she was working on. Her clients, who were supposed to host the festival, were murdered after seeming to be framed for embezzlement. In his absolute exhaustion, Riz (Brian Murphy) tells his mom a bunch of the stuff the Bad Kids have been dealing with before he passes out. When he wakes up, his mom has snacks, and he’s finally able to talk to her properly. Including telling her about Yolanda, but not by name, and all the events from the festival. They talk about the case and Riz discovers that Ruben’s manager, formerly representing Fig (Emily Axford), is the person who suggested the Thistlespring Tree as the new venue for the festival.

Back at the Aguefort Academy, Jace (the sorcery teacher) announces to the school that both Grix and Yolanda are dead. Yolanda’s death is still a mystery, but everybody knows that Grix went berserk and that the Bad Kids dispatched him. Helped, of course, by Fabian (Lou Wilson) being loud and taking credit in a very hilarious, but also deeply cringy teen way. It’s very sweet and funny. Jace officially announces that the cleric classes will be moved to pass-fail, should they not find a replacement professor before the new year. The juniors and seniors can actually take the Last Stand test to bypass the pass-fail of it all.

Something I think is actually so fascinating about Fantasy High (and I suppose TTRPGs in general) is their ability to really make you invest in the smallest of machinations. It’s part of the reason why I think this particular series is so strong, because there are teenage things that don’t matter to anyone outside of that age range and that school that truly feels like a life and death situation. And the machinations of how grades and testing work at any given school are certainly one of those unique, but relatable feelings.

Anyway! Fabian’s mother calls Fig, because Fabian wasn’t answering his phone, and invites everybody to Fallinel (the home of the elves) for the upcoming holidays. They agree and it sounds like a lovely time… after all the hell that’s sure to fall down upon the party in the next few weeks. After Fig gets off the phone, the party tries to sort out their next move. They ponder if the soil at Gorgug’s (Zac Oyama) home might be poisoned, like the soil in the woods. They also decide that they should maybe address whatever curse Fig has on her.

Fabian gets a text from Mazey to meet her by the vending machines so that she can talk to him. Riz asks Fabian to ask her if any of the bylaws might have been changed at the school—their running theory about why Grix malfunctioned. When he finally talks to her, the big news that Mazey gives him is that they aren’t totally sure what’s actually supposed to happen with the school, now that Grix is dead. They’re consulting the paperwork and everything, but it seems like Arthur Aguefort’s past bits and jokes and weirdness means that the student body president might be acting principal of the school.

Worried that Mazey might be in danger, Fabian invites her to come over after school (with Fig trying to keep her safe on her way from school to Seacaster Manor). In a moment of epic teenage embarrassment, Mazey tries to make a move on Fabian and all he can think about is the fact that the Bad Kids think that Mazey is in danger from the Rat Grinders. He ends up calling Riz to explain, but he also realizes he goofed because he likes Mazey (and she admits to having a crush on him) and he feels bad that he made her think he didn’t. She also brings up that Fabian is all alone in his big house, and he admits that he’s lonely and misses his mom and Gilear.

As the party moves into downtime going into the winter, everybody continues to make rolls. Adaine does research on giants and as much as she can learn through inference about the dead god they’re searching for. She does mildly okay at work but doesn’t do great at trying to rid herself of stress. Kristen (Ally Beardsley) goes to the middle school to give a campaign speech (deeply hilarious and crazy) and rolls a nat 1 on popularity. Ally takes a stress token to re-roll and makes it. Then Kristen talks to Lydia because she wants to know if they can talk to the pit fiend trapped inside her body. It’s a possibility, but they need to do more research to make sure it would be safe. Kristen tells Lydia about the information they’ve learned about the dead god.

Kristen also goes to talk to Buddy, the cleric of the Rat Grinders. He’s… exactly like all the overly religious kids you’ve ever known when you were simply not. He mentions it seems like her brother is having a hard time, but also that his evangelizing grandfather Bobby might offer to take over teaching the cleric classes. Which would be a straight up nightmare, but what can you do?

For Fig’s downtime, she wants to learn to smite from Porter before rolling for her bard and warlock classes too. Porter is happy to sign off on her being a paladin, but just not a paladin of Cassandra. That, perhaps, she should embrace her rebellion rather than trying to force doubt to be what fuels her. After running through her academic tracks, Fig disguises herself as Wanda Childa with an iPod playing a fake podcast episode of “Complicated Women” with the focus being on Lucy Frostblade. She rolls a natural 20 on deception and absolutely gets Ruben with her emo girl charms.

Fabian has one of the AV kids come set up a booth at Seacaster Manor so that he might be able to talk to his father in hell. There’s no response, though, and Fabian remains alone in his large, empty home.