"He's your dad, too." I can't imagine how long Jinx waited for that type of affirmation from Vi or Vander after what happened in Season 1, Episode 3. The close-up of her face in that scene felt like they were showing Powder again instead of Jinx. In that short moment, everything was fine again.
@@esssie yeahh i believe they made powder's face slightly more round and her eyes more open, and jinx's face is made to be more angular and her eyes are slimmer :D
Gotta say, I love how much Vi committed to the breakup look. "Yes, I'm gonna get a new darker jacket, paint the gauntlets, stain my hair and put makeup on"
On the bright side, I feel like this act went so fast and did so much that it took a lot off act 3's plate. So we're more likely to have a more fleshed out finale on par with previous acts.
I hope you’re right. Act 3 will make or break this show for me. I don’t care about the future sequels and spinoffs they’re planning, I care about Arcane.
I don't know, they still haven't covered the black rose and mel stuff, heimer and ekko are still missing and now the unfortunate family is gonna have another trouble on their plate with Isha being gone, not to mention the rift between piltover and zaun, cait and Ambessa standing against each other and ambessas army which now technically is an oppressive offensive unwelcomed force being in piltover, salo being dead so the council lose 1 more guy
@@awtodor I disagree, because it didn't do payoffs of things it actually built or had been built in the previous act or season, it went for payoffs of things Act 2 itself started to build and never really got far into. Vander/Warwick was actually introduced and finished on this Act; The Sisters spent 7 episodes in opposition and nuance in their struggles and grievances against each other, only to be reunited in a single episode without *actually* talking about any of them; Caitlyn's antagonistic phase against Zaunites lasted a total of 1 Montage, and the whole build-up of her hatred towards Jinx lead to her... instantly siding with her when she met Vi again; Isha as an actual healer for Jinx's traumas only began its buildup on Episode 4, and lasted for just these 3 episodes; At least to me, the only emotional payoff it had was the end of Episode 5 with the sisters embracing Vander, but only because I had prior investment on Warwick the *champion*, no the Arcane character
It’s absolutely hilarious how Maddie tries to apply to Cait’s better self for months on end, then Vi calls her Cupcake ONCE and she folds like paper Maddie is crying somewhere in the background
Really dislike Maddie, she went from ''cmon Cait, beat your chest too, its fun to be fascist!'' to ''Youre talking too much like Ambessa, call off the invasion!'' Really hope she ends up being a Black Rose spy, its the only way to not make her be a device from the writters
The creators confirmed that Arcane was never going to be five seasons, it was a in-joke between the CEO and the creators, when they hadn't even received the greenlight after the pilot yet, and people misinterpreted it Doesn't change the fact that this act it's doing a little too much with too little time, but, yeah, the two seasons was planned from the start
@@EvanSol919Because they're still going to make shows from other parts of the universe. Them lying would make sense if they arent gonna do shows anymore.
To be honest, if the rumor was false or not it makes me curious to think how the story would go if this have more seasons, even if we just got a third season to add a bit more the story because yeah, it does feel like they’re moving through things at a breakneck pace with little time to breathe which makes me kind of nervous. But still, I respect the decision they made to keep the story short and sweet and I have a lot of faith in this show’s writers. Anyway, can’t wait for act 3, the days aren’t going by fast enough.
I knew it too, expected it, but a little later maybe, to give us more time to bond with her, maybe with Vi a little, to establish the "Isha-Powder" symbolism, but it still did hit hard to see her basically sacrifice herself and essentially recreated the third episode of first season. If they just gave it one more episode to flash out everyone a little bit more, it would have been perfect.
Most people expected it I'm pretty sure. Isha basically needed to die (or something terrible to happen to her) for Jinx's mental state to go down the deep end.
“Her mistress” that is one way to describe Maddie….. In all seriousness i feel like it really humanizes Caitlyn that she had a depression rebound. Some people have suggested it is mostly a physical relationship. I don’t know if i buy that… but it is an interesting question to ask, how much is caitlyn’s heart in it?
@@cattievogelsong96 It seems like Maddie is more emotionally invested that Cait. But also Cait is trying to be open with her and bond emotionally through talking and Maddie just shuts her down.
Funny thing about Warwick- my boyfriend played as him when he played league of legends years ago. And when he saw singed with the scalpel, and the enforcers going “put down the blade” I laughed, like “pfft, what’s he gonna do with that tiny ass blade?” And my boyfriend saw that singed cut his hand and immediately started shrieking in fear. Like straight up “NO- NO NO NO NO NO- WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT- NO -“ and it was the funniest fucking shit ever because he was essentially having ptsd flashbacks. It both caught me off guard and made me laugh because he almost NEVER reacts like that while watching any show or movie. So this arc alone I have to thank for one of my favorite reactions from my boyfriend
Oh my god that's amazing. The entirety of Act 2 was so painful for me, but Warwick/Vander was incredible. 😭 I love how they animated him on such a low framerate to mimic his beastlike movement. Such a genuinely terrifying character.
I played quite a lot of league till like 5 years ago and hated warwick as a beginner with a passion. When this moment happened, I was sitting in a train watching the episode on my phone and had like a toned down version of this as my reaction and got some funny looks as a response 🤣
Vi has been going through it. She lost her family, her girlfriend, and joined the group that made her life hell growing up to stop her sister only to be abandoned. I cannot describe how emotionally cathartic it was for her, Jinx, and Vander to have that hug.
I was extremely sad because that buildup, at least in my eyes, really didn't result in anything in Episode 5. Vi had MANY things to say to Jinx, but somehow she managed to say more to her in the Act 1, Ep 3 finale then she did when they were literally just there and could talk. The most she said was ''well and you're a psycho!'' and that was that. I love that their fight was more sister-like, but at the same time it really felt like they had a LOT in their chest which none of the two actually said.
@@felipecouto1102 Same here, I wished Vi and Jinx got to exchange more words, but maybe that's because Vi's been bottling up how she feels at the expense of just getting through another day.
@@lifeisadrag7705one of the show runners acc talked about it a little. Something along the lines of S2x3 was where the two sisters really put everything on the table. They fought it out, had the chance to kill each other, didn’t, and had a moment where they saw their old selves caring for each other. Therefore, when they meet up again, Vander supersedes their reconciliation which has already been happening. Especially with the note they found. Basically, they don’t actually have much to talk about.
A very close friend of mine died last month and it's been the hardest thing I've ever had to deal with and I have felt numb for the last few weeks. That sequence at the end where Isha's life flashed before her eyes as someone so young with so much life left to live has it cut short by unfortunate circumstances. It triggered the exact combination of emotions to absolutely shatter me and made me feel emotional pain I didn't know I was capable of feeling. This show is truly amazing
Maybe try to think of it from Isha's PoV, which considering the flashbacks I think we should. It's bright, vivid, the images are all EMPHATICALLY happy and fulfilled. Isha knew what she was doing, with no regrets. She was happy. She lived a short life, but it was hers, and from her perspective, she lived it well.
@@lenajohnson6179 I literally can't. All I can think about is how much pain this will bring jinx because I've been in a very similar position to her and trust me when I tell you that it is one of the worst feelings you can possibly have.
I'm sorry for your loss, but for what it's worth I have a sneaking suspicion Isha's death isn't gonna stick. Setting aside the training years of media have given me to not believe anything until I see a mangled body, something about the final framing of the explosion makes me think we're gonna see it in rewind next episode.
Killing Viktor with no explanation? It’s all there, the wild rune whispered something to Jayce and had changed him somehow and we’ve seen what Viktor is twisting people in to. Jayce is the only one who was actually aware of the danger that is Viktor if you can even call him that anymore. The Hexcore and Viktor are one and the same now and he was changing people, endearing them by linking their life and minds with his, he changed their whole psyche like with Salo. I think there’s enough context clues for it to be a cliff hanger for the opening to episode 7
Yeah, there are a lot of reasons why Jayce killed Viktor. These being major ones. To say (not u, SC) Jayce just killed Viktor with no explanation is just well, a take. Not a good take at all (imo), but it is a take, I guess.
I agree but they really didn’t give us any explanation, other than “it whispered something to him and changed him somehow”. It just came way too out of the blue, and I really wish they’d actually shown us what happened to lead to him booming Viktor off the map
@@Mysterymeateater I assume its because he said the void and went crazy because of it. Though the Void isn't even something people know if they only watch Arcane so understandable.
@@Mysterymeateater true but I also think it stays in line with Jayce’s character in act I we see that he’s become aware of how dangerous hextech and the arcane as a whole is. As its inventor I think he knows that it’s on him so he’s overcorrecting.
Yeah the Jace nitpick should wait until the whole season is done, IMO. Yeah it doesn’t have as much finesse as last season, but to hate on it without all the information is counting the eggs before they hatch
Honestly, with how talented Arcane’s writing team is, I feel like the majority of the problems with this arc could have been solved if there was just one more episode. Have Caitlin try to be a dictator, and let us watch as her conscious slowly eats away at her conviction. Show Sevika trying to rally Zaun against Piltover as more and more restrictions are put in place. I think the writers are saving Jayce, Heimdinger, and Ekko’s plotlines to take center stage for the final act, so I think Jayce is okay here. EDIT: I also think whatever is going on with Mel is going to be setup for another show.
Agree, I feel like every episode this season should have been an extra 20 minutes along. Not sure why they are capped at 40 minutes instead of a full hour.
Her death was so obviously coming I knew it the moment they introduced her... And yet when it happened it still hit like a ton of bricks...thats what I love about Arcane either it follows it by the book or it takes you by complete surprise but the fact that it does it well enough that it can still be enjoyable.
You sure about that last one, because maybe im crazy but everytime jayce does something cuestionable in these episode the cannon hammer vibrates, almost as is trying to communicate with him.
yeah I'm wondering how will act 3 handle because he may need a visual and voice rework as much as viktor after what they've done to him lol (yeah I know about Arcane Survivor but it's weird if his base model will just be non-ptsd jayce)
Pretty sure no one's like their game counterpart apart from their surface level characteristics (appearance and combat abilities) Unless they retconned it, League Vi and Jinx weren't related. VI and Caitlyn were a dynamic law enforcement duo (batman and Robin if both were batman...albeit The Brave and The Bold batman ito tone) and Jinx was basically the joker.
@@chancewells4083 Wait I actually think thats it. Because Jayce sees flashes of the Void and Darkin are literally described as being traumatized by the Void War. Still a copout I guess, but could themetically work for Jayce. Because Viktor told him to destroy the Hexcore, but now Viktor is the one that sees the good in it while Jayce sees the bad. Their own innovation destroyed them unknowingly and it begs the question of if innovation actually does us any good or just harm.
Maddie as a flipping rebound after being “perfect uWu precious” bait was HILARIOUSSSSS She’s kinda like a toothless version of Vi too, at least in appearance. A soft girl ginger instead of angry red haired goth. They’re like just perfectly, comedically yin and Yang.
Hopefully you see this comment but the whole "Arcane was originally supposed to be 5 seasons long" is actually false. That was just a joke made by the creators that a lot of people believed as a "fact"
@@EvanSol919 I honestly don't think this was a Netflix decision, more league of Legends shows will come after this. I think the people in charge of the IP's direction wanted to get a move on, not spend too much time somewhere
@@EvanSol919 Netflix distributes not publish the show. I agree the 3rd season or a 4th act would have beeen nice to have more room for calm moments/pacing.
@@Chrisace89I also want to believe she's alive but, a child in the middle of THAT explosion is likely they ain't making it, also from a story perspective that helps jinx grow. Even though I freaking hate the idea, and wish more than anything that isha survived, the chances doesn't seem likely.
@@laurentguyot3362 Yeah, I felt the exact same. Even Isha's destiny didn't make me cry, when Season 1 made me cry at the end of every one of the three Acts
7:15 It's subtle but Victor talking about the nature of the Hextech entity being self-destructive sums up what's happened to Jayce; He's possessed by the Void(?) part of the Cosmic energy Victor's imbued with, and it's just "canceling itself out". I'm sure that it'll be explained in full in Act 3, but it's what I got from it, Arcane does a surprising lot of passive storytelling that can be hard to catch sometimes
In the lore (the kinds discontinued one), ww gets his full transfirmation after dying, so if my lore brainwired memory doesnt mistake me isha killed ww (she also most likely end game herself since she put 3 hextech gems in a chamber that requires at most one, and if you know a little something about weapons if you put too much powder in your chamber the gun goes boom)
Dunno if he'll get it. Isha is teemo (helmet, smoll; psychopathic rage) but I don't see no mushrooms nor blowpipe Plus, Viktor (unless the League of legends has REALLY changed his design) is kind of defined by the mechanical grabby hand that shoots lasers, which they first showcased to heimerdinger back in season 1 along with the gauntlets that became Vi's hulk hands
This season is definitely showing that a third season would have been nice to prevent the pacing from feeling a bit too fast. But the show is extremely expensive to make so I'm kind of surprised we got more than one season at all.
First ACT with some sprinkles of second one should be second season. Only that way we would have coherent relations beween all factions. Now this is mess and characters jumt jump from A to B
@@alesksander Up until episode 4 it was fine imo, but in episode 5 and 6 it got really really fast. - I wanted to know more about Viktor and his creepy commune, it feels like it was built and then destroyed in a day. - I wanted to see more of the firelights without ekko, and the result of the deaths of the chem barons and the result of the grey smog raids for the people of the undercity. - I wanted to see more of Caitlyn struggling with her new role, so her doing the right thing actually make sense. I wanted to see her missing Vi. - I wanted to see Viktor explore Vanders psyche for longer. - I honestly just wanted to stay in the spot where Vander was back, and Jinx and Vi were cool for a little bit longer. - I wanted more explanation of why Singed did the things he did. - I wanted to know more about what is happening with Jayce, Echo and Heimerdinger (but I trust they will handle this in act 3)
That was in the first episode of Act 2 right after we see her take the position of a commander. And was displayed through telling the viewers, not showing us. What made her come to the conclusion that violence isn't the answer after she stormed the undercity with toxic gas? The build-up in Act 1 of her becoming a cold, hardened militia leader to not anymore was kind of rushed tbh.
They showed it too early. I would hsve preffered to see ambessa force caitlyn to do something bad in ep 4. Then in ep 5, caitlyn questions her actions and we get "why is peace a justification gore violence" then in ep 6, she fully betrays ambessa. That would've been so much better
@@oomay1925 Agree wholeheartedly. Her conversation with Maddie and her opposition of Ambessa feels like an end of Season thing, not *literally the first thing that happens after she becomes a dictator*, it felt SOOOOOOOOOOOO odd
To say this hit hard is an understatement! Isha was a fantastic character. What she bought to the show and, more importantly, Jinx was defining. Loved the relationship between her and Jinx. Now I have a feeling in Act 3, Jinx will lose her s**t.
I love how this season addresses the "fridging" complaints people had with the last one, especially revolving around Sky (even then, they still use Sky as a partial voice of reason even in her death), and made Isha's reason for her death be due to Jinx influencing her.
I know this is pretty controversial but I think Isha was the worst character in the show. It's really hard for me to care even a bit about a character that is just obviously there to die. She literally just falls on Jinx, gets saved, gets attached to her, they develop a relationship, she dies. For me, it just doesn't have the same effect as it did in the first season when everybody around the League characters keeps dying. Don't get me wrong, I still love the show and all the moments with Isha were really nice, but now it's either deus ex machina, Ekko saves the day with time jumping or something and the sad moment of her death gets ruined, or she's just dead and the only point of her character the whole time was to make Jinx snap again. It just feels like such a lazy and boring writing choice compared to the rest of the series. Idk, the show is absolutely amazing so far so maybe they prove me wrong in the final act.
@@minegnomek9451 Fair point but I see the Isha dynamic a bit different. Jinx herself said it in episode 4, but she saw a lot of herself in Isha. The innocence when she was "Powder." A lot of things with Isha are subtext and background character work, like her being so gentle and caring with Warick/Vander and her pushing Jinx to be more for Zaun instead of wasting away. She really looked up to her, much like how Powder looked up to Vi. Through her relationship with Isha, having someone/something outside of herself to care for Jinx was able to heal somewhat. Jinx told Isha that having her around was like having glasses for the first time in her life. There are a lot more narrative parallels I could point out between Isha and Powder, after all episode 6 was a twisted mirror of episode 3 of Season 1 but I'll leave it at that. I just wanted to offer a different take. I don't see Isha as just a plot device to make Jinx 'snap' again. There were a lot of themes Isha represented such as hope, purity and the future. I loved what Arcane has been doing this season and I know the final act is gonna destroy me.
@@minegnomek9451another reason for Isha’s character is to give Jinx a reason to get involved in the prison break which leads to her meeting Warwick. Jinx only cares about people that she has a relationship with so she would have had no reason to help people she doesn’t know, which is why before Isha was arrested she didn’t want to get involved with Zaun vs Piltover during the time Skip and the first half of episode 5. Also, I think it shows how good the writers are that they were able to make Isha’s death so emotional even though most people thought she was gonna die at some point in the season, and I think a majority of viewers expected her to die during act 3 so her death scene was still somewhat of a surprise.
@@hawkeye0378 Your first point makes it seem like Isha is literally just a plot device and she's there so that the story can happen, which is not an example of good writing. As for her death, my point is that it wasn't really emotional for me since her death was so obvious that I didn't get attached to her at all. Her dying even earlier than people expected only provides shock value and is not a good thing either.
If we’re doing time shenanigans and giving justice to Echo’s character, I essentially want him to be the main character in the first half of the last episode. I want to reframe the show’s events through the lens of the only sane person left.
This arc definitely had me thinking "We need more than 2 seasons" it was good but you can feel it. Like I might have felt more for Isha if we had her for more than 5 episodes to really bond with her. I would have loved to see why Zaun suddenly sees Jinx as a symbol, when we've never seen people look up to her. What happened in those months that made her an icon?
@@falconeshield I would have loved to see her war crimes, and her mental struggle with how things have only gotten worse. It would have made her siding with Vi more believable.
Zaun sees jinx as a symbol most likely because jinx is the first to land a hit on piltover and sevika holding the rallies to group up everyone in zaun to one cause which is what she tried to do with the zaunite council.
I think 12 episodes instead of nine, or one hour episodes, would have been enough. Seeing more of Caitlin's corruption arc and vi's pit fighter arc needed alot more fleshed out. Also, I think a scene or so hinting at what Jayce saw would be good.
This act, regardless of how it ended, made me feel optimistic that Arcane is aiming for more of a bittersweet ending than a total downer, since it showed how Vi and Jinx can love each other again after loving each other for who they are now rather than what they perceive each other to be. Sure, Caitlyn most likely won't forgive Jinx, but with the old councilors and Chembarons gone (except Mel and Jayce), there would be a new voice that would bring a brighter future.
I mean, after what happened with Isha and Vander, I'm worried they're stomping Jinx into the dirt for a big Joker-esque breakdown of sanity Hopefully, she is instead inspired by the fact that Isha idolized her and was willing to die for her. That way, she can channel her grief and loss as an agent of change and revolution, as opposed to simply backsliding into mania
@@blugger There's also the fact that there are so much people depending on her for support after what she did in Stillwater. It isn't just Isha. Also, this time, what happened to Vander isn't Jinx's fault.
I’m sorry to tell you this, but the voice actress of jinx(Ella Purcell)has stated in quote” I cried, so I think other people will cry,too, it’s devastating and nobody will feel good after they watch it” in reference to the season two finale.In a interview with something called tech rider in April this year.
@@Cheese23145 Actually, that's not true! Etalk had the interview with Ella Purnell and she said that she just cried over the ending and thought is was great when she was coming back to do ADR.
Okay so my thoughts on the whole rushing stories thing: 1. The fact that something goes to shit because of one character is something this entire story is build upon (Powder „helping“ Vi defeat Silco killing her family in the process while Marcus takes Vi away). So the fact that Jayces actions caused a ripple effect is to be expected. 2. Jayce has all the reasons to kill Viktor and this doesn’t really need explaining. Viktor asked of Jayce to destroy the Hexcore. So he went out to keep this promise while spending months in a time loop where he saw what kind of harm he dealt with his actions. The source of all of that is the Hexcore so he wants to make things right again (seeing how he didn’t change the story repeated itself). 3. Caitlyn turning away from Ambessa also makes absolute sense within the rules of the story. She left Vi because Vi made her weak. She tried to fill the hole she caused left by Vi with Maddie and failed as she tried to become something she isn’t (paralleling Vi from Act 1). She does things because she still loves Vi (as you can’t break the bounds forged with love in Arcane) just like Vi did. Finally seeing how Jinx clings to Isha and how Vi found her peace with it she stops for now seeing how Ambessa is about to storm a Zaunite Utopia with a convicted criminal to resurrect his daughter. This development makes sense as she wasn’t willing to kill Isha before or even Jinx as Vi had her under control. All things considered this leaves Cait in a very interesting position to say the least. The problem I see atm with Arcane is that it now heavily relays on prior knowledge and understanding of the show that may totally vary from person to person as Arcane is a master at crafting morally gray characters and positions you can take. So it lost a lot of its story driven conclusions (like Vi being the strong female lead or Powder/Jinx the dreamgirl or Silco the cartoon villain) and replaced it with parallels to depend the characters they already got leaving a lot of questions.
Yup, Caitlyn timeline basically went: - Mum dead, revenge mode = Hard focus on killing Jinx. - Accepts becoming the commander despite being slightly unsure of it. - No longer has Vi, as (like you said) she made her feel weak. So she turns to Maddy. (You suck Maddy!) Who is probably a spy, let's be honest. - Starts to really question Ambessa and is looking for the first opportunity to betray her. Sees Vi, takes it. (Nobody messes with her main sqeeze and gets away with it.) - Sees what happened. (Oh shit.) 😂😂
@ oh dont get me wrong she is still totally willing to capture and or kill Jinx. However she sees atm Powder and not Jinx so she keeps it cool staying close to Vi to then snatch her away the moment she slips
Yeah, I thought it was pretty clear the writers are doing delayed exposition. It's meant to make us go ??? and theorize before it gets explained in act 3. Besides, act 2 was already packed with action and reveals, it would have been too much to get the explanation for Jayce's actions and Caitlyn's change of heart and would have killed the surprise of seeing them make those seemingly out of character decisions.
@@artemiss4432 Honestly I didn’t had that reaction. I totally understand both Caitlyn and Jayce and even Isha. They don’t need explaining anymore. Or rather justification. But honestly I just realized after the end of act 2 that Isha was mute so yeah idk maybe I look at actions more than on words so yeah
Grief can be the garden of compassion. If you keep your heart open through everything, your pain can become your greatest ally in your life's search for love and wisdom.
I agree that the story feels a bit rushed, but I disagree that the reason involved planning for more episodes. They spent a total of nine years making these two seasons, and they announced the show would end after the second season three years ago, shortly after they finished releasing season one. If they were following the patterns set by other studios for disrespecting animation, it would make no sense for them to give the showmakers three whole years after the first season to continue working on the second. HOWEVER, there is something that changed during those three years which was only announced in the last few months and could absolutely have changed their plans for story and pacing. In the past, Riot has been pretty casual about retconning the game's lore to facilitate new champions and awesome in-game events, and originally, Arcane was supposed to take place in its own timeline, completely separate from the game's universe. However, Riot recently announced that they intend to combine all the League of Legends games and media into a single unified canon, starting with Arcane as a foundational pillar of this new canon. My guess is that this decision meant they had to make changes to the second season to account for parts of the broader universe which hadn't existed when Arcane was in a separate canon.
Agree. I want more, but at the same time, having a series that is concise and to the point is a breath of fresh air. They give you enough to fill in the blanks, give montages to cove long cut periods of time, because the focus is the emotional journey of several sets of character that are all intertwined.
0:01 - 0:05 From co-creator Christian Linke himself: “From the very beginning, since we started working on this project, we had a very specific ending in mind, which means the story of ‘Arcane’ wraps up with this second season. But ‘Arcane’ is just the first of many stories that we want to tell in Runeterra.” (Edit) 8:51 - 9:32:.....😑Are you're serious?.....Of all the yarn ever spinned...
I really loved how much Arcane didn't hold the audience's hand in season 1. Personally, it doesn't feel the same way in season 2, and that's where the disappointment comes from. The writing and pacing was masterful in season 1. The timeskip showed the complex, interconnected consequences (good, neutral, or bad) beautifully. Everything felt cohesive, even when the plots were chaotic and fast-paced, because character choices made sense. They were established and then carried through. Season 2, act 2 lacks coherence, and I think it mainly stems from the time skip. It differs so much from last season because, here, everything that was set up in act 1 fell flat in act 2. Entire character arcs are left feeling unresolved. Even if act 3 is amazing and explains everything, it doesn't stop act 2 from feeling off and disconnected. The pacing can go as fast as it wants as long as character actions and reactions make sense. Where did Caitlyn's character arc go? A mini music video that shows some of what happened between act 1 & 2 isn't enough to show the choices she made as a dictator, nor how her decisions have affected her. Her story with Ambessa was rushed, so there weren't better character moments that showed how she was starting to doubt Ambessa. She barely reacted to Jinx at the end of episode 6, and the short scene with Vi felt contrived. Actually, most of Vi's scenes in act 2 felt contrived. Loss of identity notwithstanding, where's her complexity? It all feels surface level. I needed to see more of how Mel's disappearance was affecting Ambessa, since her plotline is so woven into family and protecting them. But I guess I'll just have to wait to see if she'll have at least some reaction to their reunion - beyond whatever lie she was keeping being revealed. Viktor's storyline needed more time to breathe. I think Jayce's storyline so far is fine, but because everyone else's arcs in act 2 feel so off, his mystery arc is falling flat as well. I kinda hate Mel's storyline. People are saying it may be a set-up for a spin-off, and I loathe that. Her story is destined not to feel contained with everyone else's in season 2, so she just feels out of place now. Isha (and Sevika) needed more time. Vander... needed less time. His intended impact on the story started feeling a little repetitive in episode 6. I don't know what they're planning for Warwick, but in act 2 it feels disjointed. All the build up from the short scenes of Singe & Warwick/Vander in early season 2 and throughout season 1 don't feel like they paid off. The set up was not accompanied with the proper execution. Also the Vander flashbacks felt random because they felt a little unnecessary, and it was hard to feel engaged, even though he and Silco were some of my favorite characters in season 1. Sure, the flashbacks make the family reunion a little more impactful, but I doubt the people involved in writing & executing season 1 would have needed it. It felt like a crutch. Jinx may have gotten the best writing in act 2, but her arc may have benefited from expanding more on the other people of Zaun, since the show is intent on showing how her fate and the consequences of all her actions are interwoven with the fate of Zaun. Seeing the followers wasn't enough, I needed to see real tension and, like someone else has said, a group of Zaunites that wanted to turn her in to Piltover, rather than view her as a revolutionary. Something more like what happened in act 1, but that seems to have been dropped completely. So it falls flat. It's lost complexity. Freeing the Zaunites from Stillwater, even after the Warwick massarcre, would have more impact on how people in Zaun that had been against Jinx may now start following her too, and the chasm between the people of Piltover and Zaun would feel more like a spark that was about to catch on fire. Idk. Ekko got nothing in act 2, which sucks because his storyline, and Heimerdinger & Jayce, needed way more clarity after the cliffhanger in act 1. The timeskip sure doesn't help my feelings about this. Even if things make sense in act 3, the plot may not interconnect properly with all the others because it was so absent in act 2. Also I wanted to see Ekko! >:( Honestly, I'm fine with what we got for Lest, Salo, Maddie, Loris, and Rictus in this act. I wanted to see all of them at least a little more so I can piece together what happened to them and the main characters after the timeskip. I didn't get much about the main characters, but I at least got to see a little for the 5 of them. All-in-all, the timeskip didn't do them any favors this time.
I totally agree with your point about Jayce's story. On it's own its fine but when put alongside a bunch of rushed character arcs and in combination with Viktor's story it doesn't work as well.
This second act completely blew my mind! And yeah, I wish this show was longer cause a lot of things in season 2 really could have been expanded upon with more episodes.
I like your analysis. I felt other youtuber's didn't discuss the pacing issues, how nonsensical the plot is sometimes compared to the previous season. And how the show is lacking realistic reactions between some of the characters who have history with each other. I hope they slow down and shed more light into the characters and the plot in the next few episodes.
I think Arcane needed just one more episode to better flesh out what they wanted to do. That way stuff like Caitlyn's downward spiral and eventual redemption, The Black Rose, Jayce, Ekko and Heimerdinger's time trapped in the hexcore and showing why Jayce would decide to kill Viktor, Ambessa's rise to power and her increasingly dangerous tactics, and Jinx's relationship with Isha and her eventual sacrifice would've been better fleshed out and not feel rushed I'm not saying that Arcane needed to go on forever like The Simpsons, I still think overall it's a phenomenal show, even season 2 despite not being as strong as season 1 is still great so far and I really do respect the creators deciding to end the story the way they thought was best, but I do wonder with the story they wanted to tell this season, was it a good idea to end it after just 2 seasons
I was ready for your "notes". Yeah, you can see there was a few things that clearly would come after a few more thing happening... but when the series is still this great... personally i don't begrudge it. But i do hope we get other stories from the lore.
Thankfully that already has been confirmed, just not where on Runeterra it's gonna be set. Bets bet IMHO is either Ionia, Bilgewater, or Noxus. Nations that have relations and conflicts with Noxus itself or perhaps do a House of the Dragon (minus the incest) political drama that could make an even wider scale situation.
@@realcobwrestling I am gonna be happy with whatever they give. With the quality they kept in this "arc" of the story... anything they do will be great. Personally... I do want to see Ionia or maybe Targon (but maybe is still too soon for Targon), but my least favorite to see for now would be Demacia, not on the mood for those creeps. But... one thing i would love them to do... would be if they did a little anthology with stories around Runeterra, not even needing to be with the champs, just a few short stories to be amazed at... preferably ones with a happier progression and end, because this season... is destroying me.
I do agree with most of your criticisms, but there are a few that I have to rebuke. I actually like the whole Jayce thing. I'm 90% sure that the whole point is that it isnt explained, and from the moment posh draco got goomba stomped, I 100% expected him to blow Vickor's back out (literally). Also, regarding the Cait and Jinx thing, I doubt the two are buddies; it was presumably, like, a minute between noticing her Mom's killer and watching a 10 y/o kamikaze.
I think Caitlyn’s arc wasn’t rushed and feels organic to me. I never felt like she was going to go for fascist dictator. Yeah she was being unreasonable in the first three episodes but she’s had time to cool down between act 1 and 2. Act 2 she starts of wanting to find Jinx but she realises her prejudice against the people of Zaun was misplaced. You can see that when she finds out that Singe is not from Zaun but is actually a disgraced scientist from Piltover, who has been torturing the people of Zaun for years. Caitlyn has watched Ambessa and Singe interact and realises that she’s being manipulated. I think she was going to betray Ambessa even if she hadn’t met Vi. I think seeing Vi again made her realise even more that she’s been wrong about everything. However, I would’ve liked a little more time to flesh out the story a bit more
I agree that the biggest issue with this season (mostly Act 2) has been pacing. It just feels like one extra episode, either at the end of Act 1 or start of Act 2, would’ve gone a long way. To actually see Cait become the dictator, make those tough decisions and start to have doubts about the entire situation. To see Vi become the pit fighter and her fall from grace. How the chem baron stopped fighting and Sevika tried to unify Zaun. Why does Jinx now have a cult following and how did that start with her becoming a recluse? Basically my entire complaint about Act 2 is the time skip and how it skimmed over a lot of crucial character and world building. Especially around the Cait ruler and martial law stuff.
I agree with the extra episode, if half of the episode was all the important stuff between acts 1 and 2, and the other half was the first half of episode 4, the series would have gotten SOOO much breathing room. Episode 4 could have started with the prison scenes and given everything an extra 20 minutes to slow down the pacing and justify more character decisions, especially the Vi and Jinx team-up which was extremely jarring. I don't think the Vi pit fighter stuff needed any extra time, it was just a creative way of showing her struggling to cope with the repercussions of act 1.
@ Ya I agree with most of what your saying. It’s almost like they could’ve benefited from an episode 3.5 to bridge Act 1 & 2. Maybe just add 20 minutes on to the end of Ep3 to show martial law kick in, the Jinxer movement starting up, and Vi joining the pit fights. Then an extra bit at the start of ep4 could start after the time skip and show a bit more of life under martial law and how Zaun has tried to rally against Piltover. I agree that Vi/Jonx being chill with each other after so much time is a bit jarring and could’ve used an extra scene or two to flesh it out. I get the reasoning of Vander’s death driving them apart and him being alive bringing them back together, but it was still a bit sudden. Season 2 has still been great overall, but season 1 is a borderline masterpiece imo. If the pacing was a bit better and a bit more was fleshed out, this season would be on par with the first. I know they wanted to stick to the same formula as S1 (3 acts, 3 episodes per) but it does make the overall show feel a tad rushed at points.
I actually agree that I don't even have the time to understand what is happening. It's like I need to search for informations about lol lore to even understand what I'm watching in act 2 half of the time
Interesting that Viktor is talking about duality- love and hate- and that's exactly how the fans seem to feel about this Act. They either love it or hate it. It just goes to show how everything can be viewed from a different perspective like in the show. I will also say that a rewatch is definitely needed for all episodes. This show does so much when it comes to one liners or minor visual details that mean so much more. I actually was not a huge fan of the first act, but most of my gripes were fixed on a rewatch because I just missed some details. In the end, I actually liked this act more than the first one personally...yes, this season is going fast but, this act made me WANT more not that I thought it NEEDED more. There's a lot that the audience can deduce without having to be told. Arcane has been good about not holding the audience's hand. Also when a show has huge boots to fill and expectations to meet, it can be hard to please everyone plus it's easier to be hyper critical. In the first season, no one really knew what the show was and had 0 expectations 🤷🏼♀️
Its not just how fast they are moving, and how much story they are skipping in music video montages, but its the content they are skipping. New strike team and vi taking in an enforcer role? Montage to skip over that! Cait being elevated to a higher position and manipulated to go to war with the under city? Montage to skip over that!
I feel like act two is compressed, but super well compressed in a way that you can think it needs more episodes, but when I try and imagine how you would unravel the act into more episodes it’s so well compressed I struggle to work out a good way to untangle and stretch it out lol
I know how I would do it. I would have an extra episode set between act 1 and act 2, which follows mostly Caitlyn and Jinx for the first half of the ep. That way we flesh out Caitlyn's dictator arc, her relationship with Maddie, and Jinx's relationship with Isha. Then the 2nd half of this new episode just takes the first half of current episode 4 and slaps it in, ending with the arrests of everyone and Warwick awakening. This means the updated version of episode 4 starts with the prison stuff, but it has an extra 20 minutes after Warwick escapes to flesh everything out more with Ambessa, Vi and Victor, which would make episode 5 and 6 make more sense and slow down the pacing. The "Paint the Town Blue" song basically replaced this whole suggested episode and crammed it, which made everything unravel a bit and the pacing went out of control.
The arcs all work, but none of them are earned. An arc starting up and resolving in a single episode builds no investment into that character whatsoever nor does it lend any weight to the decisions they make. Bummed about this season. It’s almost sadder seeing the ideas they had for this show, knowing that if they had the time, all of them would’ve been paid off just as amazingly as season 1. Shame what could’ve been
Tbh I accidently saw the Maddie thing as a leak back in August, and its been at the back of my mind haunting me ever since because I didn't know the context. Theeeennn I got to Act 2 finally and realised it was so unserious that it was funny. Seriously Maddie trying to convince Cait to go easy on Zaun for half a year lead to nothing, but Vi calling Cait 'cupcake' once had her sacrificing her entire alliance to Ambessa to save Vi's werewolf dad. Funniest shit I've ever seen, and I'm pretty sure the purpose of Maddie being there is to make that contrast more obvious. Vi is Cait's moral compass (and well needed moral reminder) and that's more clear when you've got other characters who just aren't getting through to her. Tbh they could have done the same thing with her dad tho so 🤷. I think the one thing I am slightly worried about is that they're gonna waste time on the love triangle rather than repairing and affirming Caitvi's relationship. That would just be annoying, coz literally no-one doubts that Caitvi is endgame.
The scene of Singed at the rally where he cuts up his hand to awaken Warwick was fucking golden, him reassuring the obviously frightened Isha, he is probably one of the best written/handled character in the show. He is THE only character that is clearly and confidently in control of his fate the entire time.
In my opinion jayce doing is justified, he don't know what the arcane do to him but by his aperence we know that the treatment wasn't pretty + he was seeing the people that viktor cure not like humans but more like things. The series is going fast but I don't things it is bad, they could use more time for sure but if aint broke dont fix it
I love this act more than the first one tbh, but my main criticism is that the story is relying a lot on subtext, and ofc, the pacing. I do think they didn’t show Jayce’s reasoning for a reason, I think we’ll definitely get an explanation next act so I didn’t mind that.
The thing about it is, I understand Caitlyn‘s fight with her morality. The reason why she’s having so much issue with it and why she was able to kind of change as quick as she did was because she truly didn’t want to go that path she probably regreted the things that she did in episode three and that’s the only reason why I can see that she can change side so quickly I also feel like she never truly trusted Ambessa and you also gotta understand. This is most likely months. She had plenty of time to regret her actions after all the Marshall law that she’s been unleashing on to the under city so she’s had her fair share of actually doing these bad things to innocent people.
Fun fact! The 5 seasons thing was actually a joke that got taken out of context. The creators planned on 2 seasons, but the head of Riot played a “prank” on the showrunner by saying “we won’t give you two seasons, like you’re asking for. …because we’re giving you five!” Before they both laughed and he said 2 was totally fine. Goes to show how strong Riots support of the show was, back before season 1 ever released and it became the phenomenon it is.
I never EVER cry to a movie or show, but my god the end of act 2 had me on the floor with tears. Arcane proves over and OVER again they are phenomenal at what they do 😢
Yess that how ppl with nothing know about the lore will think. The show is build up very good here act for setup no big villian like silco like act1 in ss1 so they felt lost bc it setup all the thing for act 2 and 3. Act is like mid point when the character break their power to pass through the situation and act 3 will pay off all of that mid point in act 2 like the darkest space to change (jayce -> killer, viktor -> trying to get everyone into his cult, vi go with jinx trycto understand how person jinx become, ambessa lost her daughter-> reveal her weakness, hungry and rush the process to create hextech magic that lead them to black rose pocket realm. this is a basic thing in making film. It just so goos in this show
The downside to Arcane is this: As good a show as it is (and it's amazing), there isnt room to explore arcs so much as experience them. With 9 episodes, the story is just getting to these moments. I think a third season was needed to really flesh these things out. Still good though
He was posh in books 1 and 2, after that he was just the kid everyone knew was sorta connected to Voledmort. Besides, I'm pretty sure Lucius' bank was being heavily drained by Voldy. Why wouldn't a devout believer give him everything?
for the jayce killing viktor, i think it still works because of their previous conversation of “destroying the hexcore.” like at the time, jayce didn’t agree, but i think now since jayce has seen what the hexcore is, he finally did destroy it. the hexcore IS Viktor, Jayce finally did what Viktor wanted him to do. For me personally, it made sense
Caitlyn is one of the smartest people in the show, shows its through her ability to tell what happened at a crime scene. So I think Caitlyn understood what was best and Ambessa is just using her. But I wish they helped the viewer see her realize a lil better
Well thank you!! I was biting my tongue in the Arcane's subreddits where everyone performs a circle jerk over how messy and rushed this season is. Made me realise people will defend and make excuses over the worst writing just because they like the characters and are emotionally invested in a show. Kind of gives you a pass as a writer to do whatever you want since people will gobble it up, the more glitz and glamour surrounds the story. But I'm glad you're pointing it out! The pacing, random new elements and the whole Isha situation got me rolling my eyes throughout the whole act 2...
I knew something was up when the Piltover council no longer had importance, especially when Ambassa, a foreign power, enforcing marshal law. The Chem Barons of Zaun just die and arent replaced by subordinates. The political factor no longer matters and it's because there's no time left to take time to explore the chatacters through long term actions, like Mal promoting Jayce and Viktor to develop the Hexgates
The Jayce+victor stuff is by far my favorite. I think it makes perfect sense. Jayce has experienced a unique type of trauma that’s drastically harmed his psyche, and for lack of a better description I would refer to it as psychedelic trauma. His perspective of reality has been harmed by the arcane, to the point that when he’s walking through the compound, he has disturbing powerful visual hallucinations and distortions. He wants to do ANYTHING that he can to bring himself fully back into reality, and he wants to prevent others from going through the same harmful and damaging experience he endured. This isn’t just random speculation on my part, victor immediately noticed that the arcane has changed Jayce’s psyche in a damaging way. I don’t think this just means it arbitrarily made him crazy, I think it refers to a much more realistic kind of damage. The types of distortions Jayce experienced are an aspect of a very real disorder called HPPD. In real life, this is generally caused by a substance with hallucinogenic properties, typically psychedelics. The arcane “trip” that Jayce experiences is EXTREMELY realistic from a visual and conceptual perspective to how taking a high dose of psychedelics would feel. Therefore, I feel it’s a safe conclusion to draw that Jayce would develop HPPD from that, and the damage that causes could absolutely send him on a quest to do everything in his power to end victor, since from his perspective doing this will put the world back to normal. I may not have worded anything correctly here, so if you have any questions, I’d be free to elaborate. I feel strongly that this was the intention from the writers, and it was actually my favorite part of the entire season.
14:50 YES I CANNOT GET THE IDEA OUT OF MY HEAD THAT THERE IS NO WAY ALL OF THIS GETS RESOLVED IN THIS SEASON. It might just be left on the burner for the future LOL adaptations.
The homeless big guy that befriended Vi was the most pointless character in the series. He shows up out of nowhere, joins the enforcers just cause, then leaves, then hangs with vi, then fucks off, and might be done? Like what’s up with him looking like Vandor? It’s especially pointless when we get the real vandor back. Albeit as Warrock (and it didn’t last long but I digress).
I don't know why homeless guy was even in the show I doubt he will come back in act three (and if he does he will just ba a waist of space) same with blue fish looking guy who was near Maddie I think they might of been in a bigger story when the plan had 5 seasons but since it's shorter now they are kinda just... there?
i dont think he was pointless, he was simply a side character whose journey isnt very relevant to the mains. Similar to the fish guy and Maddie. We may see them again but their backstory and such isnt so necessary to the other characters.
@@falconeshieldfor us? Speak for yourself he was a nothing character to me. If the writers wanted me to see this guy as a reminder of vandor they did a piss poor job. Vandor isn’t just a face he’s an actual father figure to vi. A character. This guy has no reason to even stick with Vi in the first place and leaves her anyway. So it’s dumb
@@aaliyah8685he was pointless. You can have side characters work like Marcus who wasn’t that relevant. For as little his role was it was written amazingly. This guy in comparison wasn’t. He was a waste of space and did nothing to affect the story or characters. Vi literally forgets he exists. And what journey did he have? We don’t even know his name outside of credits
Definitely love this season no doubt, but warwick Vander restoring him should have had a little bit time, the brewing conflict between Caitlyn and Vi , Caitlyn going down right tyrannical vengeful, Jinx trying to find herself and having a bond with Isha that she hadn't felt for a while, the time skip was tangible and not something substantial but still i do hope they stick the landing
Great review!! While I do agree that some things were rushed and the characters’ motivations are a little shewed, I know we’ll see what Jayce saw next act. We HAVE to, and it’s either he saw evil Viktor and tried to prevent it, or he’s possessed by the Arcane. Also, I think Caitlyn “turned good” after Vi said she’s trying to save her father. Cait came there to capture “the monster”, until she realized it’s Vi’s dad. She just lost her mother and won’t let Vi go through the same thing. But they all need a longggg talk next ep 😢
honestly caitlyn doubting things kind of felt right to me. Like yes, she was left in a dark place after her mother, but her actions in act one felt out of character, so seeing her doubt things felt right, ESPECIALLY since I feel like she was questioning Ambessa above all else. Of course she'd question this strange new woman who isn't from piltover coming in and instantly taking control! Especially with Maddie there to talk to her every night. My biggest question was just wondering how big of a time skip we had. Months? Years? A week!?
I see your point, but in my opinion the issue is that there was a big set up for her view to be clouded. And while I agree that Caitlyn doubting things is very in character, we didn't see it enough. It was way too quick. Not explored enough. The peak of this character complexity was in the time skip that we did not see, we did not witness how she went from having tunnel vision to suddenly doubting things. It is in her character, but there was no catalyst to get it started, I feel like.
With the whole Jayce fucking everything up, I saw it as a parallel to what Jinx did. Y'know the whole "This was the cause of one deranged individual" which at this point is exactly what Jayce is. One deranged individual that caused a crap ton of problems to a huge group of people using a magic projectile, just like Jinx. Now I'm interested in how the story handles these two, specifically how Caitlyn handles them.
That moment Vander and VI came together hugging actually had me crying.. And I'm a 42yo grown man that never ever cries... I don't know what kind of emotion buildup magic they're using but it works.. 🤷♂
I don't think I needed more context for Jayce crashing out. It's clear he was transported somewhere into some timeline, saw a bunch of stuff, likely had to fight off a bunch of stuff and then got transported back to the main timeline/universe and began crashing out. My only problem was them not showing Silo be "saved" by Viktor.
I believe Cait has a change of heart when Singed introduced her to Orianna. She even calls him a monster right beforehand, still seething with anger. But then she see's his motivations, as simple as hers, doing all of this for a loved one. That was her wake up call. Suddenly he's not a monster anymore, he's a man trying to save his daughter. While she still has hate for Jinx and totally did not expect Jinx to be her savior in the finale of the act, she was still on her way to recovery from her angry bloodlust mission. I also think she and Vi talked a lot more than what they showed, even if Vi didn't mention Jinx was there, Caitlyn was able to deduce that Jinx really did save her life despite their past hatred for each other. Jinx's LOVE for her father outweighed the HATE she felt for Caitlyn. And Cait should follow suite with her love for Vi.
No because you definitely put all my worries about act 2. The whole time I was going like, “ please explain to me what the fuck is going on with Jayce”. And CAITLYN. I was SO excited for her dictator era only to not really see her do anything of importance. I really did not think she would immediately join with Vi, no conversations or explanations (unless we just didn’t see that because of time purposes). From what I see in the preview I have some hopes that they’ll manage to sort through Vi and Cait’s relationship more thoroughly. ( and *cough* Jayce.) but aside from that this act really was heartbreaking and as you said it would definitely work having it’s own season. And I am looking forward to Ekko, if anything PLEASE let him be a good character. He’s not that popular in the fandom but he has so much potential for the last act (thankfully I think the pacing might be better) I’m actually so scared though, let’s just have faith in the writers right now.
Oh also about Maddy (or however she spells it) I’m sorry but she looks so incredibly awkward next to Cait. There’s no way they didn’t design her specifically to look completely ridiculous and out of place with her. But the fact that she looks so small and “innocent” makes me have a bad feeling about her, but I don’t think Arcane would give us anything so blatantly obvious so my question is who in the world is she working for and what are her intentions (considering she convinced Vi to join the enforcers and then a few months later is in bed with Caitlyn)
that's what I thought. After act 1 I thought that, ok this time they're traumatising Vi, with Cait going down a path she can't follow and becoming a monster, much like Jinx. Nope. I mean sure Vi's obviously had a rough 6 months or so and gone all scene kiddie, but otherwise now she has both people she cares about in her life, well briefly at least, I suspect Jinx is going to be back...
There is a documentary on how Arcane 1 was made and in the writing section it shows how a few amazing women from different backgrounds (writer, producer, director(?)) jumped in to help the story spread its wings and ACTUALLY be good and make sense, before it was published. They weren't mentioned in the original credits (oh what a surprise), but I believe they maybe let go of them for this season, since they were more of a life boat than the official crew.. 😂
I'm honestly so refreshed by how fast some things go, like I'm used to every beast character spending a bunch of time absolutely wild but vander came back in 2 episodes, it feels rushed but also very good
Great analysis, Arcane is still great but the characters arc really sufered (mostly Cait) with the rush. I didnt question Jayce change as it might be justified in the 3rd act (hopefully). Also there were some things that feel like cheap emotional manipulation, just for the feels (but I guess is also an effect of the story rushing and not enough time to flesh out events) at the end is what you say. Its gonna be good, its just a question about how great. Again. Great analysis. Thanks
@@darkfinderer I didn't see the emotional aspects as cheap. Yes, they were put in there to make us feel something, but they had meaning. Episode 6 is called "The Message Hidden Within the Pattern". To me, that was symbolic for the writing in Arcane. The message being that we cannot escape our humanity. Whether it be because of love or hate, our emotions drive us to action, which can have great or devastating effects. Two sides of the same coin! It shows history repeating itself through Isha. Isha is supposed to represent a younger, innocent Powder and she uses 3 gemstones to save/kill Vander. It's the same pattern as episode 3 season 1, and we watch the death of "Powder" all over again. Bringing Vander back or establishing Isha as a prominent character wasn't the point. It was to remind us of Jinx's humanity when she was mostly portrayed as a misunderstood villian in season 1. I think they're preparing to kill off Jinx in the last act honestly....
@@Bananies12its still cheap, jinx did not deserved this redemption, she was evil and crazy and suddenly motherly and caring, that literally just to make people feel something since jinx is the favorite character among people, when it’s actually just dumb. Isha dying makes this even more obvious because she literally just killed her self????? And she seems way younger than powder.
@@colorfultrouble2693 I guess if someone doesn't care about Jinx, then yeah it could be seen as cheap, but that seems more like a character preference than bad writing. Most of the series has been centered around people not being completely good or evil. Despite the things she's done, she's been written and portrayed as a tragic character from the beginning, so humanizing her isn't new for the show. Again, it goes back to what Viktor was talking about with 2 sides of the same coin. Almost all characters in the show (not just Jinx) have made choices that could be viewed as "good" or "bad" depending on which side you're looking at.
@@Bananies12 Thanks for sharing your opinion, that symbolism you explain in Isha's death is very interesting and beautiful. I didn't mean her death. this is probably just nitpick but just comparing this season with the first one there are some small lines of dialogue that feel to me unnecessarily placed just for the feels (don't get me wrong I felt them) like Warwick/Vander saying "don't touch my daughter" or Vi saying "He is your father too", it felt wow but to me it lost some of the subtlety that I loved in the first season. Jinx will definitely not die as she is a champion in league of legends.
@@Bananies12 came back here just to acknowledge you were right about Jinx dying at the end. and just to throw some wood to the fire without much explanation Im going to say imho 3rd act is full of bad writing.
While it was fast paced, I think the execution given the time they had was incredible. Even though I knew for a near fact that Isha was gonna die since her first appearance, but they did an amazing job at making me care about her in that time and the amount of opportunities they had to kill her off made me even more anxious but slightly doubtful. And the ending was still shocking enough that I needed ten minutes to process what happened before talking to my friend.
even with it all in mind...I'll admit I'm not going to be super hard on them for compressing the series considering how often Netflix has cancelled animated shows without warning no matter how successful they may be even if it was never true it would be five seasons
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Thoughts on Act 2?
Also time code for POSITIVITY is 10:25
The “Remember Me” song with Vander’s memories made me tear up..
Good but should have been 6 episodes instead of 3. I'd be fine waiting until 2025 for a 15 ep season.
My opinion: It wasn’t very good and I’m low key sad about it.
Good maybe a little more episodes for more wiggle room and time to explain everything
@@Story_Trailfirst time ive seen a wrong opinion
"He's your dad, too."
I can't imagine how long Jinx waited for that type of affirmation from Vi or Vander after what happened in Season 1, Episode 3.
The close-up of her face in that scene felt like they were showing Powder again instead of Jinx. In that short moment, everything was fine again.
Yeah the animators actually show power's face in jinx there was a vid on it somewhere
felicidade de gay dura pouco
@@esssie yeahh i believe they made powder's face slightly more round and her eyes more open, and jinx's face is made to be more angular and her eyes are slimmer :D
That had me pounding my chest screaming thats what im talking about. It's about Family
That VERY short moment 😭
Gotta say, I love how much Vi committed to the breakup look. "Yes, I'm gonna get a new darker jacket, paint the gauntlets, stain my hair and put makeup on"
Kinda Jojo Siwa-esque
@@bananayummyable Yes, but she actually makes it look hot- and good, that too.
@@bananayummyable Vi actually pulled it off 😂
Kinda looked like her mom more with the dark hair if u Ignore the makeup 😂
IT'S NOT A PHASE MOM, I JUST GOT JILTED BY THE LOVE OF MY LIFE! I'LL NEVER LOVE AGAIN! LOVE IS 𝑊𝐸𝐴𝐾, 𝐿𝑂𝑉𝐸 𝐼𝑆 𝐻𝐸𝐴𝑅𝑇𝐿𝐸𝑆𝑆 𝐴𝑁𝐷 𝑈𝑁𝐶𝐴𝑅𝐼𝑁𝐺 𝑂𝐹 𝑌𝑂𝑈𝑅 𝐹𝐸𝐸𝐿𝐼𝑁𝐺𝑆!
On the bright side, I feel like this act went so fast and did so much that it took a lot off act 3's plate. So we're more likely to have a more fleshed out finale on par with previous acts.
Yeah I can see the criticism but it worked imo, over analysis can kill joy and act 2 is about emotional payoffs
I hope you’re right. Act 3 will make or break this show for me. I don’t care about the future sequels and spinoffs they’re planning, I care about Arcane.
I don't know, they still haven't covered the black rose and mel stuff, heimer and ekko are still missing and now the unfortunate family is gonna have another trouble on their plate with Isha being gone, not to mention the rift between piltover and zaun, cait and Ambessa standing against each other and ambessas army which now technically is an oppressive offensive unwelcomed force being in piltover, salo being dead so the council lose 1 more guy
You don't know how much this soothes me
@@awtodor I disagree, because it didn't do payoffs of things it actually built or had been built in the previous act or season, it went for payoffs of things Act 2 itself started to build and never really got far into.
Vander/Warwick was actually introduced and finished on this Act;
The Sisters spent 7 episodes in opposition and nuance in their struggles and grievances against each other, only to be reunited in a single episode without *actually* talking about any of them;
Caitlyn's antagonistic phase against Zaunites lasted a total of 1 Montage, and the whole build-up of her hatred towards Jinx lead to her... instantly siding with her when she met Vi again;
Isha as an actual healer for Jinx's traumas only began its buildup on Episode 4, and lasted for just these 3 episodes;
At least to me, the only emotional payoff it had was the end of Episode 5 with the sisters embracing Vander, but only because I had prior investment on Warwick the *champion*, no the Arcane character
It’s absolutely hilarious how Maddie tries to apply to Cait’s better self for months on end, then Vi calls her Cupcake ONCE and she folds like paper
Maddie is crying somewhere in the background
Vi is the one who stole her heart 😂
Even ambessa knew that 😏
Really dislike Maddie, she went from ''cmon Cait, beat your chest too, its fun to be fascist!'' to ''Youre talking too much like Ambessa, call off the invasion!''
Really hope she ends up being a Black Rose spy, its the only way to not make her be a device from the writters
I've dealt with plenty of prissy bottoms, this is normal
I'll take Maddie if Cait isn't interested 😊
maddie is a spy
The creators confirmed that Arcane was never going to be five seasons, it was a in-joke between the CEO and the creators, when they hadn't even received the greenlight after the pilot yet, and people misinterpreted it
Doesn't change the fact that this act it's doing a little too much with too little time, but, yeah, the two seasons was planned from the start
Well that's a relief to hear
3 seasons would have been really good. Or maybe a 4 act for S2.
@@EvanSol919 how do you know that they are. Its works both ways. But I trust the source more than I trust random people online
@@EvanSol919Because they're still going to make shows from other parts of the universe. Them lying would make sense if they arent gonna do shows anymore.
To be honest, if the rumor was false or not it makes me curious to think how the story would go if this have more seasons, even if we just got a third season to add a bit more the story because yeah, it does feel like they’re moving through things at a breakneck pace with little time to breathe which makes me kind of nervous. But still, I respect the decision they made to keep the story short and sweet and I have a lot of faith in this show’s writers.
Anyway, can’t wait for act 3, the days aren’t going by fast enough.
The most dictator thing Caitlyn did was have a mistress 💀
Only because the show runners were cowards. Even Glimmer had her BIG EVIL FIREPLACE moment.
Idk man I'm still not over the chemical warfare
😂 Glad I'm not the only one who was like "Kaitlyn sweety no that's a war crime 😮"@@ohood1788
@@falconeshieldtalking about She-ra?
@Thareldis I think MLP?
Vi called Cait “cupcake” and she instantly folded
Caitlyn is so real for that
Yep... u seen it in her eyes lol
I thought it was Vi's hot emo getup that made her go. "Yum Yum."
Her first comment was also on her appearance 😭
I think the true reason is that she probably already knew Ambessa was up to something
Please tell me im not the only person who immediately knew that little girl was gonna die the moment she started following Jinx
i knew bro but I didnt expect it to actually happen
She said it herself. Wether shes pulling the trigger or not
I knew it too, expected it, but a little later maybe, to give us more time to bond with her, maybe with Vi a little, to establish the "Isha-Powder" symbolism, but it still did hit hard to see her basically sacrifice herself and essentially recreated the third episode of first season. If they just gave it one more episode to flash out everyone a little bit more, it would have been perfect.
"Everyone who gets close to me dies" she even said it herself
Most people expected it I'm pretty sure. Isha basically needed to die (or something terrible to happen to her) for Jinx's mental state to go down the deep end.
Caitlin and her mistress jumpscare 💀
My reaction was: Oh my God, bro, oh Hell no man, what the f!@# man! (Who invited this kid!?)
“Her mistress” that is one way to describe Maddie…..
In all seriousness i feel like it really humanizes Caitlyn that she had a depression rebound. Some people have suggested it is mostly a physical relationship. I don’t know if i buy that… but it is an interesting question to ask, how much is caitlyn’s heart in it?
@@cattievogelsong96 I think "girl-toy" is more fitting.
@@cattievogelsong96 It seems like Maddie is more emotionally invested that Cait. But also Cait is trying to be open with her and bond emotionally through talking and Maddie just shuts her down.
I feel so bad for Maddie 😭
Cait is *not* over Vi.
EDIT:
I no longer feel bad for Maddie
Funny thing about Warwick- my boyfriend played as him when he played league of legends years ago. And when he saw singed with the scalpel, and the enforcers going “put down the blade”
I laughed, like “pfft, what’s he gonna do with that tiny ass blade?”
And my boyfriend saw that singed cut his hand and immediately started shrieking in fear. Like straight up “NO- NO NO NO NO NO- WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT- NO -“ and it was the funniest fucking shit ever because he was essentially having ptsd flashbacks. It both caught me off guard and made me laugh because he almost NEVER reacts like that while watching any show or movie.
So this arc alone I have to thank for one of my favorite reactions from my boyfriend
Oh my god that's amazing. The entirety of Act 2 was so painful for me, but Warwick/Vander was incredible. 😭
I love how they animated him on such a low framerate to mimic his beastlike movement. Such a genuinely terrifying character.
So your boyfriend was like the punisher in that one clip?
@@Ixarus6713 I liked that too! It was really cool
@@jacksondavies3595 yeah essentially lmao
I played quite a lot of league till like 5 years ago and hated warwick as a beginner with a passion. When this moment happened, I was sitting in a train watching the episode on my phone and had like a toned down version of this as my reaction and got some funny looks as a response 🤣
Vi has been going through it. She lost her family, her girlfriend, and joined the group that made her life hell growing up to stop her sister only to be abandoned. I cannot describe how emotionally cathartic it was for her, Jinx, and Vander to have that hug.
Yeah and then everything goes to shit again like give my girl a break 😭
I was extremely sad because that buildup, at least in my eyes, really didn't result in anything in Episode 5. Vi had MANY things to say to Jinx, but somehow she managed to say more to her in the Act 1, Ep 3 finale then she did when they were literally just there and could talk. The most she said was ''well and you're a psycho!'' and that was that. I love that their fight was more sister-like, but at the same time it really felt like they had a LOT in their chest which none of the two actually said.
Exactly 😭😭@@haneulJang-zy9jk
@@felipecouto1102 Same here, I wished Vi and Jinx got to exchange more words, but maybe that's because Vi's been bottling up how she feels at the expense of just getting through another day.
@@lifeisadrag7705one of the show runners acc talked about it a little. Something along the lines of S2x3 was where the two sisters really put everything on the table. They fought it out, had the chance to kill each other, didn’t, and had a moment where they saw their old selves caring for each other. Therefore, when they meet up again, Vander supersedes their reconciliation which has already been happening. Especially with the note they found. Basically, they don’t actually have much to talk about.
Imagine being Jinx and losing your dad 4 TIMES! Honestly she should be used to it by now.
Gotta be a world record 😭😭😭
A very close friend of mine died last month and it's been the hardest thing I've ever had to deal with and I have felt numb for the last few weeks. That sequence at the end where Isha's life flashed before her eyes as someone so young with so much life left to live has it cut short by unfortunate circumstances. It triggered the exact combination of emotions to absolutely shatter me and made me feel emotional pain I didn't know I was capable of feeling. This show is truly amazing
I am so incredibly sorry for your loss ♡ :(
Maybe try to think of it from Isha's PoV, which considering the flashbacks I think we should. It's bright, vivid, the images are all EMPHATICALLY happy and fulfilled. Isha knew what she was doing, with no regrets. She was happy. She lived a short life, but it was hers, and from her perspective, she lived it well.
@@lenajohnson6179 I literally can't. All I can think about is how much pain this will bring jinx because I've been in a very similar position to her and trust me when I tell you that it is one of the worst feelings you can possibly have.
@@tomatertate thank you. I appreciate it
I'm sorry for your loss, but for what it's worth I have a sneaking suspicion Isha's death isn't gonna stick. Setting aside the training years of media have given me to not believe anything until I see a mangled body, something about the final framing of the explosion makes me think we're gonna see it in rewind next episode.
Killing Viktor with no explanation? It’s all there, the wild rune whispered something to Jayce and had changed him somehow and we’ve seen what Viktor is twisting people in to. Jayce is the only one who was actually aware of the danger that is Viktor if you can even call him that anymore. The Hexcore and Viktor are one and the same now and he was changing people, endearing them by linking their life and minds with his, he changed their whole psyche like with Salo. I think there’s enough context clues for it to be a cliff hanger for the opening to episode 7
Yeah, there are a lot of reasons why Jayce killed Viktor. These being major ones.
To say (not u, SC) Jayce just killed Viktor with no explanation is just well, a take. Not a good take at all (imo), but it is a take, I guess.
I agree but they really didn’t give us any explanation, other than “it whispered something to him and changed him somehow”. It just came way too out of the blue, and I really wish they’d actually shown us what happened to lead to him booming Viktor off the map
@@Mysterymeateater I assume its because he said the void and went crazy because of it. Though the Void isn't even something people know if they only watch Arcane so understandable.
@@Mysterymeateater true but I also think it stays in line with Jayce’s character in act I we see that he’s become aware of how dangerous hextech and the arcane as a whole is. As its inventor I think he knows that it’s on him so he’s overcorrecting.
Yeah the Jace nitpick should wait until the whole season is done, IMO. Yeah it doesn’t have as much finesse as last season, but to hate on it without all the information is counting the eggs before they hatch
Honestly, with how talented Arcane’s writing team is, I feel like the majority of the problems with this arc could have been solved if there was just one more episode.
Have Caitlin try to be a dictator, and let us watch as her conscious slowly eats away at her conviction. Show Sevika trying to rally Zaun against Piltover as more and more restrictions are put in place.
I think the writers are saving Jayce, Heimdinger, and Ekko’s plotlines to take center stage for the final act, so I think Jayce is okay here.
EDIT: I also think whatever is going on with Mel is going to be setup for another show.
yeah i agree im kinda waiting for act 3 to have my final thoughts and shit
Agree, I feel like every episode this season should have been an extra 20 minutes along. Not sure why they are capped at 40 minutes instead of a full hour.
@@JD-fz3hy The show is very expensive and I honestly liked how packed the episodes are.
I think Mel needs to come back to reveal the truth about her mother to the world with whatever weird light power things
Ya I'm fine with 2 seasons but I think season 2 maybe needed an extra act to flesh some things out.
Her death was so obviously coming I knew it the moment they introduced her...
And yet when it happened it still hit like a ton of bricks...thats what I love about Arcane either it follows it by the book or it takes you by complete surprise but the fact that it does it well enough that it can still be enjoyable.
@@MCPhatman we don't even know if she is dead calm down. I need to see a body
bru i did not g a fck about her, like she doesnt even talk, idk how u got attached to her emotionally, her death wasnt that sad bro
@@studyaccount207 i wasn't that sad at her death but she was a cool character the not talking part made her cooler
Jayce isn't like this in the game.
But it's worth saying, he did everything wrong to make everything right. The Arcane are no joke.
You sure about that last one, because maybe im crazy but everytime jayce does something cuestionable in these episode the cannon hammer vibrates, almost as is trying to communicate with him.
yeah I'm wondering how will act 3 handle because he may need a visual and voice rework as much as viktor after what they've done to him lol (yeah I know about Arcane Survivor but it's weird if his base model will just be non-ptsd jayce)
@@mantrakiI honestly am curious if it’s a Darkin. That might be a copout but I think it would be a neat way of introducing that concept.
Pretty sure no one's like their game counterpart apart from their surface level characteristics (appearance and combat abilities)
Unless they retconned it, League Vi and Jinx weren't related. VI and Caitlyn were a dynamic law enforcement duo (batman and Robin if both were batman...albeit The Brave and The Bold batman ito tone) and Jinx was basically the joker.
@@chancewells4083 Wait I actually think thats it. Because Jayce sees flashes of the Void and Darkin are literally described as being traumatized by the Void War.
Still a copout I guess, but could themetically work for Jayce. Because Viktor told him to destroy the Hexcore, but now Viktor is the one that sees the good in it while Jayce sees the bad. Their own innovation destroyed them unknowingly and it begs the question of if innovation actually does us any good or just harm.
Maddie as a flipping rebound after being “perfect uWu precious” bait was HILARIOUSSSSS
She’s kinda like a toothless version of Vi too, at least in appearance. A soft girl ginger instead of angry red haired goth. They’re like just perfectly, comedically yin and Yang.
Hopefully you see this comment but the whole "Arcane was originally supposed to be 5 seasons long" is actually false. That was just a joke made by the creators that a lot of people believed as a "fact"
Yes he brings it up
@@EvanSol919 I honestly don't think this was a Netflix decision, more league of Legends shows will come after this. I think the people in charge of the IP's direction wanted to get a move on, not spend too much time somewhere
@@EvanSol919 No it was also the say of Riot, since they also bring in the money for the show, and it is incredibly expensive.
@@EvanSol919 in pretty sure we would be fine with only 1 to 3 more episodes
@@EvanSol919 Netflix distributes not publish the show. I agree the 3rd season or a 4th act would have beeen nice to have more room for calm moments/pacing.
ISHA ISNT DEAD UNTIL I SEE THE BODY 😭
Exactly. I don't understand why everyone is assuming she is dead
@@Chrisace89I also want to believe she's alive but, a child in the middle of THAT explosion is likely they ain't making it, also from a story perspective that helps jinx grow.
Even though I freaking hate the idea, and wish more than anything that isha survived, the chances doesn't seem likely.
Just the last painful step to push her over the edge for ever, I suppose...
@@Paul-bc1qy to be fair, Jayce somehow walked out to the council explosion without a scratch (unfortunately 😡) so there’s a chance she’s still alive
@@Chrisace89EXACTLY👏
I really thought Maddi had it for Vi, not Cait
The twist was hilarious for me as well
I have no idea how but I had the feeling she was gonna be rebound for Cait. Don't ask me how. Maybe it's because she sliiighty resembles her?
Maddi cait vi throuple pls 🙏
Maybe they both wanted Vi and use eachother as rebound :D
@@natanaru omg goals (except i am suspecting similar to the video that Maddi is a spy lmao)
@@randomentity7980 yoooo that could totally be the connection!
I was NOT ready for that Isha montage at the end man
"I have notes", gor the first time, manged to scare me more than "I have thoughts"
When Isha died I could hear Silco: "Is there anything so undoing as a Daughter?"
I never cry at shows. Every episode left me with trauma and tears I’d never expect a TV show to give
It's ok. The the water flow
first season was much more emotionaly impactfull, felt natural. Here everythings seams made up
@@laurentguyot3362 Yeah, I felt the exact same. Even Isha's destiny didn't make me cry, when Season 1 made me cry at the end of every one of the three Acts
Fr
Season 2 has more shock values then emotion
7:15 It's subtle but Victor talking about the nature of the Hextech entity being self-destructive sums up what's happened to Jayce; He's possessed by the Void(?) part of the Cosmic energy Victor's imbued with, and it's just "canceling itself out". I'm sure that it'll be explained in full in Act 3, but it's what I got from it, Arcane does a surprising lot of passive storytelling that can be hard to catch sometimes
Considering Singed and Vander ar there and Viktor hasnt got his iconic robotic body yet I dont belive he stays dead for long
He's getting a rework soon so he might not get his robo body.
In the lore (the kinds discontinued one), ww gets his full transfirmation after dying, so if my lore brainwired memory doesnt mistake me isha killed ww (she also most likely end game herself since she put 3 hextech gems in a chamber that requires at most one, and if you know a little something about weapons if you put too much powder in your chamber the gun goes boom)
Dunno if he'll get it.
Isha is teemo (helmet, smoll; psychopathic rage) but I don't see no mushrooms nor blowpipe
Plus, Viktor (unless the League of legends has REALLY changed his design) is kind of defined by the mechanical grabby hand that shoots lasers, which they first showcased to heimerdinger back in season 1 along with the gauntlets that became Vi's hulk hands
This season is definitely showing that a third season would have been nice to prevent the pacing from feeling a bit too fast. But the show is extremely expensive to make so I'm kind of surprised we got more than one season at all.
First ACT with some sprinkles of second one should be second season. Only that way we would have coherent relations beween all factions. Now this is mess and characters jumt jump from A to B
@@alesksander Up until episode 4 it was fine imo, but in episode 5 and 6 it got really really fast.
- I wanted to know more about Viktor and his creepy commune, it feels like it was built and then destroyed in a day.
- I wanted to see more of the firelights without ekko, and the result of the deaths of the chem barons and the result of the grey smog raids for the people of the undercity.
- I wanted to see more of Caitlyn struggling with her new role, so her doing the right thing actually make sense. I wanted to see her missing Vi.
- I wanted to see Viktor explore Vanders psyche for longer.
- I honestly just wanted to stay in the spot where Vander was back, and Jinx and Vi were cool for a little bit longer.
- I wanted more explanation of why Singed did the things he did.
- I wanted to know more about what is happening with Jayce, Echo and Heimerdinger (but I trust they will handle this in act 3)
I can’t believe Ekko got shafted again
Ekko in season 1 🤝 Ekko in season 2
*Shows up just in Act 1 and Act 3*
cate's realization of things is out of control is when she said about why is peace always the justification of violence... and she didn't like that...
That was in the first episode of Act 2 right after we see her take the position of a commander. And was displayed through telling the viewers, not showing us. What made her come to the conclusion that violence isn't the answer after she stormed the undercity with toxic gas? The build-up in Act 1 of her becoming a cold, hardened militia leader to not anymore was kind of rushed tbh.
They showed it too early. I would hsve preffered to see ambessa force caitlyn to do something bad in ep 4. Then in ep 5, caitlyn questions her actions and we get "why is peace a justification gore violence" then in ep 6, she fully betrays ambessa. That would've been so much better
@@oomay1925 Agree wholeheartedly. Her conversation with Maddie and her opposition of Ambessa feels like an end of Season thing, not *literally the first thing that happens after she becomes a dictator*, it felt SOOOOOOOOOOOO odd
@@felipecouto1102 it wasnt the first thing that she did lol, there was a large timeskip between act 1 and act 2
@@aaliyah8685 Somehow you missed the point mate...
To say this hit hard is an understatement! Isha was a fantastic character. What she bought to the show and, more importantly, Jinx was defining. Loved the relationship between her and Jinx. Now I have a feeling in Act 3, Jinx will lose her s**t.
I love how this season addresses the "fridging" complaints people had with the last one, especially revolving around Sky (even then, they still use Sky as a partial voice of reason even in her death), and made Isha's reason for her death be due to Jinx influencing her.
I know this is pretty controversial but I think Isha was the worst character in the show. It's really hard for me to care even a bit about a character that is just obviously there to die. She literally just falls on Jinx, gets saved, gets attached to her, they develop a relationship, she dies. For me, it just doesn't have the same effect as it did in the first season when everybody around the League characters keeps dying. Don't get me wrong, I still love the show and all the moments with Isha were really nice, but now it's either deus ex machina, Ekko saves the day with time jumping or something and the sad moment of her death gets ruined, or she's just dead and the only point of her character the whole time was to make Jinx snap again. It just feels like such a lazy and boring writing choice compared to the rest of the series. Idk, the show is absolutely amazing so far so maybe they prove me wrong in the final act.
@@minegnomek9451 Fair point but I see the Isha dynamic a bit different. Jinx herself said it in episode 4, but she saw a lot of herself in Isha. The innocence when she was "Powder." A lot of things with Isha are subtext and background character work, like her being so gentle and caring with Warick/Vander and her pushing Jinx to be more for Zaun instead of wasting away. She really looked up to her, much like how Powder looked up to Vi. Through her relationship with Isha, having someone/something outside of herself to care for Jinx was able to heal somewhat. Jinx told Isha that having her around was like having glasses for the first time in her life. There are a lot more narrative parallels I could point out between Isha and Powder, after all episode 6 was a twisted mirror of episode 3 of Season 1 but I'll leave it at that.
I just wanted to offer a different take. I don't see Isha as just a plot device to make Jinx 'snap' again. There were a lot of themes Isha represented such as hope, purity and the future. I loved what Arcane has been doing this season and I know the final act is gonna destroy me.
@@minegnomek9451another reason for Isha’s character is to give Jinx a reason to get involved in the prison break which leads to her meeting Warwick. Jinx only cares about people that she has a relationship with so she would have had no reason to help people she doesn’t know, which is why before Isha was arrested she didn’t want to get involved with Zaun vs Piltover during the time Skip and the first half of episode 5. Also, I think it shows how good the writers are that they were able to make Isha’s death so emotional even though most people thought she was gonna die at some point in the season, and I think a majority of viewers expected her to die during act 3 so her death scene was still somewhat of a surprise.
@@hawkeye0378 Your first point makes it seem like Isha is literally just a plot device and she's there so that the story can happen, which is not an example of good writing. As for her death, my point is that it wasn't really emotional for me since her death was so obvious that I didn't get attached to her at all. Her dying even earlier than people expected only provides shock value and is not a good thing either.
If we’re doing time shenanigans and giving justice to Echo’s character, I essentially want him to be the main character in the first half of the last episode. I want to reframe the show’s events through the lens of the only sane person left.
That would be absolutely amazing omg
You called it
@@evonny256 Ekko best character
This arc definitely had me thinking "We need more than 2 seasons" it was good but you can feel it.
Like I might have felt more for Isha if we had her for more than 5 episodes to really bond with her.
I would have loved to see why Zaun suddenly sees Jinx as a symbol, when we've never seen people look up to her. What happened in those months that made her an icon?
We could've had 4 acts and actually SAW Cait's war crimes on screen
@@falconeshield I would have loved to see her war crimes, and her mental struggle with how things have only gotten worse. It would have made her siding with Vi more believable.
I mean in my head her blowing up the council is what made her a symbol
@@luancosta199that's probably what authors want us to think and it's totally legitimate reason
Zaun sees jinx as a symbol most likely because jinx is the first to land a hit on piltover and sevika holding the rallies to group up everyone in zaun to one cause which is what she tried to do with the zaunite council.
I think 12 episodes instead of nine, or one hour episodes, would have been enough. Seeing more of Caitlin's corruption arc and vi's pit fighter arc needed alot more fleshed out. Also, I think a scene or so hinting at what Jayce saw would be good.
Maddie and Caitlyn was genuinely hilarious because I knew the chaos it would cause. Isha better be alive or I will riot
I can't wait for the harassment that Maddie's voice actress will receive.
I bet Maddie's voice actress will get bullied online.
Which is so dumb. @@valentinkambushev4968
@@valentinkambushev4968 hope she dosent that would suckkkk
@@valentinkambushev4968god I hope not.
Jinx went from main antagonist to main protagonist real quick
This act, regardless of how it ended, made me feel optimistic that Arcane is aiming for more of a bittersweet ending than a total downer, since it showed how Vi and Jinx can love each other again after loving each other for who they are now rather than what they perceive each other to be.
Sure, Caitlyn most likely won't forgive Jinx, but with the old councilors and Chembarons gone (except Mel and Jayce), there would be a new voice that would bring a brighter future.
I mean, after what happened with Isha and Vander, I'm worried they're stomping Jinx into the dirt for a big Joker-esque breakdown of sanity
Hopefully, she is instead inspired by the fact that Isha idolized her and was willing to die for her. That way, she can channel her grief and loss as an agent of change and revolution, as opposed to simply backsliding into mania
@@blugger There's also the fact that there are so much people depending on her for support after what she did in Stillwater. It isn't just Isha. Also, this time, what happened to Vander isn't Jinx's fault.
I’m sorry to tell you this, but the voice actress of jinx(Ella Purcell)has stated in quote” I cried, so I think other people will cry,too, it’s devastating and nobody will feel good after they watch it” in reference to the season two finale.In a interview with something called tech rider in April this year.
@@Cheese23145 Actually, that's not true! Etalk had the interview with Ella Purnell and she said that she just cried over the ending and thought is was great when she was coming back to do ADR.
Okay so my thoughts on the whole rushing stories thing:
1. The fact that something goes to shit because of one character is something this entire story is build upon (Powder „helping“ Vi defeat Silco killing her family in the process while Marcus takes Vi away). So the fact that Jayces actions caused a ripple effect is to be expected.
2. Jayce has all the reasons to kill Viktor and this doesn’t really need explaining. Viktor asked of Jayce to destroy the Hexcore. So he went out to keep this promise while spending months in a time loop where he saw what kind of harm he dealt with his actions. The source of all of that is the Hexcore so he wants to make things right again (seeing how he didn’t change the story repeated itself).
3. Caitlyn turning away from Ambessa also makes absolute sense within the rules of the story.
She left Vi because Vi made her weak.
She tried to fill the hole she caused left by Vi with Maddie and failed as she tried to become something she isn’t (paralleling Vi from Act 1).
She does things because she still loves Vi (as you can’t break the bounds forged with love in Arcane) just like Vi did.
Finally seeing how Jinx clings to Isha and how Vi found her peace with it she stops for now seeing how Ambessa is about to storm a Zaunite Utopia with a convicted criminal to resurrect his daughter.
This development makes sense as she wasn’t willing to kill Isha before or even Jinx as Vi had her under control.
All things considered this leaves Cait in a very interesting position to say the least.
The problem I see atm with Arcane is that it now heavily relays on prior knowledge and understanding of the show that may totally vary from person to person as Arcane is a master at crafting morally gray characters and positions you can take.
So it lost a lot of its story driven conclusions (like Vi being the strong female lead or Powder/Jinx the dreamgirl or Silco the cartoon villain) and replaced it with parallels to depend the characters they already got leaving a lot of questions.
Yup, Caitlyn timeline basically went:
- Mum dead, revenge mode = Hard focus on killing Jinx.
- Accepts becoming the commander despite being slightly unsure of it.
- No longer has Vi, as (like you said) she made her feel weak. So she turns to Maddy. (You suck Maddy!) Who is probably a spy, let's be honest.
- Starts to really question Ambessa and is looking for the first opportunity to betray her. Sees Vi, takes it. (Nobody messes with her main sqeeze and gets away with it.)
- Sees what happened. (Oh shit.)
😂😂
@ oh dont get me wrong she is still totally willing to capture and or kill Jinx.
However she sees atm Powder and not Jinx so she keeps it cool staying close to Vi to then snatch her away the moment she slips
Yeah, I thought it was pretty clear the writers are doing delayed exposition. It's meant to make us go ??? and theorize before it gets explained in act 3. Besides, act 2 was already packed with action and reveals, it would have been too much to get the explanation for Jayce's actions and Caitlyn's change of heart and would have killed the surprise of seeing them make those seemingly out of character decisions.
@@artemiss4432 Honestly I didn’t had that reaction.
I totally understand both Caitlyn and Jayce and even Isha.
They don’t need explaining anymore.
Or rather justification.
But honestly I just realized after the end of act 2 that Isha was mute so yeah idk maybe I look at actions more than on words so yeah
Exactly, we don’t know what Jayce saw yet but it’s pretty clear we’ll get an explanation very early next act 😭
Grief can be the garden of compassion. If you keep your heart open through everything, your pain can become your greatest ally in your life's search for love and wisdom.
I agree that the story feels a bit rushed, but I disagree that the reason involved planning for more episodes. They spent a total of nine years making these two seasons, and they announced the show would end after the second season three years ago, shortly after they finished releasing season one. If they were following the patterns set by other studios for disrespecting animation, it would make no sense for them to give the showmakers three whole years after the first season to continue working on the second.
HOWEVER, there is something that changed during those three years which was only announced in the last few months and could absolutely have changed their plans for story and pacing. In the past, Riot has been pretty casual about retconning the game's lore to facilitate new champions and awesome in-game events, and originally, Arcane was supposed to take place in its own timeline, completely separate from the game's universe. However, Riot recently announced that they intend to combine all the League of Legends games and media into a single unified canon, starting with Arcane as a foundational pillar of this new canon. My guess is that this decision meant they had to make changes to the second season to account for parts of the broader universe which hadn't existed when Arcane was in a separate canon.
Agree. I want more, but at the same time, having a series that is concise and to the point is a breath of fresh air. They give you enough to fill in the blanks, give montages to cove long cut periods of time, because the focus is the emotional journey of several sets of character that are all intertwined.
0:01 - 0:05 From co-creator Christian Linke himself:
“From the very beginning, since we started working on this project, we had a very specific ending in mind, which means the story of ‘Arcane’ wraps up with this second season. But ‘Arcane’ is just the first of many stories that we want to tell in Runeterra.”
(Edit) 8:51 - 9:32:.....😑Are you're serious?.....Of all the yarn ever spinned...
@@EvanSol919one never “knows” that but to assume that they are is also stupid.
Yeah this guy just yapping nonsense all video
I really loved how much Arcane didn't hold the audience's hand in season 1. Personally, it doesn't feel the same way in season 2, and that's where the disappointment comes from. The writing and pacing was masterful in season 1. The timeskip showed the complex, interconnected consequences (good, neutral, or bad) beautifully. Everything felt cohesive, even when the plots were chaotic and fast-paced, because character choices made sense. They were established and then carried through.
Season 2, act 2 lacks coherence, and I think it mainly stems from the time skip. It differs so much from last season because, here, everything that was set up in act 1 fell flat in act 2. Entire character arcs are left feeling unresolved. Even if act 3 is amazing and explains everything, it doesn't stop act 2 from feeling off and disconnected. The pacing can go as fast as it wants as long as character actions and reactions make sense.
Where did Caitlyn's character arc go? A mini music video that shows some of what happened between act 1 & 2 isn't enough to show the choices she made as a dictator, nor how her decisions have affected her. Her story with Ambessa was rushed, so there weren't better character moments that showed how she was starting to doubt Ambessa. She barely reacted to Jinx at the end of episode 6, and the short scene with Vi felt contrived. Actually, most of Vi's scenes in act 2 felt contrived. Loss of identity notwithstanding, where's her complexity? It all feels surface level.
I needed to see more of how Mel's disappearance was affecting Ambessa, since her plotline is so woven into family and protecting them. But I guess I'll just have to wait to see if she'll have at least some reaction to their reunion - beyond whatever lie she was keeping being revealed.
Viktor's storyline needed more time to breathe. I think Jayce's storyline so far is fine, but because everyone else's arcs in act 2 feel so off, his mystery arc is falling flat as well. I kinda hate Mel's storyline. People are saying it may be a set-up for a spin-off, and I loathe that. Her story is destined not to feel contained with everyone else's in season 2, so she just feels out of place now.
Isha (and Sevika) needed more time. Vander... needed less time. His intended impact on the story started feeling a little repetitive in episode 6. I don't know what they're planning for Warwick, but in act 2 it feels disjointed. All the build up from the short scenes of Singe & Warwick/Vander in early season 2 and throughout season 1 don't feel like they paid off. The set up was not accompanied with the proper execution. Also the Vander flashbacks felt random because they felt a little unnecessary, and it was hard to feel engaged, even though he and Silco were some of my favorite characters in season 1. Sure, the flashbacks make the family reunion a little more impactful, but I doubt the people involved in writing & executing season 1 would have needed it. It felt like a crutch.
Jinx may have gotten the best writing in act 2, but her arc may have benefited from expanding more on the other people of Zaun, since the show is intent on showing how her fate and the consequences of all her actions are interwoven with the fate of Zaun. Seeing the followers wasn't enough, I needed to see real tension and, like someone else has said, a group of Zaunites that wanted to turn her in to Piltover, rather than view her as a revolutionary. Something more like what happened in act 1, but that seems to have been dropped completely. So it falls flat. It's lost complexity. Freeing the Zaunites from Stillwater, even after the Warwick massarcre, would have more impact on how people in Zaun that had been against Jinx may now start following her too, and the chasm between the people of Piltover and Zaun would feel more like a spark that was about to catch on fire. Idk.
Ekko got nothing in act 2, which sucks because his storyline, and Heimerdinger & Jayce, needed way more clarity after the cliffhanger in act 1. The timeskip sure doesn't help my feelings about this. Even if things make sense in act 3, the plot may not interconnect properly with all the others because it was so absent in act 2. Also I wanted to see Ekko! >:(
Honestly, I'm fine with what we got for Lest, Salo, Maddie, Loris, and Rictus in this act. I wanted to see all of them at least a little more so I can piece together what happened to them and the main characters after the timeskip. I didn't get much about the main characters, but I at least got to see a little for the 5 of them.
All-in-all, the timeskip didn't do them any favors this time.
I totally agree with your point about Jayce's story. On it's own its fine but when put alongside a bunch of rushed character arcs and in combination with Viktor's story it doesn't work as well.
You're so right
This second act completely blew my mind! And yeah, I wish this show was longer cause a lot of things in season 2 really could have been expanded upon with more episodes.
Same well said!
Loneliness expresses the pain of being alone and solitude expresses the glory of being alone.
You can walk among a crowded sidewalk, yet still feel as if you're the only one there.
I like your analysis. I felt other youtuber's didn't discuss the pacing issues, how nonsensical the plot is sometimes compared to the previous season. And how the show is lacking realistic reactions between some of the characters who have history with each other.
I hope they slow down and shed more light into the characters and the plot in the next few episodes.
I think Arcane needed just one more episode to better flesh out what they wanted to do. That way stuff like Caitlyn's downward spiral and eventual redemption, The Black Rose, Jayce, Ekko and Heimerdinger's time trapped in the hexcore and showing why Jayce would decide to kill Viktor, Ambessa's rise to power and her increasingly dangerous tactics, and Jinx's relationship with Isha and her eventual sacrifice would've been better fleshed out and not feel rushed
I'm not saying that Arcane needed to go on forever like The Simpsons, I still think overall it's a phenomenal show, even season 2 despite not being as strong as season 1 is still great so far and I really do respect the creators deciding to end the story the way they thought was best, but I do wonder with the story they wanted to tell this season, was it a good idea to end it after just 2 seasons
Or just... 3 more episodes, making it 12 total
@@skylily427 i think even having just one more episode in arc 2 would have done wonders lol
When Maddie showed up in Caitlyn's bed, I had a visceral "GET AWAY FROM HER YOU DAMN VULTURE!" Reaction 😂
I was ready for your "notes".
Yeah, you can see there was a few things that clearly would come after a few more thing happening... but when the series is still this great... personally i don't begrudge it.
But i do hope we get other stories from the lore.
Thankfully that already has been confirmed, just not where on Runeterra it's gonna be set. Bets bet IMHO is either Ionia, Bilgewater, or Noxus. Nations that have relations and conflicts with Noxus itself or perhaps do a House of the Dragon (minus the incest) political drama that could make an even wider scale situation.
@@realcobwrestling I am gonna be happy with whatever they give.
With the quality they kept in this "arc" of the story... anything they do will be great.
Personally... I do want to see Ionia or maybe Targon (but maybe is still too soon for Targon), but my least favorite to see for now would be Demacia, not on the mood for those creeps.
But... one thing i would love them to do... would be if they did a little anthology with stories around Runeterra, not even needing to be with the champs, just a few short stories to be amazed at... preferably ones with a happier progression and end, because this season... is destroying me.
I do agree with most of your criticisms, but there are a few that I have to rebuke.
I actually like the whole Jayce thing. I'm 90% sure that the whole point is that it isnt explained, and from the moment posh draco got goomba stomped, I 100% expected him to blow Vickor's back out (literally).
Also, regarding the Cait and Jinx thing, I doubt the two are buddies; it was presumably, like, a minute between noticing her Mom's killer and watching a 10 y/o kamikaze.
Arcane is the first show in my life that got me, jumping up off my chair, hitting my chair and crying.
I think Caitlyn’s arc wasn’t rushed and feels organic to me. I never felt like she was going to go for fascist dictator. Yeah she was being unreasonable in the first three episodes but she’s had time to cool down between act 1 and 2. Act 2 she starts of wanting to find Jinx but she realises her prejudice against the people of Zaun was misplaced. You can see that when she finds out that Singe is not from Zaun but is actually a disgraced scientist from Piltover, who has been torturing the people of Zaun for years. Caitlyn has watched Ambessa and Singe interact and realises that she’s being manipulated. I think she was going to betray Ambessa even if she hadn’t met Vi. I think seeing Vi again made her realise even more that she’s been wrong about everything. However, I would’ve liked a little more time to flesh out the story a bit more
I agree that the biggest issue with this season (mostly Act 2) has been pacing. It just feels like one extra episode, either at the end of Act 1 or start of Act 2, would’ve gone a long way.
To actually see Cait become the dictator, make those tough decisions and start to have doubts about the entire situation. To see Vi become the pit fighter and her fall from grace. How the chem baron stopped fighting and Sevika tried to unify Zaun. Why does Jinx now have a cult following and how did that start with her becoming a recluse?
Basically my entire complaint about Act 2 is the time skip and how it skimmed over a lot of crucial character and world building. Especially around the Cait ruler and martial law stuff.
I agree with the extra episode, if half of the episode was all the important stuff between acts 1 and 2, and the other half was the first half of episode 4, the series would have gotten SOOO much breathing room. Episode 4 could have started with the prison scenes and given everything an extra 20 minutes to slow down the pacing and justify more character decisions, especially the Vi and Jinx team-up which was extremely jarring. I don't think the Vi pit fighter stuff needed any extra time, it was just a creative way of showing her struggling to cope with the repercussions of act 1.
@ Ya I agree with most of what your saying.
It’s almost like they could’ve benefited from an episode 3.5 to bridge Act 1 & 2. Maybe just add 20 minutes on to the end of Ep3 to show martial law kick in, the Jinxer movement starting up, and Vi joining the pit fights. Then an extra bit at the start of ep4 could start after the time skip and show a bit more of life under martial law and how Zaun has tried to rally against Piltover.
I agree that Vi/Jonx being chill with each other after so much time is a bit jarring and could’ve used an extra scene or two to flesh it out. I get the reasoning of Vander’s death driving them apart and him being alive bringing them back together, but it was still a bit sudden.
Season 2 has still been great overall, but season 1 is a borderline masterpiece imo. If the pacing was a bit better and a bit more was fleshed out, this season would be on par with the first. I know they wanted to stick to the same formula as S1 (3 acts, 3 episodes per) but it does make the overall show feel a tad rushed at points.
I actually agree that I don't even have the time to understand what is happening. It's like I need to search for informations about lol lore to even understand what I'm watching in act 2 half of the time
Jayce was on that Future Trunks timing 🔥
IF THEY SET THE ARCANE FREE ITLL BE THE END OF ALL OF UUUUSSSS!!!!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!
THEY CALL ME THE DRINK
WHEN I WAS A KID
NI***S CALLED ME THE JUICEBOX
Interesting that Viktor is talking about duality- love and hate- and that's exactly how the fans seem to feel about this Act. They either love it or hate it. It just goes to show how everything can be viewed from a different perspective like in the show.
I will also say that a rewatch is definitely needed for all episodes. This show does so much when it comes to one liners or minor visual details that mean so much more. I actually was not a huge fan of the first act, but most of my gripes were fixed on a rewatch because I just missed some details.
In the end, I actually liked this act more than the first one personally...yes, this season is going fast but, this act made me WANT more not that I thought it NEEDED more. There's a lot that the audience can deduce without having to be told. Arcane has been good about not holding the audience's hand.
Also when a show has huge boots to fill and expectations to meet, it can be hard to please everyone plus it's easier to be hyper critical. In the first season, no one really knew what the show was and had 0 expectations 🤷🏼♀️
Its not just how fast they are moving, and how much story they are skipping in music video montages, but its the content they are skipping. New strike team and vi taking in an enforcer role? Montage to skip over that! Cait being elevated to a higher position and manipulated to go to war with the under city? Montage to skip over that!
My only complaint with arcane is that I want more. I wanted them to spend more time with the characters and the story they were telling with them.
I feel like act two is compressed, but super well compressed in a way that you can think it needs more episodes, but when I try and imagine how you would unravel the act into more episodes it’s so well compressed I struggle to work out a good way to untangle and stretch it out lol
I know how I would do it. I would have an extra episode set between act 1 and act 2, which follows mostly Caitlyn and Jinx for the first half of the ep. That way we flesh out Caitlyn's dictator arc, her relationship with Maddie, and Jinx's relationship with Isha. Then the 2nd half of this new episode just takes the first half of current episode 4 and slaps it in, ending with the arrests of everyone and Warwick awakening. This means the updated version of episode 4 starts with the prison stuff, but it has an extra 20 minutes after Warwick escapes to flesh everything out more with Ambessa, Vi and Victor, which would make episode 5 and 6 make more sense and slow down the pacing. The "Paint the Town Blue" song basically replaced this whole suggested episode and crammed it, which made everything unravel a bit and the pacing went out of control.
The arcs all work, but none of them are earned. An arc starting up and resolving in a single episode builds no investment into that character whatsoever nor does it lend any weight to the decisions they make.
Bummed about this season. It’s almost sadder seeing the ideas they had for this show, knowing that if they had the time, all of them would’ve been paid off just as amazingly as season 1. Shame what could’ve been
Tbh I accidently saw the Maddie thing as a leak back in August, and its been at the back of my mind haunting me ever since because I didn't know the context.
Theeeennn I got to Act 2 finally and realised it was so unserious that it was funny. Seriously Maddie trying to convince Cait to go easy on Zaun for half a year lead to nothing, but Vi calling Cait 'cupcake' once had her sacrificing her entire alliance to Ambessa to save Vi's werewolf dad.
Funniest shit I've ever seen, and I'm pretty sure the purpose of Maddie being there is to make that contrast more obvious. Vi is Cait's moral compass (and well needed moral reminder) and that's more clear when you've got other characters who just aren't getting through to her. Tbh they could have done the same thing with her dad tho so 🤷.
I think the one thing I am slightly worried about is that they're gonna waste time on the love triangle rather than repairing and affirming Caitvi's relationship. That would just be annoying, coz literally no-one doubts that Caitvi is endgame.
ugh i would be so mad if theirs a love triangle, their like three eps left. WE DONT HAVE TIME FOR THIS
The scene of Singed at the rally where he cuts up his hand to awaken Warwick was fucking golden, him reassuring the obviously frightened Isha, he is probably one of the best written/handled character in the show. He is THE only character that is clearly and confidently in control of his fate the entire time.
In my opinion jayce doing is justified, he don't know what the arcane do to him but by his aperence we know that the treatment wasn't pretty + he was seeing the people that viktor cure not like humans but more like things. The series is going fast but I don't things it is bad, they could use more time for sure but if aint broke dont fix it
I love this act more than the first one tbh, but my main criticism is that the story is relying a lot on subtext, and ofc, the pacing. I do think they didn’t show Jayce’s reasoning for a reason, I think we’ll definitely get an explanation next act so I didn’t mind that.
The thing about it is, I understand Caitlyn‘s fight with her morality. The reason why she’s having so much issue with it and why she was able to kind of change as quick as she did was because she truly didn’t want to go that path she probably regreted the things that she did in episode three and that’s the only reason why I can see that she can change side so quickly I also feel like she never truly trusted Ambessa and you also gotta understand. This is most likely months. She had plenty of time to regret her actions after all the Marshall law that she’s been unleashing on to the under city so she’s had her fair share of actually doing these bad things to innocent people.
Fun fact! The 5 seasons thing was actually a joke that got taken out of context. The creators planned on 2 seasons, but the head of Riot played a “prank” on the showrunner by saying “we won’t give you two seasons, like you’re asking for. …because we’re giving you five!” Before they both laughed and he said 2 was totally fine. Goes to show how strong Riots support of the show was, back before season 1 ever released and it became the phenomenon it is.
11:13 all it took was one cupcake, and Cait said "Switching sides"
0:12 May i present you the word 'Schadenfreude' :)
I never EVER cry to a movie or show, but my god the end of act 2 had me on the floor with tears. Arcane proves over and OVER again they are phenomenal at what they do 😢
I dont know, dude. I still cried more at Coco's Remember me scene than Isha's death
I still can't believe Jayce murdering the guy who got his legs back.
1:15 of course they had to kill my favourite twink.
17:30 stop this man
"mel feels like shes in a backdoor pilot for a noxus spinoff of arcane"
...wait till he finds out that's most likely exactly whats gonna happen
Yess that how ppl with nothing know about the lore will think. The show is build up very good here act for setup no big villian like silco like act1 in ss1 so they felt lost bc it setup all the thing for act 2 and 3. Act is like mid point when the character break their power to pass through the situation and act 3 will pay off all of that mid point in act 2 like the darkest space to change (jayce -> killer, viktor -> trying to get everyone into his cult, vi go with jinx trycto understand how person jinx become, ambessa lost her daughter-> reveal her weakness, hungry and rush the process to create hextech magic that lead them to black rose pocket realm. this is a basic thing in making film. It just so goos in this show
The downside to Arcane is this:
As good a show as it is (and it's amazing), there isnt room to explore arcs so much as experience them. With 9 episodes, the story is just getting to these moments. I think a third season was needed to really flesh these things out. Still good though
Act 2 in a nutshell
Ep 4 Wt..... Why....? Okayy.....
Ep 5 What thE 🦆
EP 6 JACE NOOOOOOOO WWWWWHHHHYYYYY.........
Vi uses alcohol to distance herself from others while Caitlyn uses sex cause she’s desperate for connection. Both have ways of coping…
I love that people are calling Salo posh Draco like Draco fucking Malloy wasn’t already posh enough to begin with
He was posh in books 1 and 2, after that he was just the kid everyone knew was sorta connected to Voledmort.
Besides, I'm pretty sure Lucius' bank was being heavily drained by Voldy. Why wouldn't a devout believer give him everything?
for the jayce killing viktor, i think it still works because of their previous conversation of “destroying the hexcore.” like at the time, jayce didn’t agree, but i think now since jayce has seen what the hexcore is, he finally did destroy it. the hexcore IS Viktor, Jayce finally did what Viktor wanted him to do. For me personally, it made sense
Caitlyn is one of the smartest people in the show, shows its through her ability to tell what happened at a crime scene. So I think Caitlyn understood what was best and Ambessa is just using her. But I wish they helped the viewer see her realize a lil better
Well thank you!! I was biting my tongue in the Arcane's subreddits where everyone performs a circle jerk over how messy and rushed this season is. Made me realise people will defend and make excuses over the worst writing just because they like the characters and are emotionally invested in a show. Kind of gives you a pass as a writer to do whatever you want since people will gobble it up, the more glitz and glamour surrounds the story. But I'm glad you're pointing it out! The pacing, random new elements and the whole Isha situation got me rolling my eyes throughout the whole act 2...
I knew something was up when the Piltover council no longer had importance, especially when Ambassa, a foreign power, enforcing marshal law. The Chem Barons of Zaun just die and arent replaced by subordinates. The political factor no longer matters and it's because there's no time left to take time to explore the chatacters through long term actions, like Mal promoting Jayce and Viktor to develop the Hexgates
Its like GoT all over again.
Was looking for a review like this, you explained the problems with the new season so well!
The Jayce+victor stuff is by far my favorite. I think it makes perfect sense. Jayce has experienced a unique type of trauma that’s drastically harmed his psyche, and for lack of a better description I would refer to it as psychedelic trauma. His perspective of reality has been harmed by the arcane, to the point that when he’s walking through the compound, he has disturbing powerful visual hallucinations and distortions. He wants to do ANYTHING that he can to bring himself fully back into reality, and he wants to prevent others from going through the same harmful and damaging experience he endured. This isn’t just random speculation on my part, victor immediately noticed that the arcane has changed Jayce’s psyche in a damaging way. I don’t think this just means it arbitrarily made him crazy, I think it refers to a much more realistic kind of damage.
The types of distortions Jayce experienced are an aspect of a very real disorder called HPPD. In real life, this is generally caused by a substance with hallucinogenic properties, typically psychedelics. The arcane “trip” that Jayce experiences is EXTREMELY realistic from a visual and conceptual perspective to how taking a high dose of psychedelics would feel. Therefore, I feel it’s a safe conclusion to draw that Jayce would develop HPPD from that, and the damage that causes could absolutely send him on a quest to do everything in his power to end victor, since from his perspective doing this will put the world back to normal. I may not have worded anything correctly here, so if you have any questions, I’d be free to elaborate. I feel strongly that this was the intention from the writers, and it was actually my favorite part of the entire season.
Very well said! I can’t wait to see what Jayce saw in the void. It’s a hard week being a Jayce defender 😂
14:50 YES I CANNOT GET THE IDEA OUT OF MY HEAD THAT THERE IS NO WAY ALL OF THIS GETS RESOLVED IN THIS SEASON. It might just be left on the burner for the future LOL adaptations.
The homeless big guy that befriended Vi was the most pointless character in the series. He shows up out of nowhere, joins the enforcers just cause, then leaves, then hangs with vi, then fucks off, and might be done? Like what’s up with him looking like Vandor? It’s especially pointless when we get the real vandor back. Albeit as Warrock (and it didn’t last long but I digress).
I don't know why homeless guy was even in the show I doubt he will come back in act three (and if he does he will just ba a waist of space) same with blue fish looking guy who was near Maddie I think they might of been in a bigger story when the plan had 5 seasons but since it's shorter now they are kinda just... there?
He's just a reminder of Vander for the causal audience. For us, he's still important. For a casual viewer, 3 years have passed since Arcane S1.
i dont think he was pointless, he was simply a side character whose journey isnt very relevant to the mains. Similar to the fish guy and Maddie. We may see them again but their backstory and such isnt so necessary to the other characters.
@@falconeshieldfor us? Speak for yourself he was a nothing character to me. If the writers wanted me to see this guy as a reminder of vandor they did a piss poor job. Vandor isn’t just a face he’s an actual father figure to vi. A character. This guy has no reason to even stick with Vi in the first place and leaves her anyway. So it’s dumb
@@aaliyah8685he was pointless. You can have side characters work like Marcus who wasn’t that relevant. For as little his role was it was written amazingly. This guy in comparison wasn’t. He was a waste of space and did nothing to affect the story or characters. Vi literally forgets he exists. And what journey did he have? We don’t even know his name outside of credits
Definitely love this season no doubt, but warwick Vander restoring him should have had a little bit time, the brewing conflict between Caitlyn and Vi , Caitlyn going down right tyrannical vengeful, Jinx trying to find herself and having a bond with Isha that she hadn't felt for a while, the time skip was tangible and not something substantial but still i do hope they stick the landing
Great review!! While I do agree that some things were rushed and the characters’ motivations are a little shewed, I know we’ll see what Jayce saw next act. We HAVE to, and it’s either he saw evil Viktor and tried to prevent it, or he’s possessed by the Arcane. Also, I think Caitlyn “turned good” after Vi said she’s trying to save her father. Cait came there to capture “the monster”, until she realized it’s Vi’s dad. She just lost her mother and won’t let Vi go through the same thing. But they all need a longggg talk next ep 😢
honestly caitlyn doubting things kind of felt right to me. Like yes, she was left in a dark place after her mother, but her actions in act one felt out of character, so seeing her doubt things felt right, ESPECIALLY since I feel like she was questioning Ambessa above all else. Of course she'd question this strange new woman who isn't from piltover coming in and instantly taking control! Especially with Maddie there to talk to her every night.
My biggest question was just wondering how big of a time skip we had. Months? Years? A week!?
I see your point, but in my opinion the issue is that there was a big set up for her view to be clouded. And while I agree that Caitlyn doubting things is very in character, we didn't see it enough. It was way too quick. Not explored enough. The peak of this character complexity was in the time skip that we did not see, we did not witness how she went from having tunnel vision to suddenly doubting things. It is in her character, but there was no catalyst to get it started, I feel like.
With the whole Jayce fucking everything up, I saw it as a parallel to what Jinx did. Y'know the whole "This was the cause of one deranged individual" which at this point is exactly what Jayce is. One deranged individual that caused a crap ton of problems to a huge group of people using a magic projectile, just like Jinx. Now I'm interested in how the story handles these two, specifically how Caitlyn handles them.
That moment Vander and VI came together hugging actually had me crying.. And I'm a 42yo grown man that never ever cries... I don't know what kind of emotion buildup magic they're using but it works.. 🤷♂
16:45, 'Is there anything so undoing as a daughter' ahh storyline with him is killing me.
I don't think I needed more context for Jayce crashing out. It's clear he was transported somewhere into some timeline, saw a bunch of stuff, likely had to fight off a bunch of stuff and then got transported back to the main timeline/universe and began crashing out. My only problem was them not showing Silo be "saved" by Viktor.
Sarcastic posting right after the new schnee video, that one friend that always wants attention
I believe Cait has a change of heart when Singed introduced her to Orianna. She even calls him a monster right beforehand, still seething with anger. But then she see's his motivations, as simple as hers, doing all of this for a loved one. That was her wake up call. Suddenly he's not a monster anymore, he's a man trying to save his daughter.
While she still has hate for Jinx and totally did not expect Jinx to be her savior in the finale of the act, she was still on her way to recovery from her angry bloodlust mission. I also think she and Vi talked a lot more than what they showed, even if Vi didn't mention Jinx was there, Caitlyn was able to deduce that Jinx really did save her life despite their past hatred for each other. Jinx's LOVE for her father outweighed the HATE she felt for Caitlyn. And Cait should follow suite with her love for Vi.
No because you definitely put all my worries about act 2. The whole time I was going like, “ please explain to me what the fuck is going on with Jayce”. And CAITLYN. I was SO excited for her dictator era only to not really see her do anything of importance. I really did not think she would immediately join with Vi, no conversations or explanations (unless we just didn’t see that because of time purposes). From what I see in the preview I have some hopes that they’ll manage to sort through Vi and Cait’s relationship more thoroughly. ( and *cough* Jayce.) but aside from that this act really was heartbreaking and as you said it would definitely work having it’s own season. And I am looking forward to Ekko, if anything PLEASE let him be a good character. He’s not that popular in the fandom but he has so much potential for the last act (thankfully I think the pacing might be better) I’m actually so scared though, let’s just have faith in the writers right now.
Oh also about Maddy (or however she spells it) I’m sorry but she looks so incredibly awkward next to Cait. There’s no way they didn’t design her specifically to look completely ridiculous and out of place with her. But the fact that she looks so small and “innocent” makes me have a bad feeling about her, but I don’t think Arcane would give us anything so blatantly obvious so my question is who in the world is she working for and what are her intentions (considering she convinced Vi to join the enforcers and then a few months later is in bed with Caitlyn)
that's what I thought. After act 1 I thought that, ok this time they're traumatising Vi, with Cait going down a path she can't follow and becoming a monster, much like Jinx.
Nope. I mean sure Vi's obviously had a rough 6 months or so and gone all scene kiddie, but otherwise now she has both people she cares about in her life, well briefly at least, I suspect Jinx is going to be back...
There is a documentary on how Arcane 1 was made and in the writing section it shows how a few amazing women from different backgrounds (writer, producer, director(?)) jumped in to help the story spread its wings and ACTUALLY be good and make sense, before it was published. They weren't mentioned in the original credits (oh what a surprise), but I believe they maybe let go of them for this season, since they were more of a life boat than the official crew.. 😂
I'm honestly so refreshed by how fast some things go, like I'm used to every beast character spending a bunch of time absolutely wild but vander came back in 2 episodes, it feels rushed but also very good
Great analysis, Arcane is still great but the characters arc really sufered (mostly Cait) with the rush. I didnt question Jayce change as it might be justified in the 3rd act (hopefully). Also there were some things that feel like cheap emotional manipulation, just for the feels (but I guess is also an effect of the story rushing and not enough time to flesh out events) at the end is what you say. Its gonna be good, its just a question about how great. Again. Great analysis. Thanks
@@darkfinderer I didn't see the emotional aspects as cheap. Yes, they were put in there to make us feel something, but they had meaning. Episode 6 is called "The Message Hidden Within the Pattern". To me, that was symbolic for the writing in Arcane. The message being that we cannot escape our humanity. Whether it be because of love or hate, our emotions drive us to action, which can have great or devastating effects. Two sides of the same coin! It shows history repeating itself through Isha. Isha is supposed to represent a younger, innocent Powder and she uses 3 gemstones to save/kill Vander. It's the same pattern as episode 3 season 1, and we watch the death of "Powder" all over again. Bringing Vander back or establishing Isha as a prominent character wasn't the point. It was to remind us of Jinx's humanity when she was mostly portrayed as a misunderstood villian in season 1. I think they're preparing to kill off Jinx in the last act honestly....
@@Bananies12its still cheap, jinx did not deserved this redemption, she was evil and crazy and suddenly motherly and caring, that literally just to make people feel something since jinx is the favorite character among people, when it’s actually just dumb. Isha dying makes this even more obvious because she literally just killed her self????? And she seems way younger than powder.
@@colorfultrouble2693 I guess if someone doesn't care about Jinx, then yeah it could be seen as cheap, but that seems more like a character preference than bad writing. Most of the series has been centered around people not being completely good or evil. Despite the things she's done, she's been written and portrayed as a tragic character from the beginning, so humanizing her isn't new for the show. Again, it goes back to what Viktor was talking about with 2 sides of the same coin. Almost all characters in the show (not just Jinx) have made choices that could be viewed as "good" or "bad" depending on which side you're looking at.
@@Bananies12 Thanks for sharing your opinion, that symbolism you explain in Isha's death is very interesting and beautiful. I didn't mean her death. this is probably just nitpick but just comparing this season with the first one there are some small lines of dialogue that feel to me unnecessarily placed just for the feels (don't get me wrong I felt them) like Warwick/Vander saying "don't touch my daughter" or Vi saying "He is your father too", it felt wow but to me it lost some of the subtlety that I loved in the first season. Jinx will definitely not die as she is a champion in league of legends.
@@Bananies12 came back here just to acknowledge you were right about Jinx dying at the end. and just to throw some wood to the fire without much explanation Im going to say imho 3rd act is full of bad writing.
While it was fast paced, I think the execution given the time they had was incredible. Even though I knew for a near fact that Isha was gonna die since her first appearance, but they did an amazing job at making me care about her in that time and the amount of opportunities they had to kill her off made me even more anxious but slightly doubtful. And the ending was still shocking enough that I needed ten minutes to process what happened before talking to my friend.
even with it all in mind...I'll admit I'm not going to be super hard on them for compressing the series considering how often Netflix has cancelled animated shows without warning no matter how successful they may be even if it was never true it would be five seasons