@antololo2579 did research on this, there weren't any "new" writers per say. The two producers for the first season became writers when they fired everyone but one original writer. The story boarding must've been insane.
Apparently the writers had found Vi boring which is why they didn't do much with her in S2. That is just absurd to me. Vi was easily one of the most interesting characters in S1. Then she got sidelined and turned into an accessory for Caitlyn. It sucks how one of the best written main female character I've seen in recent times gets shafted and reduced to a shell because she's "boring"
I’ve heard the same. Imagine being hired to write the continuation and conclusion to one of the most successful TV show debuts in recent memory, with hundreds of millions of dollars behind it and a huge team of passionate creators working to deliver their best. Then you take one of your central protagonists, whose character, relationships, and history were so carefully crafted, and decide to toss her aside because you personally find her boring. What the hell.
Guess she forgot about him. Wouldn’t be surprising, considering how the writers completely disregarded their dynamic in S2. Vi didn’t even spare a thought for Ekko-despite the last time she saw him being when he was fighting Jinx on the bridge, with no way of knowing if he even survived-until they briefly acknowledge each other’s existence in the final episode. It’s so fucking bad.
@finixmoon127 He did, but not in a negative way. That line from Vi is meant to communicate that everyone in her old life has either turned their back on her or changed into someone she no longer recognizes. But Ekko’s transformation was a highly positive one, something Vi discovers (and acknowledges) in Season 1 when he shows her around the Firelight sanctuary. They part on the bridge with Ekko staying to fight back Jinx. There’s not a single hint that Vi feels anything but admiration and approval for how he’s changed. That’s why this line falls flat. It either suggests Vi completely forgot about Ekko-which, given how the writers butchered their dynamic in S2, almost seems like the most accurate interpretation, despite its blatant absurd-or that she disapproves of who he became, which is simply not the case.
@@rainchld specifically considering ekko I don’t think she’s saying his development is an inherently “bad” thing. The line is more so meant to encapsulate one of Vis fatal flaws and that’s being unable to let go of the past. I think seeing how much ekko and everyone else has (and has been forced) to grow up given their circumstances greatly affects her. She just got released from prison and has to face the fact that everybody moved on without her. She missed everything. She wasn’t there to protect those who needed protecting (ekko, jinx etc). She has to navigate all this new information and the new versions of her family practically by herself in only a few months and I think in that moment, searching for her murderous sister it all caught up to her. Yes everybody in her life has changed, and yes that’s difficult for her.
We were watching S2 together with my siblings, and when we got to the part when Jinx locks Vi up in a cell with a clear intention of ending her own life, my sister said 'if any of you pulled that shit on me, I'd be way too busy chewing my way through these bars to even consider hooking up with my gf'. Which in my opinion sums up pretty well how believable and in-character Vi's whole relationship with Cait was in this season 😅
Fair, though I could only assume you and your siblings have never had to deal with not knowing the person that the other is. Or… battle with the fact that they’re a murderer… and a terrorist… and are contempt being that person and don’t want to be your “sibling” or attempted to kill you… or literally killed your significant others mother or make a choice between the two. Or fall into deep depression over the entire situation only to be given a sliver of hope that things could be normal or “better” again only for said sibling to leave AGAIN. But I mean apart from those very minor details yeah makes sense.
@WindowLife. What does that have to do with them starting to fuck in a cell out of nowhere when Jinx said that comment and not forgetting that she was cutting herself and probably shitting in that cell 😀
@@AraneaTempestatum It has to do with the fact that VI dedicated half the series to choosing jinx literally driving herself into depression, deciding to finally give up. Jinx's comment is irrelevant entirely.
@@WindowLife. I wouldn't have a problem with Vi giving up on Jinx. I do, however, have a major problem with Vi happily fucking Cait immediately after Jinx left with a clear intention of offing herself, in a cell where she locked her up. Not to mention that what led to this scene was Vi coming to free Jinx with the keys that she stole, and it was clear from her approach that she was pretty far from having given up on her. Like, it just doesn't make sense.
I love how she and Ekko couldn't even share a word of dialogue in the entirety of season 2. For someone who cares so much about the past and her lost family, it's fascinating how the writers completely forgot that Ekko was the last tie to her previous life aside from Jinx.
It made me so sad to see what they did with her in season two. I love caitvi but it seriously felt like in season two they wrote vi for cait yk? Like she wasn’t her own character anymore. She was probably one of the best written female characters i have ever seen in s1 so them throwing it all away in season two made me so mad. She had so much potential and the writers just threw it all away.
She is Caitlyn’s deputy. She has no place in Zaun at this point. What's wrong with her making a life with her hot cupcake. She cant shoot. She's limited to punching. Im not sure what she could convincingly do other than either side with Jinx or get that sweet soulmate romance.
I loved CaitVi in season 1 but they ruined the ship in season 2, I want a hex scene between them but when it actually happened I didn't enjoy it because HELLO Jinx just ran away to off herself and there's a war coming, that's not the right moment plus they didn't even have time for Caitlyn to make amends and for them to heal before that. I ended up enjoying the ship which didn't have a hex scene and was only canon in another universe better. Also they could've shown Vi being way more concerned about Cait gassing Zaun, season 1 Vi wouldn't have waited for a child to be involved to say something.
fr. I remember little 2021 me seeing a well written badass women, strong and fragile and since then my life changed and she became a my favorite character. Ngl, I am a bit disappointed, but i know they had very little time to develop the series so... i enjoyed it anyway
As someone whose top favorite Arcane character is Vi, I'm going to make my will. Vi is someone who represents justice, fighting, struggle and strength. Since she was little, she has always had a noble heart and has never hesitated to remain loyal to her loved ones, to protect them even when she had to fight head on, and just as someone once said, Vi is not strong in those fights because she is not afraid. , it is precisely her fear that makes her someone strong, because she does not run away from problems, she faces them. Vi in the first season was the star of the show, unlike her sister, who was someone explosive and too tormented by her past, Vi was someone more sensible. Yes, she also had a shitty and traumatic life, but what sets her apart from Jinx is that she didn't get sucked into the darkness and stayed loyal to her principles. We can see this in her relationship with Caitlyn in the first season (a tremendous mess they made in the second, they were PERFECT) in the first. You can see that Vi is skeptical of trusting Catlyn for being someone from Pitlover, which shows her as someone who is distrustful and perhaps stubborn, but she is not someone who is spiteful, because when she sees that Caitlyn really shows empathy for her and the people of Zaun, is when she starts to trust her. Vi is someone who is a clear embodiment of love, and that love is what makes her strong. Her love for her sister Jinx is what kept her alive those years in prison to meet her again, and even when she practically murdered her entire family, she was willing to talk things out and forgive. Her love for her people is what led her to be a fighter but also a big sister. Her love for Vander is what led her to go to his rescue, even though she knew it was a risky mission. Her love for Caitlyn is what led her to be empathetic, and support the idea of a peace agreement between Pitlover and Zaun as herself a representative of Zaun. Vi's true love isn't Caitlyn, it's Jinx. It is her love for her sister that made her strong in all those years, what made her learn what it is to be a good leader, someone who protects and takes responsibility for her actions. And what happened in the second season? They practically took away that sense of leadership and love from Vi. She doesn't hesitate to go against her sister just to be on Caitlyn's side, those are NOT Vi's ideals. What makes her special is that she is loyal, she is strong, she can listen and empathize but she is definitely someone loyal to her ideals. However, in s2 she chose to be an enforcer, knowing that those same people murdered her parents in her face and that of her sister, the same point that Jinx reproaches her for. When Caitlyn makes degrading comments towards her own people, she doesn't correct her and is a defender like before, she simply agrees with her. That is NOT Vi. If Vi always wanted something that made her argue with Vander, it is the love she has for people. Vi loves Zaun, she loves the people there, and she always wanted them to fight against those above. However, she does not hesitate to betray those principles, don the medal, and torment and terrorize THOSE VERY PEOPLE she swore to loyally protect with the "Green." Now, can we talk about the character devastation that was Vi in act 2 s2? If Vi learned anything from Vander, it is to take responsibility for the situation, to be a leader, someone who ACT. However, when Caitlyn leaves her and becomes practically the dictator, when I watched the series, I thought that in act 2 Vi would transform into some kind of fighter with Zaun, an ally, of course, after a whole episode of her trying to make them trust her again. But what happens? Vi sinks into alcoholism, fights, and grieves for Caitlyn. She doesn’t even care for Jinx. Why the hell would Vi be the first character to flee the situation, if the whole point of season 1 is for Vi to learn that running away without staying to fight wasn't the right thing to do? Why the hell did Vi never care about how they were hurting the people of Zaun? Why the hell did she never meet up with Sevika or anyone from there? Did she really ONLY care about Caitlyn? Even her attitude is disastrous, she is no longer that girl with a strong but soft personality, she is directly rude because of her resentment. She is stubborn and doesn't see other points of view, like when she stupidly spent her time fighting with Jinx in that cave scene. Yes, I understand that the scene was intended to be comedic, but Vi is not the "big dummy sister", she is the level-headed one, the one who would surely take control of the situation and protect. And regarding her attitude when Vander is "revived", again, it's totally opposite of season 1. Look, the scenes with her and Vander are very emotionally cute, because Vi finally has Vander and her sister back, but I DON’T think she is totally blind in believing that Vander can come back. A great scene from season 1 is in her second fight against Sevika, when she is almost unconscious on the ground and imagines that Vander starts talking to her like he normally did. Vi is not someone tormented by her past like Jinx, because unlike her, she takes that past and makes it her strength. She's ALREADY over Vander's death, and instead of grieving, she takes that love for Vander and keeps her fighting. So are you going to tell me that in act 3, Vi would be the one who kneels to regret it? That is NOT Vi. She's ALREADY over it, she knows Vander is NOT coming back. Oh, and her relationship with the other characters... they don't exist. Or well, they do exist, but not in the same way as before. Jinx was her priority, and in season 2 she seems more like her LOL counterpart, because she does nothing but insult her and treat her poorly. I can understand if this had been in season 1, she pretty much killed their brothers, their father and others from Zaun (I'm a loyal defender of Vi’s actions and reactions in episode 3), but Pitlover people? Really? She couldn't care less about Pitlover, especially when at the season 1 conference they denigrated her for being from Zaun and her, still trying to reason with them, in conclusion she simply said "that's the way it is". If Pitlover people die, she doesn't care. In some ways she is just like Sevika, loyal to her nation. Only unlike Sevika is willing to go against her principles to fight, Vi is willing to uphold those principles and fight. Then Ekko. Oh, Ekko. Aren't they supposed to be childhood friends? Why couldn't Vi care less where Ekko was? Isn't he supposed to be like a brother to her? When she met him again in season 1 she even hugged him, letting her guard down, symbolizing the connection between them. Even when she went to find Jinx in chapter 7, she trusted Ekko so much that she entrusted Caitlyn to protect her. But in season 2, she never mentions it, not even to Jinx. Not even a question like: "How about Zaun? How about our people? How is Ekko?" And Caitlyn... Look, I loved their relationship in season 1, it was a beautiful couple narratively, because they really brought the best to each other, Caitlyn made Vi forgive Pitlover and Vi made Caitlyn defend Zaun. They had chemistry because they had different ideals, different ideas about good and bad, but what united them was love. That same love that made them empathetic with each other's situation. But in season 2... sigh. Vi is practically Caitlyn's lapdog, she does everything she asks without question, she defends her despite making VERY bad decisions, and she doesn't hesitate to do her dirty work for a revenge that doesn't even involve her. Or well, no! In act 2 she DOES treat her badly, but it quickly has no validation when it’s seen that she still flirts with her, as if that betrayal from ep3 s2 had no value, as if nothing was happening and it was simply a "hot-enemies-to-lovers arc butch and femme lesbians". Did you want to make a spiteful Vi? Make her reject Caitlyn. Vi’s so much more than season 2, and I’m sick of people treating her SO bad.
@@rainchld Thanks! I honestly needed to get that out of my system since I saw a lot of people defend this bad writting with arguments like “Oh she has abandoment issues” or “She’s just in her wlw trauma phase”. And um… no?? You can make Vi vulnerable but not supid, she’s NOT stupid. Honestly the only thing I liked about her in season 2 was her sick outfits, cause let’s be honest, they ate hard. But above that, nothing much. I need more people adressing S2’s problems, because I’m seeing TOO many people claim this was better than S1, and I need to disagree. Yeah, Jinx’s a cool and almost perfect character, and I won’t lie to say that I really liked her as a character in S2. But that’s the problem. Because the writers were SO focused on her, they almost ruined every other character for my taste. I’m not a huge fan of Caitlyn tbh, she was cool and all in S1, and was definitely on my top 5, but S2 was… weird. She doesn’t have a solid personality, and I know that the main focus of Arcane is character exploration, but she sorta feels like the prototype of an “antagonist who was first good then turn bad but secretly doesn’t want to be bad”. Yeah, a cool concept, but fails on the Sasha Waybright or Cassandra problem: because of the short time, you don’t have much time to understand her redemption arc. Tbh I don’t really cared at all about Isha, Sevika and Mel. Their arcs were so boring. Surprisingly, I really liked Jayce’s and Viktor’s focus. Easily the most interesting arc of S2, and the one who had the best ending. And here’s my problematic take… I don’t think Timebomb should’ve exist. It completely ruined Ekko’s character. This is the problem when you introduce a shipp to the fandom: By making a character being the one most “fallen in love”, you make that their only trait. Ekko was easily my second favorite character of Arcane in S1, he was so cool and just a perfect side character, I REALLY wanted to see more of him. I even was hyped when I saw his interactions with Heirmendinger and Jayce, cause I thought they were gonna be an cool duo. But… yeah, episode 7 happens. Look, don’t get me wrong, I really like Timebomb. I repost art, repost Tiktok’s edits, and fantasize about what could’ve been of them. But that’s the magic of shipping: it HAS to be non-canon, because making it semi-official it’s risky. The reason Caitvi worked so well in S1 was that they were totally independent characters with their own personalities, convictions, backstories and arcs. Timebomb in S1 wasn’t really that popular, I saw myself that I was a sucker for them, especially in that fight scene where the tension is just cheff kiss. But… meh, S2 just doesn’t have the same hype and passion. I would’ve prefer them as friends, or maybe making it hinted.
I tried to talk about this so much but arcane and mostly caitivi fans tried to me shut me up by "shhhheee'sss noootttt poowdeeerrr anymoreeee" or "Vi doesn't seeeee her sissster in herrrr anymore" I can't describe how relieved I feel to see somebody talk about it, they completely destroyed Vi character in se2 and it hurts because she was my favorite in se1
I’m glad you resonated so strongly with the video. And yes, the shipper side of the Arcane community can be incredibly obnoxious. I’ve had my fair share of interactions with them-both in person and across social media-and 90% of the time, it’s been frustrating and unproductive. The more I engage with people who obsess over shipping certain characters, the more it feels like they don’t actually care about the story being told. They just want to see specific relationships, flashy visuals, or cool concepts play out on screen, regardless of whether the script actually earns any of it. (This isn’t exclusive to the shipping crowd, but this kind of shallower way of consuming media does seem especially prevalent in that camp.)
I have also brought this up a few times and caitvi fans would COMPLETELY shun me and get so offended, and in some cases even block me for saying anything "negative" about Vi's character. I'm so happy more people are talking about this, because I knew I wasn't crazy but it's still nice to know for certain.
A lot of the fandom… you really can’t tell them anything other than what they want to believe about the show. The amount of people who wanted to jump me for pointing out that even though Vi loved her sister to death, she was abusive. And more than likely hit her more than once. The imagine dragons “enemy” music video solidifies that.
Honestly I don't like either Caitvi or timebomb. Time bomb mostly cause I don't think the main timeline ekko and jinx would work well together plus jinx shows zero interest in anyone besides who she considers family (with a coveat of her caring for sevika even though I don't think she considers sevika family) which goes onto my next point of it'd make more sense for her to at least have a crush on sevika at least a childhood crush. For caitvi I mostly think that vi's codependency issues with jinx would stunt any growth towards romantic feelings since that would mean taking focus away from protecting/providing for/being there for jinx. Idk I can kinda see her using caitlynn and channeling the codependency issues onto her if/when she doesn't have access to jinx, like what Jinx did with silco, they'd (silco and caitlynn) be placeholders for the sisters. Other than that I like all other couples even headcannon jayce and viktor.
@@EmillyCollymore This show having so much attention of shippers truly became a death sentence to it. They absolutely destroyed it since instead of telling a good story all writers had in their mind was how to please these groups of people 💀
The only explanation i can make out of it (copium) that season 2 Vi is what's left of her, an empty shell of a person, tired of big emotions and conflicts, fully surrendered, not knowing where to place herself. Just tailing along to people she's used to, following their ideas, stopped having her own because they led her to nothing but pain and loss. Like, apathy? I don't know 😢 i felt so empty and disappointed trough the whole second season...
Your comment hits hard. Vi didn't feel like a well written character she felt like- well, me at my worst stages of life. She is just bouncing emotionally from one person to another, getting punched, drinking excessively... and it doesn't really lead anywhere. She is still a terrified girl inside, missing her sister, wanting just one person to stay. And when Cait does, it doesn't even feel satisfying. Not after she hit her, left her alone when she was having a breakdown. Gosh, she deserved better. And even though I'm a lesbian, I despised the sex scene. Just made me feel more empty, tbh.
@@brbdbrbtbtn Geeez that's accurate Also not les, but good lands that scene made me so uncomfortable. She's doing that in the same place her sister was literally just expressing her desire to "end the cycle of abuse" after _rotting_ there for several days. It felt so jarring and fetishy, gotta get the softcore #ex scene in to give the shippers something to jerk to and/or write fanfic about, doesn't matter where it is just slap it in!!1!1 My sister being so depressed she wants to break the cycle of abuse really gsts me going!11!! Haha! T/tties! Just so gross
honestly i cant thank you enough for this video , I loved vi in s1 so much , now somehow everything I loved about her disappears for no reason . would love a reminder of this torture
Glad to hear the video resonated with you. Unfortunately, most people are still blind to the steep drop in writing quality from S1 to S2. It seems like the tide is starting to turn, but I think it’ll take more time for most to fully acknowledge just how hard the ball was dropped on the potential S1 set up.
I was absolutely disgusted with Vi this season...Im an older sister to depressed with psychotic features little sister , I cant imagine letting my new gf kill her so eaily even if she was a terrorist( and even this is complicated cause Jinx didnt even kill all of the government or hurt innocent people around the council) also having s*x with your gf just after your sister tells you thats she is about to unalive herself... in the same cell she just ahd a mental breakdown ?? Is this the kinda stuff that turns you on?? Your little sisters suffering? It all felt so sick to me also Vi herself rotted YEARS in these same kind of cells... and the whole scene was literally ripped off from lol fanart , they really dropped the ball with this one, I never saw Vi truly choosing Caitlyn over Jinx....Jinx is the only family she has left while Caitlyn is just a girlfriend she met recently ...they werent even together to be fair :D
@MialikesthingsI watched her video and I agree. Jinx is better written in season 2 and I will say the favorite of the writers but I’m neutral on Jinx arc. Jinx should have been the main antagonist in season 2 as well as Caitlyn. When Jinx bombed up the council in season 2 and sat on the Jinx chair I thought there was no coming back. Just for a few episodes in season 2, Jinx says jinx is dead. Way too quick.
@@HK-gm8peHow Jinx being a terrorist is complicated????? She KILLED people, she didn't kill all members of the council so it's fine ????? She killed innocent people, blew up buildings etc. HOW is it difficult to say that Jinx is a terrorist???
An interesting information came out in an interview where the writing team was reduce down to three and two of them weren’t heavily involved with the first season
Possibly one of the greatest fumbles in animated cinematic history. This goes to show just how crucial the creative minds behind these stories are to the final product. Far too many people, probably most, underestimate the importance of a strong script. Just imagine what Arcane could’ve achieved with 2 or 3 more seasons at the caliber of writing we had in Season 1. They had everything, and they left it in pieces. Oh, what could have been…
this and the fact that they had 8 years to work on the first season, it was a love letter to league and it really showed. once riot got ahold of it they immediately shut that love letter down for the sake of creating the in-game champion versions, when arcane shouldn't have been canon in the first place. this season was so rushed and we deserved a possible cliffhanger for a now non-existent third season.
Great video. You've conveyed perfectly everything that's wrong with Vi's writing in S2. Having her accept the badge should've been a journey of a whole season. Most of the season, at least. Instead it happens off screen in the very first episode. She was such a great character in S1. She endured no matter what obstacles stood in her way. And S2 could've been so interesting for her. It could've been about her struggle to find her place in the world. To find out who she is. She's in a position of having a unique perspective on Piltover vs Zaun standoff. She was so ready to fight for Zaun. She's the symbol of the old regime (Vander's daughter). She could've been seen as either a blessing or a curse by the cities. She could've had the inner struggle of coming to terms with her sister now being Jinx. Or rejecting it and trying to reach out to Powder still. Instead she just passively hops from plot point to plot point. Not just her, to be honest. Most of the characters were butchered. There was a tweet by someone concerning Vi "I've never seen a main character so overlooked and reduced to irrelevance" S2, man... What could've been...
Couldn’t have said it better myself. I think the only characters who come close to Vi in terms of how poorly Season 2 handled them are Mel, Viktor, Jayce, Ekko, Caitlyn… damn, there’s actually quite a few. Season 2 really dropped the ball…
honestly the caitvi sesbian lex scene just hurt because jinx was gonna kill herself and vi just gave up on her completely for CAIT of all people. caitvi shippers keep saying she ”chose herself” and ”couldnt have known what jinx was about to do” but still she came to the cell to free jinx, and her words were cryptic enough that they should’ve illicited SOME worry from vi. s1 vi would have never given up on jinx for caitlyn, and idc its s2 and she’s moved on from s1, because she clearly shouldnt have. she didnt experience character growth, just negligence.
The sheer magnitude of cope from that crowd of shippers is astounding. They’re outright refusing to acknowledge how inappropriate and out-of-character Vi’s behavior was in that scene.
Imo it's yet another symptom of their fandom pleasing tendencies in S2, more specifically of the "people loved our parallels in S1 so we're gonna add even more in S2, even if we have to force them" flavor. I'm 100% convinced this scene took place in a jailcell just to coax a few "oMG they got back together in same place they met!!! POETRY!!! PARALLELS!!! CINEMA!!!!" posts. Like does it make sense in those circumstances? No, but who cares! Not only has Jinx all but explicitly stated what she intends to do- making this a time-sensitive situation- they have Vi- an ex-prisoner- initiate intimacy with her cop-turned-dictator gf (who previously unapologetically hit her) in a cell- not unlike the one she spent years of her life being starved and senselessly beaten in by cops. I'm sorry, but this is just icky and I don't buy Vi would react like this in these circumstances for a second. The go-to argument for why she acts this way is "she realized Caitlyn let her sister go and is immensely grateful" but it misses the point horribly. No one is taking issue with Vi feeling grateful. It's that there's a difference between "Vi feels grateful" and "Vi is not only enthusiastic about getting down and dirty in a location that should be traumatic for her, she decides it's actually more important than preventing her sister from offing herself". She literally just leaves with Cait (to defend Piltover from their own mess, of all things) and never even checks on Jinx. Make it make sense.
You're 100% correct. I think that sex scene was the biggest writing error in the whole show. It shouldn't have happened at all. I just imagine that it didn't happen 😭 It would have made sense if Vi was just locked in the cell by Jinx and just stayed there for the rest of the episode. That sex scene was unnecessary and pure fanservice Whoever liked it is free to like it but to say that it is in character or well written would be false
@@bellablondon6172Perhaps but would that stop her? Vi walks directly into situations without a proper plan constantly, if it is something that matters to her heart
i know this isn't abt jinx but i'm also so mad they kinda forgot abt jinx's psychosis in the second season and it just became whatever was plot convenient it was strange
Exactly. Season 1’s portrayal of Jinx’s mental illness was fantastic-so stylistic, so deliberate, so essential to her character. Yet in Season 2, it’s practically absent, despite the fact that she should be even more traumatized. She killed another father figure, definitively lost her sister to Caitlyn, and is now completely alone. If anything, S2 Jinx should be even more tormented by her demons than before, with all of her internal guilt and self-doubt being reinforced by Silco’s death. In S1, she was mostly haunted by Milo and Claggor. In S2, it should have been even more Caitlyn, but also Silco-and even Vi. But they didn’t do anything with it. Instead, they tossed it aside as if it were irrelevant, effectively “curing” her without any compelling justification for why she would suddenly be free from those demons.
YOU GET IT YOU GET IT Gah there were so many missed opportunities I feel. Hopefully with Noxus they don't repeat the cycle of a brilliant S1 only to drop the ball with s2
I always thought her lack of hallucinations in season two was due to the shimmer that saved her life. And she only got hallucinations (post shimmer) when she was in more intense triggering situations like when she killed Silco, when she found out Isha was captured etc.
It might've been that, but that still feels like a convenient way to just... Get rid of all her mental health issues?? It just seems like a strange way to go about such a topic imo Or at least they could've made that a tad clearer if that was actually what had happened
they didnt. jinx doesnt have psychosis, she has DID. Jinx was the integration of her alters, i think they more or less acted accurate to how did alters would come about, and we didn’t get a lot of Jinx’s POV in s2. it’s moreso an issue of them trying to shove too much into s2 instead of allowing it to be 3 seasons
I've written this multiple times on multiple channels, and I'm gonna write it again: the show needed three seasons. The second season should've focused on Vi and Caitlyn hunting Jinx down, with a significant focus on Vi being conflicted between wanting to help Caitlyn and wanting to save Jinx. If the first season focused on Jinx's decision to be either Powder or Jinx, then the second season should've focused on Vi's decision to be either Caitlyn's partner or Jinx's sister. Vi needed to catch up to Jinx and let her go out of guilt. Jinx killed Silco to save Vi and Vi wouldn't want to throw her in prison the same way Marcus did to her. Then Vi needed to gradually grow attached to the enforcers she fights alongside. Then Jinx needed to kill one of those enforcers, Loris maybe. Then and only then would it make sense for Vi to turn on Jinx because Jinx is killing off Vi's friends (again). And Vi would feel guilty about it because she's the one that keeps letting her go. Then the Vi vs Jinx fight would be the climax of the season. While all this is happening, the longer Jinx evades the enforcers, the more infamous she becomes and inadvertently inspires the undercity to rebel against their aggressive presence in the undercity. Viktor would try to start up his commune in the undercity but he has to contend with the tensions building up around him. And Ekko and the Firelights would also have to contend with those tensions. And while the chembarons are getting walloped by Vi, Caitlyn and the other enforcers, Singed would offer his services to the chembarons and offer them a Shimmered-up wolf to protect their interests, the answer to Piltover's hextech weaponry, the ultimate foil to Vi and Caitlyn's fight against the chembarons and hunt for Jinx. And then at the end of the season, Vander would reveal his identity to Jinx. Then the third season would focus on Jinx and Vi being forced to work together to find and cure Vander, while Caitlyn's running her dictator arc. While Vi and Jinx struggle to reconcile their newfound relationship, Caitlyn would have to contend with watching her ex-girlfriend conspire with her mother's killer and the Shimmer beast killing off her enforcers. It's the same story with the same trajectory but with a lot more room for the character arcs and plotlines to breathe
THANK YOU. First season felt like a slow building for something really big, and second one like a rush to give a "final" to something that they cannot afford anymore
solid series you pitched. Would be cool if during season 2 Viktor replaces pieces of himself to become a cyborg like the original lore during tensions building up and his body not keeping up, changing him as a person throughout the rest of the series
I also think having 3 seasons really would've solidified the whole thing they had going on. 9 episodes, 3 acts, 3 episodes per act. It would've worked perfectly thematically to have 3 seasons, acting as 3 different acts, with the first season being context, second being conflict, and the third being the resolve. It would've worked perfectly. Plus, I think that it would've given the space to show atrocities committed since the whole plot with the grey is completely ignored despite the fact it should've been an incredibly pivotal point in the show. GOD I LOVE ARCANE AND I HAVE A LOVE-HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE SECOND SEASON. The amount of character assassination makes me MAD.
YES!! Holy shit the sesbian lex scene starts and as a lesbian, I was pissed!! Holy f talk about tonal shift??? You’re not gonna… go after your sister? Complete character assassination. pissing me off.
Yo solo podía pensar en el olor... Había una persona antes en ese mismo lugar deprimida y sin ducharse 😨 No preferían esperar y hacerlo limpias y oliendo a flores, en un lugar más cómodo? 😂
god it was 100% just them pandering to the fans. i cannot believe how out of place and pointless that scene was. like EVEN the meljay scene had an ACTUAL POINT given the whole parallels with viktor, showing how jayce is living a "normal" life as his friend suffers, and it gives that much more meaning to the scene where he goes to viktors side right after, and where mel wakes up to find that shes in the center of the bed, entirely alone, without even the shape of the person who left her imprinted into the bed to tell her he was once there. compared to that, KNOWING they can make even sex scenes important to the plot makes it that much more obvious that the prison cell scene was completelt pointless and created solely to make the fans happy. i saw a meme before this season about "how many episodes till sesbian lex on screen !!!" and i was like haha!! what an absurd joke !! surely they wouldnt- and i got shot 84 times jaw genuinely dropped
Not just her, they made everyone dirty in this Season. Just look at Jinx, she's such a shallow copy of herself in Season 1. Those two are completely two different characters and not because of character development, but because they ruined what made Jinx well Jinx Same with Vander, Silco, Mel, Cate and basically everyone else. They only exist to progress plot into the MCU-esque "grand" finale or to manipulate mass viewer into experiencing "WOW" effect with the cheapest lamest tricks to use
I laughed so hard when i heard Vi say "powder is gone" Since from the trailer i though that Jinx was going to do something completely irredeemable, yet all that Jinx did was kill some assholes from the council and some enforcers and that was enough for Vi to decide to kill her sister...?
@@sapsx726how the hell was Jinx in season 2 a marysue?(heck even powder in the AU wasn't a marysue) Plus I think you missed the entire point of Jinx's character in season 2. There is no "powder" or "Jinx" she is both powder and jinx which is what vi and ekko realised. So complaining about how she was 95% powder and 5% jinx is completely missing the point of her character in season 2.
Remember, it was the attack on the council specifically that tipped Vi’s scale. Everything prior-killing Ekko’s friends, blowing up enforcers, and (from Vi’s perspective) potentially killing Ekko-wasn’t enough for her to give up on Jinx. But the moment Jinx kills three members of the government Vi had despised and antagonized her entire life, a government that was indirectly responsible for her parents’ deaths, that couldn’t have cared less about the lives of the Undercity and saw it as more of a threat than a neighbor, Vi instantly abandons all the hope she had held out for Powder up to that point.
@@rainchld And kind of crazy considering how much she also hates Piltover on S1, she even sounds like Silco at times (they both are mad at Vander for making deals with Enforcerers, both are "dirty" little things) 😐and then have her say I'm the dirt under your nails to Cait like.... 😓
This video is seriously impressive. The editing is so creative and artistic, it pulled me in right away and kept me engaged the entire time. I really appreciated how you broke down Vi’s character arc, especially when you pointed out the differences between her portrayal in Season 1 and Season 2. You made some excellent points about how well-written she was in the first season. That said, I don’t completely agree with the idea that her perspective in Episode 1 was mishandled. When it comes to her relationship with Jinx, it felt to me like Vi had already realized by the end of Season 1 that Jinx wasn’t the same person she used to know. From that angle, her actions in Episode 1 made sense to me. There are definitely parts of her arc in Season 2 that felt rushed. Her quick decision to join the enforcers right after the memorial attack and the gas incident in Zaun both could’ve been explored more. It’s a shame because the story has so much potential that wasn’t fully tapped into. Overall, this was an incredible video. You clearly put so much thought and care into it, and it really paid off!
Thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate it. I definitely think there’s a valid discussion to be had about what it would’ve realistically taken to bring Vi to the point of fully giving up on her sister. I believe the Vi we came to know over the course of Season 1 wouldn’t have changed her mind after the council attack, especially given the (arguably worse) atrocities she’d already witnessed Jinx commit in the episodes prior. That said, I think there’s an angle, specifically tied to Jinx severing herself from Silco and still choosing to go through with the attack, that could justify this shift in perspective under the right circumstances. Even so, I feel that, given everything Vi had already seen Jinx do and still managed to hold onto hope through, there needed to be additional steps in her journey to fully let go of Powder. It’s hard to imagine that this one final act of violence, directed at the governing force that had oppressed them their entire lives, ordered the enforcers who killed their parents during the initial war, and perpetuated the divide between Piltover and Zaun, would be enough to make Vi give up on her sister so quickly. This also ties directly into her severely underdeveloped decision to put on the enforcer uniform and effectively embody the very thing she once despised more than anything (second only, perhaps, to Silco and Sevika).
@@rainchld it could have been justified by her desire to stop enforcers from invading Zaun, which is a big part of why she joins and goes after Jinx in episode 1, but after episode 3 its Jinx who has the 'revolutionary' arc for Zaun and Vi pretty much stops being an active character after episode 3, so its very weird. I`m having a hard time understanding their thought process when writing Vi`s horrible backstory with enforcers, only to not flesh out anything related to that, which also impacts her romance with Caitlyn. One of the writers said they wrote Vi`s backstory so anti-police just for her relationship with Caitlyn and here`s the quote “Well, we’ve got to make this as hard as possible. If Caitlyn’s an enforcer, what if enforcers killed Vi’s parents?”
That’s an excellent point. Arguably, the element that would’ve required the most effort from the writers to bridge the story from Season 1 to the lore of League of Legends was Vi’s arc of becoming an enforcer. They could-and should-have spent an entire season developing that gradual transformation, rather than rushing it in the second half of Season 2, Episode 1. Her backstory was almost entirely neglected, which is baffling given how much potential they had to create a compelling conflict between Cait and Vi, specifically tied to Vi’s lifelong trauma as written in Season 1. Yet 90% of what we got on that topic happened in the first season. Why set it up at all if they were just going to drop nearly all of it in Season 2?
My heart is in pain for what they have done to Vi That is just amazing editing. It awoke something in me. Like I was so lost in my feelings toward this second season and now you just show that all together and I see now
Thanks for the feedback. I’m glad the video had such a strong effect on you. It’s nice to see people share my frustrations with how Season 2 handled Vi’s character, especially given how well she was written in Season 1. There was so much potential for her to have one of the most compelling arcs in the show, and the writers completely squandered it.
Glad I’m not the only one who was put off by Vi claiming Jinx wasn’t her sister anymore, AND Vi calling her Jinx instead of Powder. It felt so jarring.
It felt so jarring and off putting. It was like she gave up and went through some sort of deja vu brain damage throughout S2 because she keeps calling her Jinx now, even though they're sisters. LIKE, SHE'S STILL YOUR SISTER. Violet should've kept calling her by her real name imo. Always believing Powder was in there, and all of a sudden she went from "You're not a jinx" to "I'm done pretending you're my sister, 𝚈𝙾𝚄'𝚁𝙴 𝙽𝙾𝚃! You killed her..." and "There's only Jinx now" made me wanna rip my hair out.
thank you for compiling this video. no narration or explanation is even needed; the scenes speak for themselves. i'll always lament how badly they butchered the characters in s2 for the sake of fanservice-vi more than anyone.
I kinda wish they make a remake of arcane s2, wich I know it won't happen, but it's sad to me that the show was so praised at the point of being called "almost perfect", and then season two appeared and it all went down. I did enjoy s2 while watching it, but when it finished, I got this feeling of insatisfaction...
i felt the exact same way! after season one i was left mindblown and the show became unforgettable. but this season, damn i finished it and i felt "meh". which is wild for how awesome the first season was.
dude i just wish they wouldve done more than one season to wrap it up. it was clear even BEFORE season 2s insane extended plotlines that never wrap up that it would take several more seasons to complete even season 1s storylines, but instead they cram about 17 more unfinished plotlines into s2, forget all about the story of s1(the literal class war, the fight between zaun and piltover, HELL even the relationship between jinx and vi is mostly forgotten which is INSANE to me considering how pivotal it was to the story of s1) and try to desperately finish what they started only for it to fall flat on its face because they didnt have enough time to complete the story in the single season they had to work with
This is making me cry all over again NOOOO 😭 Also crying and laughing at the “I don’t f’in care” bc literally!!!? If she knew Powder was hinting to ending herself, S1 Vi would have been doing everything she can to chase after her. Not ignore her and then proceed to do what Jinx said “be happy without me” and then just goes crazy on Cait. It felt so out of character for me and I wish they spent that scene between Cait and Vi as a scene with Ekko showing Jinx who she could be by sharing timebomb powder or literally Vi coming after her! Like bruhhhhh it would of been so much more powerful than this washed s*x scene :,)
I REALLY AGREE WITH THIS OMG I think that they could've and should've put sesbian lex at a different time. Because there is NO WAY she would've after her sister alludes to killing herself. She isn't stupid. I think it should've been a much more softer moment of comfort, or rather a moment of Vi freaking out and unsure what to do. Regardless, there were so many different paths it could've gone down, and I think they chose one of the most unsavourable.
I’m sick and tired of all the Arcane season 2 glazing. It’s time for people to expose the true quality of this season. And Vi, will likely be the most tragic victim of Season 2’s terrible writing.
I can't help but disagree, it's not "glazing" if people just genuinely enjoy how season 2 was and DON'T feel the need to critique every piece of media they consume.
@@uhhlars It’s glazing if people call this a masterpiece, when this season truly has a lot of catastrophic flaws. I never said people can’t enjoy season 2. But to say that it is objectively a masterpiece is to deliberately ignore the fundamental flaws that has broken this story, and Arcane as a whole.
I’m sorry but I just don’t agree. I genuinely think that most if not all of the primary plot points are perfect, but the execution is lackluster because there simply wasn’t enough time to flesh things out. I think Vi in particular suffered from this.
@@chickensalad3535 Yes you’re absolutely right. Most of the ideas here, are good ideas. But the execution is downright poor in most areas. But even beyond that, especially with a character like Vi, characters are making decisions left and right that aren’t at all consistent with what they are established as. These decisions and character directions, are NOT at all good ideas. For example Vi is established to have a deep care for her home of Zaun. And doing any harm to its common citizens would be way beyond her. It wouldn’t even be a thought in her mind. And yet we are shown in episodes 2 and 3 of season 2 that she assists Caitlyn in LITERALLY GASING ZAUN. Not only is this a terrible and idiotic act, as Caitlyn, Vi and her squad have no control of where the gas is going within the underground, but they try to also justify it by saying “we used the gray to clear the streets. To keep people safe.” When it is exactly the opposite of that. With everything that Vi was established with in season one and the first episode of season 2, there is no conceivable reason anyone can come up with as to why this is somehow consistent with her character. Nor does it at all make sense whatsoever that she becomes an enforcer. In season 1 she was just fine with joining forces with them. But she didn’t cross the line by wearing their uniforms, and wearing a badge. The enforcers literally killed her parents. Her freaking parents. Most people would not side with law enforcement due to such loss only because of someone they have become romantically attached with. Especially not under Vi’s circumstance. There is no conceivable reason that anyone can use as to why Vi taking on the uniform and becoming an enforcer is at all consistent with her character at the time in season 2 when this takes place. It would have been way more consistent for her to join forces with them, but refuse to wear a badge and a uniform because of her parents. Even though the writers inserted a line into episode one of season two about how much becoming an enforcer is something that Vi would absolutely not do with everything that her character has been established in, along with all the corruption she’s seen after her parents died brought on by the enforcers. They still failed the ball by having her make likely one of the most, if not the most, out of character choices. It wasn’t just bad execution of ideas, it was the writers not paying attention to what season one established, and working in alignment with that.
This hits hard in particular because I relate to Vi so hard. I have an estranged relationship with my younger sister-I don't know where she is or what she'd doing, and she's not the same as before. Vi is feminine in the most masculine way possible, hard headed and strong beyond the trials and tribulations of her life. Then season 2 came and destroyed her-made her the opposite of everything she stood for. And it destroyed me. I hate Arcane, now. Thank you to corporate slop for ruining amazing things.
it's too much of an expectation from Vi to continue behave like she how did in s1. She endured 7 years of hell just with a hope of reuniting with Powder only to come out and realize not just her sister, the world along with the ppl she knew changed drastically to a point she could no longer recognize. Held on to only person left in her life, followed her and then lost her too. Vi Lost everything. Lost her identity. She's been though nothing but constant pain. yet she never gave up on anyone she loved. Ep 208, If not for Caitlyn, Vi would have followed Jinx without a second thought and died with her sister. So, her reaching a point where she needed to take a break, mourn her loss and adopt heathy ways to live and not just survive is perfect arc for her. Us as audience wanting to see her fight is cool but she doesn't need to a stereotypical hero to be great. plus, Arcane doesn't work in that cliche manner. It dealt with complex, flawed humans and that's why it was so unique. It's so unfortunate they didn't have enough time to carefully flesh out her journey, her trauma. so they rely heavily on "show don't tell", gave us just enough so we can fill the gaps. it's sad but it is what it is i guess.
I see where you’re coming from, and I appreciate your perspective on Vi’s arc. I don’t disagree that Vi went through hell for seven years, or that the world she came back to was unrecognizable. Her pain, trauma, and loss are absolutely valid and should play a significant role in her character development. I also agree that Arcane thrives on exploring flawed, complex humans rather than relying on clichés. My issue isn’t with the idea of Vi reaching a breaking point or needing to process her trauma. In fact, that could have been a powerful and deeply compelling direction for her arc. The problem lies in the rushed, unsubstantiated execution of that idea. We’re shown almost no tangible steps to connect the Vi we knew in Season 1-who was defined by her agency, resolve, and unshakable hope for Jinx-to the Vi we see in Season 2. Her decision to suddenly give up on Jinx and align herself with Piltover feels abrupt and unearned, especially given her established values and the deep emotional connection she has to her sister. For example, you mention Episode 208 (I'm guessing you mean the end of Episode 8). Yes, Vi cares about Jinx deeply, and I don’t doubt she would have followed her without Caitlyn’s intervention. But that makes her earlier willingness to fight against her sister and embrace Piltover’s cause feel even more jarring. If Vi is at a point where she’s so broken that she needs time to heal and “live, not just survive,” the writing should have taken its time to show us how she got there. Instead, we’re expected to infer a huge amount with minimal buildup-“show, don’t tell” only works when enough is shown to let us connect the dots. Vi’s arc in Season 2 isn’t flawed because she stops fighting or because she’s not a stereotypical hero. It’s flawed because it doesn’t feel consistent with the groundwork laid in Season 1. The writers skipped over critical steps that would have made her breaking point feel earned and impactful, and that’s why it’s hard for me to buy into this “perfect arc” you’re describing. It’s not about wanting Vi to fight for the sake of being cool; in fact, I'm not really a fan of action if it doesn't carry narrative weight, it’s about wanting her arc to be well-written, earned, and true to the character I was deeply invested in when watching Season 1. Unfortunately, the rushed pacing and underdeveloped execution robbed her of that. I don’t think her story needed to follow a cliché or “heroic” path to be great. I just wish the writers had given her arc the time and care it deserved, and respected the strong conviction she had in her beliefs and values.
This is the comment I was looking for literally. We are super... just lucky to have a show like this in the first place for one, it's just that cool (i'd say at least) Everyone is saying the season was rushed and that there should have been a season three. Honestly, I prefer what they did. Of course the whole entirety of each season won't be absolutely perfect, but bro... I don't want fill instead? Like you said "Show don't tell" I appreciate that in shows instead of them treating me like I'm a child who can't get the picture. Also I think since this is based on original characters anyways, Vi is supposed to become a enforcer, Jinx trigger happy marksman, bro even Jayce wasn't as arrogant as the original character lol. I don't I guess there will always be complaints and all but I really just enjoyed the show tbh.
If writers understood the impact of trauma caused by police brutality and unlawful imprisonment, like you claim they do, they wouldn’t have Cait, her girlfriend and a COP, HIT Vi
@@avahamlet9661”vi is supposed to become an enforcer” that mindset is likely part of what drove a lot of the decisions behind making her so shallow this season. It’s not that arcane isn’t treating its audience enough like children. it’s that your suspension of disbelief in season two is not just around the mechanics of the world but the fundamental traits of characters already well established in season one, traits that should not be absent even in the wake of trauma and strife. Vi’s characterization in season two was not just a story decision, it very much so was a corporate decision
contrast this with Jinx who gets a whole redemption arc with a dedicated plot device (Isha), an alternate universe episode where she's "good" and the hero moment in the final battle. I like Jinx, she's well written, but the bias the writers have in focusing only on her is crazy (especially when she was already the most popular in S1)
The strongest proof of Jinx favoritism on the part of the writers (and showrunners, for that matter) is her surviving her supposed “sacrifice moment.” They completely deflated the weight of that scene because they know she’s far too valuable as a character to permanently write out. Jinx is simply too popular to kill off-and they want to keep her around for future cameos in other projects. And thanks for calling Isha what she actually is. I’ve seen far too many people insist she’s a great character with a crucial role in the story, a compelling arc, and deep thematic significance-when in reality, she was barely more than a glorified plot device that was deleted from existence after Episode 6.
heck Caitlyn was heavily favored by the writers too. Got to be a dictator without being held accountable, got the happy ending of having a gf (that she hit with a gun) and living comfortably in a big mansion.
Tbh, despite being a Jinx enjoyer (or rather, *because* of it) who also adores Vi, I'll have to disagree with Jinx being well-written this season- I'm unhappy with how both of them were handled. While she did technically get more focus than Vi, I felt like she also hardly got to be a character. Like what "arc"? All the character beats the writers want her to hit aren't earned by her actually grappling with things, so much as they are outsourced to her emotional support orphan- who also doesn't get to be a character because she only exists to facilitate those character beats for Jinx. Jinx can't be arsed to fight for Zaun on her own, Isha has to keep pushing her to do it. I didn't get the sense she would have ever gone to free the prisoners from Stillwater on her own, it's just that Isha happened to be among them. Narratively, this is just uninteresting and lame, and it turns Jinx into a nothing-burger of a character when she was so driven and vibrant before. The intro prominently featured Jinx waving the flag of the revolution, but if you think about it she hardly did anything for it, especially out of any sort of real conviction. And also what "redemption"? Sure, I was rooting for her to redeem herself eventually, but that's not what we got. How does her "sacrificing" herself for her sister in an entirely manufactured and contrived way make up for the crimes she has committed? All I wanted for my girl was to finally accept herself as Jinx (with Silco's blessing) and consciously choose to lead the revolution in his name (or out of spite for Piltover) and then maybe later grow to a more empathetic and idealistic version of herself who genuinely cares for the Undercity. Instead, apparently she *doesn't* accept herself; like what's even the point of having one of her most iconic scenes of S1 be her sitting on the Jinx chair, seemingly finally accepting her new self, only for her to immediately then reject her identity and proclaim "Jinx is dead" in early S2? Literally what's her reason for bombing the Council at the end of S1, if not to facilitate her new identity as Jinx? She doesn't want to be Jinx, but she *also* blows up the Council, but she *also* has no motivation to fight for Zaun (or at least, against Piltover)- oh, and did I mention that accidentally killing her father figure (again) lowkey cured her mental illness? Jinx's story in S2 can basically be boiled down to her idly coasting away, being no one and wanting nothing while Isha fixes her- until she doesn't- then Ekko has to do it off-screen because they decided to cram everything into a single season. It's insulting what was done with Vi, but just because Jinx gets to be written more doesn't mean she's written any better.
@@rainchld what's crazy to me is how Christian Linke literally called this season "Vi focused" before it came out, only for him to later admit in a tweet that they were just more interested in exploring other characters. Like what? Beyond the character assassination itself, bro just blatantly lied for no reason and didn't even try to defend it 🙏
This video was a pleasure to watch in comparing contrasting Vi charter between season one and two how badly mishandled it was. It’s disappointing this season never focus on Vi character development in having her wear the badge. A lot of seeds were planted for it grow being how she is willing to work alongside them for similar interest, gives her the opportunity to represent Zaun and have better chance for change. When season 2 came out I hoped we would’ve focused on Vi struggle in getting to have her wear the badge. A journey where she has the realization and chance to change meaning behind the badge and make sure enforces no longer commit the same atrocities. None of this was done instead they have her decide to do it off screen, and her working with enforces gassing the streets of Zaun is something she will be completely against Another thing I hope the season were to focus in jinx going to be more unstable and chaotic causing damages for both Zaun and Piltover making Vi see Jinx less of a sister she one knew throughout the season. The direction of season 2 relationship between the two was rushed, the ideas goes against what was set up in season 1.
I’m glad you resonated with the video, and I completely agree. The writers seemed to have no regard for the excellent foundation of her character that was built in Season 1. They completely dismantled everything that made her such a compelling character, stripping her of agency and turning her into a victim of the rushed, jarringly paced plot that pulled her in different directions. As someone deeply invested in Vi, it’s incredibly frustrating to see so many promising components of her arc discarded so carelessly.
Like I get it Vi could have lost some of believing in her sister (her depression arc), but not completely. Vi was a character who was written as a someone who the family is the most important thing in life. Of course I know she deserves to be happy and love someone but still her family always would be on firs place. So I don’t get it why Vi in season 2 didn’t care much about Jinx or even Ekko, but only on Cait
Funny thing is… Between season one and two its easy to find contradictions, considering the change in writing staff. But i believe it is unacceptable to have IN SEASON 2 alone THIS MANY CONTRADICTIONS on top of CONTRADICTIONS in one season its honestly sad…
Honestly in comparison to the first season, season 2 felt rushed. I’ve heard people talking about Netflix making the writers cut a bunch of scenes from s2. I feel like the reason I love the timebomb episode so much is because in comparison to the other episodes it actually felt fleshed out and not rushed. Vi is my favorite character in the show and I was so hyped for this season only to be disappointed by how rushed the writing felt.
Vi became such an hypocrate in transition from a Season to another, HECK it was needed for Ekko to travel across an alternatine universe just to save Jinx, something Vi was determined to do, but sucked herself in too vafly by being busy falling down at the bottom of a mug over a... "Cupcake", and tell you what, Caitlyn was no better either, going down BAD and making really bad decisions for a break up that wasn't even official or merely healthy whatsoever.
16:45 THIS whole section speaks volumes on how the writers treat their (???) characters this season. They simply does not care! All they care for is whether Catevi fans would be pleased or not, or for yet another scene that's visually so cool that it will blow up the internet. The show turned from an artwork into a product, tasteless and squeezed for hype and admiration of easily satisfied with good visuals mass viewer I'm immeasurably disappointed with Arcane Season 2 and there's no words to describe it
100% agreed. I was seriously let down by how Season 2 handled the world-building, plot, and, most importantly, the characters that initially drew me to Season 1. Unfortunately, most people don’t seem to acknowledge the stark drop in writing quality, which is disappointing given that strong storytelling was what made Arcane exceptional in the first place. Sure, the stunning presentation does a substantial job in enhancing the narrative, but it’s only as good as the story it is serving. If the writing is fundamentally weak, the artistic elements can only do so much. At least that’s my perspective-one that doesn’t seem to align with the prevailing opinion.
As a former caitvi obbsessed fan, season 2 made me dislike it AND hate caitlyn at the same time. Just because i'm a lesbian doesn't mean i have to accept garbage!!!
@@carpiim I'm not lesbian myself, and usually I'm not really into shipping stuff and LGBT characters... BUT Their relationships in the 1st Season felt very natural. And it made me gasp in surprise since it's the first time I see this kind of relationships between characters portrayed in such an organic, not in the forced way. Which made it believable. They really had sone chemistry between them, they felt human. So I was all in for to see how they would progress it in the next Season. HOWEVER, Season 2 made me absolutely despise them from how badly written they are 💀 They don't feel human anymore, but more like writers' souless dolls that behave however those big babies want them to. I'm not even touching that it seems like Amanda romanticising toxic lesbian relationships. I mean what phrase "I'm dirt under your nails" even supposed to mean? It's fkn insulting to Vi, especially in context of her having relationships with a person from higher fancy society Ugh, I'm so sick with this Season
@@Kantorek17 The phrase about being the dirt under someone's nails is a Spanish phrase (much more popular in Europe where Fortiche resides so it may not translate as well to the US because it's not really known here). It refers to two things which are very difficult to separate, with an insinuation that the dirt under the nails was earned through hard work and persistence. In this Arcane scene, it also references Vi being something Caitlyn acquired through hard work from the "dirty" under-city of Zaun. It's not really meant to be derogatory; the longer-standing European cultural meaning just doesn't carry over as well to the US.
@VisionQuest057 So you're telling me American Arcane writers from LA SOMEHOW got grasp on the Spanish meaning of this phrase and then put it in the English dub of the show? That sounds very believable Also I originate from Europe myself, not the States. I don't know maybe Spanish people has different cultural backgroun and don't mind calling themselves "dirt under someone's nails" (maybe word "dirt" in Spanish has different semantics Idk). But in my culture it would be highly self-insulting and deragotory. Especially in the context of relationships where one person originates from a place like the Under-city, and the other from a fancy golden cloud castle like Piltover
Honestly as much as I hate to say it I did feel kinda disappointed w s2, it was good and entertaining and act 3 was amazing too. But I feel like they had the opportunity to do so much more.
i felt like i was going crazy with no one acknowledging how they absolutely butchered Vi's character in s2. its like she became a bad fanfic characture of who she was in s1. her character arc was basically skipped over in order to have caitvi be a thing (which thwy also butchered terribly) and in favor of jinx's arc. its horrible.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who felt like Vi deserved better. I wish she became some symbol of the city, someone who tried to do good as Vanders child but instead she was cast aside and felt like she was only there to continue caitvi moments. I’m not ashamed to say that I believe the CaitVi smex scene was entirely fan service, it just felt so off and I wish we got more out of Vi this season
Selfish plug, but I have a season 2 fic that's massive. Been writing it since Since 1 ended. It's a sequel to season 1 and was fully planned out before season 2.
Her characterization from Act 1 made sense, her finally accepting that the Powder she knew was gone and losing the one person left she had to protect which was Cait. She was loyal to the people more than she was loyal was Zaun but now that there was no one to protect. She spiraled in the first ep of Act 2 (I believe) BUT THEN the montage was only 5 mins and shes just used as a device for Cait and Jinx's character?? We need more moments in her head space.
THANK YOU FOR THIS VIDEO this is so validating ESPECIALLY the beginning,, i've been stuck on the fact that the only thing that kept the both of them alive for all those years, even without knowing if the other was alive, and then they just... suddenly hate each other?? where did it COME from??? the writing for s2 in general was horrid but what they did to vi specifically was just shameful
what also enrages me is that someone dug up a comment from amanda from a while ago where she was talking about early s1 development, and she said something like "the first thing we wanted was caitvi. and while we were on thst, we thought; what would make it more complicated and angsty? like what if caitlyn was an enforcer, and vi's parents were enforcers?" ...so you mean to say, instead of wanting any sort of good message, or well intentions, or just wanting a character to have a compelling backstory, you made an entire oppressed character... JUST to make her love with an oppressor more difficult???
@@moonmoon2479 it looks really good and the songs are phenomenal as usual just the writing was significantly worse with so many plot points and character arcs thrown out the window.
It's just astonishing visuals, nice soundtrack and crap which for some reason called "script", "characters development" and "plot integrity". Nothing truly magnificent.
They destroyed her character. That's not how you make a "character development" as some people are defending. The staff needed to have a lesson with the writers of Breaking Bad.
I hate how they wrote Vi this way. Everyone knows she’s not the same person as in Season 2. She was supposed to have rich character development and a growth story, which was what the audience originally expected from Season 2. But the writers’ incompetence, arrogance, and selfishness ruined everything. After watching Season 2, I felt like I developed PTSD, and after watching this video, I triggered it again. I believe the writers hate Vi, and that’s the only explanation.
THIIIS they did my baby so dirty in s2, i felt like everything they were building for Vi in s1 fell apart or was thrown away for other characters depelopment. SHE'S one of the MAIN characters, WHY WOULD U DO THAAAT
This is honestly sad to see such a downgrade of a character! However, as soon as I watch Arcane, I’m gonna start making a spinoff game based on Arcane, but make it a “what if” scenario.
Yesss! Finally someone else mentioning them butchering the characters! Originally I expected you to talk about characters via video essay kind of thing format. But I really appreciate you taking your time and editing those clips like that, showing such a drastic contrast between Vi and "Vi" from Season 2! It would be a pleasure to see more of this kind of comparison, especially with someone as ruined as Jinx, Vander & Silco in this Season. Wish you luck and more views pal! Thank you so much for your work!! ✨💙💖🙌
Glad you enjoyed the video. I’m considering making more in this format, especially about the characters I feel were handled the worst in S2. Out of curiosity, why did you single out Vander and Silco as ruined by S2? I feel like there are many other characters who more definitively fall into that category. Why do those two stand out to you?
@@rainchldMaybe it has something to do with the alternative universe in ep 7 where Silco and Vander are somehow together again. While I can buy that Vander would embrace Silco again, the way Silco changed was completely absurd, at least to me, cus isn't this the same guy that thinks "true power comes to those who take it" (might be misremembering the quote)??? The same guy who wanted Zaun as a prosperous and independent city, a dream he worked hard for? He wouldn't have bonded with Jinx in this universe which would "soften" him and make him sacrifice Zaun's independence for her freedom, he'd still believe in his nation of Zaun. He is not gonna let Piltover keep power over Zaun, even if they manage to live in harmony. Maybe I just need to rewatch season 1 (again)?
@@rainchld Pardon me for taking long time to answer. It might be a bit late for this comment but I'll still write it. Both Silco and Vander suffered through some considerably light character assasination, since it's not really possible to ruin them since both are pretty dead. However: A) Vander & Silco, original universe: Him knowing Powder and Vi parents downgrades his decision at the very beginning of S1. Him seeing these two orphan girls whom lost their parents due to his own violent actions, and then taking them in thus leaving his past behind was a really strong scene in terms of feelings and themes. What S2 has to say on this regard? Well, it looks like he actually knew both girls and their parents. Uh-huh, and also their mother kinda hooked him and Silco up to make Zaun a better place for them. Considering this whole bridge scene lessens its impact since Vander leaves violence not because he sees what effect his actions have on other people, but simply because his friends died. And he takes girls not because he takes responsibility for what he has done, but because he ought to due to giving a promise to their mother. And it doesn't feel right Same goes with Silco. Silco *was* there when Felicia revealed she is pregnant. She said they're both ought to make Zaun better place. Hell, it's implied that Felicia influenced Silco to become as ruthless as he is for their cause - for her, for sons and daughters of Zaun. Yet when we rewatch S1 considering this flashback scene from S2 we can see that they basically contradict eachother. If Silco really knew Vi and Powder parents why it looks like he doesn't know these girls at all? Why he orders to kill Vi and her friends in such a cold blood if she is basically a daughter of the person who became one of the reasons to achieve his dream of independent Zaun? Why then he stands in front of Powder knife in his hand and looks like he's ready to kill her right there and when? After that throghout the whole S1 we have not a single indication that Silco might've known Vi parents or Vi and Powder beforehand. B) Vander & Silco, AU and hallucinations: Another thing is alternative universe. There's *no way* Silco and Vander could get along with what they've shown to us. If the only difference of AU is that Vi died in the explosion, it then doesn't stop the following events from happening. Silco won't halt his shimmer production. Vi being dead and kids being arrested would give Silco a perfect opportunity to give Vander's Undercity a fatal blow and sieze power over the lanes. Yet in this episode we see him somehow "finding a power to forgive", althought Vander and Silco rivalery fundamentally wasn't about betrayal, it was about drastically opposite views on achieving the same goal and opposite life phylosophies. It's also implied that Silco found the letter Vander wrote to him, and thus they kinda came in terms. However I also find it ridiculous, since if Silco actually found a letter like that it would in fact made him even more pissed off at Vander and how weak he is. Speaking on hallucinations - Silco appears only ones at that cell scene with Jinx. And honestly his hallucination just becomes a talking-puppet of writers. Remember how Silco was the person who always kept saying Jinx something along "Be what they fear Jinx", be strong Jinx, struggles make us stronger yadda yadda? His voice in her head must be the one that would push her forward and deeper in her sufferings, since it's essentialy what he embodies: strenght and endurance. However instead writers put something that's completely out of what Silco's hallucination would say to Jinx, where he mentions something about his prisoners, breaking the cycle and other nonsense that has no relation to him whatsoever. They just needed to get Jinx to the point where she goes to burn down The Last Drop and used Silco's memory for that cause, thus kinda ruined him in a sense too. That's if in short. However Silco and Vander issues aren't as severe as those of the other characters, Jinx, Vi, Cate and basically all of the main cast suffered the most
that part about "i don't fucking care" doesn't make sense, there was nothing for Vi to do, she must have spent an hour or more in prison, she wouldn't have any chance of finding jinx but the fact that she had sex in prison is still completely horrifying as that was one of her biggest traumas
It does make sense, i feel like she would have atleast tried to go looking for her. Even if she couldnt, they should have scrapped the whole jail sex scene and replaced it with some sort of intimate conversation between the two. Similar to the scene where they talk to each other while lying on a bed in season 1. Would have been more impactful imo and more appropriate for everything going on
Vi was such a heartbreaking character, no matter how hard she fought, how much she cared and tried to do the right thing, everything fell apart under her hands, her family, her city, her world, all torn to shreds, forced to be both a mother and a sister to her younger sibling, such hardships deeply resonated with many, she and Powder were such great examples of unreliable narrators and how the years and trauma warp your memory (She DOES NOT remember Powder well, the guilt and everything else twisted certain events to make Powder more than she actually was and that was SUCH great writing, human memory is NOT PERFECT) she tried to help Zaun by every mean she knew but the writers just made her a gang member from a very vulnerable upbringing beaten to a pulp by cop violence that, once she grew up, went and turned into a cop herself that made sure to maintain the status Quo she once suffered under??? it's SUCH WASTED POTENTIAL!!! She and Jinx could've had reconciled, get Jinx proper medical treatment for her psychosis/Schizophrenia (This are not interchangeable illnesses, Is just that we're never been given a proper diagnosis) VANDER. WAS. GONE. and all she had left was her little sister and SHE JUST GOES AFTER VANDER ANYWAYS??? THEY GAVE US HOPE THEY COULD WORK THINGS OUT AND IT WAS ALL ACTUALLY FOR NOTHING??? (Don't make me talk abt the very glaring message that 'Oh, you are mentally ill and suicidal? I'm *(Not)* sorry, Darling u must die and leave the mentally sane people in your life alone, How dare you think you deserve to live?) ISTG AHHHHHH!!! You can't also go 'I support women's rights and wrongs yay Yuri!' JINX WAS IN THAT CELL SELF-HARMING WHILE DEVASTATED BY ISHA'S DEATH AND HALLUCINATING SILCO'S GHOST!!! THE WHIPLASH FROM THE SEX SCENE WAS AWKWARD AS FUCK!!!
@@rainchld yeah, it was such an unexpected move from a big company to let everything end so open, really true dedication to art and to freedom of imagination
Amazing video! The only thing i disagree with is that it's bad or uncharacteristic of vi to accept jinx as jinx, and not powder. I feel like thats the one thing they did well with vi this season. Jix just doesnt identify as powder anymore, no matter what anyone says or does, so vi getting close to jinx again through act 2 of season 2 after accepting her as jinx makes sense and is a positive change from her (vi's) season 1 self! (imo ofc)
Glad you enjoyed the video. To clarify, the central criticism regarding Vi accepting Jinx as Jinx pertains solely to Season 2 Act 1-specifically, her sudden willingness to kill her without the proper development to justify that shift. What happens later (in Act 2 and 3), when Vi reunites with Jinx and accepts her for who she is, isn’t the issue being criticized here. The problem is the extreme disconnect between the Vi we saw in Season 1 Episode 9 and the Vi in Season 2 Episode 3, who has somehow come to hate Jinx enough to be ready to kill her. I just don’t buy that she would have already given up on Powder so definitively at that point in the story.
@@rainchldi think Vi never actually was on board fully with killing Jinx. she was in the middle, because everyone was telling her how much damage Jinx was doing to their lives, but being in the middle isnt an actionable stance. Vi is about taking action - doing what she believes needs to be done - so her being constantly pulled to either side of the argument is something i actually think this season did a great job of portraying, while having the basis of understanding that Vi CANNOT sit by idly and agonize over what action to take.
From what I could see in the interviews and some reddit posts, they are willing to continue with the story of these characters, perhaps in this video we have errors or it is a totally accurate criticism about this character, the current writers are still willing to receive . corrections, the question is if what happened with Vi in particular can be repaired in a future saga, I mean, they are the first to know that they screwed up in some chapters, that is my question, is there anything left in the future for this character ? It's my favorite even though it almost took a backseat this season.
I largely agree with what you’re saying. I’m honestly very unsure if Vi will ever receive anywhere near as much attention as she did in Season 1. The only character from the Piltover chapter I can see returning with any substantial prominence is Jinx, as she’s easily Riot’s best marketing tool to generate hype for their future TV projects. Sadly, I expect Vi’s character arc to essentially end with this show-which, like so many others whose arcs were severely neglected in Season 2, could have easily been fleshed out and explored over multiple seasons to fully realize the storytelling potential the writers had to work with.
@@rainchldI think this all depends how they try to continue the general saga. They did not yet confirm that characters from arcane will return in later projects, but they didn’t deny it either. By the way they introduced the black rose, but didn’t really do anything with it, I can only assume that would be their trail to follow along for the other regions like noxus and Ionia, where I wouldn’t really see vi in or jinx. I think that would make to much of a mess in the story, when they even failed concentrating on their characters or possible plots in Arcane. We do know lore wise that jinx is to be found somewhere else than in piltover during her lifetime, but I don’t know how they would build this in without losing a lot of characters that the runeterra fans would like to see.
There's no way they're going to repair anything after this season, it's a disaster. Characters stories are already ruined beyond repair, and Arcane seems to be set to get too far gone on the corporate greed road, since it looks like Riot seriously want to expand into media field and have their own MCU-esque franchise
I say the real Vi disappeared around the time Vander is on his way to become Warwick. Season 1 Act 2 speedrun her "character development" to LOL Vi because its "part of the game". Said people disregarded LOL old lore unless it's the parts they like because they made Arcane canon. Season 1 has some roots of the bad writing we know on Season 2, it just needs a magnifying glass of analysis. Vi is switching between "Jinx is my sister" to "She is not my sister anymore" (This is Powder's dialogue, but I just want to add this to prove my point.) way before Season 2 and people need to see that. Thanks for this video. Also, with this video, it shows more about the idea that Vi's trauma is just used as a plot device whenever they need it. It was much important on Season 1 Act 1. Jinx said it herself, she didn't thought her sister will be an enforcer because they both share that trauma where she used it to be useful for Silco (her skills) while Vi uses it to punch people related to that trauma. Vi's trauma wasn't just the bridge, she's also a kid prisoner and it is hard to remember at times where you have scenes that makes her look like she forget her own trauma. There's an interesting dialogue from Caitlyn on Season 2 where she said Vi thinks the atlas gauntlets will solve all her problems. Before being imprisoned, she hurt Powder out of grief which means she didn't mean to and she mentions she regrets it on Season 1. Jinx thought her sister willingly left her.
One of the of the scenes that make my rage is the s3x scene, there is nothing wrong with the action but WHY DID THEY DO IT IN JINX'S CELL??? I think that is really bad writing, Vi was giving up to her sister who was literaly about kill1ng herself and Caitlyn was just like "oH wE aRe aloNe leTs Fu** 😍🥵" like ????
Vi’s character had so much potential and so much to work with in season 2, and it was going fine until around Act 2. They could’ve don’t way more with her and Jinx as sisters but they didn’t. AND especially since Vi is literally a main character, they did my goat so dirty... 🙂↕️
i guess all the things they did right in s1 were just a coincidence because season 2 was a HOT mess, and fortiche's art direction and storytelling saved their asses big time
honestly the reminder that the moment the writers decided to have the caitvi sex scene was the very moment jinx was planning on fucking killing herself... they really made vi not give a shit. nah 😭
I appreciate the work that went into this, it's edited really well. However, I think Vi's core motivations stayed the same, but it got much more complicated in season 2. Caitlyn enters the dynamic and Jinx's destructive scale increases. She wants to save Jinx, she just couldn't follow Jinx down the road she chose. Vi is driven by protecting the people she cares about above all. Before she developed a relationship with Caitlyn, Powder was the main person she cared about. Even in season 1's finale, she couldn't bring herself to condemn Jinx for her crimes. But she also couldn't give up Caitlyn. Caitlyn entering Vi's life split her priorities. Previously it was save Powder, but then it turned to protect Caitlyn as well. After Jinx bombs the councilors, Vi was still unwilling to join the enforcers, despite accepting that "Powder is gone". She feels Caitlyn's pain, and its reinforced after the memorial attack. Caitlyn is determined to get Jinx, and she decides to do it with her rather than risk Jinx finishing the job and eliminating Caitlyn, as well as causing more destruction and death. Because of her guilt in Jinx's trauma, she feels responsible for her actions to some degree, and is forced into a corner. Even after all that, she still can't bring herself to kill Jinx when she's face to face. She still cares for her sister despite all the pain she has caused to herself, Caitlyn, and many others. It's clear Vi couldn't bring herself to kill Jinx, although Caitlyn obviously could. Isha's human shield only reinforced her unwillingness to end Jinx, perhaps because she saw some hope in that moment. Vi's loyalty never changes, but she is forced into situations where she can act or stand by and let others act on her behalf. This even happens in season 1. Caitlyn investigates Zaun, she chases Sevika after losing Caitlyn. The council meeting fails, she goes to Jayce instead of accepting their verdict. She is a character of action. The Task Force allows her to finish rooting out bad actors in Zaun while also tracking down Jinx. Yes, she wears the badge and it ends up meaning nothing because she can't give up on Jinx and betrays her prior beliefs. What season 2 did built upon season 1's themes, but added complexity to them as well. Split loyalties, diverging goals and priorities, and a heavy focus on plot without the time to flesh it out made the season too fast-paced. If they had added anywhere between 30-60 minutes more runtime, it would have done wonders for character arcs and plot development. But all things considered, I think they did a great job building on what they set up. I do wish we got more of Vi and several other characters during certain points(Caitlyn's commander arc, Pitfighter Vi, Ekko/Jinx), but for whatever reason, they were limited on time and we got what we got. In a perfect future they will release a "director's cut" with the original finale length included, but that chance is near zero.
For me the biggest problem with Vi in season 2 is that she turned absolutely passive, even though she was one of the most proactive characters in season 1. Every episode was packed with her making her own decisions, they literally had to put her in jail to stop her from actively moving the plot. In season 2 the only active decision I can think about is when she freed Jinx from prison. Everything else was just her going with the flow. And that could work if she became like that for some time after Cait dumped her, but to make it her new default is kinda disappointing.
16:01 there is this thing where sometimes when you start hating someone, you suddenly see their good sides that you could never achieve as disgusting. It is still jarring and out of character, though, I admit, but just wanted to point out that sometimes people change their mind or sometimes realise they were people-pleasing too much. If I were to be the devil's advocate, I would say Vi could have been telling her sister her gadgets are okay because she knew she was good at that, not because she actually liked it. But idk, the whole s2 was weird to me lmao we had some weird cult going on that Vi and Jinx were ok with soooo
I really like Arcane, and I did like season 2 a good amount. Though after 2 months, the rose tinted glasses are coming off a little. I still overall really liked season 2 but there were definitely some glaring errors. Even when watching the first time around, the sex scene felt fucking insane for me to watch. Your sister just locked you in the cell and essentially told you she's gonna kill herself and the only thing you think to do is have sex and not care? Like wtf? That rubbed me the wrong way even on the first initial watch. I don't completely mind the development of Vi being ok with killing her sister at the beginning just cuz I always saw that coming as a old league fan, but after the events of episode 5 and 6 where they did become sisters again, some haste should have been involved in ep 8 when Jinx was going to off herself. I do also wish there was more of the intricate political tension between zaun and piltover that we sorta miss out on in season 2 to favor Viktor and his glorious evolution. I did like seeing that, but I guess I wish there was more time to still explore that world ending event along with the intricate stuff that we kinda lose this season. I still love arcane, and while I liked season 1 more, I by no means think season 2 was bad, I really enjoyed it. I think some episodes like 7 were such amazing standouts to me personally, and I think as someone that absolutely adores this show, its good that I can at least see its many flaws but still come out absolutely loving the series as a whole. If I could be a part of the production and turn back time, I'd get rid of the sex scene for starters, try to somehow incorporate more of the Piltover vs Zaun politics, give some better characterization to Vi, and not have Jinx end up "dead" and away and apart from everyone that loves her. I think Jinx deserved to be with the ones she loves instead of now being all alone and presumed dead, its kinda fucked up especially since Jinx was by far and away my favorite character and favorite anything from this show. I'm unsure if the writing teams were changed between season 1 and 2, but you can definitely feel it. Also the black rose stuff could just be cut out entirely to make space for all this extra stuff I mentioned, that really wasn't a good use of time.
I don't particularly hate s2, but s1 will always be my favorite. I think season 2 would've been much better had they just taken the steps and fleshed everyone out a little further. Everything felt squished together, not trying to say there wasn't intention with the little things of this show, but still. For someone like Vi, I would've liked to have seen her go from someone who is used to being the big sister and "protector" of everyone she loves transition into letting herself be loved and protected for a change versus shoving her from one to the other. One example that rubbed me a little the wrong way was when Caitlyn and Vi reunite in episode 5. Caitlyn dropped on her out of nowhere, put her on her ass, and Vi only responded with a snarky comment. Before this, Vi was at her lowest state possibly ever- unhealthily drunk all the time, illegally fighting for money and all the while she was hallucinating Caitlyn. Specifically Caitlyn from s1, before her "turn for the worse." Maybe I'm reaching here, but it just feels like all of the writing showing what horrible conditions she was in after Cait abandoned her was just thrown out of the window. When they met again, it was like their fight didn't mean much despite both still being on opposite sides as far as Jinx goes, as shown when Caitlyn is shocked to see Jinx apart of the plan and Vi leaving that detail out so that Caitlyn would cooperate. Again, I could be wrong, maybe Vi wasn't surprised to see Caitlyn when following Singed because she'd already accepted the Caitlyn she had started to love was changed, and now treats her like a different person. I just feel like there already was so much going on in Arcane with different motives driving the plot forward that it shouldn't have been forced into only 9 episodes. Though, I'm no expert, this is just what I thought.
I feel as though the focus of Piltover vs Zaun was also lost in the second season. It was still there, but it wasn't as prevalent of an issue and it wasn't as important. That dynamic was incredibly vital to the show as it paralleled the two siblings and it paralleled EVERYTHING. The focus going away from the two sisters despite that being the main driving plot was so incredibly upsetting to see. I wish they maintained the aspect of two sisters reuniting and fixing their relationship instead of delving into the romantic aspect of it and focussing so heavily on it. I enjoyed CaitVi and I do enjoy the other characters shown, but when such emphasis is placed on the two sisters at the start of the show, you cannot divert the attention this severely to something entirely different. The fact Ekko and Vi don't interact at ALL in season two is greatly upsetting to me as well. They were the last people they had in their childhood. You cannot tell me that when Ekko is mourning, he's left by himself and forgotten. Why isn't Vi there to mourn as well? Why isn't Vi there to comfort him? I appreciate the fact that Vi has to be selfish. But there is a difference here between Vi's character being of a protective nature. She can be selfish and choose herself, but she would not have forgotten Ekko that quickly. Another thing - the sesbian lex. The fact it happens in a jail cell, where they easily could've highlighted the damage that Vi had suffered in the 7 years of being wrongfully imprisoned, is just greatly disturbing to me. I wish they had shown her trauma a bit more similar to how they portrayed Jinx's in S1. Maybe not to such an extreme as Jinx likely has psychosis and other issues, but there has to be SOME sort of reaction to this. I don't think her first instinct would be to get freaky with her new girlfriend. That wasn't an erotic moment, nor was it lustful, it should've been a moment of comfort. A moment between Cait and Vi of an apology. Not a battle of who's the most predictable or who's right. There are other thoughts I can almost guarantee that I have, but I have too many that I can't phrase currently. I loved S2, I really did, but there were so many instances of characters acting weird or several missed opportunities (e.g Caitlyn's Dictatorship NEVER gets fully addressed. I wish we saw the extent of them! Let her be a flawed character in that sense! Let me see the grief build up until she becomes something she swore she hated!) that make me think that there was an opportunity to write the show in a far better way. Hopefully I worded this all correctly haha I am VERY passionate about this it seems
100% agreed. S2 felt like it was written for the game, whereas S1 felt like its own story-with only small, more subtle bits of fan service sprinkled in.
while i agree with most of what you are trying to say, you are taking some things too literally, with no nuance or context. In general people always talk about media literacy, but you cant watch the scene where Jayce kills the kid and come out from that thinking Vi gave no fucks that kid died. Did you listen to everything she said to Jayce? Did you see how she looked at him after Jayce left?
I definitely see your point, and that’s where some of the limitations of this specific non-commentary format I was trying out with this video come in. While it isn’t communicated all that clearly, I wasn't trying to argue that Vi didn’t care about the kid. She explicitly names the death of innocent kids as one of her main reasons for wanting to eradicate Silco’s regime as soon as possible. The point I was trying to make (and doing my best with the “show-don’t-tell” approach) is that if Vi was so determined to kill Jinx in that moment-if she truly saw her as the central obstacle to peace between the two cities-I don’t believe a random kid actively jumping in and shoving a gun in her face would suddenly dissolve that determination. If she had fully given up on Jinx and grown to hate her over the course of the time-skip between Seasons 1 and 2, what changes in that moment? Seriously, if Vi is that committed to ridding the world of the chaotic force her sister has become, what’s stopping her from simply pulling the kid off Jinx and either letting Caitlyn finish the job or doing it herself-just as she was about to mere seconds earlier? Also, keep in mind that the kid in Season 1 didn’t even actively expose himself to the battle zone, while Isha made the conscious decision to enter the fight at an incredibly dangerous moment. Are there any other points you disagree with or that you feel need further elaboration on my part?
@@rainchld When Isha was hugging Jinx, she still saw Powder in there, if a kid cares for her she might not be fully gone, not everything is black and white. Everything in season 2 could have been done better but it is what it is
I thought I was the only one who was thinking something was missing from her. I liked Vi in S1 so much period. But whatever they did to her in S2 left her unrecognizable
one of their objectives with season 2 was turning every character upside down, making them the opposite of what they were in season 1. It's a shame Vi didn't get enough attention to justify that change, but it's a change that's present in almost every character.
It’s crazy how they sidelined what we could call the closest, if not the s1 “main character” into a plot device. Vi deserved more screen time and a better arc.
She spends s2 act 2 learning she's not a monster only to give up on going after in act 3 in favor of a sex scene with the woman who hit her and pushing timebomb
To be fair in the "everyone in my life has changed" jinx and vi scene, vi at that moment didnt know the extend to which jinx had changed, right after that scene she is visually distraught when jinx goes full psycho while fighting
God, THANK YOU for this video. All throughout season 2, I KNEW that Vi had become drastically different from who she was in season 1, but I couldn't properly express how other than 'she would not fucking say/do that'. I think what really killed Arcane was when it was no longer an adaptation of LoL, but canon to that world. The writers suddenly had to scramble to turn season 1 Vi into LoL Vi and it just...didn't work. At all. That and the writing team for season 2 was supposedly heavily reduced from season 1's. It's a real shame, because Vi was one of the best written female characters I had seen in a long time. To so her reduced into a footnote in her own story is so...sad.
Vi and Jinx's relationship was CENTRAL to the plot of S1. They didn't give them the attention and closure they deserved in S2
@@blumelodiez quoting one of the producer’s tweets “they [Jinx and Vi] didn’t have anything to talk about”
damn, new writers made this show dirty.
@@alatheamorse7275that's honestly pure bs
@antololo2579 did research on this, there weren't any "new" writers per say. The two producers for the first season became writers when they fired everyone but one original writer. The story boarding must've been insane.
Apparently the writers had found Vi boring which is why they didn't do much with her in S2. That is just absurd to me. Vi was easily one of the most interesting characters in S1. Then she got sidelined and turned into an accessory for Caitlyn. It sucks how one of the best written main female character I've seen in recent times gets shafted and reduced to a shell because she's "boring"
I’ve heard the same.
Imagine being hired to write the continuation and conclusion to one of the most successful TV show debuts in recent memory, with hundreds of millions of dollars behind it and a huge team of passionate creators working to deliver their best. Then you take one of your central protagonists, whose character, relationships, and history were so carefully crafted, and decide to toss her aside because you personally find her boring.
What the hell.
@ Abandoning things because someone personally found it boring is one of my biggest pet peeves in shows.
@@rainchld so my feelings were right she's boring but the fighting was good btw in S1 after act 3 .
@@rainchld so my feelings were right she's boring but the fighting was good btw in S1 after act 3 .
Who said she was boring? One of the writers?
S2 Vi: “Everyone in my life changed”
Ekko: 🤨
Guess she forgot about him.
Wouldn’t be surprising, considering how the writers completely disregarded their dynamic in S2. Vi didn’t even spare a thought for Ekko-despite the last time she saw him being when he was fighting Jinx on the bridge, with no way of knowing if he even survived-until they briefly acknowledge each other’s existence in the final episode.
It’s so fucking bad.
Ekko literally did change though what ???
@finixmoon127 He did, but not in a negative way. That line from Vi is meant to communicate that everyone in her old life has either turned their back on her or changed into someone she no longer recognizes. But Ekko’s transformation was a highly positive one, something Vi discovers (and acknowledges) in Season 1 when he shows her around the Firelight sanctuary. They part on the bridge with Ekko staying to fight back Jinx. There’s not a single hint that Vi feels anything but admiration and approval for how he’s changed.
That’s why this line falls flat. It either suggests Vi completely forgot about Ekko-which, given how the writers butchered their dynamic in S2, almost seems like the most accurate interpretation, despite its blatant absurd-or that she disapproves of who he became, which is simply not the case.
@@rainchld specifically considering ekko I don’t think she’s saying his development is an inherently “bad” thing. The line is more so meant to encapsulate one of Vis fatal flaws and that’s being unable to let go of the past. I think seeing how much ekko and everyone else has (and has been forced) to grow up given their circumstances greatly affects her. She just got released from prison and has to face the fact that everybody moved on without her. She missed everything. She wasn’t there to protect those who needed protecting (ekko, jinx etc). She has to navigate all this new information and the new versions of her family practically by herself in only a few months and I think in that moment, searching for her murderous sister it all caught up to her. Yes everybody in her life has changed, and yes that’s difficult for her.
He did tho. The Ekko she knew was Little Man.
We were watching S2 together with my siblings, and when we got to the part when Jinx locks Vi up in a cell with a clear intention of ending her own life, my sister said 'if any of you pulled that shit on me, I'd be way too busy chewing my way through these bars to even consider hooking up with my gf'. Which in my opinion sums up pretty well how believable and in-character Vi's whole relationship with Cait was in this season 😅
Fair, though I could only assume you and your siblings have never had to deal with not knowing the person that the other is. Or… battle with the fact that they’re a murderer… and a terrorist… and are contempt being that person and don’t want to be your “sibling” or attempted to kill you… or literally killed your significant others mother or make a choice between the two. Or fall into deep depression over the entire situation only to be given a sliver of hope that things could be normal or “better” again only for said sibling to leave AGAIN. But I mean apart from those very minor details yeah makes sense.
@WindowLife. What does that have to do with them starting to fuck in a cell out of nowhere when Jinx said that comment and not forgetting that she was cutting herself and probably shitting in that cell 😀
@@AraneaTempestatum It has to do with the fact that VI dedicated half the series to choosing jinx literally driving herself into depression, deciding to finally give up. Jinx's comment is irrelevant entirely.
@@WindowLife. I wouldn't have a problem with Vi giving up on Jinx. I do, however, have a major problem with Vi happily fucking Cait immediately after Jinx left with a clear intention of offing herself, in a cell where she locked her up. Not to mention that what led to this scene was Vi coming to free Jinx with the keys that she stole, and it was clear from her approach that she was pretty far from having given up on her. Like, it just doesn't make sense.
@@WindowLife.that doesn't make sense considering even Vi left that aside because JINX is her sister "and nothing is ever going to change that"
I love how she and Ekko couldn't even share a word of dialogue in the entirety of season 2. For someone who cares so much about the past and her lost family, it's fascinating how the writers completely forgot that Ekko was the last tie to her previous life aside from Jinx.
It made me so sad to see what they did with her in season two. I love caitvi but it seriously felt like in season two they wrote vi for cait yk? Like she wasn’t her own character anymore. She was probably one of the best written female characters i have ever seen in s1 so them throwing it all away in season two made me so mad. She had so much potential and the writers just threw it all away.
She is Caitlyn’s deputy. She has no place in Zaun at this point. What's wrong with her making a life with her hot cupcake. She cant shoot. She's limited to punching. Im not sure what she could convincingly do other than either side with Jinx or get that sweet soulmate romance.
I loved CaitVi in season 1 but they ruined the ship in season 2, I want a hex scene between them but when it actually happened I didn't enjoy it because HELLO Jinx just ran away to off herself and there's a war coming, that's not the right moment plus they didn't even have time for Caitlyn to make amends and for them to heal before that. I ended up enjoying the ship which didn't have a hex scene and was only canon in another universe better.
Also they could've shown Vi being way more concerned about Cait gassing Zaun, season 1 Vi wouldn't have waited for a child to be involved to say something.
@@zeroshepard9513bruh not everything is about romance
fr. I remember little 2021 me seeing a well written badass women, strong and fragile and since then my life changed and she became a my favorite character. Ngl, I am a bit disappointed, but i know they had very little time to develop the series so... i enjoyed it anyway
@ahogapeces Umm. Caitlyn and Vi is about their relationship.
As someone whose top favorite Arcane character is Vi, I'm going to make my will.
Vi is someone who represents justice, fighting, struggle and strength. Since she was little, she has always had a noble heart and has never hesitated to remain loyal to her loved ones, to protect them even when she had to fight head on, and just as someone once said, Vi is not strong in those fights because she is not afraid. , it is precisely her fear that makes her someone strong, because she does not run away from problems, she faces them. Vi in the first season was the star of the show, unlike her sister, who was someone explosive and too tormented by her past, Vi was someone more sensible. Yes, she also had a shitty and traumatic life, but what sets her apart from Jinx is that she didn't get sucked into the darkness and stayed loyal to her principles.
We can see this in her relationship with Caitlyn in the first season (a tremendous mess they made in the second, they were PERFECT) in the first. You can see that Vi is skeptical of trusting Catlyn for being someone from Pitlover, which shows her as someone who is distrustful and perhaps stubborn, but she is not someone who is spiteful, because when she sees that Caitlyn really shows empathy for her and the people of Zaun, is when she starts to trust her.
Vi is someone who is a clear embodiment of love, and that love is what makes her strong. Her love for her sister Jinx is what kept her alive those years in prison to meet her again, and even when she practically murdered her entire family, she was willing to talk things out and forgive. Her love for her people is what led her to be a fighter but also a big sister. Her love for Vander is what led her to go to his rescue, even though she knew it was a risky mission. Her love for Caitlyn is what led her to be empathetic, and support the idea of a peace agreement between Pitlover and Zaun as herself a representative of Zaun.
Vi's true love isn't Caitlyn, it's Jinx. It is her love for her sister that made her strong in all those years, what made her learn what it is to be a good leader, someone who protects and takes responsibility for her actions.
And what happened in the second season?
They practically took away that sense of leadership and love from Vi. She doesn't hesitate to go against her sister just to be on Caitlyn's side, those are NOT Vi's ideals. What makes her special is that she is loyal, she is strong, she can listen and empathize but she is definitely someone loyal to her ideals. However, in s2 she chose to be an enforcer, knowing that those same people murdered her parents in her face and that of her sister, the same point that Jinx reproaches her for. When Caitlyn makes degrading comments towards her own people, she doesn't correct her and is a defender like before, she simply agrees with her. That is NOT Vi. If Vi always wanted something that made her argue with Vander, it is the love she has for people. Vi loves Zaun, she loves the people there, and she always wanted them to fight against those above. However, she does not hesitate to betray those principles, don the medal, and torment and terrorize THOSE VERY PEOPLE she swore to loyally protect with the "Green."
Now, can we talk about the character devastation that was Vi in act 2 s2? If Vi learned anything from Vander, it is to take responsibility for the situation, to be a leader, someone who ACT. However, when Caitlyn leaves her and becomes practically the dictator, when I watched the series, I thought that in act 2 Vi would transform into some kind of fighter with Zaun, an ally, of course, after a whole episode of her trying to make them trust her again. But what happens? Vi sinks into alcoholism, fights, and grieves for Caitlyn. She doesn’t even care for Jinx.
Why the hell would Vi be the first character to flee the situation, if the whole point of season 1 is for Vi to learn that running away without staying to fight wasn't the right thing to do? Why the hell did Vi never care about how they were hurting the people of Zaun? Why the hell did she never meet up with Sevika or anyone from there? Did she really ONLY care about Caitlyn?
Even her attitude is disastrous, she is no longer that girl with a strong but soft personality, she is directly rude because of her resentment. She is stubborn and doesn't see other points of view, like when she stupidly spent her time fighting with Jinx in that cave scene. Yes, I understand that the scene was intended to be comedic, but Vi is not the "big dummy sister", she is the level-headed one, the one who would surely take control of the situation and protect.
And regarding her attitude when Vander is "revived", again, it's totally opposite of season 1. Look, the scenes with her and Vander are very emotionally cute, because Vi finally has Vander and her sister back, but I DON’T think she is totally blind in believing that Vander can come back. A great scene from season 1 is in her second fight against Sevika, when she is almost unconscious on the ground and imagines that Vander starts talking to her like he normally did. Vi is not someone tormented by her past like Jinx, because unlike her, she takes that past and makes it her strength. She's ALREADY over Vander's death, and instead of grieving, she takes that love for Vander and keeps her fighting.
So are you going to tell me that in act 3, Vi would be the one who kneels to regret it? That is NOT Vi. She's ALREADY over it, she knows Vander is NOT coming back.
Oh, and her relationship with the other characters... they don't exist. Or well, they do exist, but not in the same way as before. Jinx was her priority, and in season 2 she seems more like her LOL counterpart, because she does nothing but insult her and treat her poorly. I can understand if this had been in season 1, she pretty much killed their brothers, their father and others from Zaun (I'm a loyal defender of Vi’s actions and reactions in episode 3), but Pitlover people? Really? She couldn't care less about Pitlover, especially when at the season 1 conference they denigrated her for being from Zaun and her, still trying to reason with them, in conclusion she simply said "that's the way it is". If Pitlover people die, she doesn't care.
In some ways she is just like Sevika, loyal to her nation. Only unlike Sevika is willing to go against her principles to fight, Vi is willing to uphold those principles and fight.
Then Ekko. Oh, Ekko. Aren't they supposed to be childhood friends? Why couldn't Vi care less where Ekko was? Isn't he supposed to be like a brother to her? When she met him again in season 1 she even hugged him, letting her guard down, symbolizing the connection between them. Even when she went to find Jinx in chapter 7, she trusted Ekko so much that she entrusted Caitlyn to protect her. But in season 2, she never mentions it, not even to Jinx. Not even a question like: "How about Zaun? How about our people? How is Ekko?"
And Caitlyn... Look, I loved their relationship in season 1, it was a beautiful couple narratively, because they really brought the best to each other, Caitlyn made Vi forgive Pitlover and Vi made Caitlyn defend Zaun. They had chemistry because they had different ideals, different ideas about good and bad, but what united them was love. That same love that made them empathetic with each other's situation. But in season 2... sigh. Vi is practically Caitlyn's lapdog, she does everything she asks without question, she defends her despite making VERY bad decisions, and she doesn't hesitate to do her dirty work for a revenge that doesn't even involve her.
Or well, no! In act 2 she DOES treat her badly, but it quickly has no validation when it’s seen that she still flirts with her, as if that betrayal from ep3 s2 had no value, as if nothing was happening and it was simply a "hot-enemies-to-lovers arc butch and femme lesbians". Did you want to make a spiteful Vi? Make her reject Caitlyn.
Vi’s so much more than season 2, and I’m sick of people treating her SO bad.
love this comment, read the whole thing and i share the absolute rage
This was a really cathartic read. Thanks.
@@rainchld Thanks! I honestly needed to get that out of my system since I saw a lot of people defend this bad writting with arguments like “Oh she has abandoment issues” or “She’s just in her wlw trauma phase”. And um… no?? You can make Vi vulnerable but not supid, she’s NOT stupid. Honestly the only thing I liked about her in season 2 was her sick outfits, cause let’s be honest, they ate hard. But above that, nothing much.
I need more people adressing S2’s problems, because I’m seeing TOO many people claim this was better than S1, and I need to disagree. Yeah, Jinx’s a cool and almost perfect character, and I won’t lie to say that I really liked her as a character in S2. But that’s the problem. Because the writers were SO focused on her, they almost ruined every other character for my taste.
I’m not a huge fan of Caitlyn tbh, she was cool and all in S1, and was definitely on my top 5, but S2 was… weird. She doesn’t have a solid personality, and I know that the main focus of Arcane is character exploration, but she sorta feels like the prototype of an “antagonist who was first good then turn bad but secretly doesn’t want to be bad”. Yeah, a cool concept, but fails on the Sasha Waybright or Cassandra problem: because of the short time, you don’t have much time to understand her redemption arc.
Tbh I don’t really cared at all about Isha, Sevika and Mel. Their arcs were so boring.
Surprisingly, I really liked Jayce’s and Viktor’s focus. Easily the most interesting arc of S2, and the one who had the best ending.
And here’s my problematic take… I don’t think Timebomb should’ve exist. It completely ruined Ekko’s character. This is the problem when you introduce a shipp to the fandom: By making a character being the one most “fallen in love”, you make that their only trait. Ekko was easily my second favorite character of Arcane in S1, he was so cool and just a perfect side character, I REALLY wanted to see more of him. I even was hyped when I saw his interactions with Heirmendinger and Jayce, cause I thought they were gonna be an cool duo. But… yeah, episode 7 happens.
Look, don’t get me wrong, I really like Timebomb. I repost art, repost Tiktok’s edits, and fantasize about what could’ve been of them. But that’s the magic of shipping: it HAS to be non-canon, because making it semi-official it’s risky. The reason Caitvi worked so well in S1 was that they were totally independent characters with their own personalities, convictions, backstories and arcs. Timebomb in S1 wasn’t really that popular, I saw myself that I was a sucker for them, especially in that fight scene where the tension is just cheff kiss. But… meh, S2 just doesn’t have the same hype and passion. I would’ve prefer them as friends, or maybe making it hinted.
Love people who can criticise their favourite characters and media
@@nelululuculu you just summarized all my rage with 2 comments. THANK YOU!!
It just felt like the writers rushed trying to turn S1 Vi into LOL Vi
I think.. that was what they did
Thing is I dont know WHY would they do this cause its clear from how act 3 went that they dont really care about lol continuity
I tried to talk about this so much but arcane and mostly caitivi fans tried to me shut me up by "shhhheee'sss noootttt poowdeeerrr anymoreeee" or "Vi doesn't seeeee her sissster in herrrr anymore" I can't describe how relieved I feel to see somebody talk about it, they completely destroyed Vi character in se2 and it hurts because she was my favorite in se1
I’m glad you resonated so strongly with the video.
And yes, the shipper side of the Arcane community can be incredibly obnoxious. I’ve had my fair share of interactions with them-both in person and across social media-and 90% of the time, it’s been frustrating and unproductive. The more I engage with people who obsess over shipping certain characters, the more it feels like they don’t actually care about the story being told. They just want to see specific relationships, flashy visuals, or cool concepts play out on screen, regardless of whether the script actually earns any of it.
(This isn’t exclusive to the shipping crowd, but this kind of shallower way of consuming media does seem especially prevalent in that camp.)
I have also brought this up a few times and caitvi fans would COMPLETELY shun me and get so offended, and in some cases even block me for saying anything "negative" about Vi's character. I'm so happy more people are talking about this, because I knew I wasn't crazy but it's still nice to know for certain.
A lot of the fandom… you really can’t tell them anything other than what they want to believe about the show. The amount of people who wanted to jump me for pointing out that even though Vi loved her sister to death, she was abusive. And more than likely hit her more than once. The imagine dragons “enemy” music video solidifies that.
Honestly I don't like either Caitvi or timebomb.
Time bomb mostly cause I don't think the main timeline ekko and jinx would work well together plus jinx shows zero interest in anyone besides who she considers family (with a coveat of her caring for sevika even though I don't think she considers sevika family) which goes onto my next point of it'd make more sense for her to at least have a crush on sevika at least a childhood crush.
For caitvi I mostly think that vi's codependency issues with jinx would stunt any growth towards romantic feelings since that would mean taking focus away from protecting/providing for/being there for jinx.
Idk I can kinda see her using caitlynn and channeling the codependency issues onto her if/when she doesn't have access to jinx, like what Jinx did with silco, they'd (silco and caitlynn) be placeholders for the sisters.
Other than that I like all other couples even headcannon jayce and viktor.
@@EmillyCollymore
This show having so much attention of shippers truly became a death sentence to it. They absolutely destroyed it since instead of telling a good story all writers had in their mind was how to please these groups of people 💀
The only explanation i can make out of it (copium) that season 2 Vi is what's left of her, an empty shell of a person, tired of big emotions and conflicts, fully surrendered, not knowing where to place herself. Just tailing along to people she's used to, following their ideas, stopped having her own because they led her to nothing but pain and loss. Like, apathy?
I don't know 😢 i felt so empty and disappointed trough the whole second season...
Your comment hits hard. Vi didn't feel like a well written character she felt like- well, me at my worst stages of life. She is just bouncing emotionally from one person to another, getting punched, drinking excessively... and it doesn't really lead anywhere. She is still a terrified girl inside, missing her sister, wanting just one person to stay. And when Cait does, it doesn't even feel satisfying. Not after she hit her, left her alone when she was having a breakdown. Gosh, she deserved better. And even though I'm a lesbian, I despised the sex scene. Just made me feel more empty, tbh.
ABSOLUTELY!! I feel like what irks me about it it's that it's framed like a good/happy ending?? Idk 😅
Yeah, i felt my skin crawling tbh 😢
@@stanleegoethe2517it’s framed as a bittersweet ending
@@brbdbrbtbtn Geeez that's accurate
Also not les, but good lands that scene made me so uncomfortable. She's doing that in the same place her sister was literally just expressing her desire to "end the cycle of abuse" after _rotting_ there for several days. It felt so jarring and fetishy, gotta get the softcore #ex scene in to give the shippers something to jerk to and/or write fanfic about, doesn't matter where it is just slap it in!!1!1 My sister being so depressed she wants to break the cycle of abuse really gsts me going!11!! Haha! T/tties!
Just so gross
honestly i cant thank you enough for this video , I loved vi in s1 so much , now somehow everything I loved about her disappears for no reason . would love a reminder of this torture
Thank you for this video, I thought I was the only one who thought Vi as a character felt so empty in season 2 and so different.
Glad to hear the video resonated with you.
Unfortunately, most people are still blind to the steep drop in writing quality from S1 to S2. It seems like the tide is starting to turn, but I think it’ll take more time for most to fully acknowledge just how hard the ball was dropped on the potential S1 set up.
Watch the Art at Midnight video on how season 2 ruined both Vi and Jinx’s character
I was absolutely disgusted with Vi this season...Im an older sister to depressed with psychotic features little sister , I cant imagine letting my new gf kill her so eaily even if she was a terrorist( and even this is complicated cause Jinx didnt even kill all of the government or hurt innocent people around the council) also having s*x with your gf just after your sister tells you thats she is about to unalive herself... in the same cell she just ahd a mental breakdown ?? Is this the kinda stuff that turns you on?? Your little sisters suffering? It all felt so sick to me also Vi herself rotted YEARS in these same kind of cells... and the whole scene was literally ripped off from lol fanart , they really dropped the ball with this one, I never saw Vi truly choosing Caitlyn over Jinx....Jinx is the only family she has left while Caitlyn is just a girlfriend she met recently ...they werent even together to be fair :D
@MialikesthingsI watched her video and I agree. Jinx is better written in season 2 and I will say the favorite of the writers but I’m neutral on Jinx arc. Jinx should have been the main antagonist in season 2 as well as Caitlyn. When Jinx bombed up the council in season 2 and sat on the Jinx chair I thought there was no coming back. Just for a few episodes in season 2, Jinx says jinx is dead. Way too quick.
@@HK-gm8peHow Jinx being a terrorist is complicated?????
She KILLED people, she didn't kill all members of the council so it's fine ????? She killed innocent people, blew up buildings etc. HOW is it difficult to say that Jinx is a terrorist???
An interesting information came out in an interview where the writing team was reduce down to three and two of them weren’t heavily involved with the first season
Possibly one of the greatest fumbles in animated cinematic history. This goes to show just how crucial the creative minds behind these stories are to the final product. Far too many people, probably most, underestimate the importance of a strong script.
Just imagine what Arcane could’ve achieved with 2 or 3 more seasons at the caliber of writing we had in Season 1.
They had everything, and they left it in pieces. Oh, what could have been…
@@rainchld S2 was still amazing so not even close to biggest fumble.
That's truly tragic. Look how they massacred my favorite show...
this and the fact that they had 8 years to work on the first season, it was a love letter to league and it really showed. once riot got ahold of it they immediately shut that love letter down for the sake of creating the in-game champion versions, when arcane shouldn't have been canon in the first place. this season was so rushed and we deserved a possible cliffhanger for a now non-existent third season.
Great video. You've conveyed perfectly everything that's wrong with Vi's writing in S2.
Having her accept the badge should've been a journey of a whole season. Most of the season, at least. Instead it happens off screen in the very first episode.
She was such a great character in S1. She endured no matter what obstacles stood in her way.
And S2 could've been so interesting for her. It could've been about her struggle to find her place in the world. To find out who she is. She's in a position of having a unique perspective on Piltover vs Zaun standoff. She was so ready to fight for Zaun. She's the symbol of the old regime (Vander's daughter). She could've been seen as either a blessing or a curse by the cities. She could've had the inner struggle of coming to terms with her sister now being Jinx. Or rejecting it and trying to reach out to Powder still.
Instead she just passively hops from plot point to plot point. Not just her, to be honest. Most of the characters were butchered.
There was a tweet by someone concerning Vi "I've never seen a main character so overlooked and reduced to irrelevance"
S2, man... What could've been...
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
I think the only characters who come close to Vi in terms of how poorly Season 2 handled them are Mel, Viktor, Jayce, Ekko, Caitlyn… damn, there’s actually quite a few.
Season 2 really dropped the ball…
oh my god you put all my thoughts into words. i couldnt even figure out why i hated vis characterzation so much considering how much i loved her in s1
honestly the caitvi sesbian lex scene just hurt because jinx was gonna kill herself and vi just gave up on her completely for CAIT of all people. caitvi shippers keep saying she ”chose herself” and ”couldnt have known what jinx was about to do” but still she came to the cell to free jinx, and her words were cryptic enough that they should’ve illicited SOME worry from vi. s1 vi would have never given up on jinx for caitlyn, and idc its s2 and she’s moved on from s1, because she clearly shouldnt have. she didnt experience character growth, just negligence.
The sheer magnitude of cope from that crowd of shippers is astounding. They’re outright refusing to acknowledge how inappropriate and out-of-character Vi’s behavior was in that scene.
Imo it's yet another symptom of their fandom pleasing tendencies in S2, more specifically of the "people loved our parallels in S1 so we're gonna add even more in S2, even if we have to force them" flavor. I'm 100% convinced this scene took place in a jailcell just to coax a few "oMG they got back together in same place they met!!! POETRY!!! PARALLELS!!! CINEMA!!!!" posts. Like does it make sense in those circumstances? No, but who cares!
Not only has Jinx all but explicitly stated what she intends to do- making this a time-sensitive situation- they have Vi- an ex-prisoner- initiate intimacy with her cop-turned-dictator gf (who previously unapologetically hit her) in a cell- not unlike the one she spent years of her life being starved and senselessly beaten in by cops. I'm sorry, but this is just icky and I don't buy Vi would react like this in these circumstances for a second. The go-to argument for why she acts this way is "she realized Caitlyn let her sister go and is immensely grateful" but it misses the point horribly. No one is taking issue with Vi feeling grateful. It's that there's a difference between "Vi feels grateful" and "Vi is not only enthusiastic about getting down and dirty in a location that should be traumatic for her, she decides it's actually more important than preventing her sister from offing herself". She literally just leaves with Cait (to defend Piltover from their own mess, of all things) and never even checks on Jinx. Make it make sense.
Tbf Vi had no idea where she would’ve gone to do it once she got out
You're 100% correct. I think that sex scene was the biggest writing error in the whole show. It shouldn't have happened at all. I just imagine that it didn't happen 😭
It would have made sense if Vi was just locked in the cell by Jinx and just stayed there for the rest of the episode. That sex scene was unnecessary and pure fanservice
Whoever liked it is free to like it but to say that it is in character or well written would be false
@@bellablondon6172Perhaps but would that stop her? Vi walks directly into situations without a proper plan constantly, if it is something that matters to her heart
i know this isn't abt jinx but i'm also so mad they kinda forgot abt jinx's psychosis in the second season and it just became whatever was plot convenient it was strange
Exactly.
Season 1’s portrayal of Jinx’s mental illness was fantastic-so stylistic, so deliberate, so essential to her character. Yet in Season 2, it’s practically absent, despite the fact that she should be even more traumatized. She killed another father figure, definitively lost her sister to Caitlyn, and is now completely alone. If anything, S2 Jinx should be even more tormented by her demons than before, with all of her internal guilt and self-doubt being reinforced by Silco’s death.
In S1, she was mostly haunted by Milo and Claggor. In S2, it should have been even more Caitlyn, but also Silco-and even Vi. But they didn’t do anything with it. Instead, they tossed it aside as if it were irrelevant, effectively “curing” her without any compelling justification for why she would suddenly be free from those demons.
YOU GET IT YOU GET IT
Gah there were so many missed opportunities I feel. Hopefully with Noxus they don't repeat the cycle of a brilliant S1 only to drop the ball with s2
I always thought her lack of hallucinations in season two was due to the shimmer that saved her life. And she only got hallucinations (post shimmer) when she was in more intense triggering situations like when she killed Silco, when she found out Isha was captured etc.
It might've been that, but that still feels like a convenient way to just... Get rid of all her mental health issues?? It just seems like a strange way to go about such a topic imo
Or at least they could've made that a tad clearer if that was actually what had happened
they didnt. jinx doesnt have psychosis, she has DID. Jinx was the integration of her alters, i think they more or less acted accurate to how did alters would come about, and we didn’t get a lot of Jinx’s POV in s2. it’s moreso an issue of them trying to shove too much into s2 instead of allowing it to be 3 seasons
I HATED what they did to Vi, just throwing her away like some side kick
I've written this multiple times on multiple channels, and I'm gonna write it again: the show needed three seasons.
The second season should've focused on Vi and Caitlyn hunting Jinx down, with a significant focus on Vi being conflicted between wanting to help Caitlyn and wanting to save Jinx. If the first season focused on Jinx's decision to be either Powder or Jinx, then the second season should've focused on Vi's decision to be either Caitlyn's partner or Jinx's sister. Vi needed to catch up to Jinx and let her go out of guilt. Jinx killed Silco to save Vi and Vi wouldn't want to throw her in prison the same way Marcus did to her. Then Vi needed to gradually grow attached to the enforcers she fights alongside. Then Jinx needed to kill one of those enforcers, Loris maybe. Then and only then would it make sense for Vi to turn on Jinx because Jinx is killing off Vi's friends (again). And Vi would feel guilty about it because she's the one that keeps letting her go. Then the Vi vs Jinx fight would be the climax of the season.
While all this is happening, the longer Jinx evades the enforcers, the more infamous she becomes and inadvertently inspires the undercity to rebel against their aggressive presence in the undercity. Viktor would try to start up his commune in the undercity but he has to contend with the tensions building up around him. And Ekko and the Firelights would also have to contend with those tensions. And while the chembarons are getting walloped by Vi, Caitlyn and the other enforcers, Singed would offer his services to the chembarons and offer them a Shimmered-up wolf to protect their interests, the answer to Piltover's hextech weaponry, the ultimate foil to Vi and Caitlyn's fight against the chembarons and hunt for Jinx. And then at the end of the season, Vander would reveal his identity to Jinx.
Then the third season would focus on Jinx and Vi being forced to work together to find and cure Vander, while Caitlyn's running her dictator arc. While Vi and Jinx struggle to reconcile their newfound relationship, Caitlyn would have to contend with watching her ex-girlfriend conspire with her mother's killer and the Shimmer beast killing off her enforcers.
It's the same story with the same trajectory but with a lot more room for the character arcs and plotlines to breathe
THANK YOU. First season felt like a slow building for something really big, and second one like a rush to give a "final" to something that they cannot afford anymore
I was thinking something almost exactly like this.
solid series you pitched. Would be cool if during season 2 Viktor replaces pieces of himself to become a cyborg like the original lore during tensions building up and his body not keeping up, changing him as a person throughout the rest of the series
Yeah I agree.
I also think having 3 seasons really would've solidified the whole thing they had going on. 9 episodes, 3 acts, 3 episodes per act. It would've worked perfectly thematically to have 3 seasons, acting as 3 different acts, with the first season being context, second being conflict, and the third being the resolve. It would've worked perfectly.
Plus, I think that it would've given the space to show atrocities committed since the whole plot with the grey is completely ignored despite the fact it should've been an incredibly pivotal point in the show.
GOD I LOVE ARCANE AND I HAVE A LOVE-HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE SECOND SEASON. The amount of character assassination makes me MAD.
YES!! Holy shit the sesbian lex scene starts and as a lesbian, I was pissed!! Holy f talk about tonal shift??? You’re not gonna… go after your sister? Complete character assassination. pissing me off.
Yo solo podía pensar en el olor...
Había una persona antes en ese mismo lugar deprimida y sin ducharse 😨
No preferían esperar y hacerlo limpias y oliendo a flores, en un lugar más cómodo?
😂
As a lesbian it pissed me off sooo much like WHYYY are they fucking in the cell that Jinx was JUST rotting in
@@michitttopensé igual, me sacó de onda la escena jajaj aunque sigue siendo mi pareja favorita pero en la celda????? Dios santo
They could’ve atleast done it in Caitlyn’s bed. A jail where sister would harm herself is just odd
god it was 100% just them pandering to the fans. i cannot believe how out of place and pointless that scene was. like EVEN the meljay scene had an ACTUAL POINT given the whole parallels with viktor, showing how jayce is living a "normal" life as his friend suffers, and it gives that much more meaning to the scene where he goes to viktors side right after, and where mel wakes up to find that shes in the center of the bed, entirely alone, without even the shape of the person who left her imprinted into the bed to tell her he was once there. compared to that, KNOWING they can make even sex scenes important to the plot makes it that much more obvious that the prison cell scene was completelt pointless and created solely to make the fans happy. i saw a meme before this season about "how many episodes till sesbian lex on screen !!!" and i was like haha!! what an absurd joke !! surely they wouldnt- and i got shot 84 times jaw genuinely dropped
The creators really don't work so well with Vi in season 2.
100% agreed. They really let her down.
Not just her, they made everyone dirty in this Season. Just look at Jinx, she's such a shallow copy of herself in Season 1. Those two are completely two different characters and not because of character development, but because they ruined what made Jinx well Jinx
Same with Vander, Silco, Mel, Cate and basically everyone else. They only exist to progress plot into the MCU-esque "grand" finale or to manipulate mass viewer into experiencing "WOW" effect with the cheapest lamest tricks to use
the worst of all is the co-creator saying that they didn't develop Vi in season two simply because they didn't want to 💀💀💀
@@Rottenstrawberryywhat?????
@@leiaorgana06 They didn't develop Vi because they said there were more interesting characters than her to be developed
I laughed so hard when i heard Vi say "powder is gone" Since from the trailer i though that Jinx was going to do something completely irredeemable, yet all that Jinx did was kill some assholes from the council and some enforcers and that was enough for Vi to decide to kill her sister...?
She killed Caitlin’s mother
after the end of s1 they literally gave us 5% Jinx and 95% Powder. in S2, that Merysue is as perfect as her parallel universe counterpart
@@sapsx726how the hell was Jinx in season 2 a marysue?(heck even powder in the AU wasn't a marysue)
Plus I think you missed the entire point of Jinx's character in season 2.
There is no "powder" or "Jinx" she is both powder and jinx which is what vi and ekko realised.
So complaining about how she was 95% powder and 5% jinx is completely missing the point of her character in season 2.
Remember, it was the attack on the council specifically that tipped Vi’s scale. Everything prior-killing Ekko’s friends, blowing up enforcers, and (from Vi’s perspective) potentially killing Ekko-wasn’t enough for her to give up on Jinx.
But the moment Jinx kills three members of the government Vi had despised and antagonized her entire life, a government that was indirectly responsible for her parents’ deaths, that couldn’t have cared less about the lives of the Undercity and saw it as more of a threat than a neighbor, Vi instantly abandons all the hope she had held out for Powder up to that point.
@@rainchld And kind of crazy considering how much she also hates Piltover on S1, she even sounds like Silco at times (they both are mad at Vander for making deals with Enforcerers, both are "dirty" little things) 😐and then have her say I'm the dirt under your nails to Cait like.... 😓
This video is seriously impressive. The editing is so creative and artistic, it pulled me in right away and kept me engaged the entire time. I really appreciated how you broke down Vi’s character arc, especially when you pointed out the differences between her portrayal in Season 1 and Season 2. You made some excellent points about how well-written she was in the first season.
That said, I don’t completely agree with the idea that her perspective in Episode 1 was mishandled. When it comes to her relationship with Jinx, it felt to me like Vi had already realized by the end of Season 1 that Jinx wasn’t the same person she used to know. From that angle, her actions in Episode 1 made sense to me.
There are definitely parts of her arc in Season 2 that felt rushed. Her quick decision to join the enforcers right after the memorial attack and the gas incident in Zaun both could’ve been explored more. It’s a shame because the story has so much potential that wasn’t fully tapped into.
Overall, this was an incredible video. You clearly put so much thought and care into it, and it really paid off!
Thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate it.
I definitely think there’s a valid discussion to be had about what it would’ve realistically taken to bring Vi to the point of fully giving up on her sister. I believe the Vi we came to know over the course of Season 1 wouldn’t have changed her mind after the council attack, especially given the (arguably worse) atrocities she’d already witnessed Jinx commit in the episodes prior. That said, I think there’s an angle, specifically tied to Jinx severing herself from Silco and still choosing to go through with the attack, that could justify this shift in perspective under the right circumstances.
Even so, I feel that, given everything Vi had already seen Jinx do and still managed to hold onto hope through, there needed to be additional steps in her journey to fully let go of Powder. It’s hard to imagine that this one final act of violence, directed at the governing force that had oppressed them their entire lives, ordered the enforcers who killed their parents during the initial war, and perpetuated the divide between Piltover and Zaun, would be enough to make Vi give up on her sister so quickly. This also ties directly into her severely underdeveloped decision to put on the enforcer uniform and effectively embody the very thing she once despised more than anything (second only, perhaps, to Silco and Sevika).
@@rainchld it could have been justified by her desire to stop enforcers from invading Zaun, which is a big part of why she joins and goes after Jinx in episode 1, but after episode 3 its Jinx who has the 'revolutionary' arc for Zaun and Vi pretty much stops being an active character after episode 3, so its very weird. I`m having a hard time understanding their thought process when writing Vi`s horrible backstory with enforcers, only to not flesh out anything related to that, which also impacts her romance with Caitlyn. One of the writers said they wrote Vi`s backstory so anti-police just for her relationship with Caitlyn and here`s the quote “Well, we’ve got to make this as hard as possible. If Caitlyn’s an enforcer, what if enforcers killed Vi’s parents?”
That’s an excellent point.
Arguably, the element that would’ve required the most effort from the writers to bridge the story from Season 1 to the lore of League of Legends was Vi’s arc of becoming an enforcer. They could-and should-have spent an entire season developing that gradual transformation, rather than rushing it in the second half of Season 2, Episode 1.
Her backstory was almost entirely neglected, which is baffling given how much potential they had to create a compelling conflict between Cait and Vi, specifically tied to Vi’s lifelong trauma as written in Season 1. Yet 90% of what we got on that topic happened in the first season.
Why set it up at all if they were just going to drop nearly all of it in Season 2?
My heart is in pain for what they have done to Vi
That is just amazing editing. It awoke something in me.
Like I was so lost in my feelings toward this second season and now you just show that all together and I see now
Thanks for the feedback. I’m glad the video had such a strong effect on you.
It’s nice to see people share my frustrations with how Season 2 handled Vi’s character, especially given how well she was written in Season 1. There was so much potential for her to have one of the most compelling arcs in the show, and the writers completely squandered it.
Glad I’m not the only one who was put off by Vi claiming Jinx wasn’t her sister anymore, AND Vi calling her Jinx instead of Powder. It felt so jarring.
It felt so jarring and off putting. It was like she gave up and went through some sort of deja vu brain damage throughout S2 because she keeps calling her Jinx now, even though they're sisters. LIKE, SHE'S STILL YOUR SISTER. Violet should've kept calling her by her real name imo.
Always believing Powder was in there, and all of a sudden she went from "You're not a jinx" to "I'm done pretending you're my sister, 𝚈𝙾𝚄'𝚁𝙴 𝙽𝙾𝚃! You killed her..." and "There's only Jinx now" made me wanna rip my hair out.
@ Vi felt like a side character this season imo..
@@jut_dwaetoucher she really did
thank you for compiling this video. no narration or explanation is even needed; the scenes speak for themselves. i'll always lament how badly they butchered the characters in s2 for the sake of fanservice-vi more than anyone.
neither vi nor jinx resemble their s1 selves. it was dreadful watching what they did to most of the cast in s2
characters change lol they aren’t gonna be exactly the same
@@l3ftoq exactly it's called character development bruh I'm so confused reading through the comment section
Yeah, that's the point of the whole story...
@@Yeneney IKRRR
@@l3ftoq no ones telling them to be exactly the same?? They should atleast resemble their old selves in some way or give them time to change
I kinda wish they make a remake of arcane s2, wich I know it won't happen, but it's sad to me that the show was so praised at the point of being called "almost perfect", and then season two appeared and it all went down. I did enjoy s2 while watching it, but when it finished, I got this feeling of insatisfaction...
i felt the exact same way! after season one i was left mindblown and the show became unforgettable. but this season, damn i finished it and i felt "meh". which is wild for how awesome the first season was.
@@womanonearth7bil41 this IS my exact feeling cannot agree more
dude i just wish they wouldve done more than one season to wrap it up. it was clear even BEFORE season 2s insane extended plotlines that never wrap up that it would take several more seasons to complete even season 1s storylines, but instead they cram about 17 more unfinished plotlines into s2, forget all about the story of s1(the literal class war, the fight between zaun and piltover, HELL even the relationship between jinx and vi is mostly forgotten which is INSANE to me considering how pivotal it was to the story of s1) and try to desperately finish what they started only for it to fall flat on its face because they didnt have enough time to complete the story in the single season they had to work with
This is making me cry all over again NOOOO 😭
Also crying and laughing at the “I don’t f’in care” bc literally!!!? If she knew Powder was hinting to ending herself, S1 Vi would have been doing everything she can to chase after her. Not ignore her and then proceed to do what Jinx said “be happy without me” and then just goes crazy on Cait. It felt so out of character for me and I wish they spent that scene between Cait and Vi as a scene with Ekko showing Jinx who she could be by sharing timebomb powder or literally Vi coming after her! Like bruhhhhh it would of been so much more powerful than this washed s*x scene :,)
I REALLY AGREE WITH THIS OMG
I think that they could've and should've put sesbian lex at a different time. Because there is NO WAY she would've after her sister alludes to killing herself. She isn't stupid. I think it should've been a much more softer moment of comfort, or rather a moment of Vi freaking out and unsure what to do. Regardless, there were so many different paths it could've gone down, and I think they chose one of the most unsavourable.
I’m sick and tired of all the Arcane season 2 glazing. It’s time for people to expose the true quality of this season.
And Vi, will likely be the most tragic victim of Season 2’s terrible writing.
Vi.. And ekko too. His character arc was not at all good...
I can't help but disagree, it's not "glazing" if people just genuinely enjoy how season 2 was and DON'T feel the need to critique every piece of media they consume.
@@uhhlars It’s glazing if people call this a masterpiece, when this season truly has a lot of catastrophic flaws. I never said people can’t enjoy season 2. But to say that it is objectively a masterpiece is to deliberately ignore the fundamental flaws that has broken this story, and Arcane as a whole.
I’m sorry but I just don’t agree. I genuinely think that most if not all of the primary plot points are perfect, but the execution is lackluster because there simply wasn’t enough time to flesh things out. I think Vi in particular suffered from this.
@@chickensalad3535 Yes you’re absolutely right. Most of the ideas here, are good ideas. But the execution is downright poor in most areas. But even beyond that, especially with a character like Vi, characters are making decisions left and right that aren’t at all consistent with what they are established as. These decisions and character directions, are NOT at all good ideas.
For example Vi is established to have a deep care for her home of Zaun. And doing any harm to its common citizens would be way beyond her. It wouldn’t even be a thought in her mind. And yet we are shown in episodes 2 and 3 of season 2 that she assists Caitlyn in LITERALLY GASING ZAUN. Not only is this a terrible and idiotic act, as Caitlyn, Vi and her squad have no control of where the gas is going within the underground, but they try to also justify it by saying “we used the gray to clear the streets. To keep people safe.” When it is exactly the opposite of that. With everything that Vi was established with in season one and the first episode of season 2, there is no conceivable reason anyone can come up with as to why this is somehow consistent with her character.
Nor does it at all make sense whatsoever that she becomes an enforcer. In season 1 she was just fine with joining forces with them. But she didn’t cross the line by wearing their uniforms, and wearing a badge. The enforcers literally killed her parents. Her freaking parents. Most people would not side with law enforcement due to such loss only because of someone they have become romantically attached with. Especially not under Vi’s circumstance. There is no conceivable reason that anyone can use as to why Vi taking on the uniform and becoming an enforcer is at all consistent with her character at the time in season 2 when this takes place. It would have been way more consistent for her to join forces with them, but refuse to wear a badge and a uniform because of her parents.
Even though the writers inserted a line into episode one of season two about how much becoming an enforcer is something that Vi would absolutely not do with everything that her character has been established in, along with all the corruption she’s seen after her parents died brought on by the enforcers. They still failed the ball by having her make likely one of the most, if not the most, out of character choices.
It wasn’t just bad execution of ideas, it was the writers not paying attention to what season one established, and working in alignment with that.
This hits hard in particular because I relate to Vi so hard. I have an estranged relationship with my younger sister-I don't know where she is or what she'd doing, and she's not the same as before. Vi is feminine in the most masculine way possible, hard headed and strong beyond the trials and tribulations of her life. Then season 2 came and destroyed her-made her the opposite of everything she stood for. And it destroyed me. I hate Arcane, now. Thank you to corporate slop for ruining amazing things.
it's too much of an expectation from Vi to continue behave like she how did in s1. She endured 7 years of hell just with a hope of reuniting with Powder only to come out and realize not just her sister, the world along with the ppl she knew changed drastically to a point she could no longer recognize. Held on to only person left in her life, followed her and then lost her too. Vi Lost everything. Lost her identity. She's been though nothing but constant pain. yet she never gave up on anyone she loved. Ep 208, If not for Caitlyn, Vi would have followed Jinx without a second thought and died with her sister. So, her reaching a point where she needed to take a break, mourn her loss and adopt heathy ways to live and not just survive is perfect arc for her.
Us as audience wanting to see her fight is cool but she doesn't need to a stereotypical hero to be great. plus, Arcane doesn't work in that cliche manner. It dealt with complex, flawed humans and that's why it was so unique.
It's so unfortunate they didn't have enough time to carefully flesh out her journey, her trauma. so they rely heavily on "show don't tell", gave us just enough so we can fill the gaps. it's sad but it is what it is i guess.
I see where you’re coming from, and I appreciate your perspective on Vi’s arc. I don’t disagree that Vi went through hell for seven years, or that the world she came back to was unrecognizable. Her pain, trauma, and loss are absolutely valid and should play a significant role in her character development. I also agree that Arcane thrives on exploring flawed, complex humans rather than relying on clichés.
My issue isn’t with the idea of Vi reaching a breaking point or needing to process her trauma. In fact, that could have been a powerful and deeply compelling direction for her arc. The problem lies in the rushed, unsubstantiated execution of that idea. We’re shown almost no tangible steps to connect the Vi we knew in Season 1-who was defined by her agency, resolve, and unshakable hope for Jinx-to the Vi we see in Season 2. Her decision to suddenly give up on Jinx and align herself with Piltover feels abrupt and unearned, especially given her established values and the deep emotional connection she has to her sister.
For example, you mention Episode 208 (I'm guessing you mean the end of Episode 8). Yes, Vi cares about Jinx deeply, and I don’t doubt she would have followed her without Caitlyn’s intervention. But that makes her earlier willingness to fight against her sister and embrace Piltover’s cause feel even more jarring. If Vi is at a point where she’s so broken that she needs time to heal and “live, not just survive,” the writing should have taken its time to show us how she got there. Instead, we’re expected to infer a huge amount with minimal buildup-“show, don’t tell” only works when enough is shown to let us connect the dots.
Vi’s arc in Season 2 isn’t flawed because she stops fighting or because she’s not a stereotypical hero. It’s flawed because it doesn’t feel consistent with the groundwork laid in Season 1. The writers skipped over critical steps that would have made her breaking point feel earned and impactful, and that’s why it’s hard for me to buy into this “perfect arc” you’re describing.
It’s not about wanting Vi to fight for the sake of being cool; in fact, I'm not really a fan of action if it doesn't carry narrative weight, it’s about wanting her arc to be well-written, earned, and true to the character I was deeply invested in when watching Season 1. Unfortunately, the rushed pacing and underdeveloped execution robbed her of that.
I don’t think her story needed to follow a cliché or “heroic” path to be great. I just wish the writers had given her arc the time and care it deserved, and respected the strong conviction she had in her beliefs and values.
This is the comment I was looking for literally. We are super... just lucky to have a show like this in the first place for one, it's just that cool (i'd say at least) Everyone is saying the season was rushed and that there should have been a season three. Honestly, I prefer what they did. Of course the whole entirety of each season won't be absolutely perfect, but bro... I don't want fill instead? Like you said "Show don't tell" I appreciate that in shows instead of them treating me like I'm a child who can't get the picture. Also I think since this is based on original characters anyways, Vi is supposed to become a enforcer, Jinx trigger happy marksman, bro even Jayce wasn't as arrogant as the original character lol. I don't I guess there will always be complaints and all but I really just enjoyed the show tbh.
If writers understood the impact of trauma caused by police brutality and unlawful imprisonment, like you claim they do, they wouldn’t have Cait, her girlfriend and a COP, HIT Vi
@@avahamlet9661”vi is supposed to become an enforcer” that mindset is likely part of what drove a lot of the decisions behind making her so shallow this season.
It’s not that arcane isn’t treating its audience enough like children. it’s that your suspension of disbelief in season two is not just around the mechanics of the world but the fundamental traits of characters already well established in season one, traits that should not be absent even in the wake of trauma and strife.
Vi’s characterization in season two was not just a story decision, it very much so was a corporate decision
Completely agree
contrast this with Jinx who gets a whole redemption arc with a dedicated plot device (Isha), an alternate universe episode where she's "good" and the hero moment in the final battle. I like Jinx, she's well written, but the bias the writers have in focusing only on her is crazy (especially when she was already the most popular in S1)
The strongest proof of Jinx favoritism on the part of the writers (and showrunners, for that matter) is her surviving her supposed “sacrifice moment.” They completely deflated the weight of that scene because they know she’s far too valuable as a character to permanently write out. Jinx is simply too popular to kill off-and they want to keep her around for future cameos in other projects.
And thanks for calling Isha what she actually is. I’ve seen far too many people insist she’s a great character with a crucial role in the story, a compelling arc, and deep thematic significance-when in reality, she was barely more than a glorified plot device that was deleted from existence after Episode 6.
heck Caitlyn was heavily favored by the writers too. Got to be a dictator without being held accountable, got the happy ending of having a gf (that she hit with a gun) and living comfortably in a big mansion.
@@lesvianaura well, she gave her sit on the council to sevika, lost an eye and jayce
Tbh, despite being a Jinx enjoyer (or rather, *because* of it) who also adores Vi, I'll have to disagree with Jinx being well-written this season- I'm unhappy with how both of them were handled. While she did technically get more focus than Vi, I felt like she also hardly got to be a character. Like what "arc"? All the character beats the writers want her to hit aren't earned by her actually grappling with things, so much as they are outsourced to her emotional support orphan- who also doesn't get to be a character because she only exists to facilitate those character beats for Jinx. Jinx can't be arsed to fight for Zaun on her own, Isha has to keep pushing her to do it. I didn't get the sense she would have ever gone to free the prisoners from Stillwater on her own, it's just that Isha happened to be among them. Narratively, this is just uninteresting and lame, and it turns Jinx into a nothing-burger of a character when she was so driven and vibrant before. The intro prominently featured Jinx waving the flag of the revolution, but if you think about it she hardly did anything for it, especially out of any sort of real conviction. And also what "redemption"? Sure, I was rooting for her to redeem herself eventually, but that's not what we got. How does her "sacrificing" herself for her sister in an entirely manufactured and contrived way make up for the crimes she has committed?
All I wanted for my girl was to finally accept herself as Jinx (with Silco's blessing) and consciously choose to lead the revolution in his name (or out of spite for Piltover) and then maybe later grow to a more empathetic and idealistic version of herself who genuinely cares for the Undercity. Instead, apparently she *doesn't* accept herself; like what's even the point of having one of her most iconic scenes of S1 be her sitting on the Jinx chair, seemingly finally accepting her new self, only for her to immediately then reject her identity and proclaim "Jinx is dead" in early S2? Literally what's her reason for bombing the Council at the end of S1, if not to facilitate her new identity as Jinx? She doesn't want to be Jinx, but she *also* blows up the Council, but she *also* has no motivation to fight for Zaun (or at least, against Piltover)- oh, and did I mention that accidentally killing her father figure (again) lowkey cured her mental illness? Jinx's story in S2 can basically be boiled down to her idly coasting away, being no one and wanting nothing while Isha fixes her- until she doesn't- then Ekko has to do it off-screen because they decided to cram everything into a single season. It's insulting what was done with Vi, but just because Jinx gets to be written more doesn't mean she's written any better.
@@rainchld what's crazy to me is how Christian Linke literally called this season "Vi focused" before it came out, only for him to later admit in a tweet that they were just more interested in exploring other characters. Like what? Beyond the character assassination itself, bro just blatantly lied for no reason and didn't even try to defend it 🙏
This video was a pleasure to watch in comparing contrasting Vi charter between season one and two how badly mishandled it was.
It’s disappointing this season never focus on Vi character development in having her wear the badge. A lot of seeds were planted for it grow being how she is willing to work alongside them for similar interest, gives her the opportunity to represent Zaun and have better chance for change. When season 2 came out I hoped we would’ve focused on Vi struggle in getting to have her wear the badge. A journey where she has the realization and chance to change meaning behind the badge and make sure enforces no longer commit the same atrocities. None of this was done instead they have her decide to do it off screen, and her working with enforces gassing the streets of Zaun is something she will be completely against
Another thing I hope the season were to focus in jinx going to be more unstable and chaotic causing damages for both Zaun and Piltover making Vi see Jinx less of a sister she one knew throughout the season. The direction of season 2 relationship between the two was rushed, the ideas goes against what was set up in season 1.
I’m glad you resonated with the video, and I completely agree.
The writers seemed to have no regard for the excellent foundation of her character that was built in Season 1. They completely dismantled everything that made her such a compelling character, stripping her of agency and turning her into a victim of the rushed, jarringly paced plot that pulled her in different directions.
As someone deeply invested in Vi, it’s incredibly frustrating to see so many promising components of her arc discarded so carelessly.
Like I get it Vi could have lost some of believing in her sister (her depression arc), but not completely. Vi was a character who was written as a someone who the family is the most important thing in life. Of course I know she deserves to be happy and love someone but still her family always would be on firs place. So I don’t get it why Vi in season 2 didn’t care much about Jinx or even Ekko, but only on Cait
this helped me see Vi in a whole different light 😭
im actually gonna scream
our goat is washed....
Funny thing is… Between season one and two its easy to find contradictions, considering the change in writing staff. But i believe it is unacceptable to have IN SEASON 2 alone THIS MANY CONTRADICTIONS on top of CONTRADICTIONS in one season its honestly sad…
Honestly in comparison to the first season, season 2 felt rushed. I’ve heard people talking about Netflix making the writers cut a bunch of scenes from s2. I feel like the reason I love the timebomb episode so much is because in comparison to the other episodes it actually felt fleshed out and not rushed. Vi is my favorite character in the show and I was so hyped for this season only to be disappointed by how rushed the writing felt.
Vi became such an hypocrate in transition from a Season to another, HECK it was needed for Ekko to travel across an alternatine universe just to save Jinx, something Vi was determined to do, but sucked herself in too vafly by being busy falling down at the bottom of a mug over a... "Cupcake", and tell you what, Caitlyn was no better either, going down BAD and making really bad decisions for a break up that wasn't even official or merely healthy whatsoever.
16:45
THIS whole section speaks volumes on how the writers treat their (???) characters this season. They simply does not care! All they care for is whether Catevi fans would be pleased or not, or for yet another scene that's visually so cool that it will blow up the internet.
The show turned from an artwork into a product, tasteless and squeezed for hype and admiration of easily satisfied with good visuals mass viewer
I'm immeasurably disappointed with Arcane Season 2 and there's no words to describe it
100% agreed. I was seriously let down by how Season 2 handled the world-building, plot, and, most importantly, the characters that initially drew me to Season 1.
Unfortunately, most people don’t seem to acknowledge the stark drop in writing quality, which is disappointing given that strong storytelling was what made Arcane exceptional in the first place. Sure, the stunning presentation does a substantial job in enhancing the narrative, but it’s only as good as the story it is serving. If the writing is fundamentally weak, the artistic elements can only do so much. At least that’s my perspective-one that doesn’t seem to align with the prevailing opinion.
As a former caitvi obbsessed fan, season 2 made me dislike it AND hate caitlyn at the same time. Just because i'm a lesbian doesn't mean i have to accept garbage!!!
@@carpiim
I'm not lesbian myself, and usually I'm not really into shipping stuff and LGBT characters...
BUT
Their relationships in the 1st Season felt very natural. And it made me gasp in surprise since it's the first time I see this kind of relationships between characters portrayed in such an organic, not in the forced way. Which made it believable. They really had sone chemistry between them, they felt human. So I was all in for to see how they would progress it in the next Season.
HOWEVER, Season 2 made me absolutely despise them from how badly written they are 💀 They don't feel human anymore, but more like writers' souless dolls that behave however those big babies want them to. I'm not even touching that it seems like Amanda romanticising toxic lesbian relationships. I mean what phrase "I'm dirt under your nails" even supposed to mean? It's fkn insulting to Vi, especially in context of her having relationships with a person from higher fancy society
Ugh, I'm so sick with this Season
@@Kantorek17 The phrase about being the dirt under someone's nails is a Spanish phrase (much more popular in Europe where Fortiche resides so it may not translate as well to the US because it's not really known here). It refers to two things which are very difficult to separate, with an insinuation that the dirt under the nails was earned through hard work and persistence. In this Arcane scene, it also references Vi being something Caitlyn acquired through hard work from the "dirty" under-city of Zaun. It's not really meant to be derogatory; the longer-standing European cultural meaning just doesn't carry over as well to the US.
@VisionQuest057
So you're telling me American Arcane writers from LA SOMEHOW got grasp on the Spanish meaning of this phrase and then put it in the English dub of the show? That sounds very believable
Also I originate from Europe myself, not the States. I don't know maybe Spanish people has different cultural backgroun and don't mind calling themselves "dirt under someone's nails" (maybe word "dirt" in Spanish has different semantics Idk). But in my culture it would be highly self-insulting and deragotory. Especially in the context of relationships where one person originates from a place like the Under-city, and the other from a fancy golden cloud castle like Piltover
can we talk about how cringe the dialogue in season 2 is. like jinx’s whole monologue in the end of season 1 is worth the whole season 2
Honestly as much as I hate to say it I did feel kinda disappointed w s2, it was good and entertaining and act 3 was amazing too. But I feel like they had the opportunity to do so much more.
i felt like i was going crazy with no one acknowledging how they absolutely butchered Vi's character in s2. its like she became a bad fanfic characture of who she was in s1. her character arc was basically skipped over in order to have caitvi be a thing (which thwy also butchered terribly) and in favor of jinx's arc. its horrible.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who felt like Vi deserved better. I wish she became some symbol of the city, someone who tried to do good as Vanders child but instead she was cast aside and felt like she was only there to continue caitvi moments. I’m not ashamed to say that I believe the CaitVi smex scene was entirely fan service, it just felt so off and I wish we got more out of Vi this season
Let's pretend Season 2 never happened and that this was just a completely new alternative universe 😊
Gladly.
Selfish plug, but I have a season 2 fic that's massive. Been writing it since Since 1 ended. It's a sequel to season 1 and was fully planned out before season 2.
@@shrimp3rjr413 wait rlly?!?! What's it called and is it accessible online anywhere?? Like that's genuinely impressive!!
@ARandomStranger209 and thank you for the kind words
@ARandomStranger209 for some reason my initial reply didn't come through, but the series is called "The Arcane Trilogy"
Her characterization from Act 1 made sense, her finally accepting that the Powder she knew was gone and losing the one person left she had to protect which was Cait. She was loyal to the people more than she was loyal was Zaun but now that there was no one to protect. She spiraled in the first ep of Act 2 (I believe) BUT THEN the montage was only 5 mins and shes just used as a device for Cait and Jinx's character?? We need more moments in her head space.
THANK YOU FOR THIS VIDEO this is so validating ESPECIALLY the beginning,, i've been stuck on the fact that the only thing that kept the both of them alive for all those years, even without knowing if the other was alive, and then they just... suddenly hate each other?? where did it COME from??? the writing for s2 in general was horrid but what they did to vi specifically was just shameful
what also enrages me is that someone dug up a comment from amanda from a while ago where she was talking about early s1 development, and she said something like "the first thing we wanted was caitvi. and while we were on thst, we thought; what would make it more complicated and angsty? like what if caitlyn was an enforcer, and vi's parents were enforcers?" ...so you mean to say, instead of wanting any sort of good message, or well intentions, or just wanting a character to have a compelling backstory, you made an entire oppressed character... JUST to make her love with an oppressor more difficult???
Season 2 was magnificent but… it could’ve been so much better
No it wasn’t. It was complete dogshit.
Agreed
@@moonmoon2479 it looks really good and the songs are phenomenal as usual just the writing was significantly worse with so many plot points and character arcs thrown out the window.
It's just astonishing visuals, nice soundtrack and crap which for some reason called "script", "characters development" and "plot integrity". Nothing truly magnificent.
Visually. The writing was shit
They destroyed her character. That's not how you make a "character development" as some people are defending.
The staff needed to have a lesson with the writers of Breaking Bad.
I hate how they wrote Vi this way. Everyone knows she’s not the same person as in Season 2. She was supposed to have rich character development and a growth story, which was what the audience originally expected from Season 2. But the writers’ incompetence, arrogance, and selfishness ruined everything. After watching Season 2, I felt like I developed PTSD, and after watching this video, I triggered it again. I believe the writers hate Vi, and that’s the only explanation.
THIIIS they did my baby so dirty in s2, i felt like everything they were building for Vi in s1 fell apart or was thrown away for other characters depelopment. SHE'S one of the MAIN characters, WHY WOULD U DO THAAAT
"My baby"? Nah bruh, You behaving like a creep, invalid opinion.
This is honestly sad to see such a downgrade of a character! However, as soon as I watch Arcane, I’m gonna start making a spinoff game based on Arcane, but make it a “what if” scenario.
You should call it League of Legends
@@universalpower419 but that’ll rip off the actual League of Legends!!
Yesss! Finally someone else mentioning them butchering the characters!
Originally I expected you to talk about characters via video essay kind of thing format. But I really appreciate you taking your time and editing those clips like that, showing such a drastic contrast between Vi and "Vi" from Season 2!
It would be a pleasure to see more of this kind of comparison, especially with someone as ruined as Jinx, Vander & Silco in this Season.
Wish you luck and more views pal! Thank you so much for your work!! ✨💙💖🙌
Glad you enjoyed the video. I’m considering making more in this format, especially about the characters I feel were handled the worst in S2.
Out of curiosity, why did you single out Vander and Silco as ruined by S2? I feel like there are many other characters who more definitively fall into that category. Why do those two stand out to you?
@@rainchldMaybe it has something to do with the alternative universe in ep 7 where Silco and Vander are somehow together again.
While I can buy that Vander would embrace Silco again, the way Silco changed was completely absurd, at least to me, cus isn't this the same guy that thinks "true power comes to those who take it" (might be misremembering the quote)??? The same guy who wanted Zaun as a prosperous and independent city, a dream he worked hard for? He wouldn't have bonded with Jinx in this universe which would "soften" him and make him sacrifice Zaun's independence for her freedom, he'd still believe in his nation of Zaun. He is not gonna let Piltover keep power over Zaun, even if they manage to live in harmony. Maybe I just need to rewatch season 1 (again)?
@@rainchld
Pardon me for taking long time to answer. It might be a bit late for this comment but I'll still write it.
Both Silco and Vander suffered through some considerably light character assasination, since it's not really possible to ruin them since both are pretty dead. However:
A) Vander & Silco, original universe:
Him knowing Powder and Vi parents downgrades his decision at the very beginning of S1. Him seeing these two orphan girls whom lost their parents due to his own violent actions, and then taking them in thus leaving his past behind was a really strong scene in terms of feelings and themes.
What S2 has to say on this regard? Well, it looks like he actually knew both girls and their parents. Uh-huh, and also their mother kinda hooked him
and Silco up to make Zaun a better place for them. Considering this whole bridge scene lessens its impact since Vander leaves violence not because he sees what effect his actions have on other people, but simply because his friends died. And he takes girls not because he takes responsibility for what he has done, but because he ought to due to giving a promise to their mother. And it doesn't feel right
Same goes with Silco. Silco *was* there when Felicia revealed she is pregnant. She said they're both ought to make Zaun better place. Hell, it's implied that Felicia influenced Silco to become as ruthless as he is for their cause - for her, for sons and daughters of Zaun.
Yet when we rewatch S1 considering this flashback scene from S2 we can see that they basically contradict eachother. If Silco really knew Vi and Powder parents why it looks like he doesn't know these girls at all? Why he orders to kill Vi and her friends in such a cold blood if she is basically a daughter of the person who became one of the reasons to achieve his dream of independent Zaun? Why then he stands in front of Powder knife in his hand and looks like he's ready to kill her right there and when? After that throghout the whole S1 we have not a single indication that Silco might've known Vi parents or Vi and Powder beforehand.
B) Vander & Silco, AU and hallucinations:
Another thing is alternative universe. There's *no way* Silco and Vander could get along with what they've shown to us. If the only difference of AU is that Vi died in the explosion, it then doesn't stop the following events from happening. Silco won't halt his shimmer production. Vi being dead and kids being arrested would give Silco a perfect opportunity to give Vander's Undercity a fatal blow and sieze power over the lanes. Yet in this episode we see him somehow "finding a power to forgive", althought Vander and Silco rivalery fundamentally wasn't about betrayal, it was about drastically opposite views on achieving the same goal and opposite life phylosophies.
It's also implied that Silco found the letter Vander wrote to him, and thus they kinda came in terms. However I also find it ridiculous, since if Silco actually found a letter like that it would in fact made him even more pissed off at Vander and how weak he is.
Speaking on hallucinations - Silco appears only ones at that cell scene with Jinx. And honestly his hallucination just becomes a talking-puppet of writers.
Remember how Silco was the person who always kept saying Jinx something along "Be what they fear Jinx", be strong Jinx, struggles make us stronger yadda yadda? His voice in her head must be the one that would push her forward and deeper in her sufferings, since it's essentialy what he embodies: strenght and endurance.
However instead writers put something that's completely out of what Silco's hallucination would say to Jinx, where he mentions something about his prisoners, breaking the cycle and other nonsense that has no relation to him whatsoever. They just needed to get Jinx to the point where she goes to burn down The Last Drop and used Silco's memory for that cause, thus kinda ruined him in a sense too.
That's if in short. However Silco and Vander issues aren't as severe as those of the other characters, Jinx, Vi, Cate and basically all of the main cast suffered the most
that part about "i don't fucking care" doesn't make sense, there was nothing for Vi to do, she must have spent an hour or more in prison, she wouldn't have any chance of finding jinx
but the fact that she had sex in prison is still completely horrifying as that was one of her biggest traumas
also ntm jinx was literally rotting in that same cell for however long
Frrr
Didn’t know CaitVi was kinky like that.
It does make sense, i feel like she would have atleast tried to go looking for her. Even if she couldnt, they should have scrapped the whole jail sex scene and replaced it with some sort of intimate conversation between the two. Similar to the scene where they talk to each other while lying on a bed in season 1. Would have been more impactful imo and more appropriate for everything going on
@@Sponborg YES BRO OMG
Vi was such a heartbreaking character, no matter how hard she fought, how much she cared and tried to do the right thing, everything fell apart under her hands, her family, her city, her world, all torn to shreds, forced to be both a mother and a sister to her younger sibling, such hardships deeply resonated with many, she and Powder were such great examples of unreliable narrators and how the years and trauma warp your memory (She DOES NOT remember Powder well, the guilt and everything else twisted certain events to make Powder more than she actually was and that was SUCH great writing, human memory is NOT PERFECT) she tried to help Zaun by every mean she knew but the writers just made her a gang member from a very vulnerable upbringing beaten to a pulp by cop violence that, once she grew up, went and turned into a cop herself that made sure to maintain the status Quo she once suffered under??? it's SUCH WASTED POTENTIAL!!! She and Jinx could've had reconciled, get Jinx proper medical treatment for her psychosis/Schizophrenia (This are not interchangeable illnesses, Is just that we're never been given a proper diagnosis) VANDER. WAS. GONE. and all she had left was her little sister and SHE JUST GOES AFTER VANDER ANYWAYS??? THEY GAVE US HOPE THEY COULD WORK THINGS OUT AND IT WAS ALL ACTUALLY FOR NOTHING??? (Don't make me talk abt the very glaring message that 'Oh, you are mentally ill and suicidal? I'm *(Not)* sorry, Darling u must die and leave the mentally sane people in your life alone, How dare you think you deserve to live?) ISTG AHHHHHH!!!
You can't also go 'I support women's rights and wrongs yay Yuri!' JINX WAS IN THAT CELL SELF-HARMING WHILE DEVASTATED BY ISHA'S DEATH AND HALLUCINATING SILCO'S GHOST!!! THE WHIPLASH FROM THE SEX SCENE WAS AWKWARD AS FUCK!!!
WHO LET THIS GO THROUGH FINAL REVIEW STAGES!??!
What are you on about, I just pretend that s2 doesn't exist and everything is fine...
What do you mean? The show never got a second season. Arcane ended with Jinx shooting at the council chamber.
@@rainchld yeah, it was such an unexpected move from a big company to let everything end so open, really true dedication to art and to freedom of imagination
@@rainchldYEAH 😃👍
s1: vi discovering the jinx in powder
s2: vi discovering the powder in jinx
Amazing video! The only thing i disagree with is that it's bad or uncharacteristic of vi to accept jinx as jinx, and not powder. I feel like thats the one thing they did well with vi this season. Jix just doesnt identify as powder anymore, no matter what anyone says or does, so vi getting close to jinx again through act 2 of season 2 after accepting her as jinx makes sense and is a positive change from her (vi's) season 1 self! (imo ofc)
Glad you enjoyed the video.
To clarify, the central criticism regarding Vi accepting Jinx as Jinx pertains solely to Season 2 Act 1-specifically, her sudden willingness to kill her without the proper development to justify that shift. What happens later (in Act 2 and 3), when Vi reunites with Jinx and accepts her for who she is, isn’t the issue being criticized here. The problem is the extreme disconnect between the Vi we saw in Season 1 Episode 9 and the Vi in Season 2 Episode 3, who has somehow come to hate Jinx enough to be ready to kill her. I just don’t buy that she would have already given up on Powder so definitively at that point in the story.
@@rainchldi think Vi never actually was on board fully with killing Jinx. she was in the middle, because everyone was telling her how much damage Jinx was doing to their lives, but being in the middle isnt an actionable stance. Vi is about taking action - doing what she believes needs to be done - so her being constantly pulled to either side of the argument is something i actually think this season did a great job of portraying, while having the basis of understanding that Vi CANNOT sit by idly and agonize over what action to take.
well shit this hit like a truck
I would like to see a similar video done on Viktor or Mel. I feel like their character arcs in Season 2 were very undercooked compared to Season 1.
Vi in season 1 would NOT gas the undercity
From what I could see in the interviews and some reddit posts, they are willing to continue with the story of these characters, perhaps in this video we have errors or it is a totally accurate criticism about this character, the current writers are still willing to receive . corrections, the question is if what happened with Vi in particular can be repaired in a future saga, I mean, they are the first to know that they screwed up in some chapters, that is my question, is there anything left in the future for this character ? It's my favorite even though it almost took a backseat this season.
I largely agree with what you’re saying.
I’m honestly very unsure if Vi will ever receive anywhere near as much attention as she did in Season 1. The only character from the Piltover chapter I can see returning with any substantial prominence is Jinx, as she’s easily Riot’s best marketing tool to generate hype for their future TV projects. Sadly, I expect Vi’s character arc to essentially end with this show-which, like so many others whose arcs were severely neglected in Season 2, could have easily been fleshed out and explored over multiple seasons to fully realize the storytelling potential the writers had to work with.
@@rainchld I hope we will see her again
@@rainchldI think this all depends how they try to continue the general saga. They did not yet confirm that characters from arcane will return in later projects, but they didn’t deny it either. By the way they introduced the black rose, but didn’t really do anything with it, I can only assume that would be their trail to follow along for the other regions like noxus and Ionia, where I wouldn’t really see vi in or jinx. I think that would make to much of a mess in the story, when they even failed concentrating on their characters or possible plots in Arcane. We do know lore wise that jinx is to be found somewhere else than in piltover during her lifetime, but I don’t know how they would build this in without losing a lot of characters that the runeterra fans would like to see.
There's no way they're going to repair anything after this season, it's a disaster. Characters stories are already ruined beyond repair, and Arcane seems to be set to get too far gone on the corporate greed road, since it looks like Riot seriously want to expand into media field and have their own MCU-esque franchise
@@Kantorek17they could retcon a lot of this for sure. They need to. Vi and Caitlyn were completely destroyed for no fucking reason.
I say the real Vi disappeared around the time Vander is on his way to become Warwick. Season 1 Act 2 speedrun her "character development" to LOL Vi because its "part of the game". Said people disregarded LOL old lore unless it's the parts they like because they made Arcane canon. Season 1 has some roots of the bad writing we know on Season 2, it just needs a magnifying glass of analysis. Vi is switching between "Jinx is my sister" to "She is not my sister anymore" (This is Powder's dialogue, but I just want to add this to prove my point.) way before Season 2 and people need to see that. Thanks for this video. Also, with this video, it shows more about the idea that Vi's trauma is just used as a plot device whenever they need it. It was much important on Season 1 Act 1. Jinx said it herself, she didn't thought her sister will be an enforcer because they both share that trauma where she used it to be useful for Silco (her skills) while Vi uses it to punch people related to that trauma. Vi's trauma wasn't just the bridge, she's also a kid prisoner and it is hard to remember at times where you have scenes that makes her look like she forget her own trauma. There's an interesting dialogue from Caitlyn on Season 2 where she said Vi thinks the atlas gauntlets will solve all her problems. Before being imprisoned, she hurt Powder out of grief which means she didn't mean to and she mentions she regrets it on Season 1. Jinx thought her sister willingly left her.
I’ve never felt so disappointed with the writers :((
Was i the only one waiting for narration the entire time lmao
One of the of the scenes that make my rage is the s3x scene, there is nothing wrong with the action but WHY DID THEY DO IT IN JINX'S CELL??? I think that is really bad writing, Vi was giving up to her sister who was literaly about kill1ng herself and Caitlyn was just like "oH wE aRe aloNe leTs Fu** 😍🥵" like ????
It's like having sex in your sister's room
Vi’s character had so much potential and so much to work with in season 2, and it was going fine until around Act 2. They could’ve don’t way more with her and Jinx as sisters but they didn’t. AND especially since Vi is literally a main character, they did my goat so dirty... 🙂↕️
Thank you for pointing out absurdity of Season 2 writing!!!
The character assassination is crazy work
Devastating stuff. A generational fumble, from the slam dunk of s1 to slop that will be remembered amongst the likes of got s8 and the last jedi
No words, all explained with clips alone--perfect explanation
i guess all the things they did right in s1 were just a coincidence because season 2 was a HOT mess, and fortiche's art direction and storytelling saved their asses big time
The only genuinely great aspect of Season 2. Aside from some of the music, though even that was better in S1.
The team got cut and they were running out of budget, so they had to squish everything into 9 episodes.
honestly the reminder that the moment the writers decided to have the caitvi sex scene was the very moment jinx was planning on fucking killing herself... they really made vi not give a shit. nah 😭
I appreciate the work that went into this, it's edited really well.
However, I think Vi's core motivations stayed the same, but it got much more complicated in season 2. Caitlyn enters the dynamic and Jinx's destructive scale increases. She wants to save Jinx, she just couldn't follow Jinx down the road she chose.
Vi is driven by protecting the people she cares about above all. Before she developed a relationship with Caitlyn, Powder was the main person she cared about. Even in season 1's finale, she couldn't bring herself to condemn Jinx for her crimes. But she also couldn't give up Caitlyn. Caitlyn entering Vi's life split her priorities. Previously it was save Powder, but then it turned to protect Caitlyn as well.
After Jinx bombs the councilors, Vi was still unwilling to join the enforcers, despite accepting that "Powder is gone". She feels Caitlyn's pain, and its reinforced after the memorial attack. Caitlyn is determined to get Jinx, and she decides to do it with her rather than risk Jinx finishing the job and eliminating Caitlyn, as well as causing more destruction and death. Because of her guilt in Jinx's trauma, she feels responsible for her actions to some degree, and is forced into a corner. Even after all that, she still can't bring herself to kill Jinx when she's face to face. She still cares for her sister despite all the pain she has caused to herself, Caitlyn, and many others. It's clear Vi couldn't bring herself to kill Jinx, although Caitlyn obviously could. Isha's human shield only reinforced her unwillingness to end Jinx, perhaps because she saw some hope in that moment.
Vi's loyalty never changes, but she is forced into situations where she can act or stand by and let others act on her behalf. This even happens in season 1. Caitlyn investigates Zaun, she chases Sevika after losing Caitlyn. The council meeting fails, she goes to Jayce instead of accepting their verdict. She is a character of action. The Task Force allows her to finish rooting out bad actors in Zaun while also tracking down Jinx. Yes, she wears the badge and it ends up meaning nothing because she can't give up on Jinx and betrays her prior beliefs.
What season 2 did built upon season 1's themes, but added complexity to them as well. Split loyalties, diverging goals and priorities, and a heavy focus on plot without the time to flesh it out made the season too fast-paced. If they had added anywhere between 30-60 minutes more runtime, it would have done wonders for character arcs and plot development. But all things considered, I think they did a great job building on what they set up. I do wish we got more of Vi and several other characters during certain points(Caitlyn's commander arc, Pitfighter Vi, Ekko/Jinx), but for whatever reason, they were limited on time and we got what we got.
In a perfect future they will release a "director's cut" with the original finale length included, but that chance is near zero.
Vi’s character assassination in S2 needs to be studies fr
For me the biggest problem with Vi in season 2 is that she turned absolutely passive, even though she was one of the most proactive characters in season 1. Every episode was packed with her making her own decisions, they literally had to put her in jail to stop her from actively moving the plot. In season 2 the only active decision I can think about is when she freed Jinx from prison. Everything else was just her going with the flow. And that could work if she became like that for some time after Cait dumped her, but to make it her new default is kinda disappointing.
Not only Vi, but every single character was assasinated. It feels like a weird fanfic...
Also, great editing!
Thanks!
Originally, I hadn’t planned on taking a more creative approach with the editing but it looks like the extra effort paid off quite well.
Not true
true
This is perfect.
Appreciate it.
16:01 there is this thing where sometimes when you start hating someone, you suddenly see their good sides that you could never achieve as disgusting.
It is still jarring and out of character, though, I admit, but just wanted to point out that sometimes people change their mind or sometimes realise they were people-pleasing too much. If I were to be the devil's advocate, I would say Vi could have been telling her sister her gadgets are okay because she knew she was good at that, not because she actually liked it.
But idk, the whole s2 was weird to me lmao we had some weird cult going on that Vi and Jinx were ok with soooo
Wow Jinx and Vi being chill with Viktor's cult is your biggest issue ? That's a first.
I really like Arcane, and I did like season 2 a good amount. Though after 2 months, the rose tinted glasses are coming off a little. I still overall really liked season 2 but there were definitely some glaring errors. Even when watching the first time around, the sex scene felt fucking insane for me to watch. Your sister just locked you in the cell and essentially told you she's gonna kill herself and the only thing you think to do is have sex and not care? Like wtf? That rubbed me the wrong way even on the first initial watch. I don't completely mind the development of Vi being ok with killing her sister at the beginning just cuz I always saw that coming as a old league fan, but after the events of episode 5 and 6 where they did become sisters again, some haste should have been involved in ep 8 when Jinx was going to off herself. I do also wish there was more of the intricate political tension between zaun and piltover that we sorta miss out on in season 2 to favor Viktor and his glorious evolution. I did like seeing that, but I guess I wish there was more time to still explore that world ending event along with the intricate stuff that we kinda lose this season. I still love arcane, and while I liked season 1 more, I by no means think season 2 was bad, I really enjoyed it. I think some episodes like 7 were such amazing standouts to me personally, and I think as someone that absolutely adores this show, its good that I can at least see its many flaws but still come out absolutely loving the series as a whole. If I could be a part of the production and turn back time, I'd get rid of the sex scene for starters, try to somehow incorporate more of the Piltover vs Zaun politics, give some better characterization to Vi, and not have Jinx end up "dead" and away and apart from everyone that loves her. I think Jinx deserved to be with the ones she loves instead of now being all alone and presumed dead, its kinda fucked up especially since Jinx was by far and away my favorite character and favorite anything from this show. I'm unsure if the writing teams were changed between season 1 and 2, but you can definitely feel it. Also the black rose stuff could just be cut out entirely to make space for all this extra stuff I mentioned, that really wasn't a good use of time.
I don't particularly hate s2, but s1 will always be my favorite. I think season 2 would've been much better had they just taken the steps and fleshed everyone out a little further. Everything felt squished together, not trying to say there wasn't intention with the little things of this show, but still. For someone like Vi, I would've liked to have seen her go from someone who is used to being the big sister and "protector" of everyone she loves transition into letting herself be loved and protected for a change versus shoving her from one to the other. One example that rubbed me a little the wrong way was when Caitlyn and Vi reunite in episode 5. Caitlyn dropped on her out of nowhere, put her on her ass, and Vi only responded with a snarky comment. Before this, Vi was at her lowest state possibly ever- unhealthily drunk all the time, illegally fighting for money and all the while she was hallucinating Caitlyn. Specifically Caitlyn from s1, before her "turn for the worse."
Maybe I'm reaching here, but it just feels like all of the writing showing what horrible conditions she was in after Cait abandoned her was just thrown out of the window. When they met again, it was like their fight didn't mean much despite both still being on opposite sides as far as Jinx goes, as shown when Caitlyn is shocked to see Jinx apart of the plan and Vi leaving that detail out so that Caitlyn would cooperate. Again, I could be wrong, maybe Vi wasn't surprised to see Caitlyn when following Singed because she'd already accepted the Caitlyn she had started to love was changed, and now treats her like a different person. I just feel like there already was so much going on in Arcane with different motives driving the plot forward that it shouldn't have been forced into only 9 episodes. Though, I'm no expert, this is just what I thought.
100% agree
I feel as though the focus of Piltover vs Zaun was also lost in the second season. It was still there, but it wasn't as prevalent of an issue and it wasn't as important. That dynamic was incredibly vital to the show as it paralleled the two siblings and it paralleled EVERYTHING. The focus going away from the two sisters despite that being the main driving plot was so incredibly upsetting to see. I wish they maintained the aspect of two sisters reuniting and fixing their relationship instead of delving into the romantic aspect of it and focussing so heavily on it. I enjoyed CaitVi and I do enjoy the other characters shown, but when such emphasis is placed on the two sisters at the start of the show, you cannot divert the attention this severely to something entirely different.
The fact Ekko and Vi don't interact at ALL in season two is greatly upsetting to me as well. They were the last people they had in their childhood. You cannot tell me that when Ekko is mourning, he's left by himself and forgotten. Why isn't Vi there to mourn as well? Why isn't Vi there to comfort him?
I appreciate the fact that Vi has to be selfish. But there is a difference here between Vi's character being of a protective nature. She can be selfish and choose herself, but she would not have forgotten Ekko that quickly.
Another thing - the sesbian lex. The fact it happens in a jail cell, where they easily could've highlighted the damage that Vi had suffered in the 7 years of being wrongfully imprisoned, is just greatly disturbing to me. I wish they had shown her trauma a bit more similar to how they portrayed Jinx's in S1. Maybe not to such an extreme as Jinx likely has psychosis and other issues, but there has to be SOME sort of reaction to this. I don't think her first instinct would be to get freaky with her new girlfriend. That wasn't an erotic moment, nor was it lustful, it should've been a moment of comfort. A moment between Cait and Vi of an apology. Not a battle of who's the most predictable or who's right.
There are other thoughts I can almost guarantee that I have, but I have too many that I can't phrase currently. I loved S2, I really did, but there were so many instances of characters acting weird or several missed opportunities (e.g Caitlyn's Dictatorship NEVER gets fully addressed. I wish we saw the extent of them! Let her be a flawed character in that sense! Let me see the grief build up until she becomes something she swore she hated!) that make me think that there was an opportunity to write the show in a far better way.
Hopefully I worded this all correctly haha I am VERY passionate about this it seems
While I can’t say I enjoyed Season 2-let alone loved it-this is a great comment.
I completely agree with every point you made.
Whole s2 felt like a fanfic, I mean the three main ships lowkey became canon, who does that?
100% agreed.
S2 felt like it was written for the game, whereas S1 felt like its own story-with only small, more subtle bits of fan service sprinkled in.
3 main ships? Caitvi, timebomb and...? Jayvik? Nah bro please
@@rainchld Heavily disagree with this, if anything Season 1 was a lot more in line with the games than Season 2.
The way y'all will sooner forgive Jinx for killing dozens of people than Vi for giving up after everything Jinx did to her is insane.
while i agree with most of what you are trying to say, you are taking some things too literally, with no nuance or context. In general people always talk about media literacy, but you cant watch the scene where Jayce kills the kid and come out from that thinking Vi gave no fucks that kid died. Did you listen to everything she said to Jayce? Did you see how she looked at him after Jayce left?
I definitely see your point, and that’s where some of the limitations of this specific non-commentary format I was trying out with this video come in. While it isn’t communicated all that clearly, I wasn't trying to argue that Vi didn’t care about the kid. She explicitly names the death of innocent kids as one of her main reasons for wanting to eradicate Silco’s regime as soon as possible.
The point I was trying to make (and doing my best with the “show-don’t-tell” approach) is that if Vi was so determined to kill Jinx in that moment-if she truly saw her as the central obstacle to peace between the two cities-I don’t believe a random kid actively jumping in and shoving a gun in her face would suddenly dissolve that determination. If she had fully given up on Jinx and grown to hate her over the course of the time-skip between Seasons 1 and 2, what changes in that moment?
Seriously, if Vi is that committed to ridding the world of the chaotic force her sister has become, what’s stopping her from simply pulling the kid off Jinx and either letting Caitlyn finish the job or doing it herself-just as she was about to mere seconds earlier?
Also, keep in mind that the kid in Season 1 didn’t even actively expose himself to the battle zone, while Isha made the conscious decision to enter the fight at an incredibly dangerous moment.
Are there any other points you disagree with or that you feel need further elaboration on my part?
@@rainchld When Isha was hugging Jinx, she still saw Powder in there, if a kid cares for her she might not be fully gone, not everything is black and white. Everything in season 2 could have been done better but it is what it is
Finally someone talk abt this 🗣️ ‼️
Geniunely sad how many characters were botched
It’s baffling honestly
I thought I was the only one who was thinking something was missing from her. I liked Vi in S1 so much period. But whatever they did to her in S2 left her unrecognizable
God, this video. You understand her character perfectly 🙏 tysm for this. You nailed it.
one of their objectives with season 2 was turning every character upside down, making them the opposite of what they were in season 1. It's a shame Vi didn't get enough attention to justify that change, but it's a change that's present in almost every character.
It’s crazy how they sidelined what we could call the closest, if not the s1 “main character” into a plot device. Vi deserved more screen time and a better arc.
Vi is the greatest tragedy in S2! Wasted time with Isha and Ambessa! Everyone wants more Vi and Ekko!
Maybe if ash Brandon was brought back to write the episodes maybe Vi’s character could have been fixed
S1 feels.. special. I’m going to ignore s2 and just leave it at jinx winning and killing all the council :/
Even the final escene in S1 feels diferent, it's.. "✨️other thing✨️"
@ agreed! 👍
Oh I'm SOOO glad we're going there !
As much as I disagree with the message of the video, I enjoyed it aesthetically, thank you!
I don’t care what people say, I love Vi’s character with all my soul. :)
season 2 felt like vi just accepted who jinx is and that she indeed lost powder, that is why she acts so differently obviously
She accepted it way too fast, especially considering how loyal her character is established to be
Cope harder
She spends s2 act 2 learning she's not a monster only to give up on going after in act 3 in favor of a sex scene with the woman who hit her and pushing timebomb
To be fair in the "everyone in my life has changed" jinx and vi scene, vi at that moment didnt know the extend to which jinx had changed, right after that scene she is visually distraught when jinx goes full psycho while fighting
God, THANK YOU for this video. All throughout season 2, I KNEW that Vi had become drastically different from who she was in season 1, but I couldn't properly express how other than 'she would not fucking say/do that'. I think what really killed Arcane was when it was no longer an adaptation of LoL, but canon to that world. The writers suddenly had to scramble to turn season 1 Vi into LoL Vi and it just...didn't work. At all. That and the writing team for season 2 was supposedly heavily reduced from season 1's. It's a real shame, because Vi was one of the best written female characters I had seen in a long time. To so her reduced into a footnote in her own story is so...sad.