#Cait turned off the ventilation for the Grey

[chillinglikeashilling]

Ok I think this is going to be my last post about Arcane until the next batch of episodes drop but

It's so interesting to me how intentionally or unintentionally Jinx and the chem barons reflect back onto Piltover magnified mirrors of the harm Piltover does to Zaun.

Piltover sends enforcers down into Zaun to put down their push for independence (thereby denying Zaunites the right of self determination) - ok Jinx is going to launch a Rocket at the site of Piltover's leaders.

Jayce goes down into Zaun and uses the Enforcers and drops his (very literal) hanmer to brute force enact his will on the people in that factory and ends up killing a child- ok then that child's mother is going to come up here and use a massive chainsaw to hurt Jayce.

Caitlyn goes down into Zaun and releases The Grey ("strategically") into their streets- ok here's all that Grey back.

The last one is the greatest too because literally all Jinx did was add paint and increase the volume of wind. Piltover is acting like there's been this huge chemical attack, but this is how Zaun lives everday. The Grey wasn't a problem when the Zaunites were breathing it in everyday was it?

[likeaslaptotheface]

Man though, I just can't get over the Grey.

Kaitlyn's mom/family didn't give a single fuck about the undercity on a good day, looked down on them and saw them as dirty, but even they were like 'yeah, no, fix up a ventilation system. They are filth but they don't deserve toxic, poisonous air.'

Only for Caitlyn, the one Kiramman who held sympathy for the Undercity, to turn around, flip the switch, and weaponize it.

Don't even get me started on her twisting a justification out of it to Vi, and maybe even herself, by saying it was to get innocent people off the streets while they hunted for Jinx. Like, Cait, how are people going to Avoid the Air They Breath?

[theceolacanther]

i LOVE arcane2 i think its so close to being insanely good but it felt rushed tbh

like the scene with ambessa and vi (where vi is locked up) where ambessa is gloating wouldve been a lot better if we had seen how ambessa had gotten comfortable with her knew tools. like if she was so confident with singes' weaponery that she feels invincible or smth

and i think they needed to both flesh out mels internal dialogue more so that we can see the conflict she feels towards fighting her mother. like if we understand why she tries to stop le blanc from trying to kill her or even if she like went "wait no!!" and looked distressed when le blanc imprisoned her. cause she kinda just did that and it felt kinda out of the blue really

dinger defo needed more time like it really felt like he had his character arc between season 1 and 2 like in season 1 he sees how tech can and should be used to better peoples lives now and how he cant wait decades to release something. but in season 2 you first see him and he is making things to make peoples lives better without that testing like iirc the turret was cluttering in a way that s1 dinger would not like. and also the fact that he kinda just dies* and then nothing more is said. like a scene with jayce and ekko mourning his disappearance or smth but instead ekko just lights a lantern for someone (supposed to be donger) in the final moments of the show.

caitlyn.... they massacred her so bad..... like she starts the season off soooo strong like forcing vi to pick sides and clearly demonising all zaunites for the attacks of 1 individual. at this point she had already spent time in the undercity and met people so the rage she was feeling was real and super juicy. like shes so mad at jinx that she is willing to SHOOT A CHILD AND GAS THE UNDERCITY. like vi says that they used the grey to clear the streets and remove civilian casualties but they still used the fundamental infrastructure of zaun against zaunites to commit acts of terror. i think this was implied to already be an intended feature of the undercity's ventilation but they still used it against the people of zaun. dont even get me started on cait ambessa.... like they almost had such a good thing going, the set up of the mother who lost her children, one physically and one ideologically (and also physically) and the child with too much power and too much grief was almost great. but like. cait just kinda stops that when she hears that vi's dad is alive she goes oohhhh ok well im with you now. we dont really see any turmoil hear her regret her actions or think shes taking things to far, although she does push back somewhat against ambessa's stoking, seen in the scene where ambessa is literally stoking a flame while trying to work up cait. we even see ambessa's influence on cait when cait an vi meet as cait uses the takedown she was taught to disarm vi. RAHHHH the fact that cait gets off mostly scot free is very annoying. i do love how she loses an eye tho i think that is v cool for both her character and her design. like she lost her eye because of how she turned a blind eye to what she had done. but even if her design reflects her mistakes her character doesnt :P

jinx vi viktor and jayce where all handled really well imo its 100% there show. like jinx's growth is shown very well, the way she starts helping both isha and sevika is super sweet, and the way that zaun put her up on a pedestal and how she hides from it because whenever something good happens to her she thinks she ruins it. and sevika and isha show her that she can do right and she doesnt always break things. the way that vi rejects her so hard because of all she has put vi through but she is able to like. work it out with her was very sweet.

i really really like the way that vi was handled, her reasoning for joining the enforcers was super good, the way she sees that the enforcers arent all bad when theyre defending against the attack on the memorial, too her realising that oh wait. actually these guys still suck. and then the way that she behaves when cait dumps her was super good, like she was always protecting something and then the last thing she had left pushes her away, so she falls into a depressive spiral. then to be brought out by jinx! and she learns to slowly trust jinx and through jinx's actions! very cool big fan.

i really loved the way they did jayce and viktor. i love how jayce cant let viktor die and so he does exactly what viktor didnt want him to do to save him, pushing him away. and then how viktor is so clouded by his new power that he cant comprehend what he is doing. like viktors followers arent people. sallo and that guy who is first converted become completely different people when transformed by viktor, and in the scene with sallo and jayce, sallo's breath doesnt show. hes not even breathing hes been reduced to a husk, and i dont think viktor even realises he did that. and then the way that when jayce pushes viktor away after what he experienced in the future and how that pushes viktor to curse the individual as a whole and completely strip all his followers of any individuality. ough.... the way that jayce and viktor are both fundamentally changed by the arcane.... its so scrommy yommy. i do think that viktors partnership with ambessa makes sense, if a little rushed. like she sees him as an army to crush her foes with and he sees her as a vehicle to unite everyone under him. but!! they really shouldve kissed in the scene where jayce rushes to viktor in dreamland like it really felt like they were going to and then they were told to change that. because like the way that jayce is just like "i just want you" and then rushes into him is like...... the way that it cuts through the facade that viktor has put up around him and how viktor responds... i wish they couldve been gay together. like not even dating! just like a qpr or something but those boys definitely wanted to explore eachothers bodies.

i think the side side characters are a mixed bag. like i liked than noxian guy (even tho idk his name) i think they showed very well his and ambessas relationship and how much they meant to eachother. i liked maddie aswell, she keeps saying all these dog whistles like telling vi shes "one of the good ones" and trying to make caitlyn continue the occupation of zaun. and her betrayal was very well set up you see her handling the bomb and then it doesnt go off later and you go huh??? then you see an enforcer (specifically the silhouette used when they were raiding zaun) take out vi and then shes holding vi at gunpoint and its like WOAW SHES EVIL. excellent

i didnt know lorres' name until i saw someone else talking about him online and then i had to google him

that vastaya was cool to show that piltover is a multicultural nation which attracts all sorts of people and accepts anyone unless theyre poor. wish they got a name or like. lines.

but yeah! i thought arcane2 was pretty good but it needed more time. like preferably another season but atleast another act sorry this was a bit rambly lol (im not)

*in league lore yordles (the thing heimer is) are like immortal fairies that when they die they kinda just respawn in another dimension (bandle city). also theyre very heavily shaped by their environments and their personality is very heavily influenced by the general vibe of where they live (in like a magic way not like a regular person (they kinda become super hard stereotypes of the culture that they participate in (kled<3)))

[ifeelhuman]

after another rewatch, that was arcane episode 12, season 2 episode 3 the end of the 1st act of the season and 4th act overall. with this show… things just keep getting more and more involved. this episode a prime example of that. let’s get into it.

we’re shown a bit more of the info with the Kiramann family legacy and how Caitlyn has access to all that now. in specifics, it’s in regard to the Grey—smog from the mining in the early days of Piltover that needed to be contained lest it affect all citizens in both topside and the undercity. the Kiramann’s took it upon themselves (and either they were architects or they hired architects) to devise a ventilation and containment system for the Grey. unfortunately, it looks like Caitlyn and her team are effectively letting loose small bouts of the dirty air in pockets to more securely search the underground to complete their three main objectives. while seemingly useful in their endeavor, that doesn’t take away from the fact that they’re exposed random citizens to filthy air and thereby making them sick. they’re hurting many people in the crusade for one particular individual. it’s sad and dark and whose to tell them this isn’t a good plan or worthwhile when it almost worked anyway (now, they don’t know that but we as the audience know just how close they were to at lease seeing Jinx and she was meer moments from having a rather heavy coughing fit herself [which, i think, we didn’t see because while running away last episode crying and coughing she got the wind knocked out of her—that could’ve expelled the majority or a chunk of the Grey out of her lungs])? and, of course, there is a poetic justice to the fact that at the end Jinx—and by extension Zaun—releases it back into the city of which it was to be rid of. and i want to think that once Cait and her team saw the dolls Jinx made that perhaps if they changed their strategy and waited to go after Jinx (because she was anticipating them as a result of her seeing them) they likely wouldn’t caught Jinx off-guard for a second time. just a thought

Mel’s mother, Ambessa, is running from something (or is at least very good at making it seem like that is the case) in connection to what happened either Mel’s brother, Kino. she takes out Amara, a seemingly minor character with nothing beyond the surface who actually turns out to be in Ambessa’s words, an “insolent witch.” i’m not sure if the Black Rose power and the faction that has that are actually witches (if i’m meant to read into that word) or if she used that word to describe how lowly these people are in regards to their evil/etc. this was and so far is the only time we see Ambessa caught off guard by another character in such a way that threatens her own life. so, of course, she’s going to be all the more resolute in starting the war and she takes advantage of the assassination attempt and blames it on no-name Zaunites at the end of the episode the further her agenda in starting a war to, as Mel put it, “cover [her] ass.” speaking of, Mel was well on her way to figuring this out.

Elora is a really loyal and dedicated personal assistant, i like her and i’m actually loving her VA as well—so much emotion and emphasis to show that Elora genuinely cares about Mel, Piltover, and takes pride in doing a good job with her work. on her own figured out that there is discrepancies in regard to Kino’s death, confirmed that Salo met with the other houses, and takes serious the things that Mel says. for instance, in season 1 Mel introduces Amara to Jayce before their talk about reinstating trading privileges as someone with “little to no threat” and that “she’s harmless.” Mel said this in the presence of Elora which means she takes heed of that. so for Elora to hear that Mel wants Amara to be checked on—she doesn’t throw Mel’s words back at her—she takes it with sincerity and plans to follow thru. however, both of which are kidnapped/taken by the Black Rose and therefore are coincidentally absent for Ambessa’s public outcry for martial law. a little too coincidental—saw a theory that because Ambessa is so protective and willing to do the extreme thing to protect Mel and her personal interests that in pursuit of these actions she overlooked Mel’s location (because Ambessa is keeping her distance) and isn’t present or aware when her daughter’s life (another councilor !!) is in danger. what will happen with this dynamic i do not know but someone is going to pay, i believe. i didn’t really talk about the new feline character Lest but i like her design and hope this wasn’t her character’s only appearance.

between episode 3 and 4 of season 1 we got a timeskip (i’ve heard that it’s been confirmed to be 7 years so that’s what i’m running with) and in these years harpooned-over Jayce and Viktor constructed the HexGates and the entire structure is a vertical shaft. Ekko, Heimerdinger, and Jayce upon analysis of the tree leaves from the shelter in the undercity move their conversation to the topic of the Arcane, magic itself. Jayce brings up Viktor’s theory of wild runes and because wild runes are a response that is not exactly favored when called for, they are starting to affect things in unexpected ways. to explore this phenomena further, they go to the place where the failsafe for the HexGates are located—at the bottom of a shaft more than a couple hundred feet below ground level. upon Heimerdinger’s discovery of the same pattern on the floor of the failsafe’s room, the Arcane reacts again. the physical/tangible devices operating with HexTech gemstones and that alike literally glitch through several forms in real-time. we don’t actually see the end of this sequence but as the audience we see Jayce slam his HexTech hammer onto the wild rune itself and it seemingly stops it (?) but we don’t see the three characters after the fact. very curious to see what’s become of them now.

finally… the last scene. Caitlyn and Vi agree to cut loose Maddie and the other two officers with them to save their lives but we later are able to infer (imo) that keeping them all together (or at the least having them arrive slightly later after Cait and Vi) would’ve been probably beneficial to their goal of taking down Jinx—at the end there Sevika was knocked out (kinda) and it was only Isha (little girl we were introduced to last episode) in the way to Jinx. Maddie and the other two could’ve secured Sevika so she wouldn’t get involved (and therefore wouldn’t set off the reversal of the Grey), and Vi or Vi and one of the other officers could take Isha off Jinx and had the other hold Jinx down. but that isn’t what happened… because they were trying to save lives. another thing. if Vi had let Caitlyn take the shot EVEN IF it did hit Isha (which is terrible thing and i want to emphasize that), let’s say (a) it hit Isha then a second shot took out Jinx or (b) one shot hit Jinx AND Isha but still killing one or both of them—it’s worth it to realize that killing Jinx and one child would save thousands. that doesn’t make it okay to kill a child but because Cait couldn’t take the shot we’ll never know for certain. and that fight scene. fuck !! i don’t like knowing that these were really closer sisters and now they’re fighting (to the death—let’s be real) without any mercy (until the end) but at least the fighting choreo is some of/if not the best in this show so far. Powder/Jinx has come such a long way from the “i’m not a fighter” and “they never work” to her being a deceptively capable fighter with incredible gadgets and bombs at her disposal. if Caitlyn didn’t take out Jinx’s finger whose to say who would’ve won between the two sisters. Vi was only able to pin her down like she did because of this act. and she likely won’t be able to again

seeing Jinx accept death at the hands of her sister, Mel getting snatched, Jinx having her first real physical consequence (finger lost), the Arcane reacting like a element of nature, and Cait and Vi finally kissing getting-into-but-not-a-relationship just so they can part at the end because Vi wasn’t going to risk a child’s life. it’s so very sad and tragic. i just want these characters to be happy. hope we see more of Maddie, Viktor/Sky, and Mel next episode. Cait’s descent into rage is going to have more consequences. will see soon. quite soon, i imagine.

[trashyandtiredsol]

OKAY SO- I looked it up but the guy called Singed from season one is the one doing the wolf shit- I knew of him from before I just forgot his name so uh- ye👍

Back to my live reaction for this season: Next up we got episode 3!!

1: Caitlyn time again✨✨✨

2: OH the smogs called the Grey and Caitlyn's mother was providing ventilation systems for the undercity so the people of the undercity could actually breathe ajfjsjgikxkv and I think Cait's squad is opening those vents up??????? Idk exactly so take this with a grain of salt

Oh no okay no the squad ain't doing that

3: OH YEAH DEFINITELY NOT- THAT IS DEFINITELY NOT THEIR DOING

4: WHO TF IS AMARA?!!!

Oh she's got a past with Ambessa and her family okay nvm

ALSO- she knows why Ambessa is actually in Piltover so there's that nice little bit of lore

5: CAITVI TALK HERE WE GO

6: KISS KISS KISS

Also I noticed during this scene with CaitVi and the other scene with JayVik they both had "[tender music playing]"

JayVik mayhaps cannon? Mayhaps like CaitVi? Hm? 👀

7: YOOO one of the council members is using shimmer??????

Also who's this fox lady- love the ears and eyes and markings but who tf is she

8: There's ANOTHER fox lady????????? Names Lest also

OH WAIT THEY'RE THE SAME NVM

Also are they a fox or a cat- hmmmmmmmmmmm I think either works

9: We getting some literal Arcane lore and a Vi and Jinx confrontation LESSGOOO

10: OH alrighty so the squad DID open the vents to clear the streets from what was said

Also- Major Arcane lore dropping about wild runes happening ajfjdkvkdkvjxvj

11: OH THEIR ACTIONS ARE HAVING CONSEQUENCES Y'ALL THEY. ARE. HAVING. CONSEQUENCES!!!!!

THE EPISODE AIN'T EVEN OVER YET WHAT'S HAPPENING AFTER THIS AJFJSKGKDKGKXKG

12: NO CAITVI DIVORCE TO :(

13: OH SHIT THE GREY IS SET OFF I REPEAT THE GREY IS SET OFF

AMBESSA DON'T LOOK SMUG

NO CAITLYN DON'T YOU DARE LEAVE >:[

14: NO THE BLACK ROSE SHITS BACK FUCK NO

15: AMBESSA DON'T FUCKIN LIE TO THESE PEOPLE

Also Caitlyn???? Damn das a turn of events

16: Guess Singed is making a werewolf or somethin I guess

AND NOW- That's it for the first three episodes y'all!!!

GONNAA EAT THEN TAKE THE DOG FOR A WALK THEN-

THEN ARCANE >:]