#Ekko doesn't choose Jinx OVER Powder or Powder over Jinx

[welcometohell09]

That thing that Gets me about Timebomb, both platonically and romantically, is that Ekko doesn't need to love or care about Jinx, but he does so anyway. Jinx is emotionally fucked to the point of barely being able to sustain any form of relationship, she destroys the things she cares about when she doesn't mean to, she pushes everyone away and she self-destructs. Ekko has absolutely no reason to care beyond maybe a memory of them being friends as kids, but he chooses—actively—to look for her when she disappears from her cell.

He also doesn't obsess over the arbitrary distinction between Powder and Jinx in the same way other characters, including Jinx, do; Jinx becomes Jinx to protect herself from being Powder and Silco encourages it, Vi (in S1) separates Jinx from her little sister so she can 'save' Powder, but Ekko watched as she chose to become who she did—he probably saw her grenades start to work, her fighting abilities improve, her hair grow out and her reputation take root, if only from a distance—and accepts it as a part of a whole person. He doesn't care whether she is the kind, arguably less traumatised Powder—like in the alternate dimension—or Jinx, because to him it's just her. She's brilliant. She's awesome. In Ekko's eyes, she's not just worthy of being loved, but she's worthy of being chosen to be loved and held on to when she hasn't done anything 'for' him.

[questionablecuttlefish]

Where is Jinx going?

Bilgewater is a strong contender, but don't discount Demacia.

Jinx/Lux is part of it. That's actually the oldest fan ship for Jinx and was the most popular for both of them in fanfic and fan art until Season Two dropped; the common claim that it's a fringe ship or 'only' in Star Guardian is inaccurate. It's been a part of League fandom for a long ass time. It started in 2014 in 'main Runeterra canon' only months after Jinx's launch and before either the Burning Bright video or Ekko existed. It was later boosted in popularity by the Wild Rift trailer, various promotional arts featuring the two together, and later by the Valoran Town animated series released in China. Why? Initially, just pairing the two poster girls of League together, probably, or the classic hero/lancer dynamic of the optimistic 'light' character with the edgy 'dark' character.

But since Lux's comic, the Mageseeker game and then Arcane there are more lore parallels between the two than ever; both are young women struggling with a society that hates them for something they didn't choose to be, both trusted an older mentor with revolutionary ideals who encouraged them to embrace their destructive powers and then betrayed them (Silco/Sylas), both accidentally unleashed their power and got people killed, both triggered a violent revolution, both have a complicated relationship with an older sibling (Vi/Garen). If they are romantic interests or just friends, Lux gets someone who will encourage her to embrace her magic and Jinx gets someone who won't judge her on her past and the potential for conflict and companionship and a very interesting, opposites-but-actually-mirrors dynamic is all there.

It's commonly dismissed by people ignorant of League's history and of the lore of both characters, but it DOES work. If you know, you know. 🦄

Outside of that, though, why Demacia? Doesn't seem like a place our crazy girl Jinx would want to go for any reason, ever, but the end of Arcane makes it more likely than even Bilgewater because at this stage Jinx is trying to cut her ties and move on from her old life. She wants to be:

FAR away from Noxus and Noxian influences (Demacia and Noxus are bitter enemies)

FAR from her "Jinx" identity and all the violence and chaos that stands for (if she wants to disappear and try to put it behind her and heal from her trauma, Demacia big, spacious, and quiet)

FAR away from her family and friends, so she can't be tempted to get involved in their lives and hurt them (as she sees it) again. (Demacia is waaaay over there, a lot farther than Bilgewater)

FAR AWAY from the Arcane that has, from the moment she picked up that first Hexcrystal, ruined her life and taken people she loves (Mylo, Claggor, Vander, Isha, and in a roundabout way, Vi) from her. (Demacia is a kingdom that despises magic and is full of magic-sucking stone made from magic sucking forests)

So I think it will entirely depend on the direction they want to take with Jinx from here. If they want her to continue to be a violent, chaotic crazy girl we know and love, they'll make her a mercenary pirate in Bilgewater, maybe tangle her up with Sarah Fortune's crew.

If they want her to try to turn her back on her "Jinx" identity and heal from her grief in peace and quiet, they'll take her to Demacia and she'll pop up unexpectedly, maybe as a tinkerer, or artisan, trying to reconnect with her Powder side.

This is where she could meet Lux (if they're going the Lightcannon route, which would make more people than you'd think very very happy) or otherwise get drawn out of her peaceful life and into the turmoils gripping Demacia, particularly as the Mage rebellion starts to break out. Particularly if Jinx ends up siding with the rebel mages, or siding with Lux either for or against Sylas's faction and/or the Mageseekers.

She has a bit of experience with being a rebel, she might end up using her experience with Hextech and the Arcane to give those rebels the edge, and "Jinx the reluctant pacifist being drawn back into her old chaotic ways to fight for a cause because deep down, she still longs for the thrills and the chaos and the noise" might be a really cool arc to take her on.

What do you think?

[beforetimes]

feel like this gets overshadowed by the fact that ekko saved jinx at her very lowest, but i think that their relationship 100% works both ways when it comes to helping the other. and the way jinx helps ekko would be in helping him to loosen up / free him of this massive sense of guilt and responsibility he carries himself with.

we see this thematically in s2ep7 and s2ep9 mostly. when ekko goes to the alternate timeline we get the line that it was his tip that lead to vi's death. which i've mentioned in a previous post as something that i think the og ekko would carry as a source of guilt that guided him to throwing himself into helping the people of zaun, a way to work through his remorse.

and in that deleted scene where ekko goes after powder only for her to say she doesn't want to be saved and that she's jinx now, i feel ekko would have blamed himself for that and internalized it both by using it to fuel his guilt complex but also by painting her as someone past saving. in essence he thinks he killed powder and created jinx. someone who only hurts the undercity by working as silco.

but after his dive into the alternate timeline where he sees and connects with powder and realizes all the potential she has when she grows up, i think he realizes that there is still someone to save back in his original world. that jinx couldn't possibly erase everything that made alternate timeline powder who she is because powder reminds him of their childhood and things left unsaid and how things could be different if they both chose forgiveness (sort of elaborated on here).

anyway, i think jinx's role in accepting ekko's proposal to help out with the war on piltover/zaun would be to show ekko a) that he didn't kill powder completely and that jinx was never truly 100% metamorphosized by this job that he sent them on that indirectly 'killed' her and b) shows that she (in his minds eye) chooses to forgive him, relieving a large part of his guilt, and build something better. which is what ekko has been all about. not necessarily forgiving, but building something better. its what he does with the firelights and their commune.

now, how is freeing him communicated in the show?

i think that they show the way jinx's character allows him to be more free in expressing himself through the change in wardrobe. it is more visually vibrant in comparison to his large jackets in the first season when we see him, but there's also less smoke-screening and secrecy. no more masks, no more gloves, no more large jackets that hide the form. everything is on display now! abdomen and face, skin exposed. and jinx's impact on this change from the first season is visually marked by the x on his shirt. she is directly involved in his evolution into this freer, unburdened self.

i felt in this, the artists were showing how jinx's refusal to stay within the lines would affect ekko in making him freer as well. not just physically revealing himself but also maybe through the way her acceptance of his offer to save her again (after the failed deleted scene mentioned) frees him of the guilt of failing the first time + guilt over what led to him thinking he killed powder.

so while timebomb does feel skewed in showcasing ekko primarly as her saviour and jinx as someone who needed saving, i think that there is a reciprocal nature to the type of healing they can offer each other. ekko through his belief that jinx can be good without needing her to be the way she was before and jinx through her relieving ekko of guilt that has ruled his life since he was a child.

[vi-arcanes-left-biceps]

Coming to terms with the fact that the things I did not like from Arcane S3 are mostly related to what was wanted and needed to be told following time and lore constraints. Or at least I think many things were.

I'd like to start by saying that I do not hate the ending or dislike it particularly. I think the series did pretty well with the resources they had and made very good visual and dialogue storytelling, even if I'd prefer things to be different. However, There was something that bugged me about it and I was not able to put it into words until I rested from the finale-induced-high and got away from silly discourse. This is my interpretation and reading of the story so you don't necessarily have to agree idk.

I feel like Vi's and Jinx's arcs were sort of uncoordinated, which while realistic, it feels kind of unsatisfying, at least to me.

Vi's fatal flaw is self-sacrificing for her loved ones, over and over again. Of course, her arc is about learning to choose herself, open herself to be taken care of and not be always the caretaker, and coming to terms with the fact that she just can't save everyone. The thing is she doesn't choose herself -she is forced to choose herself, two times, by Jinx. The tragedy is that she's unable to learn that lesson by herself and in the end she kind of doesn't. Jinx's sacrifice is what gives her a clean slate to begin again and be able to start from scartch, to finally let go of the past (loosing Vander and Powder again, this time, having a support system and a space to grieve and heal). So, I get that makes sense as a narrative and alligns with how the series had been constructed. I don't think it's bad, though as a storyteller/story enjoyer, I don't personally like unconditional love as the fatal flaw for a greek tragedy-like story.

Then, Jinx's arc is about her feeling that she ruins everything, and that she feels unable to do anything but destroy what she loves. She also needs to let go of years of guilt and emotional abuse. She begins to find herself and start having healthy relationships in S2 and particularly after meeting Isha. She sees herself reflected in her, understands her sister better, and both are able to make amends until tragedy strikes again and she re-lapses into seeing herself as a jinx. Her tragedy seems to be being unable to escape that destiny. And I use "seems" because she sees another way after speaking to Ekko: she's able to learn that there are more possibilities to who she can be and that her identity is not tied to causing pain - that she can create her own destiny.

So now let's go to the final chapter. By ep.9, Jinx is ready to try again and find her identity. She's ready to make peace with all that happened. She's ready to walk away from Vi, not out of pain and a sense of doom, but out of the knowledge that she cannot stay in Zaun/Piltover, she needs to walk away to be able to start again.

So this is what is unbalanced. Jinx was able to mature throughout the series, to see other options for herself, and to see them for her sister, too. Vi was unable to let go and had to be forced.

Jinx dying, from Vi's perspective, finished her personal tragedy. It closes the cycle of pain that she's been re-living the whole series, albeit with a very sad ending, and leaves a space for her to finally grieve for real. And it would also be a tragedy for Jinx, who was so close to recovering, to have an ending like this. She closes the story that she accidentally started with that bomb. Vi's fatal flaw, being unable to let go of Vander, causes the end of the cycle -just like Jinx's tragic 'curse' started it for the sisters. I get this interpretation and that it is somewhat poetic. That doesn't mean I like it, not as it was developed. S2 seemed to be going for a Jinx redemption and for freeing her of the destiny of losing her loved ones. Killing her off, then, seems very unsatisfying because I feel that if we were going for the tragedy angle, some more development would have been needed, and the time constraints did dirty to that narrative.

HOWEVER, and this is my interpretation of events, I think Jinx survived the final explosion and walked away on the blimp. I belive there are enough intentional clues to believe so, even if they do not want to confirm. I don't like the narrative of the suicidal character comitting suicide just after finding a reason to keep going.... I get the tragedy but I'm sorry but that's overdone and also unsatisfying to me given what had been shown so far! So this might be a cope, but bear with me and even if you don't believe she is, pretend she's alive.

Jinx surviving the explosion, from my point of view, is not only a very Jinx-like thing to do, it would allow her to both close the chapter and close her arc in a satisfying way, with her going away to a place where she is not tied to her history in Zaun (Silco's right arm, unwilling resistance symbol, searched criminal, sister to Vi) and she can start again. I'd love that ending for Jinx and I think that's what's happened -as there are many hints to see it.

BUT then, Vi is the one who did not move on. She wasn't given a chance to exit the cycle. She was forced to. She needed to lose Vander and her sister again -that I agree- to be able to grieve properly. But I can see an unbalance in Jinx re-gaining her agency and finally making a choice for herself, and Vi not getting the chance to do so. Realistic, yes, but sort of unsatisfying.

I'll elaborate -I'm not against the tragic angle per se, even if I'd liked to see Vi have more agency, I don't think she as a character was written as ready to grow to walk away (more runtine would have worked to do that, though) and it's cool that Jinx can be the one to protect her sister this once. But then, if Jinx is alive, is Vi really going to be able to grow from this? If she finds out Jinx is alive, would she not be unable to give her up? The cycle is not closed from her end. If the end of her arc is her losing Jinx forcefully, because she was unable to let go, with Jinx alive, and without a proper goodbye, her arc remains opened. That's what bugs me.

I understand lore-wise they probably can't kill off the champions (not definitevely) and Jinx and Vi need to be separate. From the little I know Jinx has more relationships with other champions so it also makes sense for the door to be open to her being alive and explore this in future series (hence providing clues that Jinx may have survived and not confirming it). But this, together with the season having little time to delve into many things that we had to infer, makes the ending of both of their arcs kinda weird and unbalanced. If it's a full greek tragedy ending, with Jinx dying, then her character progress feels cut short. If Jinx is alive, but they could not confirm it because it's not clear what will be done next in the series universe, Vi's arc remains unsatisfyingly open. They could not give a scene of the sisters saying goodbye because Vi was not ready not move on -they needed more screentime to deal with their relationship for that to work- and probably because they did not want a clear "Jinx is alive" ending.

I still think this is an amazing series, the ending is not disappointing despite this and I can understand why certain decisions were taken, but I would have loved for it to be slightly different, with more runtime and less lore constraints to the narrative.

[theoutcastrogue]

[I swear I'm not biased. Also, skip this post if your criteria for a good story include happy and just endings.]

What made Arcane S1 a masterpiece was the Tragedy, and Vi's central place in it. She doesn't interact much with the magic plot, but she's right in the middle of both the sociological storytelling and several individual character arcs, and they're all pulling her apart. And that's what makes it all so compelling.

Vi accidentally or unwillingly becomes the catalyst for the collisions of Piltover vs Zaun, Vander vs Silco, and Powder vs Jinx. And she's torn between Vander's pacifism/defeatism and Zaun's rebelliousness, her hostility to Enforcers and her growing affection for Caitlyn, her hate for Silco and her love for Powder*, avenging the dead and protecting the living**, Caitlyn's vision of charity from above and Ekko's accomplishment of autonomy from below, saving Caitlyn and saving Powder (both from Jinx!), love and loyalty, guilt and revenge, topside and undercity.

There's a maelstrom of opposing forces and ideas, and all Vi wants to do is stand in front of her people and take the hit for them, raising her fists and blocking with her face like she always does. But who ARE her people, even? She's in the centre and she cannot hold: she's getting drawn and quartered by the actual themes of the story.

Like a true Tragic Hero™ (i.e. protagonist, heroism is irrelevant), she always chooses wrong. Not necessarily in the moral sense (though sometimes that too), but through a combination of tragic irony™ (when the character is unaware of a crucial piece of information) and coincidence: whatever she ends up doing, tragedy ensues. And it makes for a great story! Tragedy is a FANTASTIC medium if you do it right! And Season 1 did it perfectly.

But more to the point, it isn't about fatal character traits or random coincidences, it embodies all the social conflicts laid out in the story. All around Vi, the sociological storytelling converges with the psychological, and they both say the exact same thing: apply pressure to a society long enough, and the walls WILL come tumbling down. So the result is classic tragedy: any different choice could have prevented it, and yet it was inevitable. But the angle is specific: it's not the gods who are cruel and fickle. It's not our nature that's inescapable. It's not Fate that's implacable. It's History.

Season 2 didn't stand a chance in hell to be worthy of Season 1, unless League lore and all promotional goals were aggressively ignored. About half of it was worthy, I think, continuing seamlessly the earlier themes. But then the sociological storytelling was dropped from the forefront and eventually from view, Vi lost both her central place in the story and her internal conflict, and got a corny happy ending, there was SO MUCH flinching, and even the tragedy of Jinx's self-sacrifice was taken back (wink wink, she's alive).

I have many issues with Season 2 (and a lot of praise: parts of it were excellent, and the animation remained incredible throughout), but the main reasons it can't possibly compare to Season 1 is that in the end there wasn't enough Vi, and there wasn't enough tragedy.

Respectful hat tip to Ekko for filling in.

* Vi actually prioritises "bringing his bullshit empire down" over saving her sister from Silco, and voluntarily offers the name "Jinx" to the Council just to convince them to attack him.

** applies both to teen Vi choosing to surrender to the Enforcers, so that the Lanes won't fight and no one will get hurt (except her), and adult Vi putting her vendetta against Silco above everything: she gets Jayce to bring armed enforcers and Hextech weapons down to the undercity, and stands over the entirely predictable outcome of a dead child. Some of this obsession is fueled by hate for what Silco did to Vander and her siblings, but I think most of it is reflected guilt for what SHE did to Powder, which would never have happened if it weren't for Silco.

[synchodai]

That Arcane AU episode

S2E7, Pretend Like It's The First Time, is my favorite and most hated season 2 episode. I like it because it mirrors S1E7, The Boy Savior, my (and most people's favorite) episode: Ekko-centric, Silco stealing the show, gorgeous emotional choreography between Ekko and Jinx, a microcosm of its season's themes, etc.

I hate it because it is a microcosm of its season's themes and said themes contradict S1E7.

Let's talk about what The Boy Savior showed us:

Vi rediscovering her community and agency with the Firelights. For the first time in the series, Caitlyn is prisoner and Vi is the one with power over her, but Vi chooses to vouch for Caitlyn so that the Firelights ease up on her and agree to give the Hextech core back to the Piltover Council. This shows Vi and Caitlyn as equals with power and influence in two different realms that they use to move together towards a common goal. (Compare that to S2 where Vi is fully dependent on Caitlyn and contributes almost nothing in their mission to capture Jinx.)

Powder vs Jinx. Ekko tells Vi Powder is dead and only Jinx remains. Vi argues with him saying she can still save Powder. We see the seed of doubt she planted in Ekko sprout when he hesitates to kill Jinx on the Bridge of Progress when he sees Powder in her. (Inadvertedly, Vi saved Jinx's life here. Both Ekko and Vi are wrong because Jinx IS Powder.)

Zaun vs Jinx. Chem-Barons want Silco to hand over Jinx so that the Enforcers will lift their blockade. Sevika tells Silco Jinx is a liability in their mission for an independent Zaun. Silco refuses to hand over Jinx (because it's not a choice between Jinx or Zaun — Jinx IS Zaun, but that's a post for another day).

The Enforcer's brutality is shown in full force. Viktor argues with Jayce for ordering a blockade on the undercity. Ekko calls out Vi for the Enforcers treating people in the undercity like animals.

Why Silco fights for Zaun. He gives a whole speech about suffocating in the toxic fumes of the mines to reestablish his dominance and reaffirm Sevika's loyalty. He reminds them that just because they've had a taste of fresh air, it doesn't mean they should forget that they still all come from the dirt.

Jayce's moral spiral in the name of progress. He's tormented by his betrayal of Heimerdinger, calls on Enforcers to terrorize the undercity, alienates Viktor, and eventually makes the choice (with Mel's urging) to weaponize Hextech.

Ekko vs Jinx. The quick 3-minute scene on the Bridge of Progress did so much for Arcane's reputation. If you asked me what Arcane is about, I would point to that scene. It showed who Ekko is. It showed who Jinx is. It showed the history and relationship between them. It is a commentary on Zaun and its children. Every frame is literally a well-conceived painting. It placed Ekko and Jinx as foils — Ekko is what could be if everything went right and Jinx as what happened when everything went wrong.

Let's talk about what Pretend Like It's The First Time showed us:

Only Powder grieves Vi. Whether purposefully or otherwise, the episode paints Vi as someone who would have been better off as a child martyr. Mind you, in the original timeline, she was presumed dead at about the same age, but I suppose a teen languishing in prison doesn't have the same impact as a public tragedy with a visibly gruesome corpse. Vi's previously established connection with her community is diminished. They DID already mourn her and thought they lost her, and their grief was memorialized through a mural because they cared for HER. In S2, Ekko only paints a mural of Vi to placate Powder, implying that her sister was the only one to truly mourn Vi's passing.

Everyone is free to move to and from the Bridge of Progress. Where are the Enforcers? Why are they gone? Who's keeping out the undercity folks sick from mining gas from mingling with the topsiders? The episode doesn't care.

Silco's life is made better by forgiving Vander. This makes it seem that Silco turned to a life of crime out of spite for one person, when S1E7 had him make a whole monologue why he built his Shimmer empire in the first place. They were being poisoned in the mines — did him and Vander making up clear up all the toxic waste in the undercity? How? When they were younger and working together, Zaun was still polluted, so what's different now?

Perfection is either pretending problems never existed in the first place or everyone turning into lifeless statues. Ekko's version of a perfect world and Viktor's version of a perfect world are both heavily sanitized dystopias utopias that ignore history and come at the cost of sacrificing innocent people. The episode never interrogates this.

Ekko and Jinx. I love Stromae but that dance sequence does not live up to S1E7 at all. The animation consists of blurry and choppy frames — an unimaginative way to simulate the feeling of being in love. Ekko apologizes to Powder for being "consumed" by all the ways the undercity wasn't perfect and "giving up on it" WHEN HE NEVER DID. Maybe he gave up on trying to save Powder, but he kept fighting for the undercity. His flaw was (understandably) looking down on Jinx as an enemy and seperate from the undercity rather than someone who shared their plight. What Ekko had to overcome was seeing everyone as deserving of saving and not just establishing another gated community. He shouldn't have seen Jinx deserving of love only when she was Powder. He should have seen Jinx as Jinx (mental illness, full of shimmer, uncontrollable) and came to the realization she's still one of them.

TL;DR: The Boy Savior was supposed to throw the nickname in Ekko's face because instead of saving Jinx, he was already counting her out as a "necessary sacrifice" for their community to move forward. S1E7 tackled with the idea of having "necessary sacrifices" in the name of progress. Give them this problem child and save Zaun, give up on your sister and move on with your life, just sell out this person that no one cares about and is only a burden on society and everything would be hunky-dory. Silco said no, Vi said no, Ekko said yes and then hesitated (which still led to her death if Silco hadn't saved her). But the message is clear — you do not better your society by sacrificing a scapegoat. Jinx is a product of the evils of her environment, not the cause of it. Class solidarity and all that, something something we are closer to the homeless and the drug addicts than we are to the politicians and billionaires.

However, S2E7 affirmed that, yes, sometimes children do have to die and we do have to sacrifice people for the world to be a better a place. What a mess.

[kaoskuantico]

In case someone hasn’t seen Act III yet, ARCANE ACT III SPOILERS

Mirroring my previous post about things I hated about Season 2 (click), here's another list with the things I LIKED

The art, animation, soundtrack...I think we can all agree Arcane created a before and after in the Animation industry and artists all over the world (although I only liked Ashes and Blood, Isha's song and Remember Me. The rest are a bit meh for me)

Jinx realizing she can be a good person when she met Isha. And she almost realized she doesn't have to choose between Powder and Jinx personas, she's both.

Sevika bonding with Jinx, both of them mourning Silco and getting to work together. Jinx making a whole new arm for her, basically.

Vi realizing Jinx has good in her when she saw how Jinx treated Isha.

Ekko stopping Jinx from killing herself five times and being patient with her.

I don't like Timebomb, but the dance scene being at 4 fps representing Ekko's ability to rewind time 4 seconds was on top.

Ekko not even hesitating to find the way back home, choosing to leave this perfect life and timeline behind.

The pianist who went to the war. He wasn't made for this, but he chose to be there.

Loris leaving Vi when she pushed him away. Loris tried to help her, but she refused it, so he had to leave for his own good.

That Jinx's follower who first touched her shoulder in prison, dying just like that during the attack. I liked how they showed people were dying without it being spectacular, they're just gone.

Vi trusting in Jinx when Vander/Warwick found them in the mines and was berserk. Vi chose to hug him instead of fighting, as she has always done with every conflict.

Jinx's first action when she found out Vander is alive being to look for her sister and find him together, not wanting to commit the same mistake.

Jinx being unable to shoot Vi when she had the opportunity to do so, in Act I.

Sevika ignoring the original plan and protecting both Jinx and Isha.

The Jinx vs Vi fight from Act I, they weren't trying, at least not as hard as Sevika and Cait. Vi had Jinx at her mercy a few times but didn't kill her, and in the second half of the fight, Jinx basically only slaps her face.

Jinx and Vi's interaction in Act II. It felt refreshing, seeing them 'fight' in a much lighter tone.

Jayce telling Viktor there's beauty in imperfections, that he admired him. It contrasts with Viktor's desire to make everything perfect (but including Viktor's terminal disease was weird).

Viktor and Jayce meeting in every timeline, Jayce being Viktor's salvation.

Viktor saying that trying to heal Warwick was a risk worth taking.

Isha seeing Jinx beyond the Powder/Jinx dichotomy and being the one to bring that happy nature from her (I loved Jinx acting as commentator just to make it fun for Isha).

Jinx being OFFENDED because an enforcer insulted her pants.

Jinx using her new mechanical finger (with a face painted on it) to give the middle finger to the enforcer who hit on her.

Sevika knowing how much Isha meant for Jinx, and Sevika not making fun of her when Jinx had another hallucination (after months of not having them). Sevika looked concerned.

Jinx protecting Caitlyn in Act II (although Cait never did something similar for her).

Mel's story centered on her family and not any romance.

Jinx's skills with her gun and her enhanced abilities thanks to the shimmer. She's so cool with her gun and managed to stay on her feet against Warwick at the beginning.

Jinx writing her name on her cheek just like Vi did (and it's funnier because Jinx did it by following the image in the mirror).

The voice acting. Especially Ella Purnell (Jinx's voice actress). They're all perfect for the roles, and Ella's raspy voice is the cherry on top.

Powder in the other timeline still having the hallucinations but showing she became Jinx because of her environment. She's much healthier and se's a genius in both timelines, it's her environment which decides if she'll use it to create weapons or to have a fun science competition.

In Act II, when Jinx and Sevika go to save Isha and the others, when the Enforcer they want to use to get arrested and taken to Stillwater: I liked how she relaxed once she saw Jinx, not firing at her immediately and even...Having a normal conversation with her

The designs. They made Vi SO MUCH BETTER. And I absolutely love Jinx's design as well, they're so perfect

When they were fighting in the mines and Jinx slaps Vi's cheek, the cave glows. And then they start fighting pathetically on the floor like actual sisters and the cave glows at the rhythm of their hits xd

I'll keep updating the list for a few days.

[monsters00km]

I wanna talk about people fighting for Zaun. Bc i feel like they did interesting things as a show.

Vander.

Made a deal with the sheriff. That helped protect the people but wasn't good for the progres sof Zaun as a community/economy.

Silco.

Helped the economy of Zaun. But this really only benefitted the chem barons and himself. The people of Zaun were thrown into addiction and further into poverty.

Sevick.

Never really helps zaun on her own. She will have the opportunity now as a council member. But she mainly helped who she thought was Xauns best choice as a leader; Vander, Silco, then Jinx.

Chem barons.

We don't see them too much. But pretty sure they were kidnapping children in s2. Using child labor. And creating shimmer. So not helping Zaun.

Jayce.

He is interesting. Bc he fights for Zaun for a minute. Then, he kills a kid. And gives up. Then decides the best option is to hand zaun over to Silco. Who is not helping Zaun either. So he is just kinda throwing the problem away instead of working to fix it.

Viktor.

WANTS to help Zaun. But never does. Bc of piltover politics, hextech is to help piltover first. And jayce doesn't help in this matter.

The Council.

Not helping Zaun. Also SUPER ignorant to what is going on. Bc the last 2 sheriff's made deals with Zaunites to keep the council out of their business.

Cassandra Kiramman.

She cleaned the air. She is definitely ignorant of what is going on. But used her power and money to clean the air of Zaun bc she believed they deserved clean air.

Vi.

Doesn't help Zaun. Listen. This isn't a shot. It makes perfect sense. She gives herself up in s1 to stop a war between Zaun and piltover, bc of Powder. She always picks her family first. And then she spends 7 years in prison and is released into a world she doesn't know. She has no obligation to Zaun and I do not expect her to fight for Zaun.

Ekko.

Fights for Zaun. Like fully. Best boy. He is trying to stop the distribution of shimmer. But. Here is Ekkos but. He isn't powerful enough to stop it/ take on silco. He is focused on a brighter future. And it trying his hardest.

Caitlyn.

Ooo caitlyn. Actually, tries to help Zaun. Don't freak. It's true. She completes 2 of her 3 goals. Eliminates shimmer production. And the chembarons. Which is 2 things that are not good for the people of Zaun. Her methods are ehhh. But in reality. Ekko couldn't stop the source of his issues being shimmer, silco, and the chem barons. But Caitlyn does. But she also helps ambessa with martial law. Which is bad. But then she stops the use of solitary cells in stillwater. She also is the person who gives them a council seat.

Caitlyns journey with Zaun to me is so interesting. Bc in s1. We see her eyes open and her want to help is there. Then Jinx kills her mother. And she STRUGGLES. understandable. And she makes bad decisions. But then at the end she's making decisions to help zaun.

Jinx.

Helps Zaun on Accident. Yes. It needs to be said. Love her. But she had zero intentions of helping them. She becomes a symbol of hope bc she's the zaunite who attacked piltover TWICE and didn't get caught. But the first time was literally in anger about what they had done to her. And the second time was bc they were looking for her. When asked to help Zaun she said no. In fact she only helps AFTER Isha gets kidnapped. Then walks into those cells like a hero. When the only reason she is there is for Isha.

She is like Katniss Everdeen. Her goals are like survive and help little sister. And everyone around them are like... wow what a rebellious symbol. And I love this about them both. It's so real. Like i feel like alot of people who are symbols. Dont choose to be. And thats Jinx.

I just kinda wanted to talk about this. And see what other people thought. Mainly bc I feel like there is this standard of who helped zaun. And so much is overlooked or embellished.

[importantangelness]

Why i really wanted the amnesia original lore. It would have allowed future exploration of who Vi truly is, also the impact on Jinx’s and Caitlyn's stories. My arcane brain purge.

(For Vi) Vi's amnesia would have freed her from the guilt she carries from her families demise. We see her revolve her whole personality around protecting others, but if she loses her memory, we can actually answer the question the writers asked (who is vi if she has no one left to protect). I would have loved to see her create a life for herself-getting an apartment, finding a job. If she became an enforcer, this would be more believable since she forgot her family. LoL Vi is also much more carefree, joking around, and loose compared to the burdened, serious Vi we see in Arcane. How did she evolve into this different version? Perhaps amnesia could have explained this shift, making her a more independent character. After s2 it's clear that she has no one left but caitlyn creating this unhealthy dependency for caitlyn. The final line, where Vi says she is "the dirt under Caitlyn's nails," paints a picture of Vi living for Caitlyn, with no other purpose. So now vi is living in caitlyns mansion with caits dad who doesn't like vi. What if they fight? Will vi simply go down a drunk spiral because the last person she has doesn't want her anymore? It leaves Vi without her own identity, solely defined by Caitlyn's presence.

(For Caitlyn) we know the show hinted Caitlyn needed to sacrifice (cait and ambessa in ep 6) as a consequence of her actions. I thought her loss of Vi could have ALSO been a consequence of her actions. After Vi loses her memory, we could have gotten a parallel to the ep 4 meeting scene when vi says, "Who the hell are you?" However, the Vi that she fell in love with and the memories they had are both gone. But this doesn't have to be the end, we could see Caitlyn try to move on, only for fate to bring them back together and fall in love again. Ultimately, I would have loved to see Caitlyn and Vi's relationship develop in a way that allowed them both to be independent, find closure, and rediscover love in a more balanced, healthy way, free from the burden of their past. Also, the angst of them losing each other but eventually finding their way back to each other. Like imagine vi meeting caitlyn again, and she compliments her on her eye scar 😌.

(For Jinx) It would have been interesting if vi and Jinx had reconnected only for vi to her memory, having Jinx lose her sister all over again. This could have achieved the same dramatic impact without the need to introduce Isha. (Cuz what was the purpose of isha'a character other than hurtful character development by making jinx happy then suicidal). Also, if ekko knows theres a version where vi is dead, it could influence Jinx not to reveal to Vi that they are siblings post memory loss. By withholding that information, Jinx would relinquish any hope of a reunion, leaving Vi free to be with caitlyn or whatever vi chooses. That way both sisters have a chance at a new start. Vi with finding her own way and jinx with her new life with lux.

(Final remarks) Dead or alive Jinx ending was well written. If Jinx is alive, she will most likely make a new life with lux or other league characters. However, Vi's emotional journey feels unresolved. After s2, She'll always carry the weight of her family's fate, and if Jinx is alive, I don't believe Caitlyn will ever tell Vi about Jinx being alive. Caitlyn knows that if Vi learns the truth, she might either leave or go after Jinx, making Vi's line about being "dirt under Caitlyn's nails" even more poignant-it's not about Vi choosing Caitlyn; it's about her having no one else left. It would have been really interesting to see vi forget powder/jinx. Allowing jinx to become the menace to piltover, she is in LoL to try to get her sister to remember her again. I thought Arcane could have set up character stories of LoL rather than end the champions' stories.

If you made it this far here's my shayla ❤️‍🩹

[luminousdryad]

might just be me but I feel like Vi would've RAN out of that cell the second she was free to find her obviously suicidal sister and try to talk her out of it

I get that the point of Jinx telling her to "go be with her (Cait)" is for Vi to finally choose herself for once but when Vi was at her lowest during the pitfighter era, it was Jinx who brought her back by asking for her help with Warwick/Vander and through Jinx's gentleness with Isha, Vi finally saw Powder again and that's why she wondered if they could stay in Viktor's little haven

like I feel like these two never actually got to talk about certain things, like idk, Vi telling Jinx that it was Cait who got her out of prison, Jinx talking about how lost she is now that both Silco and Isha are gone, etc.

Ekko saving Jinx still could've worked, but Vi has to be the one to do it earlier

something that annoys me in Arcane is that for all the things they set up, the characters barely talk to each other about the issues (and when they do I feel like it's always glossed over or done offscreen; it was reasonable in S1 how Vi didn't know how to react during the tea party scene, but in S2? when she's had time to process what her sister has become?)

Vi going from determined to kill Jinx once and for all to pleading with her and telling her how much she loves her no matter what she becomes, no matter who she thinks she is, she will always be Powder to her (and maybe that she's sorry she failed to protect her and for being a bad sister to which Jinx can respond by refuting her words)

so when Jinx goes to end herself, she's more willing to hear Ekko out cause Vi, the person she's looked up to all her life and who takes priority even over Silco, finally told her she loved her unconditionally, echoing back to "I thought you could love me like you used to. Even though I'm different." And loving unconditionally doesn't mean tolerating their wrongs–it just means you care for them wholeheartedly despite the things they do. And for Jinx, who has always defined her worth by what she's able to do for people... that's exactly what she needs to hear to think twice.

(Vi's words are her anchor; Ekko's encouragement pulls her back to the surface)

[wildlybewitched]

This video is kind of a mixed bag, including even some small details I'm not sure I agree with - like does shimmer increase Jinx's insanity? idk. And of course I don’t view Jinx as a villain. I still hold that I don't think she was set up to be the central antagonist for S2, despite crowning herself as Jinx at the end of S1. I did always think/want there to be some redemption/healing for her character in relation to her and Vi (not Piltover, and not turning back to Powder - from my post the other day I realized there are a lot of ways to understand what redemption would look like for Jinx hah).

Anyway, there are a lot of good points too. Like, how she just is instantly removed from all the politics of the show, which I see is often commented on in discussions saying she was never political but I disagree. I don't think that's the Jinx that we saw in S1. It's obvious that the whole distraction with Isha and her unwillingness to do anything for Zaun (which was the dream of her last two father figures, her sister, and her friends when they were all young), is just the writers prepping her character to end up fighting for Piltover (barf). Like this is not the character that was left orphaned by Enforcers as a little girl in S1. Ugh, I can't believe S1 gave us strong voices from so many sides of this conflict just for it all to be flatted to "love and forgiveness fixes everything" and with no payoff.

I agree with him that the show was trying so hard to get away from the original Piltover/Zaun conflict which is why Sevika, the chem barons, Mel, and Ekko are so removed (well in Ekko's case they have to send him to another universe). And then it's insane that after months of occupation Zaun would come to Piltover's defense - that's obvious.

I like this line about Isha "you're telling me through the sheer cuteness of this child all of her mental issues practically disappear" lol fr. It was so cheap to create a character, dial up the "cuteness" factor literally just to tug on a few heartstrings when she’s killed off. She was literally created just to die and it doesn't have nearly the same weight as character deaths in S1. And why did she die for Warwick to still live I literally don’t get it.

Other complaints, is the unsatisfying reunion between Jinx and Vi over Vander/Warwick. It's like the writer's forgot how to write meaningful dialog. How Jinx is captured off screen (and really sooo much is offscreen). Something I hadn’t thought much about is how even Vi and Jinx fighting Warwick at the end doesn’t even feel like the central story anymore and they’re sidelined.

Also he points out the blaring plot holes that have been mentioned before as to why no one seems to know that Jinx killed Silco and how that is just soooo convenient to their shitty plot line. And why didn't Jinx just kill Caitlyn and Vi at the tea party just to decide to kill them later? I don't agree with him that she choose to kill Silco, I think it was incidental, but I agree that it all just makes his death feel super pointless.

[vole-mon-amour]

1x09, part 3.

I'm so sad for him. He would literally forgive her ANYTHING.

He's TERRIFIED at the idea of losing her. And he's so right, Vi can't bring back Powder. It was so obvious when Jinx lit a fire & Vi got a taste of what Jinx is like these days. Vi wouldn't be able to control her, nor would she be able to love her when she's like this. The problem is, it IS her nowadays. There is no Powder anymore. It's such a fucking tragedy that Silco dies.

Honestly, say it, Silco. V is into Caitlyn now way more than she is into Jinx. Actually, she's not into Jinx at all. Again, there is NO Powder. Every time Vi calls her that, I cringe. I can't stand that name, it's simply not her. Just like Silco says, "that girl does not exist anymore".

And it's only them, you see? And she's his daughter, you see? ;______; The way he loves her, help. ;___; The look he gives her. It doesn't fucking matter she kidnapped him and tied him up and gagged him, he doesn't fucking care, he only wants her and he wants her to stay with him. ;_____; All the walls around him fall apart for her sake. He's the most vulnerable with her.

"I'll never forsake you." The voice acting. The animation. I feel unwell.

Gods, he's so scared she will leave him. So confused about her dropping her gun.

He's like a caged animal when he grabs Jinx's gun. Vi only made it worse for Jinx. But yeah, just like Jinx said, it's up to Vi if she gets Jinx or Powder, and Vi's shouting and SIlco's death sealed the deal.

She really caresses behind his ear as he's bleeding out. Oh, the fucking tragedy. ;___;

"Don't cry. You're perfect." FUCK OFFFFF. The pain is real and I am feeling it. Like, no stills or gifs can truly makes you feel the same if you don't remember the tone of his voice, the feelings in his voice.

"I hope you know we had everything, When you broke me and left these pieces."

Honestly, the difference between Jinx getting Vander killed and Jinx getting Silco killed is that Vi means it and she leaves her. Yes, they were kids, full stop. She gave into those emotions, though. For the moment, she hated Jinx & she meant it. She can never love Jinx.

Jinx kills Silco? He tells her not to cry. He tells her JINX is perfect. She kills him and yet, she's his entire word. "I'll never forsake you. <...> I never would have given you to them. Not for anything." and he MEANS it. As he bleeds out while she holds his face, he tells her not to cry and that she's PERFECT.

"'Cause I, I was meant to be yours."

Yeah, they can all burn, indeed.

V is so confused because how can her sister feel all those feelings for Silco? How can she cry for him? He's a monster, he deserved to die, didn't he? Yeah, she just doesn't understand. Fuck. (breaks down) I love Silco so much.

"Even though I'm different." That's exactly the problem. Vi can't love her as she is now. Silco could. He did.

I'm going to miss him so much.

I hope she doesn't die in s2 (or turns into something that's completely unrecognizable). I really fucking hope so. ;____; And man, Silco is so beautiful. Was? Anyway.

She's alive! My girl is alive! Maybe she'll take over the undercity without Silco? "What we could've been." right when they focus on her and Silco's empty chair. Gods. I'm hurting. The song at the end is absolutely perfect and I can't stop crying.

Oh, Ekko found himself a friend. Oh, what could've been, indeed. This is such a great alliance because Ekko is somewhat a scientist himself and he's open-minded and he has nothing to gain, so he gladly shares about his experience with Heimerdinger.

The animation is incredible. And Vi still chooses Caitlyn over Jinx. Like I said she would. :(

Even Viktor looks hopeful. Season 2, "Devastating"? "No one is going to be happy after watching it"? Oh, they're going to break me.

[pzychojinx]

I’m so glad I’m not the only one pissed off with how they pretty much set Jinx back to square one after so much wonderful (albeit rushed) growth in the first act of season 2. I know Arcane isn’t the type of show to offer the easy way out in its story or characters but come on, they didn’t have to do that and just to add salt to the wound, kill her and act like that’s a good thing.

yeah. yeah, 100%. obviously the pacing has been rushed all season and that's an issue in itself but personally, I loved her growth for the first half of season two. I loved the idea that choosing the Jinx chair at the end of season one made her accept Jinx. I loved that she was more present, less in her head, that she was grieving and depressed, yes, but also less at war with her identities. I loved Silco's 'Have you had enough?' as a guiding core concept. I was head over heels about Isha, about getting to heal Jinx's inner child through her. and the thing is, even though killing off Isha for no real reason is essentially misery porn, they still could have saved Jinx's arc from there. when Ekko says "It's never too late to build something new", that single phrase could have been the core of her arc conclusion. it fits a lot thematically with what we've seen of her growth before: after she lost Silco, she still found something new almost by accident through Isha and Sevika. she grew past the conflict Powder/Jinx by embracing herself as Jinx first and healing Powder through Isha later. she built new bonds. she even built new goals for herself and new perspectives through the entire Zaunite symbol thing (which of course was rushed and went nowhere, but still). and like, ok, now you killed off Isha and you got Jinx at her lowest and that was unnecessary but it doesn't undo her arc. now let's send this core message of re-building and have her heal slowly again!! since the audience has seen her heal and grow before and they know this is possible for her!!! instead they just ??????? did that. yeah. a sad ending nonetheless has to be earned and what they did wasn't earned at all. it was just a very easy cop-out with a terrible message underneath which is even more frustrating when you consider that A) she's definitely alive cause Riot Games wants her as a money grab in future projects and therefore B) they could have easily given her a narratively cohesive conclusion instead of opting for whatever the fuck that was lmao.

[themattress]

Arcane's second season was shakier than the first, but still hit way more than it missed.

With that said, there is one part of it that I am really, really disappointed in.

(SPOILERS BEHIND CUT)

Jinx.

So, the concept for Arcane and whatever shows follow it is that it's the reality behind the world and characters seen in League of Legends. Legends have to come from somewhere, after all, and we see how they came to be in Arcane. And that works...except for Jinx.

In the first season, there was no such problem. It was masterful in being an origin story for Jinx, concluding with her choosing her path and becoming the nihilistic, psychopathic terrorist that would become legendary for her evil deeds. But similarly to Joker: Folie a Deux and how it handled its title character, the second season displayed great narrative cowardice by backtracking on this. It didn't do it immediately, mind you - Act 1 still had Jinx as she was where we left her, someone whose sole motivation in life is to "watch it all burn". She's not pure evil, as displayed by her bonds with Sevika and Isha, but she's also not redeemable.

Yet then Act 2 starts and she's suddenly become this inspiring symbol of resistance for Zaunites even though her actions have made things objectively worse for them by every metric. She resists this label only to later embrace it, becoming a "big fat hero" as she puts it. Then we get the revelation of Warwick being Vander, which is followed by Jinx reconciling with Vi and basically becoming Powder again, which is followed by her heroically saving Caitlyn's life, which is followed by her losing Isha which turns her suicidal only to be talked down from it by Echo which is followed by the finale where....well, if you're reading this far you probably already know. And all of this is executed pretty well, but it begs the question:

"How the fuck did any of that result in THIS being the public perception of Jinx!?"

How did the legend of Jinx become her as a villain and not her as a hero? She had already become viewed as a hero by Zaun even when she technically wasn't one, and then she played a huge and very flashy role in saving Piltover during the final battle, meaning they should also see her more positively now! There is no logical reason that the narrative of her as a loony terrorist who blows shit up for the lolz should be the one enshrined into legend.

And what hurts is that no other character has this issue. Vi, Caitlyn, Jayce, Viktor, Ekko, Heimerdinger, Singed, Warwick, not to mention the inevitable Mel legend that's going to be added to the game like her mother was...you can totally track how their legendary characters were shaped even if it's not wholly reflective of reality with a lot of nuances missing. But Jinx now has a huge disconnect between the person and the legend that doesn't make any sense.

Like I said, it feels like narrative cowardice. The ending of Season 1 had Jinx choosing the "Jinx" chair over the "Powder" chair, telling Vi things can never go back to how they were between them, and then has her let out a scream as she fires her bazooka at Piltover which was clearly meant to symbolize Powder's death cry; through committing this act, Jinx is killing what was left of her old self. The natural follow-up to this was for her to stay as she was presented in Season 2's Act 1 - no morality, no grander purpose, just living for chaos. But Jinx became popular, including with the writers, and they didn't want to commit to the tragedy they'd so excellently built up. It's such a letdown. Arcane and Jinx both deserved a lot better.

[ekko]

ekko's time travel and z-drive is portrayed really inconsistently across league media, which is fine because it's just consequence of different writing teams. and half of the joy of writing league of legends is having the freedom to pick and choose what interpretations you like best! so a brief compilation of my thoughts and all notes of my specific portrayal of ekko.

i don't like that ekko only got his hands on the z-drive in season two. i was originally under the impression that he had it in season one, as the way the fight between him and jinx appeared to be portraying that ekko had gotten shot by her (artistically being censored with them play fighting as children), and then ekko reversing time in order to out maneuver her. ekko has his z-drive far before any event similar to arcane season two.

ekko originally released with a comic called chronobreak, in which ekko discovers the corpse of his friend named ajuna and tries over and over to rewind time to prevent his death. in this comic, we can infer that ekko's z-drive has the capacity to go backwards in time to upwards of five minutes. he tries multiple different routes, but is only ever able to find ajuna a minute before he passes. in one timeline, he murders the piltie who killed ajuna, but ultimately chooses to rewind time and spend ajuna's final moments holding him and saying goodbye. (my mobile banner is ajuna's goggles from the comic! which ekko chose to keep. he has similar keepsakes of jinx and vi as well, i think.)

^ both of these scenarios are really important to my ekko, i think! they're really well done. as such, my interpretation of ekko can go backwards up to seven minutes at a time (it has since improved since the ajuna incident), but the reliability of such is faulty. he can only safely and consistently go back for a minute, and he tries not to go further if he doesn't have to.

ekko cannot healthily cope with grief. he has not properly mourned the loss of powder, or vi, or ajuna, or anyone he's lost. he tirelessly works on the z-drive because he believes that one day he will be able to turn back time far enough to prevent what happened to powder, to save ajuna from death. he refuses to grieve them.

i was waiting for arcane to wrap up because i thought they might reveal ekko's real name, since they stated in ekko's original champion AMA that ekko is not his real name and instead an alias given to him by his friends. they didn't reveal it, obviously, so i'm taking the liberty of doing it myself. i saw one singular person on reddit speculating that the "tuff tuff" jinx writes in the arcane artbook and on ekko's jacket might allude to his real name as a nickname, and i think that's cute! ekko's real name is teffis. the only people who would be aware of this are jinx and vi. his mother also affectionately refers to him as tuff or tuft. ekko is horribly embarrassed.

i don't think i've stated it anywhere, but my ekko is also trans! he's also post-op, thanks to a shady undercity doctor. he has some gnarly scars for it. teffis is not his deadname, but the name he chose for himself as a young boy.

[gachagon]

Truly wild to think that there's no timeline or universe where Jinx and Vi can ever be happy together at the same time. Even in a universe where everything almost went right, Vi isn't there to see it. She doesn't get to see a Zaun that's not ravaged by shimmer, she doesn't get to see Vander and Silco reconcile, she doesn't get to see the kind of person Powder grows up to be and how amazing Powder makes the Undercity by just being alive and there and helping people etc.

When Vi tells Caitlyn that she "always chooses wrong every single time" it just wrecks me because she's right, in every timeline she will always choose the people she loves over anything. She only goes to Jayce's house because she wants to help her family, that's the thing that will always drive her no matter what. So the fact that there's no universe, even one that's ALMOST perfect, that Vi can be happy in also just confirms that there is no universe where she wouldn't choose Powder over everything. And that's heartbreaking but also so, so touching and sweet and really shows how deep their bond is.

Now technically I guess you could imagine a world where everything DOES go right, but I think the writers chose to show the two extremes for a reason. Jayce got stuck in a world where everything went wrong, and Ekko got sent to a world where everything went right. Almost right.

And Vi's not there to see it at all. I think the writer's added this episode because so many fans for years have speculated what would've happened that day if Vi never left Powder, if Powder didn't mess with that hextech, if Ekko never even told them about Jayce's apartment etc.

And this episode was the answer to one of those "what if's" basically.