#arcane 2x07

[akascow]

dUDE okay pls watch this closely omg ??

LIKEEEE zaundads GAY AS HELL and it was lowkey highkey confirmed canon (this au concept at least) in the OFFICIAL ARTBOOK bUT its SO OBVIOUS W THE LIL DETAILS HERE AND IM LOSING MY MARBLES over this THIRTY SECOND clip UGH OKAY OKAY here:

ONE- not totally captured here BUT vander was fkn making silco’s drink before he was even back there or in frame omfg dude. also silcos gay lil drink cup HAHA

TWO- THE WAY THEY SMILE AT EACH OTHER WHEN SILCO WALKS IN brUH thats straight ROMANCE AND AFFECTION right there

THREE- silco basically DRAPING himself over vander and his finger playing on vanders shoulder pad OUGHH

FOURRR- silcos hand literally NEVER LEAVES VANDERS SHOULDER (watch his hand the whole time im going fucking nuts dude) even when he pulls its back a lil when ekko calls out vander for trying to kill him, AND U CAN SEE SILCOS FINGER tenderly move around a bit again OMFGGGG

FFFFIVE- the way they LOOK INTO THE OTHER’S EYES AND SMILE when silco says “greatest thing we can do in life is find the power to forgive” and vander is just standing there the whole time lovingly smiling at his beautiful husband WTFFFF they literally look like theyre about to MAKE OUT like damn

SIX ! AND mOST IMPORTANTLYYYYY- BENZO going aGH and giving Ekko A LOOK,, after that line... WHICH IS SUCH A “jesus christ you two.. in front of my SALAD ?? get a fucking ROOM” THING TO DO omfGGGG this guy has been 3rd wheeling them FOR DECADESSS

👇🏻still shots under the cut if u just wanna stare at them like i do:

and a gif i guess HAHA

[evviejo]

POWDER in ARCANE 2x07 Pretend Like It's the First Time

[halyasgirl]

Seeing Silco in 2x07 “Pretend Like It’s the First Time” was shocking not because his face was unscarred (we’d seen what his face looked like before), but because he was healing. He was secure and content with his place in the world, surrounded by people who respected and loved him. He was happy. He’d made peace. When Ekko brings up Vander’s murder attempt, it’s Vander who flinches, not Silco. “Greatest thing we can do in life is find the power to forgive.”

And I can’t think of anything more different from the Silco we knew, grasping, clawing for something that would always be denied him, consumed by the pain of the literal and symbolic festering wound eating him from the inside out.

And what might be sadder is that this person we briefly saw may be closer to Silco as he was for most of his life, before he was turned into a monster. As Vander once said, “You had my respect, the Lanes’ respect.” Before the cycle of violence consumed them both.

(But it seems, in every life, Silco will find a way to be a father to Jinx, whatever name she goes by).

[aliferousdreamer]

so that's it huh

[morally-gay-villain]

ok so genuine question, cause perhaps either i’m not caught up with the game lore or i missed something in the show… but if ekko didn’t have any indication of unlocking his 4-seconds time reversal until late into the second season, then why did he even have the hourglass painted on his face in the first place this whole time — and why, ironically, would he not have it upon making that discovery?

[twiilys]

"Ma meilleure ennemie" by Stromae & Pomme - translation

how everyone's yeah me too. here's the lyrics (+ english translation) to that beautiful song playing in ep 7 :)

"Ma meilleure ennemie" ("My best enemy" note: this is in the feminine form, so implying a female You for all of Stromae's part)

Je t’aime je t’attends

(I love you, I await you) -> loops, sound crackling/electronic

[STROMAE]

T'es la meilleure chose qui m'est arrivée

(You're the best thing that happened to me)

Mais aussi la pire chose qui m'est arrivée

(But also the worse thing that happened to me)

Le jour où je t'ai rencontrée j'aurais peut-être préféré

(The day I met you I maybe would have preferred that)

Que ce jour ne soit jamais arrivé (arrivé)

(That day had never happened (happened))

La pire des bénédictions

(The worst of blessings)

La plus belle des malédictions

(The most beautiful of curses)

De toi je devrais m'éloigner

(From you I should distance myself)

Mais comme dit le diction

(But as the saying goes)

« Plutôt qu’être seul mieux vaut être mal accompagné »

(“Instead of being alone, better be in bad company”) -> note: the usual saying is "Mieux vaut être seul qu'être mal accompagné" (= "Better be alone than in bad company"))

[BOTH]

Tu sais ce qu’on dit

(You know what they say)

[STROMAE]

« Soit près de tes amis les plus chers »

("Be close to your dearest friends”)

[BOTH]

Mais aussi

(But also)

[POMME]

« Encore plus près de tes adversaires »

("Closer still to your opponents”)

REFRAIN

Je t’aime je t’attends

(I love you, I await you) -> in the background, sound crackling/electronic, grows in intensity during the refrain. I'd say the "I love you" part is the most clear

[STROMAE]

Mais ma meilleure ennemie c’est toi

(But my worst enemy it’s you)

Fuis-moi

(Run from me)

Le pire c’est toi et moi

(The worst is you and me)

[POMME]

Mais si tu cherches encore ma voix

(But if you still search for my voice)

Oublie-moi

(Forget me)

Le pire c’est toi et moi

(The worst is you and me)

Pourquoi ton prénom me blesse

(Why does your name hurt me)

Quand il se cache

(When it hides)

Juste là dans l’espace ?

(Right here in the space)

C’est quelle émotion... la haine

(What feeling is this, hatred)

Ou la douceur quand j’entends ton prénom ?

(Or sweetness/softness when I hear your name?)

Je t’avais dit

(I had told you)

« Ne regarde pas en arrière »

("Don’t look back")

Le passé qui te suit te fait la guerre

(The past that’s following you is waging war on you)

REFRAIN

[BOTH]

Mais ma meilleure ennemie c’est toi

(But my best enemy it’s you)

Fuis-moi

(Run from me)

Le pire c’est toi et moi

(The worst it’s you and me)

Mais ma meilleure ennemie c’est toi

(But my best enemy it’s you)

Fuis-moi

(Run from me)

Le pire c’est toi et moi

(The worst it’s you and me)

Je t’aime je t’attends

(I love you, I await you) -> loops until the abrupt end of the song, sound crackling as Pomme vocalises

[shorlinesorrows]

just finished arcane 2x7 and i am

Unwell

it's only going to get worse from here, isn't it?

[southsidestory]

I figured out how to get both my Jinx ships!

2x07 AU Powder + Main Timeline Ekko = Timebomb

Main Timeline Jinx + 2x07 AU Silco = Jilco

Fic writers, make it happen!!

[mistsofavalon13]

The moment that french song started playing in 2x07, my sis and I both took one second before almost simultaneously saying “is that fucking STROMAE?!?”

[certaindreamchopshop]

I can answer that, but first I’ve gotta address a fundamental issue I have with this stance that I think is way too common throughout media discourse:

No, something is not “filler” just because it’s “unnecessary to the plot.”

Storytelling is about more than plot. It’s about theme, and tone, and character. Plot is ONE ingredient on the story sandwich and I’m tired of seeing people dismiss a piece of art because it’s not making the plot move fast enough.

If you’re watching a tv show and your primary concern is the speed at which plot points happen, I think you need to realign how you look at stories.

Even then, calling the episode “unnecessary to the plot” is BONKERS to me because it’s absolutely vital to the plot. Jayce’s experience and what it leads him to do is literally the only reason that the back end of the season unfolds the way it does, and Ekko’s creation of the Z-Drive is integra to stopping Viktor the only reason Jinx is on the board at all throughout the finale.

You could not take away this episode without effecting the plot.

That out of the way- “Pretend Like It’s The First Time” is an extremely important part of Arcane’s thematic tapestry, maybe one of the most important. In a show known for being relentless in how it crushes its characters and viewers emotionally, leaving very little space for joy or levity or hope, 2.07 is about letting Ekko experience those now-alien feelings, and about how that gives him perspective to see the value and potential in his own life/world, which he’d block himself off from.

By contrast, it’s also about letting Jayce experience firsthand the horrendous consequences of his prior blind optimism. Jayce needs to become more jaded in exactly the way Ekko needs to have some faith restored.

Conversely, Ekko’s part of the story isn’t just about being “taught a lesson” by his visit to another world. It’s about what Ekko can bring TO that world with his preexisting perspective. It’s about how even if this alternate world seems perfect at a glance, the impact it makes on Ekko is reciprocal.

It’s about Ekko’s relationship with time, literally but also figuratively, and how that’s changed by this experience.

It’s not filler. It’s vital character progression for two of our central ensemble.

It’s about the potential that Ekko and Jayce’s world still has, about how it’s never too late to fix something or to forgive or to self-improve.

That push-pull of optimism and cynicism, hope and fear, it leads both characters to a place of (relative) temperance, and if either Jayce or Ekko did not experience exactly what they did, exactly how they did, then they don’t reenter their world with any meaningfully changed perspective and the climax of the series plays out very differently.

It’s a sharp, tight, smartly written, thematically dense visually beautiful piece of television where no dialogue or visual is wasted, where the alternate versions of our cast lend a sense of perspective we might not otherwise get on the versions we’re familiar with.

It offers something that the rest of the show doesn’t and frankly can’t, by design, and with as little malice as possible I think to dismiss it as filler/fanservice you have to be at least on some level a little obtuse.

Genuinely what do people like about s2 ep 7 besides the (almost entirely Timebomb) fanservice?

Wasn't the whole episode pretty unnecessary to the plot? Like Ekko makes the Z-drive and Jayce learns what the Arcane is all about (which we dont need an entire episode to learn about), but the rest is filler? Especially when the season is already so rushed? Might just be the worst decision of season 2 yet.

[lumitradora]

[evviejo]

Sometimes taking a leap forward means leaving a few things behind.

[halyasgirl]

In Ekko's Good Timeline, instead of a period where Powder transformed into Jinx, I think there must've been a period where Act I Silco became Alternate Silco.

By Act I Silco had already become cruel, spiteful, and vindictive, among other qualities. I've seen speculation that this particular reformation was spurred by Silco discovering The Letter, which is possible, but I think it's likely that losing Vi could've pushed Vander to recover whatever family he had left, by any means necessary.

I don't know how this happened, how many attempts Vander made. I definitely don't know what Vander's grieving, traumatized children thought of Vander bringing (dragging) Silco into their family, as if he could fill the hole Vi left. But I do think Powder would have been the first to accept his place with them, even before Silco himself. Whether that was trailing after him to make sure he came home for dinner, or risking Enforcers to take ophthalmology texts from Piltover's Academy library, or gently refusing to gouge out Vander's eye, when her asking what would make him feel better received a rather graphic response, Powder would refuse to let him go.

And it would go both ways, eventually. Powder's brilliant, but insecure. But when she developed a less harmful alternative to Shimmer, Silco trusted her to inject her concoction into his eye. She was the only one allowed.

Vi used to say she could fix anything. Powder may not be able to fix her family, but she can try to help them heal, in every sense of the word.

[aliferousdreamer]

fuck it, have a timebomb playlist ⏱️💣

thanks to anyone who listens!! ♡♡♡

[morally-gay-villain]

do you ever think about the possibility that ekko in the alternate timeline (since he was there for a while) tried to go find the pink-haired firelight girl to see if she was alive & well? because i sometimes do wonder.

[fluffypotatey]

2x07 has me like: man 🫠

imagine an alternate world where peace between Piltover and Vaun was met and there was no worry for hextech corruption and Vander is alive and Benzo is alive and Mylo is alive and Claggor is alive and Powder can smile without fear of her sanity

but it is at the cost of Vi’s life

imagine the world and love you wanted to create with your technology. that you and your partner sought is possible but it’s in a timeline where you no longer exist