#arcane episode 15

[ifeelhuman]

:’(

and that was the end of act 2 from season 2 of arcane. all the devastation and brief reprieve. let’s get into it.

this is another review that will be more character-focused. starting with Singed/Dr. Revek, he is real interesting. beyond Silco and Viktor, we haven’t really seen him work much with others. in particular this season, he’s been operating alone in his experiments and procedures. his compliance in/to work with Ambessa is intriguing—especially since when Warwick arrived at Still Water decided to stay in his cell for reasons undisclosed. he even says he expected Caitlyn or Ambessa to find him. he also mentions in the same line in the previous episode that “it’s always the same look, when one covets a weapon.” but… did he really rebuild Vander into the murderous Warwick just to get in the graces with one such as Mother Medarda and as a result have full reign to do as he pleases? it’s possible and likely probable; he is only after a “cure” to death for his daughter, after all. perhaps with him being able to work without fear of persecution he believes he will get ever-closer to said cure. also also, when he was left alone with Vander he, out of sight (after the killing of Viktor), injected his newest solution made specifically to “inhibit” Viktor’s work on Vander… was this the plan all along as well? the cells and essence that Singed was referring to in his conversation with Viktor to keep him going and unable to perish… was he to one day kill his creation and his offer to Viktor was empty and really just for his daughter? i’m onboard to believe this is such the case. hell, even Viktor saw his true intentions in that convo were solely for his daughter. what he is doing now after the end of this episode is anyone’s guess given that Vander may be no more (tbd).

Vander. in such a short 3 episodes and 3 episode teases in act 1… he was brought back in the most barbaric of ways just to be destroyed by Isha. now, we’ve seen him regenerate nigh-instantly but i don’t know if he survived this kind of explosion but we shall see. speaking of what we see… during the montage with Viktor working day after day on Vander’s recovery and the return of his psyche we get glimpses of his past to beautiful, emotional music. we also see more of Vi and Powder from before the first episode of the show with their parents 💔. for Vander to be privy to some scenes he literally wasn’t present for (as some of the flashback scenes were not from his perspective), Felicia and/or Connel had to have had a close and meaningful relationship with Vander to share such memories with him. it’s sad… that these memories are some of the happiest we see the characters *ever* but lines up with the narrative of the show. i was rather nervous when Cait tried to raise Vander from slumber (?) because i was worried he may lash out and maim or harm her but thankfully, due to Viktor’s influence, that didn’t take place. and for the fight between Rictus and Jinx to not influence him either UNTIL Jinx’s life is in peril does he involve himself—in a human way, speaking his first and only sentence since he told Vi to take care of Powder. but it’s all for not, it seems. in a depiction of absolute agony, profusely leaking what looks to be literal lava, he wails and is clearly in pain. in this state he takes out Rictus—likely knowing that if he died again that Rictus still wouldn’t give up on trying to hurt his family. so he makes sure that doesn’t happen. oh but for him to go out again in such a short time in the manner than took place… :(.

Caitlyn. she kind of took a backseat during this episode despite having a change take place and change the convergence of the plot. we have started to see her stand against Ambessa rather than with her a few times since episode 4 so her change was expected—just was a matter of when. her trading words on different virtues(?) of combat, “too much force exposes you to risk,” was foreshadowing it was going to take place in this episode. upon seeing Vi, she kind of reverts back to the person she was when she was with Vi before the occupation of Zaun, especially when hearing “cupcake” as her pet name again. she still possesses her elite detective skills tho. just from Vi being in the same place as the destination of the beast they’re seeking + Vi saying she’s there to try and save her dad you can see it on her face that she recognizes that the beast and Vi’s dad are one and the same. and saving a parent (especially with Cait losing one of hers still very recently) is definitely something Caitlyn can get behind. so she does. gives Vi the lay of Ambessa’s operation, devises a plan with Cait + doesn’t tell her Jinx is involved, and even helps Vi fool Ambessa despite knowing how utterly capable she is in all manners of combat and war. as of the end this episode i’m certain their partnership is no more and there will be consequences. how Piltover may hear about or see this is to be seen.

Ambessa (and Rictus). Rictus is always by her side, nearly just as capable, and would die for her. and he does just that. his fight scene with Jinx was brief but memorable and revealing. he suspected Caitlyn’s deceit (and Ambessa probably did too tbh) and nearly foiled the counter-plans in motion but no. Ambessa lists out specific core principles that Noxians hold in high regard to all else. specifically referring to strength and a new, most impressive one: sacrifice. when she brings up sacrifice i imagine knowing that Caitlyn doesn’t fully trust her that she’s trying to say that if Caitlyn doesn’t throw *everything she is* into finding Jinx and restoring peace then all will be lost. at least that’s the subtext i picked up on. speaking of subtext, on the opposite side of the coin is the obvious and most obtrusive: Ambessa’s desire (and honestly, likely lust) for war. arriving at the commune she plants a staff/spear in the ground, resolute in getting what she wants here in this scene and she wants the monster, wants the meet the herald (and possibly acquire or supersede his power), and wants to find Jinx because once she’s found and “justice” is served, the war will be over and she can make use of Hextech in her own feats again Black Rose. not only did she not expect more anticipate Cait’s defection, she also didn’t see her siding with Vi until the moment was too late. Rictus, though, doesn’t get her out of the electric net she’s restrained in (because he followersd Cait out of the tent) so it leads me to wonder how she got out. it isn’t important to the overall narrative though—likely a Noxiaj solider went into the tent at some point (because Ambessa said “ready our forces for tonight” and wanted to let her know they were ready to head out, i suppose). Rictus slams into Cait after she incapacitates Singed and chokes her out, making it clear they action + dialogue that he intends to end her life in that moment. Jinx !! of all people saves her !! but it was part of Vi’s plan and a certainly the part she was talking about with Jinx when referring to the fact that she wasn’t going to like it. Vander saves Jinx and as they embrace and Vi walks in to the greenhouse. Cait, a vessel of rage and empathy, doesn’t take the moment to try and kill Jinx but doesn’t hide her disdain either. once a disintegrating Vander mauls Rictus, Caitlyn knows all hell is about to break loose and she looks at Ambessa as she launches her army into attack. during Viktor’s short monologue, we see Ambessa angry and hate-filled over Rictus’s body. i’ve omitted this in other reviews but it’s increasingly likely that these two had something intimate going on of *some* nature, whatever it was. guess we shall see to what degree if significant enough in the next act.

Jayce. he has gone THROUGH IT, fr. and we haven’t even seen a glimpse or gotten much of a tease of what his path was between episode 3 and the end of the last episode. there isn’t much i want to talk about here with him except this: ; (nearly) every time Jayce encounters someone with whom Viktor has touched and healed with the arcane, he gets a vision, an abstract insight into whatever “true form” these people have or posses now. something that those who have not touched the Arcane can tell or experience or even fathom. i found myself pausing consistently throughout the episode and to give a description in my own words… these… “people” he’s seeing are more akin to statues or mannequins than those of the flesh. they are rock or stone-like, with heads that appear hollow but bridge into a crown atop what would be a cranium. they also posses no eyes or other human features besides that their overall form is based on humans and bipedal. what Jayce is seeing, whatever the wild rune put him through, and his guilt too, honestly (and commitment we hear as echoes in his mind) lead him to take out Viktor in an explosive beam/burst of Arcand energy and thus hopefully end Hextech. we don’t know what happens with Jayce after but he has seemingly succeeded. so far.

Viktor. we finally, FINALLY get the definitive proof here in this episode that Sky is somewhat, somehow “alive” as a literal part and/or integration of Viktor as a result of his fusion with the Arcane. which means Sky became a part of the Hexcore in episode 7 or 8 of last season, never truly “died.” since then, she has been guiding him in all that he hoped to achieve. however we also know Viktor’s personality and mind/souk changed after his fusion—i wonder if Viktor and Sky are even the same people they were before. narratively speaking, it probably does not matter but am curious nonetheless. at the beginning of this episode both of them are entranced and excited by a singularity that has the trait of chaos. i have no doubt that this part, intentionally included here (right before the portal closed/because a black hole could be thought of as a portal and theoretically contains a singularity at its core) is important and will play a part in the next act, despite Viktor/Sky “dying.” even if they are dead, the Arcane definitely is not. no way.

Vi and Jinx. together (but not… kinda). in this episode they do all they can to help Vander, even bring him to a “metal fortune cookie” (Jinx’s words lol) despite in the hope that this long-heard about healer can do his work on him. Isha, of course, is in tow and after Vi gets Jinx’s lukewarm consent Viktor takes care of Vander. but… to think that something literally naturally impossible, Vander being brought back, is what brought them together. enough for Vi to get Jinx’s opinion, perspective, and thoughts on something so significant. this commune, a place of healing is also the site adjacent to their old childhood home—or what’s left of it. the girls bond over their obvious shared history before Vi suggests what would’ve been unthinkable episodes ago: maybe that they should stay, help rebuild and help with the commune that’s helping their father. Jinx considers it but the scene cuts away before we hear more (if there is a “more.”). one thing i really want to talk about here is that since Jinx’s reunion with Vi at the beginning of last episode Vi has decisively *not* called Jinx by her name, whatsoever. it’s fascinating because as they are slowly acting like distant-to-closer sisters again… Vi won’t even acknowledge Jinx through her current namesake. i don’t really need to go into why she doesn’t as i feel that’s obvious but it’s very clear that she’s making the choice to avoid saying it. Jinx isn’t seemingly bothered by this fact, interesting enough. one final thing about them both: we see at the end that when Isha causes the explosion with the hex crystals that Vi shields Jinx from the explosion with her body. they were both far enough away that neither was going to be permanently injured but it’s such a nice and tragic touch, really. and how this tragedy… this little girl and her action that cost her own life is going to affect Jinx going toward is hard to calculate but it’s clear that it’s going to be more than significant. because… because Isha was happy. she did what she did because it was the most right thing that only she could do, in that moment. thru the flashbacks were shown that Jinx provided a life of high contentment, peace, compassion, and playfulness for them both. Isha got to experience a happiness most characters or even real life people will never get to and it’s so beautiful and so very sad. but she ended her life on her terms, at her happiest because she could. because she wanted to give back to Jinx in the best way that she could. but while Jinx was Isha’s guardian, her safe and happy place… Isha was Jinx’s. Isha was Jinx’s rock, her stability. she hasn’t been seeing things or hearing voices this whole period of time except for two moments (when Isha got arrested and subsequently taken to prison, and the very brief moment when Viktor called Jinx, Powder). Isha was Jinx’s everything as she was hers. it used to be that way with Vi and Powder. maybe the show is hinting at that being a possibility again in this next coming act, who knows. but i do know that is episode was tragic, powerful, necessary, important, and more than anything it contained tales of love and the lengths we’d go for it.

lastly just want to touch on this; the music in not only this episode but this entire show has been fucking incredible. the choices, the cuts, the array and variety of different artists etc, it’s all so amazing and inspiring as well as emotional. all the kudos and credit goes to the team that worked on this show. my next arcane review post will be my final one, for now as i will be reviewing the final act of this show as one viewing. thank you to everyone who reads my reviews and thanks for watching this show.

i am ready for the end, with tears, and blisters and bedrock. 🩷💙🩷💙

[astheflowersgrow]

Just finished the second act of s2 of arcane

WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCKKKK

why.

[arataka-reigen]

Man wtf all these topsiders trying for peace, meanwhile Zaun said "fuck no we'll have no peace we'll make things worse on purpose"

[hextechwreck]

and jayce has had months of isolation WHAT EVER!! I GET IT!!!

[kestrels-nook]

Vi where are you vi I miss you

[dothestarsshine-art]

Reblogging for good luck every damn time I see this I've been quietly hoping for months that we get 12

Okay, now I'm pretty convinced that this season will have more than 9 episodes. It's no coincidence that they haven't announced the official numbers yet.

All these events can't fit into 9 episodes. I'm guessing 12 in 4/4/4 releases. The first season didn't end at the halfway point of the series, but at the right breaking point.

[pixieplushe]

over the course of watching arcane, vi absolutely stole my heart in more ways than one. her character is one of the most complex, misunderstood, and realistic out of the entire show

vi was shoved into prison at 15 years old, getting out 7 years later with nothing. every character in the show had somebody and moved on. ekko had the firelights, caitlyn had her family, jayce and viktor had each other, jinx had silco, sevika, then even isha. vi had no one. being locked away in such an environment, knowing full well you're the reason why your sister got taken by an evil man, does a number on you. vi had no chance to develop a sense of self, it is very prevalent in both seasons.

vi has little direction unless it's for someone else (which in turn is why i believe cait had a negative impact on her in s2 act 1, influencing her into being an enforcer + vi rationalizing it as a lesser of two evils, using the grey on chembarons vs allowing enforcers to storm the undercity). almost, if not every action she made was to help others, because she is so beyond selfless. it's her fatal flaw. like vander said to her, "you have a good heart". vi clings to people like glue because she cannot bear being alone again, letting the ones she loves slip through her fingers like sand.

she's just as traumatized as jinx, but her trauma is displayed in more subtle, self-destructive behavior as we see in episode 5 when she truly believed she lost everything again. which in turn is why I point to her being realistic, in real life it isn't obvious to spot when someone has trauma, it isn't supposed to be obvious. vi is the perfect example of that she finally got to choose for herself in the end, not be everyone else's plot device to make their lives better. i feel like she was written beautifully, everyone wants to dog on her for choosing to be in love? the past 2 seasons she chased jinx through every crack in the earth. she tried her damn hardest! jinx chose to cut the rope and let her be happy, let her go. much to vi’s dismay, we all know that was the last thing vi ever wanted. i love her so dearly, my favorite girl :(

(also, caitvi being canon makes me as a lesbian feel represented, i love them a lot. no more burying your gays trope! yay!)

[vaya-is-dead]

Welcome to hour one of my delusional city

SO ABOUT JINX.... we have plenty to discuss. :))

*act three arcane spoilers under the cut don't read if you haven't watched it especially the last episode!!*

I have a theory.

Now many of you will point at me and call me delusional but I'm sorry. I think I might be right on this one for a change. (or at least it might be implied.)

OK, if you watch the final episode, you know that jinx made the sacrifice taking Warwick with her while Vi screams for her. This scene absolutely broke my heart and for about a good 15 minutes I thought she was dead.

Until I went back and watched the last couple of scenes.

Something that I found interesting is that Caitlyn was looking at the blueprint of the vent system, more specifically where Jinx made her ultimate sacrifice. We all know that arcane is not a show that would just throw in details all without reason. Everything has a point everything is calculated to either imply something or show something.

Why would Caitlyn be looking at the blueprint and why would the show creators specifically zoom in on certain airways? Well, of course, then none other to imply that Jinx could've escaped through one of these, therefore possibly surviving.

Now with that alone, it probably doesn't mean anything. It is nothing but a skeleton of what possibly could be, it needs flesh and muscle for it to actually be a Working theory.

But then, as I watched the final scene before the credits, tell me why an airship from Piltover airship very similar to the ones that we saw in episode one where powder said that she would be flying one of those one day. Why was it flying away into the distant sky, then followed by the classic Jinx glitches with the words the end?

Tell me why a show that is so focused on each, and every small detail, from micro expression to touches that linger just a second too long for it to be nothing, Even the drawings and graffiti around Zaun. why would a show so focused on those types of details do something like that if Jinx was not alive? It does not make any sense. It would not make any sense for the show.

Need more proof?

if you pay attention when Caitlyn and Vi are talking, specifically towards the end where Vi leans into Caitlyn, the expression on her face is not one of relief, but rather one of knowing something. She was the one looking at the blueprint, and she was the one who noticed the potential escape route that jinx would know better than anyone because it wasn't her sort of Home in the vent system? How could she not know how to escape?

it's also very satisfactory to her character arc, it was only in season two where we started to see her perception of death start to shift, it was only when Isha came into her life that she really started to understand her own mortality and not completely disregard her life like she used. the prison scene with Vi, where she's sort of regresses back to the mentality of everyone around me will get hurt because of me. while in act three she did begin to disregard her life again, I would like to think that her talk with Ekko might've snapped her back into place. So instead of losing jinx's character development in its entirety, she continues on the same path where she was while still keeping her goal of letting VI be happy the same.

Plus the pink streak coming up the side of the hex gate tower, it's similar to the way that Jinx charges at Vi in their fighting scene.

Now, this is the part where you go into the comments and call me delusional and make fun of my theory but thank you for comming to my Ted's talk

[daretolovemyrambling]

ARCANE: unreliable narrators (Silco and Vander focused) PART 1

I haven't really been in this tag/fandom before the season 2 finale, but can we talk about how both Vander and Silco are unreliable narrators? Especially when it comes to their flashback scenes?

I don't get why i've seen so many take the flashbacks we got in the show at face value. The show makes clear time and time again that when we get a flashback from the point of view of a single character, they are an unreliable narrator.

some examples of other characters:

on the left: biased/not the reality (character's memory/pov) vs on the right: unbiased/reality (our, the viewers, pov)

I'm going to use video clips and transcripts of the memories because I can't just gif like 5 minutes of scenes. Since you can only have one video per post, I will have to post this in several parts.

Let's start with Warwick's memories from 2x5:

We see that the memory of Warwick in episode 2x5 is all over the place, memories from the past 15-20 years come flooding back in bits and pieces. 

In the first moment of this scene we see Warwick running through the mines, then we see Singed who has experimented on him, we see the Monkey Toy aggressively banging it's cymbals against each other, then we see a younger looking Silco about to swing something at an enforcer, for a split second the Monkey's face replaces Silco's, we see that it was a bottle bomb and set that enforcer on fire.

I think this represents Silco's almost obsessive nature when it came to their fight for Zaun's freedom, the Monkey overwhelms you with it's loud noise the same way Silco likely overwhelmed Vander with his ruthless actions.

the next scene, Silco looks horrified at Vander and we cut to Vander drowning Silco, then back to the moment Vander (and likely Silco) discover Felicia's lifeless body. 

We see a moment of Vander punching an enforcer with his gauntlets from 1x1, cut to the Monkey's face again, then we see Warwick's perspective of the prison fight with the enforcers in 2x4 (we see him choke one of them out with his claws) and slashing several more of them brutally.

Finally, we cut back to the mines were he hallucinates a toddler-aged Powder crying her little eyes out (it looks like something that actually happened. I think this might be a moment shortly after he takes in the girls. Powder looks like she just woke up from a nightmare, her body language is shy and scared). He softly wipes the tears away with his left hand (same hand he used to choke Silco and an enforcer just a few moments earlier) 

Powder's face turns into Jinx and then pre-teen Powder and we follow Powder's lifeless gaze to Felicia dancing at the Jukebox, before finally, Vander images a Silco shortly after the murder attempt, this Silco is still dripping wet from the lake (and he uses his signature glass) but smiles at Vander invitingly (likely a moment that actually happend but was warped by the many nightmares Vander likely had about what he did).

The idea that Silco escalated the Bridge Riot and thus caused the death of many Zaunites, including Felicia and Connol, is definitely supported by this short memory, but it's *not* the only way you can read the scene. Vander's memories are evidently completely scrambled, he is remembering the worst moments of his life all at once.

It's just as valid to say that Silco was not there during the Bridge Scene in season 1 episode 1 as to say that he was!

That is what makes unreliable narrators so interesting, we can make assumptions to what happend, but if we don't get an unbiased view at a scene, we don't know for sure if it happend the way the narrator imagined it.

Examples where we have unbiased flashbacks would be flashbacks like Mel's childhood in 1x8 and the Bar scene with Felicia in 2x5. In these scenes we don't follow the pov of one character, of course information is still omitted from us to an extend, but we can make our own assumption instead of seeing the biased/narrow pov of a single character.

[burr-ell]

Bell's Hells gets compared to the Mighty Nein a lot, both in terms of narrative and party comp, but honestly, I think it makes more sense to compare them to Vox Machina. Back in Campaign 1, the deck was stacked against VM for several reasons in succession: the players had to port over from Pathfinder and learn 5e; Beastmaster Ranger sucks absolute ass; their cleric left in the middle of the campaign and was only available sporadically; and then their sorcerer left permanently. But they were able to build their characters to compensate! Scanlan took on the burden of arcane casting, and he, Keyleth, Vex, and later Vax all pulled their weight as healers. Keyleth was a Circle of the Moon druid, which is just a great subclass, and Percy not only had a great build but also took an ASI to give the party a higher INT score to better help with nerd shit. Vex multiclassed to play to more of her strengths when it became clear ranger wasn't going to do much more for her, and Vax's multiclass to paladin made for a formidable combination. It might have been nice if they'd had a wizard or if Pike had been available more often, but they still managed to find ways to work around it, and ultimately Vox Machina is still a really powerful and effective party.

Bell's Hells just...aren't doing any of that. Their party comp is ultimately just the sum of its parts, and not a particularly impressive one. They have a druid and two sorcerers and yet nobody has Teleport or Transport Via Plants (the Staff of Dark Odyssey needs charges and inflicts damage on the user for each charge expended). It was clear from early on that this campaign was going to have a lot of intrigue and conspiracy, but none of the characters had any reason to be invested in the worldbuilding or politics, so instead the party just followed breadcrumbs from lore dump to lore dump—Chetney didn't even get Grim Psychometry until level 10, and neither that nor Orym's knowledge of (mostly Vox Machina's) history were enough to make up for the fact that neither character had a real connection to what they were learning to give any of it real weight, and nobody else tried to make up the difference. Fearne and Laudna's multiclasses are both mechanically kind of a mess—it's not that they're not useful, it's that they're really not getting the kind of use out of their levels that they should be. (Is uncanny dodge worth being level 15 and not having any higher-level druid spells? Is it worth being a mostly-sorcerer multiclass when there's already a full sorcerer in the party?)

It's not that Bell's Hells can't accomplish anything; they very obviously can. It's that the players are making the kinds of choices that they were pretty deftly able to avoid ten years ago with fewer resources and years of experience than they have now, and it makes most of what the Hells do feel pretty designated and phoned-in at the end of the day. And frankly we saw that in last night's episode—they mostly just stumbled into their current party comp, and they mostly just stumbled into one of the dumbest decisions any CR party has ever made.

[octospace]

The impact of people so young being so sex negative it’s scary when we look at how some of you react to the Arcane sex scene in episode 8. I always think about how dangerous and weird the internet is for putting a lot of people together from different backgrounds and ages in the same room talking and reacting about the same things. Of course me as a 30 years old lesbian and a 15 year old person discovering themselves will have different feelings about the same story, the same media will mean different things for us.

But to see young people thinking they are nailing it while writing about sex and system of oppression because Vi goes down on Caitlyn it’s really sad. The connection between sex and power it’s a male x female reading of relationships were one of the people involved in a sex act it’s seen as a lesser person so they will perform things considered less.

That’s not what Caitvi sex scene it’s about, being greedy and wanting someone so desperately that you want to touch and feel every piece of their body it’s not a weird or bad thing, want to make someone else feel good it’s not a sign of being less of a person in a deeper social level, sex it’s just complex if you put it under the lens of religion and patriarchy were a woman needs to choose and safe guard herself to the right man who will be her husband and they will have kids and stay together for life. But outside that sex between two adults, who can consent and are madly into each other, it’s just fun.

[a-green-misstep]

A list of all Jayce and/or Viktor scenes in Arcane (wth time stamps)

SPOILERS for all of arcane

Season 1:

EP1

11:00 - 11:50

Jayce is heard, not seen during lab the break in

EP2

0:00 - 7:50, 11:50-12:20, 14:15-19:00, 20:00-21:40, 23:20-24:30, 31:30-33:40

Jayce introduced, goes in front of the council, almost kills himself and is stopped by Viktor who wants to work with him

EP3

7:30-8:40, 13:00-15:20, 17:00-18:00, 19:10-20:00, 25:10-27:00

they break into the lab and make a breakthrough in hextex

EP4

0:00-5:30, 11:00-14:30, 20:15-22:15, 23:10-26:30, 28:40-31:50, 33:00-35:20

hextex has advanced, Jaycee gets flirty with Mel, makes a public address, gets robbed by Jinx, and is made a council member

EP5

8:30-10:00, 13:20-14:00, 15:10-16:20, 19:00-21:20, 25:40-29:00, 31:30-32

Jaycee has lost focus on science for politics, and Viktor gets a breakthrough in the hex-core! Jaycee fucks and Viktor is in the hospital.

EP6

0-8:30, 13:00-16:15, 18:00-20:00, 22:30-26:00, 31:20-32:20

Baby Viktor, Viktor is getting weird and meets up with an old freind, Jayce fires Heimerdinger

EP7

5:10-8:40, 13:00-14:20, 23:00-27:30

Viktor is taking drugs and Jayce is getting hot in the forge. "I'm from the undercity"

EP8

5:30-6:20, 19:00-23:30, 24:30-35:00

Councilman Jayce meets Vi, Viktor runs, self-harms for the Hexcore, and kills Sky. Jayce forges the Hex hammer, raids a factory, and kills a child

EP9

0:00-2:30, 4:40-6:30, 8:30-10:40, 13:30-16:00, 23:00-24:20

Jayce sad about the dead kid, Viktor is sad about dead Sky and almost kills himself. "In the pursuit to be great, we failed to do good.". The boys get blow up

Season 2:

EP1

0:00-2:30, 14:00-16:00, 23:30-31:00, 34:15-36:30

Jayce survives, Viktor is dead and Jayce saves him with Hextec. Hex cacoon. Jaycee fighting aginst undercity gang.

EP2

13:00-17:00, 19:30-22:00, 32:20-36:00

Hex-Jesus leaves Jayce :(. Jayce almost kills Heimerdinger but instead talks science with Echo. Hex-Jesus starts a new religion.

EP3

13:30-15:30, 18:00-19:00, 21:20-24:30,

wild runs, the gang goes to visit the Hex-gates... it doesn't go well.

EP4

nothing

EP5

35:00-40:00

Jayce is back, and is doing bad. Viktor is now somehow speaking through Salo. "I thought you were done with hex-tec, and me." Jayce SMASHES Salo.

EP6

The entire episode is them.

Viktors the prophet, he has surpassed bodily existence. He helps heal, until Jayce comes to him, and kills his body.

EP7

8:00-10:30, 15:30-16:30, 17:00-20:00, 22:00-22:30, 27:30-28:00, 32:40-37:00

Jayce is in the Future, is being haunted by the mage, and spends months in a crevice with a broken leg, going mad. He is rendered disabled (like Viktor), and climbs to the top of piltover to find where the end of the world begins. (meanwhile Echo goes to prom)

EP8

6:00-6:20, 7:20-9:00, 14:00-20:00, 23:00-28:10, 33:30-37:00

Viktor has reached the glorious evolution, he spies on and trys to kill Jayce. Jayce is going to war. Viktor is alone, and is inbodied by a monster.

EP9

4:40-6:00, 18:00-18:50, 22:00-23:00, 27:00-39:00

Viktor has transformed, he wants for the world to become one, a collective consciousness. Jaycee and Echo convince/beat Viktor into understanding that he is wrong, and to end it, Jayce and Viktor, as partners finish things together, and their souls implode into themselves whilst they hold each other close.

[stackslip]

so after a second watch, the thing with arcane s2 so far is that near all the plot beats are really good and exactly what i wanted, but they also almost all desperately needed more buildup. it's like we're missing 10-15 extra minutes an episode for the scenes that would really flesh out a lot of the characters' motives for the choices they make and to build up the world! it's so painfully obvious that they're craming in plot bc they're missing a season or have cut time per ep, and as a result while im ecstatic at a lot of the developments v few of them feel earned!

vi choosing to become an enforcer, her agonizing feelings re jinx in particular feel like they're missing. we should have seen the moment cait chose to use the vents to target the undercity and others' reaction to this, especially vi. it's great to see the hole silco left, but we needed to see the underground falling apart in something that's not a shiny league amv. we needed to see the kid spend more time with jinx for her choice to defend jinx to hit harder. we needed to see more of jinx's suicidality and her voices disappearing. i would have been so grateful to see mel trying to do more to rally to counter her mother's influence and being foiled at every turn. more hints of ambessa's manipulation too! would have loved to see ekko and his peers rescuing undercity people and dealing with the aftermath of the war there directly!

and like tbc i think they v clearly considered what they did have the time with and chose to trim or cut off near anything that wasnt a super cool fight scene or important plot beats. the ACTUAL beats are near all a win to me tbh! i am ecstatic about cait's character arc, her using the vents made me gasp; the mel and ambessa situation is sooooo fascinating and fucked up; i love the revelation about hextech poisoning the ground; sevika and jinx dealing with the gaping wound of silco's death is so good; viktor's ominous messiah arc is hitting for me; i loooooved cait hitting vi and vi just breaking down.

in terms of missteps, i wish ekko didnt feel like he's just being explained plot at (i like his dynamic with jayce so far tho), i think vi of all the characters suffered by far the most of the sacrificed time to make her choices and words mame proper sense, caitvi kiss felt far more like they had to kiss before they broke up but in context did not work, and made me roll my eyes so hard, we did not need a five minute cait angst montage, i did not care for how "league" the zaunite chembarons felt instead of an organic part of zaun like they did in s1, half the songs are a complete miss to me, etc etc

i dont think the season is a loss and again im interested in the actual beats, and tbh i kinda feel sorry for fortiche and the writing team bc it's obvious that this is less like, active clumsiness on their part or shite writing and far more that time was a deeply limited resource for the story they wanted to tell and they had to make choices. you could argue if it would have been better to drop some plot threads entirely and focus more deeply on others but imo it wouldnt work for a series like arcane where the cast' actions have such massive ramifications on each other so. i get it. it's just really unfortunate considering how tightly written s1's tragedy was

[tsscat]

On a higher level I agree with this but I fundamentally disagree with this being applied to Arcane (what this post was inspired by) because the animation of Arcane is so handmade and detail heavy that you fundamentally cannot have 15-20 episodes. Like it cannot happen because it takes a long time and a lot of skilled people to make animation like that and it’s near impossible to get the time or money to do that length.

A lot have people talked about how the finale was cut down from its original hour and a half long script but less have talked about why — its because (from what I remember) it was too long to animate. The budget for arcane was 250 million dollars. That’s actually pretty efficient for big budget animation when you look at cost per minute, as some people have pointed out. But that’s still overall larger than most big budget animated films (both spiderverses were 100 million, largest Pixar films are around 200 million). 15-20 episodes per season for Arcane would have likely been something like 400-500 million dollars. That’s obscene amounts of money for any project. The highest budget film ever made from what I can tell (Star Wars The Force Awakens) was 447 million. 20 episodes would be like 555 million!

There’s some oversimplification here that I’m doing because obviously 18 episodes is still a lot more than one movie and it’s actually really impressive what they’ve been able to accomplish with the money they have. BUT this still doesn’t even factor in the time and labor took to make this, and the even more time and labor it would take to make a 15-20 ep arcane.

From what I can tell, writers knew how many episodes there were per season going in (though there’s maybe a rumor that they thought for a second that there were 5 seasons? Idk). I think it is more productive to critique writers on what they chose to write for and how they wrote season 2 given this 9 ep limit. You need to scope properly for any project, and I think fundamentally writers either did not scope properly or did not write for the scope they set.

[chronicsyd]

Opinions I have that might upset Arcane fans (well, mainly Jinx fans but oh well 🤷‍♀️)

1) I’m not sexually/romantically attracted to Jinx (I’ve said before that I’m 23 years old and thinking about Jinx in that way is weird to me, mostly cuz her age is very ambiguous and even the oldest she Could be (maybe 19) is still too young to me) (harassing people that don’t think she’s attractive makes you an asshole)

2) Jinx is not an “uwu pooki innocent bean 🥺” she’s still responsible for the decisions that she makes

3) Jinx d riders are probably some of the most annoying people in the fandom (vilifying other characters because Jinx is your fav makes you an asshole)

4) If it weren’t for Caitlyn, Vi would have never gotten out of Stillwater and reunited with Jinx

5) People claiming Vi to be “bland” truly missed what her character represents (on that note, there’s more to her character than just being hot)

6) Caitlyn did not maliciously interrupt Vi and Jinx’s reunion in episode 6, she was merely following Vi (what she’s been doing the entire time) and Vi withheld the info that Jinx was her sister

7) Silco was not a good father figure or person

8) Vi was wrong for hitting Powder yes, but she was overwhelmed watching basically her entire family die right in front of her eyes and Powder practically told her she was responsible. Vi’s only like 15 in act 1, she’s still Very much a child so saying shit like “she should have acted more mature” is stupid

9) Vi, Silco and Piltover had their part to play in the creation of Jinx. Jinx couldn’t move on from Vi hitting her and “abandoning” her (it was out of Vi’s control but that’s how it was to Jinx), Silco manipulated Jinx into thinking Vi never cared for her, and Piltover running a corrupt government didn’t help

10) calling Vi “selfish” for not shooting Caitlyn is stupid and idiotic. No, she wasn’t going to “get Powder back” if she did so, if you paid attention the show makes that pretty clear. It wouldn’t accomplish anything other than hurting Vi further (because despite the terms the two left each other on Vi still Cares about Caitlyn)

11) I find Jayce to be a rather boring protagonist

12) Silco groomed Jinx. People think grooming is Only sexual when in fact it goes a hell of a lot deeper than that.

13) you need better media literacy if you don’t understand Vi’s trauma or why she and Caitlyn fit so well together

14) it’s dumb to be mad at Vi that she doesn’t want to call Powder Jinx (the last thing she called her, feeding into Powder’s insecurities) and not wanting to accept Jinx being a mass murderer who clearly enjoys doing it (watch Vi and Jinx vs the Firelights fight again if you must)

15) Vander isn’t a superstar of a father either. He put way too much responsibility in the hands of a 15 year old girl and makes her think that every bad outcome is her fault

16) Vi didn’t replace Jinx with Caitlyn. Hell, the first chance she gets she ditches her and tries to find Jinx solo, and still wants to go back to her in episode 7. Also acting like Vi isn’t allowed to have anyone Other than Powder is stupid and selfish.

17) Vi has a habit of making really poor impulse decisions and it’s going to get her into trouble if she doesn’t get a rain check on them

I might make some points later, and you can agree or disagree these are just my opinions after all… alright bu-bye!

[bwat5-blog]

Who Made Jinx

**Spoilers For All Of Arcane**

"Vi choosing Caitlyn over Jinx when she is the reason Jinx is who she is to begin with is disgusting"

"Vi made Jinx"

"Vi looks like that watching Jinx and Isha because she realizes what Jinx could have been if she'd been a better sister to her"

"Vi doesn't deserve anyone to dry her tears, she caused Jinx's"

I have written extensively about both Jinx, and Vi. And have discussed in detail their relationship as well as Silco's transforming of Powder into Jinx after Vi is taken. I continue to see these absolutely bizarre takes regarding the two sisters, and so have returned to you now, to once again address the question, who made Jinx?

_________________________________________________________

Basic Timeline Of Periods In their Lives:

Bridge Of Progress Massacre- Powder age 5, Vi age 9

Six Years With Vander- Powder age 5-11, Vi age 9-15

Period of Vander's Death (Season 1 Act 1)- Powder age 11, Vi age 15

Seven Years Apart- Powder/Jinx age 11-18, Vi age 15-22

Season One Act 2 & 3- Jinx age 18, Vi age 22

Bridge Of Progress Massacre-

Vi- 9 years old

Powder- 5 years old

Summary: We open the show with the sisters, only little girls at this time walking hand in hand on the bridge while Enforcers slaughter their people around them. Vi stands tall holding Powder's hand, and even shields Powder when Vander initially approaches. When Vi falls to her knees seeing their parents dead, Powder shields her with her body.

Fan Observation Regarding Impact On Powder: This is the first time we see the "glitching" we will come to associate with Jinx instability. We see it first in the face of the Enforcer stalking through the smoke, and then just in the environment as we hear her voice until eventually we settle on the sisters. We are seeing the beginning of that trauma starting to manifest. This deeply traumatizing incident is only the beginning for both of them.

Vi: We see a caring, protective and loving older sister trying her best to shield Powder

Six Years With Vander:

Vi- 9 years old to 15 years old

Powder- 5 years old to 11 years old

Summary: We of course do not see this period. This is the time where Powder and Vi are being raised by Vander alongside Mylo and Clagger.

Fan Observation Regarding Impact On Powder: As stated, since we do not see this time period, it is hard to say. It seems that life in the lanes is dangerous and Enforcers are an ever present threat as well. There are a few way by which we can make an assessment of what this time in their life was like:

"Wanna see how that ends?"- Vi is 15 and stares down someone who just attacked her, who is now carrying a knife and says this. Part of it of course is just Vi. But this clearly an environment filled with the sort of danger that makes a fifteen year old girl so tough.

Vi's stories to Powder at the end of episode one suggest history of running from and fighting Enforcers even in the undercity.

Vi: When we pick back up with them, they are extremely close. Indicating they have a very loving relationship.

Period Of Vander's Death:

Vi- 15 years old

Powder- 11 years old

Summary: This is the main story of season one act 1 for these sisters. They have grown extremely close. We se them conduct their heist on Jayce's lab, followed by the fallout leading to the eventual deaths of Vander, Mylo and Claggor, as well as Vi and Powder being seperated.

Fan Observation Regarding Impact On Powder: Powder displays immense closeness with Vi throughout this time, but is also the subject of constant teasing from Mylo, who calls her a Jinx, and routinely questions her value as part of the team and suggests she be left behind.

When Vi has her stay behind- Powder has what I will call a panic attack due to being left behind where she exhibits behaviors all pointing toward a more deep seated problem:

Hitting her head

Screaming

Throws her broken monkey bomb on the ground preparing to smash it

Discordant off-putting music

Hyperventilating and sobbing

*In the course of another document I found information suggesting Powder is possibly suffering severe Separation Anxiety Disorder born of her immense childhood trauma. I of course am not a mental health professional, so this is all just conjecture on my part. But I encourage you to look if you are interested*

Vi: It is during this period where we get our real look at how these two are as sisters. The amount of proof lies overwhelmingly in that Vi was a supportive and loving sister with whom Powder feels safe. With the one and only exception being the very last interaction between them-

Defends and encourages Powder when she is afraid during the heist.

Catches Powder when she doesn't quite make jump to Jayce's lab.

Immediately after fight with Deckard and his friends, Vi is first to notice Powder is gone

Vi assures Powder that she does not have to be a fighter when they get back to The Last Drop. But, she tells her she knows Powder's bombs will work one day, and that Powder is stronger than she thinks.

When preparing to turn herself in, Vi tells Powder "you know Powder, what makes you different, makes you strong"

Vi tells Powder to stay behind for the rescue. She has just seen Grayson and Benzo killed by the shimmer mutated Deckard. Additionally, she has been recently lectured by Vander regarding her responsibility to the other children. She does tell Powder she is not ready. But she also says "Your all I have left, I can't lose you" and gives her the famous flair.

The Falling Out:

So, when poor Powder comes around the corner eager for the big sister she looks up to to know she helped, and is instead met with horror, it is truly heartbreaking. Vi tells her she told her to stay away, punches her, grabs her face and tells her that mylo was right, she is a Jinx before walking away, after looking in horror at Powder's blood on her hand wraps. Powder screams and sobs, begging her sister to come back. Vi walks down the alley and slides down crying and having a moment. She looks again seeing Powder's blood on her hands, then sees Silco approaching Powder and tries to go to her, but is taken by Marcus. Leaving Powder alone and vulnerable for Silco to take as his own daughter. Believing that her sister truly left her, Powder proclaims Vi is not her sister anymore, and Silco says "we will show them all".

Vi- Fifteen years old: For perspective, using USA rules for average fifteen year olds let's look at a few reminders.

Can't drink

Can't drive

Can't vote

Has not graduated high-school

Can not serve in Military

Brain Development Still in Progress: The prefrontal cortex, responsible for decision-making, impulse control, and emotional regulation, is far from fully developed at 15. This makes emotional outbursts and impulsive actions more likely.Source: Steinberg, L. (2005). "Cognitive and affective development in adolescence." Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

Additionally when considering Vi's state of mind during this incident, we need remember the following:

She herself has been through every bit of trauma we have listed about Powder

Just watched Vander, Mylo and Clagger die violently.

Just successfully held off 11 armed adult thugs of Silco's protecting her family

Been injured after being grabbed the throat by Deckard and thrown. As well as being pinned under the door after the explosion.

Seemed like they were within seconds of freedom before the explosion that would not have happened if Powder had listened (not blaming the tiny child just giving the whole picture as to where Vi's mind is)

Conclusion:

So, we have two sisters, both of whom begin the story in a horrific and traumatic incident of loss and grief.

Vi is quite literally only shown as a positive and encouraging force in Powder's life right up until that last moment. And her behavior during that incident was that of a terrified, wounded, grief-stricken child, who even though she was kidnapped and wrongfully imprisoned still goes on to shoulder the guilt for leaving anyway.

Powder, was little girl who had been through terrible loss already for one so young, and was now violently confronted with the reality of having killed her family. Even though it was the furthest thing from her intentions. A young lifetime full of being teased and harassed by Mylo, and called a jinx, and now the "evidence" of her not being good enough lay in her adoptive father's corpse on the cold street. She had already exhibited signs of the trauma taking a toll on her mind, and now is living a truly hellish experience.

So the question becomes, to whom do we assign the blame for that little girl's mind being ripped apart, until only Jinx remained? The older sister who with the exception of one impossibly overwhelming moment spent a life protecting and loving Powder?

Or perhaps, perhaps it was the man who took her entire family away from her. The violent,murdering drug lord who claimed to stand for Zaun.

Deaths of Vander, Mylo, and Clagger all because of his actions

Promised her mother to make a safer Zaun for her children, tried to kill them both

Weaponizes her grief, guilt, fear and rage

Makes her part of his shimmer operations after teaching her to be a killer

When she questions him he asks "who raised you? who gave you a home? like he wasn't the reason she needed one to begin with.

When he finds out Vi is back he tries to have her killed to stop she and jinx from reuniting.

He and Sevika use Caitlyn's presence to turn Jinx against Vi

Last action as a living man is to try and kill his "daughters" last living relative, even though Vi was making no move to kill him and just wanted her sister.

Perhaps seven years as the daughter of that man without any form of healing for what she had been through broke her. People love to reference the last episode of season one as proof for the accusation that Vi made Jinx for two reasons.

Jinx speech

"What Could Have Been"

Regarding her speech, all you have to do is listen. "shadows in the street... prickles on the back of my neck.. your voice, picking me up when all the colors were black, your the reason I'm still alive". Note, she is not blaming or accusing Vi of something. Before telling Vi how she "made her" she is refuting Silco's belief that he did and mentions his speeches about strength and "your enemies fearing you". She is telling her older sister that she quite literally kept her alive. And we see in the moment earlier when Jinx is terrified and in agony, whose face does she hallucinate during Singed's treatment? Vi's. That is who brings her comfort, before the tainted specter of Caitlyn, born of Silco and Sevika's machinations poisons her mind yet again.

Regarding the song, yes it sounds like a direct call against whoever made her a "monster". But my friends, where does that rocket as the season closes and the last lyric fades.... it isn't at Vi. But at the symbol of oppression over the Undercity itself. Those who allowed chaos and bloodshed to flourish and men like Silco to rise and seize power. The Council of Piltover.

So with all of that to consider, I will ask the same thing I have asked many times. In what universe, will it ever make sense to blame the sobbing fifteen year old girl, kneeling over her father's broken body?

Thank you for reading, see yall next time!