#arcane s1e8

[fix-me-sixteen]

caitlyn don't you know it's a bad idea to think about your crush in the shower

[rah-nee-yah]

my thoughts on act 2:

im being so deadass i think ep6 is my fave in all of the show. its just nice seeing vi and jinx being sisters. istg if one of them dies…i really hope their dynamic will be like the one in those league comic thingies.

also CAITVI NATION IS SO BACK. love love loved seeing them together again. i do wish vi was colder to caitlyn when meeting her instead of calling her cupcake. but hey its been like three years since weve last seen vi call her cupcake so a win is a win. theyre definitely gonna bang next act, i think ep 8.

WTF JAYCE. EVERYTHING WAS GOING SO WELL. what did he see in there?? ik everyone is gonna hate him but im excited to see where hes gonna go from here.

and isha. just thinking about her makes me tear up😭😭 im gonna keep this brief so i dont start sobbing AGAIN but i miss her already. then again…we didnt actually see her die so maybe…(im delusional pls help)

AND THE FACT THEY GOT VANDER BACK FOR LIEK FIVE MINUTES. IT WAS ALL ONE BIG HAPPY FAMILY DUDE.

anyways viktor is totes coming back and i think he may be involved in getting mel out of the black rose. also i think she’s pregnant. maybe. just a little

in terms of criticism i really would have loved to see vi actually pit fighting. i think the main problem was that we already saw the pit fighting scene like two months ago so it didnt hit as hard because that scene really did emphasize what vi was going through so seeing it again just didnt hit as hard. thats just me tho.

in terms of pacing, i honestly have no complaints. i liked it. it felt similar to season one but that could just be me. i like fast paced things sooo yeah. i also love how all the characters converged in ep 6 which kind of tidied some stuff up. still would have preferred longer episodes but animation is expensive and takes a shit ton of time so i understand.

but my main complaint is WHERE IS EKKO⁉️⁉️ THAT MAN HAS NOT BEEN SEEN SINCE THE MIDDLE AGES. since s1e7 was ekko’s, i think ep 7 is gonna be centered around him returning to zaun and meeting all the other characters again…with timebomb sprinkled in. cuz jinx needs some support. i also think ep7 may be a party episode sooo yeah.

anyways i loved this act. it might be my favorite from the entire series but we’ll see.

[hildegardladyofbones]

watching arcane rn and the only thing that can make or break this show is if the stupid ass decisions the chracters make have the proper consequences or not

[jackdaw-draws]

OH SHOT IS JINX GOING TO KILL CAIT

[sevikas-biceps]

[TLDR: me attempting to make sense of the Arcane's eldritchness, which sounds ironic in hindsight but hear me out]

Revelation after revelation aside, there are many pieces of foreshadowing that tell us why Viktor's commune wasn't as great as it seemed.

Visually speaking, all the clues are right there.

The first thing we see of the slums of Zaun is this.

Vi, leading their little group, is astonished to find such a thing—and to think that Huck was there, serving as one of its ushers! Huck, who she immediately calls a filthy traitor; having succumbed to shimmer the last time she saw him—meaning he'd turned to Silco both literally and figuratively—what with his use of the drug and the fact that he'd ratted her and Caitlyn out to the tycoon.

Miss Ma'am is bamboozled.

How the hell did he end up there? At this...paradise? At the slums, which, only a few weeks or months ago; was still dark, dusty, violet, and violent!

Something has changed, obviously; and Huck himself admits that his past was him 'at his worst'. Simply awful. But the Herald had saved him. And because of that, he was leading a better life, now. Naturally, at this point, Vi and Jinx seem wary.

There's gotta be a catch, no?

The landscape and the characters exemplify this.

Let's start with the land itself. Look at how empty it actually looks. Yes, there's a field of flowers. Yes, there's a community, teeming with life. Yes, it's literally heaven. But the lighting. The colours. It's so...bleak. Like a dream. The mountains are green, but they're cast in grey and white; and added with the negative space, there's an eeriness to it that contrasts Piltover's version of an eutopia.

You can argue it being the vast resource difference, as Topside is the superior city for a reason, but the commune is still filled with numerous individuals with just as much creativity as their counterparts. Intelligent and sentient beings—people, with minds to set to whatever task may be at hand.

Now, let's think of the people.

The biggest difference between the two communities is this: the 'healed' of Viktor's paradise wear only one mode of dress: white. It's almost uniform—which is notable, as, previously in the episode, Viktor speaks of 'chaos'. We see how fascinated he was by the mess that Vander's psyche had become, and in an attempt at detangling that chaos, he was 'setting things right' inside the man's mind. Bringing him back to something resembling normalcy. Order.

This is particularly significant for the fact that, in the game, he's remembered for his philosophy on glorious evolution (also mentioned in the show, as we know)—which is centred on the enhancement of the human body to transcend its fleshly limits.

Piltover, in contrast—and by extension the 'unhealed' of Zaun—go against this code. We see shimmer addicts, we see corrupt individuals, we see bigoted populations, we see conflict between the cities. We see human nature at its finest. Even the episode titles, all the way from Season 1, display this.

S1E1: Welcome to the Playground S1E2: Some Mysteries are Better Left Unsolved S1E3: The Base Violence Necessary for Change S1E4: Happy Progress Day! S1E5: Everybody Wants to Be My Enemy S1E6: When These Walls Come Tumbling Down S1E7: The Boy Saviour S1E8: Oil and Water S1E9: The Monster You Created S2E1: Heavy is the Crown S2E2: Watch It All Burn S2E3: Finally Got the Name Right S2E4: Paint the Town Blue S2E5: Blisters and Bedrock S2E6: The Message Hidden Within the Pattern

Again, human nature. Colourful, tumultuous, unsynchronised. A need for knowledge. A need for violence. A need for change. A need for exploration. A need for control. Everything that we can have, we take.

That's the point of Viktor's quote:

I understand now. The message hidden within the pattern. The reason for our failures in the commune. The doctor was right—it's inescapable. Humanity. Our very essence. Our emotions—rage, compassion, hate. Two sides of the same coin, inextricably bound. That which inspires us to our greatest good is also the cause of our greatest evil.

It's a paradox.

This is a sophisticated conjuration. A singularity, simultaneously self-replicating and self-annihilating.

He wasn't just talking about the Arcane. It wasn't just about that 'voice' he and Sky heard when gazing at Jayce through Salo's eyes. It's also about humanity.

So, how does that relate to his commune?

Here's the thing: it looks like heaven, but later on, when Viktor dies and everyone else follows, it's practically limbo. It's liminal. Initially, you only have the vague sense that there's something off about it, but you can't tell what. It's filled with people, yet at the same time, it looks like it shouldn't have any to begin with. Mysterious. Suspicious. Almost dreadful; something that makes you realise: if you think about it too hard, you'd drive yourself insane.

There's something intrinsically natural about the commune, something untouched by human hands; but there's also something intrinsically human about it, something unnatural, cultivated in a way nature itself cannot replicate. That's the catch. It should be a balance of both. An ideal community would show this.

Viktor's connection to the Hexcore tells us that he's, in part, transcended both humanity and the natural world. He's breached the ineffable and the incomprehensible, and brought it into the existence(s) of those who could know of and experience it. Bringing 'paradise' to those who were never meant to realise what it was. Forcing onto them the Arcane, even when done with the best intentions.

For the suffering Zaunites, they have everything they could possibly want: food, water, shelter, rest, belonging, peace, survival; the life that they once could only dream of having. It's perfect. They don't have to be in pain, not anymore.

But the commune is isolated. This is very much seen in the gate symbolism: all are welcome, but once inside, you'll never want to leave. You'll never have to. Because to be cured by the hands of the Herald means to bear his mark. To be saved is to bind yourself to him.

The open archway is also a taunt: the gate is open, it'll always be open, but would you ever risk going back out? Would you really trade this for anything else?

Are you truly willing to leave paradise? Are you truly willing to part with the Arcane?

The Arcane, which had given them everything they'd yearned for through Viktor.

Now, see here: Vi catches a glimpse of Singed exiting Viktor's abode. It's presumably the healing tent, as his main 'bubble' (the place where he 'recharges', so to speak) is the one in the distance.

The point is: Vi sees Singed leave the healing tent. What makes this suspicious is the fact that the man left unhealed.

Note that, prior to this point, the sisters have reconciled and were even willing to stay in this little underground haven despite their initial scepticisms. They, just like everyone else, have been lulled into the comfort the commune provided. So, to see someone else suddenly exiting Viktor's watch—someone with no traces of the Herald's touch, someone who's still bandaged and deformed—is a wake-up call.

Why else would you go into the healing tent, to the commune, if not to have yourself cured or seek respite? Why is this man, who'd obviously be easier work to deal with compared to Vander, not 'saved'?

Vi follows him. Then, Singed leaves the commune entirely.

In her eyes, someone had willingly turned away from 'paradise'.

Logically, this begs the question: Why?

Because that's where the fantasy ends.

Right as Vi comes to the gate, the camera cuts to that Noxian spear upfront. A threat to the 'perfection' that existed within the borders. A reminder that the world outside still exists; a world that Viktor hasn't touched in its entirety, a world that still begs to be saved, a world that is still human at its core brimming and simmering.

That's the reason Viktor's named a herald: he's an omen. He'd brought about a transformation to those he healed. To the slums. Providing a drastic shift in people's lives (or whatever 'life' still counted for those he'd influenced) that left many devastated when Jayce blew a hole in his chest.

By spreading the use of the Arcane through other agents (again, the 'healed'), he essentially reproduced the effects of the power that he had at his disposal, while at the same time allowed himself to better comprehend how the Arcane worked—and by extension, allowed that very power to adapt.

But at the same time, he himself is also the key to undoing it.

From Jayce and Ekko, S2E3:

Viktor hypothesised that there may be something he called 'wild runes'. Patterns that occur naturally when the border between our world and the Arcane is thin. Runes like the ones you use in Hextech. What's the difference between those and wild runes? Pass me a tome. So, I used words you understood in order to elicit your action. This is what Hextech runes are. Pass me a tome. Pass me a tome! There—you sighed. Still a kind of language. A sound, but not words. Something raw; natural. That's wild runes. In most places, the Arcane is dormant—but here and there, it's more active. Wild runes are— —sort of like its fingerprints. Exactly! ...so, you're telling me: that pattern is on my tree, because you pissed the Arcane off with all your demands?

Viktor being infused with the Hexcore—which we can reasonably assume is a wild rune, as can also be seen with its matrix—makes it so that he himself acts as what a Hextech rune would do to it (the Hexcore). Through Viktor, the Arcane is refined, and in a process that doesn't completely destabilise (compared to pure Hextech, as can be seen with the weapons). For Viktor to lose control or to be harmed means making that magic either go wild (the weapons) or make it dissipate (the commune).

That's why the fantasy 'ends' at the entrance of the commune: anything past that is out of Viktor's reach, and remains 'untouched' by the Arcane.

From Jinx, S1E5:

So, all about these runes: they form some sort of mathy, magicky gateway...to the realm of heebie-jeebies. And this turns it on!

Say it again: the runes make a gateway. The Hexcore was a rune matrix, an array of wild runes that formed a singular entity. An entity which is now 'one' with Viktor. It means being the 'Herald' is also being the 'gateway' for the Arcane. The traditional role of a herald is to proclaim and carry messages; we don't know what message the Arcane itself wants to send, but we do know for a fact that Viktor is at least doing its work in creating that commune in the slums of Zaun.

From Singed, S1E6 & S2E6:

The mutation must survive. You must survive, Viktor.

The Machine Herald himself is self-replicating and self-annihilating. He can 'cure' the afflicted, thus infusing the Arcane into other individuals and replicating its structure inside them. And at the same time, the Arcane is also what 'kills' him—with Jayce using (what looked to be a mutated version of) the hexcrystal of his hammer to blow through Viktor's chest, where we know the Hexcore was placed during Jayce's revival of him in Act 1.

This is why the commune, despite its purpose as a safe haven, also exists as a place of great danger. Why it really isn't all That™, even despite Viktor creating it as a safe space for many.

See this exchange between Vi and Jinx:

This place...do you think it could actually work? Underground utopia, run by a skinny tin Machine Herald. Maybe when Piltover slides into the Sump.

Jinx was right in calling it for what it is, despite the words being in jest. A utopia. Working 'when Piltover slides into the Sump'.

It's an impractical scheme. Too perfect. Too good to be true.

An impossibility.

Do you believe in fate, Doctor? Our paths carved before us. Guided by an invisible hand? Not fate. Evolution. Nature's greatest force, forever in flux. No. Evolution has a destination. Not to combat nature, but to supersede it. The final, glorious evolution. But he isn't a specimen—he's a man. And he needs my help. I will not sacrifice his humanity for your cause. You may leave. Very well. But I assume you understand already: if you perish, this community is soon to follow.

Viktor understands. He understands. He just wasn't ready to admit it to himself when Singed said it.

I understand now. The message hidden within the pattern. The reason for our failures in the commune. The doctor was right—it's inescapable. Humanity.

Human nature and human essence aren't self-sustaining. That's why the Arcane was so effective in 'healing' all those people. Their humanity hampered them from healing themselves; both in the sense of the human bodily condition (the limits of the physical self), and in the sense of humaneness (of empathy, of choice). The human body cannot survive its own traumas without an artificial means of a cure (case in point: Vander). And the Arcane acted as its solution.

Mere instinct doesn't let you live—you need to learn how to direct your life after survival. To adapt. To grow. Humanity, self-replicating and self-annihilating; the escape from that cycle, that's the glorious evolution Viktor speaks of.

A utopia. Impossible and impractical. Humanity: that which inspires us to our greatest good, and the cause of our greatest evil.

[jamrock41]

to be loved is to be changed.

life of pi, yann martel. the base violence necessary for change, arcane s1e3. the pain scale, eula biss. happy progress day!, arcane s1e4. video analysis. oil and water, arcane s1e8. the goldfinch, donna tartt. the monster you created, arcane s1e9.

[heartofhubris-a]

Arcane Season 1 episode 8

jesus christ all of this plot would've been dispelled if these kids had gotten hugs

[respectwomenjuice]

mommyyyyyyyy

[links-destiny]

I am really predictable with my OTPs... 😅 Feel free to do only one or neither of these but: BeckMason + what they do during the downtime when Beck's android is in jail. AND/OR OckVulture + meeting and bonding again as cellmates after S1E8.

Word count: (515)

Notes: Hopefully, I'm doing them justice, but I decided to pick BeckMason since I'm still trying to figure out the characters of TSSM. I enjoyed getting some insight on how other people interpret them :]

Mysterio is clearly not alright with the arrangements that have been made. He understands that the plan is to have Electro break the other members of the Sinister Six out of The Raft, along with having his double assist with the escape, but what do they mean he has to 'lie low' and for how long!? Simply unacceptable...

Having to pretend that he's still residing in prison and out of commission for weeks on end is just awful and dreadful work. How can they expect him to just sit still, and hang up the persona that is the Great Mysterio, Master of the Arcane Arts?

Tinkerer isn't particularly happy with the situation either. Sure, he and Beck are very close now after working many times before. It's always nice to spend time with someone that he not only just tolerates but actually cares about too but try concentrating on any of your delicate projects when you're constantly around an actor with a wounded pride and having to hear the continuous droning of his supposedly dramatic 'theater voice'.

"Why is all this junk on my workbench, Beck? This clearly has your handiwork written all over it, and please take this by all offense, but nobody's buying your butchered rendition of Latin anymore." Tinkerer shakes his head and starts shuffling the papers that were scattered across the table. It's obviously a concise and neatly typed-out script that his significant other has been working on, but right now he wants nothing to do with it while he tries to work. "Anyway, I thought I told you to have a designated space all the way over there."

"Don't manhandle my papers. You might ruin them." Mysterio snags them from his hands, trying his best to smooth over any wrinkles and bends that were made.

His tiring expression softens for a moment. "You know I wouldn't do that, even if they happen to be such an inconvenience."

Mysterio pouts, looking down at the plain clothes he's been wearing. They show nothing of the flare he's most used to, and even Tinkerer catches on. "It's the only thing I've been focused on. This is my own way of being productive since I can't roam around, lest someone is to recognize me. As soon as the others come back, I can finally have a plan at the ready and a show to perform under the guise of Mysterio again."

Tinkerer rolls his eyes, leaning against the table of his workspace. "What could you possibly need rehearsed lines for? You're a capable criminal, not some actor flaunting for their next role anymore. We have a few days left before Electro passes rehab. Don't tell me you're honestly worried that you're starting to get rusty or something."

The silence afterward definitely told Tinkerer all that he needed to know. He sighs heavily. "Maybe I'm now realizing that I underestimated how much this quarantine is starting to affect you more than it is me..."

He grabs Mysterio's hand and pulls him away from the space. "Come on, I think we both definitely deserve a break."

[jacensolodjo]

Parallels: Mass Effect 3 | Arcane S1E8 "Oil and Water"

[fix-me-sixteen]

cannot be the only one that is just. fully absolutely disinterested in whatever viktor has going on

[our-hextech-dream]

League of Legends - Arcane

S1E5: Everybody Wants To Be My Enemy | S1E8: Oil and Water

"The true sin of Victor Frankenstein was not in giving life to his creation, but in abandoning it to solitude because he could not bear it." — Ataraxxi

[emetophobiahelp]

Arcane S1 (2021) on Netflix is NOT SAFE!

Just after the credits during S1E8, approx the 6 minute mark, Jayce looks across the bridge and looks unwell. A soldier behind him starts going “sir?” and then Jayce immediately v*. Pretty obvious to see it coming. Audio wasn’t too bad, I looked away for about 5 seconds and it was fine.

Warning that the show contains a lot of spitting/spitting up blood which may be triggering for some people!

[jackdaw-draws]

I CANNOT HANDLE VI AND CAIT BREAKING UP, IDC IF THEY ARENT CANONICALLY DATING, I CANT HANDLE IT AFTER VIKTOR AND JAYCES ALSO UNNOFICIAL BREAKUP

[blackladisdestrcz]

Sleduji - watching Arcane S1E8 (Xbox Series X/Netflix)

-předtím Arcane S1E8 (Xbox Series X/Netflix)

[prepackagedlasagna]

I just think it's interesting that in s3e13 of Trollhunters, Merlin said "you have made me proud, champion. I am forever in your service." To jim after he helps defeat Morgana, and then went "I empathize Miss Claire, but we cannot go back to save him" to Claire when she suggested that they go try and rescue him from the Arcane Order in s1e8 of Wizards. I just think that its really interesting actually