#arcane s2 ep 9

[ma151e]

"all I want is my partner back" OH MY GOD THIS IS BETTER THAN ANY KISS SCENE

[mintaii]

redrew an arcane piece i did back in 2022

[jochesc]

"All I wanted... is my partner back."

ARCANE SEASON 2 : ACT 3, EPISODE 9

[arowyn-m]

So this was published on Ekko’s VA’s twitter…

If you look closely at the beginning of the text it reads e209, meaning this is footage pulled from episode 9 of season 2.

Looking at the shot this episode is paused on, we can see that Ekko’s still donning the same look he had by the end of season 1—no man bun and he still has his orange scarf. He’s standing on what could be Jinx’s lair but it’s difficult to tell at the resolution and without further rendering.

So if this footage is from episode 9 and Ekko still looks like his S1 counterpart, then there’s a few possibilities to explain why this is the case—

Ekko’s man-bun/crop top appearance is an alternate universe version of himself. The Ekko we know never changes into man-bun Ekko.

Ekko’s appearance changes earlier in the season only to change back later.

This is just a flashback.

This footage is from the beginning of the episode and Ekko changes outfits halfway through.

We’re getting more than 9 episodes.

[silverislander]

I CAN'T BELIEVE I CRIED DURING FUCKING HEIMERSINGER

[jayyphantom]

Men be like "I'm fighting my demons" and demons be bisexuality

[rainibao]

Caitvi we winning Jayvik we winning

[scrunkle-squish1]

deeply excited yet nervous for arcane s2 act 3

[sandraharissa]

You know what, you're totally right. I didn't mention it cos 1) there's too much to talk about 2) it was a prediction I and others had that since Silco died trying to protect her from hallucinations of her family and then forgave her before dying then that might mean she won't have those in s2 or that maybe hallucinations of Mylo and Claggor will get replaced by Silco. But yeah, what about those lost seconds that looked like she's dissociating. Where are all the scribbles that distort her reality, like seeing Cait with devil horns and blacking out Vi from the picture. It's not like Silco's death would cure her psychosis.

All of the complexity of s1 thrown out the window bcos of all these revelations. Like yes, actually now it seems like Vi was right and it was indeed Silco who was causing her psychosis so with him gone it magically disappeared. It's not even that he raised her bad at all lol, I mean look at her she seems completely well adjusted now, it's just that his mere presence gives her a different personality and additional mental illnesses asdfljhgf

I think one of the many things wrong with Jinx this season is how like, half of her personality was cut off and thrown out.

Like her reaction to grief. We see her suicidal after Silco’s death and she’ll be again very suicidal after Isha’s death. Makes sense. Don’t have notes on that part. However I have so much notes on her rage. In s1 we see Powder sometimes responding to bad situation by being shy and sad, but sometimes she reacts in a more adversarial way, like complaining they should try fighting Piltover or trying to stand up to Mylo. But we also get these moments like when she’s left behind and has an absolute meltdown and starts wrecking shit but more importantly her reaction to Silco. He says they’ll show them all and she throws the audience the most rage fueled look you’ve ever seen. When really pushed beyond her limits this is Powder’s emotional reaction to tragedy/being wronged. We see that all throughout acts II and III and we see it when she blows up the council after Silco dies. And that’s the problem cos that’s the part that’s missing from s2. They cut her personality in half and only kept one half. Anger as part of her personality and reaction to grief was discarded when writing her in s2. Even tho she goes through a lot of grieving in s2.

Another example is Isha. Jinx prioritizing family and just chilling? Wanting affectionate interactions with family? Having an easier relationship with a younger family member cos there aren’t any expectations or need to prove anything or gain anyone’s attention? No fear of abandonment/betrayal? She just has this kid who hero worships her and follows her around like a puppy so no stress? No notes. However I have a lot of notes about Jinx’s paranoia and how not normal and possessive and toxic she is about relationships. And I have notes on the generational trauma. Where did all that go? That’s not how ppl work. Living in a messed up society and Silco’s parenting won’t just evaporate like that cos Isha is just so overwhelmingly cute. It’s more likely that Jinx would corrupt the kid. (which you could argue on paper she does cos the kid in the end thought that suicide was dope but why did the narrative frame it as this beautiful thing lol)

And on the topic of fighting Piltover where did “we beat the enforcers with just the four of us imagine what the whole Lanes could do” go? Jinx definitely prioritized family more but she wasn’t neutral or indifferent on the Piltover matter. The enforcers wrong her/hurt her/threaten her family yet again, they kidnapped Isha, and she just acts panicked and sad, but also jokes and quips while on the mission. Where’s the rage and hatred and desire for revenge on the ppl who wronged her? Sometimes it’s just ppl around her being mean or lying or smth, anyone could be her enemy, like Sevika, Silco or Vi, but a lot of the time it’s Piltover, they killed her parents, they were her fathers’ enemies and drove them to hate each other, they chased them as kids and tried to arrest them, they kidnapped and abused Vi in prison all her adolescence, they would have killed Vi so she blew up the whole blockade, Council tried to turn Silco against her and now he’s dead so she bombs them, all her life she can see that the quality of their life is bad bcos of Piltover, she’s in Jayce’s apartment and immediately goes for the sandwich. Jinx doesn’t come off as a very politically/ideologically motivated character but what happened to all her personal beef with Piltover?

They also inexplicably just ceased to write her fucking up all the time. what about her y’know, being a jinx? In s1 even in acts II and III when she is proficient in fighting and bomb-making they still constantly show her being more of a burden and fucking up in other ways. While never explained (which was good) to me it came off as a symptom of trauma and being neurodivergent, like how ADHD kids can’t escape the allegations that they’re lazy, but on a meta level it did make it feel like she was supernaturally cursed. Part of what felt so profound and empowering about s1 finale and her embracing being jinx it that it was her embracing that she’s different (and ‘wrong’ in some ways) and can never live a happy life in the society she lives in and so she lashes out. Now she just chills and nothing ever doesn’t go her way (ig until Isha died but that wasn’t even directly her fault, Isha just acted on her own choice and agency). Suddenly her mental issues don’t exist or get in the way of her socializing and being a part of society. This bigoted, violent and unfair society.

Don’t even get me started on her mannerisms. Remember how she would bite her lip? I’m not sure if she does that even once in s2. “Sister, thought I missed her”??? let Jinx rhyme sometimes and in general say weird shit, not one-liners.

So the only way for the writers to have Jinx do nothing, heal up completely and just chill with a kid in her lair (and really everything else she does (or doesn’t do) this season) is to get rid of half of her personality, the traits that would dictate she take action and feel wrath and lash out/hurt her loved ones in the process.

All of her tragic traits from s1 that made her Jinx were just erased, not changed throughout the course of an arc, absent from the get go, so that they can have her say that Jinx is dead and have it make sense in the context of s2 cos from her very first appearance is s2 this Jinx was devoid of pretty much all of her jinx-y character traits from s1.

[thelittleastronautinspace]

JINX IS ALIVE AND I CAN PROVE IT!

OK so, in the final episode of arcane Jinx blows herself up along with Vander/Warwick so she must be dead right?

WRONG

Here's my evidences

1. Foreshadowing, The Airship

Arcane is full of foreshadowing, nothing in this show is meaningless, repeating motifs and Chekhov's guns are plenty. In the very first act in episode 1 of the show the first words out Powders mouth to the audience is "One day, I'm gonna ride in one of those things.", this is in reference to an airship floating past.

The start of the shot has the ship fly above the camera and allow us to see the back fans. See how this frame is set, its a establishing shot with a focal point on the left side with the airship above the horizon line on the left. Now look at the end shot of act 3 season 2

It is a replace, a beat for beat copy of the first airship shot, arcane is the most expensive animated show to ever be produced, this is not a coincidence, this is foreshadowing. Its telling the audience that Powder fulfilled her wish. But there's more.

2. Repeating motifs, Jinx's scribbles/ film noise

At the end of the act3 s3's shot is this glitched out end card, before it for a few frames we se film noise. Film noise is when dust or other stuff gets on the film roll creating white specks and streaks, this is significant because its a running motif with Jinx and her hallucinations.

The first image is the end scene of arcane while the second image is from ep6 s1, notice the white streaks in each. Film noise, it only appears with Jinx, its a visual motif of hers, denoting her grip on reality and saying to the audience that she is here, its her motif.

3. Visual story telling, Caitlyn, The Monkey, The Hexgate and Shimmer

Caitlyn is first and foremost a detective, she is a brilliant minded woman who was able to figure out most of Silco's plot without any contact in the undercity, she has a keen eye for detail and can reconstruct in her mind a crime scene as seen in ep 4 s1.

We see her in the final minutes of ep 9 s2 pondering Jinx's "death", I think she believes Jinx is still alive and is gathering evidence.

She has with her the monkey head of the monkey bomb Jinx used. It is the same one as the bomb, the same red paint on the ear and middle nail. But here's the thing, if the monkey head survived getting blow up, there should be remnants of Jinx's body or cloths or anything but we are show nothing.

This tells me Caitlyn also thinks Jinx is alive and is trying to figure out how. She looking through her mothers archives on Jayce's blueprints of the hexgate. and she zooms in onto the part of the blueprints that show vent ways in roughly the same area Jinx would have fell, meaning that Jinx had an escape route out of the hexgate and away from the explosion.

This leads me on to my finale point of the visual story telling and it has to do with shimmer. Jinx gains this uncanny speed with shimmer and when she uses this new power we see these trails of pink. In this new season we also see how she seeming goes so fast we cant see her except for the trails of shimmer.

This leads me to the explosion, if we slow it down we see the same pink glowing streak rushing away from the explosion. Jinx used her shimmer speed to get out.

We only ever seen this pink streak is with Jinx and other shimmer enhanced people but Jinx is the only one with this ludicrous speed that could outrun an explosion.

I do believe Jinx lives, there is to much evidence and frankly, Jinx is to much of a money maker for Riot to just kill off. I bet we will be seeing her soon in Riot's new show even if its small cameo

[gilsart]

do you know I could break beneath the weight / of the goodness, love, I still carry for you? / that I'd walk so far just to take / the injury of finally knowing you.

✧✧✦ ARCANE SPOILERS (S2, ep. 9)

[hexite-nightmares]

My very unorganized thoughts on S2 of Arcane but only about Viktor

Alright I finally had time to think and write everything down so here we go. I want to preface that I have been weary about this season ever since I watched the act 1 leaks. Mainly because it was very clear he was never going to be a machine, and they didn't give him enough screen time to develop his motivations into ACT 3 Viktor being convincing enough

LET'S START WITH THE FALSE PROPHET VIKTOR

Alright so he has about 11 minutes ish of screentime. Aside from the glaring issue of Jayce reviving him and not destroying the hexcore, taking away agency from a disabled character. It was clearly a false prophet situation, but it was so fucking confusing on whether he could feel like a regular human, if he was under the Hexcore's control which makes the agency issue worse or just jaded. He all of a sudden starts speaking like he's reading Deuteronomy passages ?? We don't know for sure if he's aware that he's basically creating a hive mind now, did he start his plans of making everyone into one right here? Sky seems to encourage him to do this, what does she know about it since shes been in the hexcore ALONE for a little longer? (writers didnt confirm whether it was the real her or not) . Act 1 Viktor's issues are mostly about agency, and a seeming full abandonment of his identity as a scientist, his personality does a full 180. He doesn’t seem to question that the object that revived him and killed Sky is giving him healing powers, but he’s angry at Jayce so we have no clue if he’s being controlled or not.

The show doesn't seem to care to spend time with him bc Isha and Ambessa I guess.

Anyways lets move on to not even act 2, but ep 6, his only episode in this act.

I had huge gripes with this episode, mainly because whatever the fuck was going on with Viktor trying to "keep" Vander's humanity, when he clearly was taking it away from everyone he touched, does he actually believe what he's saying or is he under the Hexcore's control still?. Obviously the glaring issues of Sky being there without any actual input, they're cosmic friends I guess but with very generic lines, and the fandom has to fill in the blanks with whatever Amanda Overton feels like saying about Sky in the moment(if we don't see it in the show I don't take it as her development, sorry). So Viktor builds Colloidal silver drinking Joshua tree and ppl think it's fucking Eden, Jinx calls him a Machine Herald when there's NO SIGN OF MACHINERY JUST PURPLE MAGICAL METAL LOOKING FLESH. We get a whole ass different realm with no explanation other than, oh yeah Viktor is inside there. Jayce comes in and almost kills him. The only option there is at this point is for Singed to start his MH era. The choice of becoming MH is nonexistent now, other people have to jumpstart things for him. I know some people interprete this commune as Viktor achieving his dreams, thinking he was being himself, that he was in paradise with Sky and.. that wasn’t the case for me.. it was extremely sinister. Worst part of this Act, is that MH was seemingly a damn trial experiment for Orianna.

BONUS:

So it seems that Christian Linke has confirmed Sky was the hexcore using its influence to manipulate viktor into the glorious evolution. He said it was meant to be as a misdirect. So to everyone who got dunked on here for “wanting to be spoonfed” or “not reading into it deep enough” for thinking he was being mind controlled, you were right about it being the hexcore. Viktor has been confirmed to have no agency until episode 9 I guess. He also mentioned Viktor’s goal was getting the most power/influence… we never saw a fucking glimpse of this in season one I’m sorry.

ACT 3

First awful problem here is obviously Singed having to jumpstart things. Viktor is aware for his choice of whatever is happening with the egg thing. Yet....there's still no sign of machinery. We get a scene where Sky fucking dies again, he refers to her as Ms Young, which im guessing is a parallel to the other time he dismissed her in S1. But of course we get the double fridging in the show, cuz making female characters just for the sake of advancing her crush's plot line is sooo amazing. Here lies sky, the character who is barely a character. Well after that we get the sequence of his transformation and we get that butt ugly mask. His personality does another huge change again. So we know the hexcore is not influencing him anymore as the hexcore completed its goal of the glorious evolution.. so I guess viktor really does think this is the right way?

A huge issue I have again, is the lack of agency. In this particular scene Jayce goes "My partner died in this room" yeah..Viktor didn't fully choose to become this right? it all started with Jayce using the hexcore on him, it’s been manipulating him the whole ass season…Kinda wish there was some sort of acknowledgement from Jayce that he’s basically the catalyst of this.

He gets his laser because...fanservice. There's no way he went all the way to the lab and magically attached it to himself just to cut off a wall. He keeps going on that choice is false, but a few minutes before he said he’d evolve all of those willing?

In the cosmos, beautiful sequence. I don’t love Jayce’s dialogue choices(about his disease) here and then it all being about viktor hating himself.. since the hexcore was leading to all of this, his motivation for it all being self hatred feels a bit eh. The sequence is beautiful and Jayce and Viktor destroying the anomaly with the rune shard is nice, that part was cute. But then they kinda disappear and we only know that viktor is alive so far, no clue about Jayce. The sequence is touching towards the end and I’m a sucker for characters finding each other in every timeline/universe but it can’t make up for all the other things that are bothering me. This seems to be the one time Viktor has some sort of agency I guess.

Then obviously the worst part that will bother me forever. The thing that made me almost slam my laptop shut

This retcon is just awful I shouldn’t even have to say why, it makes things fucking weird and it’s frankly stupid. Also viktor can’t rock a beard like that.

Anyways this is very disorganized, fuck you riot I felt like an insane former this whole time but I was right.

[wofworld]

yeah this…i also thought it was kind of muddy how exactly the “good” reality came to that point. i’m willing to give it the benefit of the doubt and assume that heimerdinger probably had something to do w it, considering that he was there for 3+ years, or that maybe there was some big public outcry/common ground after vi died and jayce most likely killed himself (considering no hextech and viktor stopping him?) also grayson would still be sheriff which might have helped w relations. but all of that is just my speculation, nor does it make marcus’ reaction any less weird…

some parts of this act really shone through but most of it was felt too fast + shallow to really click. riot games could you not afford one more episode. literally just ONE more episode and 90% of the issues would have been solved 😭

have you watched act 3 yet??? NEED your thoughts on timebomb ep 🤭

It was the part of the last arc that reminded me why I loved this show so much and why I love writing fic for it.

Otherwise, I’m sort of in awe of how the bag got fumbled Marvel movie style.

[chronicsyd]

I think the problem that most people aren’t realizing (that’s probably going to bite them in the ass when S2 arrives) is the fundamental Problem when it comes to Vi and Jinx’s relationship:

Vi loves Powder, there’s No denying that. Every action she takes when she gets out of prison has been to find Power. And even though she has budding feelings for Caitlyn, Powder comes first. But the problem between the two is when it comes to Jinx. Because she Can’t love Jinx in the way that she loves Powder.

Which is why one of the last things she says to Vi, “I thought, maybe you could love me like you used to. Even though I’m… different.” Holds so much importance. You wonder Why Vi doesn’t say anything to Jinx before she leaves and fires Fishbones. You’d think that Vi would leap at the opportunity to insist that she still loves her, but she can’t. She can’t love Jinx. At least, not in the way Jinx Wants her to.

A lot of people have been claiming that “the trailer is lying to us!”, “She’s just placating Caitlyn!”, or whatever they’ve been saying when we hear Vi say, “My sister is gone.” People are seeming to think that there’s a sliver of a chance that the two could reconcile or go back to what once was or whatever. And the thing is… I Highly doubt that.

Vi not only has to deal with the Drastic ramifications that Jinx has inflicted on Piltover but I think she also has to realize that this is who Jinx’s been for Several years at this point. (Cuz remember in ep 4, other people Know who Jinx is and what she’s capable of at this point, she’s made a name for herself inflicting that kinda terror in people)

As much as Vi doesn’t like it, This is who Jinx is now. I truly believe that Powder died in episode 9. And from what Arcane has shown us, this can really only end in tragedy for the two (not in a death, there are certainly things that are worse than that). And I think they may show Vi emotionally disowning Jinx (as hard as that’d be to watch) because there isn’t Powder to save anymore, there’s just Jinx and Jinx is the one that needs to be stopped.

(I know that people bring up Jinx’s champion storyline from Legends of Runtarra with Mr. Bunny but the thing is I’m pretty sure that happens way after this and, while I may not know a lot of LOL lore I know that a lot of Jinx’s storylines recently are about trying to prod Vi’s memory cuz she has amnesia and doesn’t remember anything about her past in the Undercity and all that soooo that’s what I have to say about that)

Do I think at the beginning of the season Vi’s probably going to be in denial and try to find “Powder” again? Absolutely. The way Jinx says “finally got the name right… sister.” Is implying that there’s a scene between the two that they haven’t shown us yet because I doubt there’d be That much venom in her tone if the two haven’t seen each other from Ep 9 all the way to whenever this fight scene takes place when Vi’s already an Enforcer. Hell, even when Vi calls her “Jinx” in that last part there’s hurt in her eyes and she slightly shakes her head before doing so, clearly not comfortable with calling her sister that. (Also fueling my belief that this isn’t the season finale fight that some people think it is)

[arowyn-m]

That last Reed post HAS to be for some promo material, right?

Oh absolutely…before today I would have never said whatever Reed’s been up to has been part of promo (And tbh I still think his Timebomb posts are his and his alone), but the recent shift to focus on in-studio photos is weird.

This doesn’t feel like typical Reed shenanigans lmao this feels like the Arcane marketing team—especially since for the photo where he’s standing at the podium or whatever he would have had to ask someone else to take his photo.

He had to have gotten permission to post that—there’s no way this is just him.

These photos also let us know that main characters are still recording lines less than 2 months until release, which is WILD. It could be post-production touch-ups but still that’s insane. Less than 50 days until Act 1 drops and starring actors are still in the studio…the Act 4 conspiracy is looking more possible by the hour lmao

[machineheraldbabe]

my arcane hot takes/predictions

i believe all of these things but! it's all in good fun. there isn't a character i genuinely dislike; every one serves their purpose, their motivations are fully realized, and every dilemma they endure/represent is morally complex and super fascinating!!

i love reading/talking about this show :)

If we had to nominate a single character as the show's villain in s1 (rather than the enforcers as a unit, or silco's shimmer operation, etc.), it would be marcus. if he hadn't taken silco's blood money, none of this would have happened.

jayce is "worse" than viktor in season 1 morally; "worse" comes with a lot of weight, ofc. i think season 1 follows jayce's story especially closely, from starry-eyed genius, to political initiate, to chess-master-in-training. the narrative indulges and displays his darkest traits and contrasts his narrative of moral emptiness with viktor's story of lonesome self-sacrifice. this is why i think it's VERY interesting that jayce allows viktor to break the news about his deal with silco for an independent undercity.

BUT! viktor will completely flip this dynamic next season, and viktor fans like myself will find ourselves in jayce's shoes! i can't wait for this!

relatedly, i am eager for a complete villain arc for viktor. it's mostly agreed upon that his story is incredibly sympathetic, but i'm hoping that the writers push him a few steps too far. i don't want to be comfortable - i want to watch a true degradation of morals to complicate what it means to redeem or condemn someone with such a tragic past. it'll blend very nicely with our initial impressions of vi's s2 story.

jinx is the main character of arcane and i love that for her.

vi's alleged enforcer arc makes Perfect sense, especially when contrasted with her dialogue with vander in act 1: "i grew up thinking that i am less than them." she can't be less than them if she's one of them.

mel hates viktor and was worried that jayce prioritized his relationship with viktor too highly. this comes from the scene where jayce confides in her that viktor is dying and her first remark is: "i didn't know you were so close." not long after, she silently belittles viktor when convincing jayce that the hextech weapons are a necessity by looking down upon him and refusing to consult him. i also want to be So Clear that i adore her character and that this is NOT a criticism; both scenes are phenomenal and are integral into their tripartite dynamic.

caitlyn was way out of pocket for her aggression in ep 9 and it definitely revealed her character's darkest tendencies that i think we'll see more of in s2.

viktor will be the sleeper-agent for s2. i know i'm projecting here but think about it - even visually, he has his own shade of purple amidst shimmer's fuchsia and hextech's blue. much like how powder's stealing was the initial conflict in s1, i think viktor has the same catalyst potential.

the worst things s2 could do are a) killing off a champion too early (save the deaths for ep8/9!) and b) giving viktor a love interest.