#arcane season 2 critical

[tooningin]

I will never forget how hard I cringed at “bIG fAt hERO” and “wHAt’s wROnG wiTh MA pANts?!”

the entirety of act 2 season 2 is just fanservice for jinx fans but they somehow misunderstood why we liked her in the first place. like i liked jinx because she was a pathetic loser not because she was a hero and mature and great at one-liners man these writers just didn't Get It

[midnightcatharsis]

The meme is not mine and I have no idea who made it. I found it in this video

Episode 6 still doesn't make sense to me.

[tellmeallaboutit]

Arcane writers what the fuck happened in season 2

Was it corpo? Was it stress? Was it writer’s strike? Was it “it has to be lore now?” What was it?

[sex-drugz-rockroll]

"You won't stay around because you're critical of the show! It means you don't love it!"

How's that anti-intelectualism doing for you? Oh, you can't see the blatant problem with the writers forgetting about the CENTRAL CONFLICT THAT FUELS THE NARRATIVE? BOO FUCKING HOO?

This is one of the right wing pipelines and they can't fucking see it.

Be critical of your shows and media people.

[tooningin]

Which two projects are you referring to?

remember how in ATSV, Gwen's dad quits his job as a cop, because it required him to arrest innocent people, including his own daughter?

or how in Carmen Sandiego, Julia gives up her job as an investigator, after realizing that Carmen was a good person but the ACME still wanted to capture her?

i just wish we would have gotten something like this with Caitlyn. it's really disappointing to see a character with so much potential being completely assassinated like this.

at no point does Caitlyn realize that her job as an enforcer is only harming people.

at no point does she consider the fact that her own girlfriend was a victim of police brutality and classism, and that maybe she shouldn't continue to endorse and enable it.

there was an opportunity for growth, where Caitlyn realizes how much harm she has done, and thus decides to quit her job.

it's like the writers for s2 were completely different people, the way they entirely missed the point of the first season.

[hauntingofhouses]

arcane rant. spoilers for all of season 2 #caitlyn-critical

yeah okay i was scared to say this which is SILLY but ALAS. anyway yeah seeing that im not the only one i feel like i have to get this off my chest as well.

i wanted to give caitlyn a chance in season 2, especially in the beginning of this season during her """corruption""" arc wherein she was turning into a tyrant and a bad guy. because see, to me that was caitlyn at her best. not as a person but as a character. before this she was just so uninteresting and downright annoying to me, but starting with s2e1 i started really enjoying where the writers were taking her journey. i would've loved to see her continue down that path and caitvi evolving from reluctant allies to lovers and then perhaps to enemies-WHILE-lovers. i wouldve loved seeing caitvi hatefucking, and i thought that was where this arc was taking her. but no, instead she's still the good one, while maddie turned out to be the bad guy all along. plot twist! but it made me feel nothing but more annoyance not only at caitlyn but also at the way the narrative seems to baby caitlyn and excuse her for everything despite the supposed anti-cop messaging intrinsic to the way vi was written throughout season 1.

i understand that caitlyn's whole thing in season 1 is that she's a naive rich girl just trying her best in the ways she knows how, and that's by being a cop. like yes i get that, which is why i didnt mind her very much and gave her a chance to grow, and even though i didn't care for her as a character at all because she's boring AND a cop, i did like that she was in the story as vi's love interest, and primarily served the story in that role.

but when season 2 decides to give her a bigger role and allow her to shine on her own, they do a good job! until... they don't. because caitlyn still has to be a good guy, because she's SO loyal to vi. and why? the two barely know each other, they're attracted to each other but I don't understand why and how caitlyn could so easily put aside all her rage and grief and desire for vengeance and retribution, to be loyal to vi. to betray ambessa and work with jinx?

like i think my biggest problem is how little conflict there is for vi and cait to end up fucking in that prison cell. like if it was angry hate fucking, that would be perfect and honestly a natural followup if you really do wanna implement a sex scene right there and then. but it wasn't. instead it felt more like "okay my suicidal sister gave me her blessing to fuck you so i can finally do it now yippeee" meanwhile jinx literally went to kill herself over and over again while ekko had to keep trying to talk her down.

like the thing is i'm here for the drama and im here for a rollercoaster ride of emotions and i'm here for character development. but more than anything else i'm here for the drama where vi and jinx's story as sisters, as family, is ultimately the driving force of the story. so for them to just push that aside SO quickly, felt JARRING. like "okay sister MOVE i wanna fuck this cute cop who was acting like a tyrant in the city for the past few months (?), and btw the cute cop works for an institution that killed my parents and destroyed our whole lives ❤️ #lovewins"

like okay. i dont mind if the final ending finds both jinx and vi distanced and estranged because they both need to heal and move on from the past (and each other) in order to grow and invest love in their own new found families. but for it to have been done just like that, for caitvi to get together in the same prison cell where vi's suicidal sister had just been suffering in mental agony and grief... I don't know. i don't like it.

[tourmelion]

You know how arcane season 2 is really shit, well I got to thinking, why don't we write our own

And then I tried, and I think it's kinda decent as a replacement for season 2

Or at least, a better skeleton premise for part of the rewrite, it's kinda a big project

So, if anyone is interested in joining in the writing effort or is just interested in seeing what I've got so far DM me

I've also got an expansion of caits starting point of her arc on @tourmelions-arcane-blog

I've got some solid ideas for caits, Viktor's, jayce's and heimerdingers arc

As well as a proper introduction and character fleshing out of blitzcrank and orianna

Along with some themes to go along with them to symbolize things in the story

[tourmelion]

Hey I've been breaking an alternative s2 as well, I'm down to compare notes. I'm mostly focusing on trying to recenter the political thriller aspects, though it isn't a genre I'm super familiar with.

I would love to hear what you've come up with!!! And I've also been buzzing to share what I've got cooking, hop into my DMs whenever and we can chat, or if you're interested we could take it to discord

[thenationofzaun]

- Zaunites dying to help Piltover in battle while wearing enforcer uniforms, even though Piltover did nothing to earn it

- Silco, one of the few pro-Zaun/anti-Piltover characters from season 1, reduced into a mouthpiece for "forgiving those who wronged you" and letting go

- Jinx, one of the few anti-Piltover characters, becoming redeemed by sympathizing with Piltovians, being apologetic for killing Councilors, and feeling like she should die to allow her sister to be happy with her enforcer girlfriend

- Vi not having any problem with her Piltovian enforcer girlfriend gassing Zaun, and reduced to kneeling for Caitlyn's pussy in a prison cell, where she was locked for years as a child by an enforcer

- Jayce telling Viktor that his disease was never a weakness to be cured even though the disease was caused by Piltover polluting Zaun

- Ekko never calling out Heimerdinger's failings as a ruler nor Vi for joining the enforcers (even though he does in the game), and also risking all the Firelights' lives to help Piltover

- Sevika not having any lines in Act 3, never interacting with Jinx or reacting to Isha's death, and also risking her life to help Piltover, a decision which was made off screen

[venator-arts]

the target audience is me but also aabria iyengar @quiddie

I pity the poor fool being judged by their combined power

reblogs appreciated and encouraged (pls pls pls)

[fulcrums501st]

also basically the fandom

[sex-drugz-rockroll]

Legit got jumped in a comment section this morning by a certain subsect of the shippers (I'll give you 3 guesses ���) like, I ship them too, but like, they make themselves sound stupid with how they are dick riding the same execs that refused to give us representation for DECADES. the rep is good, but it could and should be better

by the way. people are allowed to complain about this season feeling rushed. i don’t know when it became a thing in this fandom to completely jump people who have valid complaints like YES arcane is a fantastically produced and beautifully animated show and nobody will be able to top it but they did start things with some characters only for it to never go anywhere so it can all be wrapped up in three episodes 😭

[sapphiresaphics]

The initial head turn is the most obvious parallel between the two scenes, but I think Vi turning and looking at Caitlyn towards the end there is really telling. In both instances she’s surprised by her actions.

First happens when Caitlyn opens her cell back in episode 5, and she looks genuinely touched. But the second one happens when Caitlyn informs her that she is letting her hatred of Jinx go, and she looks positively smitten!

I think these are key moments in Vi falling for Caitlyn. The first is curiosity and gentle attraction, the second is adoration and love.

[applebuttercringe]

Jayce's speech to Viktor was bad.

IMO

So, the final speech Jayce gave to Viktor about finding beauty in imperfection, and how our flaws make us human, that’s a fine sentiment but the specific examples he used ruined it. He used Viktors disease as an example.

Viktor was dying from a disease caused by Piltover mining in the fissures polluting the air. It was a preventable disease forced onto him by a corrupt system. He was slowly and painfully falling apart. “I can feel myself rotting” type stuff. Was he supposed to have appreciated that?

Jayce wants him to have appreciated the simple beauty of dying a slow painful death while your best friend is too busy being a councilman to be with you and your mentor is roadblocking your only possible cure. That was the imperfection that he was misguided to want to solve? The show is really saying Viktor was misguided, or not appreciative enough of being human, to not want to die young. He was giving up his humanity when he fought to live.

Viktor should not have just accepted it, that isn’t just part of being human. It isn’t a beautiful flaw you learn to love. He did nothing wrong by taking his life into his own hands and taking every possible chance to live. Even when no one believed in him.

I’m sure there are more charitable interpretations but that line really rubbed me the wrong way.

[bicth-and-in-that-order]

Not sure how to word this but people pushing back against arcane s2 criticism with “mEdiA LiTeRaCy” when said media literacy amounts to microanalyzing a character’s facial expression screams a disconnect in storytelling. I shouldn’t have to pause the screen and look at Cait’s eye crust to know that “akushally she never trusted Ambessa🤓☝️” when we should’ve naturally been led to that conclusion.

In s1, we know that Powder is desperate to prove herself and we know why she decided to go to Silco’s liar despite being told to stay put. Imagine if they cut out all those scenes of Mylo teasing/berating her, the moments where she screwed up on the mission, her feeling like a failure only for Vi to encourage, and inadvertently, enable her—imagine if they got rid of that and instead had a few scenes of her looking sad bc her gadgets broke and then deciding to go to Silco’s liar bc ??? like should we analyze the symbolic meaning of Powder’s shoes and Mylo’s eyebrows to understand why she did what she did? Is that good storytelling to yall? Idk

There’s a reason why s2 is getting a lot more pushback than s1 and it’s not because people just “don’t get it”.

[tooningin]

And the show frames it as the good ending 💀

I'm thinking of Sevika's ending because, it wasn't her, this wasn't her. She didn't want this. Ever.

She wanted her city free, she wanted her people free and safe, she wanted a leader, she wanted to follow never lead, and they sit her in a chair she hates nd gave her power she never asked.

And she's alone, she's so alone guys, losing everything again and again. She lost hope in Vander, loses Silco, loses Isha and then Jinx. It's tragic in a way, she's seated in the place everyone fought for to achieve, but it wasn't what she wanted, what anyone wanted.

Literally, the pawn has ascended to queen, but was it really what she wanted? It doesn't matter, take the crown wear it, everyone is looking at you now.