#blow the jinx vs Ekko fight out of the water

[xosnsd]

I’m still bitter that they didn’t think it was important enough for Jinx and Caitlyn to have a one on one conversation with each other and then have them fight it out.

Does Jinx know one of the councilors was Caitlyn’s mother? Are we suppose too assume she finds out during the time jump, off-screen? Is that not important enough address to ON-SCREEN????

Why establish this entire arc for Caitlyn that starts with Jinx, but you don’t see the importance of them interacting?

I know Jinx is a genius and in the game she gets away from being caught by Vi and Caitlyn numerous times, but isn’t Caitlyn supposed to have these super, amazing detective skills? That’s one of her defining traits in the lore.

I find it hard to believe that not once could she locate Jinx in the span of those months.

Also, Vi and Jinx don’t even speak about Caitlyn at all. Sometimes the writing for both of the sisters gives the impression that they don’t even remember what happened in season 1.

Yes, I know she chose “Jinx” and accepted that they both changed, but she went from being very obsessive to acting like Caitlyn doesn’t even exist really quickly. What happened to her very severe abandonment issues?

[tenderwenders]

So I finished all 9 episodes of Arcane on Netflix (and spent hours replaying the soundtrack because the music is SO GOOD, everyone listen to Dynasties and Dystopias right now).. Now that I’ve have some time for the initial excitement to wear off, I’m just gonna ramble about what I liked and what I thought could’ve been better.

First, the strongest aspects of the show was definitely the animation and the strength of the characters. Everyone already knows about Fortiche’s mind-blowing animation quality, but Arcane was INCREDIBLE in how nuanced and detailed it was. All the characters’ movements felt real and natural, and there were hundreds of emotions conveyed through facial expression and body language alone. That’s insane.

Next, the characters. They each had a depth and complexity to them that felt authentic and believable, strongly because the narrative frequently used family connections to deepen their actions and responses. My thoughts aren’t organized enough yet for anything too in-depth, but right off the bat I appreciated the genuinely fatherly love Silco had for Jinx (even if objectively he wasn’t a very good father; the father she wanted, sure, but not the one she needed), the way Mel Medarda’s political cunning and ambition exist side by side with her genuine compassion and desire to help (revealed in episode 8-9, after her mother’s arrival), how Caitlyn is genuinely driven to help others and empathetic to their pain even if she was sheltered from the world by her mother, etc.

Everyone, regardless of whether I liked them or not, had their own line of reasoning for what they did and it felt believable. I certainly didn’t like Marcus, the corrupt cop, but I was sympathetic to his fear of what Silco might do to his daughter if he broke off their partnership. Jayce and his hostility to Zaun, eventually storming the place only to retreat stricken with guilt over accidentally killing a child and choosing to liberate Zaun so he’ll no longer have to be responsible for actually fixing the situation there, was frustrating and annoying but I did understand his reaction. Jinx’s descent into madness thanks to years of untreated trauma and mental illness was painfully believable, and Sevika turning against Vander and choosing Silco for more forceful action made sense.

The show also did a great job of not shying away from the way violence is inherently a tragedy where no one really wins. The blood, the pain, the family left behind, the innocent lives lost. Everything has a consequence, and the show steering away from portraying fight scenes in a solely glorious, satisfying light was pretty refreshing. Even in the epic Ekko vs Jinx fight, despite the cool music, the mere fact that they’re facing off against each other is a tragedy because they used to be friends. The badass music cuts immediately once the 2D art style depicting their childhood game stops and the scene reverts back to the present: the bright colors are gone, everything’s gray and muted and there’s nothing triumphant about Ekko beating the shit out of Jinx. 

I appreciated a host of other things like the world-building (the first introduction to the Lanes made my jaw drop, it was so breathtaking), the diversity in design (no two characters look the same; they may look similar if they’re related, but there was a variety of heights, figures, skin tones, facial structures, etc.), the excellent writing techniques focusing on the theme of duality, the consistency of the characters, etc.

But I was disappointed by the centrist politics of the show. 

Like, the wealth and prosperity of Piltover only exists with the suffering of Zaun! Piltover doesn’t give a shit about Zaun except to keep them firmly at the bottom of the social ladder, miserably impoverished. And Zaun’s suffering -- the toxic waters and air, the lack of resources, the infighting, the violence, the drug addiction (post-Silco takeover) -- is a direct result of Piltover’s capitalism. With that it mind, is Silco really wrong for wanting independence for Zaun? Sure his methods certainly aren’t commendable, like flooding the Lanes with Shimmer and killing people when convenient, but in his position I’m honestly not sure how many people could resist becoming radicalized.

But anyway, the point is that the narrative seems to hammer home the “the cycle of violence must end” point, claiming violence on both sides is wrong and condemnable, but... Again, two centuries of Piltover fucking over Zaun and resisting any of Zaun’s attempts to improve their conditions. Piltover is directly responsible for Zaun’s poverty and high crime levels, but they’re absolved of all responsibility in the narrative. Killing people is bad, sure, but at some point the oppressed will feel they can only resort to violence to be heard because otherwise no one will listen. There’s a time for peaceful protest, but if no one is listening... if no one will even let you speak... I can’t help but sympathize with Zaun. (Even if most of the attacks on Piltover this season was done by Jinx, who acted independently and to earn Silco’s approval.)

The diversity in races was nice to see, as we POC really don’t get enough representation, but I was a bit put out by how so many of the wealthy Piltoverians were POC. Mel Medarda is black, with a black mother who is highly militaristic and implied to be imperialistic; Marcus, the corrupt cop, looks Asian; Caitlyn looks half-Asian herself, with an Asian father; Sevika, Silco’s right hand woman, is definitely brown; and Jayce, scientist boy wonder with a lust for power that’s starting to turn him into a pretty unlikeable (if understandable) guy, also may be brown. In contrast, aside from Ekko the main characters from Zaun are all white: Vi and Jinx, Vander, Silco, even Mylo and Claggor. 

I don’t know. In the context that Piltover is a city ruled mostly by self-serving, egotistical and hypocritical members of the 1%, a hyper capitalist establishment, I’m uncomfortable with the fact that so many of the POC are part of that upper echelon. (Like... Caitlyn, I love you, but can you quit the police force....) And it may be me being too sensitive, but while I appreciated Mr. Kiramman’s portrayal of warm and supportive fatherhood that is so often denied to men in media... the fact that he looks Asian and has a white wife who seems more assertive and powerful than him reminded me a bit of those unflattering stereotypes of Asian men as meek and submissive. Apparently the original Caitlyn was just white in the games, so.. while I do like having more Asian representation, I can’t help but be cautious of the writers’ decision to portray her father as an Asian man. (Then again, a lot of the producers were Asian men themselves: the writer, Alex Yee, most notably. They probably know to swerve from those stereotypes.)

Eh. I don’t know. It would’ve been nice if Viktor, at the very least, was a POC. And on the topic of Viktor, while I love him I was certainly not impressed by how Sky, his assistant, was definitely a woman of color... and got blown up to ashes to further his character development. Yeesh.

Overall I REALLY enjoyed Arcane, it was the most riveting piece of visual media I’ve enjoyed in literal years, but the centrist approach to tackling the problems of systemic oppression and what should be done about it was disappointing. Not surprising, but given the top notch quality of everything else I don’t think I can be blamed for having higher expectations.

Ok, rant over!