#im critical of arcane

[loycos]

i genuinely want timebomb fans to explain how episode 7 wasn't fan service, cause it seems to be a common consensus that the caitvi sex scene was. im so curious as to how their minds work

my main critique of the episode is its length and placement. thats not the right time to waste all this screen time on this. especially when in the very next episode, the plotline act 1 spent so much time establishing gets resolved in 3 conversations. which were good, writing wise, but thats where the jinx\vi\cait arc ends. an arc that was established all the way in season 1. and caitlyn gets to spend the finale interacting mostly with ambessa, a character who's relationship arc she started like 5 episodes ago, and doesn't have as much emotional depth as her relationship to vi and jinx. the sex scene is literally all we got to conclude the caitvi relationship that had been building for 2 seasons. and yet people think it was pointless.

i actually want to make a post\video as to why i think caitvi lost its narrative purpose in acts 2 and 3, and therefore why people started seeing it as unimportant and "fanservice". the short answer is: narratively, caitvi are a physical representation of piltover and zaun, and their relationship symbolizes how the cities can reach a compromise if they see each other's humanity and learn to cooperate. if you noticed the piltover\zaun plot dropped like a fly after episode 4 and was basically in the background to time travel and magic shenanigans since then, you might now understand why caitvi the ship lost its purpose. they're still lovely as characters, and the audience loves them too, but at this point, their relationship doesnt represent anything in the story anymore. nothing that matters in the finale, anyway.

[higuchisora]

"Jinx left so Vi wouldn't have to choose between them, she left so Vi could finally be happy"

Is anyone else bothered by the implication that a relatively NEW girlfriend would be capable of making someone just as if not MORE happy than healing their relationship with their sister, who they spent YEARS wanting to make up with?

Me personally, I can get over a bad breakup. But if either of my sisters DIED, or simply chose to actively walk out of my life forever, that would fucking break me. I would not, in fact, move on. And maybe it's different for you guys, but Vi consistently spent an entire season trying to find and make up with Jinx. I don't know what the hell happened in season 2, but her saying "the only thing that kept me going was the thought of getting back to you" about her 7-year prison sentence doesn't sound like "I'll be better off with this girl I've dated for a total of 2 weeks".

Why is there an immediate assumption that any romantic relationship holds just as much if not MORE weight than any platonic/familial one? I'm sorry but why is it even a contest? I'm fully convinced that in season 1, had Jinx not demanded Vi kill Caitlyn- aka take a life, ANY life- and instead asked for LITERALLY ANYTHING ELSE, she'd have done it. Remember what she said? She said they could leave the entire city behind, just the two of them, and never come back. She was ready to leave their home, leave Caitlyn, leave all of it, for Jinx. Because at the end of the day, all she wanted was her sister back. But suddenly season 2 rolls around and it's "Caitlyn makes her happier." When? Where? How? I don't see any scenes of Caitlyn making Vi happy. Oh but she did hit her though, after getting upset that Vi didn't want her to shoot at a kid.

I'm sick of romantic relationships being taken as "naturally" being the priority. Maybe if you're married with kids or something, you'll prioritize your partner over your friends, sure (but if you have kids they still take priority over your partner IMO). But a 2-week-long situationship? I've known people who get ghosted after longer than that. Fucking be real with me.

I'm simply not convinced that Caitlyn should matter this much to Vi so quickly. It shouldn't even be a competition. I genuinely cannot imagine Vi, who's SOLE MOTIVATION in season 1 was Jinx, and who's SOLE MOTIVATION in EVERY UNIVERSE and TIMELINE was her FAMILY, would ever "move on" and "be happier" with any romantic partner. Callous as it may sound, she can always get another girlfriend. There's no replacing her sister.

[ludinusdaleth]

the thelyss brothers

-Critical Role Campaign 3, Episode 113, "Assault on the Malleus Key"

[sillystimmings]

arcane went “we wrote a messy complex codependent relationship between a father and a daughter” and then in season 2 went “oooh we made them too messy and complex let’s pretend like she had that relationship with the character we see more morally correct even though we barely saw their relationship in this way so it doesn’t look bad and everything can look perfect and she can call him dad a few times to really put a bow on top of all of it” and thought we wouldn’t notice

[srslylini]

Arcane Season 2 is like that popular fanfic you open that has a cool concept and a nice idea but something about it (the writing) feels so off (the characters) that even though you read it to the end you sit there wondering what the fuck that was and why it's so popular

[silk-o]

I could talk so much about this promotional video. And how it lied about season 2

Jinx is being depicted as going to storm Piltover. This never happens. Jinx never actively goes to war with Piltover.

(In fact, she's made to forgive Piltover and apologise to Caitlyn that she killed her mom. Which Jinx would NEVER do. She DESPISED Caitlyn and her mother was on the council which has oppressed Zaun for the entirety of Jinx's life.)

This false imagery of Jinx going to war also matches the intro scene where she's waving the flag and becoming a symbol/leading a revolution. It promises a plot line that was completely unexplored as Jinx never actually led any sort of rebellion, and in fact hid away with Isha instead. (Not to mention that the Zaunite rebellion went nowhere and got dropped after act 2)

I would even go as far as to say that Isha was created to completely erase Silco and the impact of his death. To make it so that Jinx wouldn't become a revolutionary as a reaction to his death, despite the fact that she shoots at the Council as one of her first acts after his passing.

Even as Powder she wanted to fight back against Piltover and Jinx HATED enforcers. She killed them without a second thought, even humming songs as she casually killed them. She was raised by Silco, who wanted an independent Zaun. It would make sense for her to storm Piltover with Fishbones, as depicted here. But she doesn't. Because she decides that "Jinx is dead" and that she's going to hide out with Isha.

Then there's the Vi shadow. There's SO MUCH that could be said.

1, that Vi is now in her sisters shadow. This is sliiightly touched upon when Vi sees that Jinx is being painted on a mural with Vander - Jinx is Vander's successor, whereas it was supposed to be Vi. But even this symbolism is strange. Why would Jinx be depicted this way? Vander was never a revolutionary, he maintained the status quo, so she isn't his successor.

(The reason is that the writers were trying to erase Jinx and Silco's dynamic so they focused on Jinx and Vander being father and daughter which was. A really strange choice imo. Especially as it turned Warwick from a monster due to his transformation to a lucid dog that they were trying to save for a whole act. And then some. Only for him to die twice. Which wasted screentime in a show that already had a problem with pacing)

2, that Vi actually doesn't like Piltover either and that she ALSO wants to rebel, seeing as she's being depicted as a rebel's shadow. Which would fit her character a lot better than her joining the enforcers with barely any resistance or insight into her thoughts after the initial "No Cait I can't".

It would also remove her passiveness when Caitlyn was gassing Zaun. Vi had NOTHING to say? SERIOUSLY? The woman who, in season one, said "You enforcers are all the same, just asshole criminals in fancy uniforms"? She has barely any thoughts about Caitlyn's cruelty? Vi's character was completely brutalised this season and it's so sad to see. I knew Vi was going to become an enforcer, I know that that's her title in the game, but like THIS? It doesn't fit how Arcane set up Vi's character!

Not to mention that Vi was sad that the council got hit with a missile. That she said she would hunt Jinx down for what she did. Vi never had any attachments to the council. Shes been oppressed by the council her whole life. She SHOULDN'T be sad about what happened. Sure, she could sympathise that Caitlyn lost a parent, but she shouldn't be so broken up that the council was bombed.

Vi's character was so cheapened and flat this season. Her arc was non existent.

And Jinx? Jinx was completely ooc from what we saw in s1 and especially after the finale of that season.

For a show that was meant to be about the two sisters... the writers really fumbled both of them.

And it's so horribly disappointing

[stringcage]

This Is About Arcane

[arriettyspin]

I HATE how Jinx was turned into a mouthpiece for C_itvi this season. Why did her loathing of Caitlyn just disappear even though she acted exactly how she had feared in her hallucinations, nearly shooting Isha and leading the strike team gassing the Lanes? It almost feels like the writers took the homophobic Jinx memes from season 1 seriously and scrambled to contradict that notion in the most ham-fisted way possible.

I also find it interesting that Jinx (and Ekko, actually) never finds out about Caitlyn's physical and verbal abuse of Vi because no way in hell would she have said "you deserve to be with her" if she had known. And why was her final conversation with Caitlyn in the prison so out of character and forced? Why would Jinx apologise for the death of Cassandra, a councillor who contributed to the oppression of Zaun?

It's clear the writers were too cowardly to give Jinx any kind of strong political stance as a consequence of the Piltover-Zaun conflict being sidelined.

[gingerpines]

can yall stop saying caitlyn came in the cell to f ck with vi like VI INITIATED IT😭 she was finally letting herself be happy, like jinx literally told her to

“it wasnt the time or place” ok so then what is the time or place? their city is at war lmfao they just indulged in this for a very short time (the scene was only 2:28 btw.) and they deserved to, the place isnt as weird as yall make it to be, Amanda said it herself, it was meaningful for Vi to free herself or her trauma related to being locked up both physically and mentally

yall just wanna take ANYTHING away from lesbians i swear😭 they barely got any screentime this season after the writers built up their relationship and arc SO MUCH in season 1 can we just have this one thing…. even just IN the show stop blaming the characters for being horny in a weird place like their lives are MESSY and so is their relationship, they both went through hell especially vi, let them have this.

that being said i still do believe the scene would’ve carried a little more weight even with a few more lines of them talking about it all, or even caitlyn just saying “you didn’t lose me” before rizzing her up lol but it was so powerful how quickly Vi understood that Cait was on her side and supported her choices

[silvercat-s]

Silco's death magically making Jinx sane contradicts Season 1 entirely. In Season 1, we see how obsessed Vi is with killing Silco because she believes her sister is brainwashed by him. She thinks removing Silco from the equation will fix everything and Jinx can go back to being the adorable little girl she once was.

Episode 9 completely destroys that notion. Jinx explicitly says that it wasn’t Silco who made her this way, it was Vi (while obviously not wholly true, Vi did play a part in it). Silco's death is what pushes Jinx to stop trying to convince her sister (and herself) that she can be Powder again. It’s the moment she fully embraces her Jinx persona, culminating in that horrifying dramatic act in his honor

Now season 2 completely backtracks by suggesting that Silco’s death did fix everything! We’re suddenly back to square one with the Jinx vs. Powder conflict, even though the final episode of Season 1 was supposed to resolve that. Silco’s years of influence, both good and bad, are simply erased from her life. The trauma, emotional manipulation, paranoia, and codependency are just... gone. The time she spent with him is not even mentioned

It’s starting to feel like Silco had her under some magical mind control, and his death broke the spell. That’s not only reductive but also undermines the complexity of Jinx’s character arc. I really thought we were past this

[thought-begone]

The thing that bugged me about season 2 was how isolated each character seemed. Caitlyn's rampage on the chem barons was all well and good, but gassed up a whole street and innocents are bound to get caught in the crossfire - and vi helping her would at least get the attention of the firelights and in extension, ekko.

I want him to fight with his older sister, because so far for 5+ years he did all the cleaning in the undercity and nobody (that we know of) gotten hurt. And what about the councilwomen's daughter preaching about 'breaking the cycle of violence' but so easily used chemical warfare? In this case the end definitely does NOT justify the means

[q8qwertyuiop8p]

Arcane S1 was nominated for nine Annie's and won them all.

S2 has been nominated for 7 Annie's.

Annie's S1 was nominated for but not s2:

Best Character Design

Best Voice Acting

Best Writing

Best TV Media/General Audience

Annie's S2 was nominated for but not S1:

Best Editorial

Best Music

How incredibly surprising. Look what happens when you throw away the people who actually have expertise.

[enemui]

If I was Cait, I would've simply hauled Vi to a private room with a bed, urgency and desperation and yearning be damned. I could be a privileged piece of shit with a history of violence against the impoverished innocents, but I'd still draw the line at having my first intimate encounter with my girlfriend, who was in prison since she was a kid (and I know this cause I was the one who bailed her out, even if it was for my own benefit), in a fucking jail cell (that her sister was locked in less than an hour ago!!!).

[tangyyrine]

The thing about Viktor being confirmed asexual is that it’s bad representation.

And I’m not saying it’s a bad thing for Viktor to be viewed as ace. What I mean is that in 2024, we have long outgrown this “oh actually this character is queer!” in interviews from writers, directors, etc when they never actually depict it in the show itself.

You want Viktor to be ace? Great! Fucking show it then?

How are you going to say “someone from the LGBTQ Group at Riot told me that asexuality is often poorly represented”. AND THEN in the same breath, you’re going to say that Viktor can’t experience romantic love because of his asexuality, when that’s actually a huge misunderstanding about what asexuality is?

You can’t act like you properly represented asexuality when viewers wouldn’t even know Viktor is ace unless they read this interview.

[1296-very-good-year]

THIS RIGHT HERE was the juiciest, ripe-for-future-conflict season 1 dynamic imo that the season 2 writers either forgot entirely, or didn't give a single shit about.

Season 1 ends with the entire council the victim of a terrorist attack and Jayce just... hides in his lab. Being sad. He gets to care about Viktor and NOTHING ELSE for the rest of the show.

None of his other relationships matter, none of his politics matter. His desire to protect the city and improve lives with Hextech vanishes without a trace. He's given no self reflection after the mother of the child he killed comes after him for vengeance, just goes ahead and makes weapons again. Renni may as well have not said a word to him about her son. He never reacts to it.

Ambessa never tries to speak to Jayce again despite her wanting him to make Hextech weapons. Despite how easy it was for her to manipulate him to recklessness after their one(1) conversation. No, instead she hitches her horse to a worm like SALO and needlessly tries to get Jayce killed... Don't get me started again on how stupid they made Ambessa in general.

And poor Mel gets to act meek before Caitlyn of all people, gets a completely worthless shimmer subplot, and then gets whisked away to magic exposition land. And then she comes back and kills her mom. In combat. With her new magic powers.

God...

They could have let Jayce be the hapless hopeless loser forced into a position of authority he never wanted over two warring cities, ping ponged between the manipulations of two ideologically opposed political powerhouses with family drama. But nooooooo that would be too much work :(((

[silk-o]

The shock I had when I was cheering that the council was bombed and season 2 was... trying to make me feel bad for them?