#like the thing with isha and vander only happens so jinx loses every bit of sanity she had left and Vi goes welp

[ganondoodle]

the closer we get to arcanes finale the more worried i am bc so often .. if not always .. things i like end in a way that i dislike so much it ruins everything else for me

and im so worried they pull a 'this is a multiverse' thing bc then they can say every skin is somehow canon bc its all different universes you seeeeee and jayce went mad bc he lived through all of them or something, or force it to end in a way that makes the champions end up like they are in game- Vi is a shitty cop, Jinx is just heehoo craycray bc xyz etc

[kacievvbbbb]

I finally got around to watching Arcane’s final part and like all parts it’s so beautiful. It really is. But Arcane kinda has the same problem with MHA for me as in the ending is actually pretty satisfying but how we get there could have been so much better.

Don’t get me wrong MHA’s problems were seasons in the making. Arcane actually suffers from the opposite problem there just wasn’t enough time. Like I don’t know why they felt Arcane should be a 2 season show I can only hope it wasn’t a studio pulling the strings (I want to say Netflix would never but yes they would no other company so against the idea of success like them)

But yeah not that Arcane couldn’t have been a 2 season show the 1st season wraps up its main conflicts pretty nicely honestly if not for the cliffhanger and some other lingering plot lines it could have been a good stand alone. But there was just soooooo much happening in season 2. With season one at the core of the story no matter what craziness happened at its core it was about the tragedy of 2 sisters and that was its grounding piece. Season 2 just had nothing like that. It could have been Jayce and Viktor with how that’s kind of the main conflict? This season and given the resolution but Jayce is barely in the thing 😭. They have one moment together and then don’t really interact again until the final part. I just needed more honestly form every relationship.

The only relationship I felt was kind of properly developed was Isha and Jinx (even tho they kind of dropped the ball a bit after she died) but like you actually kind of see that relationship grow. I wish we got more of heiminger and ekko’s new proffesor student relationship (u wish we got more of ekko period honestly) ekko has a way of barely being in the season and then pulling up at the most important moment for a huge blow out in the final part. I just think it would have made Heimidinger’s (I am butchering this name forgive me) sacrifice for ekko more meaniful (not that I don’t think he wouldn’t have literlaly done that for anyone but it would have been nice to see that relationship develop in particular them getting lost in time together and all)

And the getting lost in the multiverse/time thing was really good I really liked it. It needed to be more than 1 episode. I wish we could have really sat with it. The horrors Jayce was experiencing and this new reality that ekko is faced with (like don’t get me wrong for one episode they did a lot and it’s so beautiful it would have just hit harder if it was longer)

Don’t even get me started on Mel and the black rose I still do not understand what that was all about. That definetly needed a whole season dedicated to just that and not (I hate to use the word shoved) but shoved in as a C plot to Viktor’s cult.

For a season they (hopefully) knew going in that this would be their last they were trying to accomplish so much in just 9 episodes like yes they are about an hour each but they are still just 9 episodes. Honestly we don’t even spend enough time with maddy to care about her betrayal. I felt more about Ambessa’s right hand’s death because at least he’s kind of been a steady presence through out the season. I don’t know what was going on with Loris. I though he would have more to do they kept giving him little moments where it felt like he knew more than he was letting on but I guess not? He really was just some guy?…..well okay.

I love the Vander reunion I love it so much the fight was epic the resolution was epic god the fucking memory sequence with the water color kill me now. But again I wish we had more time we just got him back and now we are losing him again drag that shit out really make it hurt twist the knife deeper give us a couple episodes let us truly believe that everything might be okay and then throw that shit in our face that would have hit so much harder. (Well that’s just me though)

There’s was so much happening this season. It all felt like build up it felt like build up till literlaly the last 30 minutes of the show. It just felt like there was no proper middle the show just kept building and building and then tried to cram ever resolution in the last 2 hours. (I know they didn’t fully reveal the what the Black Rose drama was because of this Noxian show they are planning but I don’t know I just didn’t like how they left things 😭 Mel was barely in the season and then she’s back and there’s so much left unsaid and 😭😭😭)

I might be in the minority but I just really didn’t know what to make of Jinx’s arc. Like I can see the parallels and the beauty of it but at the same time it just didn’t click for me. I know she’s probably not dead like I’m not even going to pretend she is. But yeah. Same with Vi honestly. Vi felt so passive this season shes just kind of being led around.

I just think the pain problem this season was that there was no central story. There was no grounding piece that the story all revolves around. And I hate to be an advocate of taking stories centered around women and focusing on the men there but Giving how it ended (and honestly I’m not mad at it) and just the whole hectech being at the center of it all this season, it should have been Jayce and Viktor their relationship should have taken center stage they should have been this seasons Powder/Jinx and Vi the parallels are literally already there. One being consumed by everything they thought they wanted but not like this and the other still after everything trying desperately to reach them (mostly through a lot of violence) they even have the falling out like Vi and Powder did at the end of the first part. But their relationship just wasn’t explored enough for me to really say it was the center of the season. It would also flow well with the general established conflict Vander and Silco mirroring Jinx and Vi mirroring Jayce and Viktor (I personally don’t ship them nor do I think of them as overtly sibling coded I can just see the parallels it is not my fault the other characters are either siblings or heavily sibling coded 😭 but don’t come for me)

Honestly the most developed relationship this season was Cait and Jinx and that mirror they hold up to each other as blue haired girlies manipulated by desperation grief and power. And I enjoyed that. Caitlyn in general got a lot of good screen time this season that I love taht for her.

I don’t want to harp on about the negative because there was so much that I loved about arcane it is such a beautiful story and I know the story isn’t technically finished atleast I don’t think so and maybe mine and everybody’s expectations where impossible to live up to. But I do still genuinely think it is one of the best pieces of television out there and all in all it was a truly amazing season of television that we were so lucky to experience.

Also the music was just straight banger after banger. Like Whoever curated that playlist? You need a raise like asap.

[vi-is-badass]

I’m going to be honest I think Vi’s writing in this act wasn’t as strong as it could have been. Every other character I felt (for the most part) acted according to who we know they are or their evolution had enough screen time to fully understand why they got to the point they did at the end of act 1, but there just felt like there was a bit of a disconnect between the pieces they presented and the way they executed certain plot points when it comes to Vi’s character.

(This is not meant to be hate. I love this show and this is in no way targeted towards any user here. This is meant to voice my feelings)

I felt like the pieces were there to make everything click into place and feel totally in character for Vi. The council wanted to send in all the enforcers (what could lead to all out war) and Caitlyn managed to wrangle control and convince them to send in a small strike team (damage and collateral mitigation).

Make that be at the forefront of Vi’s decision to join the enforcers. Vi is a protector first and foremost, but she’s also deeply effected by Vander’s ideology. If the decision is that she can join the enforcers and ensure that only a small strike team will be sent out to targeted areas to detain only Jinx and prevent an all out war Vi would do that. I have no doubt post season 1 Vi would do that and it would be a logical extension of Vi’s protector role and how she acts on Vander’s ideology.

Then there’s the fact that we don’t get to see Vi’s reaction to the idea or plan to use the grey. That felt like a key moment missing. We get to see Caitlyn learning about it but not presenting it or if she received any push back. In fact we don’t get to see Vi push back in any way against Caitlyn this act until the moment where she stops her from shooting at Isha and Jinx. (That moment where Vi didn’t push back against Caitlyn sending someone to Stillwater when just episodes before she was calling Jayce out for the same threat was glaring to me)

I think the angle is that Vi is guilt ridden. She blames herself for what’s happening and Caitlyn’s spiral so she doesn’t feel like she has the right to push back or she feels they just need to end this quickly so things won’t continue like this but I feel like both of those are generous on my end because its not conveyed well. I feel like having a moment prior to episode 3 (where it’s implied they’ve been doing this for weeks or months. Seriously what was the passage of time?) at the start where we see Vi start to give concessions and really see her thought process behind it would go a long way. And, while it wouldn’t justify the line above, it would make the line make a lot more sense coming from Vi’s mouth.

It would have also made it so that when Vi finally pushed back against Caitlyn and drew the line it would be more impactful. This is Vi actually returning to that protector she is at her core. That despite everything she’s still her. And like every time before when tried to do the right thing she gets punished for it and loses someone she loves. It’s a tragic conclusion to act 1.

These issues and changes aren’t meant to justify Vi’s actions. I’m someone who has said that they believe this is the wrong choice and the alienation Vi will face as a result is deserved and justified, but wow did I feel like they didn’t earn some of these turns.

I genuinely want to hear other people’s opinions on this. Does anyone else feel this way or am I pushing back too hard? I actually do want to know if you agree or disagree (as long as it’s actually conversational) because I’d love to hear what other think.

Caitlyn and Vi weaponizing toxic air pollution against the undercity and then Jinx and Sevika using Janna’s temple to recreate her legendary miracle by blowing that toxic air back onto Piltover.

Jinx (and Sevika) just became the hero Zaun needs.