You can watch my reaction to the next episode RIGHT NOW on Patreon here (5$+), or the Full Length reaction (10$+): www.patreon.com/Aleczandxr To follow the readthroughs on stream, you can follow me on Twitch here: www.twitch.tv/Aleczandxr/ Link to AJ's Discord server: discord.gg/Ekhz7PNuJd CURRENT TWITCH SCHEDULE: Mondays @ 10am EST: A Blind Playthrough of Resident Evil (Sometimes gaming streams are Tuesdays too, check Discord) Wednesdays @ 10am EST: Bleach Readthrough Fridays @ 10:30am EST: SOME FRIDAYS, I do full One Piece discussion streams as well. Check Discord for updates/details. Sundays @ 11am EST: One Piece + Hunter x Hunter chapter reads (When applicable)
That hug scene destroyed our entire watchparty when we watched the episode for the first time... Needed a solid 5 or 10 minutes to collect ourselves again, mob the floor and wipe the tears away lol
@@TheJetiLP Not really, no. One of us was tearing up but the reaction to the episode was more a collective "wow, this was incredible" lol Episode 6 wrecked us tho, one of us hasn't recovered ever since, he even got Jinx's "Poow" tattooed the other day as a tribute for Isha :D
@@ChIMeRaTeX oh yeah that was horrible too. Poow or Peew? Hmm probably experienced loss and that triggered it again? doesn't matter, that he got that Tattoo is still awesome and cute.
I was already tearing up, but then the song hit us with the *"What have they done to us?"* during the family hug....stop...😢 Also I loved how Jinx literally activates the spark of hope that lights up the darkness surrounding them while holding Isha's hand just like Vi did in episode 1. I swear, the parallels in this show are unbelievable.
@TheJetiLP I think the music from season 1 is still unmatched. I literally keep listening to all of the songs from season 1 over and over again. Whereas season 2 does have great songs, not all of them are peak like the ones from season 1. The only ones I can consider worth listening to on a daily basis are: To Ashes and Blood, Sucker, Remember Me, and The Line (arguably Come out and play, if I'm on the mood for it). Everything else gets quite forgettable after a while.
@@SaguntoYT You had more than 5 songs from Season 1 that you listened to daily? I think I like both seasons about equal in terms of music. I do think Season 2 for me is a little more upbeat in places, whereas a lot of my fav songs in S1 are very melancholy. (Goodbye, Guns for Hire, What Could Have Been, etc) whereas S2 had songs I could listen to and not want to cry lol.
It always amazes me how genuine every reaction this man has is, no over the top reaction, no overly analytical narrative, just a guy loving every moment of the series super silly but I love the "what??" at 21:36, it just sounds so genuinely confused and at the same time an excited undertone like a "fuck yeah, mel's powers babyyyy" also yeah the entire reaction from 26:13 to 27:13 is just gold, just... so genuine oh my god...
Jayce and Viktor's reunion has to be one of my favorite scenes. "I thought you were done with Hextech... and me." Man, you can feel the bitterness there, Jayce hasn't let go for a second the way Viktor left him
Did you notice that "mom's" cup and straw are the same as when Vander gives Powder a glass of juice at the end of S1:E2 and also again when "Chuck" makes Jinx a drink at "The last drop" in S1:E6?
Lots of reaction vids identify the fisticuffs in the mine as a "sibling fight". As someone with no siblings i totally missed that. The added insight your channel and others like it bring to nuanced stories is much appreciated by dummies like me.
This episode truly is an all-timer, it is neither the best nor my favourite episode of the series but I still love it so much. We get another brilliant music video that encapsulates everything about Vi as a character that ends with her at her lowest. After 9 episodes of Vi solely trying to find her sister and ultimately almost killing her, it is Jinx who finds HER. Vi is at a point where she almost completly abandons any hope after having it ripped away from her so many times and still she chooses to trust her sister that this violently raging mutated beast is her father. I also think the reveal that Vander and Silco were close friends with their mother adds so much to each of the characters. Not to mention the unbelievable execution that is even above Arcanes usually perfect standard. I could spend hours rambling about how much I love every single Vi/Jinx moment this episode. The craziest thing is, this is only part of the episode. We finally get some question answered about SInged (the Revick reveal was actually a huge thing for Lore fans). Ambessa and Cait continue to be brilliant. We dont even get to know much about what happend to Jayce but his character design alone tells us so much. Even the Mel stuff was very interesting even though I think it would have fit other episodes better. In a series of peak moments, "What have they done to us" struck me the hardest. I watched that episode like 6 times now excluding any clips and reactions and yet again I teared up when you watched it. I expected Season 2 to be a downward spiral of sadness, hate and war. I didn't expect them to hit us with 3 episodes of hope and peace and safe to say I was not ready.
For me it comes in ep. 7 and when you know the translation "my worst enemy is you" it hits for me even more. But this scene is a close second, i always have to cry so much in both scenes/close series of scenes. 😭🥰 The songs in this season are so strong.
@@pabli9808 it's the title of the song yes. I meant the refrain, but i looked it up right now and mixed it up again. the refrain is something that hits deep for me and in french it also sounds nice.
I think whats most impressive about this season is how the themes of the show flow through ALL of the characters. It is never shy about allowing each character embody multiple aspects of the narrative thread. Sure, it's a bit of a rollercoaster because of that (understatement of the century) but if you asked me if I wanted a safe Season 2 or what we got, I'd take this season 100/100 times.
Salo in episode 1: we nearly extended sovereignty to those creatures (referring to the Zaunites) Salo in this episode: who do you think could mend such a broken creature? (referring to himself) Intentionally or not, Viktor is stripping away the humanity of his 'patients', and it's quite sad. Also, while I did enjoy the stuff with Mel and the Black Rose, it definitely feels like it belongs in an entirely separate series. To the point where I was actually taken aback when it switched back to Jinx, Vi, Isha, and Warwick.
I dunno, I just don't see how you set up the next season without having this here. I don't get why people are acting like next season isn't merely a continuation of this story under a different name. Honestly I think this season is getting such bad press (in certain pockets of the internet) is because they stated that "arcane will end this season" Which honestly just isn't true. Just some of the characters stories are ending, and we will be relocating to a different region. But these are all things a tv series has done because and stay under the same name.
I love the idea of that hug, and Isha joining in, and how much she embodies Powder. It's almost like both Jinx and Powder are joining in. The acceptance of both, by both Vander and Vi.
bit late here, on a vacation with my boyfriend, but here are some more details and community memes from this episode/relevant to: -jinx's hairstyle is incredibly similar to both felica's and silco's, it's possible that this was intentional when silco raised her -in the small bit from vander's perspective flashbacks, we can see powder's monkey bomb, then with silco standing over felica's corpse. it's left ambiguous, but it's possible that silco's actions in the bridge riot caused both felica and connel to be killed, much like how powder killed mylo and claggor in 1x3 -in a concept art of miner vander and silco, silco's gloves are the ones that jinx wears -i think it says something about their relationship that felica tells her best friends she's pregnant before her presumably boyfriend/husband -you can see jinx's hands hold up one of the tickets in the opening montage of cage fights -in 1x9, vi tells jinx that "the only thing that kept me going was the thought of getting back to you". i think with her believing powder is gone, and cait dumping her, she has nothing left, which is why this is the lowest point we've seen her in -this also goes into how much more stable jinx is with isha and how she was with vi as kids. this might also hint to vi having psychosis symptoms as well, considering they ARE blood sisters now onto jayce & viktor -something that feels relevant now to point out is that in the opening scene of 2x1, when jayce combines viktor and the hexcore, there's a single frame where you can see viktor's skeleton. his spine is broken in half. he *died*, and the hexcore brought him back, or at least part of him. -jayce has a splint on his leg, the opposite of viktor's (left instead of right) -jayce's quick flashes at salo show a very, *different*, inhuman being is in salo's place (you've probably watched the rest of the series by this point but i still want to point it out) -with it being seemingly cold in the hexgate failsafe, you can see jayce's breathe through steam as he talks. you can't see salo's. salo wasn't breathing -"who else could mend such a broken creature?" is a very interesting line from salo. i shared my perspective as a cane user on salo's relationship with his disability compared to viktor's, and how their class plays into it. this line is very much more in line with how viktor saw himself, broken, while salo's grief was in his loss of power/authoritative respect. viktor has seem to spread throughout his followers -you can much more clearly see the "fingerprints" i talked about in my 1x3 comment with salo -when mel seems to break free of the black rose's chains (that shot is INCREDIBLY reminiscent of shots from revolutionary girl utena, if you've yet to watch it), you can see the gold on her back and shoulder's glow. they did the same in 1x9 right before jinx's missile hit the council room. for 3 years i thought this was saying mel would die, now it's a hint that her latent witch powers protected her and possibly jayce too now for some memes: -in regards to vi: "7 years in prison vs 7 days with a woman" -in regards to both jayce & vi "jfc gay people CANNOT break up normally" -people were very DOWN BAD for both vi & jayce after this episode (ESPECIALLY jayce) -"silco has always been the FINEST man in the underground" -with shots of felica, jinx & vi: "did their dad even TRY" only a few more episodes left, can't wait!
Ahhhh Aj I'm in a bootcamp with friends but I hope i could watch this episode!!! Come back in 2\3 days !!! Commenting for the algorithym because your videos are amazing!!! ❤❤❤
There is a phenomenon called NDE(near-death experience) that changes a person’s personality, some common changes are increased empathy, elevated spirituality, and a new sense of purpose. When I first saw Salo here this was my first thought, and I thought it was pretty obvious that going from such a high position to a cripple no one wants to look at and then being brought back up was a total life changing experience. I guess everyone else thought he was already dead and therefore the arcane is evil, an expected opinion from a individualistic society, not surprisingly A thing I thought was a twist was when Viktor says that he was clouded by emotions when he left Jayce, as a lot of people thought he lost all his emotions. At this point I didn’t think Viktor was as corrupted as other people think for the reasons mentioned above, and anticipating that they would try to pull this twist again. He seems sinister because we don’t know his motives or the full extent of his work, but we don’t know anything about Jayce either.
I think in this moment Viktor's motives are "good" but I also think the hextech is working behind him. So it's really hard to tell where its motivations end, and his begin. Is that Skye? Is that his positive personification of Skye, or is that the hextech projecting itself as Skye in order to manipulate him. It's hard to say. But I do agree that it makes more sense that Viktor's intentions are pure here, because it makes the change in the later episodes that much more impactful, and gradual.
btw silco did recognise them in 1x6 when vi open the door silco say "vander prodigy i've regretted that we never had the opportunity to speak" there a lot more in that scene to, so silco know but he didn't care only about the nation of zaun until he give it up to jinx 1x9, in the remember me song 2x6 only shown vander close to the family not silco, he was only close to vander
In 1x6 - Within the confines of S1 Silco is referring to recognizing Vi from 1x3, not from her childhood. If he actually knew them and recognized them, Vi specifically in this case, then he surely would’ve stated something to that effect upon first meeting them in 1x3.
@@ajgdude well arcane, show don't tell especially in important scenes that happens a lot in season 2 not much in season 1 i hate it. so the only thing i can say about 1x3 is silco did ask powder where's your sister thats it, in that moment he really don't give a fuck about vi he is too deep in, in that vander betrayal and the reason was so selfish from vander he put all the blame in silco, in the water scene silco say "you can past time with out face a chose like that but that change you forever for that i think you old friend"so he did become that twisted monster so the answer is he really don't need say something to vi just to know him, he only care when he saw him self in powder, my english is my second language i have a headache rn is hard to write lol i hope u understand me✌
Your English is good, no worries. But I’m just explaining why Silco calling Vi Vander’s prodigy in 1x6 is not him referring to her pre-S1 from her earlier childhood, it’s in reference to seeing her within the timespan of S1. That’s the only thing I’m arguing against.
@ oh okay, yeah we just need to see more lines for silco thats it i just know the writers had that thought and did not show us, we just need more like vander so yeah , sorry for the late respond im big fan for you Discussions since season 1 arcane
Great review. Althoug i think that it is a mistake to describe Singes daughter to be in a "coma"-like state. I think that she is straight up dead, and Singed is perely preventing her body from rotting away as of now.
This might be the first time I disagree with you. When Vi said "you don't need me, you haven't for a long time" to me that's acknowledgement of Jinx. It's the first time she says this is Jinx, Jinx is my sister and I don't need to save her, because she's doing fine on her own. Right after seeing the poster of Jinx as a hero, and once again seeing Jinx interact with and taking care of Isha. This might be the first time she realizes that she is the mess up of the two. Somehow she ended up fighting for Piltover and thinking her sister, who is the hero of the undercity, needs to be stopped (ok this is maybe a bit much, it never seems like she believes she's fighting for the wrong side, but at least I believe she starts seeing good parts in her sister). And Jinx saying maybe this could be a do-over. It's like Vander is a reason for them to hang out, and fix their family and it's clearly working. Yes they have a fight, but outside of that there are so many little interactions from both of them, where we can feel the desire of them to be a family and repair their relationship and we can see the effect this has on them. The Episode starts with Vi barely believing Jinx enough to not immediately kill her, and it ends with her trusting Jinx so much, that she stops fighting against a deadly beast, which would kill her had Jinx been wrong. At least I don't think she herself realized this was Vander before putting down her hands, to me this was a clear show of trust in her sister. So for me starting in s2e3 starts an arc of healing for the family, an arc of hope that they might be sisters one day, not like they used to be, but accepting of their new identities even if they have different goals, moralities or are sometimes fighting for different sides. There is something about Vi and how she never stops fighting, how she never gives up hope, that makes her story a lot less sad than you make it out to be.
Personally this isn’t a disagreement to me - Nothing you said contradicts or conflicts with what I said and the two interpretations of the line can co-exist organically. One line can mean more than one thing and those two meanings are both in character for Vi. Although honestly I find it staggering that you’ve literally never disagreed with me before. That’s insane lmao
No. If you want more reactions then go to Patreon, episode 6 is already there for early access. It’s much more productive than showing such entitlement towards free content that I work very hard to provide for you. Don’t be rude.
Beautiful flashback but also irksome in the way it recontextualizes Vander and Silco in Act 1, Season 1. "You're not allowed to fail, for her, for me." - "Blisters and bedrock" (cheers) "Have you heard the rumor? Vander, the coward left town with his children and were never seen again. KILL THEM." Yeah, Silco was ruthless but I don't believe he would've actively tried to kill Vi and Powder with the revelation of 'Blisters and Bedrock'. I also don't think the note from Vander would've made a difference had Silco found it. Vander tried to kill Silco and walked away from their fight for independence. No way Silco would've dropped everything for a hug. This also strips Vander of some of his agency in the prologue as before season 2, we are left to infer that Vander was not prepared for the consequences of his actions and in the moment, chose to walk away and protect the two recently orphaned sisters. In the recontextualization of the flashback, this basically makes Vander obligated to protect Vi and Powder because he knew who they were and a major reason why he was fighting to begin with. I've been able to accept the pacing and a lot of the weird writing decisions in season 2 but this one directly effects events in season 1, namely Act 1, arguably the strongest in the series and one of the best pieces of cinema, period.
Yeah I can’t say I agree or buy into this. I can understand not liking the recontextualization of Vander’s relationship with the girls even if I can’t say it weakens much if anything for me. Whether or not he knew them, to me Vander’s decision there still holds the same weight with the lost spontaneity compensated with by the emotional weight of losing Felicia and of her promise. It’s different but equally powerful. In some ways, more so, because he sees the true weight of his actions and how they in some way led to him betraying his promise by his perception and needing to make up for that - along with just wanting to care for the kids. With Silco, I already assumed similar circumstances through the subtext and this scene just showed it and offered specific context, and it’s all in-character. Regarding the letter, it makes total sense and we have seen tons of examples of characters making significant changes and then ultimately weakening on those stances or tracking back, and with the sheer weight placed in the narrative on his love for Vander I totally buy the idea that the letter could’ve been very significant - not that it automatically would’ve solved everything, but that it could’ve been the first domino to lead to understanding. In that sense it wasn’t anything all that new, outside of him knowing of Vi and Powder and wanting to kill them in season 1 - which is actually very very interesting character writing for the reasons I described. It’s very interestingly interpretive and rich with regards to the two paths I described for why he actually acted that way.
Well, he walked away because his actions killed his friends and orphaned the girls. It doesn't really recontextualize anything, it adds further depth. The "might have been" from Vanders note is just that... it's not as if it's implied that Silco did drop everything for a hug... only that it could have been helped spark a dialogue that eventually led to resolution. Just because Jinx speculates a good outcome doesn't make it so.
@@babette5918 It still makes Silco's actions dubious if he actually knew both the mother and the girls. As I said, Silco may have been ruthless to the cause but no so much as be willing to kill them, especially after his actions got their mother killed. If they were just some random orphans Vander took in, then I could absolutely see Silco killing them because the would have been specifically Vander's kids.
@@charlestonjew7587 I get it... but sadly most victims of murder are killed by someone they know. Jayce murders Viktor, Silco murders Vander, Jinx tries to murder Ekko, Jinx and Vi try to murder each other, Marcus contemplates murdering Caitlyn, and every day, in real life, actual family members murder each other pretty regularly. So, just because someone knows somebody else doesn't mean it's a stretch that they could try to murder them.
@@babette5918 First of all, Jayce murders Viktor because he saw the future and Viktor himself sends Jayce back to stop him. Second, Ekko attacked Jinx first, quite brutally I might add and he'd been a thorn in her and Siko's side for a number of years. After the fight on the bridge, she wasn't trying to kill Ekko, she was trying to kill herself. Third, Vi had accepted that Powder was gone and only Jinx remained and for all she knew, Jinx was responsible for the attack at the memorial. When Jinx found out that Vi had joined the enforcers and was, in part, responsible for gassing the Lanes, THIS was the ultimate betrayal, much like Vander making a deal with them. To Jinx, Vi, her sister, was dead. Even still, she couldn't bring herself to kill Vi in the Arcade. The point is, these were valid motivations for their actions. You're completely avoiding the point about Silco. I'm not talking about him murdering Vander. I never once eluded to anything about Silco murdering Vander being the issue. I'm talking about Silco actively trying to murder Vi and Powder, who were Felicia's kids, the woman he made a promise to with Vander and her kids. The fact that he changed his mind about Powder because he empathized with her and Vi's betrayal, shows that Silco isn't a completely heartless POS and later was willing to give up everything for her and thus, if he knew Vi and Powder not as Vander's adopted kids but as Felicia's kids, I don't believe he would be so quick to try and kill them in the off chance that they may come back and try to stop him. Silco, along with Vander made a promise to Felicia and her kids. Felicia became a casualty of their fight.
I’ve heard some criticism of the reveal of the promise between Vander, Silco and Felicia in that it weakens the found family element of Vander where the came to love two kids orphaned as a result of his amd Silco’s actions by having him already have an existing relationship with them. I personally disagree (as someone who adores the various found family elements littered throughout Zaun) since Mylo and Claggor (and also Ekko with Benzo) still keep this element of Vander alive and well. Instead for me it strengthened the tragedy of Silco and Vander since it recontextualizes elements of S1 Act 1 so that both Vander and Silco were, in their own ways, both honouring and betraying the promise to Felicia. In Silco’s case he was honouring the “letter” of the promise - to make this Zaun thing work - while betraying the “spirit” of the promise (making a better life for the children) by being prepared to sacrifice the children in pursuit of that goal. That makes his preparations to Kill Vi and Powder the culmination of a fall into an abyss which is only stopped at the 11th hour by Powder unexpectedly latching on to him and him finding kinship with her perceived sense of betrayal/abandonment. It also makes his eventual choice of Jinx over Zaun the point where he crosses over the Vander’s side of the split. Vander honoured the “spirit” of the promise by choosing to prioritise the children but at the expense of betraying the “letter” of a realised independent Zaun. His attempt of Silco’s life can also be traced back to this as the spirit if protecting the Children and Felicia were thrown into chaos when Silco’s efforts (and perhaps his own) got Felicia killed, which temporarily caused avander to pose himself, something he came to regret as Family for him would also include Silco. I would also add that there’s an extra tragedy in this new form where he comes so close to killing both one of his daughters and also a child, becoming that figure of indiscriminate wrath that Silco saw in him both when he tried to drown him and when he was strangling Silco in S1 episode 3.
Huh. I'm in the camp of not liking the extra connection to the kids, but your take on the men each trying to honour 1/2 of the mom's request is cool. Silco even tells Jinx they're acting for the sons and daughters of Zaun. Nice catch.
I think what most annoys me--and this is an admittedly minor annoyance--is that, unless I'm misremembering, there's no indication given that Silco had ever met Vi or Powder before the events of season 1, which seems unlikely given how close he and Felicia appear to be in this flashback. I guess we can suppose that he threw himself into the work of building Zaun so quickly and fully that he never saw her again, but that seems more than a little far-fetched. The undercity isn't *that* big a place.
@@EinSophistry idk... it would seem that Silco had a falling out with the organized resistance. He wasn't even present for the massacre on the bridge, or so it would seem.
@ I can agree with that, looking back at episode 6 of season 1 Silco tells Vi he regrets never having the opportunity to speak with her. In the context of Season 2 that would imply he wasn’t around in their lives once they got older which does seem odd. Though I can put that down to him throwing himself into the mission. I think of how he responds to casualties that result from his goals and he seems to put it down to worthy sacrifices (thinking in particular of Rennie’s son in this case). Felicia and her husband would have also been among these sacrifices. To a certain extent, especially after Felicia’s death, Silco is lost in a sunk cost fallacy where the deaths have to result in something - they can’t be for a lost cause but sacrifices on the road to an inevitable goal, they “have” to be. It appears to bother him more that Vander turned on him and not that Felicia died for that reason, the dead can’t condemn him the way someone like Vander could while alive. At least some of Silco’s non-registering of his history with Vi and Powder could be put down to an attempt to shield himself from the reality of what he’s done/doing, from the true cost of this fallacy, something he eventually couldn’t sustain when asked to make one last sacrifice in the form of surrendering Jinx.
I think you've mentioned before that you have watched it until the end, if you haven't what I'm going to say isn't really that spoilery but it could give it away ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I find it incredibly interesting how you immediatly reach the conclusion of how dangerous this road for Viktor is, specifically about the removel of human characteristics. I know it seems obvious when you watch it, but I remember when act 2 originally came out, there was a lot of people defending Viktor like what he was doing was actually good, Of course he thinks he's doing good, but I mean the way he does these things is really reaaly scary, and its clear from Jayce's dialogue that it will not end well. So I'm happy you reached that conclusion regarding VIktor, great video as awlays
No offense, but people who were mad at Jayce at the end of Episode 6 really didn't understand where Viktor's arc was going all this time. Yes some of us had the perk of knowing what he looks like in League, but I dont believe Alec did.
You can watch my reaction to the next episode RIGHT NOW on Patreon here (5$+), or the Full Length reaction (10$+): www.patreon.com/Aleczandxr
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CURRENT TWITCH SCHEDULE:
Mondays @ 10am EST: A Blind Playthrough of Resident Evil (Sometimes gaming streams are Tuesdays too, check Discord)
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Sundays @ 11am EST: One Piece + Hunter x Hunter chapter reads (When applicable)
Jayce coming back with an impactful return just for you!
THATS MY GOAT
@ajgdude My guy really came back from wherever the hell he was and immediately chose violence.
That hug scene destroyed our entire watchparty when we watched the episode for the first time... Needed a solid 5 or 10 minutes to collect ourselves again, mob the floor and wipe the tears away lol
that sounds so wholesome. Was it the same in ep. 7?
@@TheJetiLP Not really, no. One of us was tearing up but the reaction to the episode was more a collective "wow, this was incredible" lol
Episode 6 wrecked us tho, one of us hasn't recovered ever since, he even got Jinx's "Poow" tattooed the other day as a tribute for Isha :D
@@ChIMeRaTeX oh yeah that was horrible too.
Poow or Peew?
Hmm probably experienced loss and that triggered it again? doesn't matter, that he got that Tattoo is still awesome and cute.
Alex: I might give my thoughts tomorrow
(40 mins later)
Alex: NEVER MIND
I was already tearing up, but then the song hit us with the *"What have they done to us?"* during the family hug....stop...😢
Also I loved how Jinx literally activates the spark of hope that lights up the darkness surrounding them while holding Isha's hand just like Vi did in episode 1. I swear, the parallels in this show are unbelievable.
The songs where strong in season 1 but for me, in season 2 they were on another level with their music choices.
@TheJetiLP I think the music from season 1 is still unmatched. I literally keep listening to all of the songs from season 1 over and over again. Whereas season 2 does have great songs, not all of them are peak like the ones from season 1. The only ones I can consider worth listening to on a daily basis are: To Ashes and Blood, Sucker, Remember Me, and The Line (arguably Come out and play, if I'm on the mood for it). Everything else gets quite forgettable after a while.
@@SaguntoYT You had more than 5 songs from Season 1 that you listened to daily? I think I like both seasons about equal in terms of music. I do think Season 2 for me is a little more upbeat in places, whereas a lot of my fav songs in S1 are very melancholy. (Goodbye, Guns for Hire, What Could Have Been, etc) whereas S2 had songs I could listen to and not want to cry lol.
It always amazes me how genuine every reaction this man has is, no over the top reaction, no overly analytical narrative, just a guy loving every moment of the series
super silly but I love the "what??" at 21:36, it just sounds so genuinely confused and at the same time an excited undertone like a "fuck yeah, mel's powers babyyyy"
also yeah the entire reaction from 26:13 to 27:13 is just gold, just... so genuine oh my god...
Thanks so much for saying so!
Jayce and Viktor's reunion has to be one of my favorite scenes. "I thought you were done with Hextech... and me." Man, you can feel the bitterness there, Jayce hasn't let go for a second the way Viktor left him
Did you notice that "mom's" cup and straw are the same as when Vander gives Powder a glass of juice at the end of S1:E2 and also again when "Chuck" makes Jinx a drink at "The last drop" in S1:E6?
Lots of reaction vids identify the fisticuffs in the mine as a "sibling fight". As someone with no siblings i totally missed that. The added insight your channel and others like it bring to nuanced stories is much appreciated by dummies like me.
Oh yeah haha, Jinx being like "There, 1 second" is huge sibling energy stuff.
This episode truly is an all-timer, it is neither the best nor my favourite episode of the series but I still love it so much. We get another brilliant music video that encapsulates everything about Vi as a character that ends with her at her lowest. After 9 episodes of Vi solely trying to find her sister and ultimately almost killing her, it is Jinx who finds HER. Vi is at a point where she almost completly abandons any hope after having it ripped away from her so many times and still she chooses to trust her sister that this violently raging mutated beast is her father. I also think the reveal that Vander and Silco were close friends with their mother adds so much to each of the characters. Not to mention the unbelievable execution that is even above Arcanes usually perfect standard. I could spend hours rambling about how much I love every single Vi/Jinx moment this episode.
The craziest thing is, this is only part of the episode. We finally get some question answered about SInged (the Revick reveal was actually a huge thing for Lore fans). Ambessa and Cait continue to be brilliant. We dont even get to know much about what happend to Jayce but his character design alone tells us so much. Even the Mel stuff was very interesting even though I think it would have fit other episodes better.
In a series of peak moments, "What have they done to us" struck me the hardest. I watched that episode like 6 times now excluding any clips and reactions and yet again I teared up when you watched it. I expected Season 2 to be a downward spiral of sadness, hate and war. I didn't expect them to hit us with 3 episodes of hope and peace and safe to say I was not ready.
The family hug is the most emotional scene in arcane
For me it comes in ep. 7 and when you know the translation "my worst enemy is you" it hits for me even more.
But this scene is a close second, i always have to cry so much in both scenes/close series of scenes. 😭🥰
The songs in this season are so strong.
@@TheJetiLP my best enemy*, ik it sounds weird but it's supposed to be sort of an emotional pun on best friend, works better in romance languages
@@pabli9808 it's the title of the song yes. I meant the refrain, but i looked it up right now and mixed it up again.
the refrain is something that hits deep for me and in french it also sounds nice.
I think whats most impressive about this season is how the themes of the show flow through ALL of the characters. It is never shy about allowing each character embody multiple aspects of the narrative thread. Sure, it's a bit of a rollercoaster because of that (understatement of the century) but if you asked me if I wanted a safe Season 2 or what we got, I'd take this season 100/100 times.
Salo in episode 1: we nearly extended sovereignty to those creatures (referring to the Zaunites)
Salo in this episode: who do you think could mend such a broken creature? (referring to himself)
Intentionally or not, Viktor is stripping away the humanity of his 'patients', and it's quite sad.
Also, while I did enjoy the stuff with Mel and the Black Rose, it definitely feels like it belongs in an entirely separate series. To the point where I was actually taken aback when it switched back to Jinx, Vi, Isha, and Warwick.
I've seen a lot of other commenters point out that you can actively see Jayce's breath when he was speaking to Salo where as with Salo, you could not.
I dunno, I just don't see how you set up the next season without having this here. I don't get why people are acting like next season isn't merely a continuation of this story under a different name. Honestly I think this season is getting such bad press (in certain pockets of the internet) is because they stated that "arcane will end this season" Which honestly just isn't true. Just some of the characters stories are ending, and we will be relocating to a different region. But these are all things a tv series has done because and stay under the same name.
I love the idea of that hug, and Isha joining in, and how much she embodies Powder. It's almost like both Jinx and Powder are joining in. The acceptance of both, by both Vander and Vi.
9:25 The biggest mug i have seen
bit late here, on a vacation with my boyfriend, but here are some more details and community memes from this episode/relevant to:
-jinx's hairstyle is incredibly similar to both felica's and silco's, it's possible that this was intentional when silco raised her
-in the small bit from vander's perspective flashbacks, we can see powder's monkey bomb, then with silco standing over felica's corpse. it's left ambiguous, but it's possible that silco's actions in the bridge riot caused both felica and connel to be killed, much like how powder killed mylo and claggor in 1x3
-in a concept art of miner vander and silco, silco's gloves are the ones that jinx wears
-i think it says something about their relationship that felica tells her best friends she's pregnant before her presumably boyfriend/husband
-you can see jinx's hands hold up one of the tickets in the opening montage of cage fights
-in 1x9, vi tells jinx that "the only thing that kept me going was the thought of getting back to you". i think with her believing powder is gone, and cait dumping her, she has nothing left, which is why this is the lowest point we've seen her in
-this also goes into how much more stable jinx is with isha and how she was with vi as kids. this might also hint to vi having psychosis symptoms as well, considering they ARE blood sisters
now onto jayce & viktor
-something that feels relevant now to point out is that in the opening scene of 2x1, when jayce combines viktor and the hexcore, there's a single frame where you can see viktor's skeleton. his spine is broken in half. he *died*, and the hexcore brought him back, or at least part of him.
-jayce has a splint on his leg, the opposite of viktor's (left instead of right)
-jayce's quick flashes at salo show a very, *different*, inhuman being is in salo's place (you've probably watched the rest of the series by this point but i still want to point it out)
-with it being seemingly cold in the hexgate failsafe, you can see jayce's breathe through steam as he talks. you can't see salo's. salo wasn't breathing
-"who else could mend such a broken creature?" is a very interesting line from salo. i shared my perspective as a cane user on salo's relationship with his disability compared to viktor's, and how their class plays into it. this line is very much more in line with how viktor saw himself, broken, while salo's grief was in his loss of power/authoritative respect. viktor has seem to spread throughout his followers
-you can much more clearly see the "fingerprints" i talked about in my 1x3 comment with salo
-when mel seems to break free of the black rose's chains (that shot is INCREDIBLY reminiscent of shots from revolutionary girl utena, if you've yet to watch it), you can see the gold on her back and shoulder's glow. they did the same in 1x9 right before jinx's missile hit the council room. for 3 years i thought this was saying mel would die, now it's a hint that her latent witch powers protected her and possibly jayce too
now for some memes:
-in regards to vi: "7 years in prison vs 7 days with a woman"
-in regards to both jayce & vi "jfc gay people CANNOT break up normally"
-people were very DOWN BAD for both vi & jayce after this episode (ESPECIALLY jayce)
-"silco has always been the FINEST man in the underground"
-with shots of felica, jinx & vi: "did their dad even TRY"
only a few more episodes left, can't wait!
can't wait for your verdict at the end of the season ^^. I like what they did with all characters !
i loved your reaction, as i always do. you tearing up made me tear up too lol and i already watched that scene a while ago
Ahhhh Aj I'm in a bootcamp with friends but I hope i could watch this episode!!! Come back in 2\3 days !!! Commenting for the algorithym because your videos are amazing!!! ❤❤❤
Thank you very much, have fun!
There is a phenomenon called NDE(near-death experience) that changes a person’s personality, some common changes are increased empathy, elevated spirituality, and a new sense of purpose.
When I first saw Salo here this was my first thought, and I thought it was pretty obvious that going from such a high position to a cripple no one wants to look at and then being brought back up was a total life changing experience. I guess everyone else thought he was already dead and therefore the arcane is evil, an expected opinion from a individualistic society, not surprisingly
A thing I thought was a twist was when Viktor says that he was clouded by emotions when he left Jayce, as a lot of people thought he lost all his emotions. At this point I didn’t think Viktor was as corrupted as other people think for the reasons mentioned above, and anticipating that they would try to pull this twist again. He seems sinister because we don’t know his motives or the full extent of his work, but we don’t know anything about Jayce either.
I think in this moment Viktor's motives are "good" but I also think the hextech is working behind him. So it's really hard to tell where its motivations end, and his begin. Is that Skye? Is that his positive personification of Skye, or is that the hextech projecting itself as Skye in order to manipulate him. It's hard to say. But I do agree that it makes more sense that Viktor's intentions are pure here, because it makes the change in the later episodes that much more impactful, and gradual.
Ty for these reactions .. cant wait for the rest ;)
btw silco did recognise them in 1x6 when vi open the door silco say "vander prodigy i've regretted that we never had the opportunity to speak" there a lot more in that scene to, so silco know but he didn't care only about the nation of zaun until he give it up to jinx 1x9, in the remember me song 2x6 only shown vander close to the family not silco, he was only close to vander
In 1x6 - Within the confines of S1 Silco is referring to recognizing Vi from 1x3, not from her childhood. If he actually knew them and recognized them, Vi specifically in this case, then he surely would’ve stated something to that effect upon first meeting them in 1x3.
@@ajgdude well arcane, show don't tell especially in important scenes that happens a lot in season 2 not much in season 1 i hate it. so the only thing i can say about 1x3 is silco did ask powder where's your sister thats it, in that moment he really don't give a fuck about vi he is too deep in, in that vander betrayal and the reason was so selfish from vander he put all the blame in silco, in the water scene silco say "you can past time with out face a chose like that but that change you forever for that i think you old friend"so he did become that twisted monster so the answer is he really don't need say something to vi just to know him, he only care when he saw him self in powder, my english is my second language i have a headache rn is hard to write lol i hope u understand me✌
Your English is good, no worries. But I’m just explaining why Silco calling Vi Vander’s prodigy in 1x6 is not him referring to her pre-S1 from her earlier childhood, it’s in reference to seeing her within the timespan of S1. That’s the only thing I’m arguing against.
@ oh okay, yeah we just need to see more lines for silco thats it i just know the writers had that thought and did not show us, we just need more like vander so yeah , sorry for the late respond im big fan for you Discussions since season 1 arcane
Great review. Althoug i think that it is a mistake to describe Singes daughter to be in a "coma"-like state. I think that she is straight up dead, and Singed is perely preventing her body from rotting away as of now.
Thanks, I think you’re right. Glad you enjoyed.
I am really worried of what episode 6 ending gonna do to him.
This might be the first time I disagree with you. When Vi said "you don't need me, you haven't for a long time" to me that's acknowledgement of Jinx. It's the first time she says this is Jinx, Jinx is my sister and I don't need to save her, because she's doing fine on her own. Right after seeing the poster of Jinx as a hero, and once again seeing Jinx interact with and taking care of Isha.
This might be the first time she realizes that she is the mess up of the two. Somehow she ended up fighting for Piltover and thinking her sister, who is the hero of the undercity, needs to be stopped (ok this is maybe a bit much, it never seems like she believes she's fighting for the wrong side, but at least I believe she starts seeing good parts in her sister).
And Jinx saying maybe this could be a do-over.
It's like Vander is a reason for them to hang out, and fix their family and it's clearly working. Yes they have a fight, but outside of that there are so many little interactions from both of them, where we can feel the desire of them to be a family and repair their relationship and we can see the effect this has on them.
The Episode starts with Vi barely believing Jinx enough to not immediately kill her, and it ends with her trusting Jinx so much, that she stops fighting against a deadly beast, which would kill her had Jinx been wrong. At least I don't think she herself realized this was Vander before putting down her hands, to me this was a clear show of trust in her sister.
So for me starting in s2e3 starts an arc of healing for the family, an arc of hope that they might be sisters one day, not like they used to be, but accepting of their new identities even if they have different goals, moralities or are sometimes fighting for different sides. There is something about Vi and how she never stops fighting, how she never gives up hope, that makes her story a lot less sad than you make it out to be.
Personally this isn’t a disagreement to me - Nothing you said contradicts or conflicts with what I said and the two interpretations of the line can co-exist organically. One line can mean more than one thing and those two meanings are both in character for Vi.
Although honestly I find it staggering that you’ve literally never disagreed with me before. That’s insane lmao
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No. If you want more reactions then go to Patreon, episode 6 is already there for early access. It’s much more productive than showing such entitlement towards free content that I work very hard to provide for you. Don’t be rude.
Why don't you do it and show us how much better you could be at making content, instead of whining like a kid in tantrum?
Beautiful flashback but also irksome in the way it recontextualizes Vander and Silco in Act 1, Season 1.
"You're not allowed to fail, for her, for me." - "Blisters and bedrock" (cheers)
"Have you heard the rumor? Vander, the coward left town with his children and were never seen again. KILL THEM."
Yeah, Silco was ruthless but I don't believe he would've actively tried to kill Vi and Powder with the revelation of 'Blisters and Bedrock'. I also don't think the note from Vander would've made a difference had Silco found it. Vander tried to kill Silco and walked away from their fight for independence. No way Silco would've dropped everything for a hug.
This also strips Vander of some of his agency in the prologue as before season 2, we are left to infer that Vander was not prepared for the consequences of his actions and in the moment, chose to walk away and protect the two recently orphaned sisters. In the recontextualization of the flashback, this basically makes Vander obligated to protect Vi and Powder because he knew who they were and a major reason why he was fighting to begin with.
I've been able to accept the pacing and a lot of the weird writing decisions in season 2 but this one directly effects events in season 1, namely Act 1, arguably the strongest in the series and one of the best pieces of cinema, period.
Yeah I can’t say I agree or buy into this. I can understand not liking the recontextualization of Vander’s relationship with the girls even if I can’t say it weakens much if anything for me. Whether or not he knew them, to me Vander’s decision there still holds the same weight with the lost spontaneity compensated with by the emotional weight of losing Felicia and of her promise. It’s different but equally powerful. In some ways, more so, because he sees the true weight of his actions and how they in some way led to him betraying his promise by his perception and needing to make up for that - along with just wanting to care for the kids.
With Silco, I already assumed similar circumstances through the subtext and this scene just showed it and offered specific context, and it’s all in-character. Regarding the letter, it makes total sense and we have seen tons of examples of characters making significant changes and then ultimately weakening on those stances or tracking back, and with the sheer weight placed in the narrative on his love for Vander I totally buy the idea that the letter could’ve been very significant - not that it automatically would’ve solved everything, but that it could’ve been the first domino to lead to understanding. In that sense it wasn’t anything all that new, outside of him knowing of Vi and Powder and wanting to kill them in season 1 - which is actually very very interesting character writing for the reasons I described. It’s very interestingly interpretive and rich with regards to the two paths I described for why he actually acted that way.
Well, he walked away because his actions killed his friends and orphaned the girls. It doesn't really recontextualize anything, it adds further depth. The "might have been" from Vanders note is just that... it's not as if it's implied that Silco did drop everything for a hug... only that it could have been helped spark a dialogue that eventually led to resolution. Just because Jinx speculates a good outcome doesn't make it so.
@@babette5918 It still makes Silco's actions dubious if he actually knew both the mother and the girls. As I said, Silco may have been ruthless to the cause but no so much as be willing to kill them, especially after his actions got their mother killed. If they were just some random orphans Vander took in, then I could absolutely see Silco killing them because the would have been specifically Vander's kids.
@@charlestonjew7587 I get it... but sadly most victims of murder are killed by someone they know. Jayce murders Viktor, Silco murders Vander, Jinx tries to murder Ekko, Jinx and Vi try to murder each other, Marcus contemplates murdering Caitlyn, and every day, in real life, actual family members murder each other pretty regularly. So, just because someone knows somebody else doesn't mean it's a stretch that they could try to murder them.
@@babette5918 First of all, Jayce murders Viktor because he saw the future and Viktor himself sends Jayce back to stop him.
Second, Ekko attacked Jinx first, quite brutally I might add and he'd been a thorn in her and Siko's side for a number of years. After the fight on the bridge, she wasn't trying to kill Ekko, she was trying to kill herself.
Third, Vi had accepted that Powder was gone and only Jinx remained and for all she knew, Jinx was responsible for the attack at the memorial. When Jinx found out that Vi had joined the enforcers and was, in part, responsible for gassing the Lanes, THIS was the ultimate betrayal, much like Vander making a deal with them. To Jinx, Vi, her sister, was dead. Even still, she couldn't bring herself to kill Vi in the Arcade.
The point is, these were valid motivations for their actions.
You're completely avoiding the point about Silco. I'm not talking about him murdering Vander. I never once eluded to anything about Silco murdering Vander being the issue. I'm talking about Silco actively trying to murder Vi and Powder, who were Felicia's kids, the woman he made a promise to with Vander and her kids.
The fact that he changed his mind about Powder because he empathized with her and Vi's betrayal, shows that Silco isn't a completely heartless POS and later was willing to give up everything for her and thus, if he knew Vi and Powder not as Vander's adopted kids but as Felicia's kids, I don't believe he would be so quick to try and kill them in the off chance that they may come back and try to stop him. Silco, along with Vander made a promise to Felicia and her kids. Felicia became a casualty of their fight.
I’ve heard some criticism of the reveal of the promise between Vander, Silco and Felicia in that it weakens the found family element of Vander where the came to love two kids orphaned as a result of his amd Silco’s actions by having him already have an existing relationship with them.
I personally disagree (as someone who adores the various found family elements littered throughout Zaun) since Mylo and Claggor (and also Ekko with Benzo) still keep this element of Vander alive and well.
Instead for me it strengthened the tragedy of Silco and Vander since it recontextualizes elements of S1 Act 1 so that both Vander and Silco were, in their own ways, both honouring and betraying the promise to Felicia. In Silco’s case he was honouring the “letter” of the promise - to make this Zaun thing work - while betraying the “spirit” of the promise (making a better life for the children) by being prepared to sacrifice the children in pursuit of that goal. That makes his preparations to Kill Vi and Powder the culmination of a fall into an abyss which is only stopped at the 11th hour by Powder unexpectedly latching on to him and him finding kinship with her perceived sense of betrayal/abandonment. It also makes his eventual choice of Jinx over Zaun the point where he crosses over the Vander’s side of the split.
Vander honoured the “spirit” of the promise by choosing to prioritise the children but at the expense of betraying the “letter” of a realised independent Zaun. His attempt of Silco’s life can also be traced back to this as the spirit if protecting the Children and Felicia were thrown into chaos when Silco’s efforts (and perhaps his own) got Felicia killed, which temporarily caused avander to pose himself, something he came to regret as Family for him would also include Silco. I would also add that there’s an extra tragedy in this new form where he comes so close to killing both one of his daughters and also a child, becoming that figure of indiscriminate wrath that Silco saw in him both when he tried to drown him and when he was strangling Silco in S1 episode 3.
Huh. I'm in the camp of not liking the extra connection to the kids, but your take on the men each trying to honour 1/2 of the mom's request is cool. Silco even tells Jinx they're acting for the sons and daughters of Zaun. Nice catch.
I think what most annoys me--and this is an admittedly minor annoyance--is that, unless I'm misremembering, there's no indication given that Silco had ever met Vi or Powder before the events of season 1, which seems unlikely given how close he and Felicia appear to be in this flashback. I guess we can suppose that he threw himself into the work of building Zaun so quickly and fully that he never saw her again, but that seems more than a little far-fetched. The undercity isn't *that* big a place.
@@EinSophistry idk... it would seem that Silco had a falling out with the organized resistance. He wasn't even present for the massacre on the bridge, or so it would seem.
@ I can agree with that, looking back at episode 6 of season 1 Silco tells Vi he regrets never having the opportunity to speak with her. In the context of Season 2 that would imply he wasn’t around in their lives once they got older which does seem odd. Though I can put that down to him throwing himself into the mission.
I think of how he responds to casualties that result from his goals and he seems to put it down to worthy sacrifices (thinking in particular of Rennie’s son in this case). Felicia and her husband would have also been among these sacrifices. To a certain extent, especially after Felicia’s death, Silco is lost in a sunk cost fallacy where the deaths have to result in something - they can’t be for a lost cause but sacrifices on the road to an inevitable goal, they “have” to be. It appears to bother him more that Vander turned on him and not that Felicia died for that reason, the dead can’t condemn him the way someone like Vander could while alive.
At least some of Silco’s non-registering of his history with Vi and Powder could be put down to an attempt to shield himself from the reality of what he’s done/doing, from the true cost of this fallacy, something he eventually couldn’t sustain when asked to make one last sacrifice in the form of surrendering Jinx.
Beautifully stated. 100%
I think you've mentioned before that you have watched it until the end, if you haven't what I'm going to say isn't really that spoilery but it could give it away
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I find it incredibly interesting how you immediatly reach the conclusion of how dangerous this road for Viktor is, specifically about the removel of human characteristics. I know it seems obvious when you watch it, but I remember when act 2 originally came out, there was a lot of people defending Viktor like what he was doing was actually good, Of course he thinks he's doing good, but I mean the way he does these things is really reaaly scary, and its clear from Jayce's dialogue that it will not end well. So I'm happy you reached that conclusion regarding VIktor, great video as awlays
No offense, but people who were mad at Jayce at the end of Episode 6 really didn't understand where Viktor's arc was going all this time. Yes some of us had the perk of knowing what he looks like in League, but I dont believe Alec did.
@lockekappa500 Exactly, totally agree