@@JT7gamingpc "They" didn't push for a season 3, because "they" were in charge. There was no one to pitch that to. Netflix is only distributing Arcane. Riot ponied up the cash internally to make the show. And with advertising, production and tie-in promotional materials, the thing cost them all-in $250 million dollars. It's the most expensive animated show ever produced by an insane margin. Also, they've been in production for the next Runeterra related show for about a year now. A couple of characters from this will be in that, but this particular tale was always supposed to be 2 seasons. They just dropped the ball between this season and the first. It happens. More time wouldn't have fixed anything. Better use of the time they had would have. That and a competent script supervisor.
Funny, because I have the polar opposite perspective of Mel in S2 compared to S1. I felt like she attempts to thwart her mother, never gets a chance, and then gets sidelined and carted off until episode 8. Whereas in S1 she was an integral part of the entire Piltover storyline.
Heimerdinger actually has one of my favorite arc in ss2 lol. It’s such a simple one and brilliantly executed in the small screen time that he has. And it can be sum up in what Ekko said in ss1 “it’s not enough to give people what they need to survive, you need to give them what they need to live” and that quote change his out look in life. We see him making a bubble machine because it makes a group of kids happy, he plays songs about life, finding joy, makes mistakes opposite to what he told Jayce and Viktor to not try stuff because it will be a mistake. And when told Ekko in the end that now he has now truly lived he really meant it. After being on the council, seeing progress for up high because of what Ekko said he came down to bring joy to the people and live with it.
THIS, people are definitely over looking some of the obvious flaws of season 2. But the thing is guys...... even with the flaws it's still far superior than most other TV Shows in terms of writing quality. It's just more obvious because the first season is literally perfect, but yeah Season 2 is 8/10 at WORST. Still so close to perfection that it's okay
@jairusjackson7799 seen people call it 1/10 because of it being rushed. I was like bruh compared to like the final seasons of got how tf is this even bad?
i'd give season 1 a 10/10 and wouldn't hesitate to give season 2 a 4/10 (maybe 5 or 6 JUST for the mind-blowing graphics)... barely watchable anbd ONLY due to the amazing graphics, just barely overcoming the HORRIBLE... and i mean HORRIBLE writing, uneventful character-killing, and randomness of everything. they even started just singing in french for some reason, like wtf? so are the noxian's french? i had to take multiple breaks mid-episode due to cringe factors, and just the pure disgust of how badly they did arcane's storytelling this season compared to season 1, and then to actually push myself to try to continue watching. if the graphics hadn't been 10/10 again like last season, i definitely would have never continued.
@@subterranea9095 uneventful character killing how? Or do you mean you feel like the characters’ stories were “killed” by being poorly written? Because honestly I understand how all the characters get to where they end up. It genuinely is just a pacing issue to me where the writers clearly intended for certain steps of these characters’ arcs to be inferenced so that they could instead take risks and focus on different areas of the plot. I think narratives work best when you focus on characters first, buuuut I understand how Arcane ended up here. I don’t think the ending places of any of the characters was bad and I think the humanity-ending plot was cool. I essentially think things could have much better benefited from more build up via character moments so the writing could shine through easier.
@@_indigo_inked both ways. the characters didn't feel like themselves in season 2. they behaved differently to their experiences, and often times... basic logic or expected human reactions. the new characters that were introduced were... just there to be literally killed story pawns, but their deaths felt shallow, since there was no focus on them the entire show. if you're saying that they took a risk doing it this way to show more, then i don't think that risk paid off for what it could have been otherwise and even for what they accomplished. i didn't see much of zaun or piltover, despite EPIC SCALE ... cutscenes? that just sort of happened. i felt like i saw MORE of the world in season 1. and i still know nothing about noxus, let alone any of these new characters. i don't even really know more about the old characters since a lot of that time was "make believe" land. look at this... completely redrawn version of the world... that doesn't expand anything because it's not actually a part of the world... look at... no new characters... because they're all gone... look at the same! characters... again.. .even though they're dead... but they aren't actually back... IMAGINE. i know you were learning about zaun and piltover, but let's talk about noxus. no, you don't get to see it. NO you can't know anything more about noxus. let's just SAY... noxus! look people are attacking the same world... that i won't show you really more of again... oh... new characters? yeah. *cough* here's that guy. look he died. feel sad. no you don't need to know anything about him. just feel sad. that's kind of how season 2 of arcane went. oh by the way! we're suddenly singing in french now! 0_o. alrighty. then... i guess the noxians are french?
Arcane feels like Avatar Last Airbender, a creative anchor in a time that highlights the importance of art and ideals moulded together to create a conversation and appreciation for both. It is not perfect, and neither is Avatar, but it's honest enough to be called perfection due to how it will inspire generations no matter their background. 🙌🏾
Funny that Legend of Korra and Arcane Season 2 kinda suffered from the same thing... Korra was written like each season was an entire series, which made it feel chaotic and rushed. Arcane Season 2 is the same.
I would actually disagree with the last part about Jinx's ending. I feel like if she had actually died, that would have gone against all the themes related to her character. From the moment Powder became Jinx, her main motivation was, ironically, to not be a "jinx". She constantly tried to prove that she was useful and could be an asset to Silco. But in the end, she was the one that killed him. And then she formed a relationship with Isha and became somewhat like an older sister to her. But, again, Isha ended up dying trying to protect Jinx. All of Jinx's experiences constantly reaffirmed her belief that she is a curse to the people around her and that the world would be better if she were dead. But then Ekko came to her and convinced her that it's possible for her to build something new. This was the thing that motivated her to keep fighting in hope for a better future. But if Jinx had actually died by sacrificing herself in order to save Vi, this would essentially be the show stating that Jinx can only ever do something good if she dies in the process, which would be in direct contradiction of what it seemed to be trying to establish in the beginning of the final episode. In the end, Jinx would have never actually built a relationship with anyone that lasted for very long, so she would have only escaped being a "jinx" by killing herself.
The fakeout death thing is horrible and a cashgrab strategy imo. They should have made the sisters acknowledge they could never live together and say their goodbyes to each other, that would be way more conclusive for their story. They wanted to make a doomed ending for the sisters except the whole show was about how the circumstances hurt their relationship, but they still loved each other. It also doesn't feel right that Vi thinks her little sister died protecting her and she isn't in catatonic depression in the end, and that could be solved so easily by making them say goodbye and go separate ways instead of making Vi think Jinx died. The interviews by the writers just make this ending all the more frustrating because they talk about the sisters relationship like it's doomed when the whole show has been about how it's not!!!
This is a great analysis. I always felt as if it was a tragic flaw within the chatacter (Jinx thinking shes a curse). I think her sacrifice and ""death""" still work because even though she's gone, she's at least going out giving Vi a chance at a future, feeding into what Ekko said about building something. (That being a future for her sister) Realistically, Vi can only do so much to help Jinx. It had come to a point where they had a toxic codependence for eachother. Jinx leaving works in 2 ways: 1. Too show that Vi isn't responsible for her sister 2. That Jinx needs to prove to herself that she can make it on her own. Maybe one day she'll be able to reunite with Vi, but for the time being, she needs some space and find peace on her own. That being said, if she did die I think it could still work because she would die knowing she's not a monster and that she helped build something. She wouldn't be dying selfishly, she would've died selflessly. Okay speech over 😂
@@michaelthecinebro I guess the difference in our interpretation in how we view was "build something new" means. I understood Ekko's words to mean Jinx could build something *for herself* . I feel this way because the point is that Jinx has constantly lost things in her life: Vander, Milo, Claggor, Vi, Silco, Isha. And she blames herself for all of their deaths. She's never really had a long, consistent relationship with anything. So I feel like her dying before ever actually creating some sort of stable relationship with fly in the face of the idea that she ever could actually build something knew.
Jinx dying wouldn't be that she could only redeem herself by killing herself but rather it would show her suicidal nature. She's reckless. She was holding onto bombs and tossing them away in the last minute in her hideout in S1. Then she nearly takes herself out after her fight with Ekko. Isha's death makes her believe she's actually a Jinx and Silco was the last person who accepted her for who she was. She literally tried to end herself with those bombs before Ekko came back. Ekko's lines resembled Silco's acceptance of Jinx which made her reconsider. But for someone who's at their lowest point like Jinx, it may not always be enough to convince them to not suicide. She has deep insecurities, she could believe in herself in one minute and then believe she's the worst in the next minute. It makes perfect sense the way it is.
@@michaelthecinebroI might be extremely wrong but there is a scene where echo repeatedly rewinds time to try and stop jinx from comiting suicide and that would mean he would have had infinite time to change jinx’s mind Idk if you knew the scene was there or if it was not shown in American ( I’m assuming that’s were your from) but I think that scene fixes it
11:27 i had the same thoughts when i first watched it. i remember thinking “so what youre switching sides now okay?? so sudden” but i rewatched it and to be honest i kinda love how quickly she switched sides lmao. we already saw her questioning how things were playing out. i think vi reappearing in her life again was the final push for her to betray ambessa and get out of the situation she’s in. especially after ambessa essentially used caitlyn and her grief to her advantage. which is the worst because when youre grieving someone (i cant imagine a parent) you are susceptible to people just being an ass towards you if you have the wrong people around you during that stage of grief. however, i do wish we would’ve seen more of her arc but oh well. i did see someone analyze caitlyn switching up and it was pretty interesting. this person said that the reason why caitlyn had the sudden 180 when seeing vi again. was because vi said to caitlyn that she was trying to save her dad. she essentially confirmed to caitlyn that this wasnt a weapon, but vi’s father. this made caitlyn think about her mom. caitlyn now knows whats it’s like to lose a parent. if vi had a second chance to be with her father, why would caitlyn ruin that chance. i wouldn’t say her character got 100% redeemed, but we see little aspects of it. maybe in the future we’ll see caitvi and jinx again. that ending was pretty open ended so, i still have hope. this season was insane, of course s1 will always have a special place in everyone’s hearts. i think despite all the discourse surrounding s2, we can all agree that it needed at least another act to tie things up smoothly. funny enough caitlyn became one of my favorite characters in s2. that scene with her and mel fighting against ambessa solidified that lol.
Also I feel the rose story line wasn’t explored or explained well enough to a point where it felt like wasted space. I don’t think they connected the rose to Ambessa well enough or revealed enough to make that storyline very meaningful. A shame all the content was cut of Ekko and Jinx preparing to go to war after he saves her from offing herself. These are my main problems I think it needed a few more eps or maybe flesh out the Zaun and Piltover storyline that just is wasted because UltronViktor shows up lol. Zaun vs Piltover should’ve stayed the main focus while Viktors storyline was built up to be explored and perfectly fleshed out for a 3rd and final season. But I agree there’s beauty in imperfections a flawed masterpiece.☝🏼🤓
Great video! I honestly felt like act 2 was the most mishandled act of the season (mostly due to strange pacing issues) but still great points. This act was REALLY pivotal for the plot and it feels like they were trying to fit too much in too little time.
I personally feel like Act 2 handled pacing the best this season though the season as a whole felt rushed so it wasn't exactly a high bar. To me Act 3 might be the worst pacing wise, we have Ekko,Hiemer and Jayce's trip though the Arcane verse and then the rush to end the story. I honestly believe that Arcane was soft canceled because Riot wanted to sell more skins for other areas of Runeterra as if season 2 had the same pacing of season one Ekko,Hiemer and Jayce's trip though the Arcane verse would have been two episodes one dedicated to Ekko and Heimer the other to Jayce while Vi's pit fighter story would have been a whole episode not just two minutes.
@@steventomasi5557 Yeah I think beside Vi's part in Act 2, I think Act 2 lets itself breath the most out of all of the Acts. I REALLY enjoyed the Warwick reveal and the family reunion in EP5.
@@steventomasi5557wasn’t soft cancelled just Netflix forcing the creators to cut from the script cause it was too long according to them. The final episode was supposed to be an hour and a half.
Nice to see a different perspective. While Act 2 was my favorite of the season, I can acknowledge it does have some issues with pacing (basically the whole season does 😂)
@@Maotrix-RandomGameStuff I don't get why Netflix has a say in this though. Or why Riot felt they needed to adhere to their standards. Plenty of shows have 1:30h finales that I've watched, when that wasn't normally the runtime. Honestly? I think Riot got greedy. Nothing to do with Netflix. Riot had an option to condense Arcane down and start selling new regions and new skins, and they took it. And Arcane suffered because of it. Why spend 3 seasons on Arcane when you could spend 3 and sell the same amount of skins, and move on much sooner to new regions.
I personally adore the entire show. Your criticisms are fair tho. As for Heimerdinger: I think him being a "goof ball" in S2 made perfect sense. Remember: not only did he spend 3 years in a near perfect version of the Arcane world - he also "inhabited" the body of a different version of himself. As did Ekko. The Heimerdinger of that parallel universe prob had a huge hand in making Zaun a way better place, potentially using his political influence to further that outcome, and thus was a way more happy (e.g. goofy) character. These two factors must have contributed heavily in making Heimerdinger way more relaxed and optimistic.
I felt like Heimerdinger was more of a retired man who had already accepted his fate; He'd already decided that Ekko was the future of science and was at peace with passing on his legacy to Ekko, hence his giddy behaviour because he felt free and at peace.
I think I agree with most of what you said, you bring up great points (especially concerning Caitlyn and Heimerdinger) and the presentation and pacing of the video is great! I think the only thing I really disagree with are the music videos in the episodes (I liked them a lot 😅) but I recognize that they do take up a lot of time. Plus, I'll always be sad about the cut Ekko-Jinx content 🥲 Great video!
I actually prefer season 2 over season 1. I completely understand your criticism and I agree with most of it. But while season one didn't have as "many" flaws, to me it also didn't have as many parts that absolutely amazed me.
I agree with a lot of your criticisms and I think a lot of why some people are very negative about the second season may be a result of expectations and perspective (it's being compared to a nearly flawless first season). But I still think S2 has enough overall quality to make the VAST majority of other series and movies look like cheap, souless trash in comparison. The attention to detail in this show (except for character arc of Caitlin's as you pointed out) is legitimately mindboggling in all dimensions of it's production. Also I really like that they left Jinx's survival "up in the air." It rewards the fans who cared enough about the series enough to investigate Jinx's death with an (arguably) happier ending for her once they put the pieces together.
I totally agree with you. I still think at the end of the day this season is light years away from what most shows are capable of. I also hope Jinx gets a happy ending one day. Girls been through it 😢
I think my main problem is the focus of the story told in season 2. Episode 7 was honestly the strongest episode, and that is because it was so focused on character, small moments, and Zaun. My favourite thing about Arcane has always been the story of Vi and Jinx, and Piltover and Zaun. Perhaps I’m biased, but in season 1, these really felt like the main focuses of the story. The prologue and first act of Arcane took place in the sister’s childhood and set up their relationship for the rest of the show. Jayce, Viktor, and Hectech seemed to be the secondary plot, but it still all felt like one, unified story. Fast-forward to the end of the show, and the main villains are Ambessa, Viktor, and the Arcane, and the conflict is against a Noxian and robot army, and the stakes involve the entire universe. Notice how essentially none of this has anything to do with Piltover and Zaun’s conflict, or Vi and Jinx, who basically devolved into players in war rather than main characters driving the plot. This all just feels so unlike Arcane. How did the story go from two sisters figuring out their relationship, and two nations struggling to interact peacefully, turn into magic robot armies threatening the universe as we know it, and while it was done well, multiverse stuff? The plot of act 3 literally feels like a Marvel movie. The fact that basically the main focus of season 1, Zaun vs Piltover, is all ‘resolved’ by the lazy excuse of ‘we’ve got a more dangerous common enemy to face and we need to do it together’, which doesn’t actually solve any of the internal issues between the two nations in the long-term such as systematic oppression and police brutality, is used in a ‘save the world’ Marvel-type final battle is so frustrating. What I liked about Arcane was always how characters drove the plot, not the other way around, and the whole show was always centred on character development, parallels, foils, and arcs, that all seemed to be driven by the Zaun vs Piltover focus. The ending was still well done in terms of animation and tension. It was enjoyable to watch, but I really just have issues with how the story went. This isn’t even mentioning the huge pacing problem of the whole season, but in particular the last two episodes, that felt so rushed it was honestly distracting, or the problem with there being way too many plots all being crammed into one story. I really would have preferred for Arcane to just tell a story about Zaun and Piltover working through their differences and actually solving the societal issues in a meaningful way, reflecting how Vi and Jinx’s relationship heals too. I understand this is 100% personal opinion, and I don’t expect everyone to agree, but I honestly don’t think my wishes are outlandish whatsoever, and literally just fit the story they were telling in season 1 much better. My other main problem is Jinx’s conclusion, which I genuinely think is such a terrible and unsatisfying way to end her story. The whole ‘walking away’ narrative is just feeding into Jinx’s harmful view of herself by portraying that, yes, she is a jinx who ruins the lives of everyone around her and the only way to make things right is by taking her out of the picture. This is an extremely harmful message to send out, as it implies that people who relate to Jinx because they may also be mentally unstable, or just struggling with self-worth, are actually the problem: Jinx was right about herself. While it may not have been the intention, it’s how it comes across to me. This is reinforced by how Vi and Cait seem fine, even happy, without Jinx. I think showing Vi being miserable in the very end, and fully committing to a sad ending rather than going somewhere unsatisfyingly and inconclusively between sad and happy, would have prevented this message from ever being sent, as it shows us how Jinx was wrong and that her life actually did have a positive impact on her family. The finale of season 1 was all about Jinx’s self-acceptance, even if it wasn’t presented entirely positively. I really thought they would conclude her character with true self-acceptance: Jinx coming to terms with who she is, not Powder OR Jinx, but just HER; accepting her past, not running from it, taking her experiences and bringing them forward with her. The ‘walk away’ narrative is a very literal manifestation of running from her past, and I just don’t think this is a healthy or satisfying end. There is a great deal of strengths in season 2, but my issues with Jinx’s conclusion and the virtual abandonment of the Zaun-Piltover, Vi-Jinx story, are too glaring for me to fully enjoy it.
It doesn't help that the final scene between Caitlyn and Vi reads like Vi accepting herself as less than her partner by the line "I'm the dirt under your nails". I get that might not be what the writers intended for the line, but that's what most people read from it lmao. Their relationship is basically oppressor and oppressed so that line just puts salt in the wound.
@@michemicalromance Completely agree with this. I understand it was not their intention but that is genuinely how that line comes across, unfortunately. I think all these little oversights are the consequences of rushing.
I agree with you completely on Heimerdinger and pretty much most things you said. But to me the Cait Vi Plot was basically perfect. The things you said are true but to me it seemed very much intended to show how conflicted Cait got with being a nice human being and feeling rage about her mother's death. Saying she won't change to Vi and then almost killing a little kid and the whole fascist plot really set the stage for her telling Maddie that she didn't intend for the war to go on that long (which was a very important character moment for her imo) and laying the ground for her switching sides again. It just really fit with the idea of a powerful person doing understandable things for the wrong reason. And on another note, the dance scene with Ekko and Jinx was the best scene in the whole show. It really encapsulated the feeling of being in a club with strobe lights and everything around it. It was just amazing how they pulled that off.
I would say I wasn't opposed to what they were writing for Caitlyn but I think my problems stem from the pacing of it and how pivitol moments of her arc are lost within the music video sequences. Though tbf, maybe with time I'll come around to how they went about doing it 🤷♂️
@michaelthecinebro good point, it also only got more logical to me after thinking about the whole story again after seeing it. In the series itself it is not directly apparent.
I think the problem is the amount of time they spent with her becoming this dictator only for her "redemption" to be very subtle and seem almost like a personal, individual thing, instead of her being acknowledged as an actual fascist, it's like the narrative doesn't fully go there with her villain arc and expect the viewers to gloss over it by the 3rd act, just because she helped Vi a few times and let Jinx go. I think this is one of the consequences of the narrative ignoring the class warfare between zaun and piltover, which made Caitlyn's redemption get harmed in the process. We see her warp her mother's legacy to use it as a chemical weapon, and Maddie also says to her she can call off the Noxian army from invading zaun, but she still refuses. Narratively, her arc is done, but people are rightfully upset that a show that took so much time in season 1 to show how bad oppression and police brutality is, just glosses over it in season 2 and makes it a matter of "both sides need to be heard". It rubs off on viewers who actually live in oppression, and it feels tone deaf.
Honestly, she didn't need to get redeemed if the narrative actually portrayed what she did as bad. It could be a beautiful portrayal of how people who live in privilege can become fascists easily once they go through 10% what an oppressed person went through their whole lives.
13:20 What's even more heartbreaking, is that it's confirmed that Echo had a crush on Powder during their childhood, but gave up on that when she turned into Jinx.
Even though Season 2 was rushed I still think the show as a whole is probably in the top 5 of all time in general. From the animation that is leagues above any other project ever, to the incredible voice acting, to the writing for characters being damm near flawless except for a few exceptions like Caitlyn. I don't necessarily think the character that have rushed character arcs have a bad one but it does make for some weird moments where they just randomly change their entire plan in an instant, even though for Cait I don't think it ruins her character arc as a whole. And finally to The absolutely goated OST's. I'm not joking when I'm saying this show has the best music and OST's in Fictional history. I don't think anything even comes close. Every song was specifically made for its part in the story, and they're all absolute bangers as well. Overall I'd say this show even though it's rushed is not flawed as a whole. I think the speeding of the overall plot made some character arcs feel like they're not as impactful cause they just happen way too fast, like Caitlyn who changes her entire character multiple times in the span of 5 episodes. Still with that said I think the overall journey and conclusion for the character arcs in this show are masterfully done and make perfect sense for each individual character. As a whole on a scale of of 1 to 10 I'd give this show a 9.5 The first season of the show I think is just undisputed best season of a show we've ever seen. Quite literally flawless you could sit down for hours and barely find anything to nit-pick about. Season 2 has 1 flaw and that is the fact that it's rushed. Act 3 could've been an entire season easily. But even though it's rushed it's still absolutely masterful in every aspect of judgment. So I'd say this show is the closest any show has came to perfection in my view. For me this is an hall of famer in fiction. Very easily in the top 10 of TV shows, animated and live action included, and I'll tell you, it's much closer to number 1 than it is to number 10. It has some minor flaws due to extremely fast pacing, but As Jayce said: There is beauty in imperfections. MASTERPIECE
Calling it now. None of the champions are dead. Jinx no doubt escaped the blast. there is just too much pointing to her survival. Heimerdinger is a yoordle and yoordles literally can’t die. It’s impossible for yoordles to die so he probably got transported back to bangle city where the yoordles originate. Ambessa has a history of being granted new life from death in her lore. Jayce and Viktor just disappeared into the rune. And Warwicks body can be revived by singed. We saw him do it once already so what’s stopping him from doing it again. Especially after he found a way to cure death as the end of the series.
I wish things were more fleshed out. I really wanted to see Mel's reaction to Jayce's disappearance after the war. An episode dedicated to the aftermath of the war would have helped with that a lot. Also needed more Vi and Isha interactions, or any input from Vi after Isha's death. And what about Loris? He was introduced and then got rid of, without any detail who he was. It's as if they had plans for him, but then later on changed their mind. These are some of my nitpicks with this seasons. I'm sure it's open to interpretation how many of those moments went behind the scenes, but they are also scenes that we needed to see with our own eyes that makes up better storytelling. I did absolutely love Season 2, still among the best shows despite that at least. On the positive side, the co-created did address how Season 2 was a bit more rushed, and did say future shows will be more careful about that. I'm hopeful the next League of Legends show will be more akin to Season 1 of Arcane than Season 2.
They destroyed Mel's character in S2. I truly believe the writers in charge of her S1 story quit so they just sidelined her. Not only did they not resolve the relationship between her and Jayce, but acted like it never happened.
I think the kiss with Cait works more from a narrative perspective if Cait is kind of being manipulative in that moment. Maybe not even knowingly, but I see it as a way to "convince" Vi to go along with this for real. I think she means it, but I also think its more interesting if Cait is also kind of caught up in the moment trying to do anything to have Vi go along with her.
I loved your review. I was also excited to see Mel and Black Rose. I always liked her character in S1 but like you said Her becoming a mage and Black Rose just elevated the intrigue so much and I can’t wait to see her other stories
Jinx actually survived if you payed attention to the clues she was living Zaun and Piltover and there was so many scenes between Jinx and Ekko that they skipped which this episode was gonna be and exctra 50 or 60 minutes
My biggest problem is Jayce and the way they treated hextech. Hextech should have been shown to be what Jayce imagined, and what it very well should have been, which was a tool to make peoples lives better. But all we were shown, both in all the alternate realities and the one we are in, it is that it is bad, and the only way to survive is without it. It makes Jayce’s death so stupid. Why did Victor save Jayce just for him to die. Just so Jayce could show him what life is like as a God? Jayce’s whole life, everything he ever worked for, everything he ever cared about was for nothing. Victor should have never saved him to begin with if it meant all he did was suffer and eventually die. His storyline was so horrible to me and pointless.
Wasn’t the entire purpose of Viktor saving Jayce that Jayce would then stop Viktor from destroying humanity? Jayce didn’t just “suffer and eventually die”. He built a beautiful friendship with Viktor and eventually saved humanity by staying true to that beautiful friendship.
@ Yes, Viktor says that in every dimension/reality someone invents hextech eventually, and it goes wrong every time. It’s only in the one reality where Viktor and Jayce become partners that it doesn’t go wrong.
@@horses4555 Okay, I guess this may have been a theory I saw, but it is hinted that alternate universe Powder will probably invent hextech with all the shards in her drawer. But in the final scene Viktor says to Jayce: "There is no price to perfection. Only an end to pursuit. In all timelines, in all possibilities... Only you can show me this." If Viktor didn't give Jayce the rune, nobody would stop him in trying to perfect humanity, which clearly means getting rid of the part that makes humanity human. At least that's how I understand it, but fair enough if you see it another way.
Honestly i rewatched the entire season 2 about like 3 5 times cause i was so bothered with certain parts of the series and there are MANY issues a majority of the characters were RUSHED and certain choices the characters made did not fit their chracters at all like changing the person that gave Jayce the stone from Ryze to Viktor MADE NO SENSE...im just speechless and cant think anything to say because of how disappointed i gave the second season, 2 and a half stars out of 5 stars since thats how i rate everything dont believe me watch: Generation Offended BoogardMG
I don’t remember the quote exactly, but as I was watching the video and you mentioned Viktor essentially causing what him and Jayce were trying to avoid, it reminded me of a quote Master Oogway said, if you try too hard to avoid something, you may just unintentionally cause that outcome.
The way the Jayce/Viktor storyline was written was weird. On the surface it looks like a beautiful bond, but on a 2nd or 3rd watch, Viktor is controlling everything and Jayce has no agency in act 3.
Isha did indeed sacrifice herself on purpose! After spending so much time under Jinx’s wing, I don’t doubt that she fully understood the explosive potential of those hex gems. Isha probably grabbed those extra two gems to give them all to Jinx or so she could ensure that no one stole them from her group in general (since Vi literally left TWO GEMS just INSIDE her gloves OUTSIDE the cult settlement). Isha is a crafty street kid, and she very purposefully pocketed those gems for some type of advantage later. That advantage becomes something she takes into her own hands to save her “family” just like how powder tried to save Vander. Cause ya know, Arcane loves an emotionally painful parallel. I’ll bet that Isha knew a lot more about the danger of those gems than Powder did though. She’s growing up in the era of hex tech AND her current guardian is an explosives expert. Isha is a smart kid and I genuinely love the entirety of her last scene just like I loved all of Isha’s character/presence in the story. That entire scene is her saying goodbye with such amazing visual storytelling. She doesn’t speak, and her song isn’t in a language the majority of viewers will understand, but it’s still a very emotional one. We can all feel what she meant to Jinx and what Jinx being her hero and sister meant to her. Something about seeing that goodbye all click together slowly as Isha dives in and protects Jinx like she once did for Isha feels big. Jinx is Isha’s hero, and I think that Isha fully believed Jinx’s survival was gonna make a big difference in the future of Zaun’s rebellion in addition to just wanting her to live.
I think the biggest issue for me in season 2 was just how many characters needed screen time. I think it is no surprise that we needed one more season to flesh out some character arcs. S1 felt like we had around 4 main characters jinx, vi, victor, jayce. With most of the side characters sharing screen time like silco with jinx or mel with jayce. When season 2 rolls around it throws that out the window with most of the cast being split up. Now you have Ambessa, Cait, jinx, ekko, jayce, vander/ww, singed, viktor, vi, mel. all fighting for screentime while they are on their own journeys and we only have 9 episodes to tell everything. Most of the character development moment are just montages/speedruns so we can keep the plot moving and it just kind of hurts the show. Still a good show but man was I a bit disappointed and saw where this was going after they dropped act 2. I will say the episode of ekko and powder was like a return to form in everything that I loved about season 1 arcane but I feel like Jayce could have gotten more time in his own destroyed civilization and his mental breakdown.
Ngl while I still enjoyed it, and think it had some great moments, the more I think about it, the more critical I've become. I will say this though, I think the pacing is essentially what causes all the problems in the season, though. I think it really would have been better if they did multiple seasons, plus longer episodes. Also I just fundamentally disagree with a lot of the directions they took. Like Jinx. I don't feel her redemption was handled well enough or paced properly, and the last season set her up to be a be going down an even darker path. A redemption wouldn't be a problem, but it should come much further down the line. I would have liked to see essentially be the antagonist of the season as opposed to its anti-hero. I dunno, it just felt contradictory to the ending of last season. Also I'll br, I just think the season would be better without Isha.
I agree with you that the pacing and lack of time is the main issue. I think Jinx's arc from a literary or idea standpoint is phenomenal but it's one of the victims of this show sticking to a two season limit. Ideally it would have been a three season arc of hero to villian in season 1, strait villian in season 2 and then redemption of the villian in season 3. Unfortunately they tried to cram the last two points into one season and we only get to see her be a villian in act 1. I think they could tell the arc and the whole narrative of the show in the exact same direction that they did over two seasons and it would have been close to season 1's quality the whole way through. Unfortunately by choosing to cram it all into one there's alot of issues that can't really be ignored. I still like it and am pleased we got it but I'm also very disappointed because it could have been vastly better with more time. Season 1s one of my favorite pieces of media and it's as close to a 10 as I can go, but this seasons like a 7-7.5 at best for me.
12:00 "This isn't enough time to warrant such drastic change." That's called Love. Love causes drastic change, Love causes someone who left things on bad terms to try and fix things upon seeing their Lover's face again. Have you ever been in Love before?
I can see why people have disagreements with this, because saying "but love" can definitely be a cop out. But it seemed to me Caitlyn was already trying to figure out how to back out of her alliance with Ambessa by that point. She had time to re-evaluate her relationship with Vi and her current situation during e4-5. By the time she runs into Vi, she is ready to do something, but doesn't know how. The breaking point was Vi telling Caitlyn about trying to save Vander(the beast they were trying to track and kill). Her history with Vi and desire to take back her alliance with Ambessa could be seen as enough to initiate that drastic change.
I shall pray for the creation of a series based around Ionia. 1. Jhin is what we want 2. Jhin is what we need 3. Jhin is the best villain 4. Jhin must be made
EVERYONES character was just, nobody really acted how they did in S1 and without a good justifiable reason either. Jinx was no where near as crazy and she was, Vi went from not caring about killing children "He knew want he signed up for" to "No, she's Only a Child!" in only a matter of days...wut. Sevika went from hating Jinx to immediately teaming up with her, especially for how loyal she was to Silco and how Jinx was the one who killed him. Cailins back n forth was ridiculous. But yeah, everyone in the show was just off. Except my boy Ekko, he was and truly remained the Boy Savior!
I agree with some points you make, but overall, I think most character's changes make sense. Jinx felt very numb after Silco's death, this was already clear in S1 finale, and at the other times she Isha keeping her in this ''high'' mode of hers, but the moment she's away you can see Jinx panic and go ''crazy'' again. About Vi, it was never that she didn't care about the kid dying in S1, she simply didn't think Jayce had the right to stop because of one kid while hundreds of other were dying because of Silco, the man that kid supported. Sevika hated Jinx, true, but in S2 it was never like that stopped, she was clearly still annoyed with. But they both supported Silco and sought out each others company in that. As for Caitlyn, yeah i agree, she was all over the place. I think it makes sense in theory, like her mom dyinig is one heck of a trauma, but the execution was off. And yes love to Ekko lol
To add to their comment, right after jinx kills silco, for the first time there’s no noise surrounding her. She made her final choices and accepted jinx and her mind finally calmed down. however without silco to guide jinx, she really has no purpose other than killing her sister, which she stated. As for Vi, I also think the main concern was it would’ve been Caitlyn killing her sister, not her. she understands Caitlyn is already in a sort of vulnerable state and doesn’t want her to do something she’ll regret even more. I also think a difference is Isha wasn’t fighting back, she didn’t even shoot the gun. Vi could see Isha only wanted to protect jinx while not killing anyone. And as for Sevika, though she did dislike jinx, she was loyal to Silco and knew Silco well. She knew Silco would probably want jinx to continue his work in her own way and Sevika’s role was to guide her . They also were able to bond over their grief which is rare for Zaunites it seems
I have to highly disagree. Jinx and Vi acted differently because crap happened. Jinx had her catharsis, Vi had her world shattered. Sevika didn’t change much. She’s just a woman doing what she thinks is best when she feels like it’s best. Even supporting Silco in comparison to letting the underground become a dog fest was what someone could see as the best thing.
All good points, I would add the obvious plot armor that where minor in s1 got overcooked on this one for the the múltiple spinoffs they might have planned
14:13 Heimendirger didn't actually died. In LoL's lore, is stayed that yordles can't die. Maybe he respawned in Bardle City, the Yordle's homeland, or is lost through dimensions.
13:25 “developed romantic feelings” he had romantic feelings, but I believe he tried to suppress them when she changed and this interaction just reminded him of that. I also believe he already had feelings for her because in the games he says “I had a crush before you started talking to the gun.”
I disagree. I haven’t fully watched the video but here’s my opinion. The leaving out of certain scenes is perfect because it has us wanting more which is exactly what makes a great show. Plus if those scenes were actually in the show I think it would be different and kinda boring. Like if they had a before the fight scene with Mel cait jayce and vi. Instead they take us straight into the action which is what made the fight so fun to watch and engaging.
Act 3, and especially its latter two episodes, feel like they are telling a different story. I think that making the final battle one over the literal survival of humanity in the universe - a temptation Season 1 resisted masterfully unlike most contemporary fiction - made Arcane's other, more interesting and complex conflicts such as those between Vi and Jinx and Piltover and Zaun feel insignificant. The final message somehow ended up being that "there is beauty if imperfections", which came out of nowhere and felt generic and tone-deaf. I'd still give S2 episodes 1 to 6 10/10, though.
i agree with you but i feel like they already lost the plot after act 1. act 2 started feeling like we're handling things that are completely out of field, the whole cosmic healing with vander felt just a little too silly when you compare it to season 1. i wish theyd focus more on the conflict between the cities like they had in s1 but just escalated to a point of war. noxus couldve been the perfect excuse to get the cities to unite like it did in the finale and lead to a relatively similar ending, but with more fleshing out of the conflict and the characters that reflect it.
I understand your point but I disagree that they resisted this theme in season 1. I think there’s lots of evidence that this was the direction of the plot, even if we didn’t know it yet. Viktor always strived for perfection on peace and to push the limits. Ambessa wanted a partner in piltover that could provide powerful weapons, and not just war. Jayce was honestly not a great leader and though he wanted peace would get swept up by his own achievements and emotions, leaving Viktor to his own. This was their intention from the start, even if it wasn’t the direction hoped
Disagree, the core message was never about social politics or two siters. It was always about the struggles of humanity and how it leads to the best and worst in some. How people commit mistakes but that doesn’t mean they aren’t capable of change. Ep 7 of the second season is the best for me because it brings all the themes together and presents them masterfully.
While this video was well done, I just think most of this is your opinion and how you reacted to plot points whereas I liked some of the ways they did things and the story they told. You did open my eyes to a few points but I liked it more than I think you may have.
Interesting how you enjoyed Acts 2 and 3. Because to so many people they consider it the most disappointing part of the story (With the exception of episode 7). Mainly because the class conflict of the story literally become irrelevant by episode 5 and the story devolves into a generic "Save the world story". For starters episode 5 Warwick is used as a means to get Vi and Jinx to talk things out. In a way that felt forced and so he reduced to nothing more then a plot device. As for episode 6 Caitlyn and Vi make up too quickly. Meanwhile as for Viktors commentation of the cycle of violence means very little when what happened was "Jayce just shot him and didn't bother to explain anything". And even then his sentiment barely references "The political conflict" of the show. Meanwhile as for Viktor, he was kind of forced into this role because "No" he didn't believe his leg put him down. It was a "Life killing disease" that was going to end his life that was bringing him down. And the whole reveal that "He" was the Wizard that saved Jayce is so out of nowhere. On top of that both "He" and "Jayce" already gave up their quest for perfection.in season 1. Meanwhile Jayce was transported into another dimension in order to move the plot into a specific direction. Meanwhile Viktor's augmentation just gave him the chance to help heal the sick. So "Perfection" wasn't really his goal this season until Jayce makes a dumb choice in order to move the plot to where it needs to go. And to make things more conflicting the whole (Viktor was the wizard twist was dumb and this hyper light space warp they found themselves was just overwhelming and takes away all the grounded political story. As for Jinx I think your forgetting that Ekko "did" speak with Jinx he told her that "Your past doesn't define you" And this is what led to her to move forward and accept herself. And for your read of Vander as a manifestation of there demons .That is an interesting read of the conflict. Although it seems more less like holding to her "Demons" and more like holding on to the past. Because for a while "Vander" was the glue that allowed for the girls to come together in the end. And they wanted to heal however things couldn't heal. Not trying to berate your read of the texts here just what "I" think the scene was going for.
the problem to people finding this season bad is because they compare it to the first season and not to other second seasons of other shows. Its not BAD its still really good compared to most shows
It is a 9/10 to me too because it is perfect and mine are minor subjective problems really. My problem is Jinx is written weirdly too sympathetic. My complaint is Jayce and Mel separation. I felt these were because of the fans pressure not the writers. They were more free without the fans input in s1. Other than that just few more episodes and it is enough. Maybe they need to post the remaining in a novel or something and it is complete.
If you see a lot of attack on Mel and Black Rose and people complaining stems from them seeing Mel as a foil to their shop for Victor and Jayce. A lot of the games want Jayce and Victor to be in a romantic relationship and were upset Jayce was intimate with Mel. I can’t stand ship wars cause fans loose the plot of the story and will hate a character like Mel for just existing. I agree with you her shift from counsel to Black Rose was a delightful boost and excitement to her character.
I’m sorry but I gotta disagree with Mel, cut any of her screen time this season, it would be impossible to finish her ark this season 😭 barley saw girl
Your critique on Vi and Caitlyn not showing each other their motives early on is not warranted given the fact that they did tell show each other their motives early on like Vi saying she can’t be an enforcer because they killed her parents and eventually getting passed it to support Caitlyn after the second attack as she is the moderate on the issue of retaliation that she can have influence on. Vi was about to finish of her sister but that kid got in the way and that caused the conflict between Caitlyn and Vi because Vi didn’t want to have casualties and be like the enforcers she hates. Caitlyn was conflicted about hating Jinx but loving Vi knowing they are blood related and wanted Vi to prove herself and when she got in the way of her revenge she validated Caitlyn’s hate. The music videos that show up are not problematic given the choices they had of either having long exposition or having to dedicate precious minutes to something that would take a few seconds with a music video. Show don’t tell seems like a better choice. Season 2 given its breath of story telling even with its pacing I would say was a 9.5/10 given the limitations it had to deal with.
I find it funny that the season whose ending theme was “imperfections are beautiful” ends up being a striking example of a fantastic show the nevertheless has flaws-
Heimendinger was in a peaceful time for 3 years, if i remember correctly, maybe thats why he was a bit more light hearted. I think the overall problem is that season 2 feels like 2 seasons packed into 1 season
I'm very sad that I didn't like season2 because I could't wait to see it. I feel like they side lined the two protagonists (expecially Vi but also Jinx in the last episode) to tell a bigger story they did not really build up. I mean... They took all season 1 and a good part of season 2 to buld up Piltover vs Zaun to give us Piltover and Zaun vs Noxus? The alliance between the two city did not feel earned to me. I agree with almost everything you say in this video, exept the Mel part: to me the Black Rose plot was useless and just a way to build a spin off plot; I tought she was much more interesting in s1; in s2 shes,s just a generic badass who learns how to use her powers in an afternoon, everytime she apperead on screen I wanted to skip😢 I like to learn about all these different opinions on Arcane because it really show how, even if flawed, even if disappointing for someone, it really touched something in its audience and it's always something different depending on who's watching. I like to watch
Isha and jinx didn't interact at all in act I because Isha was following her. It showed her following jinx. She's obsessed with her. Jinx finally builds a relationship with her after isha saves her.
I loved Act 1 Cait cause we see how awful she’s become and I saw the kiss as fully manipulative But then they brought Cait back as a “good” character and let all of her descent into evil happen during Paint the Town Blue. Personally- Cait was pretty far down the violence road I don’t think she should have come back and I especially think it should have taken wayyy longer if at all to get back with Vi Plus- all of the Macbeth imagery in the intro… She should have died.
I think you have very misunderstood certain dynamics between characters and above all that 90% of your opinion is subjective (like you don't like the clips at the start of episodes, your opinion but it's actually an excellent idea).
What's sad about Heimerdinger is that he was right about magic all along, and once that came to light, they just made him a goof ball instead of an empathetic "I told you so" character. He could've been: "yeah i told you this would happen, but since i knew all along, i thought of a plan" But they did this instead, which ended up working, but still a shame how they handled it.
Personally, I liked the first Act the most. Yes, Isha just spawns out of nowhere and I did not understand why Hermidinger is so "happy". At first, I was annoyed by the "music videos" but I've grown to like them after watching the season again. For Act 2, for me, the whole Warwick Arc felt really weird to me. Yes, it was emotional, but I don't like the decision of somewhat bringing Vander back. Caitlin was absolutely rushed. Act 3 started fantastic with EP7. In EP8 & 9 it became a bit more obvious that the black rose just wasted a lot of time. Otherwise, the Episodes were pretty good. And yes, we needed to see the Ekko Jinx talk. The final Fight was good, but I wished Ekkos Time Machine would have played an even more important role (maybe a sequenz where we go back like a few minutes to change something ).
Funnily enough I strongly disagree on the time machine part. I always hate when a show presents a power with a very distinct limitation, like in this case basically "if I go back more than 40 seconds we will die" and then those limitations are broken with no problem at all. At least they should have made him die if he disrespects the limits of the arcane like that.
@Spanching vadil point, however not using it makes Episode 7 a bit pointless. Using a whole episode to show him getting the Maschine and then not using it properly feels like a waste of time. (I know EP7 wasn't just him building the Maschine and it was more about him and Powder but back in the main timeline they don't even really show us what the result of that is)
@@CorniStgt True, I think what I would have liked is having a less drastic way of showing that using it to go back too long just messes with the surroundings and human beings, like the arcane taking over the surroundings that 'go back in time'. Maybe that was what they were going for but in ep7 it seemed like a hard limit to me. Nevertheless, still a really good plot, I am probably just nitpicking because that show does not want to get out of my head ^^
@@Spanching Yeah same, haha. Since watching it, my brain doesn't stop thinking about it. A less drastic way of showing it, would have prob been a good idea
In fairness the whole Isha thing kind of makes sense. She has no friends or family and in Zaun that’s horrible. Jinx was the one person to go out of her way to save her. So to a girl like Isha that means the world to her. Jinx became her world and she was willing to do anything to keep that. Even in the form of standing up to Vi to protect her. One act can change a kids life indefinitely.
S2 is too plot driven, it feels unnatural. Characters' decisions were too obviously "so the plot can happen". S1 was character driven, where the plot felt more like a natural consequence of the characters' decisions. Plot and characters always work together but the charm of Arcane was in that the plot functioned to let the characters shine, S2 is unfortunately the other way around. Also, and this is a pet peeve of mine but still: not every damn story needs multiverses and timetravel...
In the end I really didnt like what they did with all the corrupted arcane shit and how they turned it into some marvel world ending shit. Its such a shift away from season 1 and they had less than one season to set it up and finish it. It also took away from the zaun vs piltover which was just sidelined. I loved the Ekko and alternate jinx stuff but the alternate dimensions and timeline stuff was just trying to do too much and again made it feel like some marvel shit that makes everything fucky, seriously it creates so many issues and plot holes, and it was just too much to abruptly add in in a already rushed season. Also they try and label hextech as this inherently bad thing that needs to be shut down but ignore the fact that it was Victor adding his shimmer blood to it which fucked up the arcane core. Hextech its self isnt bad. Season 1 was a masterpiece which makes season 2 being so disappointing and far from a masterpiece so much worse.
You literally have only seen the surface of Arcane. Heimer is the perfect example, the reason he is so carefree is that he has given up. His thoughts we did not hear : 'I warned them, they didnt listen and even dared to ban me from MY city council. Oh well, that is the human nature that I have known for a Millenium, guess there is no changing it. I had a good life and will enjoy my lasts seconds here on earth.' While doing so he saw the brilliance of Ekko and Powder and the beautiful love between them. Who knows how much he knows about Jinx. but he saw something inspiring. Inspiring enough for him to dance one last dance to save the world. He didnt sacrifize himself, his journey just started and now he is willing to fight! The goggles which you see everywhere are a hint that Heimer already traveled there, I think. Also Jinx is pregnant.
Arcane was always intended for 2 seasons, lol. Riot created and funded the whole show. They work with Netflix to publish the show. This means Netflix has zero control over the story. I'm sure if Riot had infinite money and time, they'd expand scenes and have more episodes. But since they don't, in the end, Riot told the story they wanted to tell with the limitations they had.
I'd only apply the beauty to the imperfections if it meant that the characters don't get a happy ending, but if it means that some of the motivations and plot points don't make sense, no, that ain't beauty
I paid attention to the first music video, realized they would be important, and then appreciated the show-don't-tell reward with efficient use of run-time for dense story telling. I appreciated the uniqueness of it, but I could definitely see thinking it was too much. Jinx saved Isha, but Jinx didn't recognize friendship because of past trauma. Then Isha tried to save Jinx. And that's the beginning of their 2-way interaction. It seemed reasonable to me. Ambessa was an unconvincing speaker. I didn't buy her turning Kate or the whole council. Didn't understand her teaming up with the robots. Didn't understand the rules/tradition of the 2v1 duel at the end. Just the dumb, evil warlord that pulls punches when the story needs it. The other characters had to tell us Ambessa was convincing.
Cheering on Maddie's death is one of the worst part of the Arcane fandom. The betrayal plot doesn't work at all. Four thousand people hating on one character is one the most distasteful fanservice I have ever seen, and literally it made me feel angry. It's like the voice actress receiving death threats for over a thousand messages. Can you blame other women like that? No. By the way, I am not a fascist in real life. I'm just an innocent Arcane fan who loves every character for fun.
I think the problem is that Season 1 felt like one story told in 3 acts. Season two felt like 3 stories told in 1 season.
so well put
exactly. i dont know why they didn't push for a season 3.
Thats a perfect way of explaining this season 😂
@@JT7gamingpc "They" didn't push for a season 3, because "they" were in charge. There was no one to pitch that to. Netflix is only distributing Arcane. Riot ponied up the cash internally to make the show. And with advertising, production and tie-in promotional materials, the thing cost them all-in $250 million dollars. It's the most expensive animated show ever produced by an insane margin.
Also, they've been in production for the next Runeterra related show for about a year now. A couple of characters from this will be in that, but this particular tale was always supposed to be 2 seasons. They just dropped the ball between this season and the first.
It happens. More time wouldn't have fixed anything. Better use of the time they had would have. That and a competent script supervisor.
Damn! Really pounded nail on the head with that one! Love it!😃
Funny, because I have the polar opposite perspective of Mel in S2 compared to S1. I felt like she attempts to thwart her mother, never gets a chance, and then gets sidelined and carted off until episode 8. Whereas in S1 she was an integral part of the entire Piltover storyline.
I agree. They changed everything that made her interesting to make her magic. I liked that she wasn't a fighter, and used her wits instead.
@@brendajameson5093
She didn't fight, Cait did, and she won by wits, she was a wolf, she opossed to both her mother and the Rose.
@@Otaya_2024 She supported her ADC XD
Heimerdinger actually has one of my favorite arc in ss2 lol. It’s such a simple one and brilliantly executed in the small screen time that he has. And it can be sum up in what Ekko said in ss1 “it’s not enough to give people what they need to survive, you need to give them what they need to live” and that quote change his out look in life. We see him making a bubble machine because it makes a group of kids happy, he plays songs about life, finding joy, makes mistakes opposite to what he told Jayce and Viktor to not try stuff because it will be a mistake. And when told Ekko in the end that now he has now truly lived he really meant it. After being on the council, seeing progress for up high because of what Ekko said he came down to bring joy to the people and live with it.
Then his ending kinda felt ham fisted
S1 was a 10/10. S2 even with its flaws, was a 8/10. So a 9/10 is pretty good for a show with a rushed final season
THIS, people are definitely over looking some of the obvious flaws of season 2. But the thing is guys...... even with the flaws it's still far superior than most other TV Shows in terms of writing quality. It's just more obvious because the first season is literally perfect, but yeah Season 2 is 8/10 at WORST. Still so close to perfection that it's okay
@jairusjackson7799 seen people call it 1/10 because of it being rushed. I was like bruh compared to like the final seasons of got how tf is this even bad?
i'd give season 1 a 10/10 and wouldn't hesitate to give season 2 a 4/10 (maybe 5 or 6 JUST for the mind-blowing graphics)... barely watchable anbd ONLY due to the amazing graphics, just barely overcoming the HORRIBLE... and i mean HORRIBLE writing, uneventful character-killing, and randomness of everything. they even started just singing in french for some reason, like wtf? so are the noxian's french?
i had to take multiple breaks mid-episode due to cringe factors, and just the pure disgust of how badly they did arcane's storytelling this season compared to season 1, and then to actually push myself to try to continue watching. if the graphics hadn't been 10/10 again like last season, i definitely would have never continued.
@@subterranea9095 uneventful character killing how? Or do you mean you feel like the characters’ stories were “killed” by being poorly written? Because honestly I understand how all the characters get to where they end up. It genuinely is just a pacing issue to me where the writers clearly intended for certain steps of these characters’ arcs to be inferenced so that they could instead take risks and focus on different areas of the plot.
I think narratives work best when you focus on characters first, buuuut I understand how Arcane ended up here. I don’t think the ending places of any of the characters was bad and I think the humanity-ending plot was cool. I essentially think things could have much better benefited from more build up via character moments so the writing could shine through easier.
@@_indigo_inked both ways. the characters didn't feel like themselves in season 2. they behaved differently to their experiences, and often times... basic logic or expected human reactions. the new characters that were introduced were... just there to be literally killed story pawns, but their deaths felt shallow, since there was no focus on them the entire show.
if you're saying that they took a risk doing it this way to show more, then i don't think that risk paid off for what it could have been otherwise and even for what they accomplished. i didn't see much of zaun or piltover, despite EPIC SCALE ... cutscenes? that just sort of happened. i felt like i saw MORE of the world in season 1. and i still know nothing about noxus, let alone any of these new characters. i don't even really know more about the old characters since a lot of that time was "make believe" land.
look at this... completely redrawn version of the world... that doesn't expand anything because it's not actually a part of the world... look at... no new characters... because they're all gone... look at the same! characters... again.. .even though they're dead... but they aren't actually back... IMAGINE. i know you were learning about zaun and piltover, but let's talk about noxus. no, you don't get to see it. NO you can't know anything more about noxus. let's just SAY... noxus! look people are attacking the same world... that i won't show you really more of again... oh... new characters? yeah. *cough* here's that guy. look he died. feel sad. no you don't need to know anything about him. just feel sad.
that's kind of how season 2 of arcane went.
oh by the way! we're suddenly singing in french now! 0_o. alrighty. then... i guess the noxians are french?
Arcane feels like Avatar Last Airbender, a creative anchor in a time that highlights the importance of art and ideals moulded together to create a conversation and appreciation for both.
It is not perfect, and neither is Avatar, but it's honest enough to be called perfection due to how it will inspire generations no matter their background.
🙌🏾
Funny that Legend of Korra and Arcane Season 2 kinda suffered from the same thing...
Korra was written like each season was an entire series, which made it feel chaotic and rushed.
Arcane Season 2 is the same.
I would actually disagree with the last part about Jinx's ending. I feel like if she had actually died, that would have gone against all the themes related to her character.
From the moment Powder became Jinx, her main motivation was, ironically, to not be a "jinx". She constantly tried to prove that she was useful and could be an asset to Silco. But in the end, she was the one that killed him. And then she formed a relationship with Isha and became somewhat like an older sister to her. But, again, Isha ended up dying trying to protect Jinx.
All of Jinx's experiences constantly reaffirmed her belief that she is a curse to the people around her and that the world would be better if she were dead. But then Ekko came to her and convinced her that it's possible for her to build something new. This was the thing that motivated her to keep fighting in hope for a better future.
But if Jinx had actually died by sacrificing herself in order to save Vi, this would essentially be the show stating that Jinx can only ever do something good if she dies in the process, which would be in direct contradiction of what it seemed to be trying to establish in the beginning of the final episode. In the end, Jinx would have never actually built a relationship with anyone that lasted for very long, so she would have only escaped being a "jinx" by killing herself.
The fakeout death thing is horrible and a cashgrab strategy imo. They should have made the sisters acknowledge they could never live together and say their goodbyes to each other, that would be way more conclusive for their story. They wanted to make a doomed ending for the sisters except the whole show was about how the circumstances hurt their relationship, but they still loved each other. It also doesn't feel right that Vi thinks her little sister died protecting her and she isn't in catatonic depression in the end, and that could be solved so easily by making them say goodbye and go separate ways instead of making Vi think Jinx died. The interviews by the writers just make this ending all the more frustrating because they talk about the sisters relationship like it's doomed when the whole show has been about how it's not!!!
This is a great analysis. I always felt as if it was a tragic flaw within the chatacter (Jinx thinking shes a curse).
I think her sacrifice and ""death""" still work because even though she's gone, she's at least going out giving Vi a chance at a future, feeding into what Ekko said about building something. (That being a future for her sister)
Realistically, Vi can only do so much to help Jinx. It had come to a point where they had a toxic codependence for eachother. Jinx leaving works in 2 ways:
1. Too show that Vi isn't responsible for her sister
2. That Jinx needs to prove to herself that she can make it on her own.
Maybe one day she'll be able to reunite with Vi, but for the time being, she needs some space and find peace on her own.
That being said, if she did die I think it could still work because she would die knowing she's not a monster and that she helped build something.
She wouldn't be dying selfishly, she would've died selflessly.
Okay speech over 😂
@@michaelthecinebro I guess the difference in our interpretation in how we view was "build something new" means. I understood Ekko's words to mean Jinx could build something *for herself* . I feel this way because the point is that Jinx has constantly lost things in her life: Vander, Milo, Claggor, Vi, Silco, Isha. And she blames herself for all of their deaths.
She's never really had a long, consistent relationship with anything. So I feel like her dying before ever actually creating some sort of stable relationship with fly in the face of the idea that she ever could actually build something knew.
Jinx dying wouldn't be that she could only redeem herself by killing herself but rather it would show her suicidal nature. She's reckless. She was holding onto bombs and tossing them away in the last minute in her hideout in S1. Then she nearly takes herself out after her fight with Ekko. Isha's death makes her believe she's actually a Jinx and Silco was the last person who accepted her for who she was. She literally tried to end herself with those bombs before Ekko came back. Ekko's lines resembled Silco's acceptance of Jinx which made her reconsider. But for someone who's at their lowest point like Jinx, it may not always be enough to convince them to not suicide. She has deep insecurities, she could believe in herself in one minute and then believe she's the worst in the next minute. It makes perfect sense the way it is.
@@michaelthecinebroI might be extremely wrong but there is a scene where echo repeatedly rewinds time to try and stop jinx from comiting suicide and that would mean he would have had infinite time to change jinx’s mind
Idk if you knew the scene was there or if it was not shown in American ( I’m assuming that’s were your from) but I think that scene fixes it
11:27 i had the same thoughts when i first watched it. i remember thinking “so what youre switching sides now okay?? so sudden” but i rewatched it and to be honest i kinda love how quickly she switched sides lmao. we already saw her questioning how things were playing out. i think vi reappearing in her life again was the final push for her to betray ambessa and get out of the situation she’s in. especially after ambessa essentially used caitlyn and her grief to her advantage. which is the worst because when youre grieving someone (i cant imagine a parent) you are susceptible to people just being an ass towards you if you have the wrong people around you during that stage of grief. however, i do wish we would’ve seen more of her arc but oh well.
i did see someone analyze caitlyn switching up and it was pretty interesting. this person said that the reason why caitlyn had the sudden 180 when seeing vi again. was because vi said to caitlyn that she was trying to save her dad. she essentially confirmed to caitlyn that this wasnt a weapon, but vi’s father. this made caitlyn think about her mom. caitlyn now knows whats it’s like to lose a parent. if vi had a second chance to be with her father, why would caitlyn ruin that chance. i wouldn’t say her character got 100% redeemed, but we see little aspects of it. maybe in the future we’ll see caitvi and jinx again. that ending was pretty open ended so, i still have hope. this season was insane, of course s1 will always have a special place in everyone’s hearts. i think despite all the discourse surrounding s2, we can all agree that it needed at least another act to tie things up smoothly.
funny enough caitlyn became one of my favorite characters in s2. that scene with her and mel fighting against ambessa solidified that lol.
Thats a good analysis. I'll also agree her fight in the end alongside Mel was epic af 🔥
“SHUT UP AND FIGHT” was my second fave line delivered of entire season 2
Also I feel the rose story line wasn’t explored or explained well enough to a point where it felt like wasted space. I don’t think they connected the rose to Ambessa well enough or revealed enough to make that storyline very meaningful. A shame all the content was cut of Ekko and Jinx preparing to go to war after he saves her from offing herself. These are my main problems I think it needed a few more eps or maybe flesh out the Zaun and Piltover storyline that just is wasted because UltronViktor shows up lol. Zaun vs Piltover should’ve stayed the main focus while Viktors storyline was built up to be explored and perfectly fleshed out for a 3rd and final season. But I agree there’s beauty in imperfections a flawed masterpiece.☝🏼🤓
Great video! I honestly felt like act 2 was the most mishandled act of the season (mostly due to strange pacing issues) but still great points. This act was REALLY pivotal for the plot and it feels like they were trying to fit too much in too little time.
I personally feel like Act 2 handled pacing the best this season though the season as a whole felt rushed so it wasn't exactly a high bar. To me Act 3 might be the worst pacing wise, we have Ekko,Hiemer and Jayce's trip though the Arcane verse and then the rush to end the story. I honestly believe that Arcane was soft canceled because Riot wanted to sell more skins for other areas of Runeterra as if season 2 had the same pacing of season one Ekko,Hiemer and Jayce's trip though the Arcane verse would have been two episodes one dedicated to Ekko and Heimer the other to Jayce while Vi's pit fighter story would have been a whole episode not just two minutes.
@@steventomasi5557 Yeah I think beside Vi's part in Act 2, I think Act 2 lets itself breath the most out of all of the Acts. I REALLY enjoyed the Warwick reveal and the family reunion in EP5.
@@steventomasi5557wasn’t soft cancelled just Netflix forcing the creators to cut from the script cause it was too long according to them. The final episode was supposed to be an hour and a half.
Nice to see a different perspective. While Act 2 was my favorite of the season, I can acknowledge it does have some issues with pacing (basically the whole season does 😂)
@@Maotrix-RandomGameStuff I don't get why Netflix has a say in this though. Or why Riot felt they needed to adhere to their standards. Plenty of shows have 1:30h finales that I've watched, when that wasn't normally the runtime.
Honestly? I think Riot got greedy. Nothing to do with Netflix. Riot had an option to condense Arcane down and start selling new regions and new skins, and they took it. And Arcane suffered because of it. Why spend 3 seasons on Arcane when you could spend 3 and sell the same amount of skins, and move on much sooner to new regions.
I personally adore the entire show. Your criticisms are fair tho. As for Heimerdinger: I think him being a "goof ball" in S2 made perfect sense. Remember: not only did he spend 3 years in a near perfect version of the Arcane world - he also "inhabited" the body of a different version of himself. As did Ekko. The Heimerdinger of that parallel universe prob had a huge hand in making Zaun a way better place, potentially using his political influence to further that outcome, and thus was a way more happy (e.g. goofy) character. These two factors must have contributed heavily in making Heimerdinger way more relaxed and optimistic.
Did you know that "Arcane" is the most expensive animated series ever produced?
Yes I did! I will say they spared no expense
@michaelthecinebro love that quote 😂
It’s only 25mil more than she hulk at double the length so it was very much worth it
I felt like Heimerdinger was more of a retired man who had already accepted his fate; He'd already decided that Ekko was the future of science and was at peace with passing on his legacy to Ekko, hence his giddy behaviour because he felt free and at peace.
I think I agree with most of what you said, you bring up great points (especially concerning Caitlyn and Heimerdinger) and the presentation and pacing of the video is great! I think the only thing I really disagree with are the music videos in the episodes (I liked them a lot 😅) but I recognize that they do take up a lot of time.
Plus, I'll always be sad about the cut Ekko-Jinx content 🥲
Great video!
Glad you enjoyed! Also RIP Ekko/Jinx bonus footage 😢
I actually prefer season 2 over season 1. I completely understand your criticism and I agree with most of it. But while season one didn't have as "many" flaws, to me it also didn't have as many parts that absolutely amazed me.
I agree with a lot of your criticisms and I think a lot of why some people are very negative about the second season may be a result of expectations and perspective (it's being compared to a nearly flawless first season). But I still think S2 has enough overall quality to make the VAST majority of other series and movies look like cheap, souless trash in comparison. The attention to detail in this show (except for character arc of Caitlin's as you pointed out) is legitimately mindboggling in all dimensions of it's production.
Also I really like that they left Jinx's survival "up in the air." It rewards the fans who cared enough about the series enough to investigate Jinx's death with an (arguably) happier ending for her once they put the pieces together.
I totally agree with you. I still think at the end of the day this season is light years away from what most shows are capable of.
I also hope Jinx gets a happy ending one day. Girls been through it 😢
I think my main problem is the focus of the story told in season 2. Episode 7 was honestly the strongest episode, and that is because it was so focused on character, small moments, and Zaun. My favourite thing about Arcane has always been the story of Vi and Jinx, and Piltover and Zaun. Perhaps I’m biased, but in season 1, these really felt like the main focuses of the story. The prologue and first act of Arcane took place in the sister’s childhood and set up their relationship for the rest of the show. Jayce, Viktor, and Hectech seemed to be the secondary plot, but it still all felt like one, unified story. Fast-forward to the end of the show, and the main villains are Ambessa, Viktor, and the Arcane, and the conflict is against a Noxian and robot army, and the stakes involve the entire universe. Notice how essentially none of this has anything to do with Piltover and Zaun’s conflict, or Vi and Jinx, who basically devolved into players in war rather than main characters driving the plot.
This all just feels so unlike Arcane. How did the story go from two sisters figuring out their relationship, and two nations struggling to interact peacefully, turn into magic robot armies threatening the universe as we know it, and while it was done well, multiverse stuff? The plot of act 3 literally feels like a Marvel movie. The fact that basically the main focus of season 1, Zaun vs Piltover, is all ‘resolved’ by the lazy excuse of ‘we’ve got a more dangerous common enemy to face and we need to do it together’, which doesn’t actually solve any of the internal issues between the two nations in the long-term such as systematic oppression and police brutality, is used in a ‘save the world’ Marvel-type final battle is so frustrating. What I liked about Arcane was always how characters drove the plot, not the other way around, and the whole show was always centred on character development, parallels, foils, and arcs, that all seemed to be driven by the Zaun vs Piltover focus. The ending was still well done in terms of animation and tension. It was enjoyable to watch, but I really just have issues with how the story went. This isn’t even mentioning the huge pacing problem of the whole season, but in particular the last two episodes, that felt so rushed it was honestly distracting, or the problem with there being way too many plots all being crammed into one story. I really would have preferred for Arcane to just tell a story about Zaun and Piltover working through their differences and actually solving the societal issues in a meaningful way, reflecting how Vi and Jinx’s relationship heals too. I understand this is 100% personal opinion, and I don’t expect everyone to agree, but I honestly don’t think my wishes are outlandish whatsoever, and literally just fit the story they were telling in season 1 much better.
My other main problem is Jinx’s conclusion, which I genuinely think is such a terrible and unsatisfying way to end her story. The whole ‘walking away’ narrative is just feeding into Jinx’s harmful view of herself by portraying that, yes, she is a jinx who ruins the lives of everyone around her and the only way to make things right is by taking her out of the picture. This is an extremely harmful message to send out, as it implies that people who relate to Jinx because they may also be mentally unstable, or just struggling with self-worth, are actually the problem: Jinx was right about herself. While it may not have been the intention, it’s how it comes across to me. This is reinforced by how Vi and Cait seem fine, even happy, without Jinx. I think showing Vi being miserable in the very end, and fully committing to a sad ending rather than going somewhere unsatisfyingly and inconclusively between sad and happy, would have prevented this message from ever being sent, as it shows us how Jinx was wrong and that her life actually did have a positive impact on her family. The finale of season 1 was all about Jinx’s self-acceptance, even if it wasn’t presented entirely positively. I really thought they would conclude her character with true self-acceptance: Jinx coming to terms with who she is, not Powder OR Jinx, but just HER; accepting her past, not running from it, taking her experiences and bringing them forward with her. The ‘walk away’ narrative is a very literal manifestation of running from her past, and I just don’t think this is a healthy or satisfying end.
There is a great deal of strengths in season 2, but my issues with Jinx’s conclusion and the virtual abandonment of the Zaun-Piltover, Vi-Jinx story, are too glaring for me to fully enjoy it.
It doesn't help that the final scene between Caitlyn and Vi reads like Vi accepting herself as less than her partner by the line "I'm the dirt under your nails". I get that might not be what the writers intended for the line, but that's what most people read from it lmao. Their relationship is basically oppressor and oppressed so that line just puts salt in the wound.
@@michemicalromanceBro what 💀💀💀why you talk like this is tumblr. So many buzzwords
@@user-sw6th8od5v Is it buzzwords or did you just not get proper education to know what those words are? Lolz
@@user-sw6th8od5v that's such a weird response lmao they're not buzzwords, I'm assuming you just didn't get properly schooled
@@michemicalromance Completely agree with this. I understand it was not their intention but that is genuinely how that line comes across, unfortunately. I think all these little oversights are the consequences of rushing.
I agree with you completely on Heimerdinger and pretty much most things you said. But to me the Cait Vi Plot was basically perfect. The things you said are true but to me it seemed very much intended to show how conflicted Cait got with being a nice human being and feeling rage about her mother's death. Saying she won't change to Vi and then almost killing a little kid and the whole fascist plot really set the stage for her telling Maddie that she didn't intend for the war to go on that long (which was a very important character moment for her imo) and laying the ground for her switching sides again. It just really fit with the idea of a powerful person doing understandable things for the wrong reason.
And on another note, the dance scene with Ekko and Jinx was the best scene in the whole show. It really encapsulated the feeling of being in a club with strobe lights and everything around it. It was just amazing how they pulled that off.
I would say I wasn't opposed to what they were writing for Caitlyn but I think my problems stem from the pacing of it and how pivitol moments of her arc are lost within the music video sequences.
Though tbf, maybe with time I'll come around to how they went about doing it 🤷♂️
@michaelthecinebro good point, it also only got more logical to me after thinking about the whole story again after seeing it. In the series itself it is not directly apparent.
I think the problem is the amount of time they spent with her becoming this dictator only for her "redemption" to be very subtle and seem almost like a personal, individual thing, instead of her being acknowledged as an actual fascist, it's like the narrative doesn't fully go there with her villain arc and expect the viewers to gloss over it by the 3rd act, just because she helped Vi a few times and let Jinx go. I think this is one of the consequences of the narrative ignoring the class warfare between zaun and piltover, which made Caitlyn's redemption get harmed in the process. We see her warp her mother's legacy to use it as a chemical weapon, and Maddie also says to her she can call off the Noxian army from invading zaun, but she still refuses.
Narratively, her arc is done, but people are rightfully upset that a show that took so much time in season 1 to show how bad oppression and police brutality is, just glosses over it in season 2 and makes it a matter of "both sides need to be heard". It rubs off on viewers who actually live in oppression, and it feels tone deaf.
Honestly, she didn't need to get redeemed if the narrative actually portrayed what she did as bad. It could be a beautiful portrayal of how people who live in privilege can become fascists easily once they go through 10% what an oppressed person went through their whole lives.
13:20 What's even more heartbreaking, is that it's confirmed that Echo had a crush on Powder during their childhood, but gave up on that when she turned into Jinx.
Even though Season 2 was rushed I still think the show as a whole is probably in the top 5 of all time in general.
From the animation that is leagues above any other project ever, to the incredible voice acting, to the writing for characters being damm near flawless except for a few exceptions like Caitlyn.
I don't necessarily think the character that have rushed character arcs have a bad one but it does make for some weird moments where they just randomly change their entire plan in an instant, even though for Cait I don't think it ruins her character arc as a whole.
And finally to The absolutely goated OST's.
I'm not joking when I'm saying this show has the best music and OST's in Fictional history.
I don't think anything even comes close.
Every song was specifically made for its part in the story, and they're all absolute bangers as well.
Overall I'd say this show even though it's rushed is not flawed as a whole.
I think the speeding of the overall plot made some character arcs feel like they're not as impactful cause they just happen way too fast, like Caitlyn who changes her entire character multiple times in the span of 5 episodes.
Still with that said I think the overall journey and conclusion for the character arcs in this show are masterfully done and make perfect sense for each individual character.
As a whole on a scale of of 1 to 10 I'd give this show a 9.5
The first season of the show I think is just undisputed best season of a show we've ever seen.
Quite literally flawless you could sit down for hours and barely find anything to nit-pick about.
Season 2 has 1 flaw and that is the fact that it's rushed.
Act 3 could've been an entire season easily.
But even though it's rushed it's still absolutely masterful in every aspect of judgment.
So I'd say this show is the closest any show has came to perfection in my view.
For me this is an hall of famer in fiction.
Very easily in the top 10 of TV shows, animated and live action included, and I'll tell you, it's much closer to number 1 than it is to number 10.
It has some minor flaws due to extremely fast pacing, but As Jayce said: There is beauty in imperfections.
MASTERPIECE
Calling it now. None of the champions are dead. Jinx no doubt escaped the blast. there is just too much pointing to her survival. Heimerdinger is a yoordle and yoordles literally can’t die. It’s impossible for yoordles to die so he probably got transported back to bangle city where the yoordles originate.
Ambessa has a history of being granted new life from death in her lore.
Jayce and Viktor just disappeared into the rune. And Warwicks body can be revived by singed. We saw him do it once already so what’s stopping him from doing it again. Especially after he found a way to cure death as the end of the series.
I wish things were more fleshed out. I really wanted to see Mel's reaction to Jayce's disappearance after the war. An episode dedicated to the aftermath of the war would have helped with that a lot. Also needed more Vi and Isha interactions, or any input from Vi after Isha's death. And what about Loris? He was introduced and then got rid of, without any detail who he was. It's as if they had plans for him, but then later on changed their mind. These are some of my nitpicks with this seasons. I'm sure it's open to interpretation how many of those moments went behind the scenes, but they are also scenes that we needed to see with our own eyes that makes up better storytelling. I did absolutely love Season 2, still among the best shows despite that at least.
On the positive side, the co-created did address how Season 2 was a bit more rushed, and did say future shows will be more careful about that. I'm hopeful the next League of Legends show will be more akin to Season 1 of Arcane than Season 2.
They destroyed Mel's character in S2. I truly believe the writers in charge of her S1 story quit so they just sidelined her. Not only did they not resolve the relationship between her and Jayce, but acted like it never happened.
We desperately needed another act
I think the kiss with Cait works more from a narrative perspective if Cait is kind of being manipulative in that moment. Maybe not even knowingly, but I see it as a way to "convince" Vi to go along with this for real. I think she means it, but I also think its more interesting if Cait is also kind of caught up in the moment trying to do anything to have Vi go along with her.
Good point.
I loved your review. I was also excited to see Mel and Black Rose. I always liked her character in S1 but like you said Her becoming a mage and Black Rose just elevated the intrigue so much and I can’t wait to see her other stories
I was waiting for your video over S2 and it did not disappoint 🙌🙌
Thank you! 😁
The video I’ve all been waiting for
🤣🤣
Jinx actually survived if you payed attention to the clues she was living Zaun and Piltover and there was so many scenes between Jinx and Ekko that they skipped which this episode was gonna be and exctra 50 or 60 minutes
I actually loved this season and rated it a 9.5.
Your channel is a gem bro, so glad I found it
My biggest problem is Jayce and the way they treated hextech. Hextech should have been shown to be what Jayce imagined, and what it very well should have been, which was a tool to make peoples lives better. But all we were shown, both in all the alternate realities and the one we are in, it is that it is bad, and the only way to survive is without it. It makes Jayce’s death so stupid. Why did Victor save Jayce just for him to die. Just so Jayce could show him what life is like as a God? Jayce’s whole life, everything he ever worked for, everything he ever cared about was for nothing. Victor should have never saved him to begin with if it meant all he did was suffer and eventually die. His storyline was so horrible to me and pointless.
Wasn’t the entire purpose of Viktor saving Jayce that Jayce would then stop Viktor from destroying humanity? Jayce didn’t just “suffer and eventually die”. He built a beautiful friendship with Viktor and eventually saved humanity by staying true to that beautiful friendship.
@ If Viktor never saved Jayce, he wouldn’t have needed Jayce to stop him. Hextech would have never been made.
@ Yes, Viktor says that in every dimension/reality someone invents hextech eventually, and it goes wrong every time. It’s only in the one reality where Viktor and Jayce become partners that it doesn’t go wrong.
@ lol no he doesn’t. Where is it ever insinuated that someone else created hextech other than Jayce?
@@horses4555 Okay, I guess this may have been a theory I saw, but it is hinted that alternate universe Powder will probably invent hextech with all the shards in her drawer.
But in the final scene Viktor says to Jayce: "There is no price to perfection. Only an end to pursuit. In all timelines, in all possibilities... Only you can show me this."
If Viktor didn't give Jayce the rune, nobody would stop him in trying to perfect humanity, which clearly means getting rid of the part that makes humanity human. At least that's how I understand it, but fair enough if you see it another way.
3 more episodes and S2 would've been a 10/10
Honestly i rewatched the entire season 2 about like 3 5 times cause i was so bothered with certain parts of the series and there are MANY issues a majority of the characters were RUSHED and certain choices the characters made did not fit their chracters at all like changing the person that gave Jayce the stone from Ryze to Viktor MADE NO SENSE...im just speechless and cant think anything to say because of how disappointed i gave the second season, 2 and a half stars out of 5 stars since thats how i rate everything dont believe me watch:
Generation Offended
BoogardMG
I don’t remember the quote exactly, but as I was watching the video and you mentioned Viktor essentially causing what him and Jayce were trying to avoid, it reminded me of a quote Master Oogway said, if you try too hard to avoid something, you may just unintentionally cause that outcome.
The way the Jayce/Viktor storyline was written was weird. On the surface it looks like a beautiful bond, but on a 2nd or 3rd watch, Viktor is controlling everything and Jayce has no agency in act 3.
Isha did indeed sacrifice herself on purpose! After spending so much time under Jinx’s wing, I don’t doubt that she fully understood the explosive potential of those hex gems.
Isha probably grabbed those extra two gems to give them all to Jinx or so she could ensure that no one stole them from her group in general (since Vi literally left TWO GEMS just INSIDE her gloves OUTSIDE the cult settlement). Isha is a crafty street kid, and she very purposefully pocketed those gems for some type of advantage later. That advantage becomes something she takes into her own hands to save her “family” just like how powder tried to save Vander. Cause ya know, Arcane loves an emotionally painful parallel.
I’ll bet that Isha knew a lot more about the danger of those gems than Powder did though. She’s growing up in the era of hex tech AND her current guardian is an explosives expert. Isha is a smart kid and I genuinely love the entirety of her last scene just like I loved all of Isha’s character/presence in the story. That entire scene is her saying goodbye with such amazing visual storytelling. She doesn’t speak, and her song isn’t in a language the majority of viewers will understand, but it’s still a very emotional one. We can all feel what she meant to Jinx and what Jinx being her hero and sister meant to her. Something about seeing that goodbye all click together slowly as Isha dives in and protects Jinx like she once did for Isha feels big. Jinx is Isha’s hero, and I think that Isha fully believed Jinx’s survival was gonna make a big difference in the future of Zaun’s rebellion in addition to just wanting her to live.
I think the biggest issue for me in season 2 was just how many characters needed screen time. I think it is no surprise that we needed one more season to flesh out some character arcs. S1 felt like we had around 4 main characters jinx, vi, victor, jayce. With most of the side characters sharing screen time like silco with jinx or mel with jayce. When season 2 rolls around it throws that out the window with most of the cast being split up. Now you have Ambessa, Cait, jinx, ekko, jayce, vander/ww, singed, viktor, vi, mel. all fighting for screentime while they are on their own journeys and we only have 9 episodes to tell everything. Most of the character development moment are just montages/speedruns so we can keep the plot moving and it just kind of hurts the show. Still a good show but man was I a bit disappointed and saw where this was going after they dropped act 2. I will say the episode of ekko and powder was like a return to form in everything that I loved about season 1 arcane but I feel like Jayce could have gotten more time in his own destroyed civilization and his mental breakdown.
Ngl while I still enjoyed it, and think it had some great moments, the more I think about it, the more critical I've become.
I will say this though, I think the pacing is essentially what causes all the problems in the season, though. I think it really would have been better if they did multiple seasons, plus longer episodes. Also I just fundamentally disagree with a lot of the directions they took. Like Jinx. I don't feel her redemption was handled well enough or paced properly, and the last season set her up to be a be going down an even darker path. A redemption wouldn't be a problem, but it should come much further down the line. I would have liked to see essentially be the antagonist of the season as opposed to its anti-hero. I dunno, it just felt contradictory to the ending of last season.
Also I'll br, I just think the season would be better without Isha.
I agree with you that the pacing and lack of time is the main issue. I think Jinx's arc from a literary or idea standpoint is phenomenal but it's one of the victims of this show sticking to a two season limit. Ideally it would have been a three season arc of hero to villian in season 1, strait villian in season 2 and then redemption of the villian in season 3. Unfortunately they tried to cram the last two points into one season and we only get to see her be a villian in act 1. I think they could tell the arc and the whole narrative of the show in the exact same direction that they did over two seasons and it would have been close to season 1's quality the whole way through. Unfortunately by choosing to cram it all into one there's alot of issues that can't really be ignored. I still like it and am pleased we got it but I'm also very disappointed because it could have been vastly better with more time. Season 1s one of my favorite pieces of media and it's as close to a 10 as I can go, but this seasons like a 7-7.5 at best for me.
you voiced all of my thought perfectly (accept for Mel)
12:00 "This isn't enough time to warrant such drastic change."
That's called Love. Love causes drastic change, Love causes someone who left things on bad terms to try and fix things upon seeing their Lover's face again. Have you ever been in Love before?
I can see why people have disagreements with this, because saying "but love" can definitely be a cop out. But it seemed to me Caitlyn was already trying to figure out how to back out of her alliance with Ambessa by that point. She had time to re-evaluate her relationship with Vi and her current situation during e4-5. By the time she runs into Vi, she is ready to do something, but doesn't know how. The breaking point was Vi telling Caitlyn about trying to save Vander(the beast they were trying to track and kill). Her history with Vi and desire to take back her alliance with Ambessa could be seen as enough to initiate that drastic change.
The editing in this video is very engaging ngl
Arcane while silco was alive was a masterpiece after he died it became just good
I wonder why
A great villian can drastically alter any story
It's still a masterpiece
Ambessa was a good successor
He dips out, Arcane flips over. 🙃
@ Don,t agree but you Can have your own opinion
I shall pray for the creation of a series based around Ionia.
1. Jhin is what we want
2. Jhin is what we need
3. Jhin is the best villain
4. Jhin must be made
EVERYONES character was just, nobody really acted how they did in S1 and without a good justifiable reason either. Jinx was no where near as crazy and she was, Vi went from not caring about killing children "He knew want he signed up for" to "No, she's Only a Child!" in only a matter of days...wut. Sevika went from hating Jinx to immediately teaming up with her, especially for how loyal she was to Silco and how Jinx was the one who killed him. Cailins back n forth was ridiculous. But yeah, everyone in the show was just off. Except my boy Ekko, he was and truly remained the Boy Savior!
I agree with some points you make, but overall, I think most character's changes make sense. Jinx felt very numb after Silco's death, this was already clear in S1 finale, and at the other times she Isha keeping her in this ''high'' mode of hers, but the moment she's away you can see Jinx panic and go ''crazy'' again. About Vi, it was never that she didn't care about the kid dying in S1, she simply didn't think Jayce had the right to stop because of one kid while hundreds of other were dying because of Silco, the man that kid supported. Sevika hated Jinx, true, but in S2 it was never like that stopped, she was clearly still annoyed with. But they both supported Silco and sought out each others company in that. As for Caitlyn, yeah i agree, she was all over the place. I think it makes sense in theory, like her mom dyinig is one heck of a trauma, but the execution was off. And yes love to Ekko lol
To add to their comment, right after jinx kills silco, for the first time there’s no noise surrounding her. She made her final choices and accepted jinx and her mind finally calmed down. however without silco to guide jinx, she really has no purpose other than killing her sister, which she stated. As for Vi, I also think the main concern was it would’ve been Caitlyn killing her sister, not her. she understands Caitlyn is already in a sort of vulnerable state and doesn’t want her to do something she’ll regret even more. I also think a difference is Isha wasn’t fighting back, she didn’t even shoot the gun. Vi could see Isha only wanted to protect jinx while not killing anyone. And as for Sevika, though she did dislike jinx, she was loyal to Silco and knew Silco well. She knew Silco would probably want jinx to continue his work in her own way and Sevika’s role was to guide her . They also were able to bond over their grief which is rare for Zaunites it seems
I have to highly disagree.
Jinx and Vi acted differently because crap happened. Jinx had her catharsis, Vi had her world shattered.
Sevika didn’t change much. She’s just a woman doing what she thinks is best when she feels like it’s best.
Even supporting Silco in comparison to letting the underground become a dog fest was what someone could see as the best thing.
Disagree, that is character development. If you analyze the characters you would understand why they behave like that.
All good points, I would add the obvious plot armor that where minor in s1 got overcooked on this one for the the múltiple spinoffs they might have planned
Honestly, my only issue with season two is the stuff with caitlyn and the task force all that felt rushed and just did not go anywhere
I think it did ultimately go somewhere it just wasn't developed properly
The Montages are it's biggest heel as well as it's coolest segments.
14:13 Heimendirger didn't actually died. In LoL's lore, is stayed that yordles can't die. Maybe he respawned in Bardle City, the Yordle's homeland, or is lost through dimensions.
13:25 “developed romantic feelings” he had romantic feelings, but I believe he tried to suppress them when she changed and this interaction just reminded him of that. I also believe he already had feelings for her because in the games he says “I had a crush before you started talking to the gun.”
I disagree. I haven’t fully watched the video but here’s my opinion. The leaving out of certain scenes is perfect because it has us wanting more which is exactly what makes a great show. Plus if those scenes were actually in the show I think it would be different and kinda boring. Like if they had a before the fight scene with Mel cait jayce and vi. Instead they take us straight into the action which is what made the fight so fun to watch and engaging.
Act 3, and especially its latter two episodes, feel like they are telling a different story.
I think that making the final battle one over the literal survival of humanity in the universe - a temptation Season 1 resisted masterfully unlike most contemporary fiction - made Arcane's other, more interesting and complex conflicts such as those between Vi and Jinx and Piltover and Zaun feel insignificant.
The final message somehow ended up being that "there is beauty if imperfections", which came out of nowhere and felt generic and tone-deaf.
I'd still give S2 episodes 1 to 6 10/10, though.
i agree with you but i feel like they already lost the plot after act 1. act 2 started feeling like we're handling things that are completely out of field, the whole cosmic healing with vander felt just a little too silly when you compare it to season 1. i wish theyd focus more on the conflict between the cities like they had in s1 but just escalated to a point of war. noxus couldve been the perfect excuse to get the cities to unite like it did in the finale and lead to a relatively similar ending, but with more fleshing out of the conflict and the characters that reflect it.
I understand your point but I disagree that they resisted this theme in season 1. I think there’s lots of evidence that this was the direction of the plot, even if we didn’t know it yet. Viktor always strived for perfection on peace and to push the limits. Ambessa wanted a partner in piltover that could provide powerful weapons, and not just war. Jayce was honestly not a great leader and though he wanted peace would get swept up by his own achievements and emotions, leaving Viktor to his own. This was their intention from the start, even if it wasn’t the direction hoped
Disagree, the core message was never about social politics or two siters. It was always about the struggles of humanity and how it leads to the best and worst in some. How people commit mistakes but that doesn’t mean they aren’t capable of change. Ep 7 of the second season is the best for me because it brings all the themes together and presents them masterfully.
"There is beauty in imperfections"
While this video was well done, I just think most of this is your opinion and how you reacted to plot points whereas I liked some of the ways they did things and the story they told. You did open my eyes to a few points but I liked it more than I think you may have.
I agree with you on that 😅😊❤❤
Interesting how you enjoyed Acts 2 and 3. Because to so many people they consider it the most disappointing part of the story (With the exception of episode 7). Mainly because the class conflict of the story literally become irrelevant by episode 5 and the story devolves into a generic "Save the world story".
For starters episode 5 Warwick is used as a means to get Vi and Jinx to talk things out. In a way that felt forced and so he reduced to nothing more then a plot device. As for episode 6 Caitlyn and Vi make up too quickly. Meanwhile as for Viktors commentation of the cycle of violence means very little when what happened was "Jayce just shot him and didn't bother to explain anything". And even then his sentiment barely references "The political conflict" of the show.
Meanwhile as for Viktor, he was kind of forced into this role because "No" he didn't believe his leg put him down. It was a "Life killing disease" that was going to end his life that was bringing him down. And the whole reveal that "He" was the Wizard that saved Jayce is so out of nowhere.
On top of that both "He" and "Jayce" already gave up their quest for perfection.in season 1. Meanwhile Jayce was transported into another dimension in order to move the plot into a specific direction. Meanwhile Viktor's augmentation just gave him the chance to help heal the sick. So "Perfection" wasn't really his goal this season until Jayce makes a dumb choice in order to move the plot to where it needs to go. And to make things more conflicting the whole (Viktor was the wizard twist was dumb and this hyper light space warp they found themselves was just overwhelming and takes away all the grounded political story.
As for Jinx I think your forgetting that Ekko "did" speak with Jinx he told her that "Your past doesn't define you" And this is what led to her to move forward and accept herself.
And for your read of Vander as a manifestation of there demons .That is an interesting read of the conflict. Although it seems more less like holding to her "Demons" and more like holding on to the past. Because for a while "Vander" was the glue that allowed for the girls to come together in the end. And they wanted to heal however things couldn't heal. Not trying to berate your read of the texts here just what "I" think the scene was going for.
the problem to people finding this season bad is because they compare it to the first season and not to other second seasons of other shows. Its not BAD its still really good compared to most shows
It is a 9/10 to me too because it is perfect and mine are minor subjective problems really. My problem is Jinx is written weirdly too sympathetic. My complaint is Jayce and Mel separation. I felt these were because of the fans pressure not the writers. They were more free without the fans input in s1. Other than that just few more episodes and it is enough. Maybe they need to post the remaining in a novel or something and it is complete.
If you see a lot of attack on Mel and Black Rose and people complaining stems from them seeing Mel as a foil to their shop for Victor and Jayce. A lot of the games want Jayce and Victor to be in a romantic relationship and were upset Jayce was intimate with Mel. I can’t stand ship wars cause fans loose the plot of the story and will hate a character like Mel for just existing. I agree with you her shift from counsel to Black Rose was a delightful boost and excitement to her character.
I’m sorry but I gotta disagree with Mel, cut any of her screen time this season, it would be impossible to finish her ark this season 😭 barley saw girl
mel on season 2 was peak tbh, loved seeing her
Your critique on Vi and Caitlyn not showing each other their motives early on is not warranted given the fact that they did tell show each other their motives early on like Vi saying she can’t be an enforcer because they killed her parents and eventually getting passed it to support Caitlyn after the second attack as she is the moderate on the issue of retaliation that she can have influence on. Vi was about to finish of her sister but that kid got in the way and that caused the conflict between Caitlyn and Vi because Vi didn’t want to have casualties and be like the enforcers she hates. Caitlyn was conflicted about hating Jinx but loving Vi knowing they are blood related and wanted Vi to prove herself and when she got in the way of her revenge she validated Caitlyn’s hate.
The music videos that show up are not problematic given the choices they had of either having long exposition or having to dedicate precious minutes to something that would take a few seconds with a music video. Show don’t tell seems like a better choice.
Season 2 given its breath of story telling even with its pacing I would say was a 9.5/10 given the limitations it had to deal with.
There was easily enough material to make 2 seasons on par with season 1, rather than 1 season half as good as season 1.
We need more seasons 🙏🙏🙏
I find it funny that the season whose ending theme was “imperfections are beautiful” ends up being a striking example of a fantastic show the nevertheless has flaws-
Heimendinger was in a peaceful time for 3 years, if i remember correctly, maybe thats why he was a bit more light hearted. I think the overall problem is that season 2 feels like 2 seasons packed into 1 season
AINT NO WAY THATS STARLIGHT BY MUSE PLAYING AT THE END😦
The music videos got really annoying, really fast.
Agreed. At least they look cool I guess 😂
Good music or boring dialogue take your pick.
11:55 LMAOOO SAME BRO SAME
Heart wants what the heart wants 😂
I'm very sad that I didn't like season2 because I could't wait to see it.
I feel like they side lined the two protagonists (expecially Vi but also Jinx in the last episode) to tell a bigger story they did not really build up.
I mean... They took all season 1 and a good part of season 2 to buld up Piltover vs Zaun to give us Piltover and Zaun vs Noxus? The alliance between the two city did not feel earned to me.
I agree with almost everything you say in this video, exept the Mel part: to me the Black Rose plot was useless and just a way to build a spin off plot; I tought she was much more interesting in s1; in s2 shes,s just a generic badass who learns how to use her powers in an afternoon, everytime she apperead on screen I wanted to skip😢
I like to learn about all these different opinions on Arcane because it really show how, even if flawed, even if disappointing for someone, it really touched something in its audience and it's always something different depending on who's watching.
I like to watch
Isha and jinx didn't interact at all in act I because Isha was following her. It showed her following jinx. She's obsessed with her. Jinx finally builds a relationship with her after isha saves her.
The only issue i see people have with arcane is that... there wasnt enough arcane... Loved the show. Felt empty when it finished.
I loved Act 1 Cait cause we see how awful she’s become and I saw the kiss as fully manipulative
But then they brought Cait back as a “good” character and let all of her descent into evil happen during Paint the Town Blue. Personally- Cait was pretty far down the violence road I don’t think she should have come back and I especially think it should have taken wayyy longer if at all to get back with Vi
Plus- all of the Macbeth imagery in the intro…
She should have died.
I think you have very misunderstood certain dynamics between characters and above all that 90% of your opinion is subjective (like you don't like the clips at the start of episodes, your opinion but it's actually an excellent idea).
Heimerdinger isn't dead, he's a Yordle. There are a few options for what might have happened to him, but dead can't be one of them.
What's sad about Heimerdinger is that he was right about magic all along, and once that came to light, they just made him a goof ball instead of an empathetic "I told you so" character.
He could've been: "yeah i told you this would happen, but since i knew all along, i thought of a plan"
But they did this instead, which ended up working, but still a shame how they handled it.
Personally, I liked the first Act the most. Yes, Isha just spawns out of nowhere and I did not understand why Hermidinger is so "happy". At first, I was annoyed by the "music videos" but I've grown to like them after watching the season again. For Act 2, for me, the whole Warwick Arc felt really weird to me. Yes, it was emotional, but I don't like the decision of somewhat bringing Vander back. Caitlin was absolutely rushed. Act 3 started fantastic with EP7. In EP8 & 9 it became a bit more obvious that the black rose just wasted a lot of time. Otherwise, the Episodes were pretty good. And yes, we needed to see the Ekko Jinx talk. The final Fight was good, but I wished Ekkos Time Machine would have played an even more important role (maybe a sequenz where we go back like a few minutes to change something ).
Funnily enough I strongly disagree on the time machine part. I always hate when a show presents a power with a very distinct limitation, like in this case basically "if I go back more than 40 seconds we will die" and then those limitations are broken with no problem at all. At least they should have made him die if he disrespects the limits of the arcane like that.
@Spanching vadil point, however not using it makes Episode 7 a bit pointless. Using a whole episode to show him getting the Maschine and then not using it properly feels like a waste of time. (I know EP7 wasn't just him building the Maschine and it was more about him and Powder but back in the main timeline they don't even really show us what the result of that is)
@@CorniStgt True, I think what I would have liked is having a less drastic way of showing that using it to go back too long just messes with the surroundings and human beings, like the arcane taking over the surroundings that 'go back in time'. Maybe that was what they were going for but in ep7 it seemed like a hard limit to me. Nevertheless, still a really good plot, I am probably just nitpicking because that show does not want to get out of my head ^^
@@Spanching Yeah same, haha. Since watching it, my brain doesn't stop thinking about it. A less drastic way of showing it, would have prob been a good idea
In fairness the whole Isha thing kind of makes sense. She has no friends or family and in Zaun that’s horrible. Jinx was the one person to go out of her way to save her. So to a girl like Isha that means the world to her. Jinx became her world and she was willing to do anything to keep that. Even in the form of standing up to Vi to protect her. One act can change a kids life indefinitely.
At the end of arcane final…….Jinx is Alive!!!
5:20 HEY, PUT RESPECT ON ISHAS NAME
I will say lol wild rift fleshed out heimer and ekko's relationship with the event that happened in the game.
I mean season 2 was supposed to be 5 seasons but they changed it to fit one season
didn't like the first act of the second season as much as the others and thought that the third has drift from the original plot but i liked it
S2 is too plot driven, it feels unnatural. Characters' decisions were too obviously "so the plot can happen". S1 was character driven, where the plot felt more like a natural consequence of the characters' decisions. Plot and characters always work together but the charm of Arcane was in that the plot functioned to let the characters shine, S2 is unfortunately the other way around.
Also, and this is a pet peeve of mine but still: not every damn story needs multiverses and timetravel...
In the end I really didnt like what they did with all the corrupted arcane shit and how they turned it into some marvel world ending shit. Its such a shift away from season 1 and they had less than one season to set it up and finish it. It also took away from the zaun vs piltover which was just sidelined. I loved the Ekko and alternate jinx stuff but the alternate dimensions and timeline stuff was just trying to do too much and again made it feel like some marvel shit that makes everything fucky, seriously it creates so many issues and plot holes, and it was just too much to abruptly add in in a already rushed season. Also they try and label hextech as this inherently bad thing that needs to be shut down but ignore the fact that it was Victor adding his shimmer blood to it which fucked up the arcane core. Hextech its self isnt bad. Season 1 was a masterpiece which makes season 2 being so disappointing and far from a masterpiece so much worse.
5:58 I don't think you understand how kids work
Jinx is alive in the end
14:00 Haimerdenger or however its spelt cant die cuz he is 100% magic
Arcane is still a good show but I think they tried to do too much in season 2
Lots of things I agree on this and disagree. Some seem like you assume things and piece it with another assumption. Good video still tho.
You literally have only seen the surface of Arcane. Heimer is the perfect example, the reason he is so carefree is that he has given up. His thoughts we did not hear : 'I warned them, they didnt listen and even dared to ban me from MY city council. Oh well, that is the human nature that I have known for a Millenium, guess there is no changing it. I had a good life and will enjoy my lasts seconds here on earth.' While doing so he saw the brilliance of Ekko and Powder and the beautiful love between them. Who knows how much he knows about Jinx. but he saw something inspiring. Inspiring enough for him to dance one last dance to save the world. He didnt sacrifize himself, his journey just started and now he is willing to fight!
The goggles which you see everywhere are a hint that Heimer already traveled there, I think. Also Jinx is pregnant.
It's good that you started with "with a good story, Mel". I can turn off the video immediately...
S1: 9/10
S2: 6.8/10
😐
Avatar the last airbender still best.
is Mel even from the LOL roster?
No, not originally but now since ambessa is a champion she is
Same
They intended for this show to be more than 2 seasons. But Netflix didn’t let that happen. Forcing them to rush the story.
And some how Big Mouth gets 8 seasons 🤬😤
Arcane was always intended for 2 seasons, lol. Riot created and funded the whole show. They work with Netflix to publish the show. This means Netflix has zero control over the story.
I'm sure if Riot had infinite money and time, they'd expand scenes and have more episodes. But since they don't, in the end, Riot told the story they wanted to tell with the limitations they had.
ngl they killed isha off too early
They cloned Schaffrillas wth.
15:29 Sivika…?
They didnt have money. Or the time. Each episode takes months and costs 9 million to produce.
Jinx is perfect...
... not Caitlyn LOLLL
Yea I really don’t know what happened in act 1, but its ok, when put all together, it can be forgiven
I'd only apply the beauty to the imperfections if it meant that the characters don't get a happy ending, but if it means that some of the motivations and plot points don't make sense, no, that ain't beauty
I paid attention to the first music video, realized they would be important, and then appreciated the show-don't-tell reward with efficient use of run-time for dense story telling. I appreciated the uniqueness of it, but I could definitely see thinking it was too much.
Jinx saved Isha, but Jinx didn't recognize friendship because of past trauma. Then Isha tried to save Jinx. And that's the beginning of their 2-way interaction. It seemed reasonable to me.
Ambessa was an unconvincing speaker. I didn't buy her turning Kate or the whole council. Didn't understand her teaming up with the robots. Didn't understand the rules/tradition of the 2v1 duel at the end. Just the dumb, evil warlord that pulls punches when the story needs it. The other characters had to tell us Ambessa was convincing.
Cheering on Maddie's death is one of the worst part of the Arcane fandom. The betrayal plot doesn't work at all.
Four thousand people hating on one character is one the most distasteful fanservice I have ever seen, and literally it made me feel angry. It's like the voice actress receiving death threats for over a thousand messages. Can you blame other women like that? No.
By the way, I am not a fascist in real life. I'm just an innocent Arcane fan who loves every character for fun.