So happy to be back! 🎉 Tell me, what did you think of this episode? Are there any questions you have for me about these topics I discussed in the video? LET'S TALK! ❤️
What do you think triggered Jinx wanting to die and blow herself up with ekko? Was it because she was reminded the game they played as a kid? Was it because she loved ekko and brought out an ugly side of him? Was it because her sister left her again? Because she was looking at who she became ? I'm thinking probably all of those things to some extent were happening at once but definitely would love to hear what you think! That scene definitely left me in tears. I wish I didn't relate so much to Jinx growing up
@@pielova305 I think it was a lot of things. Her sister leaving with Caitlyn, not wanting to be looked at like the way Ekko was looking at her. Her need for approval and willing to do anything to not lose it, which i think was the main reason. She cant just lose, she cant be weak
What are your thoughts about the grenade Jinx pulled out? She had to have known that she would probably die, so it seems reasonable to conclude she was ready to die. If so, do you think she was ready to die as a cost of defeating Ekko, or because she's thought about suicide previously and wanted out in a sort of "moment of clarity", both, or something else?
one thing I'm surprised you didn't mention was how after Jinx saw Vi running back to Caitlyn you see Mylo growing larger and larger behind her, laughing as he mocks her with her fear of being left behind again.
Something I love about the silco meeting scene is how he doesn't struggle to breathe in the toxic air while the others do. Showing how he still works where it is worst and like he says the others have "spent too much time in the sun". It's just a wonderful way of showing and telling the difference between silco and them.
Also he nearly died in the toxic river when Vander tried to kill him. Overcoming that is probably also a reason, instead of trying to escape the undercity (like the chembarons) he embraced it and fights for it.
It's also nice that this scene makes clear why the enforcers are wearing respirators when in the undercity... and it's not just so that they can be faceless antagonists. Well, not _only_ for that reason, anyway.
Bit of a late reply but he does say something in particular that gives us a bunch of clues about this. “Do you remember the mines they had us in?” Both Silco and Vander used to work in the toxic gas mines when they were younger, (Vanders gauntlets were used to break down rocks/mine) so while they are not immune to the gas they have become more adapted to it so they aren’t as easily affected by it compared to some of the younger generations of people in the room who had little to no exposure to that. And while many in that room probably didn’t work in the mines it’s the runoff of those toxic gases that make the air quality terrible. It’s why in the undercity you see this green mist closer to the bottom you go. Again while this is the same gas, because it’s much less concentrated it’s still toxic but the effects are much less pronounced. Lastly he references how these people have had too much time in the sun, as many of them supposedly work or live in the higher parts of the undercity where the gas is even less prevalent. Think about where the assembly took place, at the very top room of a large building.
I also wonder if sevika was the one that gave him the idea for how to do that meeting. It's very similar to what jinx just did to her gassing her and then holding a gas mask to her face showing that she was in control. Or maybe silco taught jinx's that trick eaither way it's kind of interesting.
Couple of notes. 1. I don't think they physically threw people in the mines as punishment, but rather people were trapped economically and the topside just exploited the hell out of them 2. In the lead up to opening fire, we see Jinx's rage fixation on Caitlyn again. She appears in a mocking demonic Visage while Vi is completely scratched out. So I don't know if Jinx even realized she was firing at her sister. 3. This one is hard to see because it's quick, but when Jinx opens fire Cait trys to protectively wrap herself around Vi, and vi pushes her away out of the line of fire.
1. Piltover (topside) and Zaun (the undercity) used to be one city. Even after the gas leak incident, Zaun was still an important trade port. I guess until the topside was build and some people moved there to escape the toxic fumes. I don't remember exactly
The fight between Ekko and Jinx here is my favorite scene in the series. It's done so well as a way to provide us with what their relationship used to be like and how its changed in the present day.
When Silco was explaining to Jinx about why *he thought* Vi was back, I don't think he was lying. He was wrong, but I think, filtered through his experiences, (especially Vander's "betrayal") he was telling what he believed to be the truth. I honestly don't think that Silco can imagine any motivation other than an ulterior one given his worldview. Remember that he doesn't know Marcus kidnapped Vi. As far as Silco knows, Vi did abandon Powder, and there's no reason for her to be back other than to try to grab at a lever of power, which is certainly a motivation that he understands. Jinx is the only person he trusts - Everyone betrays *us*.
True but in previous episodes when Silco was so shocked to find out Vi was alive, he confronted Marcus about it. And in the last episode, Silco met Vi and Vi made it very clear to him why she's back. She literally tells him she's here to get Jinx back and try to undo what Silco mentally did to her. So for years, he did also think that Vi abandoned her and Marcus told (lied to) him that Vi was dead. Until Vi showed up and beat up Sevika. That must've confused him a lot. But yes, he does believe that what he says is true. I'm not saying you're completely wrong. (I hope I made my point clear. I'm not good at this. Am I making sense? 😅)
@@Shythalia Easy - people contrive these 4D chess benign and wholesome motives for what Silco does despite the overwhelming evidence at hand that he's just a pretty evil dude. He may love the girl, but he's not healthy for her and his interest in keeping Vi from her has everything to do with the threat a more healthy connection poses to his relationship with her and nothing to do with keeping her "safe" from Vi as though a reunion would harm her. He wants to kill Vi throughout for the same reason as he did when she was still mostly a child herself - spite, and a vague certainty she was a threat to his plans.
That scene when Jinx and Echo are looking into each other’s eyes like they’re both having this “we’re friends, how did we get here?” moment is so heartbreaking, and the fact that Jinx would rather kill them both than to feel that pain of fighting her childhood friend makes me wonder can she ever truly recover from the trauma she’s been through?
If she really wanted to kill Ekko, she could have held on to him, and the grenade. I think she saw Ekko look at her without fear or hatred; it was just her old friend - there was no artifice in her expression... she was just.. done.
@@Hohum37 I gotta disagree, yes she could’ve held onto him, but just because she didn’t doesn’t necessarily mean that she still didn’t plan to kill them both.
Ekko also had a crush on Jinx, one of his ingame lines is "I had a crush, until you started talking to the gun." That might have had a bit to do with the hesitation as well.
@@Hohum37 I agree that she just gave up in that moment and wanted to end it, but I think if she had wanted to kill Ekko she would have stuck the grenade to him not hold on to him. She sticks grenades to ppl/things all throughout the show
This is my favorite episode of the series, maybe because i play the game. Its canon that Ekko had a crush on Jinx as a kid. So he doesnt just see his friend, he sees his first love. Thats one reason why he hesitated, and why that scene hurts so much.
My favourite detail from this episode is that Silco now struggles with his eye injector, at the beginning he was confident enough to inject when he was working, now he can't even do it by himself because of how much he relies on Jinx. You can see how much he needs her in his reactions to potentially losing her to Vi.
Ooh, the possibility of Jayce feeling guilty for what he did to Heimerdinger because it's similar to what his mother did to him is such a great observation!
I am not following. He was in big shit for talking about magic and they were about to exile him from the city. His mom stepping up helped his situation and just got him expelled from the academy instead. Her intervention helped his situation so don’t see how the two scenes connect.
@@Caedus696 His mother also publicly said that she didn't believe in what he stood for and made him out to be a madman in front of the city elite. His life was going to be pretty shit from thereon if it weren't for Viktor and Mel supporting him and turning the scales back in his favour. He was accused of illegal research, dabbling with magic and also lost a chance at ever finishing his education. She basically made him unemployable by anyone respectable. Why do you think he almost committed suicide? Well, here we have him, years later, publicly denouncing Heimerdinger and calling him incompetent in front of the city's elite. There is some similarity there.
@@hawkins347 It would have been worse if he'd been banished from the city. His mother was working with the cards that had been dealt. Jayce's mother "betrayed" Jayce in order to save him from banishment. Jayce betrayed Heimerdinger in order to save Viktor's life. Both, broadly, are betraying someone to save someone, I suppose. On the other hand, Heimerdinger actually has let the undercity down pretty badly - it's (likely intentionally) ironic that the council scene starts with him trying to fix it, at last.
@@Hohum37 What I like about that scene is that as Heimerdinger breaks into a speech about vigilance and accountability his eyes are shut and open once Jayce starts speaking. Quite literally forcing him to open his eyes.
Did you notice what Jinx was humming, as she walked across the bridge? It's "Dear Friend Across The River", the same song she was singing in the intro to episode when, when she and Vi saw their mother's body. And now Powder is strolling across the bridge, executing the wounded, just like the monstrous visions of the Enforcers did in her memory.
Yup. That grenade has an interesting thread (imo). It comes from Jinx, who plays with them with the pin out, in her den, or uses them to kill. Then to Marcus, who imagines using it to martyr himself. Next, to Jayce, who dabbles with it but realises it could kill him - then to Viktor who considers letting it detonate, but disarms it instead. Finally, Jinx uses one to try and end herself. I think it's a commentary on the way each of them think, their state of mind, and motivations.
I really like the scenes between Caitlyn and Ekko in this episode, especially when they are debating what to do while Vi watches on. Both Cait and Ekko are shown as "idea" people, who have a sense of how the word should be and take steps to make that world real. Cait has also been shown using debate as a way to form her ideas (actually listening when she has incomplete information), or to being others to her side (Caitlyn was engaged debating with her parents about Jayce way back in ep 2). I wouldn't even say Cait "argues", because she is focused on the facts and arriving at a consensus. In the debate with Ekko, Ekko starts off addressing her on an emotional level, which Cait acknowledges but then answers with logic. In transactional analysis terms, Ekko started the interaction from the "child" ego state, and Cait answered as the "adult", which brought Ekko into discussing it as an adult, with logic and problem-solving. Cait is passionate about her points, but she's not trying to win or lose, she's trying to argue on merits and reach a practical decision, and by keeping things at that level she encourages Ekko to put emotion aside as well. I like the way that Vi literally stands aside and lets Cait and Ekko speak.Up to this point in the series, Vi has usually made terrible decisions which actually harmed her own goals, but Ekko and Cait have both shown the ability to make good decisions and steadily move towards their goals, so it feels to me like Vi is watching how grownups decide something. The way she stands aside makes it seem like she feels the conversation is above her rank.
That is a great analysis of the scene! It seems to me that Caitlyn's main flaw is naivety caused by the isolation imposed by her mother, but her main strength is the desire to understand and help. In a way, she's the "anti-jinx". They both want to be useful and prove themselves- Jinx out of desperation for approval; Caitlyn out of a sense of duty? "Begs the question young Kiramman. What are you shooting for?"
And from the animation point of view, it's so beautifully shown as Vi falls for Cait in that moment, hearing how she speaks to Ekko about healing the city.
One thing I noticed and another therapist react pointed it out. At the end of Ekko and Jinx's fight you can see in their eyes how they recognize: this is it. Kill me or I'm not going to stop. They are in a dangerous position where they never thought they would be. And with what Ekko said about Jinx being gone, he misses her, what they used to be. Ekko doesn't truly want to kill his best friend (and crush) from childhood and Jinx sees that too. She can see his pain and him to her pain in that moment. So she makes the final decision for them both. edit: The other therapist said it more eloquently and a bit darker. Jinx basically saw VI leave again and Ekko is attacking. She's made the decision to just end it now.
There's a theory about why is Jinx so angry with Ekko. Why she looks at him with such hatred and mocks him as a "boy savior". That is because Ekko saves everyone, but Jinx, his closest childhood friend and again she feels betrayed by it.
Sorry the theory is completely wrong, from the writers themselves. Notice how every episode starts off with a flashback with some exceptions ? 4 shows a flashback of the city. But 7 doesn't. They originally had scenes showing flashbacks of ekko trying to save Powder from silco, but failing. She calls him the boy savior because he tried to save her several times. He loved her.
The thing that always strikes me about Jinx is that she's still trapped in her trauma as a little girl. Even if Episode 3 never happened, Violet would have eventually fallen in love, found someone of her own. Powder wouldn't have always been her only focus, as both big sisters and little sisters eventually grow up and need other people. Jinx is fixated on Caitlyn 'replacing' her, when in fact what Violet feels for Cait and Powder are completely different emotions. The last few episodes show Violet is at least trying to move on, but Jinx is still stuck in one moment of time. She's never been allowed to mature and grow up.
Most Devastating Moment: When Jinx starts killing downed Enforcers after her butterfly-bomb-induced carnage, she hums 'Dear Friend Across the River', the song we heard her sing in the beginning of Episode 1, when she was just a kid.
The first few bars are actually 'Enemy' and then it transitions to 'Dear Friend Across the River', making it Enemy Across the River. Listen closely at the beginning of the scene and you'll hear it.
I think that was part of it, but I think it was what happens to her in the next episode (NO SPOILERS) is what went 90% of the way to finishing the change. It wasn't *just* her fighting Ekko, what comes later has at least as big an impact.
nah. failing to win and going back to being useless was too much for her. same as when silko asked her to "take a break", she doesn't handle that well either.
@@danii7584 agreed. she has to probably fight Ekko regularly. It happened 3 times in the show with Ekko having like 5 minutes of total screen time so fighting each other is like a daily routine for them :D
@@PhrenSo768 Perhaps but Ekko was always wearing the mask (which also made her seem more blurred and dreamlike and less real to him through the mask), I think this is the first time since the day of the Factory explosion that they've looked the other in the eyes
@@Demurelittledemon The creators said that we will see more flashbacks of them after the explosion times, so I doubt this was the first time Jinx met Ekko without a mask! She gave him the boy saviour nickname for a reason. Ekko probably tried to "save" Jinx from Silco a few times before he realized Jinx didn't need saving.
The last 10mins of that episode is probably one of the most intense emotional rollercoaster of an episode in any media I've seen. I still remember just being traumatized staring at the credits.
Did you notice how Jinx usually only ever sees and hears Milo? I figured it was because he was the most aggressive toward her. It isn't until her episodes get absolutely brutal and she really feels into her emotions that she also sees and hears Claggor more. I also found it strange that she never saw Vander or Vi. I understand that Vander was way more benevolent to her than the boys, so that may be why, but Vi really did a number on Jinx's mind just before she left her. So, I'm very confused...
There's a line I remember from the series GundamSEED Destiny: "That was the moment decided 'if only I had the power then I'd never have to watch anyone I care about suffer again', but the moment you have that power you seek, you become the one causing others to suffer." I can't help but think of that line as Jinx comes across the bridge and heartlessly kills the enforcer just like how an enforcers killed the person from the lower city in the show's intro. She became strong so she could protect those she cared for from suffering, but now she's the one causing others to suffer.
That murder was a sign of her getting very emotional. If you replay it and go back and rewatch the intro in episode 1 she is clearly singing the same song she was using to block out the trauma back then and she ends the song around the same time she saw an enforcer murder someone at the bridge. Yikes.
The trauma in this episode just hits hard. It feels very human and real despite being animated characters. Caitlin does not get enough credit in this series, someone needs to be the one to take in new information and learn. She may not be the most fascinating character in terms of how she will respond to situations, but the world needs people like her. Ekko, Vi, and Jinx are like the main triad for trauma which makes them so interesting to analyze. We shouldn't worship them though, but understand people all around us have varying levels of trauma and deal with it in different ways. Vi the convict, Jinx the terrorist, and Ekko the freedom fighter all trauma of varying degrees that could be categorized into a single category so people can toss them aside to feel better or safe.
Hi. I wanted to have your opinion on the last scene with Jinx's grenade. After several rewatch, I feel like Jinx don't want at all to kill Ekko. She is skilled enough to have a better use of a grenade. But it's more a suicide gesture. What I read in her look at him just before, is something like: "Thank you Ekko for reminding me one last time this feeling of being a young and innocent girl, but it can no longer match with what I become". What do you think ?
Without a doubt. Every other time we watch her fight with grenades as an adult she clips them on to her opponent somehow. Ekko had frozen right in front of her. If she wanted him dead it would have been easy to use her typical style. I have some more thoughts about the grenade scene, but they involve spoilers for the next episode, so I'll just leave it at that. There was no doubt that Jinx was trying to kill herself there. She even made dropping the grenade really obvious so Ekko could get away. Forget it. I'm adding a spoiler. ::SPOILER ALERT!:: The reason Jinx survived there long enough for help to arrive? You can hear Ekko kick the grenade away just before it exploded and he jumped off the bridge. Even while running, Ekko did that little bit to give Powder a chance to live.
@@slabat2912 I read that several times in comments and I payed attention to that in my next rewatches and indeed, I think it's true. That also explains why we see a close up of Ekko's weapon and not Ekko's body (he certainly jumped before the explosion). What is cool is Jinx saved Ekko with her butterflies and Ekko saved Jinx with his weapon :) I hope they'll be friend again in season 2 :)
@@Balderdash1000 I'm dubious the sound (if you mean the "ping" just before the boom) is the noise kicking it would make, also it's a very tiny time before the main explosion - I think it's just the start of the detonation. I do however agree that Ekko must have kicked, thrown, or batted the grenade further from Jinx than it was initially though - it was an inch from her hand otherwise.
The fact that in the Memory from the past it shows Powder shooting Ekko in the end, and seeing how it ended up with him wining... Makes me bealive that perphaps at the very last second Jinx held her shot, she hesitated into killing him aswell. By the way it would be so awesome if you could react to the movie Everything Everywhere all at Once ! is sooooooo good and there's a LOT to unpack from it
I was more under the impression that it meant that Jinx, when it comes down to it, hadn't changed at all over the years. Ekko had been forced to grow up, while she was still a little girl. So Ekko was able to predict exactly what she'd do, because she did the exact same thing she did when they used to play together. I've rewatched the scene a bunch of times and it doesn't appear that she missed/held her shot so much as Ekko was just able to predict/dodge it. It's the entire reason he baited her into the game in the first place. The show is pretty good at 'show don't tell', so I feel like they'd have made it more obvious if Jinx had pulled a shot.
@@kenjutsukata1o1 The thing is, for the entire slow motion jump when he finally reaches her, Jinx's gun is trained right on him. Literally, all she had to do was pull the trigger at any point. Now, I know that in "reality" Ekko's jump was fast as hell, but I'm still not sure it was faster than Jinx's ability to pull the trigger. I'm honestly torn about this one because if we look at it from the angle of Ekko's time power in the game, you can say he messed up the first time, and got it right after the rewind, and that's cool. Another, equally valid, way of reading it is, where that shot landed was as far as he could get. They played their old game, but when the time came to take the winning shot, Jinx hesitated. She let him get that last hit in because at that point she was too caught up in the past, and she was looking at Ekko as Powder. I can't really say that one read is more valid than the other there, and it's actually a point I've wondered about a lot. Did Ekko win by exceeding his past, or did he win because Powder couldn't kill him? I honestly can't tell.
@@Balderdash1000 someone in a different comment section pointed out that in the flash back Echo came strait at her with his jump while on the bridge he stepped slightly to one side before he jumped. Not much of a movement but enough that it could cause Jinx to pause to re-aim just long enough for Echo to reach her this time
@@kenjutsukata1o1 Not an automatic, but still a semi automatic. I've never seen anything in the series that looked like she had to recock between shots. They definitely would have showed it if she needed to in that fight. Instead we saw multiple shots getting fired without pause. I have no idea where you're getting the idea that "the gun wasn't ready yet".
One tidbit of a scene that you passed on, which I think was important in the moment, after Mel suggested they make weapons, Viktor is at the desk disarming Jinx's bomb, but then he pauses. I don't believe that pause was from uncertainty as to how to disarm it, but it was born from the conversation at hand. "There is always a choice." If Viktor had chose to not disarm the bomb then and there, both he and Jayce would have died and thus preventing the creation of Hextech weaponry.
@9:05 he said “you get a pass back topside….That’s it”. translation: “because a person I trust vouched for you, you are allowed to remove yourself without issue from this highly protected undisclosed/classified location to go back home(topside) where you belong…..tourist!”
Another good reaction. Those butterflies are from Jinx, you can see her working on them in episode 4 during the Get Jixed scene. Also, they are on the table in this episode when she stapling herself.
Also the firefly bombs only landing on weapons, so everyone who has one is getting killed, Caitlyn who traded her rifle for the medicin in ep.6 got away unharmed... mostly.
I don't scan Silco as lying to Jinx. Manipulating, certainly, but I think he very fundamentally believes what he is saying. His experience of Vander turning his back on him (and trying to murder him) matches far too well with Vi slapping Powder and walking off, and neither of them knew until recently that she didn't just go off and die somewhere, like Marcus told Silco. And, in practical terms, while Vi isn't there FOR the stone, Silco has been waging a part cold, part guerrilla war against Piltover for the better part of a decade at this point. So when Jinx, someone he clearly sees as a daughter, steals something important - and the next day, her long-lost sister shows up, back from the dead, alongside a high-profile enemy soldier, his first and only conclusion is going to be that she's there to get back what was stolen and using whatever remains of their familial bond to do it, in the service of his enemy. Because after all, when you're in a siege mentality, everything is the plot of your enemy, no matter how well you try to control yourself and remind yourself that bad luck and happenstance is as destructive and hostile as ever enemy action was. So the timing, the company, their straight beeline for him and his interests and, to be honest, the unprovoked assault on his people (Sevika did nothing but sit there and play cards and she got a knee to the face out of nowhere)... his only reasonable conclusions is that since we are a family and I am a power in opposition to them, they are here to interfere with plans and happenstance that for once are going in our favour. Silco probably views Vi a lot like we all view the drug-addicted, deadbeat relatives that somehow keep coming out of the woodwork when someone wins the lottery or in some other way strikes it big, only she's ALSO been suborned by an enemy power to use whatever that old familial bond might be worth. So, all in all, no, I don't think he is LYING. He is, however, WRONG, about Vi, specifically. But in a larger sense, he is correct. Vi is not there FOR the gemstone PERSONALLY, but she is there BECAUSE OF the gemstone... or rather, she's not there in her own right at all. She's where Caitlyn is. To Silco, and to any observer in the Undercity, if Vi is following along a Piltovan Enforcer rather than disappearing and becoming impossible to find, then either she has made a deal or they have some leverage on her to force her to play along, which means her motivations aren't accessible to observation. Caitlyn, however, is very simple to figure out. She is there for the gemstone, on behalf of her lords in the tower. Vi is attached to her. Hence, they ARE there for the gemstone. Silco has no access to reasonably trustworthy information that gives a different angle. In his place and with his history, anyone would make the assumption that this is a ploy, a ham-handed attempt at spycraft, an attempt to manipulate his daughter, which will hurt her and tear her down and worst of all, from his perspective, tear her back into the past. The past is a place of uncertainty and pain for Silco and, really, for Jinx too. It's entirely reasonable for him to view with horror the prospect of someone not only drawing her back to that, but also then (inevitably) betraying her when they have what they came for.
@@Ziaotic She is there for her sister, but that doesn't mean that she loves her more than he does (in his twisted brain). She is there for Powder only, after all. He is there for Jinx.
Had to pause ... it may have been pointed out already but I just want to make sure context is a little bit more accurate thant what you got from the Silco's power scene over the Chembarons. Originally Zaun & Piltover were just the mining colony, down into the fissures. Hard work managed to make the place grow, and a privileged class to emerge. They started crossing the river to build houses on the hill, founding what is now Piltover, leaving Zaun behind, in the fissues, in the old industrials areas, in the dirt. I'm not sure that part of the Lore is exactly what the writters used for Arcane, since it's said Heimer founded the city, making it sound like he founded Piltover directly where it is ... but it is very well possible he arrived during the time people were starting to cross the river. Also, said mines are not only responsible for air pollution, but also the "river toxines" Silco mentions in episode 3, the ones making it impossible for the kids to retrieve their loot in episode 1.
The buildings of "Zaun" are actually quite grand, of an Art Nouveau style, but they are derelict now - it was prosperous there for a while, at least. Piltover is, as you say, where the priveliged live now, in their gleaming Art Deco architecture. I don't think it's a coincidence that they are primarily French styles, and so is Fortiche. River toxins, giant fish, sea monsters. Doesn't seem like a good place to go swimming.
You should react to the video of Enemy (Imagine Dragons and JID) bc it adds a lot more depth to Jinx and Ekko's relationship, it was released before Arcane aired.
This show has so many little details and nuances, you could watch it three times and still notice new things. For instance I love the detail that whenever Powder/Jinx has bad or taunting thoughts, it is depicted as Milo’s voice. Which is logical because in her youth Milo was always the one pestering, bullying and criticizing her.
Wow! You were spitting fire today with your analysis. I’m intrigued by the idea of Jayce betraying Hiemerdinger being a reflection of his own trial. Interesting. As far as the backstory of the UnderCity mines, there are some interesting details sprinkled through on a rewatch. Vanders metal fighting gauntlets are implied to actually be a tool used by the miners to break apart rocks. There’s a little back and forth between him and Marcus in episode 2 about this. Kinda makes a cool parallel to the fighting styles that evolved out of peasants learning to utilize common farm tools with exceptional skill until they became a genuine power.
Vi is a very upfront with their emotion type person. She "wears her emotions on her sleeve" type person. She is first to run in for a hug but she is also first to run in with a fist.
Josh Greiner When Silco was explaining to Jinx about why he thought Vi was back, I don't think he was lying. He was wrong, but I think, filtered through his experiences, (especially Vander's "betrayal") he was telling what he believed to be the truth. I honestly don't think that Silco can imagine any motivation other than an ulterior one given his worldview. Remember that he doesn't know Marcus kidnapped Vi. As far as Silco knows, Vi did abandon Powder, and there's no reason for her to be back other than to try to grab at a lever of power, which is certainly a motivation that he understands. Jinx is the only person he trusts - Everyone betrays *us*. Arcane characters cannot see, hear, or know the scenes we viewers see. Silco says what he thinks, he's not lying. Just like the guy who wrote the comment above, he's just wrong.
To me if I had to rank the episodes I will put from favorite to still good but not as great 1. Episode 3 2. Episode 7 3. Episode 9 4. Episode 5 5. Episode 1 6. Episode 6 7. Episode 8 8. Episode 2 9. Episode 4
some times you have to worry about infection and proper sterility. other times you are stapling your leg using a stapler that lives on your desk while arguing with your hallucination because you are having an episode on an unsecured propeller in a place with no safety standards and where even the air is able to kill or maim you. it is what it is. : D
Another interesting point to be made, that I believe Schnee pointed out, is that the show is a lot about change, but Vi is not. All the time you hear about "I want to change things", "I've changed", "I'm trying to change" but Vi, even though she started it all with a desire for change, became much like Vander and wants to settle and go back to her family and how thing were, to just be happy together. While everyone was working, fighting and experiencing the world and changing because of it, Vi was stuck in a box and told to wait. She remained pretty much the same
I thought the voices calmed in that scene because she was trying to support the thought Vi was there for her. And she saw the enforcer as the getting between her and Vi. So I saw it less as her focusing on spite and rage on Cait, but instead seeing a path to Vi. Unfortunately I see a weird mix of desire to be accepted by Vi, and fear/doubt. I didn't think her target priority becoming Cait was anger or hatred, or at least not yet. She felt too relaxed to me once she settled on Cait as a target for me to feel anger coming from her. She kills to indiscriminately for me to think she kills out of hate or anger. That said, now that you point it out, I do like the idea that the relaxing could be because she has a goal or target, and it takes her focus off of herself. I didn't put her into the equation when I considered it before. I will still disagree on the anger towards Cait, at least at that point. Though going forward, yes definitely. One thing I'd like to point out, is that we've seen her talk and argue with her voices. But she always engages with them, except twice (so far) she's told the voices to "Shut up." Both times, she was looking directly at Vi, and the Mylo/Negative Voice was going against Vi. I think this has interesting implications on her relationship to Vi. Powder also had the signs of her issues (scratches on screen, etc) in ep 1-3 but they were far less frequent, such that her problems aren't immediately obvious. Vi disappears, voices grow astronomically in proportion. Vi reappears, Jinx tells the voices to shut up. I have my theory on this, though it involves future stuff so I'll refrain from going too far into it. But I thought I'd point it out, and hear what you think about that. And possibly draw your attention to that nuance going forward... *Cough*Hint*Cough*
It is confirmed that they cut out a scene showing a bit more of Powder and Ekko's backstory. Some of it they put in the "Enemy" Music video, that I highly reccomend, as it gives some additional scenes and context. My personal opinion is that Ekko tried to get through to Powder. One way or another he tried to 'save' her. But he failed. Maybe she simply told him to go away or maybe he physically couldn't get to her through Silcos forces - but my guess is that Powder knows that he tried and failed. maybe he gave up on her after a certain amount of time and she resents him for not trying harder. Her tone when she says "The Boy Saviour" is to me a clear indicator that she feels he _isn't_ a saviour, at least not for her. he failed her. He saved everyone else and left her behind. How much of that is true and how much is percieved is hard to say without knowing wat exactly transpired beetween them, but there is definitly more between them then we know. And it explains why Ekko is so insistent that she is gone.
Ahhhh so hype for you to finish. Glad to hear you're feeling better and up to upload again. 💖 Heartbreak city is a pretty apt way to describe it alright. For some extra context related to this episode, I'd recommend checking out the official Arcane music video for "Enemy". Ya know, just to twist that dagger in your heart a little more. 😅😂
The mirror scene has a ton of great visual metaphors. Whenever she is hearing the voices the camera switches to looking at her fractured reflection. They continue switching back and forth until she finally gives into the voices and says Caitlyn's name. At the moment it is subtle, but if you look at the mirror it is no longer a reflection (flipped image), showing that she is no longer in conflict with her self.
When I first watched this episode I found it curious that Vi pointed out that there were so many firelights, so I suspected there was something up with them.. only later did I realize through other people´s observation that these mechanical butterflies were already shown in Piltover on Progress Day and that Jinx obviously took some of them, because when Silco came to lecture her she was working on modifying them. Also the Ekko vs Jinx fight is still heartbreaking because I really liked them together.. the art style also implies that it´s shown from Ekko´s POV, which I find really cool :) Something new I learned from you: that obviously Jinx learned this threatening behavior from Silco.. I mean of course she has, but it never occurred to me how the chembaron meeting scene and Jinx stabbing Silco show how similar they act^^ But I have one question about them: Silco clearly fears that Jinx would leave him for her sister. But would she really choose to abandon him for Vi after all those years? Is there really just room for one person in her life?
Honestly, the way she grew up, I really do think there really is only room for one person. You have to realize that she's living in constant fear of being abandoned again, and she feels like she needs to put everything she has into making sure that the person that cares for her doesn't suddenly decide to leave her. That is her one overwhelming terror. She can not be drawn between two people because she'll end up not being good enough for either. She absolutely has to choose one. There were hints of this in her early life, but she hadn't gone full bore into it like after the time jump. You see how she clings to Vi as a child, but back then she still had some room for others too. I suspect a lot of it had to do with how she lost her parents at such a young age, lost everything really, from what I can tell, and had to start over again with Vander, with the only consistent that came with her being Vi. Vi leaving was her deepest fear, and when it happened it broke her, then Silco picked up the peaces to remake her in his image. There was literally one person in the world that he trusted, despite all his talk about loyalty, and that person was Jinx. Everything else could burn as long as she was ok.
If interested in the science behind the butterflies, I'm an engineer so this is all just speculation, but notice how Caitlin was unharmed ? I'm assuming the butterflies are magnetic and attracted to metals with strong magnetic properties. Caitlin had to take off any heavy armor to traverse the undercity with Vi, and just sold her gun to save Vi. So Caitlin survived because her love for Vi, or at least I want to believe that. The butterflies land on the metal guns and metal armor. It probably left Ekko alone since his materials I'm guessing are made out of cheap metal from the under city (probably something like copper) which has weak magnetic properties, as we could tell by the large dent the gunshot left
Also I don't think Jinx would just abandon Silco for vi (I'm avoiding ANY spoilers for this discussion, please do the same) unless her sister could prove to her that she could trust her not to abandon her again. Until then she really has no reason to leave Silco for her. It'd be too scary to at least, since human nature is resistant to change. If Vi wanted to be smart about it, she should just try to introduce herself back into Jinx's life, instead of trying to "save" her and change it completely. I wonder will the story will go from here :o ;)
Even if Jinx had room for more than one person in her life, Vi and Silco still are mortal enemies. They don't fit together, even if it was for Jinx's sake.
So the next thing you need to react to, before you even move onto episode 8 of Arcane is the music video for Enemy. It enhances the meaning of episode 7 as it goes more into the relationship between Powder/Jinx and Ekko. I will definitely have a lot more thoughts on this episode also once I have some free time to jot them down.
Not sure if you caught this cause it's skipped, but just before Viktor says "...there is always a choice." he seems to consider letting the bomb go off for a second, MAYBE hinting at meaning killing them both and thus taking the hextech knowledge with them to the tomb and avoiding the creation of weapons
You must be the ONLY person in the world who felt bad for Marcus watching this one. I was literally like the lady from that video "Am I supposed to feel sorry for this B? I don't!"
I noticed how, in the scene where Mel tries to convince Jayce to build weapons, she basically talks over Viktor. She spares a single glance for him and otherwise addresses everything she says to Jayce. I have to wonder if it's because she's already laid the groundwork for manipulation in Jayce, or because she just doesn't consider Viktor's perspective as valuable at all.
Jinx mocking Ekko for being the “Boy Savior” for probably constantly trying to save her from Silco. Ekko is who Jinx could have been if Silco never found her and they both know it. That’s why Ekko has mostly given up on her. He’s tried so many times and they had been so close.
Fun Fact, the tune she was humming was the one she sang as a little girl when the enforcers butchered her people and parents on that very bridge. A sort of twisted, poetic justice I suppose.
I don't know if you noticed (you may have edited it out or I might have missed it), but when Jinx is on the bridge and shooting the surviving enforcers, she hums the song she sang in the opening, when she was again on a bridge in a fight witnessing an enforcer shooting a downed trencher, but this time she is in the role of the executioner. which is funny, because the lyrics are essentially the singer asking their "friends across the river" for just a little generosity ("i'll take what you can spare, i ask of you a penny, my fortune it will be") so having Jinx sing the song powder sang asking for literally any piece of goodwill really rubs in that the current situation is due to past decisions that can no longer be retaken (as well as general trauma, but that's expected at this point). this show does a good job of having great cause and effect, as well as constant reminder of the past and how it influences the present. (also Jayce mentioned the undercity miners in episode four: they were the ones for whom the big gauntlets he showed Heimerdinger were for, but that can easily be missed. I just watched this show too may times at this point)
Hi, love you inputs about the mental states of the characters in the show. Just wanted to point out a little thing about one part of the fight on the bridge. At the start of the fight as Jinx opens fire on Vi and Caitlyn if you watch them, Caitlyn is trying to shield Vi and Vi is trying to push Caitlyn out of the way. Just as Echo shows up to save the day. So have a great day and STAY SAFE.
Caitlyn's capacity to seek détente with the undercity is in part due to her being mentored by Grayson, who also worked with Vander to keep the peace between the two sides of society.
There was a comment on one video that hit the nail on the head when it comes to the Ekko/Jinx fight. "Ekko was ready to kill Jinx - he wasn't prepared to hurt Powder."
Did you catch that the song jinx was singing on the bridge was the same song she was singing in the first scene of the show when she saw all the death and her mother died. Was an interesting tid bit they put in. Love the reactions.
absolutely loved this episode!!!! i think looking back, jinx and ekkos fight is prob one of my favorite moments of the season! as always, love your commentary and cant wait for the last two episodes !!!!!!
Thank you for having a reaction to Marcus. Most of my friends were just happy he died, which is fair but he's still a character in his own right and a father on top of that
One thing I disagree with is that Silco is intentionally lying to Jinx when he tells her Vi is only back for the stone. To me it came off as him genuinely believing that because he's projected his own betrayal onto Jinx's. For him, her betrayal simply *is* his betrayal and vice versa. So since he doesn't believe Vander would ever want to heal the rift between them, he can't believe Vi would want to do the same with Jinx
A little moment that I feel doesn’t get enough attention is Viktors moment of hesitation before cutting the wire. While it could be argued that he’s panicking a bit (which is understandable) but I interpret it in a similar way to how Markus envisions it, he has the choice to end everything there, kill the two people who know how to weaponize hextech, and the person wanting to make weapons. “There’s always a choice”. I may be looking way to close at this, but it’s just what my brain says
Well, if you have to take a break from Arcane, that was probably the best point in the series. Nice to have you back. And yes, 'heartbreaking' is probably the best single-word description of the series. I don't think Mel is wrong to recommend preparations. No-one should need to leave themselves vulnerable just to avoid a reaction from another person But in isolation, without reasonable and visible effort to resolve the council's awful governance, it looks selfish. So I do agree with you, that Jayce building hextech weaponry, now, without doing anything else, would risk escalating the violence.
A tiny detail I don't know if you noticed... when Jinx is walking on the bridge after her firelight bombs, before she shoots the enforcer, she is humming a tune. It's the same song she was singing in the opening of the first episode, when she and Vi find their dead parents and Vander drops his gauntlets to take them in. The cycle of violence, if you will, is show by the bridge parallels.
Im a year late on this but every time Jinx's baby face gets pointed out i get excited because the animators intentionally added an extra rig to her face just for that! For morphing it to looking more akin to her child face model for those pivotal moments when Powder reaches through Jinx.
I have watched the show a handful of times now! Saying I love it is a understatement, but since I been watching your reaction I have noticed things that I did not notice before. Your awesome so thank you!
My point of view about fight Ekko vs Jinx/Powder : Ekko is ready for kill Jinx but not Powder, ( voiceline game: i had a crush… until you started talking to the gun) he knows that Jinx is extremely dangerous and unpredictable so he decides to "play" with Powder thus having more chances of neutralizing it. When Ekko is in mid-air she doesn’t shoot it but she lets herself be hit, in this instant Ekko manages to see Powder again, and that's okay for her, dropping the bomb (not throwing it) by now she is tired of everything that happens to her and is only waiting for death.
In lore, Ekko's "super" power is brief time manipulation. But since he haven't unlocked it, the script insteads goes back in time via his memories of them play fighting as kids. Also in lore, but not shown in the show, but little Ekko has a crush on Powder. This makes their fight hit deeper in the feels.
It's quite a long show, so i don't know if you'd have the time, but i think I echo many ppl by saying that watching you react to "Avatar: the last Airbender" would be incredible. It is more lighthearted and all ages appropriate than arcane, but still a great exploration of themes such as grief, loss of childhood during war, parental issues, sibling rivalries, self-destructive obsessions, and many other things. It is also just an overall beautiful show, that is considered by many to the be the best animated show of all time, and has incredibly charismatic and captivating characters that you can't help but fall in love with. Great action too! And UA-cam channels who do avatar reactions usually get a HUGE surge in views because the fan base is so large and devoted *wink wink*. Again, it'd be a bigger commitment, since there's about 60 episodes or so, though they are shorter, each lasting about 20 minutes. So in reality it'd be like watching about 20 episodes of a regular show. I've never met someone who watched A:TLA and didn't feel deeply moved, invested and changed by the show. It would be amazing if you'd consider it and could spare the time 🙏 Love the channel by the way! Hugs from Brazil
The thing that gets me in the Ekko/Jinx fight is that, in order for Ekko to have a chance, he had to tap into his memories of playing with Powder, and he had to convince Jinx to "play a game" with him like they did when they were kids. It gave him an edge during the fight because he had grown and developed in ways she wasn't aware of, but it left him vulnerable because it opened him up to seeing what was left of Powder inside of Jinx. He loses either way.
I'd really like to know your take on Jinx using the grenade at the end of the episode. She's demonstrated in previous scenes that she's competent with them, and it only looks like carelessness to the outside observer, so she knows exactly what she's doing when she pulls the pin. Was it a, "If I can't win then no one can" kind of thing, or is she so wrapped up in proving herself that she'd let a bomb go off next to her rather than fail?
ya, watching it now between ep 7 and 8 is probably the best time. Its in the same style as the show and basically is sort of shows times with the younger group before the events of the show happen. ( but after the first scene of the bridge battle in ep 1)
It's a welcome pleasure to listen to your professional mental breakdown of this masterpiece of a show and this episode is my favorite because of the last scene between these once childhood friends fight to the death. This scene reminds me of two little lion cubs playing with each other playing fight which teach them the art of fighting and taking that now playful fighting and now they're older is used to take down the other such a powerful scene because as a viewer you're invested in both wellbeing. I just don't like that we never actually seen both of these characters Ekko and Powder playing together while they're young which would have given more wait, but we understood they were friends through the interaction and what was said among all the characters that they are close to, but you can see them actually playing with each other in the Imagine Dragon music video as if it was cut out of the original show.
on the topic of conversations with one's self; I will talk with myself. My ex dubbed it 'The Council' It's never "I need to do this task" it's "we need to get this done." I believe Jinx has a mix of bipolar schizophrenia, PTSD, and on the autism spectrum. I relate to her uncomfortably well
When jinx started firing on the bridge Caitlyn’s reaction was to shield Vi, while Vi’s was to push Cait away. Idk whats the take on that but it’s interesting. 🥰
5:00 I think it's also a factor for Jinx that Silco really has been a father to her these last however many years. He clearly favors her and gives her chances and forgiveness that he gives no one else. basically her morality is fucked up but he's also not a bad guy to her.
For the Silco/Jinx scene where you said he is manipulating her. In my opinion he just tells what he believes is the truth. Remember when they become father and daughter, silco was probably intending to kill her until she says that her sister betrayed her. Silco trusts/loves jinx because he thinks they have the same trauma and they help each other to overcome it. That's why he always shows her the solutions that worked for him, like when he baptized her in the toxic river to let the river kills your weak side. So from his perspective I think he believes what he said to jinx.
That hardcore burying yourself in work to vent the frustration. I feel ya, Jayce. I wouldn't call it healthy, but physically, you did get pretty ripped, dude. (Oh, and "more in common with cave lice"... She literally runs off shimmer. Powers that arm she lost saving his backside. That's what she's done for Silco. What's Jinx ever done for him? Psychological needling.)
Just before Viktor is saying "There is always a choice", when he hesitates before defusing the grenade - I don't think he wasn't certain which wire to cut. I believe he was considering the option to just let it explode, killing him and Jayce, so that the knowledge of how to weaponise hextech would be lost. I do believe this was a difficult moral dilemma for him, as he suspected Jayce would wouldn't really listen to his opinion in the end.
Was curious to me that your go-to when Ekko can't finish Jinx off is that they're "fighting the same pain" I think you put it? Everyone usually takes that as the moment Ekko sees that she is in fact still Powder and that's why he can't kill her. Also the music video for the intro song to this series has it's own unique animations, and shows more of the dynamics of Ekko and Jinx's friendship (Ekko had a crush on her too, according to voice lines from the game the show is based on.), for extra context.
Yeah, thank you! When I said “fighting the same pain”, I meant it like “yes, you two came from the same place and know each other from when you’re children”. They’re both fighting out of fear to protect their younger selves.
So happy to be back! 🎉 Tell me, what did you think of this episode? Are there any questions you have for me about these topics I discussed in the video? LET'S TALK! ❤️
did you notice the way Silcos twitched when Finn referred to Jinx in a negative way?
What do you think triggered Jinx wanting to die and blow herself up with ekko? Was it because she was reminded the game they played as a kid? Was it because she loved ekko and brought out an ugly side of him? Was it because her sister left her again? Because she was looking at who she became ? I'm thinking probably all of those things to some extent were happening at once but definitely would love to hear what you think! That scene definitely left me in tears. I wish I didn't relate so much to Jinx growing up
@@pielova305 I think it was a lot of things. Her sister leaving with Caitlyn, not wanting to be looked at like the way Ekko was looking at her. Her need for approval and willing to do anything to not lose it, which i think was the main reason. She cant just lose, she cant be weak
What are your thoughts about the grenade Jinx pulled out? She had to have known that she would probably die, so it seems reasonable to conclude she was ready to die. If so, do you think she was ready to die as a cost of defeating Ekko, or because she's thought about suicide previously and wanted out in a sort of "moment of clarity", both, or something else?
one thing I'm surprised you didn't mention was how after Jinx saw Vi running back to Caitlyn you see Mylo growing larger and larger behind her, laughing as he mocks her with her fear of being left behind again.
Something I love about the silco meeting scene is how he doesn't struggle to breathe in the toxic air while the others do. Showing how he still works where it is worst and like he says the others have "spent too much time in the sun". It's just a wonderful way of showing and telling the difference between silco and them.
I only noticed after several re-watches that all the plants in that room died from the gas exposure.
Also he nearly died in the toxic river when Vander tried to kill him. Overcoming that is probably also a reason, instead of trying to escape the undercity (like the chembarons) he embraced it and fights for it.
It's also nice that this scene makes clear why the enforcers are wearing respirators when in the undercity... and it's not just so that they can be faceless antagonists.
Well, not _only_ for that reason, anyway.
Bit of a late reply but he does say something in particular that gives us a bunch of clues about this. “Do you remember the mines they had us in?” Both Silco and Vander used to work in the toxic gas mines when they were younger, (Vanders gauntlets were used to break down rocks/mine) so while they are not immune to the gas they have become more adapted to it so they aren’t as easily affected by it compared to some of the younger generations of people in the room who had little to no exposure to that. And while many in that room probably didn’t work in the mines it’s the runoff of those toxic gases that make the air quality terrible. It’s why in the undercity you see this green mist closer to the bottom you go. Again while this is the same gas, because it’s much less concentrated it’s still toxic but the effects are much less pronounced. Lastly he references how these people have had too much time in the sun, as many of them supposedly work or live in the higher parts of the undercity where the gas is even less prevalent. Think about where the assembly took place, at the very top room of a large building.
I also wonder if sevika was the one that gave him the idea for how to do that meeting. It's very similar to what jinx just did to her gassing her and then holding a gas mask to her face showing that she was in control. Or maybe silco taught jinx's that trick eaither way it's kind of interesting.
Couple of notes.
1. I don't think they physically threw people in the mines as punishment, but rather people were trapped economically and the topside just exploited the hell out of them
2. In the lead up to opening fire, we see Jinx's rage fixation on Caitlyn again. She appears in a mocking demonic Visage while Vi is completely scratched out. So I don't know if Jinx even realized she was firing at her sister.
3. This one is hard to see because it's quick, but when Jinx opens fire Cait trys to protectively wrap herself around Vi, and vi pushes her away out of the line of fire.
Also Vi just witnessd powder/jinx murdering a bunch of poeple and fired on them. Id be speechless too.
1. Piltover (topside) and Zaun (the undercity) used to be one city. Even after the gas leak incident, Zaun was still an important trade port. I guess until the topside was build and some people moved there to escape the toxic fumes. I don't remember exactly
The fight between Ekko and Jinx here is my favorite scene in the series. It's done so well as a way to provide us with what their relationship used to be like and how its changed in the present day.
Mines too
When Silco was explaining to Jinx about why *he thought* Vi was back, I don't think he was lying. He was wrong, but I think, filtered through his experiences, (especially Vander's "betrayal") he was telling what he believed to be the truth. I honestly don't think that Silco can imagine any motivation other than an ulterior one given his worldview. Remember that he doesn't know Marcus kidnapped Vi. As far as Silco knows, Vi did abandon Powder, and there's no reason for her to be back other than to try to grab at a lever of power, which is certainly a motivation that he understands. Jinx is the only person he trusts - Everyone betrays *us*.
100%
True but in previous episodes when Silco was so shocked to find out Vi was alive, he confronted Marcus about it. And in the last episode, Silco met Vi and Vi made it very clear to him why she's back. She literally tells him she's here to get Jinx back and try to undo what Silco mentally did to her.
So for years, he did also think that Vi abandoned her and Marcus told (lied to) him that Vi was dead. Until Vi showed up and beat up Sevika. That must've confused him a lot.
But yes, he does believe that what he says is true. I'm not saying you're completely wrong.
(I hope I made my point clear. I'm not good at this. Am I making sense? 😅)
The beatification and whitewashing of Silco's motives is 100% the worst thing about this show's fandom.
@@danh8804 Wait, whitewashing? Can you elaborate on that? I'm a bit confused.
@@Shythalia Easy - people contrive these 4D chess benign and wholesome motives for what Silco does despite the overwhelming evidence at hand that he's just a pretty evil dude. He may love the girl, but he's not healthy for her and his interest in keeping Vi from her has everything to do with the threat a more healthy connection poses to his relationship with her and nothing to do with keeping her "safe" from Vi as though a reunion would harm her.
He wants to kill Vi throughout for the same reason as he did when she was still mostly a child herself - spite, and a vague certainty she was a threat to his plans.
That scene when Jinx and Echo are looking into each other’s eyes like they’re both having this “we’re friends, how did we get here?” moment is so heartbreaking, and the fact that Jinx would rather kill them both than to feel that pain of fighting her childhood friend makes me wonder can she ever truly recover from the trauma she’s been through?
If she really wanted to kill Ekko, she could have held on to him, and the grenade.
I think she saw Ekko look at her without fear or hatred; it was just her old friend - there was no artifice in her expression... she was just.. done.
she's too far gone
@@Hohum37 I gotta disagree, yes she could’ve held onto him, but just because she didn’t doesn’t necessarily mean that she still didn’t plan to kill them both.
Ekko also had a crush on Jinx, one of his ingame lines is "I had a crush, until you started talking to the gun."
That might have had a bit to do with the hesitation as well.
@@Hohum37 I agree that she just gave up in that moment and wanted to end it, but I think if she had wanted to kill Ekko she would have stuck the grenade to him not hold on to him. She sticks grenades to ppl/things all throughout the show
This is my favorite episode of the series, maybe because i play the game.
Its canon that Ekko had a crush on Jinx as a kid. So he doesnt just see his friend, he sees his first love.
Thats one reason why he hesitated, and why that scene hurts so much.
My favourite detail from this episode is that Silco now struggles with his eye injector, at the beginning he was confident enough to inject when he was working, now he can't even do it by himself because of how much he relies on Jinx. You can see how much he needs her in his reactions to potentially losing her to Vi.
Ooh, the possibility of Jayce feeling guilty for what he did to Heimerdinger because it's similar to what his mother did to him is such a great observation!
I am not following. He was in big shit for talking about magic and they were about to exile him from the city. His mom stepping up helped his situation and just got him expelled from the academy instead. Her intervention helped his situation so don’t see how the two scenes connect.
@@Caedus696 His mother also publicly said that she didn't believe in what he stood for and made him out to be a madman in front of the city elite. His life was going to be pretty shit from thereon if it weren't for Viktor and Mel supporting him and turning the scales back in his favour. He was accused of illegal research, dabbling with magic and also lost a chance at ever finishing his education. She basically made him unemployable by anyone respectable. Why do you think he almost committed suicide?
Well, here we have him, years later, publicly denouncing Heimerdinger and calling him incompetent in front of the city's elite. There is some similarity there.
@@hawkins347 It would have been worse if he'd been banished from the city. His mother was working with the cards that had been dealt.
Jayce's mother "betrayed" Jayce in order to save him from banishment.
Jayce betrayed Heimerdinger in order to save Viktor's life.
Both, broadly, are betraying someone to save someone, I suppose.
On the other hand, Heimerdinger actually has let the undercity down pretty badly - it's (likely intentionally) ironic that the council scene starts with him trying to fix it, at last.
@@Hohum37 What I like about that scene is that as Heimerdinger breaks into a speech about vigilance and accountability his eyes are shut and open once Jayce starts speaking. Quite literally forcing him to open his eyes.
Did you notice what Jinx was humming, as she walked across the bridge? It's "Dear Friend Across The River", the same song she was singing in the intro to episode when, when she and Vi saw their mother's body.
And now Powder is strolling across the bridge, executing the wounded, just like the monstrous visions of the Enforcers did in her memory.
I didn’t notice that! Thanks for mentioning it. So full circle.
One thing that always got me in the "There's always a choice" scene was you could see Viktor was considering letting that bomb go off.
Yup. That grenade has an interesting thread (imo). It comes from Jinx, who plays with them with the pin out, in her den, or uses them to kill. Then to Marcus, who imagines using it to martyr himself. Next, to Jayce, who dabbles with it but realises it could kill him - then to Viktor who considers letting it detonate, but disarms it instead. Finally, Jinx uses one to try and end herself.
I think it's a commentary on the way each of them think, their state of mind, and motivations.
I really like the scenes between Caitlyn and Ekko in this episode, especially when they are debating what to do while Vi watches on. Both Cait and Ekko are shown as "idea" people, who have a sense of how the word should be and take steps to make that world real. Cait has also been shown using debate as a way to form her ideas (actually listening when she has incomplete information), or to being others to her side (Caitlyn was engaged debating with her parents about Jayce way back in ep 2). I wouldn't even say Cait "argues", because she is focused on the facts and arriving at a consensus.
In the debate with Ekko, Ekko starts off addressing her on an emotional level, which Cait acknowledges but then answers with logic. In transactional analysis terms, Ekko started the interaction from the "child" ego state, and Cait answered as the "adult", which brought Ekko into discussing it as an adult, with logic and problem-solving. Cait is passionate about her points, but she's not trying to win or lose, she's trying to argue on merits and reach a practical decision, and by keeping things at that level she encourages Ekko to put emotion aside as well.
I like the way that Vi literally stands aside and lets Cait and Ekko speak.Up to this point in the series, Vi has usually made terrible decisions which actually harmed her own goals, but Ekko and Cait have both shown the ability to make good decisions and steadily move towards their goals, so it feels to me like Vi is watching how grownups decide something. The way she stands aside makes it seem like she feels the conversation is above her rank.
This is excellent!
That is a great analysis of the scene!
It seems to me that Caitlyn's main flaw is naivety caused by the isolation imposed by her mother, but her main strength is the desire to understand and help.
In a way, she's the "anti-jinx". They both want to be useful and prove themselves- Jinx out of desperation for approval; Caitlyn out of a sense of duty? "Begs the question young Kiramman. What are you shooting for?"
And from the animation point of view, it's so beautifully shown as Vi falls for Cait in that moment, hearing how she speaks to Ekko about healing the city.
One thing I noticed and another therapist react pointed it out. At the end of Ekko and Jinx's fight you can see in their eyes how they recognize: this is it. Kill me or I'm not going to stop. They are in a dangerous position where they never thought they would be. And with what Ekko said about Jinx being gone, he misses her, what they used to be. Ekko doesn't truly want to kill his best friend (and crush) from childhood and Jinx sees that too. She can see his pain and him to her pain in that moment. So she makes the final decision for them both.
edit: The other therapist said it more eloquently and a bit darker. Jinx basically saw VI leave again and Ekko is attacking. She's made the decision to just end it now.
There's a theory about why is Jinx so angry with Ekko. Why she looks at him with such hatred and mocks him as a "boy savior". That is because Ekko saves everyone, but Jinx, his closest childhood friend and again she feels betrayed by it.
Maybe she makes her feel guilty, that Ekko represents a different path she could have taken. To assuage her guilt she mocks him for his purity.
Sorry the theory is completely wrong, from the writers themselves. Notice how every episode starts off with a flashback with some exceptions ? 4 shows a flashback of the city. But 7 doesn't. They originally had scenes showing flashbacks of ekko trying to save Powder from silco, but failing. She calls him the boy savior because he tried to save her several times.
He loved her.
You should watch a video on ekko from Schnee. His channel has great content
@@pielova305 Oh, that's cool!
@@pielova305 Schnee is amazing.
The thing that always strikes me about Jinx is that she's still trapped in her trauma as a little girl. Even if Episode 3 never happened, Violet would have eventually fallen in love, found someone of her own. Powder wouldn't have always been her only focus, as both big sisters and little sisters eventually grow up and need other people. Jinx is fixated on Caitlyn 'replacing' her, when in fact what Violet feels for Cait and Powder are completely different emotions. The last few episodes show Violet is at least trying to move on, but Jinx is still stuck in one moment of time. She's never been allowed to mature and grow up.
This is very important and worth remembering for the future episodes.
Most Devastating Moment: When Jinx starts killing downed Enforcers after her butterfly-bomb-induced carnage, she hums 'Dear Friend Across the River', the song we heard her sing in the beginning of Episode 1, when she was just a kid.
The first few bars are actually 'Enemy' and then it transitions to 'Dear Friend Across the River', making it Enemy Across the River. Listen closely at the beginning of the scene and you'll hear it.
@@Dilligff Wow - amazing connection to make. Well spotted.
Jinx fighting her childhood friend was clearly the breaking point for her. After that, she was DONE.
I think that was part of it, but I think it was what happens to her in the next episode (NO SPOILERS) is what went 90% of the way to finishing the change. It wasn't *just* her fighting Ekko, what comes later has at least as big an impact.
nah. failing to win and going back to being useless was too much for her. same as when silko asked her to "take a break", she doesn't handle that well either.
@@danii7584 agreed. she has to probably fight Ekko regularly. It happened 3 times in the show with Ekko having like 5 minutes of total screen time so fighting each other is like a daily routine for them :D
@@PhrenSo768 Perhaps but Ekko was always wearing the mask (which also made her seem more blurred and dreamlike and less real to him through the mask), I think this is the first time since the day of the Factory explosion that they've looked the other in the eyes
@@Demurelittledemon The creators said that we will see more flashbacks of them after the explosion times, so I doubt this was the first time Jinx met Ekko without a mask! She gave him the boy saviour nickname for a reason. Ekko probably tried to "save" Jinx from Silco a few times before he realized Jinx didn't need saving.
As a neat bit of trivia: the Ekko fight also hints at his league powers of time blinking without needing to give him the same powers.
The last 10mins of that episode is probably one of the most intense emotional rollercoaster of an episode in any media I've seen. I still remember just being traumatized staring at the credits.
I was shocked. I did just stare at the screen wondering what to do next haha
Arcane is great at making the viewers feel shocked and traumatized. :)
Did you notice how Jinx usually only ever sees and hears Milo? I figured it was because he was the most aggressive toward her. It isn't until her episodes get absolutely brutal and she really feels into her emotions that she also sees and hears Claggor more. I also found it strange that she never saw Vander or Vi. I understand that Vander was way more benevolent to her than the boys, so that may be why, but Vi really did a number on Jinx's mind just before she left her. So, I'm very confused...
I would guess she sees Milo and Claggor because she killed them, but she didn't kill Vi or Vander (not directly anyway).
There's a line I remember from the series GundamSEED Destiny: "That was the moment decided 'if only I had the power then I'd never have to watch anyone I care about suffer again', but the moment you have that power you seek, you become the one causing others to suffer." I can't help but think of that line as Jinx comes across the bridge and heartlessly kills the enforcer just like how an enforcers killed the person from the lower city in the show's intro. She became strong so she could protect those she cared for from suffering, but now she's the one causing others to suffer.
That murder was a sign of her getting very emotional. If you replay it and go back and rewatch the intro in episode 1 she is clearly singing the same song she was using to block out the trauma back then and she ends the song around the same time she saw an enforcer murder someone at the bridge.
Yikes.
The trauma in this episode just hits hard. It feels very human and real despite being animated characters. Caitlin does not get enough credit in this series, someone needs to be the one to take in new information and learn. She may not be the most fascinating character in terms of how she will respond to situations, but the world needs people like her. Ekko, Vi, and Jinx are like the main triad for trauma which makes them so interesting to analyze. We shouldn't worship them though, but understand people all around us have varying levels of trauma and deal with it in different ways. Vi the convict, Jinx the terrorist, and Ekko the freedom fighter all trauma of varying degrees that could be categorized into a single category so people can toss them aside to feel better or safe.
Hi. I wanted to have your opinion on the last scene with Jinx's grenade. After several rewatch, I feel like Jinx don't want at all to kill Ekko. She is skilled enough to have a better use of a grenade. But it's more a suicide gesture. What I read in her look at him just before, is something like: "Thank you Ekko for reminding me one last time this feeling of being a young and innocent girl, but it can no longer match with what I become". What do you think ?
Without a doubt. Every other time we watch her fight with grenades as an adult she clips them on to her opponent somehow. Ekko had frozen right in front of her. If she wanted him dead it would have been easy to use her typical style. I have some more thoughts about the grenade scene, but they involve spoilers for the next episode, so I'll just leave it at that. There was no doubt that Jinx was trying to kill herself there. She even made dropping the grenade really obvious so Ekko could get away.
Forget it. I'm adding a spoiler. ::SPOILER ALERT!:: The reason Jinx survived there long enough for help to arrive? You can hear Ekko kick the grenade away just before it exploded and he jumped off the bridge. Even while running, Ekko did that little bit to give Powder a chance to live.
@@Balderdash1000 Never heard this "kick theory". Very plausible. Amazing that I can still discover things on this show after monthes of analysis !
@@slabat2912 I read that several times in comments and I payed attention to that in my next rewatches and indeed, I think it's true. That also explains why we see a close up of Ekko's weapon and not Ekko's body (he certainly jumped before the explosion). What is cool is Jinx saved Ekko with her butterflies and Ekko saved Jinx with his weapon :) I hope they'll be friend again in season 2 :)
I completely agree. Her expression doesn't show any malice; just a wistful glimmer and a goodbye. That they can animate such subtlety amazes me.
@@Balderdash1000 I'm dubious the sound (if you mean the "ping" just before the boom) is the noise kicking it would make, also it's a very tiny time before the main explosion - I think it's just the start of the detonation.
I do however agree that Ekko must have kicked, thrown, or batted the grenade further from Jinx than it was initially though - it was an inch from her hand otherwise.
The fact that in the Memory from the past it shows Powder shooting Ekko in the end, and seeing how it ended up with him wining... Makes me bealive that perphaps at the very last second Jinx held her shot, she hesitated into killing him aswell. By the way it would be so awesome if you could react to the movie Everything Everywhere all at Once ! is sooooooo good and there's a LOT to unpack from it
I was more under the impression that it meant that Jinx, when it comes down to it, hadn't changed at all over the years. Ekko had been forced to grow up, while she was still a little girl. So Ekko was able to predict exactly what she'd do, because she did the exact same thing she did when they used to play together. I've rewatched the scene a bunch of times and it doesn't appear that she missed/held her shot so much as Ekko was just able to predict/dodge it. It's the entire reason he baited her into the game in the first place. The show is pretty good at 'show don't tell', so I feel like they'd have made it more obvious if Jinx had pulled a shot.
@@kenjutsukata1o1 The thing is, for the entire slow motion jump when he finally reaches her, Jinx's gun is trained right on him. Literally, all she had to do was pull the trigger at any point. Now, I know that in "reality" Ekko's jump was fast as hell, but I'm still not sure it was faster than Jinx's ability to pull the trigger. I'm honestly torn about this one because if we look at it from the angle of Ekko's time power in the game, you can say he messed up the first time, and got it right after the rewind, and that's cool. Another, equally valid, way of reading it is, where that shot landed was as far as he could get. They played their old game, but when the time came to take the winning shot, Jinx hesitated. She let him get that last hit in because at that point she was too caught up in the past, and she was looking at Ekko as Powder. I can't really say that one read is more valid than the other there, and it's actually a point I've wondered about a lot. Did Ekko win by exceeding his past, or did he win because Powder couldn't kill him? I honestly can't tell.
@@Balderdash1000 someone in a different comment section pointed out that in the flash back Echo came strait at her with his jump while on the bridge he stepped slightly to one side before he jumped. Not much of a movement but enough that it could cause Jinx to pause to re-aim just long enough for Echo to reach her this time
@@Balderdash1000 She had just shot, from what we can see of the gun it isn't automatic, so she had it aimed at him but it wasn't ready to fire yet.
@@kenjutsukata1o1 Not an automatic, but still a semi automatic. I've never seen anything in the series that looked like she had to recock between shots. They definitely would have showed it if she needed to in that fight. Instead we saw multiple shots getting fired without pause. I have no idea where you're getting the idea that "the gun wasn't ready yet".
One tidbit of a scene that you passed on, which I think was important in the moment, after Mel suggested they make weapons, Viktor is at the desk disarming Jinx's bomb, but then he pauses. I don't believe that pause was from uncertainty as to how to disarm it, but it was born from the conversation at hand. "There is always a choice." If Viktor had chose to not disarm the bomb then and there, both he and Jayce would have died and thus preventing the creation of Hextech weaponry.
You can tell when the episode has you in it's grip, you start dropping f-bombs. :)
Haha it was a little much here but it just happened! I was shocked.
@9:05 he said “you get a pass back topside….That’s it”. translation: “because a person I trust vouched for you, you are allowed to remove yourself without issue from this highly protected undisclosed/classified location to go back home(topside) where you belong…..tourist!”
Another good reaction. Those butterflies are from Jinx, you can see her working on them in episode 4 during the Get Jixed scene. Also, they are on the table in this episode when she stapling herself.
Also the firefly bombs only landing on weapons, so everyone who has one is getting killed, Caitlyn who traded her rifle for the medicin in ep.6 got away unharmed... mostly.
I don't scan Silco as lying to Jinx. Manipulating, certainly, but I think he very fundamentally believes what he is saying. His experience of Vander turning his back on him (and trying to murder him) matches far too well with Vi slapping Powder and walking off, and neither of them knew until recently that she didn't just go off and die somewhere, like Marcus told Silco. And, in practical terms, while Vi isn't there FOR the stone, Silco has been waging a part cold, part guerrilla war against Piltover for the better part of a decade at this point. So when Jinx, someone he clearly sees as a daughter, steals something important - and the next day, her long-lost sister shows up, back from the dead, alongside a high-profile enemy soldier, his first and only conclusion is going to be that she's there to get back what was stolen and using whatever remains of their familial bond to do it, in the service of his enemy. Because after all, when you're in a siege mentality, everything is the plot of your enemy, no matter how well you try to control yourself and remind yourself that bad luck and happenstance is as destructive and hostile as ever enemy action was. So the timing, the company, their straight beeline for him and his interests and, to be honest, the unprovoked assault on his people (Sevika did nothing but sit there and play cards and she got a knee to the face out of nowhere)... his only reasonable conclusions is that since we are a family and I am a power in opposition to them, they are here to interfere with plans and happenstance that for once are going in our favour. Silco probably views Vi a lot like we all view the drug-addicted, deadbeat relatives that somehow keep coming out of the woodwork when someone wins the lottery or in some other way strikes it big, only she's ALSO been suborned by an enemy power to use whatever that old familial bond might be worth. So, all in all, no, I don't think he is LYING. He is, however, WRONG, about Vi, specifically.
But in a larger sense, he is correct. Vi is not there FOR the gemstone PERSONALLY, but she is there BECAUSE OF the gemstone... or rather, she's not there in her own right at all. She's where Caitlyn is. To Silco, and to any observer in the Undercity, if Vi is following along a Piltovan Enforcer rather than disappearing and becoming impossible to find, then either she has made a deal or they have some leverage on her to force her to play along, which means her motivations aren't accessible to observation. Caitlyn, however, is very simple to figure out. She is there for the gemstone, on behalf of her lords in the tower. Vi is attached to her. Hence, they ARE there for the gemstone.
Silco has no access to reasonably trustworthy information that gives a different angle. In his place and with his history, anyone would make the assumption that this is a ploy, a ham-handed attempt at spycraft, an attempt to manipulate his daughter, which will hurt her and tear her down and worst of all, from his perspective, tear her back into the past. The past is a place of uncertainty and pain for Silco and, really, for Jinx too. It's entirely reasonable for him to view with horror the prospect of someone not only drawing her back to that, but also then (inevitably) betraying her when they have what they came for.
Vi tells him point blank she's there for her sister, the man is is both a manipulator and a liar.
@@Ziaotic She is there for her sister, but that doesn't mean that she loves her more than he does (in his twisted brain). She is there for Powder only, after all. He is there for Jinx.
Had to pause ... it may have been pointed out already but I just want to make sure context is a little bit more accurate thant what you got from the Silco's power scene over the Chembarons.
Originally Zaun & Piltover were just the mining colony, down into the fissures. Hard work managed to make the place grow, and a privileged class to emerge. They started crossing the river to build houses on the hill, founding what is now Piltover, leaving Zaun behind, in the fissues, in the old industrials areas, in the dirt.
I'm not sure that part of the Lore is exactly what the writters used for Arcane, since it's said Heimer founded the city, making it sound like he founded Piltover directly where it is ... but it is very well possible he arrived during the time people were starting to cross the river.
Also, said mines are not only responsible for air pollution, but also the "river toxines" Silco mentions in episode 3, the ones making it impossible for the kids to retrieve their loot in episode 1.
Thank you so much!!
The buildings of "Zaun" are actually quite grand, of an Art Nouveau style, but they are derelict now - it was prosperous there for a while, at least. Piltover is, as you say, where the priveliged live now, in their gleaming Art Deco architecture. I don't think it's a coincidence that they are primarily French styles, and so is Fortiche.
River toxins, giant fish, sea monsters. Doesn't seem like a good place to go swimming.
You should react to the video of Enemy (Imagine Dragons and JID) bc it adds a lot more depth to Jinx and Ekko's relationship, it was released before Arcane aired.
This show has so many little details and nuances, you could watch it three times and still notice new things.
For instance I love the detail that whenever Powder/Jinx has bad or taunting thoughts, it is depicted as Milo’s voice.
Which is logical because in her youth Milo was always the one pestering, bullying and criticizing her.
Wow! You were spitting fire today with your analysis. I’m intrigued by the idea of Jayce betraying Hiemerdinger being a reflection of his own trial. Interesting.
As far as the backstory of the UnderCity mines, there are some interesting details sprinkled through on a rewatch. Vanders metal fighting gauntlets are implied to actually be a tool used by the miners to break apart rocks. There’s a little back and forth between him and Marcus in episode 2 about this. Kinda makes a cool parallel to the fighting styles that evolved out of peasants learning to utilize common farm tools with exceptional skill until they became a genuine power.
That look on Jinxs face while they're fighting. She was so scared Ahh. He was ready to kill jinx but not ready to kill powder.
People don't realize how much a simple hug can help someone
Sadly, Caitlyn hugging Huck didn't stop him betraying her and Vi. 😥
@@Hohum37 addiction sucks 😔
@@Mitsu2040 Apart from addiction to Arcane itself!
Vi is a very upfront with their emotion type person. She "wears her emotions on her sleeve" type person. She is first to run in for a hug but she is also first to run in with a fist.
Josh Greiner
When Silco was explaining to Jinx about why he thought Vi was back, I don't think he was lying. He was wrong, but I think, filtered through his experiences, (especially Vander's "betrayal") he was telling what he believed to be the truth. I honestly don't think that Silco can imagine any motivation other than an ulterior one given his worldview. Remember that he doesn't know Marcus kidnapped Vi. As far as Silco knows, Vi did abandon Powder, and there's no reason for her to be back other than to try to grab at a lever of power, which is certainly a motivation that he understands. Jinx is the only person he trusts - Everyone betrays *us*.
Arcane characters cannot see, hear, or know the scenes we viewers see.
Silco says what he thinks, he's not lying.
Just like the guy who wrote the comment above, he's just wrong.
"Remember that he doesn't know Marcus kidnapped Vi".
In ep6 Silco finds out directly from Marcus that he's been keeping Vi "somewhere safe".
Episode 7 is the best episode. Except for Episode 9. And 3. And maybe 6. Oh jeeze they're all so good.
To me if I had to rank the episodes I will put from favorite to still good but not as great
1. Episode 3
2. Episode 7
3. Episode 9
4. Episode 5
5. Episode 1
6. Episode 6
7. Episode 8
8. Episode 2
9. Episode 4
JINX STAPLED HER PANTS TO HER LEG
some times you have to worry about infection and proper sterility.
other times you are stapling your leg using a stapler that lives on your desk while arguing with your hallucination because you are having an episode on an unsecured propeller in a place with no safety standards and where even the air is able to kill or maim you. it is what it is.
: D
Another interesting point to be made, that I believe Schnee pointed out, is that the show is a lot about change, but Vi is not.
All the time you hear about "I want to change things", "I've changed", "I'm trying to change" but Vi, even though she started it all with a desire for change, became much like Vander and wants to settle and go back to her family and how thing were, to just be happy together.
While everyone was working, fighting and experiencing the world and changing because of it, Vi was stuck in a box and told to wait. She remained pretty much the same
Omg you’re back! Yay!!!! Great episode. That ending was so so good
In order to beat Jinx, Ekko had to remember how they were as kids. And when he remembered that, he couldn't kill her.
I thought the voices calmed in that scene because she was trying to support the thought Vi was there for her. And she saw the enforcer as the getting between her and Vi. So I saw it less as her focusing on spite and rage on Cait, but instead seeing a path to Vi. Unfortunately I see a weird mix of desire to be accepted by Vi, and fear/doubt. I didn't think her target priority becoming Cait was anger or hatred, or at least not yet. She felt too relaxed to me once she settled on Cait as a target for me to feel anger coming from her. She kills to indiscriminately for me to think she kills out of hate or anger. That said, now that you point it out, I do like the idea that the relaxing could be because she has a goal or target, and it takes her focus off of herself. I didn't put her into the equation when I considered it before. I will still disagree on the anger towards Cait, at least at that point. Though going forward, yes definitely.
One thing I'd like to point out, is that we've seen her talk and argue with her voices. But she always engages with them, except twice (so far) she's told the voices to "Shut up." Both times, she was looking directly at Vi, and the Mylo/Negative Voice was going against Vi. I think this has interesting implications on her relationship to Vi. Powder also had the signs of her issues (scratches on screen, etc) in ep 1-3 but they were far less frequent, such that her problems aren't immediately obvious. Vi disappears, voices grow astronomically in proportion. Vi reappears, Jinx tells the voices to shut up. I have my theory on this, though it involves future stuff so I'll refrain from going too far into it. But I thought I'd point it out, and hear what you think about that. And possibly draw your attention to that nuance going forward... *Cough*Hint*Cough*
It is confirmed that they cut out a scene showing a bit more of Powder and Ekko's backstory. Some of it they put in the "Enemy" Music video, that I highly reccomend, as it gives some additional scenes and context.
My personal opinion is that Ekko tried to get through to Powder. One way or another he tried to 'save' her. But he failed. Maybe she simply told him to go away or maybe he physically couldn't get to her through Silcos forces - but my guess is that Powder knows that he tried and failed. maybe he gave up on her after a certain amount of time and she resents him for not trying harder.
Her tone when she says "The Boy Saviour" is to me a clear indicator that she feels he _isn't_ a saviour, at least not for her. he failed her. He saved everyone else and left her behind. How much of that is true and how much is percieved is hard to say without knowing wat exactly transpired beetween them, but there is definitly more between them then we know. And it explains why Ekko is so insistent that she is gone.
Ahhhh so hype for you to finish. Glad to hear you're feeling better and up to upload again. 💖 Heartbreak city is a pretty apt way to describe it alright. For some extra context related to this episode, I'd recommend checking out the official Arcane music video for "Enemy". Ya know, just to twist that dagger in your heart a little more. 😅😂
The mirror scene has a ton of great visual metaphors. Whenever she is hearing the voices the camera switches to looking at her fractured reflection. They continue switching back and forth until she finally gives into the voices and says Caitlyn's name. At the moment it is subtle, but if you look at the mirror it is no longer a reflection (flipped image), showing that she is no longer in conflict with her self.
When I first watched this episode I found it curious that Vi pointed out that there were so many firelights, so I suspected there was something up with them.. only later did I realize through other people´s observation that these mechanical butterflies were already shown in Piltover on Progress Day and that Jinx obviously took some of them, because when Silco came to lecture her she was working on modifying them.
Also the Ekko vs Jinx fight is still heartbreaking because I really liked them together.. the art style also implies that it´s shown from Ekko´s POV, which I find really cool :)
Something new I learned from you: that obviously Jinx learned this threatening behavior from Silco.. I mean of course she has, but it never occurred to me how the chembaron meeting scene and Jinx stabbing Silco show how similar they act^^
But I have one question about them: Silco clearly fears that Jinx would leave him for her sister. But would she really choose to abandon him for Vi after all those years? Is there really just room for one person in her life?
Honestly, the way she grew up, I really do think there really is only room for one person. You have to realize that she's living in constant fear of being abandoned again, and she feels like she needs to put everything she has into making sure that the person that cares for her doesn't suddenly decide to leave her. That is her one overwhelming terror. She can not be drawn between two people because she'll end up not being good enough for either. She absolutely has to choose one.
There were hints of this in her early life, but she hadn't gone full bore into it like after the time jump. You see how she clings to Vi as a child, but back then she still had some room for others too. I suspect a lot of it had to do with how she lost her parents at such a young age, lost everything really, from what I can tell, and had to start over again with Vander, with the only consistent that came with her being Vi. Vi leaving was her deepest fear, and when it happened it broke her, then Silco picked up the peaces to remake her in his image. There was literally one person in the world that he trusted, despite all his talk about loyalty, and that person was Jinx. Everything else could burn as long as she was ok.
Either way Silco isn't willing to take the risk.
If interested in the science behind the butterflies, I'm an engineer so this is all just speculation, but notice how Caitlin was unharmed ? I'm assuming the butterflies are magnetic and attracted to metals with strong magnetic properties.
Caitlin had to take off any heavy armor to traverse the undercity with Vi, and just sold her gun to save Vi. So Caitlin survived because her love for Vi, or at least I want to believe that. The butterflies land on the metal guns and metal armor. It probably left Ekko alone since his materials I'm guessing are made out of cheap metal from the under city (probably something like copper) which has weak magnetic properties, as we could tell by the large dent the gunshot left
Also I don't think Jinx would just abandon Silco for vi (I'm avoiding ANY spoilers for this discussion, please do the same) unless her sister could prove to her that she could trust her not to abandon her again.
Until then she really has no reason to leave Silco for her. It'd be too scary to at least, since human nature is resistant to change. If Vi wanted to be smart about it, she should just try to introduce herself back into Jinx's life, instead of trying to "save" her and change it completely. I wonder will the story will go from here :o ;)
Even if Jinx had room for more than one person in her life, Vi and Silco still are mortal enemies. They don't fit together, even if it was for Jinx's sake.
So the next thing you need to react to, before you even move onto episode 8 of Arcane is the music video for Enemy. It enhances the meaning of episode 7 as it goes more into the relationship between Powder/Jinx and Ekko.
I will definitely have a lot more thoughts on this episode also once I have some free time to jot them down.
First, Dynasties and Dystopia is an amazing song!
Second, the bridge scene, and imagining the life they SHOULD have had? Breaks my heart.
Nobody will ever convince me Jinx set off that grenade as some sort of Skeletor escape scheme - that was just an attempt to die.
Not sure if you caught this cause it's skipped, but just before Viktor says "...there is always a choice." he seems to consider letting the bomb go off for a second, MAYBE hinting at meaning killing them both and thus taking the hextech knowledge with them to the tomb and avoiding the creation of weapons
I noticed that. It’s been such a theme with Viktor and Jayce attempting to end their own lives.
The Start of Act 3 of Season 1, the Final Act of Season 1,
From here, is where the real fun starts.
You must be the ONLY person in the world who felt bad for Marcus watching this one. I was literally like the lady from that video "Am I supposed to feel sorry for this B? I don't!"
Haha. I couldn’t help it. The way he says “Tell my daughter…” made me feel for him as a father and feel for the daughter 🥺
I noticed how, in the scene where Mel tries to convince Jayce to build weapons, she basically talks over Viktor. She spares a single glance for him and otherwise addresses everything she says to Jayce. I have to wonder if it's because she's already laid the groundwork for manipulation in Jayce, or because she just doesn't consider Viktor's perspective as valuable at all.
Jinx mocking Ekko for being the “Boy Savior” for probably constantly trying to save her from Silco. Ekko is who Jinx could have been if Silco never found her and they both know it. That’s why Ekko has mostly given up on her. He’s tried so many times and they had been so close.
Fun Fact, the tune she was humming was the one she sang as a little girl when the enforcers butchered her people and parents on that very bridge. A sort of twisted, poetic justice I suppose.
I don't know if you noticed (you may have edited it out or I might have missed it), but when Jinx is on the bridge and shooting the surviving enforcers, she hums the song she sang in the opening, when she was again on a bridge in a fight witnessing an enforcer shooting a downed trencher, but this time she is in the role of the executioner.
which is funny, because the lyrics are essentially the singer asking their "friends across the river" for just a little generosity ("i'll take what you can spare, i ask of you a penny, my fortune it will be") so having Jinx sing the song powder sang asking for literally any piece of goodwill really rubs in that the current situation is due to past decisions that can no longer be retaken (as well as general trauma, but that's expected at this point).
this show does a good job of having great cause and effect, as well as constant reminder of the past and how it influences the present.
(also Jayce mentioned the undercity miners in episode four: they were the ones for whom the big gauntlets he showed Heimerdinger were for, but that can easily be missed. I just watched this show too may times at this point)
Jinx took revenge on one of her mother's executioners and sang the same song as in the first episode.
Yes! Episode 7 of Arcane!! Here we go
Hi, love you inputs about the mental states of the characters in the show. Just wanted to point out a little thing about one part of the fight on the bridge. At the start of the fight as Jinx opens fire on Vi and Caitlyn if you watch them, Caitlyn is trying to shield Vi and Vi is trying to push Caitlyn out of the way. Just as Echo shows up to save the day. So have a great day and STAY SAFE.
Caitlyn's capacity to seek détente with the undercity is in part due to her being mentored by Grayson, who also worked with Vander to keep the peace between the two sides of society.
What Ekko was silently saying to Jinx, when he began swinging the pocket watch: "Let's play our old game...one last time..."
There was a comment on one video that hit the nail on the head when it comes to the Ekko/Jinx fight.
"Ekko was ready to kill Jinx - he wasn't prepared to hurt Powder."
During the meeting with the chembarons scene, look at the plants. ... 0.0!
Did you catch that the song jinx was singing on the bridge was the same song she was singing in the first scene of the show when she saw all the death and her mother died.
Was an interesting tid bit they put in.
Love the reactions.
absolutely loved this episode!!!! i think looking back, jinx and ekkos fight is prob one of my favorite moments of the season! as always, love your commentary and cant wait for the last two episodes !!!!!!
"There's a S*** ton of buckets" truer words have never been spoken.
Auugghhh screwed by the algorithm (didn't see this until just now). Welcome back!
2 things: I would love a recap of the whole series after you finish. And I would seriously enjoy seeing you react to True Detective 1st Season.
Thank you for having a reaction to Marcus. Most of my friends were just happy he died, which is fair but he's still a character in his own right and a father on top of that
One thing I disagree with is that Silco is intentionally lying to Jinx when he tells her Vi is only back for the stone. To me it came off as him genuinely believing that because he's projected his own betrayal onto Jinx's. For him, her betrayal simply *is* his betrayal and vice versa. So since he doesn't believe Vander would ever want to heal the rift between them, he can't believe Vi would want to do the same with Jinx
A little moment that I feel doesn’t get enough attention is Viktors moment of hesitation before cutting the wire. While it could be argued that he’s panicking a bit (which is understandable) but I interpret it in a similar way to how Markus envisions it, he has the choice to end everything there, kill the two people who know how to weaponize hextech, and the person wanting to make weapons. “There’s always a choice”. I may be looking way to close at this, but it’s just what my brain says
Well, if you have to take a break from Arcane, that was probably the best point in the series. Nice to have you back.
And yes, 'heartbreaking' is probably the best single-word description of the series.
I don't think Mel is wrong to recommend preparations. No-one should need to leave themselves vulnerable just to avoid a reaction from another person
But in isolation, without reasonable and visible effort to resolve the council's awful governance, it looks selfish. So I do agree with you, that Jayce building hextech weaponry, now, without doing anything else, would risk escalating the violence.
4:40 im so glad you pointed this out. i felt like this scene portrays how healing can be a complicated process
A tiny detail I don't know if you noticed... when Jinx is walking on the bridge after her firelight bombs, before she shoots the enforcer, she is humming a tune. It's the same song she was singing in the opening of the first episode, when she and Vi find their dead parents and Vander drops his gauntlets to take them in. The cycle of violence, if you will, is show by the bridge parallels.
Im a year late on this but every time Jinx's baby face gets pointed out i get excited because the animators intentionally added an extra rig to her face just for that! For morphing it to looking more akin to her child face model for those pivotal moments when Powder reaches through Jinx.
Do you think there's any significance to Jinx's look of peace (and no voices in her head) when she dropped the grenade at the end?
I have watched the show a handful of times now! Saying I love it is a understatement, but since I been watching your reaction I have noticed things that I did not notice before. Your awesome so thank you!
My point of view about fight Ekko vs Jinx/Powder : Ekko is ready for kill Jinx but not Powder, ( voiceline game: i had a crush… until you started talking to the gun) he knows that Jinx is extremely dangerous and unpredictable so he decides to "play" with Powder thus having more chances of neutralizing it. When Ekko is in mid-air she doesn’t shoot it but she lets herself be hit, in this instant Ekko manages to see Powder again, and that's okay for her, dropping the bomb (not throwing it) by now she is tired of everything that happens to her and is only waiting for death.
I love this analysis. Ready to kill Jinx but not Powder is just so.. 😭
In lore, Ekko's "super" power is brief time manipulation. But since he haven't unlocked it, the script insteads goes back in time via his memories of them play fighting as kids. Also in lore, but not shown in the show, but little Ekko has a crush on Powder. This makes their fight hit deeper in the feels.
Watching Arcane is like watching a trainwreck in slow motion
You know whats gonna happen but you cant do anything to stop it
It's quite a long show, so i don't know if you'd have the time, but i think I echo many ppl by saying that watching you react to "Avatar: the last Airbender" would be incredible. It is more lighthearted and all ages appropriate than arcane, but still a great exploration of themes such as grief, loss of childhood during war, parental issues, sibling rivalries, self-destructive obsessions, and many other things. It is also just an overall beautiful show, that is considered by many to the be the best animated show of all time, and has incredibly charismatic and captivating characters that you can't help but fall in love with. Great action too! And UA-cam channels who do avatar reactions usually get a HUGE surge in views because the fan base is so large and devoted *wink wink*.
Again, it'd be a bigger commitment, since there's about 60 episodes or so, though they are shorter, each lasting about 20 minutes. So in reality it'd be like watching about 20 episodes of a regular show.
I've never met someone who watched A:TLA and didn't feel deeply moved, invested and changed by the show. It would be amazing if you'd consider it and could spare the time 🙏
Love the channel by the way! Hugs from Brazil
The thing that gets me in the Ekko/Jinx fight is that, in order for Ekko to have a chance, he had to tap into his memories of playing with Powder, and he had to convince Jinx to "play a game" with him like they did when they were kids. It gave him an edge during the fight because he had grown and developed in ways she wasn't aware of, but it left him vulnerable because it opened him up to seeing what was left of Powder inside of Jinx. He loses either way.
My favourite episode
15:27 There's a moment before Ekko tackles Jinx that she could've taken a shot, and I think it speaks volumes that she doesn't
I'd really like to know your take on Jinx using the grenade at the end of the episode. She's demonstrated in previous scenes that she's competent with them, and it only looks like carelessness to the outside observer, so she knows exactly what she's doing when she pulls the pin.
Was it a, "If I can't win then no one can" kind of thing, or is she so wrapped up in proving herself that she'd let a bomb go off next to her rather than fail?
I'm glad you're enjoying this. I'm enjoying your professional thoughts since ep 1.
You need to watch the Imaging dragon music video. It will explain much more what’s going on between Ekko and Jinx.
ya, watching it now between ep 7 and 8 is probably the best time. Its in the same style as the show and basically is sort of shows times with the younger group before the events of the show happen. ( but after the first scene of the bridge battle in ep 1)
My boy Ekko 💙 That Ekko vs Jinx fight scene is incredible. Great video as always.
It's a welcome pleasure to listen to your professional mental breakdown of this masterpiece of a show and this episode is my favorite because of the last scene between these once childhood friends fight to the death.
This scene reminds me of two little lion cubs playing with each other playing fight which teach them the art of fighting and taking that now playful fighting and now they're older is used to take down the other such a powerful scene because as a viewer you're invested in both wellbeing. I just don't like that we never actually seen both of these characters Ekko and Powder playing together while they're young which would have given more wait, but we understood they were friends through the interaction and what was said among all the characters that they are close to, but you can see them actually playing with each other in the Imagine Dragon music video as if it was cut out of the original show.
on the topic of conversations with one's self; I will talk with myself. My ex dubbed it 'The Council' It's never "I need to do this task" it's "we need to get this done." I believe Jinx has a mix of bipolar schizophrenia, PTSD, and on the autism spectrum. I relate to her uncomfortably well
When jinx started firing on the bridge Caitlyn’s reaction was to shield Vi, while Vi’s was to push Cait away. Idk whats the take on that but it’s interesting. 🥰
5:00 I think it's also a factor for Jinx that Silco really has been a father to her these last however many years. He clearly favors her and gives her chances and forgiveness that he gives no one else. basically her morality is fucked up but he's also not a bad guy to her.
Jinx patching herself up is fine if the most heartbreaking scenes in animation..
For the Silco/Jinx scene where you said he is manipulating her. In my opinion he just tells what he believes is the truth. Remember when they become father and daughter, silco was probably intending to kill her until she says that her sister betrayed her. Silco trusts/loves jinx because he thinks they have the same trauma and they help each other to overcome it. That's why he always shows her the solutions that worked for him, like when he baptized her in the toxic river to let the river kills your weak side. So from his perspective I think he believes what he said to jinx.
I was so excited when I saw you uploaded another one!! Love your character analysis' so much.
That hardcore burying yourself in work to vent the frustration. I feel ya, Jayce. I wouldn't call it healthy, but physically, you did get pretty ripped, dude. (Oh, and "more in common with cave lice"... She literally runs off shimmer. Powers that arm she lost saving his backside. That's what she's done for Silco. What's Jinx ever done for him? Psychological needling.)
Just before Viktor is saying "There is always a choice", when he hesitates before defusing the grenade - I don't think he wasn't certain which wire to cut. I believe he was considering the option to just let it explode, killing him and Jayce, so that the knowledge of how to weaponise hextech would be lost. I do believe this was a difficult moral dilemma for him, as he suspected Jayce would wouldn't really listen to his opinion in the end.
What Jinx did at the very end, she was so heartbroken that she had to fight her friend Ecco, she was ready to end her life and end the pain she felt.
in league, Ekko had a crush on Jinx before she went mad. the music video for enemy does hint at the same thing, but we have nothing concrete.
Was curious to me that your go-to when Ekko can't finish Jinx off is that they're "fighting the same pain" I think you put it? Everyone usually takes that as the moment Ekko sees that she is in fact still Powder and that's why he can't kill her.
Also the music video for the intro song to this series has it's own unique animations, and shows more of the dynamics of Ekko and Jinx's friendship (Ekko had a crush on her too, according to voice lines from the game the show is based on.), for extra context.
Yeah, thank you! When I said “fighting the same pain”, I meant it like “yes, you two came from the same place and know each other from when you’re children”. They’re both fighting out of fear to protect their younger selves.