I disagree. This wasn't the ending that Arcane S2 needed. It was just the one that we got, due to budget and time constraints. Season 2 contained *SEVERAL SEASONS* worth of content, and due to that disregarded a lot of character work, conflicts and thematic storytelling to turn into Avengers Endgame by episode 9. The show isn't bad, but it's a steep fall off in regards to the writing and plot structure. It needed another 1-2 seasons, to focus on the Arcane, Hextech and Noxus plots, while this one should've been focusing on the city conflict and giving resolution to the sisters's story.
I loved S2 for a lot of reasons. Needless to say, the animation was crazy good, and these are still some great characters. I think it’s still narratively strong, but it makes me wish that S2 had been given another 2-3 episodes, if only to expand on Part 2 and the ending, expanding on a couple of the relationships and building out the ending into more of an actual ending rather than emphasizing that it’s a setup for events to come (that I will definitely watch). Even that feels like it’s asking too much, though. What we got was still incredible.
Supposedly the finale was supposed to be like 1 and a half hours long for each episode. They had to cut out a lot of things like the conversation between Ekko and Jinx in the final episode. That was supposed to be like 5-10 minutes longer. Mainly because Netflix didn't allow them for whatever reason to have it that long which is very strange.
@@tuntunkhan5539 Fr they really have to ruin all good things because of stupid business ideas. I really do hate corporations because they always end up ruining good art. But it all that is true then maybe they will release a dirrectors cut one day and im definetly going to watch it.
No, I don't think having longer or extra episodes would be the solution. That would just blow out the budget. The show needed a whole other season with a separate budget. And if it needed padded, they have the source material to do it
@ I could see them separating this season’s events such that there can be two seasons worth of content. Either way, I think the idea of expanding on what they did here to give more time for these ideas to breathe would have benefitted the show.
I think they did the best they could do with the show being reduced to 2 seasons from 5. And even then they had to cut out a lot of stuff, that's why some pieces feel missing or felt happened off camera. They had to keep only the most important stuff for the story, unfortunately missing out on some interesting story beats and relationships
it's that terrible affliction knowing something would be better (when it was already fantastic) if it just had a little more, not out of any greed, but because you can feel it in the breaths of the story. loved it to bits, but all the shades of criticism certainly aren't wrong.
I agree. I would have loved to see the full intended 1-45min cut of the finale. But I do also understand budgeting and time constraints meaning that they had to leaving things on the threshing floor. I do hope they are able to finish it and release it in the future as a special bonus or thank you.
@AFlyingWalrus exactly my thinking! i know this has been a very expensive and labor of love for a long time now, and i'll never know the full workings behind the scenes, but what i would do for bringing back the era of deleted scenes voiced over the storyboards in the special features section of the dvd....
@AFlyingWalrus I also think the scenes with Vi and Jinxs original parents could have been removed with little-to-no impact, giving the rest of the story a little more breathing room.
We'll always have season 1, which was more simple, focused and efficient. There's a lot to love about season 2 but I think it falls mostly in the artists' passion superseding cohesion. It works in spite of itself.
The series needed 2 more episodes to flesh out the story beats and rapid changes in tempo. It felt very rushed to me. The ending was unsatisfying. Loved the show overall, but it certainly had its flaws.
Jinx is definitely not dead, lol, too many hints that she's not. For Jayce and Viktor, it's possible that they're not dead, just on a multiverse adventure. They may come back in future shows.
No one is dead, that's the point. Metaphorically, Jaybe, maybe. Creators said that they could very much off some champions, but would never have the guts to actually do that. They're their cash cows, so no way. Jinx is well and alive on her next journey in the other series (gonna have some sick, grand entrance, appearance). Jayce and Viktor are thrown possibly to some other dimension/universe (they were sucked in, not evaporated) another series. Ambessa is technically the only dead, but I can bet we are going to have some ritual to revive her/character preventing deaths popping up/sth like we had a deal, you still need to serve (some death like person). Warwick is presumably the most dead of all but they gonna pull his regenerative powers and 'it is his humanity that was killed there, the beast side is alive'. And Heim is a yordle and he was transferred to some yordle dimension city (idk I don't know the lore, that's what some lol players said).
@@hatexson I mean, Ambessa definitely died, lol. She's the proof that champions can officially die in the lore, since the League of Legends / Summoner's Rift game itself isn't canon (or it's possibly in the far future of Runeterra). In any case, Ambessa is dead. The most you could say at this point is that she's part of the "Chosen of the Wolf" and is now in Volrachnun (the mythological Noxian version of "Vahalla" for the honored fallen warriors).
i think what s2 did that was the worst offender to me was; it was a clear soft-pilot to upcoming shows. the whole Mel Black Rose plotline was borderline impossible to follow if you didnt know league lore. this season could have easily, and i mean easily, done without it. put Mel back in the councilor position, make her and Ambessa two opposing forces whispering into Caitlyn's ear. Make Mel realise the harm she did to the undercity by her avoidance of conflict. Throw out some cool parallels between Cait/Mel and how they react to violence done by the people they stand under. There was no reason to make this incredibly intruiging political woman a 'oh shes an OP magical girl" other than 1) backdoor pilot for the Noxus show, and 2) new League Legend.
There had to be one magic girl guiding over the new life when Jinx was throwing her birthday party. There is enough room on the wall to write your own stories, but stop critizising the architechture. It is insulting since you peole got no clue what you are talking about.
I don’t know league lore and I followed it. It had to be expanded upon since it’s the entire reason that Mel and Jayce survive Jinx’s missile. It’s the entire reason Ambessa comes to Piltover in pursuit of Hextech. Take it out and so much of the series doesn’t make sense. All the plot lines were planted in season one and needed to be expanded upon, I just think they didn’t realize how much time it would take and they bit off a bit more than they could chew. And time/budget constraints don’t help either. Everything that was there definitely needed to be there and I think they told the story the right way, they just needed a tad more time they didn’t have. And that’s ok!
@@thehutch1674 Same , but this BlackRose plotline was unnecessary. All we ever needed was some seeds planted and knowledge that that organisation/person is the reason she went to Piltover in pursuit of technological military advancement. That's it. It would make ppl more excited for the new series, questioning 'who the f made this badass warrior of a woman run with tail between her legs, what happened in Noxus' and keep them on the edge. We got something but not enough so it borderlines on the meh territory. It should be left for other series and the precious time spent on PiltoverZaun and other storylines. And to be fair Mel, the great already trained mage, was not it, I didn't like it at all. Should've left the gold armour as a passive, something passed down in the bloodline or sth. Looked kinda cool, but eh
Here’s my take on season 2: as far as I’m concerned, it didn’t really feel like an actual season of television. It felt like the spark notes version of what seasons 2 & 3 would have been if we had a season 3. It still looked and sounded amazing, with great acting and music. I also liked all the individual story points. But the narrative felt more like one of those lore videos where someone summed up the entire timeline of a book or video game series. This doesn’t mean it’s bad - I enjoy these types of videos very much, and the show has fantastic production values to boost. But it didn’t really leave me with the same feeling of satisfaction that a show like Breaking Bad, Fleabag or Succession would give me
My biggest mistake was not rewatching S1 before getting into S2. I was arrogant enough to belive that I remembered most of what happened in S1. And I usually have a pretty good memory. But rewatching S1 after S2 made me realize just how much I had forgotten, and how much of what happened in S2 was clearly set up in S1. My experience would have been way better with S2. Less confusing. And I would not have gotten a bit angry about that last shot with the flying ship. That scene particularly was teased in the very first ep of S1. And I would have known what it meant.
I've tried to steer pretty clear of the discourse surrounding the ending, but much like you said at the end, I think this will age really well. It'll be the starting point of the Runeterra shows and I'm glad it was that. Most everything I've seen has been pretty emotionally charged. People "really love it" OR "really hate it" (from what it seems) but I think confusion can lead to dipping into strong emotions rather than introspection and working through the nuances. The show is nothing if not nuanced and the few times I've gone back to watching it already, I appreciate the ending of the series quite a bit more. Your take is pretty refreshing and I agree with it whole heartedly.
The biggest issue is without a doubt having the biggest set ups in act 1 having no impact, aside from Jayce,Ekko and Heimerdinger. Caitlyn becoming filled with revenge and having trouble filling her mother's shoes,goes kinda nowhere. The politics of Piltover and Zaun are thrown aside for the black rose stuff, witch while interesting and has a nice conclusion, is still not as big as a hook as the politics of the first season, i woud have much preferred seeing more of Jynx and how she works with Sevika to unite Zaun, but all we see is her breaking some people out of jail and then leaving for Werewick, and i feel like they coud have handled that entire stoyline better, maybe even combining it, having Werewick attack the chembarons and the people who followed Silco, only for Sevika and Jinx to save them, and only after that, Vi and Jynx join to heal Werewick. Most of my issues is that a lot of time was wasted between Act 1 and 2, so everything kinda happens in Act 2, and gets a decent but not amazing resolution in act 3. I feel like the entire Blacm Rose thing wasn't included as well and coud have been just something hinted at for the future and not being such a major conflict.
As someone who’s never played LOL and doesn’t know a thing about the Black Rose I agree that they really weren’t included very well. The show didn’t really go much beyond “oh no they’re spooky witches” like I couldn’t get a grasp of what was at stake because I don’t know what the Black Rose is capable of as a threat or what their history is. As a layman it all came across as very hollow
I think the drive to make a franchise out of this series is what killed the second season. It just missed the point of what the first season was all about.
I feel they leaned waaaay too much into Marvel-esque type of ending. Epic battle of the Good League of Heroes (no pun allowed) vs the Big Bad Evil Magic, huge time travel plot twist "it was his plan all along"... And I hate it. None of this is what Arcane great. Season 1 did not have any significant fight or battle in the last episode - and it was perfect. It was character driven plot, not "we have to rush to defeat the Eeeeeeeevil". The stakes in season 1 were incredibly high, because it was so personal, not just another bland "saving the world again, same as we saw a million times already". And overall "the Marvel formula" is nowadays a really bad thing to say about any show. But for Arcane this is just... a crime to turn it into "just another Marvel like show". Unfortunately, this is exactly what Riot chose to do. As for personal ending for Jinx... I did not expect anything in particular, but definitely not: "She sacrifices her life to save Vi... kinda, but not really, because she has unexplained plot armor". Personally, while season 1 of Arcane is my favorite show of all time, and season 2 had a lot of fantastic moments, I am not interested in any other shows that will continue its legacy. At all. It will most likely be just milking Arcane fans for more cash from now on. That is my prediction. I hope I am wrong.
As someone who's familiar with the lore, league/Runeterran lore is actually really good. And I'm personally looking forward to their future projects HOWEVER.... If they apply that same Marvel-esque brushstroke to their future stories, then yeah, I'm done. The lore of Runeterra is as fantastic as it is because each region and the characters that occupy them each have something meaningful to say about the human condition. The story of Piltover and Zaun has plenty to say about our relationship with class, the economy, technological advancements, and what it means to be human and what it means to want to help. Noxus has plenty to say about our relationship with war, colonialism and nationalism and the impacts and consequences of all those things. Ionia has plenty to say about our relationship with nature and balance, both in an ecological and interpersonal context. The Freljord has a lot to say about tribalism. Demacia has a lot to say about discrimination and the distinction between following the law and doing what's right. Bilgewater has a lot to say about the neverending cycle of revenge. The Shadow Isles has a lot to say about our relationship with death and grief. Targon has a lot to say about our relationship with religion and faith. The world of Runeterra has plenty of deep interpersonal stories like Vi and Jinx, usully revovling around two deeply connected characters who end up falling out with each other for one reason or another, mostly pertaining to the themes I mentioned above. And it makes for compelling reading and hopefully, watching in the future. But if they treat it like the MCU and care more about the "big magic battle", then we're dealing with idiots who have completely missed the point of their own lore
@@epigonesenvy Yeah, but a war between Piltover and Zaun. Not Noxus. It started out as a story of class and struggle and devolved into a story about a villain who wants to destroy the world. Lets forget all our issues and band together for some reason
Well Im afraid that was a mistake from Arcane, but at the same time of you. If u had bothered to read more about league lore, u would have known THIS was going to happen. In league there are literal cosmic entities wanting to unexist existence... no seriosuly. And a giant cosmic dragon that makes stars. League lore IS filled with epic battles, good vs evil, etc. Again, Arcane created a false expectation from people not knowing but... it is what it is. I hate that they changed OG Viktor, but I love Arcane Viktor. bc I understand WHY. (I still wished they would have separated them in league...) And I will insist league has always been this. (but worst). This is not your fault neither them anyway. U didnt like it, and if u didnt like this, u arent gonna like whats coming bc Noxus, Demacia and Ionia are literally the most epic fantasy stuff (with a lot of horror too). But hey, my advice is that u open ur mind.
wanna get a long opinion comment? here is one: As much as i adore arcane (which, trust me; its a lot. i was dying when s1 dropped and it actually gave me drive to get better), season 2 just felt ... empty. it left me dissapointed, because it simply did not deliver well on any of the things set up in season 1, and leaves more questions than answers - something which a season finale should NOT do. A few problems i have: > remember when this show was about discrimination, oppression, conflict and corrupt governments? dont worry, the writers didnt remember either! why do they spend whole season 1 setting up the tension and breaking point between Zaun and Piltover, only for season 2 to be like "uhm well akshually Noxus is the big baddie and with the power of friendship we must defeat them!!!" like... thats so fucking lazy. Its borderline insulting how the Zaunites were faced with police aggression from Piltover their whole existence, only to be expected to pick up the enforcer uniform in s2A3 and fight to defend the city which has let them rot. its mindboggling to me that they decided to not go into the conflict between those cities (the CORE OF THE SHOW), and instead end it with Sevika gaining a seat in the council, wildly outnumbered by topsiders and without any hints as to what happened between the cities further. and the Jinx Fan Girlie, who was a super radical freedom fighter suposedly, died while wearing an enforcer unifrom, protecting the city that never gave a shit about her.... fuming. this is not the type of show that needed a Big Bad Villian. the reason people love season 1 so much is because, despite it all, it felt grounded. > also remember when it was about conflict between different ideologies? again, dont worry, the writers didnt either! Vi VS Jinx, Mel VS Ambessa, Jayce VS Viktor, Vander VS Silco (dont get me started on how they retconned their backstory lmao). its just a whole bunch of nothingness now. just. complete emptiness. this season has nothing to say. nothing. remember the banger lines in s1 ("in the pursuit of great, we failed to do good", "weapons cant be unmade, and they are always used", "its a shame that those who shine brightest often burn faster' and i can go on)... what hardcore, borderline radical lines did we have this season? and then i mean lines that were genuinely creative and strong, not 'people should have free choice!' type lines) > the black rose plot. I get they wanted to give Mel a plot, and probably added this as a soft introduction to their next League series, but it was just completely random and a mess if you dont know any of the lore. what is the black rose, really? what is the Actual reason the black rose and Ambessa are fighting and why should we care? and, with Mel: in episode 8 she was struggling with holding back Viktor's puppet and didnt understand her powers yet, and in e9 she suddenly knows how to create shields and energy blasts? why does she, an empath who can control and change the inner power of others, do these things? > Its, imo, insulting that they reduced Mel, such an interesting character when it comes to politics in this show, to 'magical mage'. like. Her relationship with Ambessa is so so interesting. The show could have reflected more on Mel, in s2, realising that her passive action in the council as a result of the trauma from her mother's aggression in her childhood did not lead to peace like she wished, but that she instead became, albeit unwantedly, complicit in oppression. in s1 we see this only as her smearing Gold over the portrait of Noxus (which was well done btw) and voting for Zaun's independence, but i truly believe they could have done more with that. Make her and Caitlyn mirrors of one another, wherein both are priveleged, but one tries finally to get rid of her family ties for good (medarda), while the other grasps unto them for the power it gives (caitlyn). Instead, Mel became the Powerfull Strong Woman. we see her show little actual uhh idk the english word. softness? vulnerability? that, in s2, while s1 was abt her learning that side of her and not having to be harsh all the time. and when she does try to show softness, Jayce shuts her down (alltho i guess the man was traumatised and Unwell^tm too, but still). and she ends up all alone, having lost her mother, jayce and her seat in piltover, shipped of to the place which does not care for her. yayyy what a happy end!1!!1! > The Viktor and the hexcore jesus plot is just. a MESS. What were the footsteps in episode 2, that led him to the undercity? was the hexcore controlling him, guiding him to a place it knew the arcane was strong? but, if the hexcore was possesing him, why did Jayce in e9 act like it was all Viktor's own deliberate doing? but if it was all his own doing in the beginning, why was he so emotionless? but if he was so emotionless in the beginning, why does Viktor's speech after e6 imply that he only lost his emotions after /that/? > and, what the FUCK do you mean the mage is Viktor?? Huh?? how does that even WORK?Viktor turns bad in universe A, is like 'i must stop this from happening in other universes' and can just... travel the multiverse i guess. But then, why did he still give Jayce the stone, and not just let Jayce and Ximena die on the plain, resulting in no hextech in Piltover, and so no hexcore that entices Viktor, and so no Arcane Jesus Viktor? Why does he still give Jayce the stone? and who gave Jayce the stone in the original universe wherein Viktor went all Evil? its just suchhh a lazy idea and makes the world feel so small. everyone is connected to everyone that matters from beginning, actuallY!! boring. > and finally abt Viktor; so its never gonna be confirmed if Sky was an hallucination made up by him to combat loneliness (which, why would she then guide him to corrupt others with arcane? why would Viktor think Sky would want him to do that when he is so guilty abt her death?), if she was an apperation from the hexcore itself (in which case, why does she leave when Viktor fully turns?, or if she was simply also taken into the hexcore when she died?) season 1 would have explained it, and season 2 is like.... ahhh dont worry abt it she was there and now shes gone! some say she was his humanity, some say she was a hallicunation by viktor, some say some say etc.... im tired. > Vi's character arc. I mean, the character arc which simply WASNT THERE. What did she do this season that was driven by her own desires? she just reacts to outside forces, seems to have no particular goals in mind, and loses everything. Her fall into alcoholism was hyped up, only for it to be 1 amv within the show and no further depth to it. it was said she was gonna learn how to not be a protector, but she didnt! she protected Isha in act 1, Jinx and vander in act 2, and whole pitover in act 3. like, ok, good character arc. i can actually rant ages abt how they massacred her character. also, making her say "im the dirt under your nails" as a ROMANTIC LINE is INSANE. who tf wrote that? Hello? LOok this trencher knows she is dirty and disgusting and her Topsider Queen is neever gonna get rid of her :DDD i HATE it. its also just a bad line in general lesbians we deserve better than wtv this was. > the s3x scene in the cell... fellas if my brother heavily implied he was gonna kill himself and i showed fear abt it but then my gf walked in, i would not start doing the do. > their treatment of Jinx and her mentall ilnesses. just. she doesnt have them anymore i guess! thats how trauma works, right? it makes ur schrizoprenia go away when ur trauma is gone, right? sure Arcane Writers thats 100% how it works. oh and the suicidal character dies in the end? ground breaking thanks we needed more of that in fiction (and, no, the 'purple glare is actually jinx thing!!', while true, is still stupid. not many people catch that, and, for example, my parents without social media will always have the end be Jinx = dead, because canon doesnt offer us definitive other things). also how Isha was only there to die and then not get mentioned in act 3?? it is SUCH a missed oppurtunity. instead of child loosing carer it is this time carer losing child and thats so different! make her realise "thats why Vi always kept me home with dangerous jobs", etc. make THAT be the thing that makes her reconcile with Vi fully. > vander's plot was lazy and rushed. hes gone!! u cried we all did!! oh but hes back now. and the girls are bestiesssss bc hes their fatheerrrrrr. your gonna hear them call him dad/father 10000 times even tho in s1 they almost never do bc we need you to know Hes Their Dad!! i can actually go on longer than this, but im too frustrated. IMPORTANT: i do not hate the show. i love arcane, and season 1 will always be one of, if not the best (animated or general) series ever produced in the west. season 2 has its merits; its entertaining, it has drama, etc., but the decline between season 1 and season 2 is difficult not to notice. season 2 really makes you realise: oh, yeah, this is based on League of Legends. its like s1 = arthouse movie, s2 = infinity war.
Oof, there is A LOT of stuff that you’re misunderstanding here, and I think that stems from the real issue that everyone has been repeating since Act 2 : lightning fast pacing. As much as I’d love to respond with a Ted Talk of my own I simply don’t have the time rn, so hopefully you find a few answers that clear up the confusion in your own time.
@@BluesClues2s No need to get upset lol, was just trying to be respectful. To be fair, you *are* right about my reply being useless. I’m faced with the exact same problem as the people at Riot and Fortiche : I want to accomplish much, explain in detail Vi’s underlying character arc, why Viktor being the mage makes tons of sense, why Jinx “lost her schizophrenia”, but I just legitimately don’t have the time necessary right now, so perhaps I’ll come back to this comment some day.
Oh F you. Why do you have to make such good points. I love this show. Its stupid how INCREDIBLY important its is to me. I spent 3 years between the seasons listening to Schnee talking about how ridiculously good the writing and EVERYTHING about S1 is. And now you come along, being all elaborate, explaining how they messed up S2. And the worst thing is: your points are RIGHT. I cant even brush you off as a hater. God damn it. Anyways, good job pointing out true things, now I have to reconcile my love for the show (yes also S2) with the fact that the second season is kind of a mess. :) PS: In case that wasnt clear I am obviously not seriously insulting you. I am just a bit desperate. Sorry
@finixmoon127 if you'd like to explain it one day; please do. My comment posed questions in genuine good faith. Season 1 never left me confused and I'm also not exactly new to analyzing media and it's tropes. I don't really like that to fully understand major points on s2 u gotta use the microexpressions and outside of show league lore. If you could help me clear up some parts id really appreciate it! No hurries tho, life is busy
I've come to terms that season 2, while not perfect, was good and I look forward to what Fortiche has in store for the IP going forward. 'Arcane' is beautiful and inspiring. This was a passion project for all those involved and MY GOD, is it a story worth telling.
I doubt Fortiche will go back to it. They’ll likely keep doing shorts. But they want to move on doing wholes series based on LoL and want to do more things, especially their own original stories
Jesus Christ, this is the most reasonable take in the entire cs. Everyone is Siskel and Ebert now, it’s mind numbing. Encourage these artists to create more and better programming like this rather than the constant whining. Had to get this off my chest. Truly appreciate your comment.
I thought it was great. Did the S2 rush a couple things? Yes, but the way they did them and the overall effect still worked and didn't leave me angry about it. Do I wish there was more time? OF COURSE - WHO DOESN'T WANT MORE ARCANE?! But this is the format they stuck too and because of that, they had to cut things shorter.
I just wish certain fans could modulate their criticism slightly. Yes there's small issues here and there, but overall it's a stellar season. Endings are hard. And endings with a very strict limit on time, even more so.
@isaw9969 you're entitled to that, but by most accounts this season is a smashing success, if the flaws were that glaring everyone would be seeing them and judging accordingly. All the s2 episodes currently are above a 9 on imdb.
@@gman7497 yeah cause recency bias? it is full of plotholes or retcons (the vander and silco both knew ViJinx's parents opens up such a can of worms it insane. whole major plot points of s1 suddenly... dont work anymore, or are at least a mess timewise) (many things are open and unanswered: why do we see the cog in e6 falk differently 4 times, same shot? why did jayce not just hug Viktor right there to blast memories into him? how did Viktor go from a genuine wanting to help guy in s1 to, 'oh its internalised ableism!' in s2, even tho that was never his plot?) (how did Ambessa, warlord supreme, expect Viktor to listen to him if he got 100% power? no was shes that dumb, is she?) (how did mel go from barely able to restrain viktor in e8, to magically fighting Ambessa, shielding characters and destroying leblanc in her own domain in e9?) (why did Cailtyn just stop trusting Ambessa and follow Vi, even tho they had a Bad Breakup?) (so r Zaun and Piltover - the Main Thing in s1 - just besties now they had to fight one big bad? why did radical sevika gaf abt Piltover enough to help them?) (i can go on sadly) the season and the things it shows itself arent bad; but it almost never explains how we got from A to B. season 1 was a masterpiece because there are no holes left to be filled post-canon. the show explains every character, their motivation and their actions, be it with words or show-dont-tell. s2 just.... skips right over super essential plotpoints and basically only gives you the end-result of a mini-arc we didnt get to see! like, i love arcane. s1 means the literal world to me. its just insane how much s2 fell of. they were too ambitious. "in pursuit of great, we failed to do good"
@@gman7497 If you call it a smashing success and overlook its flaws, you're encouraging the creators to ignore those flaws as well. And they'll make those mistakes again. You're not doing them any favours pretending the show/season was perfect, because it wasn't. They made mistakes and if you want them to improve, you call them out on it so they don't do it again
"So, how do we get Viktor and Jayce to stop the Arcane?" "Jayce says something cheesy, Viktor touches the crystal and everything goes poof." _"...Why?"_ "WHO CARES!"
The problem with setting the bar this high your first time at bat is that it's nigh impossible to meet or exceed that height with future endeavors. I fear the LoL stories yet to come won't live up to the expectations set by Arcane.
The ending was good. And I agree that based on what they needed it to lead to and leave on, it was what it needed. The problem I have is that a bunch of the intimacy of what made Season One so good was simply not as present and the buildup seemed kind of rushed. Sequels tend to inherently become more plot heavy as the scope and stakes escalate and it showed, the season had to handle new plot drivers in the form of the Noxian intervention and Viktor's drive toward the apocalypse and more. In addition it had to handle the new character arcs for these plots as well as the characters and themes from season one. With only nine episodes, without say more time per episode (5 - 15 min), one or two more episodes per act or even another act to balance character intimacy and arcs with plot developments and provide some breathing room to better address some of the themes from season one like the conflict between the cities, neither gained to both their detriments. (and no I don't think another season was entirely necessary) With the trademark storytelling efficiency in Season One, with its limited intimate scope they did well but it does not surprise me that it justifiably sort of came across as rushed and too dense in Season Two. Without more time for intimacy, to give things time to breath, for things to be internalized and explored, it does feel these like events on screen seem separated from a story core that was not quite there like in season one. Season Two looks to me very much a product of the preplanned two season story that they had in their internal vision, much of it was already baked in plot wise and structurally. The problem appears that while season one was rewritten to its great benefit to be intensely character focused and be narratively tight and thematically and emotionally interwoven, it appears they might not have realized season two would need the same treatment to carry on more effectively where season one ended until too late to change. I lament that it fell short of what it could be. I never expected it to reach Season One's 10/10 "lightning in a bottle" experience, but a 9/10 would have been wonderful; but alas 8/10 is not terrible. Especially since it is stronger than it is weaker. Still all in all, a remarkable piece of storytelling when considering their limits in time, scope and budget. Especially since this show was their first time doing something like this, I hope they take away the right lessons from this experience. Easily my favorite piece of animated media
season 2, to me, can be summed up by "in the pursuit of great, we failed to do good". the season was a mess of, on their own, interesting ideas, but then without the proper time to flesh them out, leaving many plots feeling empty and unfullfilled. military/puppet ruler Caitlyn? Dropped 1 episode after where she already shows doubt abt Ambessa, and dropped 2 episodes after that after Vi calls her cupcake once. Vi also seems to hold no actual grudge against Caitlyn despite their pretty serious fight in the airducts. Viktor's whole plot needed 3 more epispdes on its own to fully make sense. Was he controlled? season 1 made the hexcore look like a sentient entity, and season 2 was like "nevermind!". But what were the footsteps, how did he know to use his powers? why was his physical body so un-emotive while his cosmos body was? when did he use his emotions? why the FUCK did he go from "there is always a choice", to "i wont sacrifice his humanity for your cause" to "choice is false (and we all should be one hivemind)"? it was Not a natural progression at all. Why does Jayce imply in e9 that Viktor always wanted to fix what he saw as imperfections, when we are never shown that pre-s2? he wanted to use the hexcore to Stay Alive so he could make a legacy and help the people in need. it was never implied it was bc he saw himself as imperfect? also, imagine telling a stage 4 lung cancer patient them trying to be cured is them "trying to get rid of imperfections/what makes them admirable". i would start biting people. again, the idea is good, but the progression felt veeery tacky. he just became whatever villian the writers needed him to be, without considering how he would become to that point. i dont wanna type more im tired and dissapointed. s2 did not deliver on many promises from s1, and it tried to cram in too much new stuff while not resolving the things s1 set up.
Absolutely agree with you on this. I felt so disappointed by how rushed everything felt. It felt like they were trying to shoehorn a much bigger story into the 9 episode structure from season one where it just didn't fit, and the story majorly suffered for it
@@lizryan7451I was also a bit disappointed by the feel of the show. My dad described it as “too esoteric” and I agree. Arcane S1 was a combination of real characters and worlds that were fleshed out while having some magic elements involved! Season 2 was just magic without any of the “real” moments that made Season 1 great!!
Also, the plot line focused on the building tensions between piltover and zaun? Y'know a major thread of season 1 and *the* primary thread of act 1? Dropped after episode 5. It's building up towards Jinx realizing he role as a leader then gets *completely* dropped to focus on Vander and mecha wizard Jesus. Shit, Sevica is a major character right up to episode 5. After that, she gets barely any screen time and not a single line of dialogue.
I was disappointed with the multiverse/time travel stuff that we get in every contemporary TV show already, and that shot the stakes into the orbit and, to me, made Piltover and Zaun's story, as well as that of Vi and Jinx, feel irrelevant in comparison. Granted, multiverses and time travel have been part of League's lore for a long time. But the final fight didn't have to be about the survival of humanity in the multiverse. And the message that there is beauty in imperfections and Jayce's tone-deaf remark that Viktor shouldn't have felt like he needed repairs felt generic and disconnected from the rest of the show. Arcane as a whole still gets 10/10 from me. S1 is 10/10. S2 is 10/10 up until and including E7. The ending is still good at 7/10 for me. It just could have been better.
srs? For all alternate dimension versions I've seen, this was the absolute best version. And it is needed to explain wtf happened to Heimer, Jayce and Ekko. Why Jayce is so violent against it, how the Z-Drive was invented and all the characters going through HUGE growth.
@@Adonna2424I'm with you on that. It's not that the multiverse stuff was poorly executed (barring the inconsistencies and illogic inherent to it). It's just that I think it diluted the show's other, more interesting conflicts.
the "beauty in imperfections" thing was so out of place. Like, Jayce, the man was dying. He was coughing up blood, fainting and literally hospitalized. Him trying to fix his illness isnt him wanting to get rid of imperfections, wtf. it also just... completely ignores the fact that Viktor wasnt born with this stuff - it is the direct result of Piltover's oppression of Zaun, and the living conditions here. The thing that made Viktor so tragic was that his whole character was abt making sure others wouldnt go through the illnesses he did - he wanted to help! - only for him to die before he could have, because Piltover wanted to use his work for their own gains instead. and e9 just... forgets that, it seems!
@@mikolmisol6258 I hear you. When Viktor and Jayce had that cosmic spat, I spaced out. I didn't give af what they were doing. The Jinx and Vi teamup was infinitely more interesting and then they got hooked up to the matrix and I just had to sit there and accept that for some reason.
Idk if I am gonna rewatch S2. If I do it is probably just gonna be the Ekko episode. Otherwise I think Arcane is a 1 season show to me. S2 isn't a bad show... It just isn't Arcane.
The animation is still the best there is, but Season 2 is so rushed and pretty much destroyed Vi as a character, so the more i think about it, the more i hate it
I think the Moment the Show lost itself to me was when sevika attends the meeting before the war. She is standing in the oppositions parliament that not long ago “her people” bombed and it’s not even a real deal. How did the 2 city conflict, that mind you, worsened in the beginning of S2, just disappear? All the classism and discrimination just… dropped in the final arc. It lost its social commentary in order to tell an “age of ultron” type story imo
can't wait for season 2 deep dives,I absolutely loved the ones you did for the first season,they made me appreciate it even more on such a deeper level,and I extended that knowledge to my brother when I showed it to him
I m surprised how no one talks about how they used season 2 like a tool to set up future projects. they basically baited the audience by setting up a serious tense confrontation between the two cities only to throw a multiversal magic war so they can set up future projects to keep making money is a slap to the face to everyone who expected a serious conclusion for the story.
I love that when ekko confronts victor and throws the literal answer to the coin question in Victor's face it breaks open the right side of the face. The right side of the brain responsible for creativity and emotions.
The compact pacing was fine for me. Arcane season 2 builds on sn1 without handholding you, no filler, no fluff, no over-simplification, no over repetitively *FORCED* toddler-ish "comedy" and no spoon feeding while encouraging deductive participation from the audience/ viewers to follow the plot complimented by an ABSOLUTE BANGER of hyper-cinematic induction all culminating to higher immersive experience. There are many online still scratching their head about how or why Silco and Vander became buddies again in the alternate timeline yet they COMPLETELY forgot about the LETTER from Vance addressed to Silco IN SEASON 1 which Silco never read in the main timeline so it becomes BLATANTLY OBVIOUS that he read the letter and "found the will to forgive" in the alternate timeline. Brilliant compact and impactful writing. But instead many are demanding to be spoon-fed. The only main issue for me (personal bias) is the finale should have been longer and bigger battle filled will much more multiple character moments AND we should have SEEN how Ekko united Zaun after saving Jinx including seeing Jinx make a new arm for Sevika. Also we never got to know WHO the other leading families of Piltover are but i am okay and content with what we got on screen. Especially considering how INSANELY EXPENSIVE the budget was (Arcane sn1+2 budget= $250m, most expensive animation ever) so it's understandable how and why they made the writing tight and compact while giving the audience some participatory deduction and generate interest to research into the lore. What they delivered is still very peak in my opinion. We all wanted more eps but there is cost-benefit situation with that. Perhaps in future projects they could make each ep 10mins longer from 40mins-50mins then the final can be like 1hr. This can be a perfect middle ground to give more time to more avenues of the plot without adding more full eps. It might cost a little more but still significantly LESS than making additional FULL eps. Either way, both Arcane sn1+2 have been incredibly amazing. Both get at LEAST 9/10 rating from me irrespective of whatever flaws each season has. Urgh [eye roll], i see so many in the comments already conflating this epic series into their rage bait grift politics trying to take the constructive discussion AWAY from the show itself. Unfortunately, this youtube channel owner is deliberately encouraging this based on his hearts/ likes he is giving such posters.
Arcane made me cry so much in s2 it was unbearable I loved every second of it, it could have ended at ep 7 (btw ep 7 I was so confused and angry at the start of this episode, because of the 3 last episodes they used a whole one to talk about "what if" and I wanted them to use all of the 2 hours to conclude into a real finale like s1, but at the end of ep 7 I wished that it ended here because I liked it so much and wow what a watch, overall it was such a nice event and coming back every week to watch it with a friend was an amazing time I had, thanks arcane you did a lot for me (and thank you too Walrus, your videos about season 1 were so great)
Saying this is what the show needed is respectfully complete bs. They could have easily just give the show an ending that fitted with the rest of the show focusing on the actual main plot instead of rushing it and forcing in a "greater than thou" plot that renders every other subplot unimportant. The only reason this is the way it ended is because they have more content they want to produce and felt the need to end this show quicker so that the animators can get going on their next project. It just sucks because season 1 was a 10/10 experience in every regard and season 2 became a generous 9/10 with the only factor that was actually better than the first season being the animations. They could have made a perfect story but they decided with rushing and I will never forgive them for it. Im not even gonna watch their future projects because I had such high expectations and if they are just gonna ruin it for dumb reasons then I don't want to invest in anything else.
While I do agree with your issues with the show, I will say that I personally will watch their next project, if only to see if they address the issues they had with this season. I really, really, really hope they learn from their mistakes, otherwise, yeah, I'm not watchin anymore of their stuff
Damn is just an Shows mates, stob your BS shts mate. Damn you don't know how hards it is to write an Long and Complicated story mate and so does animation too. Y'all are just Fcking emotional baby who can't forgive someone who just accidentally spilling your milka. Geez just be grateful of how Writers are putting into this season like Animations, Symbolism and Allegory, Character depths, and Character Development etc.
It wasn’t rushed, it was just way to condensed. There should have been more episodes or a season three to really flesh out all the story’s they had in there in a more authentic way. It was so so rich and packed full, it didn’t have time to tell all of them in just 9 episodes
@@Samsstuff10 The show is rushed because it's condensed. There's fewer episodes so they speed through all the content to get to the end quicker. The show needed a third season
I agree. Although I enjoyed season 2, it almost felt like the "middle child syndrome" that most trilogies have, especially ones that werent sure theyd get a trilogy. I know we are getting way more than a trilogy, but it has the same issues a lot of middle movies have with needing to set up the next movie, leaving the movie feeling like it has less of an ending.
Episode 7-9 was amazing. Piltover coming together is what America needs to do. War is horrible, needless deaths. Ekko loving Jinx in a faraway dream that isn’t reality, and having the balls to come save his timeline is savior vibes. Jayce being the villain on;y to be revealed the hero, vice versa for Victor was poetic. You can love another man and not be gay. Cait an Mel teaming up to beat Ambessa was just fun as hell, Ambessa literally created her own downfall. Jinx and Vander “dying” in this timeline, meanwhile Vi dying in the other is great. Law of equivocal exchange. Absolute cinema
Nearly a week later I agree with every point. Show is top tier in story telling, animation and everything you want in pure good television, just it could of done with more time to breath. Five minutes more on each episode to allow you to learn more about the characters, their actions and thus relate to it that more.
Beautiful animation, art style and superb voice acting, but... Where season 1 was (mostly) grounded and about heartfelt character development, season 2, while conceptually interesting, went a little too 'larger than life' for me. I respect what they did here, but I feel like they diminished a real strength of the show in favor of more spectacle and grander topics. Like a lot of people have said: s2 needed a bit more breathing room (+3 - 4 episodes?) to let characters naturally progress their ideology, motives and ultimately actions. As well as deal with the emotions their situations provoke in them. Without this, some character actions feel rushed and sometimes even illogical. A bit of down time creates contrast and lets the highs shine that much more. That said, the fact that they crammed so much into s2 is a miracle in and of itself. You can feel they wanted to tell more story, but most likely couldn't. There were plenty of brilliant moments, had a good time watching it, but wasn't nearly as gripping as the first season to me. Looking forward to what comes next!
I think they couldve avoided the tone switch a bit if they had displayed the more powerful and abstract properties of the arcane throughout the series. The most advanced thing hextech (hexgates) can do for most of the series is teleportation and then it suddenly turns into alternate dimensions and manipulating fundamental forces of the universe.
For me I think Arcane should have broke with the 3/3/3 format. The audience should have been privy to the Under-cities side, the conversation between a suicidal Jinx and Ekko, how Ekko and Jinx convinced the oppressed people of Zaun to defend their oppressors. While I am fine with ambiguous endings, In Cyberpunk 2077 the Star Ending is considers by some the best, Jinx on the bow of an airship breathing free.
between episode 8 and 9, one more episode to let revelations breathe would've been nice. Other than that, good god, i loved this season. i wouldn't change the conclusions or loose threads left over. so stoked for the other stories to come.
Ok man good video as always bla bla bla, now feed me with other arcane related content, youre videos are made with so much passion and emotion, i swear that after finishing the show i was just waiting to know youre opinion about it
Haha. More Arcane is coming when it’s ready. I still and collecting my thoughts, but needless to say Viktor will absolutely be the first video for a deep dive
I just find it sad when I see the arcane community bashing season 2 so hard when it’s still an incredible show (it literally got 100% by reviewers and 92% by audience on rotten tomatoes) it’s just sad because people are completely ignoring the nuance just so they can focus on the flaws. Amazing take FlyingWalrus.
Those aren’t day 1 arcane fans most of them are League fans who is the worse fanbase in probably all of gaming they judge everything and don’t know how to actually enjoy something
I agree that the show was fantastic and one of the best I’ve ever seen. I do also think the last two episodes were missing some context and spectacle to finish out the character stories as well as make the war feel more… well spectacular.
I WAS SAYING THIS THIS AINT A ENDING THIS IS THE BIRTH OF MORE SHOWS TO COME Which didn’t make me mad at all cause we will see these characters in the other shows people will come around to all love in it’s gonna take time just like how people ain’t enjoy the beginning of season 1
Just finished watching the 2nd season. So it's the first impression, but it has left me frustrated and confused. While there were some interesting ideas they were never further explored or explained and there were too many plotlines to handle in that timeframe. Important plotpoints happen offscreen and are for the viewer to figure out, I guess. The story's focus and the characters' ideologies/alliences were shifting so much that there was no personality or consistency, While the developments of the first season were straight up abandoned or negated. After seeing how much love and thought was put into the first season ... what a waste :(
For what you said about recomending the show, to me season one was so good that I would recomended to any one who likes to watch TV, I think anyone can find something that they would like in the story, and yeah the "watch the first three episodes" is one of the ways to recomended. With the second season I would be a lot more hesitant, and just recomended to people that like fantasy and/or animation, because I think there is a lot of stuff that they wouldn't enjoy if they are not into the fantasy genere or like animation (even if I'm a big defender of animation as a medium not a genere, there is still a lot of people who simply do not watch stuff that's animated because it's animated). My favourite part of season one was the politics and how this interacted with the science, and that was mostly gone from this season even if I still find it very enjoyable. In the last season Jayce had an interaction with Mel, who were two character that I enjoyed to see dance around each other, and I just though "oh, you two are just different people now". I don't think it was a bad ending, I think they did what they wanted to do in a very beautiful way, but none of the bits of this season hit me as hard as the ones in the last season. And, weirdly, I do not care for this world so I am just no interesting to see them going into knew lands. I was interested into this story about Piltover, that's what season one sold me on. Season two didn't do a good job into selling me this vast and expanded universe. If the next show has the same quality of animation I'll check it out, because I love animation, but I don't care for were this story or characters go next, or to find out that the people that "died" just pop out in a different place. I like stories to end.
The Ekko What-if episode was the only one I really enjoyed like S1. S1 was amazing to me for how grounded and connected the characters were. Their plots overlapping to a grand finale. But S2 everyone felt super disconnected and everything felt weightless/high-concept. We never really just sat with the characters. Mel, Ekko, and Jayce were literally just magically noped out of it for over half of the show. I was especially disappointed by Vander though. I somehow felt nothing between him Vi and Jinx.
It is good that you already realized, it is not the end, it is the beginning. Another hint is to just imagine what they maybe purposefully did not show us. Also the metaphors and references are literally too much to count. The feeling that something is off is on purpose. Well it seems you at least got the abusive family Jinx has to seperate from figured out. Most people still think Jinx is the bad guy and Vi the hero. x to the D Have you looked for dogs? You know Jinx is pregnant? You know AU is doomed and AU Powder will use the portal? Get Jinxed MV. Wild Rift -You really got me going. Space Odyssey. All are spoilers for whats to come :)
Two things are really sad here. The worst is how the best series in the world got ruined already in it's second season. How do you speedrun something like the decline of Game of Thrones in ONLY 2 SHORT SEASONS?! This could have been so so good and a 9.5-10/10 for me and I never rate anything that high, except for the first season of Arcane. Had it just been allowed to live for 3 or 4 seasons in total and with the original vision of the series being continued throughout :(
The GoT comparison I see popping up everywhere is actually insane to me, because S2 is nowhere near that bad, and it definitely did not “ruin the series”. Yes, the pacing criticism is valid, and so is the frustration with the show being this 🤏 close to perfection, but it’s miracle in the first place that Season 2 is still good overall, and we should be grateful for that instead of complaining about *what could have been* when we know very well that it was never gonna happen. We simply don’t live in that universe.
I get that you’re disappointed but comparing it to GOT’s ending is a bit much. All the characters are still consistent, the world building still great. It’s just that the narrative on screen needs a lot of supplemental head cannon via the deep world building, to even start making sense again that leaves a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths. Also that the Zaunites gets all the heat while the Piltovans get off pretty much scott free is undoubtably off putting for most people. All in all, some missed beats but still a good story.
I love Arcane, both seasons. I do have a few complaints, the biggest being the dimension hop. I don't buy the World Without Hextech. I do buy the Hexapocalypse world, but not the counterpart. The things that made that world better, had nothing to do with Hextech itself. The structural changes: Good Silco, Open Bridge, No Shimmer, City Unification - ALL of the things that made that world good, happened before Jayce and Victor's experiments. Before the timeskip after Silco took in Powder. Furthermore, Hextech is very limited in the show - all we see is the Hexgates, and prototypes that only the Main Characters have access to. The guns never advance. The clockwork Zaunite stuff is explained as not being HT. It's literally just better sky trains. The egalitarian nature of the better world is not explained by; "Shipping is worse, so everyone is happy." The Piltover and Zaunite councils would have to have made drastically different decisions, and dumbing the tech down as an appeal to Luddism just doesn't explain the policy changes. Also, the final battle was choppy and made no sense. The was no sense of how big the sides were, and it was insufficiently set up. 5 Ships and an indeterminate number of Noxians in a frontal assault against an entire city's worth of guards and fortifications... Eh. As I said, I do love the show - but it isn't perfect.
I really dont think u understood the point of that chapter if ur complains are that "it doesnt make sense". There is a reason for that, is called butterfly effect. Something "small" changed, so a A LOT changes. EVEN withouth clear correlation. That is the entire point. So literally everything u complain makes no sense. U just misundertood what the chapter was about. About the fight itself... thats the whole point. Idk if its good or bad, neither I care. But the whole thing about this fight is that NO ONE KNOWS NOTHING. Its a desperate attack from ambessa and a desperate defense from piltover. more time could have been better sure, but the tone would have been the same, in fact explaining more? Bad. When we see the Viktor army the idea is that you feel like something out of the ordinary is attacking. Also an entire city? Really? Piltover forces are small compared to Zaun, most people are not fighters, and most people flee, we saw how many walked away in the council and how many leaved the city. I feel u saw whatever u wanted to see really. Like the serie isnt perfect, I felt uncomfortable with the ending and felt didnt had enough time to explain a looot of things, but none of the things u said are the reason.
The change was that Heimerdinger was there for literally 3 years and likely set about pioneering better communication and cooperation between Piltover and Zaun, while Jayce's explosion likely got him expelled for taking a life - or he killed himself since he didn't get lumped into that timeline with Ekko and Heimerdinger. E7 made perfect sense. As for the final battle, it was pretty clear throughout both seasons that Piltover's "finest" were anything but. When faced against a dire threat they needed the Noxians to accomplish pretty much anything. Even in the wake of an assault on their council it was the Noxians who stepped up and secured the area, not enforcers. A smaller force of Noxians was able to assault Piltover because Piltover, frankly, had no idea how to fight a protracted siege or battle of true conquest. Reminds me of an arc in Vinland saga where there are only 100 jomsvikings invading an island of 500+ farmers and militia. The militia believe they can rally the farmers to put up a superior fight through force of numbers alone. They get thoroughly decimated by the organization that actually knows what it's doing.
I really liked how AU Powder didn't know that that wasn't her boyfriend Ekko walking around in his body. And that AU Heimer just is completely gone for 3 years since OG Heimer has been occupying his body for 3 years. What the fuck were the writers thinking introducing multiverse slop like this.
I mean pretty much everyone else in the show was gay, but these 2 were not. They were very close friends. Both men had female love interests during the series.
its just people having fun. if Mel or Jayce had the scene in the end, everyone would see it as romantic. If Ekko and Jinx did, everyone would see it as romantic, etc. Theyre literal soulmates, and if people wanna interpret it as platonic, romantic or familial thats up to them. its just pixels on a screen - i have taxes to pay, so i truly dont understand why people devote their time to caring abt how other people view the relationship between two non-existing things.
So basically its a big advertisement so riot ca sell more champion skins with new series of probably questionable quality that prioritizes the ip over a good story, like you said, it could have been the best show ever
I can't wait to hear you go more in depth about Viktor especially in Season 2. I literally haven't been able to stop thinking about his story since I watched it (I've now watched it all twice through). Just... so beautiful 😭
I'm glad they didn't give it a full ending. they did leave things to interpretation, they left things open ended, they gave options for the future. would it have been better with a full ending? maybe. but that would have cut off potential for continuity in the future. they did what was best
Can we take it as a truism that when an IP is confused as to where they want to go, someone at the table always suggests "Hey, time travel plot!" and is more-often-then not listened to?
Season 2 wasn't as character driven as Season 1. For example, I wanted to see more Vi and Isha interaction, or see Mel being worried and ask herself what happened to Jayce after his disappearance. Many tidbits like that, were left off screen this season. Also it's as if Zaun was barely relevant to the plot after Smeech's death--What about the remaining chembarons and Sevika's influence over them to be at piltover's high table in the finale? How did that came to be? It wasn't elaborated at all. I'm not saying Season 2 was bad, it's close to perfect, but it needed a bit more scenes or at least more episodes to show missing character interactions like that, which was present in the previous season. Another example is this Loris guy who disappears the same way as he appears--out of nowhere. For the amount of effort put to have him appear in many scenes, it feels like they decided to discard that idea as the finale approached, instead of exploring his character. I read the co-creator mentioning that they will try to be more careful about rushing things though in future shows, at least.
Just finished watching S1 and S2 in two days, and I must say i don't want to say goodbye to the characters at all.. I enjoyed the series too much and didn't want to end at all.. Don't know what to do with my life now lmao.. So my question is, should I start re-watching it again? Is it too soon, should I wait a couple of weeks, than re-watching it.. i don't know
At first it felt rushed, however the longer I sit with it, and the more I think back on things the more I like it. I want to do a watch from start to finish I think I'll enjoy it even more. I do think it is a bit of a beginning, and personally I think that's great. Would I love more, definitely. However I would rather have an ending that leaves room for potential in each character's story than to have them drag on too long
I loved this season and the ending, but I can understand all of the criticisms people have towards it. They're valid criticisms. But none of the problems detracted from the emotional impact for me, and that's what really counts in the end. Plus, it was still a visually gorgeous feast. 2:50 "Gay lovers fixing the world" 😂😂😂
Without even watching the video (blind comment); I was disappointed by season 2 because it had an obvious bad-guy, an ideology that was broken at its core, while season 1 was more about how there is no good or bad when building social and economic hierarchies; no matter what you decide to do, it’ll bite you in the butt somehow and you just have to live with that. I do get why the writers made the pivot though; fans wanted something more conclusive and traditional.
I think for me arcane left me with the feeling of this is riots cinematic univers. Which is fine i just hope it doesn't turn out like the mcu where you need this or this to understand whats happening next
S1 was perfect, I can't think of anything to criticize. S2 was amazing, but it does stumble a bit in a few places. Too fast pacing, using music video portions as timeskip/exposition for things that should have been shown, political plot abandoned for high octane action fights for the future of the whole world, too little development of Caitlyn task force and Isha's, forgetting about a lot of relationships in last 2 arcs, like Jayce and Cait, Vi and Ekko, Sevika and Jinx and Isha. Not to mention the implications for the wider world that kinda break a lot of Piltover and Zaun characters that didn't show up in the show. Still everything else was so good that it's worth a 9.5/10 despite all of those flaws.
Excited for this era Riot is starting. We are at the start of an amazing cinematic universe. We are watching what some have already experienced watching the first LOTR or Star wars in theater. Or the first pirates, or the first harry potter or Iron man. All these first release drew you into amazing movies and series based on the worlds favorites books and created by the world most beloved writers. And now the era of our favorite Games will start.
Hands down the worst thing about the finale and the entire show is that it is over! You may disagree but I will gladly die on top of my little hill of a singular opinion😤
Jayce and Victor cant just have a platonic relationship, they gotta be called gay by ship andies >_>. Let me spell it out for you. You can have a terrible life and that one shinning hope is your best friend who has always looked out for you and you can love him for that WITHOUT being gay. This is how you tell your viewers you've never had a true friend without saying it.
Didn't like it for the ending of Arcana, still good, but very simplistic in the overall story. Not in structure but here's a bad guy that did it all, he's gone everyone is happy now
Love the vieo. Great job as always. I also needed to let it sit with me for a while, in order to know if I like the finally. The onlx thing that I dont like as much is, that (Spoilers for evryone who hasnt watched yet) Jinx let hersister and Ecco in the beleave that she is dead. I would have loved for them to have a propper good bye. 😭 Now I´m kinda hping that She will apear in one of the future projects and somehow lets Vi know thats shes fine. But the way the ending is, is also just perfect for the tone of the series. There was no way with it beeing happy go lucky and I knew that going in the first time. One sene though confused me a bit. It was nice that Vi and Cate finaly got their moment, but it felt like it was in the completly wrong time. Sins Vi was just worried about her sister "ending it" and a few minutes later she makes out with her girl? Shouldnt she bee like, I need to go after my sister first? Or was she thinking that she is already too late?
ok look, maybe it was just a joke, but I have read so many people saying it seriously idk how to take it. But Im going to say this as neutral as I can. Why do people need to impose sexual/romantic love at everything? are ur lifes so sad this is the only love u know? Why cant 2 men love each other non seuxally nor romantically, and just... love each other... It was fun the first time, but when I have EVERYONE saying it, and too many saying it seriously. Its just annoying. Why cant asexual or arromantic people exist? Why cant people just love another human without the bs of sex and romance. I m heterosexual, Im a man, I have a female friend who is beatiful. And yet I love her for who she is. I just love her as a person, a friend, a partner. I have a latent libido, I masturbate and everything, I want a gf (even if I take things very slowly). Why cant we exist? Why cant we love someone just for love. Is just so tiring. So harmful and toxic. I will insist idk in which tone u said it, so is not as much as an attack to you, but rather as the situation so dont take it personal.
Season 2 problems are rooted from the unnecessary plotlines in Season 1. Take Ambessa and her Noxian storyline out of Season 1 and we may have a more concise season 2. So to say that Season 1 was perfect is pure bullcrap
Why TF couldn't Mel and Jayce be together?! Why make him gay, why make Mel masculine? Why the hell did Ambassa have to die? They didn't make Victor and Jayce weren't brothers which is what they were in season one. I have zero desire to re=watch this season. I love season 1, and this ruined it for me and others..
So it's the spiderverse 2 ending lol (thats a joke) Tbh i p much agree. Im a lil disappointed but not like.. that much lmao it's fine it's Good. I liked it fine. It's v good
The story drifts away after S2 act 1. - Mels Black Rose plotline was way too much - Caitlyns set up as dictator, but for like only 10 sec -Jinx character completely changed. Her psychotic maniac behaviour disappeared completely - the AU was a bad idea altogether -Vi has no character development and is tossed aside - no real resolution of the sister conflict - no real showing of Zaun/ Piltover conflict - Ekko/ Powder romance felt out of place. - Victor/ Jayce ending was just Marvel-like.
Even though season 1 was incredible, I find myself enjoying and rewatching season 2 and that ending way more. I get we are critical about the things we love, theres always room for improvement, but the amount of detail and care for the project from the writters, animators and actors, specially with their lack of experience in showmaking is remarkable. Im sure they all learned a lot during the process. There is beauty in imperfection
I disagree. This wasn't the ending that Arcane S2 needed. It was just the one that we got, due to budget and time constraints. Season 2 contained *SEVERAL SEASONS* worth of content, and due to that disregarded a lot of character work, conflicts and thematic storytelling to turn into Avengers Endgame by episode 9. The show isn't bad, but it's a steep fall off in regards to the writing and plot structure.
It needed another 1-2 seasons, to focus on the Arcane, Hextech and Noxus plots, while this one should've been focusing on the city conflict and giving resolution to the sisters's story.
I loved S2 for a lot of reasons. Needless to say, the animation was crazy good, and these are still some great characters. I think it’s still narratively strong, but it makes me wish that S2 had been given another 2-3 episodes, if only to expand on Part 2 and the ending, expanding on a couple of the relationships and building out the ending into more of an actual ending rather than emphasizing that it’s a setup for events to come (that I will definitely watch). Even that feels like it’s asking too much, though. What we got was still incredible.
Supposedly the finale was supposed to be like 1 and a half hours long for each episode. They had to cut out a lot of things like the conversation between Ekko and Jinx in the final episode. That was supposed to be like 5-10 minutes longer. Mainly because Netflix didn't allow them for whatever reason to have it that long which is very strange.
@@tuntunkhan5539 Fr they really have to ruin all good things because of stupid business ideas. I really do hate corporations because they always end up ruining good art.
But it all that is true then maybe they will release a dirrectors cut one day and im definetly going to watch it.
No, I don't think having longer or extra episodes would be the solution. That would just blow out the budget. The show needed a whole other season with a separate budget. And if it needed padded, they have the source material to do it
@ I could see them separating this season’s events such that there can be two seasons worth of content. Either way, I think the idea of expanding on what they did here to give more time for these ideas to breathe would have benefitted the show.
I think they did the best they could do with the show being reduced to 2 seasons from 5. And even then they had to cut out a lot of stuff, that's why some pieces feel missing or felt happened off camera.
They had to keep only the most important stuff for the story, unfortunately missing out on some interesting story beats and relationships
it's that terrible affliction knowing something would be better (when it was already fantastic) if it just had a little more, not out of any greed, but because you can feel it in the breaths of the story. loved it to bits, but all the shades of criticism certainly aren't wrong.
I agree. I would have loved to see the full intended 1-45min cut of the finale. But I do also understand budgeting and time constraints meaning that they had to leaving things on the threshing floor.
I do hope they are able to finish it and release it in the future as a special bonus or thank you.
@AFlyingWalrus exactly my thinking! i know this has been a very expensive and labor of love for a long time now, and i'll never know the full workings behind the scenes, but what i would do for bringing back the era of deleted scenes voiced over the storyboards in the special features section of the dvd....
@AFlyingWalrus I also think the scenes with Vi and Jinxs original parents could have been removed with little-to-no impact, giving the rest of the story a little more breathing room.
@@AFlyingWalrus I don't think it was budget, it was the format they chose to stick with from the beginning.
We'll always have season 1, which was more simple, focused and efficient. There's a lot to love about season 2 but I think it falls mostly in the artists' passion superseding cohesion. It works in spite of itself.
The series needed 2 more episodes to flesh out the story beats and rapid changes in tempo. It felt very rushed to me. The ending was unsatisfying. Loved the show overall, but it certainly had its flaws.
Yeah, or maybe a whole new season to flesh out and explain the sudden appearance of magic here and there.
Adding more episodes to the season would've blown out their budget. It would've made more sense to add another whole season with a separate budget.
cant believe the 3 characters who all expressed suicidal ideation got to die in the end
Oh my.... Dear lord I didn't see that.
Jinx is definitely not dead, lol, too many hints that she's not. For Jayce and Viktor, it's possible that they're not dead, just on a multiverse adventure. They may come back in future shows.
No one is dead, that's the point. Metaphorically, Jaybe, maybe. Creators said that they could very much off some champions, but would never have the guts to actually do that. They're their cash cows, so no way.
Jinx is well and alive on her next journey in the other series (gonna have some sick, grand entrance, appearance). Jayce and Viktor are thrown possibly to some other dimension/universe (they were sucked in, not evaporated) another series. Ambessa is technically the only dead, but I can bet we are going to have some ritual to revive her/character preventing deaths popping up/sth like we had a deal, you still need to serve (some death like person). Warwick is presumably the most dead of all but they gonna pull his regenerative powers and 'it is his humanity that was killed there, the beast side is alive'. And Heim is a yordle and he was transferred to some yordle dimension city (idk I don't know the lore, that's what some lol players said).
@@hatexson I mean, Ambessa definitely died, lol. She's the proof that champions can officially die in the lore, since the League of Legends / Summoner's Rift game itself isn't canon (or it's possibly in the far future of Runeterra).
In any case, Ambessa is dead. The most you could say at this point is that she's part of the "Chosen of the Wolf" and is now in Volrachnun (the mythological Noxian version of "Vahalla" for the honored fallen warriors).
i think what s2 did that was the worst offender to me was; it was a clear soft-pilot to upcoming shows. the whole Mel Black Rose plotline was borderline impossible to follow if you didnt know league lore. this season could have easily, and i mean easily, done without it. put Mel back in the councilor position, make her and Ambessa two opposing forces whispering into Caitlyn's ear. Make Mel realise the harm she did to the undercity by her avoidance of conflict. Throw out some cool parallels between Cait/Mel and how they react to violence done by the people they stand under. There was no reason to make this incredibly intruiging political woman a 'oh shes an OP magical girl" other than 1) backdoor pilot for the Noxus show, and 2) new League Legend.
Thissss
You're right, your idea feels more what Arcane felt to me than that rushed marvel ending
There had to be one magic girl guiding over the new life when Jinx was throwing her birthday party. There is enough room on the wall to write your own stories, but stop critizising the architechture. It is insulting since you peole got no clue what you are talking about.
I don’t know league lore and I followed it. It had to be expanded upon since it’s the entire reason that Mel and Jayce survive Jinx’s missile. It’s the entire reason Ambessa comes to Piltover in pursuit of Hextech. Take it out and so much of the series doesn’t make sense. All the plot lines were planted in season one and needed to be expanded upon, I just think they didn’t realize how much time it would take and they bit off a bit more than they could chew. And time/budget constraints don’t help either. Everything that was there definitely needed to be there and I think they told the story the right way, they just needed a tad more time they didn’t have. And that’s ok!
@@thehutch1674 Same , but this BlackRose plotline was unnecessary. All we ever needed was some seeds planted and knowledge that that organisation/person is the reason she went to Piltover in pursuit of technological military advancement. That's it. It would make ppl more excited for the new series, questioning 'who the f made this badass warrior of a woman run with tail between her legs, what happened in Noxus' and keep them on the edge. We got something but not enough so it borderlines on the meh territory. It should be left for other series and the precious time spent on PiltoverZaun and other storylines. And to be fair Mel, the great already trained mage, was not it, I didn't like it at all. Should've left the gold armour as a passive, something passed down in the bloodline or sth. Looked kinda cool, but eh
Here’s my take on season 2:
as far as I’m concerned, it didn’t really feel like an actual season of television. It felt like the spark notes version of what seasons 2 & 3 would have been if we had a season 3.
It still looked and sounded amazing, with great acting and music. I also liked all the individual story points.
But the narrative felt more like one of those lore videos where someone summed up the entire timeline of a book or video game series.
This doesn’t mean it’s bad - I enjoy these types of videos very much, and the show has fantastic production values to boost. But it didn’t really leave me with the same feeling of satisfaction that a show like Breaking Bad, Fleabag or Succession would give me
My biggest mistake was not rewatching S1 before getting into S2. I was arrogant enough to belive that I remembered most of what happened in S1. And I usually have a pretty good memory. But rewatching S1 after S2 made me realize just how much I had forgotten, and how much of what happened in S2 was clearly set up in S1. My experience would have been way better with S2. Less confusing. And I would not have gotten a bit angry about that last shot with the flying ship. That scene particularly was teased in the very first ep of S1. And I would have known what it meant.
I've tried to steer pretty clear of the discourse surrounding the ending, but much like you said at the end, I think this will age really well. It'll be the starting point of the Runeterra shows and I'm glad it was that. Most everything I've seen has been pretty emotionally charged. People "really love it" OR "really hate it" (from what it seems) but I think confusion can lead to dipping into strong emotions rather than introspection and working through the nuances. The show is nothing if not nuanced and the few times I've gone back to watching it already, I appreciate the ending of the series quite a bit more. Your take is pretty refreshing and I agree with it whole heartedly.
The biggest issue is without a doubt having the biggest set ups in act 1 having no impact, aside from Jayce,Ekko and Heimerdinger.
Caitlyn becoming filled with revenge and having trouble filling her mother's shoes,goes kinda nowhere. The politics of Piltover and Zaun are thrown aside for the black rose stuff, witch while interesting and has a nice conclusion, is still not as big as a hook as the politics of the first season, i woud have much preferred seeing more of Jynx and how she works with Sevika to unite Zaun, but all we see is her breaking some people out of jail and then leaving for Werewick, and i feel like they coud have handled that entire stoyline better, maybe even combining it, having Werewick attack the chembarons and the people who followed Silco, only for Sevika and Jinx to save them, and only after that, Vi and Jynx join to heal Werewick.
Most of my issues is that a lot of time was wasted between Act 1 and 2, so everything kinda happens in Act 2, and gets a decent but not amazing resolution in act 3.
I feel like the entire Blacm Rose thing wasn't included as well and coud have been just something hinted at for the future and not being such a major conflict.
As someone who’s never played LOL and doesn’t know a thing about the Black Rose I agree that they really weren’t included very well. The show didn’t really go much beyond “oh no they’re spooky witches” like I couldn’t get a grasp of what was at stake because I don’t know what the Black Rose is capable of as a threat or what their history is. As a layman it all came across as very hollow
I think the drive to make a franchise out of this series is what killed the second season. It just missed the point of what the first season was all about.
The second season was NOT "killed" but rather climbed higher peaks.
This
I feel they leaned waaaay too much into Marvel-esque type of ending. Epic battle of the Good League of Heroes (no pun allowed) vs the Big Bad Evil Magic, huge time travel plot twist "it was his plan all along"...
And I hate it. None of this is what Arcane great. Season 1 did not have any significant fight or battle in the last episode - and it was perfect. It was character driven plot, not "we have to rush to defeat the Eeeeeeeevil". The stakes in season 1 were incredibly high, because it was so personal, not just another bland "saving the world again, same as we saw a million times already". And overall "the Marvel formula" is nowadays a really bad thing to say about any show. But for Arcane this is just... a crime to turn it into "just another Marvel like show". Unfortunately, this is exactly what Riot chose to do.
As for personal ending for Jinx... I did not expect anything in particular, but definitely not: "She sacrifices her life to save Vi... kinda, but not really, because she has unexplained plot armor".
Personally, while season 1 of Arcane is my favorite show of all time, and season 2 had a lot of fantastic moments, I am not interested in any other shows that will continue its legacy. At all. It will most likely be just milking Arcane fans for more cash from now on. That is my prediction. I hope I am wrong.
To be fair. If a war didn't happen after jinx lauched a ROCKET and killed wealthy and politically powerful councillors, I would be disappointed
As someone who's familiar with the lore, league/Runeterran lore is actually really good. And I'm personally looking forward to their future projects
HOWEVER....
If they apply that same Marvel-esque brushstroke to their future stories, then yeah, I'm done.
The lore of Runeterra is as fantastic as it is because each region and the characters that occupy them each have something meaningful to say about the human condition. The story of Piltover and Zaun has plenty to say about our relationship with class, the economy, technological advancements, and what it means to be human and what it means to want to help. Noxus has plenty to say about our relationship with war, colonialism and nationalism and the impacts and consequences of all those things. Ionia has plenty to say about our relationship with nature and balance, both in an ecological and interpersonal context. The Freljord has a lot to say about tribalism. Demacia has a lot to say about discrimination and the distinction between following the law and doing what's right. Bilgewater has a lot to say about the neverending cycle of revenge. The Shadow Isles has a lot to say about our relationship with death and grief. Targon has a lot to say about our relationship with religion and faith.
The world of Runeterra has plenty of deep interpersonal stories like Vi and Jinx, usully revovling around two deeply connected characters who end up falling out with each other for one reason or another, mostly pertaining to the themes I mentioned above. And it makes for compelling reading and hopefully, watching in the future.
But if they treat it like the MCU and care more about the "big magic battle", then we're dealing with idiots who have completely missed the point of their own lore
@@epigonesenvy Yeah, but a war between Piltover and Zaun. Not Noxus. It started out as a story of class and struggle and devolved into a story about a villain who wants to destroy the world. Lets forget all our issues and band together for some reason
Well Im afraid that was a mistake from Arcane, but at the same time of you. If u had bothered to read more about league lore, u would have known THIS was going to happen. In league there are literal cosmic entities wanting to unexist existence... no seriosuly. And a giant cosmic dragon that makes stars. League lore IS filled with epic battles, good vs evil, etc. Again, Arcane created a false expectation from people not knowing but... it is what it is. I hate that they changed OG Viktor, but I love Arcane Viktor. bc I understand WHY. (I still wished they would have separated them in league...) And I will insist league has always been this. (but worst). This is not your fault neither them anyway. U didnt like it, and if u didnt like this, u arent gonna like whats coming bc Noxus, Demacia and Ionia are literally the most epic fantasy stuff (with a lot of horror too). But hey, my advice is that u open ur mind.
@chrishaven1489 "team up for some reason" it's NOXUS. they are know for successfully conquering countries.
wanna get a long opinion comment? here is one: As much as i adore arcane (which, trust me; its a lot. i was dying when s1 dropped and it actually gave me drive to get better), season 2 just felt ... empty. it left me dissapointed, because it simply did not deliver well on any of the things set up in season 1, and leaves more questions than answers - something which a season finale should NOT do.
A few problems i have:
> remember when this show was about discrimination, oppression, conflict and corrupt governments? dont worry, the writers didnt remember either! why do they spend whole season 1 setting up the tension and breaking point between Zaun and Piltover, only for season 2 to be like "uhm well akshually Noxus is the big baddie and with the power of friendship we must defeat them!!!" like... thats so fucking lazy. Its borderline insulting how the Zaunites were faced with police aggression from Piltover their whole existence, only to be expected to pick up the enforcer uniform in s2A3 and fight to defend the city which has let them rot. its mindboggling to me that they decided to not go into the conflict between those cities (the CORE OF THE SHOW), and instead end it with Sevika gaining a seat in the council, wildly outnumbered by topsiders and without any hints as to what happened between the cities further. and the Jinx Fan Girlie, who was a super radical freedom fighter suposedly, died while wearing an enforcer unifrom, protecting the city that never gave a shit about her.... fuming. this is not the type of show that needed a Big Bad Villian. the reason people love season 1 so much is because, despite it all, it felt grounded.
> also remember when it was about conflict between different ideologies? again, dont worry, the writers didnt either! Vi VS Jinx, Mel VS Ambessa, Jayce VS Viktor, Vander VS Silco (dont get me started on how they retconned their backstory lmao). its just a whole bunch of nothingness now. just. complete emptiness. this season has nothing to say. nothing. remember the banger lines in s1 ("in the pursuit of great, we failed to do good", "weapons cant be unmade, and they are always used", "its a shame that those who shine brightest often burn faster' and i can go on)... what hardcore, borderline radical lines did we have this season? and then i mean lines that were genuinely creative and strong, not 'people should have free choice!' type lines)
> the black rose plot. I get they wanted to give Mel a plot, and probably added this as a soft introduction to their next League series, but it was just completely random and a mess if you dont know any of the lore. what is the black rose, really? what is the Actual reason the black rose and Ambessa are fighting and why should we care? and, with Mel: in episode 8 she was struggling with holding back Viktor's puppet and didnt understand her powers yet, and in e9 she suddenly knows how to create shields and energy blasts? why does she, an empath who can control and change the inner power of others, do these things?
> Its, imo, insulting that they reduced Mel, such an interesting character when it comes to politics in this show, to 'magical mage'. like. Her relationship with Ambessa is so so interesting. The show could have reflected more on Mel, in s2, realising that her passive action in the council as a result of the trauma from her mother's aggression in her childhood did not lead to peace like she wished, but that she instead became, albeit unwantedly, complicit in oppression. in s1 we see this only as her smearing Gold over the portrait of Noxus (which was well done btw) and voting for Zaun's independence, but i truly believe they could have done more with that. Make her and Caitlyn mirrors of one another, wherein both are priveleged, but one tries finally to get rid of her family ties for good (medarda), while the other grasps unto them for the power it gives (caitlyn). Instead, Mel became the Powerfull Strong Woman. we see her show little actual uhh idk the english word. softness? vulnerability? that, in s2, while s1 was abt her learning that side of her and not having to be harsh all the time. and when she does try to show softness, Jayce shuts her down (alltho i guess the man was traumatised and Unwell^tm too, but still). and she ends up all alone, having lost her mother, jayce and her seat in piltover, shipped of to the place which does not care for her. yayyy what a happy end!1!!1!
> The Viktor and the hexcore jesus plot is just. a MESS. What were the footsteps in episode 2, that led him to the undercity? was the hexcore controlling him, guiding him to a place it knew the arcane was strong? but, if the hexcore was possesing him, why did Jayce in e9 act like it was all Viktor's own deliberate doing? but if it was all his own doing in the beginning, why was he so emotionless? but if he was so emotionless in the beginning, why does Viktor's speech after e6 imply that he only lost his emotions after /that/?
> and, what the FUCK do you mean the mage is Viktor?? Huh?? how does that even WORK?Viktor turns bad in universe A, is like 'i must stop this from happening in other universes' and can just... travel the multiverse i guess. But then, why did he still give Jayce the stone, and not just let Jayce and Ximena die on the plain, resulting in no hextech in Piltover, and so no hexcore that entices Viktor, and so no Arcane Jesus Viktor? Why does he still give Jayce the stone? and who gave Jayce the stone in the original universe wherein Viktor went all Evil? its just suchhh a lazy idea and makes the world feel so small. everyone is connected to everyone that matters from beginning, actuallY!! boring.
> and finally abt Viktor; so its never gonna be confirmed if Sky was an hallucination made up by him to combat loneliness (which, why would she then guide him to corrupt others with arcane? why would Viktor think Sky would want him to do that when he is so guilty abt her death?), if she was an apperation from the hexcore itself (in which case, why does she leave when Viktor fully turns?, or if she was simply also taken into the hexcore when she died?) season 1 would have explained it, and season 2 is like.... ahhh dont worry abt it she was there and now shes gone! some say she was his humanity, some say she was a hallicunation by viktor, some say some say etc.... im tired.
> Vi's character arc. I mean, the character arc which simply WASNT THERE. What did she do this season that was driven by her own desires? she just reacts to outside forces, seems to have no particular goals in mind, and loses everything. Her fall into alcoholism was hyped up, only for it to be 1 amv within the show and no further depth to it. it was said she was gonna learn how to not be a protector, but she didnt! she protected Isha in act 1, Jinx and vander in act 2, and whole pitover in act 3. like, ok, good character arc. i can actually rant ages abt how they massacred her character. also, making her say "im the dirt under your nails" as a ROMANTIC LINE is INSANE. who tf wrote that? Hello? LOok this trencher knows she is dirty and disgusting and her Topsider Queen is neever gonna get rid of her :DDD i HATE it. its also just a bad line in general lesbians we deserve better than wtv this was.
> the s3x scene in the cell... fellas if my brother heavily implied he was gonna kill himself and i showed fear abt it but then my gf walked in, i would not start doing the do.
> their treatment of Jinx and her mentall ilnesses. just. she doesnt have them anymore i guess! thats how trauma works, right? it makes ur schrizoprenia go away when ur trauma is gone, right? sure Arcane Writers thats 100% how it works. oh and the suicidal character dies in the end? ground breaking thanks we needed more of that in fiction (and, no, the 'purple glare is actually jinx thing!!', while true, is still stupid. not many people catch that, and, for example, my parents without social media will always have the end be Jinx = dead, because canon doesnt offer us definitive other things). also how Isha was only there to die and then not get mentioned in act 3?? it is SUCH a missed oppurtunity. instead of child loosing carer it is this time carer losing child and thats so different! make her realise "thats why Vi always kept me home with dangerous jobs", etc. make THAT be the thing that makes her reconcile with Vi fully.
> vander's plot was lazy and rushed. hes gone!! u cried we all did!! oh but hes back now. and the girls are bestiesssss bc hes their fatheerrrrrr. your gonna hear them call him dad/father 10000 times even tho in s1 they almost never do bc we need you to know Hes Their Dad!!
i can actually go on longer than this, but im too frustrated. IMPORTANT: i do not hate the show. i love arcane, and season 1 will always be one of, if not the best (animated or general) series ever produced in the west. season 2 has its merits; its entertaining, it has drama, etc., but the decline between season 1 and season 2 is difficult not to notice. season 2 really makes you realise: oh, yeah, this is based on League of Legends. its like s1 = arthouse movie, s2 = infinity war.
Oof, there is A LOT of stuff that you’re misunderstanding here, and I think that stems from the real issue that everyone has been repeating since Act 2 : lightning fast pacing. As much as I’d love to respond with a Ted Talk of my own I simply don’t have the time rn, so hopefully you find a few answers that clear up the confusion in your own time.
@finixmoon127 what a useless response "you're wrong but I refuse to even remotely elaborate why"
@@BluesClues2s No need to get upset lol, was just trying to be respectful. To be fair, you *are* right about my reply being useless. I’m faced with the exact same problem as the people at Riot and Fortiche : I want to accomplish much, explain in detail Vi’s underlying character arc, why Viktor being the mage makes tons of sense, why Jinx “lost her schizophrenia”, but I just legitimately don’t have the time necessary right now, so perhaps I’ll come back to this comment some day.
Oh F you.
Why do you have to make such good points.
I love this show. Its stupid how INCREDIBLY important its is to me.
I spent 3 years between the seasons listening to Schnee talking about how ridiculously good the writing and EVERYTHING about S1 is.
And now you come along, being all elaborate, explaining how they messed up S2.
And the worst thing is: your points are RIGHT. I cant even brush you off as a hater.
God damn it.
Anyways, good job pointing out true things, now I have to reconcile my love for the show (yes also S2) with the fact that the second season is kind of a mess.
:)
PS:
In case that wasnt clear I am obviously not seriously insulting you.
I am just a bit desperate.
Sorry
@finixmoon127 if you'd like to explain it one day; please do. My comment posed questions in genuine good faith. Season 1 never left me confused and I'm also not exactly new to analyzing media and it's tropes. I don't really like that to fully understand major points on s2 u gotta use the microexpressions and outside of show league lore. If you could help me clear up some parts id really appreciate it! No hurries tho, life is busy
I've come to terms that season 2, while not perfect, was good and I look forward to what Fortiche has in store for the IP going forward. 'Arcane' is beautiful and inspiring. This was a passion project for all those involved and MY GOD, is it a story worth telling.
I doubt Fortiche will go back to it. They’ll likely keep doing shorts. But they want to move on doing wholes series based on LoL and want to do more things, especially their own original stories
@@Marksman3434 Either way, I'm in. I saw the poster for 'Penelope of Sparta', looks pretty cool.
Jesus Christ, this is the most reasonable take in the entire cs.
Everyone is Siskel and Ebert now, it’s mind numbing.
Encourage these artists to create more and better programming like this rather than the constant whining. Had to get this off my chest.
Truly appreciate your comment.
I thought it was great. Did the S2 rush a couple things? Yes, but the way they did them and the overall effect still worked and didn't leave me angry about it. Do I wish there was more time? OF COURSE - WHO DOESN'T WANT MORE ARCANE?! But this is the format they stuck too and because of that, they had to cut things shorter.
I just wish certain fans could modulate their criticism slightly. Yes there's small issues here and there, but overall it's a stellar season. Endings are hard. And endings with a very strict limit on time, even more so.
@@gman7497 i do understand what youre trying to say, but some of the issues sadly arent... small...
@isaw9969 you're entitled to that, but by most accounts this season is a smashing success, if the flaws were that glaring everyone would be seeing them and judging accordingly. All the s2 episodes currently are above a 9 on imdb.
@@gman7497 yeah cause recency bias? it is full of plotholes or retcons (the vander and silco both knew ViJinx's parents opens up such a can of worms it insane. whole major plot points of s1 suddenly... dont work anymore, or are at least a mess timewise) (many things are open and unanswered: why do we see the cog in e6 falk differently 4 times, same shot? why did jayce not just hug Viktor right there to blast memories into him? how did Viktor go from a genuine wanting to help guy in s1 to, 'oh its internalised ableism!' in s2, even tho that was never his plot?) (how did Ambessa, warlord supreme, expect Viktor to listen to him if he got 100% power? no was shes that dumb, is she?) (how did mel go from barely able to restrain viktor in e8, to magically fighting Ambessa, shielding characters and destroying leblanc in her own domain in e9?) (why did Cailtyn just stop trusting Ambessa and follow Vi, even tho they had a Bad Breakup?) (so r Zaun and Piltover - the Main Thing in s1 - just besties now they had to fight one big bad? why did radical sevika gaf abt Piltover enough to help them?) (i can go on sadly)
the season and the things it shows itself arent bad; but it almost never explains how we got from A to B. season 1 was a masterpiece because there are no holes left to be filled post-canon. the show explains every character, their motivation and their actions, be it with words or show-dont-tell. s2 just.... skips right over super essential plotpoints and basically only gives you the end-result of a mini-arc we didnt get to see!
like, i love arcane. s1 means the literal world to me. its just insane how much s2 fell of. they were too ambitious. "in pursuit of great, we failed to do good"
@@gman7497 If you call it a smashing success and overlook its flaws, you're encouraging the creators to ignore those flaws as well. And they'll make those mistakes again. You're not doing them any favours pretending the show/season was perfect, because it wasn't. They made mistakes and if you want them to improve, you call them out on it so they don't do it again
9 episodes wasn’t enough
"So, how do we get Viktor and Jayce to stop the Arcane?"
"Jayce says something cheesy, Viktor touches the crystal and everything goes poof."
_"...Why?"_
"WHO CARES!"
Why did Jayce shoot Viktor episode 6 if he was sent to “show him this” by Viktor.
@@pugisherpug4366 Good point! Gotta think about this one.
Arcane killed me
Well, you’re walking off the resurrection smoothly!
But what if I don't wanna... 😶
Idk....
How can this comment be 18h old when it says the video was released 1h ago?
@@vinvos8651
He/she's exit the matrix
@@vinvos8651probably because the video was up 21 hours ago, it just hadnt premiered yet
The problem with setting the bar this high your first time at bat is that it's nigh impossible to meet or exceed that height with future endeavors. I fear the LoL stories yet to come won't live up to the expectations set by Arcane.
The ending was good. And I agree that based on what they needed it to lead to and leave on, it was what it needed.
The problem I have is that a bunch of the intimacy of what made Season One so good was simply not as present and the buildup seemed kind of rushed.
Sequels tend to inherently become more plot heavy as the scope and stakes escalate and it showed, the season had to handle new plot drivers in the form of the Noxian intervention and Viktor's drive toward the apocalypse and more. In addition it had to handle the new character arcs for these plots as well as the characters and themes from season one.
With only nine episodes, without say more time per episode (5 - 15 min), one or two more episodes per act or even another act to balance character intimacy and arcs with plot developments and provide some breathing room to better address some of the themes from season one like the conflict between the cities, neither gained to both their detriments. (and no I don't think another season was entirely necessary)
With the trademark storytelling efficiency in Season One, with its limited intimate scope they did well but it does not surprise me that it justifiably sort of came across as rushed and too dense in Season Two. Without more time for intimacy, to give things time to breath, for things to be internalized and explored, it does feel these like events on screen seem separated from a story core that was not quite there like in season one.
Season Two looks to me very much a product of the preplanned two season story that they had in their internal vision, much of it was already baked in plot wise and structurally.
The problem appears that while season one was rewritten to its great benefit to be intensely character focused and be narratively tight and thematically and emotionally interwoven, it appears they might not have realized season two would need the same treatment to carry on more effectively where season one ended until too late to change.
I lament that it fell short of what it could be. I never expected it to reach Season One's 10/10 "lightning in a bottle" experience, but a 9/10 would have been wonderful; but alas 8/10 is not terrible. Especially since it is stronger than it is weaker.
Still all in all, a remarkable piece of storytelling when considering their limits in time, scope and budget. Especially since this show was their first time doing something like this, I hope they take away the right lessons from this experience.
Easily my favorite piece of animated media
Can't wait for more Arcane s2 videos from you, love your analyses!
season 2, to me, can be summed up by "in the pursuit of great, we failed to do good". the season was a mess of, on their own, interesting ideas, but then without the proper time to flesh them out, leaving many plots feeling empty and unfullfilled.
military/puppet ruler Caitlyn? Dropped 1 episode after where she already shows doubt abt Ambessa, and dropped 2 episodes after that after Vi calls her cupcake once. Vi also seems to hold no actual grudge against Caitlyn despite their pretty serious fight in the airducts.
Viktor's whole plot needed 3 more epispdes on its own to fully make sense. Was he controlled? season 1 made the hexcore look like a sentient entity, and season 2 was like "nevermind!". But what were the footsteps, how did he know to use his powers? why was his physical body so un-emotive while his cosmos body was? when did he use his emotions? why the FUCK did he go from "there is always a choice", to "i wont sacrifice his humanity for your cause" to "choice is false (and we all should be one hivemind)"? it was Not a natural progression at all.
Why does Jayce imply in e9 that Viktor always wanted to fix what he saw as imperfections, when we are never shown that pre-s2? he wanted to use the hexcore to Stay Alive so he could make a legacy and help the people in need. it was never implied it was bc he saw himself as imperfect? also, imagine telling a stage 4 lung cancer patient them trying to be cured is them "trying to get rid of imperfections/what makes them admirable". i would start biting people. again, the idea is good, but the progression felt veeery tacky. he just became whatever villian the writers needed him to be, without considering how he would become to that point.
i dont wanna type more im tired and dissapointed. s2 did not deliver on many promises from s1, and it tried to cram in too much new stuff while not resolving the things s1 set up.
Absolutely agree with you on this. I felt so disappointed by how rushed everything felt. It felt like they were trying to shoehorn a much bigger story into the 9 episode structure from season one where it just didn't fit, and the story majorly suffered for it
"Why does Jayce imply in e9 that Viktor always wanted to fix what he saw as imperfections"
Btch Viktor was dying. What are you on about Jayce?
@@lizryan7451I was also a bit disappointed by the feel of the show. My dad described it as “too esoteric” and I agree. Arcane S1 was a combination of real characters and worlds that were fleshed out while having some magic elements involved! Season 2 was just magic without any of the “real” moments that made Season 1 great!!
Also, the plot line focused on the building tensions between piltover and zaun? Y'know a major thread of season 1 and *the* primary thread of act 1? Dropped after episode 5. It's building up towards Jinx realizing he role as a leader then gets *completely* dropped to focus on Vander and mecha wizard Jesus. Shit, Sevica is a major character right up to episode 5. After that, she gets barely any screen time and not a single line of dialogue.
I was disappointed with the multiverse/time travel stuff that we get in every contemporary TV show already, and that shot the stakes into the orbit and, to me, made Piltover and Zaun's story, as well as that of Vi and Jinx, feel irrelevant in comparison.
Granted, multiverses and time travel have been part of League's lore for a long time. But the final fight didn't have to be about the survival of humanity in the multiverse. And the message that there is beauty in imperfections and Jayce's tone-deaf remark that Viktor shouldn't have felt like he needed repairs felt generic and disconnected from the rest of the show.
Arcane as a whole still gets 10/10 from me. S1 is 10/10. S2 is 10/10 up until and including E7. The ending is still good at 7/10 for me. It just could have been better.
srs? For all alternate dimension versions I've seen, this was the absolute best version. And it is needed to explain wtf happened to Heimer, Jayce and Ekko. Why Jayce is so violent against it, how the Z-Drive was invented and all the characters going through HUGE growth.
@@Adonna2424I'm with you on that. It's not that the multiverse stuff was poorly executed (barring the inconsistencies and illogic inherent to it). It's just that I think it diluted the show's other, more interesting conflicts.
the "beauty in imperfections" thing was so out of place. Like, Jayce, the man was dying. He was coughing up blood, fainting and literally hospitalized. Him trying to fix his illness isnt him wanting to get rid of imperfections, wtf. it also just... completely ignores the fact that Viktor wasnt born with this stuff - it is the direct result of Piltover's oppression of Zaun, and the living conditions here. The thing that made Viktor so tragic was that his whole character was abt making sure others wouldnt go through the illnesses he did - he wanted to help! - only for him to die before he could have, because Piltover wanted to use his work for their own gains instead. and e9 just... forgets that, it seems!
I agree minus episode 7
@@mikolmisol6258 I hear you. When Viktor and Jayce had that cosmic spat, I spaced out. I didn't give af what they were doing. The Jinx and Vi teamup was infinitely more interesting and then they got hooked up to the matrix and I just had to sit there and accept that for some reason.
Might need to rewatch this season. For now, I think I'll just take a break.
The more you watch the first season, the better it gets. The more you watch the second one, it just gets worse.
@melam4522 I'll be the judge of that.
Idk if I am gonna rewatch S2. If I do it is probably just gonna be the Ekko episode. Otherwise I think Arcane is a 1 season show to me.
S2 isn't a bad show... It just isn't Arcane.
The problem for sure is that the last act was made more to set up the rest of the LoL shows and not to conclude the story that’s been brewing since S1
Exactly, not a finale.
IMO it's the beginning of the ACU.
The animation is still the best there is, but Season 2 is so rushed and pretty much destroyed Vi as a character, so the more i think about it, the more i hate it
I think the Moment the Show lost itself to me was when sevika attends the meeting before the war. She is standing in the oppositions parliament that not long ago “her people” bombed and it’s not even a real deal. How did the 2 city conflict, that mind you, worsened in the beginning of S2, just disappear? All the classism and discrimination just… dropped in the final arc. It lost its social commentary in order to tell an “age of ultron” type story imo
can't wait for season 2 deep dives,I absolutely loved the ones you did for the first season,they made me appreciate it even more on such a deeper level,and I extended that knowledge to my brother when I showed it to him
Finally, the waiting is over!
I m surprised how no one talks about how they used season 2 like a tool to set up future projects. they basically baited the audience by setting up a serious tense confrontation between the two cities only to throw a multiversal magic war so they can set up future projects to keep making money is a slap to the face to everyone who expected a serious conclusion for the story.
I love that when ekko confronts victor and throws the literal answer to the coin question in Victor's face it breaks open the right side of the face. The right side of the brain responsible for creativity and emotions.
The only way we could all hate and complain about the season 2 finale (or just season 2), is if the rest of the show was actually very great.
ooh shit, been looking forward to you analysing season 2.
The compact pacing was fine for me. Arcane season 2 builds on sn1 without handholding you, no filler, no fluff, no over-simplification, no over repetitively *FORCED* toddler-ish "comedy" and no spoon feeding while encouraging deductive participation from the audience/ viewers to follow the plot complimented by an ABSOLUTE BANGER of hyper-cinematic induction all culminating to higher immersive experience. There are many online still scratching their head about how or why Silco and Vander became buddies again in the alternate timeline yet they COMPLETELY forgot about the LETTER from Vance addressed to Silco IN SEASON 1 which Silco never read in the main timeline so it becomes BLATANTLY OBVIOUS that he read the letter and "found the will to forgive" in the alternate timeline. Brilliant compact and impactful writing. But instead many are demanding to be spoon-fed.
The only main issue for me (personal bias) is the finale should have been longer and bigger battle filled will much more multiple character moments AND we should have SEEN how Ekko united Zaun after saving Jinx including seeing Jinx make a new arm for Sevika. Also we never got to know WHO the other leading families of Piltover are but i am okay and content with what we got on screen.
Especially considering how INSANELY EXPENSIVE the budget was (Arcane sn1+2 budget= $250m, most expensive animation ever) so it's understandable how and why they made the writing tight and compact while giving the audience some participatory deduction and generate interest to research into the lore.
What they delivered is still very peak in my opinion. We all wanted more eps but there is cost-benefit situation with that. Perhaps in future projects they could make each ep 10mins longer from 40mins-50mins then the final can be like 1hr. This can be a perfect middle ground to give more time to more avenues of the plot without adding more full eps. It might cost a little more but still significantly LESS than making additional FULL eps. Either way, both Arcane sn1+2 have been incredibly amazing.
Both get at LEAST 9/10 rating from me irrespective of whatever flaws each season has.
Urgh [eye roll], i see so many in the comments already conflating this epic series into their rage bait grift politics trying to take the constructive discussion AWAY from the show itself. Unfortunately, this youtube channel owner is deliberately encouraging this based on his hearts/ likes he is giving such posters.
Arcane made me cry so much in s2 it was unbearable I loved every second of it, it could have ended at ep 7 (btw ep 7 I was so confused and angry at the start of this episode, because of the 3 last episodes they used a whole one to talk about "what if" and I wanted them to use all of the 2 hours to conclude into a real finale like s1, but at the end of ep 7 I wished that it ended here because I liked it so much and wow what a watch, overall it was such a nice event and coming back every week to watch it with a friend was an amazing time I had, thanks arcane you did a lot for me (and thank you too Walrus, your videos about season 1 were so great)
Saying this is what the show needed is respectfully complete bs.
They could have easily just give the show an ending that fitted with the rest of the show focusing on the actual main plot instead of rushing it and forcing in a "greater than thou" plot that renders every other subplot unimportant.
The only reason this is the way it ended is because they have more content they want to produce and felt the need to end this show quicker so that the animators can get going on their next project.
It just sucks because season 1 was a 10/10 experience in every regard and season 2 became a generous 9/10 with the only factor that was actually better than the first season being the animations.
They could have made a perfect story but they decided with rushing and I will never forgive them for it. Im not even gonna watch their future projects because I had such high expectations and if they are just gonna ruin it for dumb reasons then I don't want to invest in anything else.
Bye don't forget to write
agree... but I wouldn't even give S2 a 9.
While I do agree with your issues with the show, I will say that I personally will watch their next project, if only to see if they address the issues they had with this season. I really, really, really hope they learn from their mistakes, otherwise, yeah, I'm not watchin anymore of their stuff
sup r3tard
Damn is just an Shows mates, stob your BS shts mate. Damn you don't know how hards it is to write an Long and Complicated story mate and so does animation too. Y'all are just Fcking emotional baby who can't forgive someone who just accidentally spilling your milka. Geez just be grateful of how Writers are putting into this season like Animations, Symbolism and Allegory, Character depths, and Character Development etc.
best take ive seen about the finale
The final episode is horribly rushed. Season 2 is still better than 90% of the dreck out there. Nowhere as good as season 1.
nah, they leave clues with hidden frames lol. some hideo kojima type stuff
@@shinra358 No, no. I caught those clues. The season was still rushed
But still Great.👍 @@chrishaven1489
It wasn’t rushed, it was just way to condensed. There should have been more episodes or a season three to really flesh out all the story’s they had in there in a more authentic way. It was so so rich and packed full, it didn’t have time to tell all of them in just 9 episodes
@@Samsstuff10 The show is rushed because it's condensed. There's fewer episodes so they speed through all the content to get to the end quicker.
The show needed a third season
I agree. Although I enjoyed season 2, it almost felt like the "middle child syndrome" that most trilogies have, especially ones that werent sure theyd get a trilogy.
I know we are getting way more than a trilogy, but it has the same issues a lot of middle movies have with needing to set up the next movie, leaving the movie feeling like it has less of an ending.
Lmfao. Something fundamentally happened between season 1 and 2 in the writers room. Season 2 across the board was horrible.
I really just felt nothing the entire season except for the what-if timeline because Ekko just marches to his own beat.
Episode 7-9 was amazing. Piltover coming together is what America needs to do. War is horrible, needless deaths. Ekko loving Jinx in a faraway dream that isn’t reality, and having the balls to come save his timeline is savior vibes. Jayce being the villain on;y to be revealed the hero, vice versa for Victor was poetic. You can love another man and not be gay. Cait an Mel teaming up to beat Ambessa was just fun as hell, Ambessa literally created her own downfall. Jinx and Vander “dying” in this timeline, meanwhile Vi dying in the other is great. Law of equivocal exchange. Absolute cinema
Nearly a week later I agree with every point. Show is top tier in story telling, animation and everything you want in pure good television, just it could of done with more time to breath. Five minutes more on each episode to allow you to learn more about the characters, their actions and thus relate to it that more.
Beautiful animation, art style and superb voice acting, but... Where season 1 was (mostly) grounded and about heartfelt character development, season 2, while conceptually interesting, went a little too 'larger than life' for me. I respect what they did here, but I feel like they diminished a real strength of the show in favor of more spectacle and grander topics.
Like a lot of people have said: s2 needed a bit more breathing room (+3 - 4 episodes?) to let characters naturally progress their ideology, motives and ultimately actions. As well as deal with the emotions their situations provoke in them. Without this, some character actions feel rushed and sometimes even illogical. A bit of down time creates contrast and lets the highs shine that much more. That said, the fact that they crammed so much into s2 is a miracle in and of itself. You can feel they wanted to tell more story, but most likely couldn't.
There were plenty of brilliant moments, had a good time watching it, but wasn't nearly as gripping as the first season to me.
Looking forward to what comes next!
I think they couldve avoided the tone switch a bit if they had displayed the more powerful and abstract properties of the arcane throughout the series. The most advanced thing hextech (hexgates) can do for most of the series is teleportation and then it suddenly turns into alternate dimensions and manipulating fundamental forces of the universe.
For me I think Arcane should have broke with the 3/3/3 format. The audience should have been privy to the Under-cities side, the conversation between a suicidal Jinx and Ekko, how Ekko and Jinx convinced the oppressed people of Zaun to defend their oppressors. While I am fine with ambiguous endings, In Cyberpunk 2077 the Star Ending is considers by some the best, Jinx on the bow of an airship breathing free.
between episode 8 and 9, one more episode to let revelations breathe would've been nice. Other than that, good god, i loved this season. i wouldn't change the conclusions or loose threads left over. so stoked for the other stories to come.
Ok man good video as always bla bla bla, now feed me with other arcane related content, youre videos are made with so much passion and emotion, i swear that after finishing the show i was just waiting to know youre opinion about it
Haha. More Arcane is coming when it’s ready. I still and collecting my thoughts, but needless to say Viktor will absolutely be the first video for a deep dive
I just find it sad when I see the arcane community bashing season 2 so hard when it’s still an incredible show (it literally got 100% by reviewers and 92% by audience on rotten tomatoes) it’s just sad because people are completely ignoring the nuance just so they can focus on the flaws. Amazing take FlyingWalrus.
Those aren’t day 1 arcane fans most of them are League fans who is the worse fanbase in probably all of gaming they judge everything and don’t know how to actually enjoy something
@@PeakToxicity that’s a good point!
I agree that the show was fantastic and one of the best I’ve ever seen. I do also think the last two episodes were missing some context and spectacle to finish out the character stories as well as make the war feel more… well spectacular.
I WAS SAYING THIS THIS AINT A ENDING THIS IS THE BIRTH OF MORE SHOWS TO COME Which didn’t make me mad at all cause we will see these characters in the other shows people will come around to all love in it’s gonna take time just like how people ain’t enjoy the beginning of season 1
Just finished watching the 2nd season. So it's the first impression, but it has left me frustrated and confused.
While there were some interesting ideas they were never further explored or explained and there were too many plotlines to handle in that timeframe. Important plotpoints happen offscreen and are for the viewer to figure out, I guess. The story's focus and the characters' ideologies/alliences were shifting so much that there was no personality or consistency, While the developments of the first season were straight up abandoned or negated.
After seeing how much love and thought was put into the first season ... what a waste :(
For what you said about recomending the show, to me season one was so good that I would recomended to any one who likes to watch TV, I think anyone can find something that they would like in the story, and yeah the "watch the first three episodes" is one of the ways to recomended. With the second season I would be a lot more hesitant, and just recomended to people that like fantasy and/or animation, because I think there is a lot of stuff that they wouldn't enjoy if they are not into the fantasy genere or like animation (even if I'm a big defender of animation as a medium not a genere, there is still a lot of people who simply do not watch stuff that's animated because it's animated).
My favourite part of season one was the politics and how this interacted with the science, and that was mostly gone from this season even if I still find it very enjoyable. In the last season Jayce had an interaction with Mel, who were two character that I enjoyed to see dance around each other, and I just though "oh, you two are just different people now". I don't think it was a bad ending, I think they did what they wanted to do in a very beautiful way, but none of the bits of this season hit me as hard as the ones in the last season.
And, weirdly, I do not care for this world so I am just no interesting to see them going into knew lands. I was interested into this story about Piltover, that's what season one sold me on. Season two didn't do a good job into selling me this vast and expanded universe.
If the next show has the same quality of animation I'll check it out, because I love animation, but I don't care for were this story or characters go next, or to find out that the people that "died" just pop out in a different place. I like stories to end.
It's the best comment I've heard about the end of season 2, I couldn't agree with you more
The Ekko What-if episode was the only one I really enjoyed like S1.
S1 was amazing to me for how grounded and connected the characters were. Their plots overlapping to a grand finale.
But S2 everyone felt super disconnected and everything felt weightless/high-concept. We never really just sat with the characters. Mel, Ekko, and Jayce were literally just magically noped out of it for over half of the show.
I was especially disappointed by Vander though. I somehow felt nothing between him Vi and Jinx.
It is good that you already realized, it is not the end, it is the beginning. Another hint is to just imagine what they maybe purposefully did not show us. Also the metaphors and references are literally too much to count. The feeling that something is off is on purpose. Well it seems you at least got the abusive family Jinx has to seperate from figured out. Most people still think Jinx is the bad guy and Vi the hero. x to the D
Have you looked for dogs? You know Jinx is pregnant? You know AU is doomed and AU Powder will use the portal?
Get Jinxed MV. Wild Rift -You really got me going. Space Odyssey. All are spoilers for whats to come :)
Two things are really sad here. The worst is how the best series in the world got ruined already in it's second season. How do you speedrun something like the decline of Game of Thrones in ONLY 2 SHORT SEASONS?! This could have been so so good and a 9.5-10/10 for me and I never rate anything that high, except for the first season of Arcane. Had it just been allowed to live for 3 or 4 seasons in total and with the original vision of the series being continued throughout :(
The GoT comparison I see popping up everywhere is actually insane to me, because S2 is nowhere near that bad, and it definitely did not “ruin the series”. Yes, the pacing criticism is valid, and so is the frustration with the show being this 🤏 close to perfection, but it’s miracle in the first place that Season 2 is still good overall, and we should be grateful for that instead of complaining about *what could have been* when we know very well that it was never gonna happen. We simply don’t live in that universe.
I get that you’re disappointed but comparing it to GOT’s ending is a bit much. All the characters are still consistent, the world building still great. It’s just that the narrative on screen needs a lot of supplemental head cannon via the deep world building, to even start making sense again that leaves a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths.
Also that the Zaunites gets all the heat while the Piltovans get off pretty much scott free is undoubtably off putting for most people.
All in all, some missed beats but still a good story.
I love Arcane, both seasons.
I do have a few complaints, the biggest being the dimension hop.
I don't buy the World Without Hextech.
I do buy the Hexapocalypse world, but not the counterpart.
The things that made that world better, had nothing to do with Hextech itself.
The structural changes: Good Silco, Open Bridge, No Shimmer, City Unification - ALL of the things that made that world good, happened before Jayce and Victor's experiments. Before the timeskip after Silco took in Powder.
Furthermore, Hextech is very limited in the show - all we see is the Hexgates, and prototypes that only the Main Characters have access to.
The guns never advance. The clockwork Zaunite stuff is explained as not being HT.
It's literally just better sky trains.
The egalitarian nature of the better world is not explained by; "Shipping is worse, so everyone is happy."
The Piltover and Zaunite councils would have to have made drastically different decisions, and dumbing the tech down as an appeal to Luddism just doesn't explain the policy changes.
Also, the final battle was choppy and made no sense. The was no sense of how big the sides were, and it was insufficiently set up.
5 Ships and an indeterminate number of Noxians in a frontal assault against an entire city's worth of guards and fortifications...
Eh.
As I said, I do love the show - but it isn't perfect.
I really dont think u understood the point of that chapter if ur complains are that "it doesnt make sense". There is a reason for that, is called butterfly effect. Something "small" changed, so a A LOT changes. EVEN withouth clear correlation. That is the entire point. So literally everything u complain makes no sense. U just misundertood what the chapter was about. About the fight itself... thats the whole point. Idk if its good or bad, neither I care. But the whole thing about this fight is that NO ONE KNOWS NOTHING. Its a desperate attack from ambessa and a desperate defense from piltover. more time could have been better sure, but the tone would have been the same, in fact explaining more? Bad. When we see the Viktor army the idea is that you feel like something out of the ordinary is attacking. Also an entire city? Really? Piltover forces are small compared to Zaun, most people are not fighters, and most people flee, we saw how many walked away in the council and how many leaved the city. I feel u saw whatever u wanted to see really. Like the serie isnt perfect, I felt uncomfortable with the ending and felt didnt had enough time to explain a looot of things, but none of the things u said are the reason.
The change was that Heimerdinger was there for literally 3 years and likely set about pioneering better communication and cooperation between Piltover and Zaun, while Jayce's explosion likely got him expelled for taking a life - or he killed himself since he didn't get lumped into that timeline with Ekko and Heimerdinger.
E7 made perfect sense.
As for the final battle, it was pretty clear throughout both seasons that Piltover's "finest" were anything but. When faced against a dire threat they needed the Noxians to accomplish pretty much anything. Even in the wake of an assault on their council it was the Noxians who stepped up and secured the area, not enforcers. A smaller force of Noxians was able to assault Piltover because Piltover, frankly, had no idea how to fight a protracted siege or battle of true conquest.
Reminds me of an arc in Vinland saga where there are only 100 jomsvikings invading an island of 500+ farmers and militia. The militia believe they can rally the farmers to put up a superior fight through force of numbers alone. They get thoroughly decimated by the organization that actually knows what it's doing.
Ah you're so right. I couldn't figure out why I felt like I did - so much in that last episode. Should have been three seasons?
I really liked how AU Powder didn't know that that wasn't her boyfriend Ekko walking around in his body. And that AU Heimer just is completely gone for 3 years since OG Heimer has been occupying his body for 3 years. What the fuck were the writers thinking introducing multiverse slop like this.
Excuse me.. gay lovers? When in the show has Vinc and Jayce been more than brothers?
I was against shipping Jayce and Viktor, but their final forehead-on-forehead, neck-holding scene raised questions for me.
men cant be close without being gay apparently...
I mean pretty much everyone else in the show was gay, but these 2 were not. They were very close friends. Both men had female love interests during the series.
Ok if most were gay make me a list of all the straight characters. the list haas to be shorter than the other way around.
its just people having fun. if Mel or Jayce had the scene in the end, everyone would see it as romantic. If Ekko and Jinx did, everyone would see it as romantic, etc. Theyre literal soulmates, and if people wanna interpret it as platonic, romantic or familial thats up to them. its just pixels on a screen - i have taxes to pay, so i truly dont understand why people devote their time to caring abt how other people view the relationship between two non-existing things.
So basically its a big advertisement so riot ca sell more champion skins with new series of probably questionable quality that prioritizes the ip over a good story, like you said, it could have been the best show ever
I can't wait to hear you go more in depth about Viktor especially in Season 2. I literally haven't been able to stop thinking about his story since I watched it (I've now watched it all twice through). Just... so beautiful 😭
No, the ending that the show needed was one with better pacing and more episodes to properly flesh everything out.
I'm glad they didn't give it a full ending. they did leave things to interpretation, they left things open ended, they gave options for the future. would it have been better with a full ending? maybe. but that would have cut off potential for continuity in the future. they did what was best
Can we take it as a truism that when an IP is confused as to where they want to go, someone at the table always suggests "Hey, time travel plot!" and is more-often-then not listened to?
Season 2 wasn't as character driven as Season 1. For example, I wanted to see more Vi and Isha interaction, or see Mel being worried and ask herself what happened to Jayce after his disappearance. Many tidbits like that, were left off screen this season. Also it's as if Zaun was barely relevant to the plot after Smeech's death--What about the remaining chembarons and Sevika's influence over them to be at piltover's high table in the finale? How did that came to be? It wasn't elaborated at all.
I'm not saying Season 2 was bad, it's close to perfect, but it needed a bit more scenes or at least more episodes to show missing character interactions like that, which was present in the previous season. Another example is this Loris guy who disappears the same way as he appears--out of nowhere. For the amount of effort put to have him appear in many scenes, it feels like they decided to discard that idea as the finale approached, instead of exploring his character.
I read the co-creator mentioning that they will try to be more careful about rushing things though in future shows, at least.
he's back!
Just finished watching S1 and S2 in two days, and I must say i don't want to say goodbye to the characters at all.. I enjoyed the series too much and didn't want to end at all.. Don't know what to do with my life now lmao.. So my question is, should I start re-watching it again? Is it too soon, should I wait a couple of weeks, than re-watching it.. i don't know
While I do 100% agree, you saying, "gay lovers repairing the world," legitimately caught me off guard. 🤣
Best reaction to ending I’ve seen so far
At first it felt rushed, however the longer I sit with it, and the more I think back on things the more I like it. I want to do a watch from start to finish I think I'll enjoy it even more.
I do think it is a bit of a beginning, and personally I think that's great. Would I love more, definitely. However I would rather have an ending that leaves room for potential in each character's story than to have them drag on too long
Thank You 😊
Couldn't have said it better meself lad😌☺️💯💛✨️
I loved this season and the ending, but I can understand all of the criticisms people have towards it. They're valid criticisms. But none of the problems detracted from the emotional impact for me, and that's what really counts in the end. Plus, it was still a visually gorgeous feast. 2:50 "Gay lovers fixing the world" 😂😂😂
Without even watching the video (blind comment); I was disappointed by season 2 because it had an obvious bad-guy, an ideology that was broken at its core, while season 1 was more about how there is no good or bad when building social and economic hierarchies; no matter what you decide to do, it’ll bite you in the butt somehow and you just have to live with that. I do get why the writers made the pivot though; fans wanted something more conclusive and traditional.
I think for me arcane left me with the feeling of this is riots cinematic univers. Which is fine i just hope it doesn't turn out like the mcu where you need this or this to understand whats happening next
S1 was perfect, I can't think of anything to criticize.
S2 was amazing, but it does stumble a bit in a few places. Too fast pacing, using music video portions as timeskip/exposition for things that should have been shown, political plot abandoned for high octane action fights for the future of the whole world, too little development of Caitlyn task force and Isha's, forgetting about a lot of relationships in last 2 arcs, like Jayce and Cait, Vi and Ekko, Sevika and Jinx and Isha. Not to mention the implications for the wider world that kinda break a lot of Piltover and Zaun characters that didn't show up in the show. Still everything else was so good that it's worth a 9.5/10 despite all of those flaws.
Excited for this era Riot is starting. We are at the start of an amazing cinematic universe. We are watching what some have already experienced watching the first LOTR or Star wars in theater. Or the first pirates, or the first harry potter or Iron man. All these first release drew you into amazing movies and series based on the worlds favorites books and created by the world most beloved writers. And now the era of our favorite Games will start.
hmm, might have to watch the show then xD
I agree with what was stated in the video.
VIKTOR AND JACE ARENT GAY 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
Of course friendship gets pinned as "gay lovers". Sad.
The criticisms of the show are becoming too much now. Starting to feel like looking a gift horse in the mouth.
There’s beauty in its imperfections.
Hands down the worst thing about the finale and the entire show is that it is over! You may disagree but I will gladly die on top of my little hill of a singular opinion😤
Jayce and Victor cant just have a platonic relationship, they gotta be called gay by ship andies >_>. Let me spell it out for you. You can have a terrible life and that one shinning hope is your best friend who has always looked out for you and you can love him for that WITHOUT being gay. This is how you tell your viewers you've never had a true friend without saying it.
Didn't like it for the ending of Arcana, still good, but very simplistic in the overall story. Not in structure but here's a bad guy that did it all, he's gone everyone is happy now
Love the vieo. Great job as always. I also needed to let it sit with me for a while, in order to know if I like the finally.
The onlx thing that I dont like as much is, that (Spoilers for evryone who hasnt watched yet)
Jinx let hersister and Ecco in the beleave that she is dead. I would have loved for them to have a propper good bye. 😭 Now I´m kinda hping that She will apear in one of the future projects and somehow lets Vi know thats shes fine. But the way the ending is, is also just perfect for the tone of the series. There was no way with it beeing happy go lucky and I knew that going in the first time.
One sene though confused me a bit. It was nice that Vi and Cate finaly got their moment, but it felt like it was in the completly wrong time. Sins Vi was just worried about her sister "ending it" and a few minutes later she makes out with her girl? Shouldnt she bee like, I need to go after my sister first?
Or was she thinking that she is already too late?
ok look, maybe it was just a joke, but I have read so many people saying it seriously idk how to take it. But Im going to say this as neutral as I can. Why do people need to impose sexual/romantic love at everything? are ur lifes so sad this is the only love u know? Why cant 2 men love each other non seuxally nor romantically, and just... love each other... It was fun the first time, but when I have EVERYONE saying it, and too many saying it seriously. Its just annoying. Why cant asexual or arromantic people exist? Why cant people just love another human without the bs of sex and romance. I m heterosexual, Im a man, I have a female friend who is beatiful. And yet I love her for who she is. I just love her as a person, a friend, a partner. I have a latent libido, I masturbate and everything, I want a gf (even if I take things very slowly). Why cant we exist? Why cant we love someone just for love. Is just so tiring. So harmful and toxic. I will insist idk in which tone u said it, so is not as much as an attack to you, but rather as the situation so dont take it personal.
I miss Heimerdinger
Season 2 problems are rooted from the unnecessary plotlines in Season 1. Take Ambessa and her Noxian storyline out of Season 1 and we may have a more concise season 2. So to say that Season 1 was perfect is pure bullcrap
Why TF couldn't Mel and Jayce be together?! Why make him gay, why make Mel masculine? Why the hell did Ambassa have to die? They didn't make Victor and Jayce weren't brothers which is what they were in season one. I have zero desire to re=watch this season. I love season 1, and this ruined it for me and others..
So it's the spiderverse 2 ending lol (thats a joke)
Tbh i p much agree. Im a lil disappointed but not like.. that much lmao it's fine it's Good. I liked it fine. It's v good
"Arcane was never about viktor or magic"
A lot of characters doing dumb things.
And the magic made no sense and had no purpose.
viktor and jayce are NOT gay lmao
This ending is not what that series needed. Sorry
The story drifts away after S2 act 1.
- Mels Black Rose plotline was way too much
- Caitlyns set up as dictator, but for like only 10 sec
-Jinx character completely changed. Her psychotic maniac behaviour disappeared completely
- the AU was a bad idea altogether
-Vi has no character development and is tossed aside
- no real resolution of the sister conflict
- no real showing of Zaun/ Piltover conflict
- Ekko/ Powder romance felt out of place.
- Victor/ Jayce ending was just Marvel-like.
Even though season 1 was incredible, I find myself enjoying and rewatching season 2 and that ending way more. I get we are critical about the things we love, theres always room for improvement, but the amount of detail and care for the project from the writters, animators and actors, specially with their lack of experience in showmaking is remarkable. Im sure they all learned a lot during the process. There is beauty in imperfection