and it forced him to experience just a small slice of what Viktor's life had been like. Crippled, isolated, in a world of darkness that he had to claw his way out of without any help.
For real, I was in complete disbelief, was digesting what I had just watched, and decided "y'know what? I'm dissecting this whole thing" and proceeded to rewatch.
Haven't fully rewatched it yet, but I did kind of get that vibe from the ending where I was like "I feel disappointed right now, but my opinion will probably change after rewatching it." Kind of the same thing I felt after finishing Final Fantasy VII Rebirth the first time.
i was so angry and sad about the ending. i watchend episode 7 again and i felt like it all makes sence now. also i think it doesent matter how the ending would have been i would never be happy cause i just dont want it to end.
As a 3D animatior/artist, I can definitely see Arcane up there with the greatest Animated series of all time like. The amount of detail in this series is just inspiring.
There were a few out-of-character moments, granted. But Vi doing foolish things to save a loved one that can't be saved is pretty much on par for the character.
Thank you! I know people expect Vi to be solemn and aggressive all the time, but she is still human. Seeing your father figure to die in front of you is going to make abandoning him very difficult.
Fr. Like did nobody notice how this scene sort of mirrored the premise when Powder killed Vander and her siblings? Like they both fell again, Vi traumatized holding Vanders face only this time instead of hitting her little sister and „leaving“ her, she won’t give up so Jinx has to leave her? It’s kind of a bittersweet redemption.
As a noob league of legends gamer who knows none of the lore of the game, realizing orianna is singed daughter really had me shook. Especially since I main in orianna I was like 😱😱😱😱
Arcane is definetly a masterpiece of a Netflix distribution. This is how you proberly adapt a series from a game! It's like a painting come to life with glorius visuals! Truly visual storytelling at it's finest!
I was fucking sad about heimerdinger, but the good news is, they are lore-wise a type of spirit that take that shape in those little "mammalian bipeds", they can't really die.
@@PandaEnPleurs well Bundle City is kinda outer from every timeline pocket dimension which connects to other universes through randomly appearing portals. So answer is yes and no
Of course Vi didn't immediately jump off that ledge to safety, girl was having PTSD to Vander's death. They even show her flash to when she saw him after the fall from the warehouse. As you say in the video these characters are young and experienced A Lot of trauma at a young age. That was the moment her entire world changed and seeing it again she wasnt thinking clearly.
I think act 3 was a little short in my opinion, don't get me wrong the finale was amazing but if each episode was an hour long we would've gotten a lot more buildup to the final battle
It wasn't too short, it's the same length as season 1, it's just the time wasn't distributed well. Act 1,2 and act 3 should have been split half and half.
@Dew-b8b Yeah you got a good point there, I just wish we could've seen more of Heimerdinger and Ekko, I was also hoping they would confirm if Isha is dead or not, that's something I've been thinking about recently
Jinx is definitely alive. Everyone is talking about the pink streak before the explosion, but there was also a pink streak when she tackled vander, definitely not a coincidence. she definitely escaped.
Jinx is for sure alive. The pink streak, "The End" being written in her psycho scratch... Jinx is on that airship. Why else would they show an airship leaving Piltover/Zaun with no other context?
@@vagabond142oh there is other context as well, the other context is that Jinx at one point said she wanted to be on one of those airships one day lmfao - 100% she’s alive, I’d even bet on seeing her again in another series after Arcane
On top of all the little clues, we can also just go off the logic of S1Ep7. After that explosion Jinx was completely fine and Ekko walked away with a twisted ankle. The explosion in the finale was a bit bigger so maybe Jinx broke an arm… that’s about it.
Isha should have been displayed in the background at least shown happy with her parents in an alt timeline when Ekko was walking through the streets in the alt-universe just to give some closure for her sacrifice.
My main man Vander was not only disrespected but *ERASED* and *REDUCED* to a *ROBOT FURRY,* Singed absolutely did not deserve to get his daughter back in any way.
but he didnt got his daughter back, what you see is a in the end is a robot with the features of orianna, not orianna herself. he failed on resurrecting her so he just recreated her with an AI that talks like her
You're forgetting that there's another person besides him that's part of that equation - his daughter. Did she also not "deserve" to get another chance at life?
What could have been was really beautiful. I was happy Ekko got to at least have one happy episode and then when Powder brings him to her little memorial for Vii It brought out all of my season 1 PTSD lmao.
Another subtle writing decision actually provides great context for Vi breaking down and making it way more understandable. In addition to a TON of Saving Private Ryan references in the last episode, it becomes clear that Vi is and probably has been experiencing extreme PTSD since Vander died. In the last battle she is first seen desperately carrying Illaowi the rebel on her back only to watch her die, she watches Loris, who is a stand-in for Vander, cut down indiscriminately. She is on the front lines watching so many people die, and then on top of all that, she has to watch Vander die - FOR THE THIRD TIME. The idea that she is "stupid" for not being able to bear it anymore, completely misses the point of her character. She is the Protector, because she loves hard and sees many people as her family, yet it has also made her the vessel for incredible trauma. I think this is why Caitlin, knowing Vi so deeply, understands she needs to keep Jinx being alive secret, because Vi needs time to heal from the trauma, at the very least.
I agree. One of the driving forces in Vi's life is her need to save people. The final scenes with her and Jinx are understandably frustrating, but I interpret it as Vi being unwilling to let Vander go, because she can't not try to save the people she cares about. She holds Vander looking for a sign that he might still be there, regardless of the risk to herself. When Jinx chooses to let go of Vi, I think its because she recognizes that Vi can't let go. If she or Vander are still around, Vi will always put her happiness aside, so she kills two birds with one bomb (so to speak). With Vander gone and Jinx walking away, Vi can mourn them and move on.
@@FreelancerLAexactly! Jinx literally said “you’ll never be able to let me go, will you?” When she locked Vi in the cell. She realized that the best thing she could do for her sister is to let her go.
Thank you. This needed to be said. Yes there are great many of characters that go through incredible loads of trauma and fucked up shit through this show, but Vi for me personally is the main punching bag of the story. She always tries to do the right thing and protect everyone she cares about and she just keeps being kicked around and overall fucked by life and everytime it looks like something good might happen to her, she gets destroyed again and again over and over again. She and Ekko are two who deserved the happy ending most of all the characters in the show and i am glad she kinda have it. Saying she was "dumb" in that moment is incredibly unempathic and stupid, people dont think rationally or clear when they go through trauma and emotional whiplash and Vi was going through extreme trauma and emotional whiplash non-stop since the show started pretty much. So expecting her to "be smart and clear" and go against her nature and let embodiment of her dad to just die is just unrealistic and it would just not fit. But hey its just the thing to say while watching tv show/movie from comfort of a bed/couch while living nice cosy sheltered life. Fun fact: me and my friend were watching last act together and after ep7 we had to pause and go on discussion how fucked up it would be if ekko came to Vi and told her "Hey i was in alternate universe where you died and life was fucking perfect without you around", how freaking devastating would that be. Poor Vi, i agree that Ekko is the mvp that carried the story, but Vi will forever be the one that endured the most without corrupting her for single second. (and no her drinking and fighting in pits is not corruption, its just venting the frustration and its very justified)
What surprises me is that the writer did confirm he does not mind killing champion characters to highten the emotional impact of the story, and I'm all in for it.
Vi has proven repeatedly that she is incapable of giving up on her family. Staying on the ledge to save Vander is exactly what she has proven she will do. She even admits to Caitlyn earlier that she always chooses family over "the smart choice". Its why shes the emotional heart of S02. And Jinx's sacrifice was her finally not "screwing it up". This was her only way to go out as the "good person" she wanted to be, but never could pull off. If she lived, she'd probably just kill herself. So, dying for a purpose, and allowing Vi to finally move on was the final, beautiful redemption she needed.
I think the impetus for Victors change was not just Jayces attack, but that his commune failed. He tried to have his evolution with people who were only partly machine, and still had some free will. But when it didn't work he decided that the only solution was to have total control, completely mechanical people.
It's probably a combination of Jayce, once his most trusted friend, betraying him and the possibility of attackers ending his peaceful commune. It's kinda like the AI alignment problem. To accomplish your goal, your best course of action is to eliminate your greatest threat: humanity.
8:00 It's not last minute at all. It was shown clearly in S1 E9 Mel's golden tattoo glowed when the Jinx's rocket hit, and it is foreshadowed immediately in S2 E1 Mel covering up Jayce protecting him from the blast. They both walked out unscathed.
Yeah, honestly I feel like a lot of criticism I've seen of season 2 just stems from people not being able to read narrative that hasn't been outright overtly stated to them directly. Arcane moves at such a pace (which I think is really only the main criticism to be had of it) that it tells you a lot with showing rather than directly telling you up front and a lot of people don't seem to know how to handle that. This even goes back to the first season, like, for example the amount of people I've seen who seem to genuinely think Ekko escaped his fight with Jinx with just a twisted ankle because that's what he directly states, but what the show is imo quite clearly showing otherwise is he is injured worse than that and is just trying to downplay it to Heimerdinger.
viktor changed that much because he fully understood that after jayce almost killed him, emotions cause chaos, rage, pain and they would always be a contradiction of humans, so he couldn't save people from themselves. so he then decided to do that sacrifice of vander in order to fullfill his "glorious revolution" and "save" all humanity maybe it also was the hex-core and the arcane not wanting to die in him so it persuaded his judgement to sacrifice WW into fully evolving... viktor literally stated "the doctor was right" during his near death speech so, it wasn't too harsh of a change
i think it was more that he realized Jayce was gonna try to fully kill him and the only options were to raise an army big enough to defeat jayce or just die
He was also stripped of his humanity with every death and revival. With every hexcore augmentation, he lost a bit more of his human body and mind; he was clearly not fully human anymore by the first time he was revived by Hexcore, and he lost all his contact with humanity when he was revived a second time and became the machine herald. My guy is literally an omnipotent cosmical being made of photons and stardust, why would he NOT want to create a human puppet army??
Viktor was talking about his glorious evolution before Jayce came so I think it had started happening already. Someone else pointed out that Salo wasn’t breathing so was already kinda just a husk
Not only that but Noxians, Ambessa, Singed were already trying to ruin his commune and take his power anyway. Even if Jayce didn't try to kill him there, someone would have come for his power sooner or later. That was the whole point of his speech in the end of ep 6 - people do the most great but also the most horrible things for love. Ambessa wanted to protect her family and was ready to wage war in Piltover&Zaun for that. Singed wanted to bring his daughter to live and was ready to do anything, including sacrifying Vander, for that. Jayce was trying to stop something that was already going wrong (those people in the cult weren't actually alive but Viktor didn't realize it) but he had to kill Viktor for that. Idk why it's hard to realize why Viktor came to the conclusion he did. And he wasn't wrong in the sense that as long as humans are ruled by instincts and emotions, there will never be peace. It's just the opposite will lead to emptiness and loneliness.
Ekko mourning someone on the same place he and alternate-universe-Powder kissed is also a clever diversion I think. He wasn't mourning Jinx, he was mourning Heimerdinger.
Yeah, cause he was only burning one piece of paper rather than 2, which would be weird if he believed both Jinx and Heimerdinger were dead. Either he knows Yordles can't truly die and is mourning Jinx, or he knows deep down Jinx could have possibly gotten away and is mourning Heimerdinger
@stormSeven Maybe, though we don't see anyone that has explicitly lost more than one person doing the paper thing aside from Ekko. If we, for example, saw someone like Vi, who would at least be mourning Jinx, Vander, Isha, and Loris, we could judge based on if she burns 1 or 4 papers
and I Think Heimer is still alive if they able to pull Arcane S3.. he has more to give to ekko. maybe in S3 they meet again and heimer will explain why he is still alive..and also he is a Yorde. or maybe he is still alive in that alt world. HOPING
I loved the part when Sevika said "I propose we establish some sort of League made up of the Legends who fought in this war." And the other council member said "…Say that again."
I saw this episode 7 more than 10 times, but only now did i see that the alternative Powder also has the blue cloud tattoos that Jinx has. The difference is that the tattoos of the alternative Powder doesn't go all the way through the shoulder and arm. I don't know if it is just the hip or if it goes through her bust as well. nice detail fortiche. This show will make me crazy someday.
I loved the fact that "sane" alternate Powder still collected most of the shards of the unstable proto-type hex-crystals. It may take some time, but this alternate timeline probably also has hex-tech and an instable Jinx in its future... It is also telling that Powder did not reveal these shards to Ekko and Heimerdinger even though they worked together on the Z-drive. Heimerdinger, by the way, had more than 3 years to suppress Jayce/Victors research into Hextech, which he failed to do in the main timeline. He also found the coolest way to keep tabs on Ekko and being an inspiring musician to spread joy massively helped to integrate Zhaun and create an almost-Utopia Piltover/Zhaun. The amount of thought put in to a single episode for desparately needed rounding-off of character arcs setting up the finale is truely mind-blowing!
Season two tried to push two seasons worth of plot into one. It worked, barely, because the writers are smart. But the whole plot moving of a conflict between cities to a rogue Jesus so quickly makes people get lost in the plot. With a third season, it would have worked perfectly.
I'm biased cause i still love this s2 but i think they just needed like 10 more minutes in episode 8 and 9. After Acts 1 and 2 being so Zaun focused it feels kind of forgotten for the final act. They couldve fixed this by showing the full scene of Ekko convincing jinx to live and the undercity's, specifically Sevika's, reaction to Jinx's call to help Piltover. A longer and more fleshed out epilogue also would have been nice.
I agree. Another season (with another 7 hours or so) would have ruined the shows quick pacing while also making it more obvious that the show is just repetitions of itself.
For those who hated the ending, I really don't think you guys would've liked the happy ending for everyone. The "happily ever after" can't give you the same reminiscent of the show like how we are feeling about the ending right now. The writers wanted us to get "frustrated" in the twisted ending, and live in the painful, strong, and long lasting reminiscent, but with the hopeful cliffhangers. Just look at the RUclips videos coming out, talking about the ending. This is what makes this show so amazing.
I think they also wanted to show the potential of this world, where they could go with it after Arcane ends, so in that context all the crazy sudden sub-plot directions we got makes more sense.
@@Arander92 I think people just like to think how easy to pull good quality on animation. Arcane probably is the hardest animation to pull off with all those fantastic quality and all the details. They need to take a count of budget constraint and also hours to just deliver 9 episode with all those qualities are already fucking amazing. Even it felt rush, it still hold and deliver good narrative through the end unlike Game of Throne Last season.
I still feel like the Piltover Zaun conflict with Jinx, Vi, and Warwick doesn't work with the Arcane escalation (Victor and Jayce). Maybe that's just me, but they completely lost me when those I, Robot things started to swarm the city.
7:30 He does say to jayce ''I'd prefer to do this peacefully, but the noxian has other intentions''. I think when he sent that first robot to talk he had a hope of avoiding the war. He became willing to do it by those means, but I don't think he did a full 180 and completely lost faith.
In episode 8, when Cait finds Vi in the jail cell, Vi is mad at herself for again making bad choices. "I choose wrong every time, and because of it I've lost everyone." I feel this was a foreshadow to her once again making a bad decision on the ledge and losing Jinx.
Personally I was okay with the ending not featuring Jinx and Vi as heavily. They already had their major character arcs in the season 1 finale and throughout act 2. Vi and Jinx are protagonists but not the only protagonists after all. Thereby leaving Viktor and Jayce left to finish their story arcs and dedicating a season finale to them felt fine to me.
yeah i was confused by the amount of people complaining about the focus jayce and viktor got… as if they weren’t set up as the other relationship that was core to the story. s1 wasn’t just about vi and jinx’s relationship, it was theirs too - however you interpret their relationship it was very clearly established as a pillar of the story. literally as they start to grow apart it triggers war. arcane has a lot of that, the dissolution of relationships causing tragedy. vander and silco, mel and ambessa, vi and jinx, jayce and viktor, vi and caitlyn, hell even heimerdinger and singed. the finale ending with jayce and viktor’s reunion being what saves everything makes so much sense on a narrative level and i found it quite satisfying (even if jayce’s path to get there was… convoluted and frustratingly underexplained. SOME criticisms of the finale are justified, after all.)
@umbreonic766 Yeah I agree, parts of the ending to Jayces and Viktors arc are messy. Jayce’s ultimatum to Viktor about how “imperfections make us who we are” really felt like it came out of nowhere. Jayce never really experienced anything to come to such a conclusion, it would make more sense if for someone who went on heimerdinger’s journey. But still even if a bit messy Jayce and Viktor deserved a major finale.
@@molamola9723 his point about imperfections comes from a) his love for Vik (however you want to see it, friends or not), and because we all can undestand in the ending that Vik loathed himself for these imperfections and pushed his own change so much because of it, so that's why Jayce counterpoints it imo. b) from the narrative of Vik's cult that people should be their perfect selfes.
@@Alena-cz7hj I know where his point comes from but the show doesn’t show him reaching that point naturally through a character arc. His only revelation in s2 is that the arcane must be stopped and that’s it, nowhere does he learn the lesson that imperfections make us who we are it’s very out of nowhere. One moment he goes from killing Viktor, wanting to kill Viktor again, and then suddenly he’s appealing to Viktor with this argument.
@@molamola9723 he is appealing to him, because it's implied he had a longer convo with Mage!Viktor (how I see it), and because he promised to Mage!Vik that he will safe main reality Viktor
Jinx “walked away” as Silco said. The ending is way more sadder when you remember Jinx has been trying to stop Vi from hurting Warwick because he’s Vander. In the end she puts him out of his misery with her grenade, hugging him and remembering him. It’s super touching, plus the fact that she survives makes it not as depressing 😂
2:43 Not sure if anyone else has pointed this out but they probably made up in the other reality because of the note that was in episode 5. Also, on a unrelated note, the ending with Jinx's "death" mirrors what happened in season 1 with Vi and Jinx. In S1, Jinx thought Vi was dead, since nobody has seen her since the explosion, but Vi is instead going away and spending time behind bars. Now in S2 we have Vi thinking Jinx is dead after a huge explosion (Which, I'm now realising as I'm typing this, Vander was technically there for both explosions) and Jinx is going away. Sure she's not going away to do time but she's going away nonetheless.
Arcane is an amazing show, season 1 was perfect and season 2 was great but flawed. Criticism dosent not mean a show isn’t good, we all feel the pacing issues that bleed into the stories but we can also all tell how much love, care and passion went into making this masterpiece of a show. Still a 10/10 in my books.
Agreed. I also think the show runners and writers were pretty exhausted finishing this. Putting something out like this that will likely be remembered as one of the best animated shows of all time has to absolutely max out everyone involved. They still stuck the landing. I wanted and extended 2nd season with 2 additional acts. I think that would have given this story a little more room to breathe without dragging imo.
A friend of mine theorized that in the alternate timeline, Silco actually got Vander's letter. Also, Vi never got to say goodbye to Vander. ANY OF THE THREE TIMES HE DIED. So give her some fucking slack.
Also she never gave herself the time to fully grieve him bc she had to keep going to survive, which is why she has a break down mid season (the drinking the fighting the dyed hair the rejection of color, she's grieving but doesn't know how to cope and isn't trying to work through her grief in a meaningful actually healing way. instead she's getting self destructive like her sister) I'd even argue that she hasn't properly grieved the death of her parents so ofc she'd have no semblance of self preservation bc her go to has been trying to safe them and if that doesn't work cry for a minute and then get on with life bc she has someone to protect (powder, jinx and the undercity itself, she blames herself for ALL the deaths of her loved ones including those where she couldn't do jack shit about (or more like especially those) and so she thinks she has to try to finish what Vander started, in her own way) and thus she can't allow herself to be out of commission. mid season she finally allows herself to do this thing she should've been able to do for a long time but by then all she knows is fighting to survive so she does that, fighting herself to. survive. her role as protector gives her a sense of self and she has lost that with cait leaving her (bc she also protected cait evidently.) so basically she's lost herself and she doesn't cope well. sorry for the rambling 😅
Silco's advice to Jinx to me is the ultimate evidence sealing the fact that she definitely faked her death, breaking the cycle to disappear quietly. Leaving people to forget abt her as Zaun's symbol. I was wondering how the ending would go for her as well, since by the end of Arc 2 she was clearly not fitting her name any longer (fixing instead of wrecking/new maturity), showing signs that it was time to "get rid" of the story behind it, while it being impossible since she was still leading the revolt. Me and my friend jokingly thought she needed a 3rd name fitting ber growth and new identity but I guess letting people forget abt her works just as well. I hope she gets to live a full life now.
Based on how Christian has been hinting at future projects bringing Arcane's characters back, my guess is we'll see her in the future, maybe even in the upcoming show(s) set in Noxus, Demacia and Ionia. Maybe Bilgewater since that seems like a place that Jinx would hang out in, but I don't think there any Bilgewater content planned quite yet.
I truly believe jinx n vi will return. Cait isnt investigating this 4 nothing. Nor is she going to go to vi n give her false hope her sister is alive. I think we get a spin off where we follow new set of characters in a new location n at the end of season 1. Cait walks and says shes looking for someone and shows us a picture of jinx. Then the fans go insane. Season 2 is cait n vi reuniting with jinx
My question is was cait investigating this cause she wants a reason to believe jinx is alive or because she had concrete evidence that made her think she's alive
Honestly, it sounds like the simpler possibility is just Jinx venturing through Noxus trying to find herself or something. Maybe Ekko shows up too, I dunno, but Caitlyn and Vi certainly won’t be involved. The most you can hope for is that she goes back to Piltover-Zaun at the end and then the next season focuses on whatever characters she meets in Noxus, closing the page on the Arcane story arc for good
with regards to jinx at the end, the thing that gets to me the most is what she says to Vi in Episode 8: "There is no good version of me." when Ekko shows up in her place and keeps stopping her from... yknow. he has the Z-Drive, with some key Jinx-isms that Jinx actually recognizes. Later on, when she says to Vi, "I'm with you, sis, even when we're worlds apart," I think she might be referencing Ekko's experiences in the alternate timeline. It doesn't strike me as unbelievable that Ekko would tell her about it all, and we see when she comes back to Piltover in her balloon, she's got a swagger and moxie that is reminiscent of both her S1 self and Ekko. However, the moxie is subdued, leveled out into a sort of confidence and centered-ness whereas previously when she'd displayed that level of moxie it was laced with mania. I think in the time between the E9 opening and her showing up to Piltover (because i struggle to believe they got that balloon ready in only a few hours) Ekko is able to re-inspire her to hold onto hope for life and chase something new. Hence why there's the implication of her leaving Zaun and Piltover on the blimp, and why she would zip out of the explosion, and even why she would join the fight to begin with. So as she's leaving Zaun and Piltover, there's some part of her that's been "saved". Maybe she's not completely recovered from the trauma, but she's started taking those steps.
Ekkooo... Thats y he da MVP, thats y he da goat! Da GOOOAAAAATT!!! Let everyone acknowledge that Ekko RESISTED Victor's mind meld with straight up WILLPOWER to make that last move. He gave up true love, a paradise, lost his mentor/ Heimerdinger on the process just to save the whole world. 🎉🎉🙌🙌💯😭 Only those with the strongest wills can do the hardest things.
One of the things I love about Arcane is how accurate actions of characters are from a psychology perspective. People that work in the field have made videos about Arcane and I really enjoy GeorgiaDow's videos delving into why characters act they way they do in the show. I am not sure she made a video talking about what was going on with Vi in the last episode at the time of writing this but I got my take on it. Vi not thinking and crying over Vander instead of listening to Jinx was very realistic. You mentioned earlier that it is easy to forget a lot of the cast is quite young and they have been through so much. People often hold young characters who were written realistically (especially in animation) to completely unrealistic mental standards. Human psychology is fascinating, complex, and often poorly understood by most. Seeing how people can have drastically different takes on moments like Vi's breakdown is a testament to how well it was portrayed. Most of the characters never had a chance to get therapy despite really needing it. Vi had the most traumatizing event of her life followed up with having to survive in Stillwater often isolated in her cell. She lived holding on to the slight possibility that Powder was alive. Vi did not have the space to process those events well if at all. Vi wasn't hearing Jinx or thinking about what was happening because she was reliving the most traumatic moment of her life both in her memory and in real time as she lost Vander again. How Vi caresses Warwick's face is exactly how it happened when Vander died the first time. Vi entered the fight, flight, or collapse state because she was mentally, emotionally, and physically repeating her most traumatic experience.
16:35 this is actually pretty solid proof that Jinx survived, the pink line completely clashes with the shape of the explosion and it seems intentional
Also Ekko only burns a piece of paper. Jinx let him know she was alive before she dipped. Otherwise he would’ve burned two, one for Jinx and one for Heimer.
It's kinda cheating, but her voice actress and both show runners also kinda confirmed it in act 3's aftershow, where Vi's voice actress asked if Jinx was really dead, and all three grinned and basically said "we don't know." Christian, one of the show runners and the main dude who's in charge of Riot's animation department, also hinted at future projects that would bring Caitlyn, Vi, Jinx and Ekko back, though we're not sure when they're coming.
Ekko ,fortunately or unfortunately, is too logical, he knows this world isn't his and the people aren't the same, that's why he said "people need me". too wishful thinking you should stay there, you are essentially an imposter a different person taking the place of another.
I feel Jinx actually did have a strong motivation for sacrificing herself. After the deaths of their families, Jinx’s internalized burden of guilt is centered on her feeling responsible for the deaths of everyone closest to her and Vi’s internalized burden of guilt is centered on her past failure to protect the people she’s loved. Jinx’s final sacrifice simultaneously prevented herself from “Jinxing” Vi’s death and removed Vi’s burden of having to put Jinx’s life before her own.
There is another proof of Jinx survival. When she detonated the bomb right before ekko arrived we can see the eyes of the monkey bomb blowing up (with no ekko she would have died) BUT THE BOMB CAIT has in her hand still has the eyes. They dont do thing randomly, they never did.
You're actually one of the few people to also notice this that I've seen. There's also more proof baked into that Caitlyn scene, as she would have had to go back to the hex gate to retrieve the lid of the monkey bomb, and it's heavily implied that there wasn't a body or any remnants of a body. If there was, we very likely would have received a memorial scene or something, but what we got instead was Caitlyn looking at the schematics of the hex gate, so it's extremely likely that the lack of a body made Caitlyn suspicious enough to check the schematics.
12:32 there are so many moments in arcane where victor is comparred to mel, they have the same shots of their hand, the same expression, the same placement of moles, they are both Jayces partners. Saying that he had Mel at home really misses a lot of stuff that was said. Mel and Jayce didn't really love eachother, they loved the idea they had of eachother. Jayce staying was an act of love (doesn't have to a romantic one, could be platonic but still love)
i have a tiny headcannon that in the alt timeline, silco got vanders note and it really did change everything (obviously not the four kids doing the heist but like pretty much everything else) and that’s why they’re friends again
also shimmer clearly doesn’t exist and that’s so cool! or maybe it’s just not everywhere because of silco and the doctor guy still made it but only used it for his daughters experiment
@@kaleidokai11 Singed probably still made shimmer, but without a proper deck and funding from a crime boss like Silco, there's no way he would be able to mass-produce like that (and have no real reason to spread it for profit insce that was NEVER his intention)
As to why Viktor changed his whole world philosophy after Jayce attempted to kill him - Jayce was the most important person in Viktor's world. There are no indications he ever really had a friend besides Jayce and if someone was going to understand his perspective, surely Jayce would be that person. Now there were definite red flags that Jayce wasn't down with "the new Viktor" (saying Hextech is a curse, splatting Salo) but Viktor expected him to come find the commune so they could talk. Instead Viktor opens his eyes to see madness and bloodlust consume his friend. Well, dang. "If even Jayce can get so emotional he would kill me, everyone else is surely as flawed. There will be some collateral damage initially, but then an end to all violence and conflict as the Glorious Evolution removes all emotion and 'troublesome' individuality. United at last." or something like that. Yea, Viktor didn't handle that rejection very well.
Even though I was a bit bothered myself first time I watched it, the point of the moment when Vi is crying at Warwick is to reinforce that same matter Jinx brought up at prison, that Vi DON'T give up on the people she loves, no matter how far gone they are and to a point that she does put herself in danger every single time. This is also why Jinx faked her death to her, because Vi can never give up on her, and they both need to move forward to break the cycle. Vi needs to stop sacrificing herself to save Jinx, and Jinx needs to figure herself out not as Vi's sister, or Silco's daughter, or Isha's friend, but her own person for herself alone.
This Dance part is animated 4 frames per second, a connection to 4 seconds per time rewind using the Z Drive Ekko and Powder co created. Solidifying the "Ever wish if we can stay in this moment" if Ekko used the ZDrive this would be the flashes of memory he would experience/see
Vi refusing to leave Vander and get to safety wasn't her being dumb, it was her showing what us both her greatest strength AND greatest weekness: she never ever gives up on trying to save her family. It was also probably the moment Jinx truly realised what "walking away" meant. At that moment it was Jinx that got to play the role of older sister- she saved Vi from herself and then she made the mature decision to simply step away from the toxic cycle they found themselves trapped in, a cycle Vi would never be able to willingly leave on her own.
Since there are probably gonna be some spin-off series, there are theories that Jayce and Viktor were sent to another dimension, so I’d like to see how that plays out!
The music was absolutely masterful as well, every single little bit just induces so much emotion and immersion. I can't listen to any of the songs from season 2 without getting emotional again.
about "jinx death", i dont think she is dead, because if she was dead, then they would have found her dead body but all we get is pieces of the grenade and a map where she could have flet. So i am quite sure she survived and based on arcanes build up stories, the airship scene would make so much more sense. I hope the first scene we get in the next series is her riding the ship into the new arc
7:09 To be fair... The man did get his chest blown out and have all his followers killed. He basically had the Harvey Dent treatment. Whether or not you could argue said followers were truly alive or just puppets (I've seen arguments for both) is besides the point as we hear in Victor's ending monologue of Episode 7 that he believed the failure for all humans is our emotions, blah, blah blah.
Bro I just wanted Ekko to be happy. Arcane is perfect cus some people just dont get to be happy and in my opinion it what makes it feel real . And in the end i just wanted ekko in this realty to be happy in the end.
7:30 Jayce doing that to him and then him going all villain arc was really important to show what they had. their ‘affection’ is obviously more you gotta be blind to not see that, but this point in particular shows how much Victor means to him and how he is what humanity represents to him in a way. Jayce, his partner and whom he shares such great AFFECTION(???😭) for ‘betraying’ him hurts him so much more than he thought.
Ekko fought Viktor at the end to try to stop Viktor, but (Hobo) Viktor actually stopped himself. As a viewer, I was originally comparing Viktor to Dr. Manhattan, but at the reveal we realize he was more like Dr. Strange threading a needle. Viktor sent Ekko and Heimerdinger to the "ideal reality" to not only give Ekko sympathy toward Powder, and not only to also get Powder's help in creating the time device, but to give all three of them the space to create it in the first place. Hobo Viktor wanted Ekko to blow the time device so he and Jayce can black hole themselves out of reality. Thus, Hobo Viktor was essentially being a puppet master without touching anyone.
I wasn't mad when I saw Vi not wanting to give up on Vander because I think it fits her it's not stupidity. Even if Jinx recognize it, Vi, as a Character has never been able to give up on anyone. Even when she says at the beginning of Season 2 that her sister is beyond saving it only took a small hint of hope to make her try to reconnect with her again. She is unable to give up and after being freed from Viktor, it's reasonable to think Vander could still be in there.
When your best friend/ your homie/ your bro just macks you without even allowing to have a proper sit down chat. That can really BREAK a person towards evil.
Viktor's futures don't all end in chaos. They end in flawless perfection. And Jayce shows Viktor that his imperfections are beautiful and are what make us human.
17:00 the reason the ending made sense is because Vi literally did what she always does. She makes the stupid decisions that people around her suffer for.
One thing we can all agree on whether we loved the ending or not is that Ekko was the MVP. It's kind of funny though how he saved Jinx by basically save scumming and finally choosing the right RPG dialogue choice while talking to her
Viktor is a conscientious psychopath. When he rejects Singed, he doesn't care about Vander's humanity, he wants to one-up the brilliant Alchemist. When he purges his mental projection of Sky, he tells her, that he'll miss their talks, but his subconscious isn't buying it. He conceptualizes a good person as someone who cares about people, but at the same time he knows full well that he just really, _really_ doesn't care about people at all. They bore him. Viktor cares about things, concepts, problems, but not people, his entire existence centered around tracking down and solving the world's most difficult Rubik's cube. So he must climb up the abstraction ladder and rationalize his completely ruthless, bloody pursuit as philanthropic.
What you say is quite interesting but I don't think your theory holds up. Hasn't Viktor demonstrated numerous times that he's neurocognitively normal? Think about his reaction to Sky being disintegrated by the Hexcore. Would a psychopath be capable of such a high degree of guilt, to the point where he tries to commit suicide? And that's merely one example.
He also literally refuses the proposition that Singed proposes to him with Vander because of the fact that Vander 'is a man, and not a beast'. Pretty sure he cares about his humanity. He was even willing to compromise his own safety to save Vander. Remember Sky warning him that saving Vander was a risk, and Viktor replied that he was worth it?
i also think jinx saw vi in her own cycle when she grieved for warwick instead of prioritizing her life, she saw that Vi would always prioritize her family over her own happiness and safety. that’s why instead of just leaving she faked her death because she thought with her still alive, Vi would prioritize being with jinx instead of her relationship with Caitlyn.
Omgg i agree so much about being pissed at the ending. Like when i first watched it i was so upset and mad at Vi (as a big Vi fan) but after i went to sleep and like rewatched act 3 I realized how depressing this moment is. Uhh episode 7 powder said that her sister was drived by the fear of losing those she cared about. Which we can see is true about this Vi too. In that moment she probably realized that she couldn't save him, save apart of her family. She was staring right at her biggest fear and we see for the first time her actually bring controlled by it completely. She's paralyzed in that moment, just like anyone would be. Like yeah it was completely idiotic to just stand there but in that moment she couldn't move. I think if Warwick didn't wake up or if the ledge they were on want breaking she would've woken up and moved but that's not a story the writers wanted us to have and not the ending Vi needed to deal with her problems Unfortunately the only way Vi could move is if they're was nothing/ no one in her past that she could latch onto
The things I'd love to see in s 2: - more of Sevika. I feel like the writers had something planned for her but changed their minds. After saving isha she either disappeared for a long time or was just there as a background character. Where's another fight with such a fancy arm? - Sevika's and vi's interaction, at least about how they resolve their issue and decide to not be enemies anymore - Jinx talking to isha's image for the last time like with silco. She doesn't mention the girl after her death. That's strange - Jinx saving caitlyn before fighting "vander" in the last episode - Jayce's and caitlyn's last interaction as old friends - more of jayce and mel. They're a couple, common. They needed a proper goodbye. He made up with victor but couldn't have 1 dialogue with the woman thanks to which he achieved great things and saved the world? These 2 seem to have forgotten about each other - Ekko's and vi's interaction after powder's death. Surprise: they didn't talk to one another throuthe whole season - Jayce finding out about the fact ekko's responsible for the incident in his apartment - ekko telling everyone about heimerdinger's sacrifice - caitlyn apologizing to vi for shit she did to her - singed should've died - more of ekko and jinx in the original world. At least 1 convo or flashback of their childhood before the last fight - more episodes. The last 5 are very rushed with so many characters, conflicts and plotlines. Either there should've been 15+ episodes in the season or make then season 3 about piltover and undercity preparing for a new war, fighting a common enemy and finally making peace after that - the people jinx rescued from prison should've paid her back and helped her with something The main problem with the 2nd season is the lack of interactions
I love that you called your hope optimism It's such a rare thing to see lately [at least for me] that I genuinely forgot it existed until when you said it
On the note of Victor, and how he ends up losing his humanity, ends up being the main big bad of Act 3 and just why he does what he does. I think a lot of people overlook what Jayce says in the council room to Viktor that "My partner died in this room". That's true if you think about that Jayce's biggest mistake is trying to save Victor. If you look back at Season 1 there is a huge arc with Victor coming to terms that he is dying and in trying to save himself he literally obliterates his assistant and love interest Skye. After that he makes Jayce promise to destroy the Hexcore which, JAYCE DOESN'T DO! This leads into Jayce fusing Viktor with the core in Season 2 and the result is that trying to save Viktor he ultimately loses him. Now more on how Viktor is lost after that fusing I think you have to look a lot more of the theming of the show. All the PURPLE coloring that is shown around Viktor and the corruption on the Hexcore, the Firelight tree, and ALSO the plant that Singed derives shimmer from is part of the arcane called The Void. Long story short, The Void is a part of the Arcane that got woken up from its nap when the universe of Runeterra and life was created and is generally just pissed off and its only goal is to get rid of all sentient life so it can go back to sleep. I think when Viktor initially comes out of his cocoon he obviously still retains a portion of his humanity and still wants to help people but he is being essentially used as a puppet himself by The Void. A lot of people have discussed whether the Skye that we see in Viktor's realm is actually Skye or just a part of Viktor's self conscience I think is actually neither, Skye is actually just figure that The Void is using to guide Viktor. Theory on why this is, at the end of episode two when Viktor tells Singed to do the procedure Viktor says to the figure of Skye, "Thank you very much for your company in my SOLITUDE. I will miss our talks". The figure of Skye responds saying as her voice changes and she dissolves in PURPLE "No, you won't". What do we draw from this, Viktor is not actually with Skye in his consciousness, or with any of the others that he has evolved, he is alone with The Void. Then as Viktor undergoes the blood trasfusion procedure, his eyes burn PURPLE and his new mask forms over his face. The humanity of Viktor is now completely trapped and he himself is a puppet of The Void. At least that is my take on what I see in the details of the show.
Man… at first I didn’t really get ship between jinx and ekko, but after ep 7 I understood. Bro the fact that Jinx was healing and getting better because of Isha, and Ekko didn’t get to see it brakes my heart. They took “in another life” too seriously.
for me it was like while viktor was trying convince jayce to be partners again thinking logically what they could accomplish together, when jayce commits to killing him he viewed this as an act of emotion that kept his friend who he respected for his intelligence, and saw it as the thing keeping everyone irrational, it's probably how he changed so fast.
shows that don't force "positive" endings/outcomes, for me personally, are easier to appreciate because its raw. it's life. Like this is where emotion weighs heavy and is created. Some of my favorite movies or shows, (anime/non anime) tend to have you mad or upset with the outcomes of certain characters because these particular shows were truly able to prove their writing had captured your emotions (love/hate) into the story or people. And normally, make you want to rewatch it over and over because clearly, watching it again is the only way you'll appreciate them "alive" and well again, and before you know it, you enjoy their story all over. I LOVED this anime so much, and it is definitely a top 3 for me.
I think you missed something in your initial reaction. Yes Vi could have just walked away, but as usual, she was too emotional, and Jinx was hurt as a consequence. I thought this nicely mirrored the scene from S1A1 when she struck her. Again Vi lets her emotions control her, and Powder/Jinx pays the price. I liked it
@18:16 Faked her death makes it sound premeditated and I doubt she planned to have NotWolverine attack. It looks more like she just decided she didn't want to die. The only way it makes sense is if we say the writers faked her death, not she.
Exactly! People act as if she planned it all along, but it was more of a spontaneous decision. Perhaps after the escape, she considered walking away, but the writers chose to make her death deliberately ambiguous, and we'll never get to know her POV in all this.
@Vicky-ke4es Yeah, I would have prefered they ended the prison cell scene right when Caitlyn's shirt hit the floor then fade to black and move on and tack that extra time onto the end and give us a less ambiguous ending for Jinx; like right after Vi gives the dirt under your fingernails line Jinx could burst in saying "Here I am, your big fat hero" or something better written then that and a lot less ambiguous than a single frame of a pink streak on the screen. That would have been a lot more satisfying.
The only storyline i want to see more of is Mel. Gimme a graphic novel of her going back to Noxas and getting her get back. Who's her father? Is he a mage? Need the deets!
vi is so incredibly traumatized, she has endured way too much for one person (esp. as a child) and her trauma has always been heavily overlooked. it was a breakdown, not a „loss of braincells“…
I think it's more that the writers wrote her as if she was repressing her emotions, and the trauma manifested in different, more subtle ways, namely her inability to give up on people close to her. Lore notes released back when the first season aired hinted that she would frequently call out Powder's name when she first arrived at Stillwater, until she eventually just stopped which is likely when she started repressing her emotions to make it easier to survive in prison. Since getting out, she's had virtually no time to really sit and address her emotions and trauma, jumping from one tragic event to another, eventually to an all out war. I'd suspect that now would be when Vi starts unraveling, since she no longer has anybody to protect (aside from Caitlyn, but she isn't in danger anymore) and her life is now much, much calmer and quieter than ever before.
i love how we all agreed Jayce breaking his leg with his own hammer and falling into a ditch is such a Jayce thing to do
and it forced him to experience just a small slice of what Viktor's life had been like. Crippled, isolated, in a world of darkness that he had to claw his way out of without any help.
@@equestrianrosie Ay yo, what if Viktor purposely let Jayce craw his way through the ditch quite literally, to teach him a lesson =)))
It was hammer time for real
Nah, he didn't kill a single child on his way down, that's not Jayce.
@@zippo7422well that's not fair because theres no child to be killed there, if there were he wouldve done so fr
Also realize that the "vi jump" scene is a parallel to the start when vi was telling powder to jump from the rooftops
I didnt notice that, that would be brilliant! Full circle
Vi didn't jump but she did end up grabbing Powder/Jinx's hand again to keep her from falling
Stop it I’m crying again
Even the looking down angle is shot for shot
Oh fuck
Him saying he was pissed off after watching the ending for the first time, then rewatching it and go "absolute cinema" I related hard XD
For real, I was in complete disbelief, was digesting what I had just watched, and decided "y'know what? I'm dissecting this whole thing" and proceeded to rewatch.
Haven't fully rewatched it yet, but I did kind of get that vibe from the ending where I was like "I feel disappointed right now, but my opinion will probably change after rewatching it."
Kind of the same thing I felt after finishing Final Fantasy VII Rebirth the first time.
he literally said that his opinion changed a little, not "absolute cinema"
i was so angry and sad about the ending. i watchend episode 7 again and i felt like it all makes sence now.
also i think it doesent matter how the ending would have been i would never be happy cause i just dont want it to end.
@Kennedy00Louis I did exactly the same things !
Jayce really pulled the "Bros before magical hoes" move. A real hero.
And it worked
He’s a better man then me😂
@@DmitrySholokhov not choosing his bro would've ended the world so whether he stayed or left - there would be no "hoes" for Jayce either way
Real ones know bros and hoes can be the same thing with this hack
How about boyfriends instead of magical girls?
Faking her death is the best solution.
But Ekko will probably try to find her.
I hope so
We need a solo Ekko series of him finding her
@@ItsGulpe yes yes yes pls
Nah Ekko is leading people
I need to see it
As a 3D animatior/artist, I can definitely see Arcane up there with the greatest Animated series of all time like. The amount of detail in this series is just inspiring.
This is so real!!! Arcane and ATLA have really inspired me so much as creative to want to create my own shows
not to mention the fact that why the VFX are so crispy is cause they are all hand drawn and animated , ontop of using paralax processes and such
There were a few out-of-character moments, granted. But Vi doing foolish things to save a loved one that can't be saved is pretty much on par for the character.
Thank you! I know people expect Vi to be solemn and aggressive all the time, but she is still human. Seeing your father figure to die in front of you is going to make abandoning him very difficult.
@@BatAmericatwice. This was the second time she cradled his face in her hands. No shit she was frozen 😭
And that might be the reason Jinx decided to fake her own death. She knew that if Vi knew she was alive, she would constantly chase after her.
Fr. Like did nobody notice how this scene sort of mirrored the premise when Powder killed Vander and her siblings? Like they both fell again, Vi traumatized holding Vanders face only this time instead of hitting her little sister and „leaving“ her, she won’t give up so Jinx has to leave her?
It’s kind of a bittersweet redemption.
@@ThyFloorestFloorunless Caitlyn comes distracts her then Vi doesn’t give a crap apparently 😂
Shinged casually getting the happiest ending
I know right! Only did what he thought was right, changed what he could, adapted to what he couldn't, had patience, and was rewarded. A total badass.
"Shigned" bro doesn't deserve to people getting his name right 😭🙏
@@ClintStone-t9m💀
As a noob league of legends gamer who knows none of the lore of the game, realizing orianna is singed daughter really had me shook. Especially since I main in orianna I was like 😱😱😱😱
@@ClintStone-t9mdeserve to people
Arcane is definetly a masterpiece of a Netflix distribution. This is how you proberly adapt a series from a game! It's like a painting come to life with glorius visuals! Truly visual storytelling at it's finest!
I couldn't agree more, we don't get show's like this often, I hope it wins best adaptation at the Game Awards
i mean its good cuz netflix only distributes it and took no part in actually making it lol
im just glad not all western media is trashbin quality
fyi it's not produced by netflix, only distributed, It was produced by Riot
A Glorious Evolution
For adaptation of games
I was fucking sad about heimerdinger, but the good news is, they are lore-wise a type of spirit that take that shape in those little "mammalian bipeds", they can't really die.
Yea apparently lore wise as long as his spirit form isn’t destroyed he can never truly die
Right. Yordles reincarnate at the Bandle Tree. It's quite literally like a video game.
@@StriderZesseibut will he "respawn" at his own timeline tree or in the timeline he was ? 🤔
They only die if you stop buying their skins or stop playing them in game.
@@PandaEnPleurs well Bundle City is kinda outer from every timeline pocket dimension which connects to other universes through randomly appearing portals. So answer is yes and no
Of course Vi didn't immediately jump off that ledge to safety, girl was having PTSD to Vander's death. They even show her flash to when she saw him after the fall from the warehouse. As you say in the video these characters are young and experienced A Lot of trauma at a young age. That was the moment her entire world changed and seeing it again she wasnt thinking clearly.
totally agree. i don’t think she even heard jinx in that moment
Yeah she also havent really had a breakdown for the entirerity of act 3. This is basically her mental breakdown.
Lmao. Vis the worst character. Her lust for Cait was her main personality whole season2. Disgusting honestly
h0 is u gay? @@taguro1006
Even if she did Warwick would wake up and killed both of them.
I think act 3 was a little short in my opinion, don't get me wrong the finale was amazing but if each episode was an hour long we would've gotten a lot more buildup to the final battle
It wasn't too short, it's the same length as season 1, it's just the time wasn't distributed well. Act 1,2 and act 3 should have been split half and half.
@@Dew-b8b yes
@Dew-b8b Yeah you got a good point there, I just wish we could've seen more of Heimerdinger and Ekko, I was also hoping they would confirm if Isha is dead or not, that's something I've been thinking about recently
@@oneheavygroove Isha didnt have any enhancment so she is dead 100% i think
Yeah ACT 3 should have at least one more episode
Jinx is definitely alive. Everyone is talking about the pink streak before the explosion, but there was also a pink streak when she tackled vander, definitely not a coincidence. she definitely escaped.
I hope you are right because I am mad as hell that they did Jinx so dirty.
Jinx is for sure alive. The pink streak, "The End" being written in her psycho scratch... Jinx is on that airship. Why else would they show an airship leaving Piltover/Zaun with no other context?
@@vagabond142oh there is other context as well, the other context is that Jinx at one point said she wanted to be on one of those airships one day lmfao - 100% she’s alive, I’d even bet on seeing her again in another series after Arcane
@@owenyin3316 Honestly, the next series would rock if it covered Demacia or Iconia. Soooooooo much lore there to go through.
On top of all the little clues, we can also just go off the logic of S1Ep7. After that explosion Jinx was completely fine and Ekko walked away with a twisted ankle. The explosion in the finale was a bit bigger so maybe Jinx broke an arm… that’s about it.
Isha should have been displayed in the background at least shown happy with her parents in an alt timeline when Ekko was walking through the streets in the alt-universe just to give some closure for her sacrifice.
Jinx paid tribute to Isha, by making a doll of her, that she hangs up on her Air Ship / Room
My main man Vander was not only disrespected but *ERASED* and *REDUCED* to a *ROBOT FURRY,* Singed absolutely did not deserve to get his daughter back in any way.
Singed wins league of legends
People don't always get what they deserve. It's like getting mad that uncle Ben died in Spiderman.
RIGHT?!!! LIKE VANDER SUFFERED SO MUCH PAIN
but he didnt got his daughter back, what you see is a in the end is a robot with the features of orianna, not orianna herself.
he failed on resurrecting her so he just recreated her with an AI that talks like her
You're forgetting that there's another person besides him that's part of that equation - his daughter. Did she also not "deserve" to get another chance at life?
"It makes you appreciate what could have been for these characters..."
What could have been...
I hope you knooow we had everything
@@VIXXlight_VIXXComeBackthaat you brooke me and left these pieeeces
What could have been was really beautiful. I was happy Ekko got to at least have one happy episode and then when Powder brings him to her little memorial for Vii It brought out all of my season 1 PTSD lmao.
Stooooooop 😭
Another subtle writing decision actually provides great context for Vi breaking down and making it way more understandable.
In addition to a TON of Saving Private Ryan references in the last episode, it becomes clear that Vi is and probably has been experiencing extreme PTSD since Vander died. In the last battle she is first seen desperately carrying Illaowi the rebel on her back only to watch her die, she watches Loris, who is a stand-in for Vander, cut down indiscriminately. She is on the front lines watching so many people die, and then on top of all that, she has to watch Vander die - FOR THE THIRD TIME.
The idea that she is "stupid" for not being able to bear it anymore, completely misses the point of her character. She is the Protector, because she loves hard and sees many people as her family, yet it has also made her the vessel for incredible trauma.
I think this is why Caitlin, knowing Vi so deeply, understands she needs to keep Jinx being alive secret, because Vi needs time to heal from the trauma, at the very least.
I agree. One of the driving forces in Vi's life is her need to save people. The final scenes with her and Jinx are understandably frustrating, but I interpret it as Vi being unwilling to let Vander go, because she can't not try to save the people she cares about. She holds Vander looking for a sign that he might still be there, regardless of the risk to herself. When Jinx chooses to let go of Vi, I think its because she recognizes that Vi can't let go. If she or Vander are still around, Vi will always put her happiness aside, so she kills two birds with one bomb (so to speak). With Vander gone and Jinx walking away, Vi can mourn them and move on.
@@FreelancerLAexactly! Jinx literally said “you’ll never be able to let me go, will you?” When she locked Vi in the cell. She realized that the best thing she could do for her sister is to let her go.
Thank you. This needed to be said. Yes there are great many of characters that go through incredible loads of trauma and fucked up shit through this show, but Vi for me personally is the main punching bag of the story. She always tries to do the right thing and protect everyone she cares about and she just keeps being kicked around and overall fucked by life and everytime it looks like something good might happen to her, she gets destroyed again and again over and over again. She and Ekko are two who deserved the happy ending most of all the characters in the show and i am glad she kinda have it. Saying she was "dumb" in that moment is incredibly unempathic and stupid, people dont think rationally or clear when they go through trauma and emotional whiplash and Vi was going through extreme trauma and emotional whiplash non-stop since the show started pretty much. So expecting her to "be smart and clear" and go against her nature and let embodiment of her dad to just die is just unrealistic and it would just not fit. But hey its just the thing to say while watching tv show/movie from comfort of a bed/couch while living nice cosy sheltered life.
Fun fact: me and my friend were watching last act together and after ep7 we had to pause and go on discussion how fucked up it would be if ekko came to Vi and told her "Hey i was in alternate universe where you died and life was fucking perfect without you around", how freaking devastating would that be. Poor Vi, i agree that Ekko is the mvp that carried the story, but Vi will forever be the one that endured the most without corrupting her for single second. (and no her drinking and fighting in pits is not corruption, its just venting the frustration and its very justified)
@@ArsonyEXETHANK YOU
💯💯💯
GET IT RIGHT
Ekko correct nickname is "The Boy Who Shattered Time"
I WILL DIE on this hill
How could I forget😭
The boy savior who shattered time
"No matter what happens I just can't seem to die" - Jinx.
That made me cry bro😭
What surprises me is that the writer did confirm he does not mind killing champion characters to highten the emotional impact of the story, and I'm all in for it.
Ekko and Powder gave off Miles and Gwen vibes
Nbs💯😭😭😭
Funny cause Vi’s voice actress is the same as Gwen’s
@@nandoman4769True that but it was Ekko and Powder not Vi
Her dance look is a lot like Gwen’s prom outfit
😂
Vi has proven repeatedly that she is incapable of giving up on her family. Staying on the ledge to save Vander is exactly what she has proven she will do. She even admits to Caitlyn earlier that she always chooses family over "the smart choice". Its why shes the emotional heart of S02. And Jinx's sacrifice was her finally not "screwing it up". This was her only way to go out as the "good person" she wanted to be, but never could pull off. If she lived, she'd probably just kill herself. So, dying for a purpose, and allowing Vi to finally move on was the final, beautiful redemption she needed.
I think the impetus for Victors change was not just Jayces attack, but that his commune failed.
He tried to have his evolution with people who were only partly machine, and still had some free will. But when it didn't work he decided that the only solution was to have total control, completely mechanical people.
It's probably a combination of Jayce, once his most trusted friend, betraying him and the possibility of attackers ending his peaceful commune. It's kinda like the AI alignment problem. To accomplish your goal, your best course of action is to eliminate your greatest threat: humanity.
8:00 It's not last minute at all. It was shown clearly in S1 E9 Mel's golden tattoo glowed when the Jinx's rocket hit, and it is foreshadowed immediately in S2 E1 Mel covering up Jayce protecting him from the blast. They both walked out unscathed.
Yeah, honestly I feel like a lot of criticism I've seen of season 2 just stems from people not being able to read narrative that hasn't been outright overtly stated to them directly. Arcane moves at such a pace (which I think is really only the main criticism to be had of it) that it tells you a lot with showing rather than directly telling you up front and a lot of people don't seem to know how to handle that.
This even goes back to the first season, like, for example the amount of people I've seen who seem to genuinely think Ekko escaped his fight with Jinx with just a twisted ankle because that's what he directly states, but what the show is imo quite clearly showing otherwise is he is injured worse than that and is just trying to downplay it to Heimerdinger.
a small gold glint doesn't justify any of this, it was completely random last minute
@@cherno8336 thank you for proving my point so well there
There were even theories about Mel saving all of them before season 2 came out
There were hints all over, since season 1. People are just not observant lol
viktor changed that much because he fully understood that after jayce almost killed him, emotions cause chaos, rage, pain and they would always be a contradiction of humans, so he couldn't save people from themselves. so he then decided to do that sacrifice of vander in order to fullfill his "glorious revolution" and "save" all humanity
maybe it also was the hex-core and the arcane not wanting to die in him so it persuaded his judgement to sacrifice WW into fully evolving... viktor literally stated "the doctor was right" during his near death speech so, it wasn't too harsh of a change
i think it was more that he realized Jayce was gonna try to fully kill him and the only options were to raise an army big enough to defeat jayce or just die
He was also stripped of his humanity with every death and revival. With every hexcore augmentation, he lost a bit more of his human body and mind; he was clearly not fully human anymore by the first time he was revived by Hexcore, and he lost all his contact with humanity when he was revived a second time and became the machine herald. My guy is literally an omnipotent cosmical being made of photons and stardust, why would he NOT want to create a human puppet army??
Viktor was talking about his glorious evolution before Jayce came so I think it had started happening already. Someone else pointed out that Salo wasn’t breathing so was already kinda just a husk
Not only that but Noxians, Ambessa, Singed were already trying to ruin his commune and take his power anyway. Even if Jayce didn't try to kill him there, someone would have come for his power sooner or later. That was the whole point of his speech in the end of ep 6 - people do the most great but also the most horrible things for love. Ambessa wanted to protect her family and was ready to wage war in Piltover&Zaun for that. Singed wanted to bring his daughter to live and was ready to do anything, including sacrifying Vander, for that. Jayce was trying to stop something that was already going wrong (those people in the cult weren't actually alive but Viktor didn't realize it) but he had to kill Viktor for that.
Idk why it's hard to realize why Viktor came to the conclusion he did. And he wasn't wrong in the sense that as long as humans are ruled by instincts and emotions, there will never be peace. It's just the opposite will lead to emptiness and loneliness.
Ekko mourning someone on the same place he and alternate-universe-Powder kissed is also a clever diversion I think. He wasn't mourning Jinx, he was mourning Heimerdinger.
Yeah, cause he was only burning one piece of paper rather than 2, which would be weird if he believed both Jinx and Heimerdinger were dead. Either he knows Yordles can't truly die and is mourning Jinx, or he knows deep down Jinx could have possibly gotten away and is mourning Heimerdinger
@@casuallectures2655 Or maybe they could write more than one name on the same piece of paper since everyone only burned one piece each
@stormSeven Maybe, though we don't see anyone that has explicitly lost more than one person doing the paper thing aside from Ekko. If we, for example, saw someone like Vi, who would at least be mourning Jinx, Vander, Isha, and Loris, we could judge based on if she burns 1 or 4 papers
and I Think Heimer is still alive if they able to pull Arcane S3.. he has more to give to ekko. maybe in S3 they meet again and heimer will explain why he is still alive..and also he is a Yorde. or maybe he is still alive in that alt world. HOPING
I think he's mourining alternate Powder, since they had a thing and he chose to leave her behind to save his own timeline
I loved the part when Sevika said "I propose we establish some sort of League made up of the Legends who fought in this war." And the other council member said "…Say that again."
As long as JINX is alive… then I’m happy.
I saw this episode 7 more than 10 times, but only now did i see that the alternative Powder also has the blue cloud tattoos that Jinx has. The difference is that the tattoos of the alternative Powder doesn't go all the way through the shoulder and arm. I don't know if it is just the hip or if it goes through her bust as well. nice detail fortiche. This show will make me crazy someday.
if anyone is curious it's 2:53
I loved the fact that "sane" alternate Powder still collected most of the shards of the unstable proto-type hex-crystals. It may take some time, but this alternate timeline probably also has hex-tech and an instable Jinx in its future... It is also telling that Powder did not reveal these shards to Ekko and Heimerdinger even though they worked together on the Z-drive. Heimerdinger, by the way, had more than 3 years to suppress Jayce/Victors research into Hextech, which he failed to do in the main timeline. He also found the coolest way to keep tabs on Ekko and being an inspiring musician to spread joy massively helped to integrate Zhaun and create an almost-Utopia Piltover/Zhaun. The amount of thought put in to a single episode for desparately needed rounding-off of character arcs setting up the finale is truely mind-blowing!
Season two tried to push two seasons worth of plot into one. It worked, barely, because the writers are smart. But the whole plot moving of a conflict between cities to a rogue Jesus so quickly makes people get lost in the plot.
With a third season, it would have worked perfectly.
I'm biased cause i still love this s2 but i think they just needed like 10 more minutes in episode 8 and 9. After Acts 1 and 2 being so Zaun focused it feels kind of forgotten for the final act. They couldve fixed this by showing the full scene of Ekko convincing jinx to live and the undercity's, specifically Sevika's, reaction to Jinx's call to help Piltover. A longer and more fleshed out epilogue also would have been nice.
I agree. Another season (with another 7 hours or so) would have ruined the shows quick pacing while also making it more obvious that the show is just repetitions of itself.
For those who hated the ending, I really don't think you guys would've liked the happy ending for everyone. The "happily ever after" can't give you the same reminiscent of the show like how we are feeling about the ending right now. The writers wanted us to get "frustrated" in the twisted ending, and live in the painful, strong, and long lasting reminiscent, but with the hopeful cliffhangers. Just look at the RUclips videos coming out, talking about the ending. This is what makes this show so amazing.
I think they also wanted to show the potential of this world, where they could go with it after Arcane ends, so in that context all the crazy sudden sub-plot directions we got makes more sense.
I think people are complaining that it was rushed, not that it was bittersweet.
nobody asked for the happily ever after
@@Arander92 I think people just like to think how easy to pull good quality on animation. Arcane probably is the hardest animation to pull off with all those fantastic quality and all the details. They need to take a count of budget constraint and also hours to just deliver 9 episode with all those qualities are already fucking amazing. Even it felt rush, it still hold and deliver good narrative through the end unlike Game of Throne Last season.
I still feel like the Piltover Zaun conflict with Jinx, Vi, and Warwick doesn't work with the Arcane escalation (Victor and Jayce). Maybe that's just me, but they completely lost me when those I, Robot things started to swarm the city.
7:30 He does say to jayce ''I'd prefer to do this peacefully, but the noxian has other intentions''. I think when he sent that first robot to talk he had a hope of avoiding the war. He became willing to do it by those means, but I don't think he did a full 180 and completely lost faith.
which is also why they hadnt used warwicks blood until after jayce shows that hes in full fight mode
So jinx really did break the cycle
And as a hero 😂 like a badass she is
In episode 8, when Cait finds Vi in the jail cell, Vi is mad at herself for again making bad choices. "I choose wrong every time, and because of it I've lost everyone." I feel this was a foreshadow to her once again making a bad decision on the ledge and losing Jinx.
Girl can't help herself.
Personally I was okay with the ending not featuring Jinx and Vi as heavily. They already had their major character arcs in the season 1 finale and throughout act 2. Vi and Jinx are protagonists but not the only protagonists after all. Thereby leaving Viktor and Jayce left to finish their story arcs and dedicating a season finale to them felt fine to me.
yeah i was confused by the amount of people complaining about the focus jayce and viktor got… as if they weren’t set up as the other relationship that was core to the story. s1 wasn’t just about vi and jinx’s relationship, it was theirs too - however you interpret their relationship it was very clearly established as a pillar of the story. literally as they start to grow apart it triggers war. arcane has a lot of that, the dissolution of relationships causing tragedy. vander and silco, mel and ambessa, vi and jinx, jayce and viktor, vi and caitlyn, hell even heimerdinger and singed. the finale ending with jayce and viktor’s reunion being what saves everything makes so much sense on a narrative level and i found it quite satisfying (even if jayce’s path to get there was… convoluted and frustratingly underexplained. SOME criticisms of the finale are justified, after all.)
@umbreonic766 Yeah I agree, parts of the ending to Jayces and Viktors arc are messy. Jayce’s ultimatum to Viktor about how “imperfections make us who we are” really felt like it came out of nowhere. Jayce never really experienced anything to come to such a conclusion, it would make more sense if for someone who went on heimerdinger’s journey. But still even if a bit messy Jayce and Viktor deserved a major finale.
@@molamola9723 his point about imperfections comes from a) his love for Vik (however you want to see it, friends or not), and because we all can undestand in the ending that Vik loathed himself for these imperfections and pushed his own change so much because of it, so that's why Jayce counterpoints it imo. b) from the narrative of Vik's cult that people should be their perfect selfes.
@@Alena-cz7hj I know where his point comes from but the show doesn’t show him reaching that point naturally through a character arc. His only revelation in s2 is that the arcane must be stopped and that’s it, nowhere does he learn the lesson that imperfections make us who we are it’s very out of nowhere. One moment he goes from killing Viktor, wanting to kill Viktor again, and then suddenly he’s appealing to Viktor with this argument.
@@molamola9723 he is appealing to him, because it's implied he had a longer convo with Mage!Viktor (how I see it), and because he promised to Mage!Vik that he will safe main reality Viktor
Jinx “walked away” as Silco said. The ending is way more sadder when you remember Jinx has been trying to stop Vi from hurting Warwick because he’s Vander. In the end she puts him out of his misery with her grenade, hugging him and remembering him. It’s super touching, plus the fact that she survives makes it not as depressing 😂
Mel being magical was foreshadowed since the S1 finale
I'd go as far as saying her cunning and tactical mindset were because of her (passive) abilities. So they hinted at things from the start.
2:43 Not sure if anyone else has pointed this out but they probably made up in the other reality because of the note that was in episode 5.
Also, on a unrelated note, the ending with Jinx's "death" mirrors what happened in season 1 with Vi and Jinx. In S1, Jinx thought Vi was dead, since nobody has seen her since the explosion, but Vi is instead going away and spending time behind bars. Now in S2 we have Vi thinking Jinx is dead after a huge explosion (Which, I'm now realising as I'm typing this, Vander was technically there for both explosions) and Jinx is going away. Sure she's not going away to do time but she's going away nonetheless.
Hearing Jinx say “there are no good versions of me” after watching the alternate reality episode KILLED ME
Arcane is an amazing show, season 1 was perfect and season 2 was great but flawed. Criticism dosent not mean a show isn’t good, we all feel the pacing issues that bleed into the stories but we can also all tell how much love, care and passion went into making this masterpiece of a show. Still a 10/10 in my books.
Agreed. I also think the show runners and writers were pretty exhausted finishing this. Putting something out like this that will likely be remembered as one of the best animated shows of all time has to absolutely max out everyone involved. They still stuck the landing. I wanted and extended 2nd season with 2 additional acts. I think that would have given this story a little more room to breathe without dragging imo.
A friend of mine theorized that in the alternate timeline, Silco actually got Vander's letter.
Also, Vi never got to say goodbye to Vander. ANY OF THE THREE TIMES HE DIED. So give her some fucking slack.
Also she never gave herself the time to fully grieve him bc she had to keep going to survive, which is why she has a break down mid season (the drinking the fighting the dyed hair the rejection of color, she's grieving but doesn't know how to cope and isn't trying to work through her grief in a meaningful actually healing way. instead she's getting self destructive like her sister)
I'd even argue that she hasn't properly grieved the death of her parents so ofc she'd have no semblance of self preservation bc her go to has been trying to safe them and if that doesn't work cry for a minute and then get on with life bc she has someone to protect (powder, jinx and the undercity itself, she blames herself for ALL the deaths of her loved ones including those where she couldn't do jack shit about (or more like especially those) and so she thinks she has to try to finish what Vander started, in her own way) and thus she can't allow herself to be out of commission.
mid season she finally allows herself to do this thing she should've been able to do for a long time but by then all she knows is fighting to survive so she does that, fighting herself to. survive. her role as protector gives her a sense of self and she has lost that with cait leaving her (bc she also protected cait evidently.) so basically she's lost herself and she doesn't cope well. sorry for the rambling 😅
Silco's advice to Jinx to me is the ultimate evidence sealing the fact that she definitely faked her death, breaking the cycle to disappear quietly. Leaving people to forget abt her as Zaun's symbol.
I was wondering how the ending would go for her as well, since by the end of Arc 2 she was clearly not fitting her name any longer (fixing instead of wrecking/new maturity), showing signs that it was time to "get rid" of the story behind it, while it being impossible since she was still leading the revolt. Me and my friend jokingly thought she needed a 3rd name fitting ber growth and new identity but I guess letting people forget abt her works just as well. I hope she gets to live a full life now.
Based on how Christian has been hinting at future projects bringing Arcane's characters back, my guess is we'll see her in the future, maybe even in the upcoming show(s) set in Noxus, Demacia and Ionia. Maybe Bilgewater since that seems like a place that Jinx would hang out in, but I don't think there any Bilgewater content planned quite yet.
I truly believe jinx n vi will return. Cait isnt investigating this 4 nothing. Nor is she going to go to vi n give her false hope her sister is alive.
I think we get a spin off where we follow new set of characters in a new location n at the end of season 1. Cait walks and says shes looking for someone and shows us a picture of jinx. Then the fans go insane.
Season 2 is cait n vi reuniting with jinx
My question is was cait investigating this cause she wants a reason to believe jinx is alive or because she had concrete evidence that made her think she's alive
Agreed I think they will definitely make cameos or be used to set up future shows and thanks for the donation🙏🏽
@@mrbushido56She has part of the grenade in here hand in that scene, so they must have investigated after the explosion and never found Jinx’s body
@@BOBINGTON102I mean I would argue she was blown to dust n there was nothing left
Honestly, it sounds like the simpler possibility is just Jinx venturing through Noxus trying to find herself or something. Maybe Ekko shows up too, I dunno, but Caitlyn and Vi certainly won’t be involved. The most you can hope for is that she goes back to Piltover-Zaun at the end and then the next season focuses on whatever characters she meets in Noxus, closing the page on the Arcane story arc for good
with regards to jinx at the end, the thing that gets to me the most is what she says to Vi in Episode 8: "There is no good version of me."
when Ekko shows up in her place and keeps stopping her from... yknow. he has the Z-Drive, with some key Jinx-isms that Jinx actually recognizes. Later on, when she says to Vi, "I'm with you, sis, even when we're worlds apart," I think she might be referencing Ekko's experiences in the alternate timeline. It doesn't strike me as unbelievable that Ekko would tell her about it all, and we see when she comes back to Piltover in her balloon, she's got a swagger and moxie that is reminiscent of both her S1 self and Ekko. However, the moxie is subdued, leveled out into a sort of confidence and centered-ness whereas previously when she'd displayed that level of moxie it was laced with mania.
I think in the time between the E9 opening and her showing up to Piltover (because i struggle to believe they got that balloon ready in only a few hours) Ekko is able to re-inspire her to hold onto hope for life and chase something new. Hence why there's the implication of her leaving Zaun and Piltover on the blimp, and why she would zip out of the explosion, and even why she would join the fight to begin with.
So as she's leaving Zaun and Piltover, there's some part of her that's been "saved". Maybe she's not completely recovered from the trauma, but she's started taking those steps.
Ekkooo... Thats y he da MVP, thats y he da goat! Da GOOOAAAAATT!!! Let everyone acknowledge that Ekko RESISTED Victor's mind meld with straight up WILLPOWER to make that last move.
He gave up true love, a paradise, lost his mentor/ Heimerdinger on the process just to save the whole world. 🎉🎉🙌🙌💯😭
Only those with the strongest wills can do the hardest things.
One of the things I love about Arcane is how accurate actions of characters are from a psychology perspective. People that work in the field have made videos about Arcane and I really enjoy GeorgiaDow's videos delving into why characters act they way they do in the show. I am not sure she made a video talking about what was going on with Vi in the last episode at the time of writing this but I got my take on it.
Vi not thinking and crying over Vander instead of listening to Jinx was very realistic. You mentioned earlier that it is easy to forget a lot of the cast is quite young and they have been through so much. People often hold young characters who were written realistically (especially in animation) to completely unrealistic mental standards. Human psychology is fascinating, complex, and often poorly understood by most. Seeing how people can have drastically different takes on moments like Vi's breakdown is a testament to how well it was portrayed. Most of the characters never had a chance to get therapy despite really needing it.
Vi had the most traumatizing event of her life followed up with having to survive in Stillwater often isolated in her cell. She lived holding on to the slight possibility that Powder was alive. Vi did not have the space to process those events well if at all. Vi wasn't hearing Jinx or thinking about what was happening because she was reliving the most traumatic moment of her life both in her memory and in real time as she lost Vander again. How Vi caresses Warwick's face is exactly how it happened when Vander died the first time. Vi entered the fight, flight, or collapse state because she was mentally, emotionally, and physically repeating her most traumatic experience.
“Why does everyone have to suffer because of Jayce?” is so funny and real, because that’s his character for the entire series 😂 7:42
18:22 this the realest thing I've ever heard
16:35 this is actually pretty solid proof that Jinx survived, the pink line completely clashes with the shape of the explosion and it seems intentional
Also Ekko only burns a piece of paper. Jinx let him know she was alive before she dipped. Otherwise he would’ve burned two, one for Jinx and one for Heimer.
@@Cycerio Damn!
And there is the whole segment of cait looking at the airducts with the bomb in her hand, clearly they didn't find the body
@@Cycerio he knew she was alive cuz there was no body found not that she spoke too him
It's kinda cheating, but her voice actress and both show runners also kinda confirmed it in act 3's aftershow, where Vi's voice actress asked if Jinx was really dead, and all three grinned and basically said "we don't know." Christian, one of the show runners and the main dude who's in charge of Riot's animation department, also hinted at future projects that would bring Caitlyn, Vi, Jinx and Ekko back, though we're not sure when they're coming.
If i were echo, id be like fuck my timeline, in staying here!
jajaja fr
I've been searching for someone saying this! and I couldn't agree more
@@Navucal You do realize that would mean dooming the other version of Ekko to oblivion, right? Doesn't sound like a choice Ekko would ever make
@benlewis5312 Oh well, good thing I'm ekko in this situation
Ekko ,fortunately or unfortunately, is too logical, he knows this world isn't his and the people aren't the same, that's why he said "people need me". too wishful thinking you should stay there, you are essentially an imposter a different person taking the place of another.
I feel Jinx actually did have a strong motivation for sacrificing herself. After the deaths of their families, Jinx’s internalized burden of guilt is centered on her feeling responsible for the deaths of everyone closest to her and Vi’s internalized burden of guilt is centered on her past failure to protect the people she’s loved. Jinx’s final sacrifice simultaneously prevented herself from “Jinxing” Vi’s death and removed Vi’s burden of having to put Jinx’s life before her own.
There is another proof of Jinx survival. When she detonated the bomb right before ekko arrived we can see the eyes of the monkey bomb blowing up (with no ekko she would have died) BUT THE BOMB CAIT has in her hand still has the eyes. They dont do thing randomly, they never did.
You're actually one of the few people to also notice this that I've seen. There's also more proof baked into that Caitlyn scene, as she would have had to go back to the hex gate to retrieve the lid of the monkey bomb, and it's heavily implied that there wasn't a body or any remnants of a body. If there was, we very likely would have received a memorial scene or something, but what we got instead was Caitlyn looking at the schematics of the hex gate, so it's extremely likely that the lack of a body made Caitlyn suspicious enough to check the schematics.
12:32 there are so many moments in arcane where victor is comparred to mel, they have the same shots of their hand, the same expression, the same placement of moles, they are both Jayces partners. Saying that he had Mel at home really misses a lot of stuff that was said. Mel and Jayce didn't really love eachother, they loved the idea they had of eachother. Jayce staying was an act of love (doesn't have to a romantic one, could be platonic but still love)
i have a tiny headcannon that in the alt timeline, silco got vanders note and it really did change everything (obviously not the four kids doing the heist but like pretty much everything else) and that’s why they’re friends again
also shimmer clearly doesn’t exist and that’s so cool! or maybe it’s just not everywhere because of silco and the doctor guy still made it but only used it for his daughters experiment
@@kaleidokai11 Singed probably still made shimmer, but without a proper deck and funding from a crime boss like Silco, there's no way he would be able to mass-produce like that (and have no real reason to spread it for profit insce that was NEVER his intention)
As to why Viktor changed his whole world philosophy after Jayce attempted to kill him - Jayce was the most important person in Viktor's world. There are no indications he ever really had a friend besides Jayce and if someone was going to understand his perspective, surely Jayce would be that person. Now there were definite red flags that Jayce wasn't down with "the new Viktor" (saying Hextech is a curse, splatting Salo) but Viktor expected him to come find the commune so they could talk. Instead Viktor opens his eyes to see madness and bloodlust consume his friend. Well, dang. "If even Jayce can get so emotional he would kill me, everyone else is surely as flawed. There will be some collateral damage initially, but then an end to all violence and conflict as the Glorious Evolution removes all emotion and 'troublesome' individuality. United at last." or something like that.
Yea, Viktor didn't handle that rejection very well.
When you explained how Jinx didn't die my mind was *BLOWN!*
The way I coped with the ending was listen to the Jinx/Ekko song over and over. 😭
Even though I was a bit bothered myself first time I watched it, the point of the moment when Vi is crying at Warwick is to reinforce that same matter Jinx brought up at prison, that Vi DON'T give up on the people she loves, no matter how far gone they are and to a point that she does put herself in danger every single time. This is also why Jinx faked her death to her, because Vi can never give up on her, and they both need to move forward to break the cycle. Vi needs to stop sacrificing herself to save Jinx, and Jinx needs to figure herself out not as Vi's sister, or Silco's daughter, or Isha's friend, but her own person for herself alone.
This Dance part is animated 4 frames per second, a connection to 4 seconds per time rewind using the Z Drive Ekko and Powder co created. Solidifying the "Ever wish if we can stay in this moment" if Ekko used the ZDrive this would be the flashes of memory he would experience/see
Vi refusing to leave Vander and get to safety wasn't her being dumb, it was her showing what us both her greatest strength AND greatest weekness: she never ever gives up on trying to save her family. It was also probably the moment Jinx truly realised what "walking away" meant. At that moment it was Jinx that got to play the role of older sister- she saved Vi from herself and then she made the mature decision to simply step away from the toxic cycle they found themselves trapped in, a cycle Vi would never be able to willingly leave on her own.
Since there are probably gonna be some spin-off series, there are theories that Jayce and Viktor were sent to another dimension, so I’d like to see how that plays out!
maybe different world and still play tag team / new members fighting in a different city and characters.. :D
The music was absolutely masterful as well, every single little bit just induces so much emotion and immersion. I can't listen to any of the songs from season 2 without getting emotional again.
about "jinx death", i dont think she is dead, because if she was dead, then they would have found her dead body but all we get is pieces of the grenade and a map where she could have flet. So i am quite sure she survived and based on arcanes build up stories, the airship scene would make so much more sense.
I hope the first scene we get in the next series is her riding the ship into the new arc
7:09 To be fair... The man did get his chest blown out and have all his followers killed. He basically had the Harvey Dent treatment. Whether or not you could argue said followers were truly alive or just puppets (I've seen arguments for both) is besides the point as we hear in Victor's ending monologue of Episode 7 that he believed the failure for all humans is our emotions, blah, blah blah.
Bro I just wanted Ekko to be happy. Arcane is perfect cus some people just dont get to be happy and in my opinion it what makes it feel real . And in the end i just wanted ekko in this realty to be happy in the end.
7:30 Jayce doing that to him and then him going all villain arc was really important to show what they had. their ‘affection’ is obviously more you gotta be blind to not see that, but this point in particular shows how much Victor means to him and how he is what humanity represents to him in a way. Jayce, his partner and whom he shares such great AFFECTION(???😭) for ‘betraying’ him hurts him so much more than he thought.
Nah bruh
The Mel being a mage was hinted in season 1 finale when she sensed the rocket with weird spidey sense.
Ekko fought Viktor at the end to try to stop Viktor, but (Hobo) Viktor actually stopped himself. As a viewer, I was originally comparing Viktor to Dr. Manhattan, but at the reveal we realize he was more like Dr. Strange threading a needle. Viktor sent Ekko and Heimerdinger to the "ideal reality" to not only give Ekko sympathy toward Powder, and not only to also get Powder's help in creating the time device, but to give all three of them the space to create it in the first place. Hobo Viktor wanted Ekko to blow the time device so he and Jayce can black hole themselves out of reality. Thus, Hobo Viktor was essentially being a puppet master without touching anyone.
I wasn't mad when I saw Vi not wanting to give up on Vander because I think it fits her it's not stupidity.
Even if Jinx recognize it, Vi, as a Character has never been able to give up on anyone. Even when she says at the beginning of Season 2 that her sister is beyond saving it only took a small hint of hope to make her try to reconnect with her again.
She is unable to give up and after being freed from Viktor, it's reasonable to think Vander could still be in there.
11:11 the piece of animation when all the firelights disburse from the airship was *chef's kiss
Nobody understimates Jinx's intellect. But yes, Echo deserves better.
14:07 grief can’t be perfect
I was too busy crying to notice that Jinx survived. Thank you for giving me hope
When your best friend/ your homie/ your bro just macks you without even allowing to have a proper sit down chat. That can really BREAK a person towards evil.
Viktor's futures don't all end in chaos. They end in flawless perfection. And Jayce shows Viktor that his imperfections are beautiful and are what make us human.
Ekko was fr mad save-scumming that Persuasion check on Jinx like _damn_
It was a high DC
17:00 the reason the ending made sense is because Vi literally did what she always does. She makes the stupid decisions that people around her suffer for.
One thing we can all agree on whether we loved the ending or not is that Ekko was the MVP. It's kind of funny though how he saved Jinx by basically save scumming and finally choosing the right RPG dialogue choice while talking to her
When Sevika sat on the council table I actually cried. Like, that moment is what this whole show was building up to, whether it knew it or not.
Viktor is a conscientious psychopath. When he rejects Singed, he doesn't care about Vander's humanity, he wants to one-up the brilliant Alchemist. When he purges his mental projection of Sky, he tells her, that he'll miss their talks, but his subconscious isn't buying it. He conceptualizes a good person as someone who cares about people, but at the same time he knows full well that he just really, _really_ doesn't care about people at all. They bore him. Viktor cares about things, concepts, problems, but not people, his entire existence centered around tracking down and solving the world's most difficult Rubik's cube. So he must climb up the abstraction ladder and rationalize his completely ruthless, bloody pursuit as philanthropic.
What you say is quite interesting but I don't think your theory holds up. Hasn't Viktor demonstrated numerous times that he's neurocognitively normal? Think about his reaction to Sky being disintegrated by the Hexcore. Would a psychopath be capable of such a high degree of guilt, to the point where he tries to commit suicide? And that's merely one example.
He also literally refuses the proposition that Singed proposes to him with Vander because of the fact that Vander 'is a man, and not a beast'. Pretty sure he cares about his humanity. He was even willing to compromise his own safety to save Vander. Remember Sky warning him that saving Vander was a risk, and Viktor replied that he was worth it?
i also think jinx saw vi in her own cycle when she grieved for warwick instead of prioritizing her life, she saw that Vi would always prioritize her family over her own happiness and safety. that’s why instead of just leaving she faked her death because she thought with her still alive, Vi would prioritize being with jinx instead of her relationship with Caitlyn.
Omgg i agree so much about being pissed at the ending. Like when i first watched it i was so upset and mad at Vi (as a big Vi fan) but after i went to sleep and like rewatched act 3 I realized how depressing this moment is.
Uhh episode 7 powder said that her sister was drived by the fear of losing those she cared about. Which we can see is true about this Vi too. In that moment she probably realized that she couldn't save him, save apart of her family. She was staring right at her biggest fear and we see for the first time her actually bring controlled by it completely. She's paralyzed in that moment, just like anyone would be. Like yeah it was completely idiotic to just stand there but in that moment she couldn't move.
I think if Warwick didn't wake up or if the ledge they were on want breaking she would've woken up and moved but that's not a story the writers wanted us to have and not the ending Vi needed to deal with her problems
Unfortunately the only way Vi could move is if they're was nothing/ no one in her past that she could latch onto
Oh but jinx realizing all this and walking away so that Vi can finally walk away too is chefs kiss
This season was an emotional rollercoaster, but it was such an amazing season
The things I'd love to see in s 2:
- more of Sevika. I feel like the writers had something planned for her but changed their minds. After saving isha she either disappeared for a long time or was just there as a background character. Where's another fight with such a fancy arm?
- Sevika's and vi's interaction, at least about how they resolve their issue and decide to not be enemies anymore
- Jinx talking to isha's image for the last time like with silco. She doesn't mention the girl after her death. That's strange
- Jinx saving caitlyn before fighting "vander" in the last episode
- Jayce's and caitlyn's last interaction as old friends
- more of jayce and mel. They're a couple, common. They needed a proper goodbye. He made up with victor but couldn't have 1 dialogue with the woman thanks to which he achieved great things and saved the world? These 2 seem to have forgotten about each other
- Ekko's and vi's interaction after powder's death. Surprise: they didn't talk to one another throuthe whole season
- Jayce finding out about the fact ekko's responsible for the incident in his apartment
- ekko telling everyone about heimerdinger's sacrifice
- caitlyn apologizing to vi for shit she did to her
- singed should've died
- more of ekko and jinx in the original world. At least 1 convo or flashback of their childhood before the last fight
- more episodes. The last 5 are very rushed with so many characters, conflicts and plotlines. Either there should've been 15+ episodes in the season or make then season 3 about piltover and undercity preparing for a new war, fighting a common enemy and finally making peace after that
- the people jinx rescued from prison should've paid her back and helped her with something
The main problem with the 2nd season is the lack of interactions
I love that you called your hope optimism
It's such a rare thing to see lately [at least for me] that I genuinely forgot it existed until when you said it
On the note of Victor, and how he ends up losing his humanity, ends up being the main big bad of Act 3 and just why he does what he does. I think a lot of people overlook what Jayce says in the council room to Viktor that "My partner died in this room". That's true if you think about that Jayce's biggest mistake is trying to save Victor. If you look back at Season 1 there is a huge arc with Victor coming to terms that he is dying and in trying to save himself he literally obliterates his assistant and love interest Skye. After that he makes Jayce promise to destroy the Hexcore which, JAYCE DOESN'T DO! This leads into Jayce fusing Viktor with the core in Season 2 and the result is that trying to save Viktor he ultimately loses him.
Now more on how Viktor is lost after that fusing I think you have to look a lot more of the theming of the show. All the PURPLE coloring that is shown around Viktor and the corruption on the Hexcore, the Firelight tree, and ALSO the plant that Singed derives shimmer from is part of the arcane called The Void. Long story short, The Void is a part of the Arcane that got woken up from its nap when the universe of Runeterra and life was created and is generally just pissed off and its only goal is to get rid of all sentient life so it can go back to sleep. I think when Viktor initially comes out of his cocoon he obviously still retains a portion of his humanity and still wants to help people but he is being essentially used as a puppet himself by The Void.
A lot of people have discussed whether the Skye that we see in Viktor's realm is actually Skye or just a part of Viktor's self conscience I think is actually neither, Skye is actually just figure that The Void is using to guide Viktor. Theory on why this is, at the end of episode two when Viktor tells Singed to do the procedure Viktor says to the figure of Skye, "Thank you very much for your company in my SOLITUDE. I will miss our talks". The figure of Skye responds saying as her voice changes and she dissolves in PURPLE "No, you won't". What do we draw from this, Viktor is not actually with Skye in his consciousness, or with any of the others that he has evolved, he is alone with The Void. Then as Viktor undergoes the blood trasfusion procedure, his eyes burn PURPLE and his new mask forms over his face. The humanity of Viktor is now completely trapped and he himself is a puppet of The Void. At least that is my take on what I see in the details of the show.
Dude like every scene with jinx in the last 3 episodes gave off massive life is strange vibes
Man… at first I didn’t really get ship between jinx and ekko, but after ep 7 I understood. Bro the fact that Jinx was healing and getting better because of Isha, and Ekko didn’t get to see it brakes my heart. They took “in another life” too seriously.
for me it was like while viktor was trying convince jayce to be partners again thinking logically what they could accomplish together, when jayce commits to killing him he viewed this as an act of emotion that kept his friend who he respected for his intelligence, and saw it as the thing keeping everyone irrational, it's probably how he changed so fast.
The open ending was crazy, but the fact that she could escaped that way just makes too much sense to be sad that she couldve died ngl
shows that don't force "positive" endings/outcomes, for me personally, are easier to appreciate because its raw. it's life. Like this is where emotion weighs heavy and is created. Some of my favorite movies or shows, (anime/non anime) tend to have you mad or upset with the outcomes of certain characters because these particular shows were truly able to prove their writing had captured your emotions (love/hate) into the story or people. And normally, make you want to rewatch it over and over because clearly, watching it again is the only way you'll appreciate them "alive" and well again, and before you know it, you enjoy their story all over. I LOVED this anime so much, and it is definitely a top 3 for me.
Best animation ever.
I'm just glad for Sevika honestly. She grew on me as a charater
I think you missed something in your initial reaction. Yes Vi could have just walked away, but as usual, she was too emotional, and Jinx was hurt as a consequence. I thought this nicely mirrored the scene from S1A1 when she struck her. Again Vi lets her emotions control her, and Powder/Jinx pays the price. I liked it
VI can't give up on family. It's her Achilles heel. It's why she was gonna go down with Warwick
@18:16 Faked her death makes it sound premeditated and I doubt she planned to have NotWolverine attack. It looks more like she just decided she didn't want to die. The only way it makes sense is if we say the writers faked her death, not she.
Exactly! People act as if she planned it all along, but it was more of a spontaneous decision. Perhaps after the escape, she considered walking away, but the writers chose to make her death deliberately ambiguous, and we'll never get to know her POV in all this.
@Vicky-ke4es Yeah, I would have prefered they ended the prison cell scene right when Caitlyn's shirt hit the floor then fade to black and move on and tack that extra time onto the end and give us a less ambiguous ending for Jinx; like right after Vi gives the dirt under your fingernails line Jinx could burst in saying "Here I am, your big fat hero" or something better written then that and a lot less ambiguous than a single frame of a pink streak on the screen. That would have been a lot more satisfying.
“Sometimes taking a leap forward means leaving a few things behind”
The only storyline i want to see more of is Mel. Gimme a graphic novel of her going back to Noxas and getting her get back. Who's her father? Is he a mage? Need the deets!
bro popped off with this analysis 🔥🔥🔥🔥
vi is so incredibly traumatized, she has endured way too much for one person (esp. as a child) and her trauma has always been heavily overlooked. it was a breakdown, not a „loss of braincells“…
I think it's more that the writers wrote her as if she was repressing her emotions, and the trauma manifested in different, more subtle ways, namely her inability to give up on people close to her. Lore notes released back when the first season aired hinted that she would frequently call out Powder's name when she first arrived at Stillwater, until she eventually just stopped which is likely when she started repressing her emotions to make it easier to survive in prison. Since getting out, she's had virtually no time to really sit and address her emotions and trauma, jumping from one tragic event to another, eventually to an all out war. I'd suspect that now would be when Vi starts unraveling, since she no longer has anybody to protect (aside from Caitlyn, but she isn't in danger anymore) and her life is now much, much calmer and quieter than ever before.
@ oh that makes sense! :)