One Villainous Scene - "Where Should I Sit?" | Arcane - Video Essay
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- Опубликовано: 27 сен 2024
- I have returned to upload a little passion project I've had in mind for the last few months. I've been itching to talk about the series Arcane and Nando v Movies' One Villainous Scene trend seemed like the perfect opportunity to do so. So here is me discussing my favorite scene from one of my favorite shows.
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Link to Nando v Movies' One Villainous Scene playlist:
• One Villainous Scene
You should also check out these great videos talking about Arcane:
SarcasticChorus
• Arcane Is a Masterpiec...
FlyingWalrus
• Jinx: How Arcane Wrote...
CinemaTherapy
• ARCANE's Vi and Jinx: ...
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Arranged & Orchestrated by Samuel Kim
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No copyright infringement intended. This was a fan project made solely out of my love of the series.
#OneVillainousScene #arcane #jinx
The development of Silco's feelings towards Jinx can be explained visually in two scenes. The first is when Jinx gives him the Hex gem and hugs him. Silco keeps his attention on the Hex gem and ignores Jinx. The second is when he finds her, near death, on the bridge. Silco sees that Jinx has the Hex gem, but now he focuses on Jinx and ignores the Hex gem.
Love those two moments!
He doesn't ignore Jinx. He's both confused and touched, like "Okay, I realize this is a gift and I appreciate it... but WHAT is this exactly? Must be something important for her to go to these lengths."
Silco wouldn't instantly know this is a new Hextech core until Jinx herself explains it and he realizes she just stole a new and improved Magitek Arc Reactor for Zaun.
Silco's love for Jinx is mirrored in how he shows his love for Zaun
He cares for both, but is a toxic influence to them. Yes, they grow but at a heavy cost. Shimmer is quite literally empowering Zaun and is what saves Jinx, but it changes them in more ways than one...and not all of them good. It's a delightful depiction of toxic love.
Better to be strong then weak & exploited... even the council who were finally agreeing to let Piltover go were only doing so in response to the violence and problems that Piktover was causing Zaun. It's super easy to be judgemental of the necessary lengths that Silco goes to for the comfort of your own safety... but even the peace that was possible came as direct result of the violence that Silco embodied. Zaun would have kept abusing & exploiting Piltover forever if Silco didn't keep the partisan rebellion going to increasing intensity
Silco: good father, no. Loving father, yes. He doesn't know how to be a parent so he sticks with what he does know.
I like to compare him to Thanos who thought he loved his daughter Gamora, but Gamora didn't love Thanos. Silko chose Jinx over his dream. Thanos did not.
@@artloveranimation another way to look at it is silco loved his daughter, thanos loved the idea of a daughter
Silco was the father Powder/Jinx wanted, not the one she needed
Exactly, i think he’s as good of a father as he is capable of. Because he is so twisted and broken himself, he cannot be a healthy father. But definitely not a parenting tactic to emulate
I think that Silco too love more the idea of Jinx that Jinx herself. And this is in fact why I don’t understand people believing that Silco love Jinx unconditionally while Vi not. It’s the contrary for me. The fact is simply that Silco approve her action why Vi do not.
When vi said “Mylo was right” jinx took that to heart and mylo became her voice of reason from that point forward.
Silco I think is a good example that there's more to being a parent than sincerely caring about your child. Love alone isn't enough to be a healthy influence.
If parents are meant to only healthily influence their children I've never met a parent.
One thing I REALLY love about this scene is that Jinx had already chosen where to sit, she just didn't realize it yet. When she asked Vi to kill Caitlyn, she showed how gone she was, no way she could be Powder again in Vi's eye after making such an insane request. I think the last time she was Powder was in that bridge fight with Ekko, but when she decided to blow herself up and tried to take Ekko with her, she sealed her fate. After taking copious amounts of shimmer to survive the explosion, there is no way she could be Powder again.
I guess in that way Powder didn't die during the baptism, but after the fight with Ekko.
@@Deadflower019 I agree with this, I think Powder died there, and not in the baptism. It's more fitting that the last person to see Powder would be her former best friend
22:26 I guess what people actually mean is that he's a loving father, which they see as being a 'good father'.
He's absolutely not a good father in terms of being a good role model and teaching her the right things, but he's a good father in the way that he is emotionally present and supportive of his child.
I agree. That's a really good way of putting it.
I think it's more that he's as good a father as he is capable of being, twisted and broken as he is. He gave her the best parts of himself, even though that's still not "good" by any standard.
As Jinx was someone always seeking approval, Silco was exactly what she wanted. Silco acts as an enabler... They met at her worst moment and when she was full of sorrow and anger, he embraced her. When she was full of rage, he let her harness it. When she was lashed out with violence and destruction, he praised her abilities. And when she made mistakes that would bring wrath upon her, he sheltered her from the consequences of her actions. Her formative years were spent learning that anger doesn't need to be tempered, that violence solves problems, and that rules do not apply to her. She got all the approval she ever wanted, but none of the life lessons she truly needed in order to be a well-adjusted individual, and with her father figure being the man in control of everything she got to be the spoiled child who never had to face the music.
Silco definitely loved Jinx and gave her everything she ever wanted, but that's a large reason of why he's such a bad father - all good parents know that children must learn from their mistakes, they must face the consequences of their actions, and that letting them run wild will only damage them in the long run. Silco took a sad little girl who was burning with anger and instead of helping her heal, he handed her the gasoline and told her to have fun playing with the fire.
Notice how in the end when Vi and Silco are fighting verbally over Jinx, Silco is trying to calm her down, whereas Vi is telling her to picture everyone that she sees as demons from her past. Silco understands the pain that Jinx went through when she thought Vi left her, same as Vander leaving him (almost killing him), Whereas Vi doesn't understand what Jinx has gone through, that sisterly bond might be strong, but its also damaging to Jinx at this point.
Yeah, Vi thought that reminding Jinx of their adopted family would be grounding for her. But she didn't realize that it was only triggering. Vi did her best. If she and Jinx could finally have an uninterrupted conversation, they could clear up a lot of things and she can learn how to help her with her mental health. They both need healing
Ironically, Jinx is the structural protagonist of Arcane. Her decisions drive all the act transitions.
I think one thing that should be mentioned about why Powder hugs Silco - She has an unhealthy form of attachment. She ties her self worth to pleasing Vi and being useful to her. In the mind of someone like that, in order for life to be worth living, you need to be of use to someone, anyone. With that form of attachment, the person you attach yourself to is like your life raft and you're stuck in a vast ocean. When she felt Vi abandoned her, she effectively had no self worth and started drowning in that ocean. Whether it be consciously or subconsciously, she formed an attachment to Silco as an act of self preservation.
Good take.
That's a great explanation. I always found it annoying that Powder instantly gave up on Vi ("She's not my sister anymore") and didn't even seem too upset that basically her entire family died because of her. But what you said makes a bit more sense to me of why she acted that way.
The amount of ananlysis videos Jinx got on youtube is INSANE. You know a character is well crafted when she gets this kind of reception and attention.
One of my favorite things about Silcos last line is the deep meaning it has for both him and for Jinx. Earlier in the show, he has a similar line but he says "Jinx is perfect." He is reassuring and manipulating his daughter once again that she is Jinx. She is no longer Powder. That JINX is perfect.
This final scene makes his last words so powerful because her internal struggle through this scene is between being Jinx or Powder. Her old self or her new. The person Vi wants her to be or the person her father figure wants her to be. When she snaps, firing the gun, it is an extremely shocking moment. As I watched her say goodbye, I expected him to stray her away from Vi one last time but he didn't. He reassured his daughter that he would never sacrifice her and he repeated his previous statement but modified it.
"You are perfect."
This statement tells her that whoever she chooses to be is perfect. He notices her struggle, the one he had failed to spot before. I think this statement does influence Jinx's final choice but ultimately, she chose to be the person he father raised her to be. His last moments of genuine reassurance convince her who she is. One single line sets her villain arc into complete action.
This being said I do not think Silco is by definition a good father. He has many flaws. He does many things wrong. But I do think he truly cares about her. He sees his own struggles in her and wants to protect her. This is shown clearly through his choice between his daughter and Zaun. Zaun has been his lifelong goal and it was just within his reach but Silco refused to sacrifice Jinx. I think that this shows that she means a lot more to him than just a weapon or a puppet to manipulate. He will do anything for her.
In conclusion, I love this show. I can go on for paragraphs and paragraphs about Silco and Jinx's relationship. There is so much detail and work put into it story-wise and that doesn't even include the art of the show. It is so beautiful and is definitely among one of my favorite shows.
I feel like you need to consider the scene right after Silco talks with Jayce. The one by the fountain where Silco is "taking to Vander" (so to speak) and laments "is there anything so undoing as a daughter". His love for her has literally undone his entire lifework, his purpose. Everything he does in the series is to accomplish the one single goal of freedom for Zaun. He was betrayed by his brother for it, and in turn killed his own brother for it. Its everything he worked towards and he gives it up because he loves his daughter more. You can't say he's manipulating her into a weapon for his own use, when he is literally putting her life ahead of the one thing he would do it for. Yes, he may have only taken Powder in as his daughter initially to turn Vander's child against what Vander died for, a "middle finger" to the brother that betrayed him. But he also saw a parallel between the relationship between himself and Vander, and the relationship between Powder and Vi. He saw himself in her, which I think can be argued for with the line "we'll show them, we'll show them all", as he embraces her. There is also evidence from other character interactions with Silco, regarding Jinx, such as Singe (who had a daughter of his own once) sedating Silco before operating on Jinx, because he knows how hard it would be for a father to watch what was going to happen. The scene leading up to that didn't have Silco stood nefariously in a corner ordering Singe to stop Jinx from dying, he's frantic, desperate, pleading. He's a bad person, and not a great father considering he's the villain of the story, but he loves her as a father. And as Jinx points out at the end, Silco didn't make Jinx, Vi did. And Vi doesn't love Jinx, but Silco does.
About the cupcake moment, I like it because it shows that vi has already lost faith in jinx. Seeing the platter, she just assumes jinx did something horrendous, even before the thingy is lifted. Although it’s played off as a joke, it’s kind of tragic, because it shows to jinx, even Vi to some extent believes powder is dead.
As for silco, he’s a bad father, because being a father isn’t just about loving unconditionally and showing support for all one does. That being said, I believe that he would have never given her up, she wasn’t a means to an end at least not purposefully. Silco sees jinx as basically himself, he wants to save her from the pain of the internal conflict between jinx and powder, just as he likely struggled between himself and Vander. That’s why he does so much to drown powder out.
Just because a character is tragic doesn't mean they're not a villain. Villain doesn't mean Skeletor or Megatron, evil is evil and villains are villains, it doesn't matter if they had a bad childhood or were put through trauma or suffered some great betrayal or lost a loved one. In the case of Jinx she fits all of these but that doesn't matter.
Villains are still human, being sympathetic doesn't change that.
Agreed
"Are you real?" and, in this scene, "You never left..." tells me that Vi is another person Jinx has hallucinated during her psychotic episodes. We even see an example of it with the pink-haired woman she hesitates to shoot. Powders reaction when she's left behind in the rescue of Vander is likely a triggering point for her schizoid personality disorder.
Regarding Silco, Gab did not bring up on one of the most, if not the most, important scenes in his arc. The drink with Vander. Where he acknowledges his full understanding of what made Vander abandon the way of a revolutionary and, at the time, lose his respect. The fatherhood.
I would have if I was specifically talking about Silco's arc. I was mostly focused on Jinx. But you are definitely right of course.
@@Gab2671 Point taken, yet it felt like You did Silco a wee bit dirty here. I am firmly in a camp considering Silco a villain and not a good person overall, yet it's hard to deny that he stepped into the role of Jinx's father as best as he could. Saying that he was a product of his environment and his best only went so far...
22:26 Silco throws away everything he was doing to save her, and throws away everything he wanted to protect her. Those are the qualities that make him a "good parent". He tries (tries) to teach her not to make the same mistakes he made and views her as someone like him. Remember Silco was betrayed first and almost killed by someone he considered a friend. Those things aside, being a responsible parental figure and being a "morally good" person are not mutually exclusive things. Silco attempted as much as he could within the bounds of his world to be an anchor for Jinx. Sure he's an unrepentant murderer, sure he's a deviant that would flip the world on its head, sure he's a criminal overlord that would gun you down should you get in his way... except for Jinx. He would see the world burn and throw away things he desires, for her. He is a dysfunctional human, but honestly in that show who wasn't broken in some way?
He's more of a loving parent in that case. And not all loving parents are good parents unfortunately.
12:38
I think you misread the totems. It's important to keep in mind that while Milo berated her, it's all but stated that he and Clagger were effectively her brothers. Siblings will fight, bicker, and bully, but that doesn't stop them from being your siblings.
The totems of her brothers are there for the same reason Jinx regularly hallucinates their ghosts. They aren't trophies or reminders, but actual stand-ins constructed during a psychotic break.
I won't defend Silco, nor do I think any love he had for Jinx makes up for his actions, but I do think he was in danger of turning into a different man.
Vander was supposedly known as the "hound of the underground." Silco repeatedly mentions how Vander had been some kind of monster during their time of leading the uprisings. "I knew you still had it in you" after Vander tried to choke Silco, or him telling Vander "I'll show you what you really are" and threatening to use Shimmer to turn Vander into a monster. Vander had once done monstrous things. That's why Silco was so in disbelief about how Vander could roll over for Piltover, because this was the same ruthless, driven man that had been instrumental in their rebellion. It was also the same man who had decided he couldn't let Silco live and tried to drown him in the river. It was Vander finding the kids and becoming their father figure that made him leave that old life behind. He found something he couldn't sacrifice, even for the cause. He became a different man.
This is why I think Silco is such an incredible character, because he's going through the same transformation. Before Jinx, he had given his speech about how power comes to those who are willing to give up anything, but as the show goes on we see how power is slipping away from him because Jinx is the one person he'll never sacrifice. His business partners were turning into rivals, his second in command was questioning his judgment, his corrupt sheriff was beginning to crack, and all because he wouldn't give up Jinx. It took Jace flat out forcing the ultimatum for him to realize how far he'd fallen, prompting the scene where he drinks in front of Vander's statue and says, "It all makes sense now, brother" and "Is there anything so undoing as a daughter?"
So yes, Silco was a monster and a terrible influence, but he was in real danger of becoming a good man.
Silco is a very loving father but he's a horrible person and a pretty bad father, I don't necessarily think he was manipulating Jinx at least not intentionally he just taught her what he knew.
Holy crap, I didn’t notice that Jinx’s hallucinations represented by scratches and scribbles say “Vi” when she’s in the arcade they used to play in as kids. 😱
Love the insane attention to detail in this show!
Great video! One thing I might add is the key misunderstanding that Vi had about Powder in that scene that ultimately led to her going fully mad: Vi believes that Jinx/Powder holds all the things she does with the same value. Vander, Mylo, Claggor, their parents. All those things are sources of comfort to Vi because they remind her of happier times before Silco and Jinx. But to Powder, those names and memories are sources of pain and guilt; people she'd rather not remember and wished they'd never existed. Vi tries to bring Powder back by reminding her of things that made Vi happy, and instead pushes Powder further into her own trauma, until eventually Powder doesn't exist anymore, and only Jinx is left.
Jinx keeps Milo and Clagger dolls because she doesn't want to believe that they're actually dead due to what she did in the first act.
Oh, she's well aware they're dead. But she still feels like they're haunting her, in a metaphorical sense. I imagine it was more along the lines of having something to remember them by, a way to put a body to the voices she was already hearing. Or, considering she doesn't have one for Vi even though she admits to hearing Vi's voice through her childhood (in the scene where they reunite, the first time she realizes Vi isn't dead as well) they might be ways to take out her anger. Vi was pushing her forward, positively, but we see Milo speaking to her negatively, maybe Claggor to a lesser degree as well (explaining why his doll was smaller, potentially), so it's entirely possible that she might've made them as a way to hit back when she got sick of listening to their voices demean her.
Silco is a good caring father, that does not mean he is a good person. He cares for jinx he pushes her to develop her instrests and yes he wants her to do thing to help his bussiness. Thats every parent teaching how to take over teaching to help them survive a world. He sees a world that will destroy him so he wants to see her ready for that.
Exactly this!
Powder has essentially three paths in life - to become nothing but a Victim/Pawn in Zaun, with no control over her life, to become a Victimizer in Zaun, with the power to control her life to as great a degree as her power lets her, or the one that is not explored in the least (and I find it interesting that it is NOT explored), becoming an Oppressor in Piltover. The responsibility falls to Silco, and he chooses to make her a Victimizer in Zaun, along with the power to hopefully choose her own destiny.
There really are no other options for Silco. He doesn't want her to be Weak, a pawn who is at the mercy of people with Power. He doesn't want to turn her into an Oppressor, which is what Piltover would do with her (Viktor and Skye are both Zaunites working for Piltover, working on things that will give Piltover more power over Zaun, even if Viktor hopes that these things will free Zaun), so the only responsible option is Strength.
Silco is a bad father, but he was still a loving one.
At the last moment though, he did one thing right as a "good father".
He showed forgiveness and moreover (I think), understanding for Jinx/Powder to have chosen Vi in his eyes and expressed his feelings of genuine care until the very last moment. It was just all too late.
Please don't get the idea I'm glorifying the relationship. Silco is a terrible person. Personally Flying Walrus's video described this relationship the best. A blind person leading the blind, a beautiful painting drawn by blood. Silco did his best, and his best was terrible.
I love that video Flying Walrus did!
Vi defending powder: "She's a problem, but its my problem!"
Silco dying breath: "Don't cry. Jinx is perfect."
Not even that
Silco: "You're Perfect."
No matter who she chose to be, he would accept her because she was his little girl.
I like vi's approach. she actually considers her a human being with flaws while silco puts her in a pedestal
The thing is Jinx and Silco had a toxic interdependent relationship. People often forget/dont realize Silco needed Jinx just as much if not more than Jinx needed him. Just like Jinx had abandonment issues from Vi leaving her, Slico had abandonment issues from Vander leaving him and that's why he was so desperate to get rid if Vi because he feared she would cause Jinx to abandon him just like Vander (notice how the mental break down he has when Vi escapes at the end of episode 6 is similar to the mental break down Powder had in episode 3). In the end Silco is a "good" father because he genuinely cares for her, tries his best to help her mental issues (but sadly relates them too much like his own so can't properly help her), and is willing to give up his dreams and goals just to protect her, but at the same time he's also extremely toxic because he's constantly manipulating her to be what he thinks she should be (even if she is aware this is what he is doing and to some extent allows him to so she can prove herself to him) and refuses to allow her to seek comphert for anyone else besides him (though he truly does believe Vi is just like Vander and will abandon Jinx again so in his mind he's trying to protect her not manipulator her, again he fails to see the difference between his relationship and Jinx/Vi's relationship)
I think another reason why this scene is so great is the fact that Jynx is so crazy and gone that you the viewer genuinely don’t know what Jynx should do. You want her to be with Vi but you understand why she believes Silco. It’s an interesting device that’s so realistic that the viewer is also torn on what Jynx should choose.
One thing I find facinating about that moment when Vi is trying to remind Jinx about all the people that have loved her is that we see Jinx have visions of all of them...except for her parents. We very briefly see their mom on the bridge scene at the start of the show, but we actually see their mom a second time when Vi is having halucioations after she's been stabbed. But Jinx doesn't, which implies she doesn't even remember what her birth parents look like.
I believe Vander and Powder had a good father-daughter relationship. That scene where she comes up to the bar after Vi leaves and he gives her a special cup for him to immediately become concerned when she doesn't perk up was enough to show, for me at least, that he is still highly attentive to Powder. But, unfortunately, their relationship isn't as vital to the plot as his relationship with Vi. And with Arcane's very limited run time, on top of the plethora of characters it has to juggle, it was left as more of an implication.
And with the clear parallels between Vander and Vi, and Silco and Jinx, I can see why they kept the relationship of Vander and Powder a more minor detail. Had I seen more of their relationship, I probably wouldn't have been so sympathetic to Silco as he took over that role.
One thing I love about Arcane, we all interpret pieces of it a little differently, especially when it comes to things such as this.
Silco can be an appreciative father who loves Jinx without being a good father or a good person. He's clearly not in the right, but it's also clear he cares for her, more than other bad (or even good) guys have done in similar situations (good old "good for me or the greater good?").
I believe he truly loves her and she truly feels loved by him. Neither of them knows what a good family looks like and Jinx is even more of a troubled person than arguably every other character in the show combined, so one might even say he did as good a job as he could in that situation.
Anyways, obviously he did a lot of wrong stuff, but I can't bring myself to say Silco was a bad father.
I think it was interesting you point out how Vander wasn't particularly present in Powders life. I think there's a few aspects to this. I think Vander really did care for her like she was his own daughter, and did his best for her, but didn't know how to connect with her like he did with Vi. This isn't helped by Powders natural tendancy to cling to Vi, which I think would have made it harder for her to open up to Vander as a father figure, also perhaps not really wanting her biological parents to be "replaced". So while Vi does take on a motherly role, thats only a possibility because they were close siblings to start with. Moreover, when Vi goes to hand herself in, it is to Vander that Powder goes. Though they may not have the same sort of mentor style relationship he has with Vi its clear that Vanders presence is comforting to Powder. So I'd argue that though the two probably don't go over life lessons like Vander does with Vi, they do still have a reasonably close relationship given the circumstances, at least emotionally.
I think it's also interesting as a parallel to episode 2. In episode 2, Vandar has no idea what he's going to do until Vi gives herself up and Vandar goes to take the fall for her. Vi was willing to give herself up for peace and to prevent those around her from being harmed. Jinx harmed others and set up the whole tea party because she did not want to be given up, and shattered peace at the mere idea of it.
Jinx couldn't allow herself to accept any responsibility for her actions while she subconsciously knew she had killed them- and Silco encouraged it. So her fatal flaw of an inability to accept full responsibility for her actions (and thus learn and not repeat her mistakes) leads to the end.
this scene gave me a panic attack ngl, i couldn't string a thought together after watching it... like, 15 minutes of my brain racing in every possible direction... it wasn't fun-- that said i loved it and can't wait for another season.
SAME
12:45 From experience, it's a familiarity thing very likely. It took me years to stop carrying around things that reminded me of an abuser & trauma inducing situations that damaged me as a kid. Sometimes when people get fractured, we get stuck in 'familiarity loops', clinging to artefacts that remind us, repeatedly taking jobs that replicate abusive dynamics, etc. Because it's a comfortable familiarity we know, even if it hurts us it's still a familiar place we know how to exist in. And fuck is it hard to try to grow past the need for that known-familiarity.
"The ghosts that live in our heads, are the ones that haunt us the most severely ." ~Arii Tesh
I don't think Silco took Jinx in cause he wanted to get back at Vander, but because she was hurting and abandoned the same way he was. I don't think Silco was a good person by any means but throughout the series I don't think he ever lied to or manipulated Vander, Savika, or Jinx. I think those people he trusted (at least at one point) and so he was always truthful with them. I think he at one point truly cared for Vander, and I think he truly cares for Jinx (I don't know if he cares for Savika, but he at least trusts and respects her). I think he was a goof father in the sense that he did his best for Jinx, but I think his flaws as a person (seeing only value in strength (and while the diversity of strength he saw is good, that mindset is still horrible), the manipulation, the lack of trust, yhe focus on the mission above all else, the abandonment issues, etc) were passed onto Jinx and worsened her own issues. I think his worldview and experiences said "this is good and okie" and so he gave it to Jinx. I think he truly had unconditional love for her, and it's why he'd let her explain herself, why he only yelled at her when he thought she'd just sunk their mission for nothing, why he tried to give her those life lesson, why he didnt lie to her (from his point of view), why he defended her, why he trusted her, why he encouraged her, and in the end dispite all she'd done he was still proud of her. I dont think Silco was a good father, but I think he was the best father a man like him could be
Silco saw himself in the girl he found, abandoned, betrayed, alone, and in immense pain, so he took her in. He raised her as best he knew how, and taught her skills she needed to survive in the world as he knew it. He grew into fatherhood, and told his daughter a variation of what my mother told me, "Even if the world is against you, I'll be here" but, that message in a situation where the world is actually seemingly against you comes out as "The rest of the world will betray you as it has me, but I never will".
A thing that I noticed while writing this is that Silco growing into fatherhood means he became more like Vander as Jinx became more like how he was.
For Silco, Vander was weak
When Silco started loving Jinx as a Daughter, he too became weak
He even has a scene where is speaking to the statue of Vander saying he now understands Vander
Silco didn't lie to Jinx in the beginning when he said Vi was gone, he genuinely believed that. He did lie however when Jinx confronted him near the end of the season. Just wanted to clear that one up because a lot of people think he was lying from the start.
Jinx never shot at Vi during the dinner party, Silco fired the shot that missed Vi, if you slow the scene down you can see as Jinx rises, the tables candles are on Jinx's right side, aiming her at silco, when you see the shot going at Vi it misses her shoulder, the path of the bullet travels in a way that shows it came from across the table, not the side, and lastly when silco drops the pistol, the barrel is smoking, showing he fired. Sico shot at Vi and Jinx responds by shooting at Silco. You can also tell it's Silco that gets shot because Vi's chair has a large gouge in the backing, that Silco's does not, the chair back we see get shot through doesn't have a huge chunk missing, showing that it's silco that gets shot before the reveal.
I actually didn’t notice that until now. That’s an insane attention to detail in such a brief moment.
You can also see that the moment Jinx comes back to reality (she turns her head as the camera zooms into her eye) is when she hears Silco remove the gun safety.
We see multiple times through the show that Jinx's perception of reality is altered, yet she manages to avoid getting hurt in combat situations despite that clear handicap. She likely manages to do that by reacting to things like movements and noises before trying to understand what happened. Instead of asserting the threat before shooting, she shoots first, then analyse the aftermath.
Silco arming the gun triggered her sense that she was in danger, and she reacted immediately out of survival instinct. She probably didn't even realize who she was shooting at until after she stopped.
Silco is different, while he is a manipulative person, he does not manipulate Jinx. What he says to jinx is genuine. He never lies to her or use her. He tells her what he truly thinks. Now wether or not it's the thing to do is another debate, but jinx is the only person he doesn't manipulate in the show. I think you must have seen it already but there's great videos of a therapist, (Georgia Dow) analysing the silco jinx relationship, and it's really interesting.
Yet he still lets her kill and sends her in when he needs havoc to be caused. Real father would never do that.
@@janchvatal1538 I hate this kind of argument, we can afford to say that through the comfort of our lives... But faced with plagues and death, hunger, war, REAL oppression what would we do? What was Silco supposed to do? He can't cuddle her in that kind of environment, because if he did... She'd instantly die. He was a good father within what he could do and what he tried. Faced with a big decision he chose HER and sacrificed everything for her... And that's exactly what a real father does.
@@MPOfficielle Yeah. What they are doing is basically comparable to an average parent trusting us to do grocery shopping while they are away.
@@BraveLilToasty Exactly, I love this analogy!
@@janchvatal1538 Yeah, he is a criminal. He is fine with killing himself so of course he is also fine with his daughter killing.
I see it a bit different.
Silco wanted revenge on Vander indeed. But they had a level of mutual respect. Mostly because they had the same goal, the independence and freedom of Zaun.
Taking Jinx in was a way to show respect to his dead rival. As a favor that the winner does.
Silco will do anything to reach his objective, he would lie, abandon, steal, kill and betray if needed to reach his objective.
He was still fighting Vander, he was fighting Vander's values.
In the end If Silco stayed true to his beliefs he would've won. Not only the freedom of Zaun but even the argument against Vander.
But boy as my favorite scene goes ,he lost so hard : "A thousand times I've imagined this moment. All we've ever wanted-- the boy didn't even haggle. And what do I lose but problems. Oh it all makes sense now brother. Is there anything so undoing as a daughter?"
My favorite thing about Jinx, is that nobody told her this was an action show… she thinks it’s a slasher… and she’s the monster
If there is a Villain in this show, then its the system of oppression and indifference that created Zaun and its people in the first place. Jinx herself is only a product of this system and not more villainous then terrorists and child soldiers would be in real life. It should also be mentioned that she shows very clear signs of borderline personality disorder throughout the entire show, beginning in her childhood. This mental illness is among other things defined by extreme fear of abandonment, an unstable image of self, uncontrollable anger and in some cases even brief psychotic episodes and paranoid delusions.
She asked "where should I sit" to simply get clarity about her own identity - wether she is a jinx or not - and where she stands in relation to her sister, especially after those horrible hallucinations she had during the shimmer transformation. After what subseqnetly happened on that dinner table as a consequnce of her self-sabotaging actions, she decided to take the "Jinx" chair not out of malice, but because SIlcos death and last words made it very clear to her that she is indeed a jinx and that she only brings bad luck and destruction to her loved ones. She probably also perceived Vis unwillingness to get rid of Caitlyn as a sign of rejection and abandonment. As a result she then decided that Vi is now her enemy, because she couldn`t deal with the pain of no longer being loved by her own sister. Remember her last words: "I thought maybe you could love me like you used to, even though i`m different (a total jinx). But you`ve changed too... So here`s to the new us!"
at the end when you talk about Jinx shooting wildly and barely missing Vi I thought it was Silco firing the pistol and only because Jinx shot him he missed - giving it maybe a bit of a differenet context than just her shooting wildly
Silco fought for a revolution, he fought for better conditions in Zaun.
And he did achieve a type of good for a lot of people. He created the groundwork so that there's trade and not exploitation of the undercity.
There is actually a type of ultimate evil with invisible hands in the background, and it's the political foundations.
There's also a hard choice. Do you choose to stand still and stagnate, and do nothing against the suffering and injustice? You could also act instead...
On the scale of complicated+peaceful and simple+violent, what do you see as possible? Is one of them too slow? Is there too much corruption? Does the calculation add up?
do you value the peace? How far can you take the excuse of doing something for the sake of others - to justify your crimes?
How much corruption stands in your way to achieve prosperity for all?
I think Jinx keeps Milo and Claggor's dolls are to symbolize that she still can't let them go (they're her adopted siblings afterall, they're a family) and that the guilt is still eating at her. It's to keep herself grounded, that she has company, she has abandonment issues afterall.
13:14 I think that pipe was Vander's, so that spot is supposed to be for him
I think the problem with the discussion about Silco being a good or bad father is that it describes him as a person rather than his actions. As a father, Silco is a good father because he loves his adoptive daughter so much that he is willing to sacrifice his entire life for her. Morally, that's a good character trait to see in any parent and we wouldn't expect less. But is Silco good at parenting i.e. performing actions related to being a parent? No. Silco doesn't know how to set boundaries between himself and Jinx, and Silco uses Jinx as much as emotional support as she does him. Their relationship is extremely dysfunctional because neither of them know how to form healthy relationships and they're both codependent on each other.
Silco is a good father because morally he possesses a lot of qualities we expect from a good parent. But that doesn't mean he's good at actually being a parent as in taking good parental actions like setting healthy boundaries or processing past trauma. Silco tries his best (the scene when he yells at her for playing loud music and she doesn't care always cracks me up because it's such a typical parent-teenager scene that almost makes them look like a normal family) but his fear of hurting Jinx and turning her away from him is also the reason she ultimately did leave him.
I believe Silco was a good dad… in the context of what he believes that to be. I think he was genuinely trying to help her not become another him. It was the weakness of family that led to Vander being able to betray him, so he tries to eliminate those bonds in Jinx so she would never feel that pain. He uses her skills, but he doesn’t berate her for making mistakes, and she’s constantly making mistakes. The second the chem barons got a little mouthy he poisoned them all, but Jinx literally makes accusations to his face and stabs him with his eye thing and he just allows it.
Silco only knows how to survive at any costs, so he rids Jinx of her morals, and teaches her how to kill, lie and cheat so she’d make it in Zaun and not be eaten alive. She constantly causes trouble for him. If she was just his weapon, he would’ve discarded her after the flying ship, or tormenting Sevika, or going off the rails to agitate Piltover before they were ready to fight them. The cons just don’t seem worth the pros after a certain point, and he paid a “friendly” visit to Marcus’ daughter for much, much less.
Yeah...
I'm not glorifying Silco, but honestly? People really do gloss over Vander's parenting failures. He really didn't prepare his kids for life in Zaun. They were already stealing from Piltover, which is what set everything into motion. Ultimately, his capitulation for "peace" failed the people he wanted to protect probably as much as war would have.
That's one of the amazing parts of Arcane. There really aren't any true villains. Maybe I'm forgetting something, but no one is truly evil, although maybe first appearing that way.
I dunno, man, a revolutionary gang leader killing a civilian of his turf and abducting someone he personally respects, for the express purpose of catching the kids that gave Topside a bloody nose… and killing them to make a point? Kinda sounds evil to me.
“He had his reasons” We all do. Heck, even if he was bluffing _hard_ (which I don’t think he’d have gotten away with, _if_ so), going that far opened the door to what wound up happening.
so i love your video but i dont think that Silco has raised Jynx as some type of revenge against Vander, he dont adopted Jynx because of that, Silco adopt Jynx because she is him, he was planing to kill her, until she talk how she was betrayed by her sister, this make Silco feel a connection because he was also betrayed by his brother, he see himself on Jynx.
One of my favorite theories about Arcane is the theory that Jynx is the soul of Zaun, she is the avatar of the undercity, and that also show on her relationship with Silco, Silco loves Zaun, his primary goal is to see Zaun free and strong, as a nation that will not be slaved and abused, but to get that, he corrupt Zaun, he feel Zaun with shimmer and turn Zaun into a weapon, is a direct reflexion of what he does to Jynx, not because he see Jynx as a tool or Weapon, she is his daughter, but because he believe is necessary for the greater good of Jynx, it will make her stronger, it will make harder for her to be slaved and abused.
In the end Silco refuse to betray Jynx, because selling Jynx for Zaun is pointless, they are the same, if he betray Jynx he betray his goal, in the end while he die, he see Jynx as the perfect manifestation of everything he loves about Zaun.
The nuance of Silco is that no, he isn't a great father but he is convinced that he is but is so jaded on his world view that he can't see that he is a monster n he is turning the 1 person he loves into an even greater monster. So a lot of people can't understand that being a good parent is more than just loving ur kids unconditionally. Silco has soooooooo much love for Jinx but let's face it, he belongs in r/EntitledParents
I think that the people who say that Silco is a good father are just interpreting the term differently. Good intentions vs good outcome. I think that Silco is a genuine and loving father. He would do anything for her. He encourages her passions. He tries to teach her lessons that he THINKS will help her survive this cruel world of betrayal and pain. The problem is that Silco, himself, has been twisted by trauma. His worldview/vision is corrupted (his whole damaged eye motif) by both past betrayal and the toxins in the river Pilt. His parenting is twisted and damaging, but that's because he is twisted and damaged. I don't think that his intentions with Jinx were ever intended to be manipulative or abusive. I also don't believe that his motivation for adopting her in the first place was about revenge on Vander. I think that he saw himself at his lowest point in Powder. A person who has just lost everything, been betrayed by those most trusted, in desperate need of someone to be a pillar of support. He cannot bring himself to actually enact his full revenge and kill Vander's last (seemingly) adopted daughter because it would be like killing his past self. Instead, he takes her in.
Ultimately, Silco is a terrible father. He is also a terrible revolutionary and a terrible man. He is absolutely a villain and none of his actions should be seen as anything except villainous. But Silco is the perfect example of a person with good intentions who is corrupted by his environment. Someone who should have been a hero to lead Zaun to independence and bring the people of the undercity hope for the future. But before he could fulfill this role, he was poisoned by the toxic environment created by Piltover's waste. The polluted runoff of their oppressors destroyed the hero that Zaun deserves and turned him into the villain that Piltover deserves.
Yes I agree, I’d say Silco is a good father because he has good intentions and teaches good lessons. Thats just me imo.
@@sinfinite7516 See what I would question is what are the good lessons? They are good lessons, to him, sure. But from my pov (not a father lmao), "kill the past you", "become what they fear", "everyone else can't be trusted because they betray us" aren't what I would call good lessons.
I interpret it as Silco was a good father in all the things you mentioned. However, he was not the right person to help her overcome her trauma.
@@NinjaFlibble he was not a good father, only a loving father, but that is not enough.
He’s a loving father but not a good father, the same way he’s a bad person but a good leader for Zaun. (Not a good leader in general but with everything the people of Zaun have suffered, especially as they are so accepting of the suffering they cause for themselves and so hostile to the suffering caused by Piltover) He is a good leader for Zaun because Zaun is a self-destructive and damaged city of people who want nothing more than to destroy what they see as the source of their pain and oppression while nurturing their own evils and selfish desires. That’s why he’s a bad father, because he nurtured those ideals in Jinx without considering how that would break her even further. But he still loved her because he taught her those things thinking they would make her strong enough to stand on her own, and they did. Just not in the way she needed.
Silco is the World’s Okayest Dad.
17:18 STIIIIT THAT TRANSITION THOOOO
Though this is a great opinion piece, it's mistaken on several parts. You are correct on many of the aspects of these characters a small and yet important oversight to many of the key points that was both written and animated to show, not tell, the nuances. First, let's address Jinx. Her confusion was always between Vi's words and actions. See Jinx was unsure about who was lying between Silco and Vi because they BOTH were lying to her. Vi, in her actions, and Silco, in his omission. Silco, like Jinx, believed Vi was dead and treated her as such. Which make Vi's abandonment a circumstance of death not of choice. One Silco expressed in turn with his actions towards Vander. Jinx, like Silco, trying their best to help save the people they care about ultimately costing lives and being labeled the villain. Jinx, despite her errors and traumatic triggers, found someone who regardless of severity and opinions of others sided with her. Just how Vi did with her words but not her actions. Silco had no obligation to Jinx, for she's not family and she's the one who destroyed his operations. And yet, Silco couldn't turn his back on her. This is why Jinx believed so much in Silco, because he placed his trust in her regardless if she messed up or felt incompetent. Jinx, with Vi was the opposite. Vi took everything in her own hands despite voicing support for others. This is seen in the lockpicking scene with Milo, where Vi didn't place her trust in his skills and kicked the door down anyway. Where Vander, a wiser leader, reassured Milo and guided him through the pressure. This is because Vi, is a child herself dealing with her own issues. Jinx and Vi reunion is key to how Vi wasn't there for Jinx but to her own guilt for correction. Jinx points her gun at Vi and she says "Powder, I'm here for you and ONLY you. You can fire that thing at me all you want but I'm not going anywhere." Here's two biggest problems with this scene. Vi isn't acknowledging Powders growth into Jinx and she makes a statement about her loyalty which she later breaks. Now Jinx and Ekko have been fighting from the beginning of the time skip. Shooting to kill. He tries convincing Vi, Powder isn't there anymore. Which is key because he has the will and mindset to Kill Jinx. Jinx, her bombs killed everyone on that bridge except two people. Cait and Ekko. That's because they weren't her targets. Even Marcus point blank range from Cait died as well as the enforcers in the back and yet Cait only got hit with shrapnel from the bombs on Marcus. Here is where Vi's action turn. Jinx not aiming for Vi or Cait but between them to separate the two end up with Vi giving Ekko the ok not only to stop Jinx knowing HE has the will to kill her because he doesn't see her as Powder anymore. Ekko was shot and had the Hextech. Cait injured on her leg. The plan was to get Ekko infront of the council on behalf of the firelights and Zaun to show good faith and built rapport. Vi was telling everyone she's there for her sister and yet in the moment of truth Vi takes the Hextech and Cait and turns her back on her sister. Remember, she said "fire that thing at me all you want I"m not leave you." Her actions proved Silco words true. She wasn't there for Jinx. She was there to apologize to Powder to free herself from her guilt. If Vi was there for Powder, she would be there for Jinx or whatever other name she might call herself because it's her she's there for. Vi was there only for Powder which Jinx knew and poses Vi those two questions, "Are we still sisters?" and "are you only here for Powder?" Super deep commentary, where Silco passes those test. He more than anyone else, in his dying moments put Jinx's needs above his own dreams and desires. Here with limited time and speech he knows her pain and sees her suffering and says three things all for her mental well being.
1) "I would have never given you to them." That regardless of what you over heard regardless of what it might have looked like, giving you up was never an option. Not when their crew complained and not for a deal for everything he's ever wanted. We know this because of two scenes. His confrontation and his faith he put in sevleka letting her choose to kill him or not. And his scene with Vanders statue, saying "I can have all that I've ever dreamed of ... I understand now. Daughters undo that." He understood why Vander gave up the fight for a slow death, it was for his daughters future. That Silco too would give up his dream for one of those very same daughters.
2)" Don't Cry... " for him. For choosing to protect Vi. For making that choice because He was doing exactly that. He was trying to kill Vi to save Jinx. To keep her safe. He at every step tried to help her broken mind. From helping her tackle her traumas, to giving her space to emotionally recuperate "take some time anyway" to trying to shut Vi up while her words were triggering and spiraling out Jinx trauma responses. On the surface it looked like Vi was trying to "bring Powder back" but that's the flaw and irony behind it all. Jinx isn't multiple personality disorder where JINX takes away Powder's free will. POWDER IS JINX and JINX is POWDER. She schizophrenic which isnt DID (dissociative identity disorder) Vi was hurting powder/Jinx because she couldn't see that powder is Jinx. Ekko did, that' why he stopped because he realized, powder never left... powder grew into Jinx. Exactly what Jinx was trying to tell Vi "you never left. you were always there whispering in my ear and prickles on my neck." She's explaining her own identity of Jinx, it's Powder+Vi+Silco+Milo. Silco, knew that and that's why he said "fear... haunts us all, child." It's her fear, her flight or fight reaction due to her trauma.
3) "... you're perfect." Not Powder is perfect. Not Jinx is perfect as he said before to her. He specifically says, "you're perfect" whoever you decide to call yourself, you are not broken, not a messup , not a burden but you are perfect as you are. If he wanted to manipulate her, here is the best moment to say "JINX is perfect" but he didn't. He didn't care about that. He only cared about her well being. YOU the person behind the name, is perfect. Silco loved Jinx more than Vi ever could. Vi is stunted mentally and emotionally. She couldn't understand what Jinx needed. She only knew she felt responsible for what happened to Jinx. That's not acceptance nor love. Silco, was like any other drug lord driven to do what the government wasn't. He was trying to improve the lives of people. True, the drugs he used damage many lives as well. He also fed, clothed and gave jobs to the children of those addicts.
The true villainy is the oppression and exploitation of the people of Zaun. One that even Heimerdinger, who lived before the creation of either city and who could have helped but never did. His idea of wait and see, slow movement toward progress because he does live longer doesn't translate to people who are struggling today and now.
Though Silco and Vander were enemies and through his actions caused Vanders death, he wanted them to be on the same side again. "Show you who you really are." Words he spoke to Vander that buried beneath the fake peace Vander had negotiated between topside and the Lanes was more than a compromise but cowering while people were abused, suffered and ultimately exploited regardless without any clear way out. That it was a slow death for the undercity. Silco, despite rising in success didn't abandon the Zaunite dream of liberation once being respected by the councilors.
this is super solid, this needs more recognition
congrats, you explained the whole show jk just this aspect very well and as a whole. should be said more often
Arcane is the only show since Game of Thrones to truly show characters as *people*, not just heroes and villains, with complex internal realities that are often at odds with the people around them, even their friends. Jinx isn't a villain, shes a deeply troubled girl with abandonment issues in the middle of an identity crisis. There was no good answer to the question. Destroy the identity you spent a decade building to cope with the loss of your family, or repress the inner child desperate for her sister's protection and acceptance. You can see everyone in the show experiencing a complex emotional quandary, each of them has tragic consequences. Jinx's happen to be the most explosive by design.
The lowkey Vi slander in these comments is so😒
Criticism is valid, but some of you are haters. Everyone forgets all too quickly how Vi was a child too. Who experienced the same exact traumas.
Not a League player, but I am so deeply obsessed with Arcane. I think it's the best piece of media I have consumed in my lifetime, to be honest. Cannot wait for seasonal 2
As someone who's played League since the Beta, be glad you don't play league, you dodged a bullet. The majority of the playerbase only continues to play because of either Stockholm syndrome towards the game or relapsing when they open the client to play TFT.
Silco is one of my favorite antagonists of all time
I think one of my favorite things about this show is that there really isn't "a villain" or "a hero". Like don't get me wrong, Silco is definitely meant to be the main antagonist, and he's a horrible guy, but I don't think you can really call him the villain. His motivations are pretty similar to about half of the cast, and perhaps even better since he very clearly doesn't just care about himself. And while he's not a good father in a general sense, he did genuinely help Jinx in a lot of ways. He also is really making an effort to help Zaun, even if it's primarily for personal gain and he also does distribute shimmer which probably doesn't help his case, but my point is he is far from irredeemable, and neither is anyone else in the show, nor is anyone completely without flaw in their motivations or actions. It's really hard to find a show where the characters are just... people, but Arcane pulls that off incredibly well.
I don't think Silco is a good person, or good father exactly, I think he's a bad person trying to be a good father, which can be pretty ugly
Quick point to 13:03 It is common for psychologically challenged people that are suffering from trauma and blame themselves to hold on to things that hurt them. A sort of self harm that I believe is caused by the toxic unconscious thought, that you deserve the torture.
Kinda similiar to how depression is essentially a train of thought that travels in circles, never letting you go even though it should be easy to "just not think bad thoughts". I'm not trained in psychology, this is just my general life experience, so take that with a side of salt.
also that place that symbolizes family as you put it, could also mean that it is the stand in for vander with his gloves hanging on the chair
I'm gonna add something here which kinda might have a bit of a hot take. Going with Silco OR Vi would've been destructive to Jinx/Powder respectively. Vi can't see that being with Milo and Claggor were really hard for Powder ("My sister could do this when she was 6" - Vi to Caitlyn after Vi parkoured down to Zaun something that Powder very much couldn't do). Vi romanticises Jinx's past while Silco demonises it. Silco wanted Vi to stop making Jinx think about the past because he knows how much it hurts her to do so. I don't think Silco took Powder in as an act of revenge it was more of an act of empathy he called Vander his "brother"
Agree Silco was never a great farther, but I honestly think, he saw himself in Jinx, when he looked at the corpse of Wander, and looked down at her. The gentle hug, then strengthen the hug even tighter, no evil smile on his face, almost like twisted form of a angry at them hyg, while he comfort her in the rain. He did become a farther for her, and she his daughter, in the most twisted way for a family to be.
But what I think why many people will say he was a good farther, was many of the small hints throughout the series, like the ashtray he has in his office, backing Jinx up when she made mistakes, always hear her side of the story what happened, the panic in his eyes as he desperate tried to save her, he truly cared for her. And with his dying words, he called her perfect, not a Jinx or a failure.... Like a true parent would.
12:55
Here is what I think that is going on in Jinx's head. Part of the reason why Jinx's trauma manifests is the loss of her family. Pretending Milo and Claggor are still alive is part of her survival mechanism to think that she didn't destroy her family. Even though Milo's words are hurtful its probably more comforting to hear harsh words than recall that Milo is dead. Some evidence is when she has to face Ekko or any detail that said Vi is still alive. If she has to confront this fact she also has to confront the fact she killed everyone, and when Ekko was fighting her she went suicidal. The only options for Jinx's Psyche to convince her she wasn't someone that deserved to die was to pretend that she didn't kill everyone. Jinx is having a hard time as she finds more evidence that she is someone that kills the people she loves, but she is identifying that as part of her more and more. And I think that next we might find that Jinx starts to hide from connection itself due to what it tends to inevitably mean. She has killed 2 parental figures, 2 brothers, she probably thinks she killed Ekko at this point, and doesn't think that Vi is even capable of loving who she is currently.
Silko is a good father. In a way that the Joker can't compare as a boyfriend. He's an evil man obsessed with vengeance. He's mad, unable to rationale the needs of others except for one girl. Nothing inside of him could ever be empathic enough to be a great father, but he is good. When he first encounters her she is a means to an end but in an instant she becomes his heart as he realizes she is also someone who was abandoned and who needs justice. Early on in the second act we can see that despite being ruthless an manipulative there is a special place in his heart and we see how he melts for her any time she does something to make him proud of her. When Jynx is threatened he isn't just protective, he is a monster. On the precipice of gaining everything he has fought towards in his life, decades of struggles, and losses and single-minded warfare against superior numbers, he surrenders everything for his daughter. And when the monster he created breaks and kills him, he's not angry, not regretful. He sees that she has emerged from the water and the part of her he always feared would drag his Jynx down is finally washed away, and he's happy for her.
Silco *wants* to be a good father. He has the sorts of feelings good fathers have. And he makes extraordinary sacrifices for her. All this is true.
But he is still a terrible father. Because of his own flaws and blindspots, he is unable to understand how to help the girl formerly known as Powder through her pain. He pushes her in precisely the wrong direction: towards abandoning her "Powder" identity and becoming "Jinx". Silco thinks that Powder is weak and Jinx is strong, and in his own nihilistic worldview that's just what she needs to survive. He either cannot see or does not care that Powder literally calling herself a jinx is an act of extreme self-loathing, and that her increasingly erratic violent behavior makes her a danger to herself as well as (obviously) to others. Look at her at the end of the season. She's not happy, she's not healthy, she's in absolute anguish and a prisoner of her own broken mind. That was not what was best for her. That was not the handiwork of a good father.
@@thecosmickid8025 He certainly isn't good at being a father but there are people who consider intention to matter more than ability.
For example about gifts, if you can't afford to buy one good enough and have to get a cheap one and people say "it's the thought that counts".
I think a lot of people who call him a good father are well aware that his parenting wasn't healthy and successful. But the fact that he tried to be the best father he could be is enough for them. Even if his best doesn't actually hit the barrier for "good" in quality.
Silco may not be a good father, but he's a loving father, and unfortunately with League's lore, that does actually make him one of the best father's in Runeterra(The name of the world) that we know of.
Also, if you know anything of League's Lore and in game character interactions, one of things that's likely going to come up in season 2 of arcane, has been hinted at for years and years, and was only given context with the first three episodes of Arcane. That particular thing is going to be fun.
Don't tell me what it is
Don't forget Tobias, Caitlyn's father.
But damn are they all that bad in LoL?
@@wolfidessdragondol It's more like League writers do not want to write good/happy parental characters. Fathers are already scarce, and ones that exist has some sort of tragedy happened to their children. Like Darius, for example, killed his own wife and daughter for betraying Noxus (I think), Kassadin and Azir were kinda absently parents, and I think Udyr is somewhat close to Sejuany, but can't actually recall. Malphite is actually a cool father to Chip, if you follow the LoR lore.
Now on the mothers side everything is even worse. There's only two mothers among LoL playable characters and both are void monsters - Rek'sai and Bel'veth.
@@DrNiradino It mostly has to do with the fact that these people are supposed to be champions. Very few of them actually have happy backstories because very few people already having a meaningful and fulfilling life would have a reason to attain the combat capabilities the champions do. There are few though, but they usually don't have families because they never settled down and progressed to that stage in their lives yet. There are actually parents mentioned in lore that are good. For example, Taric and Ezreal are mentioned as both having good parents with the tragic parts of their backstories happening after they've grown up.
Jarvan III in particular in lore is not only a great father to J4, but as king to the nation of Demacia as whole moving it into a more inclusive and welcoming environment. It's only due to his death that J4 and Demacia as a whole start moving in an even more discriminatory and uncompromising direction.
Good parental figures do exist in lore, they just don't end up as champions since they don't have a reason to become them. (I feel like there was a missed opportunity here honestly and would have been interested to see J3 as the champion at the head of a "good" nation. Sometimes it feels like the writers leaned too hard into the 'nothing is completely good' angle when writing the lore).
I disagree slightly with your analysis of Silco. From the beginning, it never seemed like revenge was really his goal. He wanted his "freedom" for Zaun and the power that came with it. Nothing else really mattered, until Jinx. He didn't care about revenge, that's too personal, a selfish indulgence that distracts from the real goal. If Vander had actually left Zaun and never come back, I don't think Silco would have cared. Vander was a stabilizing force, and he needed chaos to start his war. And he would give up anything for that war, even his own personal wants and desires. Anything except one single thing, Jinx. While he definitely molded her (what parent doesn't), it wasn't about control at the end. I'm sure it was at first, but when he really began to see her as his daughter, he started to compromise. Before then, her mistakes would be irredeemable, obstacles that threaten his goal. I don't even think he realized how he started to compromise for her until the moment Jayce gave him that choice. Everything you've fought and sacrificed for, or Jinx.
This. Silco was fully prepared to kill Powder at first. He had the knife behind his back and just wanted to see if he could get a bit more information from her before he slit her throat. Adopting Powder wasn't some self-indulgent act of revenge. That's not how Silco operates. He's too ruthless, too efficient. He sees emotions as weakness, a part of the weak man he once was. He only changes his mind because, for a second, he thinks: "she's just like me;" because to him, both he and Jinx were victims of betrayal from the one person they cared about the most. Sure, he's manipulative as all hell but in his mind he's acting in her best interest.
Love the video. Just a couple of thoughts I had, where my impression differs slightly from how I interpreted what you put forward. Art is subjective and Arcane is beautifully layered, so not asserting I am definitively right or anything, just putting the perspective forward 😊
When Powder arrived at the cannery it looked to her that they were in a very dangerous position. She saw Vi getting attacked. And they were still a bit away from being confident in their ability to get out themselves at that point.
I think Vi always intended to go back at the end of episode 3. She was angry/shocked at herself more than anything in the moment she hit Powder. She walked away to get control, to not hurt Powder again. I don't think there was any doubt she was intending to head back and look after Powder.
And I believe Vi's decision to leave Powder behind was motivated more by the danger it presented to Powder than Powder's penchant for accidents. It happens in quick succession after her chat with Vander on the bridge. "What are you willing to loose?". Her motivation to fight in the first place was for Powder. The answer is not Powder. She decides to hand herself in predominantly to protect Powder. Upon seeing that go distriously wrong she heads back to grab things. She has had no time to process and has yet to complete her goal of protect Powder. She lashes out when Powder doesn't acquiesce. She is hot headed and lashes out angrily in general. In the Enemy film clip it shows that Powder has caught the brunt of her anger before (not an attack on Vi - she is a child then a teen who has gone through hell and lives a difficult life with what I am assuming are limited mental health services - it happens, far too often). So still stressed she responds angrily before getting some control and being more rational and trying to explain- but Jinx is already spiralling in her mind by then. It is fear for Powder that motivates her. Same at the end of episode 3 she lashes out angrily. Not because she doesn't love her sister, not that the feelings are not valid. But her learned behaviour has been to lash out in physically aggressive ways. Before getting her shit together and repairing.
Silco never actually "lied" to Jinx. He thought Vi was dead. While he didn't seek Jinx out to tell her that Vi was alive, I don't think they actually interact for him to actually lie. And prior to that I think he believes everything he says to her. Manipulative or not.
Just to be clear. Silco is a shit father. He is a horrible person. And I agree that people that idolise him have missed something or need to reflect and address those feelings. He is manipulative, like mentioned. But I think he genuinely believes what he says. And he did give her some things that she had missed. He did care. He did protect. He did support her interests and in developing her strengths. If you look at his desk in arc 2 and 3, you can see mugs and ash trays and things she has decorated that he uses, like a proud parent accepting the little gifts from your kids that mean the world. He trusts her to be in missions. He stands up for her. He trusts her to administer his medication. He is vulnerable with her. And when she is acting out at him, he stays supportive and doesn't lash out back. He takes it and validates her feelings. Things she didn't consistently have with Vi and Vander. Horrible person and he did some things that were really destructive to her. But I think he actually believed what he said to and about her. That was what made him so dangerous. He believed he was doing what was best for Jinx, and for the people of "Zaun". And in so, he didn't have regrets or feel shame or guilt. In his mind he had nothing to feel that for.
Fantastic video. Arcane is truly one of the best modern soon to be a classic show we have gotten in the last few years and a prove that adaptations of any kind as long you are willing to put the work and have the talent to do so right and well, can be done terrifically amazing. Jinx arc was one of the many in the show and all where accomplished so well, but Jinx take the cake as the best developed character in a show FULL of great characters, this scene is a masterclass of story telling.....there are 200 billions budget shows that WISH have this amazing talent of writers on their staff (cof, cof, Rings of. cof, cof Powaaa cof), This entire scene is hunting and dreading with tension, you truly cared about every character...hell I know as a fan of the games Caitlin couldn't be kill off and yet when Jinx bring it that big plate......my heart was pounding my chest, and my hands where cold, I was scare Jinx already cut Caitlin head off and served to Vi on a plate, I genuine believe and fear they did it, despite all my instinct should know it was impossible, this is how talented this team is and how well written the show was at building tension and fear. A magnificent scene in a sea of incredible wonderful collection of beautiful scenes, Arcane is a masterpiece.
I think that a lot of the debate over whether or not Silco is a 'good' father comes from the fact that 'good' is inherently a subjective term, and a lot of people in these debates are using different definitions of 'good' and aren't aware of it.
I think Silco is a LOVING father. That doesn't necessarily make him a healthy influence, but it does set him apart from characters like Palpatine or Joker. I believe Silco's love for Jinx is very sincere, and so is his rhetoric about it being 'them against the world.'
I also think that Silco isn't a healthy influence on Jinx. Not because he wants to hurt her, but because he has deeply unhealthy and un-examined coping mechanisms for his own trauma. He believes that loyalty should be absolute, and everyone except Jinx will betray him in the end, so he clings really hard to the one 'secure' relationship he has. And I think he sincerely believes that Vi will also betray Jinx, and that he believes he's protecting Jinx from pain by getting rid of Vi. I think he holds onto this belief despite evidence to the contrary because he also has abandonment issues and fears the threat Vi poses to his and Jinx's relationship. Vi is to Silco as Caitlyn is to Jinx; Silco just has a more straightforward way of dealing with the perceived problem.
So when people say he's a 'good' father, I think a lot of them mean that he loves Jinx and sincerely has her best interests at heart--or at least, what he THINKS are her best interests. I also think their relationship is fundamentally codependent and unhealthy because Silco deals with his abandonment issues by warning Jinx off of making any strong emotional connections to anyone but him, both to protect her from perceived danger and to protect himself from abandonment.
So many arguments could have just ended in fewer back and forth if people just cleared up which definition of a vague word they're actually referring to.
Well it depends on what you think makes a good father.
First of all I truly believe that Silco loved Jinx just as much as Vander loved Vi.
Second I believe he cared for her beyond her being an asset or a last f you to Vander.
He has trinkets of Jinx on his desk and defends her even when it is obvious that she is damaging the cause.
He gave her the means to become strong - something which is necessary to survive in Zaun.
He tried to teach her his worldviews and he actually didn't know about Vis survival and while he might have wanted to kill Vi - he also cared about Jinxs mental state as he noticed that Jinx psyche deteriorated when her sister was involved.
Btw he only took the gun in the last scene when Jinx started to get a mental breakdown - meaning he tried to eliminate the source.
(naturally all of this also would have benefited him in other (more selfish) ways but I truly believe that he cares more for Jinx than Zaun)
I can't speak for everyone, but it is hard to let go of those sick memories and the pain it caused, but it is like a safety net. It takes a lot of work and time to heal from that and to distance from the abuse and even getting away from saying those same harmful things to yourself daily. My friend with schizophrenia (and i know this is just one case) often relives a lot of her (sexual) trauma in her head on repeat and it is in the form of voices violating her or putting sick and disgusting images into her mind during all times, good, bad, happy, intimate, during her waking and sleeping hours. Its tremendously difficult to detach from that but there's also safety in it. Sometimes she retreats to them in moments of stress and can be seen/heard laughing and joking with her "abusers". The mind is a wild thing.
I realize that the painting and scene that Heimerdinger was describing at 3:45 looks an awful lot like John Martin's paintings, reminders of humanity's inevitable destruction. There's no way the art directors didn't use his paintings as inspiration for that scene. The clouds, and composition of the landscape, everything seems so inspired from him.
honestly, the first time i watched this show I believed he was a good father. once I heard the argument that he wasn't, i understood and agreed. but i still can't help but see him as a good father. for me, jinx always felt like a version of myself in another world. the hallucinations, mental breaks, distrust and confusion is all too farmiliar. i never had a good father figure, i had my step dad and my grandpa. they both loved me, but they both never spoke much. their actions were their way of showing us affection. however, they weren't too available. one barely spoke english and one barely spoke, my big brother was the main male in my childhood. and he was abusive and angry. i am in no way trying to talk shit about them, but i grew up with a large absence of role models. the people that i did have, weren't there too much. be in mentally or physically, i was alone a lot of my life. the anxiety and utter terror that comes from being alone will break you.
silco saw powder, a scared little girl in the lowest part of her life so far, and took her in. he gave her the basic necessities, but he also relied on her and guided her. when she confided in him, he took initiative and helped her overcome problems the way he knew how, the way that worked for him and the way he knew best.
i was never that important. my older siblings banded up and excluded me, my mom was always at work or too depressed for anything. at school, the other kids bullied and exiled me. i understand that a lot of people have no one, no family, no school, but what isn't understood well is the kind of absence that comes from presence. someone can physically be there and provide your basic necessities, but that doesn't mean they help you grow up. that doesn't mean they do nothing. what it meant for me and a lot of people is that they made things much, much worse. and being exiled from every aspect of your social life, it makes you realize that people don't want you.
the show is mostly through the eyes of jinx. we see what she sees, feel what she feels, and she has no reason to believe silco to be a bad father. what she needed most, what was denied from her sister and first adopted family was affirmation. being shown and told that she was important, and that she was wanted. children won't always be needed, as adults are more knowledgeable and experienced. but for a single mother, who got pregnant young and was removed from her family, she needs her child. its how she feels love, and how she gives it, without her child she'd fall apart. this is just one example. silco was running his empire just fine before powder came along, but once he had her silco found ways to utilize her. regardless of intent, jinx was both wanted and needed. silco could have relied on sevika for brawn, and found anyone in the undercity who's good with mechanics. he was told time and time again that she was a jinx, and was shown her massive fuck ups & hindrances to his agenda. but he still kept her by his side. he supported her and encouraged her to be a better version of herself, even throwing his dreams away all for her. he wanted separation and immunity from topside, he was handed that dream on a silver platter, but refused it all for his daughter. and although she killed him, he wasn't angry or upset. he only told her that she's perfect. a lot of what he said and did is considered to be bad parenting, with which i do not agree. however he was a better father to her than vander was, as he could connect with her and truly understand her. vander couldn't understand powder, so he kept her at arms length and showed his love with gestures and tough love. silco used jinx to further his empire and success, but ultimately everything he had her do was for her. she felt important, she had value, and she felt more accepted than ever.
It would have been more insightful to see how his parenting developed over her life; because there was a clear transition of raising her as a tool to raising her as someone who wouldn't get betrayed as he had (Albeit with the hypocrisy of literally lying to her). Even when he made efforts to be a 'good parent' the knowledge he tried to impart on her was from the perspective of what he wished he had from the viewpoint of his own perceived betrayal. But the circumstances were different, and that honestly is a pretty common mistake in mentoring imo.
That said, not a good parent. But in Zaun I don't think 'good parenting' gets you anywhere.
Interesting how Jinx had mannequins of her Klaggar and Milo, but not of Vi. She believed Vi was dead, and by all accounts Vi's death would also fall on her shoulders since Jinx is the cause of it all. But Jinx is not haunted by Vi....at least not as a corpse the way the others do.
I think it’s because she believed Vi abandoned her, so of course she wouldn’t haunt her the same way.
There is one issue I have with your analysis. Even if the building didn't blow up, they would still have been hunted down. The inciting incident is Vi disregarding Vander's orders and going to steal from somewhere they shouldn't be stealing from. Remember, Jayce's patron sits on the council. He is very connected, and he doesn't want his research out in the wind. This is why Vander is actually glad that they don't have the loot, because they can't be tied to any items that were stolen, except the gems that he doesn't know about. So even if they pulled of the burglary perfectly, enforcers would still descend upon Zaun looking for what they stole and who stole it.
If the burglary was pulled off perfectly, piltover wouldn't have a clue where to start looking. The only reason the gang are suspect no.1 is because they were caught red handed.
@@tahunuva4254 The series does not exist in a vacuum. Piltover and Zaun existed before Arcane. A burglary like this would still have had them looking at Zaun. You don't seem to understand what red handed means. No one knows who they are or even what got stolen. That is why Marcus needs Silco to tell them who actually is the responsible party. There is a lot of lore stuff that was left out of season 1. Let's just say that it is preferable to have the enforcers coming after you than who would have been coming if the enforcers weren't on the job. This is not a regular place where things are being stolen from. It is a Kirraman property. Stop using our own real world logic to try and make sense of this. That isn't how this works.
@@darksaint0124
Wait, critical thought and logical reasoning doesn't exist within the world of arcane?
If the building didn't explode it wouldn't be high priority enough to keep investigating and putting so many resources into (especially since they'd have literally no clue who or where specifically to look for) , and further more: Jayce would've probably tried covering up the burglary 'cuz he doesn't want enforcers going through his apartment and wondering what all this weird research is.
The worst that would happen is that Grayson and Marcus ask around about it in zaun. (Maybe it would escalate if Jayce just started telling people he was investigating magic during the investigation, but it wouldn't make sense for Jayce to just go around telling people that.)
This isn't concluded through "our own real world logic", this is just concluded through the characters having even the slightest bit of logical reasoning and critical thought.
@@darksaint0124 The Enforcers would absolutely still be searching Zaun for the culprits, but if Powder didn't mess up the Enforcers would have no clue who to look for. Because of Powder's mistake several enforcers plus numerous other witnesses knew exactly what they looked like. It would be way easier to simply hide or get rid of the evidence as opposed to Vi, Powder, Milo and Claggor themselves needing to hide from the Enforcers, essentially becoming teen fugitives.
Jinx so overpowered.
If only Jinx in League was as powerful as Jinx in Arcane.
What do you mean ? she has been a top adc for like 2 months, it’s a nightmare really
My personal take on Powder/Jinx:
The one theme that stands out to me the most when it comes to Powder is failure. All Powder knows is that she constantly messes up, „jinxes everything“. That is what she is told by Mylo and all the evidence points towards it. Vi initially tells her otherwise but „shows her true feelings“ (that’s what Powder thinks) later on when she doesn’t want Powder on the mission and then calls her a jinx, undoing all the encouragement she did before. So all Powder knows and believes is that she is a jinx and can’t change it. That is her reality. So what does she do with that reality? For all she knows she can’t change it, so the only thing she can do to live with it is to change her view on it. She has to not only accept being a jinx, she has to embrace it. Because if she chooses to be a jinx and stops caring about the consequences (=giving up empathy) it can’t hurt her anymore and she takes back control. That’s why she takes on the name Jinx. But obviously you can’t just change your mind about something just like that, you can’t just „let Powder die“ which is what causes her her mental distress. She tries to lock away the part of her that doesn’t want to be a jinx but it comes up again and again. This is her main conflict. Should she try to be „Powder“ and overcome being a jinx or should she confirm her identity as Jinx which would be the „easy“ solution. That is however not really the question she is asking in this scene, or at least that question is secondary. The real question she is asking is: Will Vi accept her no matter what? This question however will determine whether she is willing to take the steps to become „Powder“ again (=starting to care again and trying to be a better person, not being like she was before entirely). But Vi not only fails to accept her as Jinx, but also triggers her trauma, creating monsters for her when she tries to remember her of all the people who died. This is followed by Powders trauma repeating again, as she accidentally kills the one person who does love and accept her as she is, confirming that she in fact is a jinx. And that it what finally seals Powder believing she can’t be anything else but a jinx and confirming that as her final identity.
I am sorry for all language mistakes I made, English is not my first language and I also know I missed out on a lot when it comes to Jinx (for example her abandonment issues) but I wanted to focus more on the failure aspect.
The real question that I find difficult is, was Silco the father that she needed? He wasn't a good person, yes, he cared for her, yes, but ultimately, was he a better or worse choice than Vander or Vi? Because there wasn't really any indication that Vander or Vi actually helped Jinx grow as a person. Powder was always a bit destabilised, and it's not apparent that someone with Vander's or Vi's mindset could have corrected that, because their paths are not ones that Powder is good at following.
Although she became a criminal in the end, Silco also helped stabilise her and cement her identity, dispelling her fear and uncertainty.
I 100% believed the platter moment. I was screaming at the screen, "NOOOOOOOOO". Incredible set piece that speaks so much about the show.
I just remember one scene, when jayce tell silco that if silco hand over jinx, silco will have everything he was fighting for. Zaun independent, a chair in the counsel you name it. His whole life he had fight for this moment and yet he still hesitate.
14:50 This scene works only for the audience that doesn't know that League of Legends champions never die in any media.
Honestly, watching Arcane without knowing ANYTHING about League was the best thing I could’ve done lol
Other than A New Dawn, but that's a different story (and may or may not involve respawning).
I mean, even as someone who did know that, it still got me. The show broke from a lot of parts of the lore and killed characters that seemed pivotal, you just sorta get caught up in it and don't think about how the other characters that died weren't Champions. Suspension of disbelief is a hell of a drug, I guess.
Man, that ending still haunts me since I've watched this masterpiece. It eats away at me every time I'm reminded about Arcane. WHEN IS SEASON 2 RIOT????
Theyre working on it!! Epsiode 3 is already finnished, but we have to wait 😢
The showrunner said it's not going to come this year, it's confirmed to come next year... honestly I don't mind as long as we get thiiissssss
well they said they didn't prepar more material after season 1, because they were afraid it might flop and their work would be wasted. Now they saw how much popular it got, so they started working on season 2, I don't want to say "from scratch", because they have models etc. but almost from zero
bad memories always stick
granted, silco does do a bunch of unforgivable things in the show, but in his eyes, he was doing the right thing for Zaun. IMO, Jinx is his real daughter, like Vi was to Vander. I think that Silco sees Vi the same way Jinx sees Caitlyn: a threat to their relationship. It's not a threat to his rule. After all, how could 1 person remove him from power. It's a petty struggle born out of jealousy and fear. However, it could be seen as the former. We need more villains like Silco
This is a really nice breakdown of what is going to be an iconic scene of an iconic show.
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!
I think the reason a lot of people think Silco was a bad father is because they apply their own standards of "good" to other cultures, in this case, Zaun. Is it bad parenting to allow or even encourage your child to build explosives in, say, the U.S.? Yes, of course. But is it bad parenting to do the same thing in Zaun? Well, we don't see a single instance of anyone condemning Jinx/Powder's hobby (which she chose on her own, not Silco). In fact, we see she has only ever received criticism for the bombs failing. Culturally, this is seen as a positive thing. Encouraging your child to pursue their passions is not manipulative, it is good parenting.
"But he used her in his criminal enterprise!" Some might cry. But, again, consider the culture of Zaun. It is stated in the show that "there is a crime behind every coin that changes hands in Zaun." Crime is not just culturally accepted, it is the norm. Therefore, Silco's criminal enterprise is no different, culturally speaking, to owning a corner market. *Not* teaching her how to earn a living and get by in life would be far worse parenting, in this context, than having her be a part of the family business. It is no more "using her as a tool," than having your child work as a cashier at your store is "using them as a tool." He is teaching her important life lessons such as responsibility and how to survive in the harsh reality of their world. That, again, is good parenting.
Silco is not "parent of the year," but he is objectively a good parent, and that is why many people say he is. Silco did a lot more right than he did wrong as a parent, so much so that Jinx rightly identifies he is not responsible for who she became, her trauma is. Girl was building bombs in her parent's basement as a small child, then got hit with tenfold the trauma, all before Silco ever took her in. She would have turned out messed up under anyone's care, but she gained a lot from being under Silco's that she simply would not have under anyone else's care. Under someone like Vi or Vander's care? She would have turned out useless and full of self-doubt, on top of the fascination with making things go boom, and a general disregard for human lives. Under someone's care with values that more closely reflect our own? She would have been dead in a week. Silco did not make Jinx, he made Jinx strong and resourceful enough to survive. He made her confident in her abilities and gave her the platform to showcase them to the world. He gave her purpose, and a cause truly worth fighting for. One cannot overstate how important and positive Silco was to Jinx's development, and that all comes down to his parenting.
Entirely agreed - Silco did the only responsible thing he could do in the situation. He did it well and without malice for Jinx (nor even Vander - that's and extrapolation that goes too far in this video) and frankly he deserves commendation. He could have just sent her to the whorehouse. He could have sent her away publicly in a way to "prove" Vander abandoned the Lanes. He chose to raise Jinx as a daughter.
And it cost him everything. He sacrificed everything for her, as ANY good father should.
@@samhiltz1107 Exactly. No one would have batted an eye if he discarded her like yesterday's news, but he didn't. He lost everything, even his own life, for her. To discredit that is to discredit the entire show in my opinion.
What a delusional piece of writing :D He saw how fucked up she was after that blow up and fed into every bit of it, because he is as messed up as she is, so he saw a piece of himself in her. He made her a murderer who enjoys killing, he fed her paranoia and abandonment issues by stating that everyone betrays them and he is the only one who loves her, he made situation in Zaun even worse than it was by developing his criminal enterprise (also by using child labour at his shimmer facilities) and turning huge chunk of Zaunites into junkies, which just lives someone like Powder even smaller chance of becoming a normal person (also by including her into the development of this whole shit), he also fed her stories of Vander’s (her previous father figure he killed) betrayal and blamed everything solely on him, he didn’t really care or saw her plummeting mental state (maybe wanted it so), and he was chasing her “dead” sister, cause he was afraid of Jinx being taken away by her. Maybe there’s even more bad shit to his parenting, but I think what I wrote is already enough. He is great character and villain, but stop romanticising their relationship, please.
@@miramaxcinemax5512 Did you watch the entire season 1? The whole point of Silco's arc and the way it was framed was to make us THINK he was being manipulative, but to watch the show a second time, it's made clear that he did exactly what he felt Powder needed at the time, to the point where he put her needs before his own. Powder was ALREADY a murderer and she was ALREADY going to be super messed up in the head when Silco found her, because she accidentally killed all her siblings (as far as they both knew). Silco was clearly trying to help her the best way he knew how in Zaun, with his lectures and the river story. She already created bombs because she enjoyed it; letting her join his cause and kill for him was just part of living in the undercity. She wanted to be useful and she wanted proof she didn't mess up everything--even when she DID screw up the job horribly (which we saw happen multiple times in the show) Silco never really blamed her, and kept trying to make excuses for her--and he knew she had issues with failure.
Silco being a bad parent came from his being too LENIENT, which is understandable given Jinx's trauma. "Jinx gets a whim, his spine turns to jelly"--he generally let her do whatever she wanted and told her she was perfect; the worst he reprimanded her was when she killed 6 police for seemingly no reason and put Silco's life's work in jeopardy, and he just yelled at her a bit. She never had actual consequences whenever she messed up. And as far as Silco knew, Vi definitely would've left Jinx, because she punched her and left her before. This man saw ~6 years of Jinx struggling with guilt and voices of loved ones tormenting her, and here's someone from her past who shows up again trying to remind her of everything he was trying to prevent her from remembering and getting hurt over--of course he'd try to keep Vi away from her.
Silco had unconditional love for Jinx, that's just a fact. We know this by how he continued to protect her every time she screwed up a mission. We know this from when he was talking to Vander's statue, when he understood why Vander did what he did. They were both willing to give up everything they worked for, everything they lived for and killed for, for decades--JUST for their kids. (Bonus points if you also caught that Silco carried Jinx all the way to Singed's lab with his own scrawny arms, instead of letting one of his clearly stronger henchmen take her!)
There are plenty of series where the villain is nice and manipulative and exists to corrupt their ward. From everything we've seen in the show, we can conclude that this is not what happened here. Silco is an antagonist, he's done some pretty fucked up things for Zaun's independence, and he clearly didn't know how to parent--but he WAS trying to help Jinx, and raise her as best he could given the circumstances of their location, her trauma, and his trauma.
(And as for "delusional piece of writing", it made perfect sense to me. Sorry this media analysis is more complex than those other shows, but maybe discussing Arcane isn't for you if you can't handle the concept of morally gray characters, and moral relativism. :D )
@@miramaxcinemax5512
i mean to be fair slico was trying to build a better zaun free from piltover , and basically did what him and vander wanted to do, to free zaun. under vander control thins were peaceful there is no doubt there ,but vander was complying with piltover who going to make living in zaun worse each day, sucking up to them would not fix the issue at all , and from what we seen in Leagues lore piltover callousness led to painful and horrid deaths to half to zaun , and the only reason why zaun is still standing is because of a LITERIAL ACT OF GOD.
overall vander's method for zaun might have given peace and safety to people of zaun but it changed nothing about zaun issues it just ignored them , while slico methods were unsavorily , but they did work in the end , slico ended zauns TOXIC relationship with piltover.
i sobbed when Silco died, which if anything is an example of how great a manipulator he is, he manipulated a good chunk of the audience (who i assume like myself also have daddy issues) into thinking he was a good father. i relate to Jinx a lot in that sense, we’re both vulnerable to the affection we never received, even if it’s coming from a harmful source
Gosh this is such a good, tragic well written story, nothing goes how you want it to, and even though you know it doesn't end well, the way it gets there is so heartbreaking that you can't help but feel amazed and cry at the circumstances
22:00 - I've already said this about Silco, and I'll say it again: he's a good father in the sense he obviously supports and cares about Jinx, and is willing to endanger himself and his goals for her. But we also can't ignore the fact that Silco is also a broken messed-up individual just like Jinx. He grew up in the Undercity (or was banished from Piltover with his family like a dark version of Jace, as some theories suggests), became involved with criminality and revolution, was backstabbed by Vander, etc. He became a crime kingpin to finance his cause against Piltover. No matter how much he cares about Powder/Jinx, between the environment and her trauma, she was never going to have a normal, healthy childhood.
Unlike Palpatine, Thanos or Joker, he didn't purposefully manipulate and fuck Jinx up (beyond, you know, 50% causing her family's deaths) for his own gains. He just couldn't fix her because he's broken too and had no one to fix him. Add that to the fact he's raising her as part of a criminal/revolutionary conspiracy and, well, you have what you have. And since they're both of the same opinion that Piltover should get fucked, it's not like he enslaved her to the cause.
One other important aspect is something RUclipsr schnee discussed in a movie: Silco loves Zaun as the embodiment of "strength through chaos and perseverance"; unlike Vander, he doesn't think the Undercity needs to be "fixed" through cooperation and assistance from the corrupt Piltovers who created it in the first place, but rather should rise up by embracing the inner darkness instilled in them by Piltover's tyranny and the Undercity's hardships. And he loves Jinx both as a daughter and the incarnation of that ideal; she was already traumatized and broken before Silco ever adopted her, and he molded her to be his superior successor: a force of chaos and vengeance against Piltover, deriving strength and cunning from her suffering and hardships. He wasn't "corrupting and manipulating" her to be a weapon, he was molding her to be strong and survive. He doesn't see himself OR Jinx as being in the wrong for being broken and sullied by their environment, but as stronger than the fat snobs at Piltover.
Bottomline being, Silco is OBVIOUSLY not perfect as a human being or a father. His background and traumas, like Jinx, didn't allow him to be any better. But he didn't purposefully want or even believe he was harming Jinx. See this video for more in-depth analysis: ruclips.net/video/SI8G_yUTZcE/видео.html
Silco did manipulate Jinx, although he thought he was helping her. I see it as a more loving form of Thanos and Gamora, one where Thanos was unable to kill her for the Soul Stone. But no doubt about it, their relationship is unhealthy and manipulative, even if it is loving.
If he really loved her and was a good father, why didn't he try to reach out to Ekko?
@@danielwalker8133
🤨 Cause... he didn't know Ekko existed? Cause Ekko stayed behind and wasn't present at that whole debacle that got Vander, Claggor and Mylo killed? Cause Ekko would never join him after Silco killed his adoptive father & uncle, even if Jinx asked?
Plus, being a good father to Jinx doesn't mean Silco would adopt every child he orphaned. I never said he was a good PERSON in general. 🤷♂️
@@piercearora7681
I'll agree partially, because Thanos' whole shtick is that he wants to prove he is right at the expense of everything and is clearly insane. He refuses to accept that he's wrong or will lose, even if he has to shred tge universe down to its atoms and remake it anew.
Silco is basically akin to a more rational Sith Lord. Like we've established, he sincerely doesn't realize what he's doing is unhealthy, or believes it beats being submissive to Piltover. He realizes to some extent that Jinx is mentally unwell, but there isn't much he CAN do about it (no therapists in Runeterra, after all) beyond trying to teach her how to focus herself into achieving her/their goals.
Honestly I don't believe any of his manipulation was intentional, he had abandonment issues from Vander and when he met believed their situations were 1 to 1 comparable, he kept saying what he says to himself and what he wished someone told him.
He otherwise doesn't push her to be anything or do anything for him, he just backs her no matter how much she fails, knowing it'll cost him Zaun.
But yeah while he loves her unconditionally that love isn't enough and ends up poisoning her in the same way he poisons the city he claims to love.
He's a terrible father.
I don't disagree Silco was a bad father. But u do make it seem like he was purely driven by his ambition for an independent Zaun and revenge on Vander in his interactions with Jinx. Which is a long stretch. He might not have been a good father but he did love her. Shown perfectly in his emotional turmoil after he was given a way to all he had worked for.
He saw himself a lot in jinx, I definitely don't agree with that part in the video, I think silco shows a lot of signs of a twisted type of "empathy" in the show.
Yeah, Silco IS offered everything he ever wanted in exchange for Jinx and he doesn't do it.
He wasn't a good father by any metric but his love for Jinx is crystal clear
What we do know is that Zaun is a port city and in the start of the series when Vander ran it, Ionians were walking around in their Iconic rice farmer-like hats. What is suggested here is Noxus's ruler can use her fallen daughter for war and in the comic, Noxus uses an Ionian criminal named "Jhin" to infiltrate and damage Piltover. We will see the beginnings of different divisions of the Piltover police and how countries will interact with Piltover because they won't know how an Ionian criminal made it. Ionian characters who use magic use it diffetently can slowly also be introduced chasing Jhin.
Look up, Wild Rift animations. they made short animations that connect each characters story together. In the intro "Awaken" Jhin broke into some theater and screwing with the Detective division of the Enforcer dept and you can see some of the Ionian characters fight in the plains. Also the girl in the Arena is an Ionian who is in a Noxus fighting pit and probably caught by overwhelming numbers.
That girl kinda screwed over Yasuo in "Kin of the Stain Blade" also a good animation because she was a visual learner, she copied the style and attacked the school Yasuo was supposed to protect.
I believe the objects that represent her dead adopted brothers are there to help her cope her anger problems and feel less alone when she is not near Silco. Sort of a way to help her calm down. If you despise someone so much, you'd likely encounter those moments you repeat out sentence you would've wanted to tell them if they were present to help cope out the anger.
Regarding the Mylo and Claggor dolls, I think they are actually more related to her mental trauma. Mylo may not have been a positive figure for Powder, but when she lost Mylo and Claggor, she also lost Vi. It's pretty clear that Jinx wants things to go back to what they were. She couldn't bring the two of them back, but maybe in some twisted way she thought giving them a form might bring Vi back, too.
We also see voices that torment Jinx in several critical moments, discrediting her ideas and mocking her. It's possible she interprets those voices as Mylo and Claggor haunting her, so she could have made the dolls as a sort of offering to them, to give them their body back and get them out of her head. Or, along the same train of thought, they could also be physical representations of those voices to shift blame when she makes a bad decision based on those thoughts, or a way to vent her anger destructively.
They are a very strange addition to her pyche, in that there is so little we have to interpret what they could mean, but they also hint at a very big part of her mental state.
Good villains we learn to hate in the context of a story. Great villains we understand.