Arcane 2x08 Reaction
Added 2025-01-02 01:11:53 +0000 UTChappy new year ❤️
Comments
It's not hindsight though, in Ep 3 when Vi and Jinx confront each other Jinx says, "No matter what I do, I can't seem to die". She also stops fighting at one point and lets Vi try to kill her saying she was glad it was Vi doing it. In Eps 5 and 6, Vi watches with her own eyes that Jinx has become more alive and happy because she has someone new to care for (Isha), and in Ep 6 she watches that person die right in front of Jinx's eyes. In this episode she learns that her sister has turned herself in, she sees her sister has been curled up in a corner of the cell self-harming herself and saying things like "You don't have to worry about me anymore". Literally all of these things are red flags that Vi witnessed with her own eyes and should add up to "My sister is not okay and may be having suicidal thoughts". Nothing was done in hindsight, it was in very plain view in for Vi to see.
Nyeisha Melvina Clark
2025-01-11 05:44:40 +0000 UTCI'm not taking things out of context. Christian Linke literally admitted to pushing Vi to the side because he wanted to focus on characters he found more interesting. There's a comment above that wrote his exact tweet verbatim as well.
Nyeisha Melvina Clark
2025-01-11 05:36:59 +0000 UTCIt was just simply out of place, there are times and places where such scenes can be placed, this was not it. This just seemed like pushing a lesbian relationship down people's throats even further. This scene could've been placed way better. Maybe it was placed in according to Vi's character (I couldn't see that but maybe that's just me), sure, but when you take into account the viewers, there's obviously a reason why the majority think it was misplaced, because it simply was. I didn't even feel like "oh what the hell is this now, you can't put this here", the scene was so sudden I sat through it without caring at all. I don't believe anyone inherently hates the scene I just think everyone wanted it to be done in a way it made complete sense and this is just confusing. That scene is just a victim of everything else in this season and it was all caused by the season feeling incomplete and rushed. You can't stretch out a season like you did and then do this in the following one.
kuzma kuzma
2025-01-10 12:49:27 +0000 UTCI don't think people actually mean the character's purpose was non-existent or something like that when they say that (and I'm probably wrong here). I think they just mean that since Isha has no dialogue and her death was so sudden and just, honestly, awkward (I didn't personally see a reason for her to die there), that they simply could not connect to the character. Isha's existence was mandatory here for Jinx and Vi to even remotely reconnect, but I personally just didn't even care when Isha died, I just had question marks over my head. It was just so weird, idk, call me crazy.
kuzma kuzma
2025-01-10 12:40:30 +0000 UTCIdk, I personally didn't feel a thing in this season except with those scenes with Vander and the flashbacks. Everything else seemed either rushed or out of place, not in a Game of Thrones S8 way but definitely in a way that I just couldn't care less. So I'm feeling confused whether I missed something or what because I see people so passionately debating this season meanwhile I got through this season so reluctantly it literally felt like a chore to finish it.
kuzma kuzma
2025-01-10 12:34:27 +0000 UTCI probably won't do that right after I see my dad and a little girl blow up right in front of me and my little sister ran away in pretty clear (suicidal) way. And its not like Vi knew at that moment that they were going to war with Ambessa's army. Which btw brings me to the perfect time to be having a sex scene. Maybe do it just before the battle against the evolved army, when potential death is pretty much imminent. But in jail, at that moment was not it. Maybe if they wanted it to be in jail (aesthetics idk). Maybe make it so that the order of events was this- Jinx locked Vi up. - Jayce gets attacked by Viktor's puppet - He assembles the counsel/people to warn them of the threat - Caitlyn comes to look for Vi to tell her what is going on - Vi opens up to Cait in prison - Maybe Vi goes spiraling and Cait kisses her suddenly - And scene. Atleast in this version more (apparent) screen time will pass between the scene and Vander and Isha literally going kapoowie. Additionally, it will make it seem less so that Vi is taking Vanders apparent death so lightly. In this version she won't be joking around with Cait before doing it. It would literally be just a burst of passion.
Joshua
2025-01-09 07:02:35 +0000 UTCYou could also just stop watching the discussion half way through lol
Joshua
2025-01-09 06:37:32 +0000 UTCShe has no clue she would do that, it's not as obvious as you think with all the scenes you saw and Vi didnt
Smoolio
2025-01-09 03:24:25 +0000 UTCSex scene was perfectly placed imo, great parallels and is a good end to Cait's arc about Jinx. Vi thinks jinx is running away and cait set her free.
Smoolio
2025-01-09 03:21:56 +0000 UTCShe ain't psychic, you're bringing hindsight into it.
Smoolio
2025-01-09 03:20:06 +0000 UTCAlso. I loved the sex scene. It was fantastic to finally see vi stop Caring about jinx for a second and care about herself. It’s only out of place to everyone because in this community jinx is the number one most important character. To me, she isn’t. So for me, a Vi fan, I liked seeing her do something for herself and get some action finally from someone she loves and loves her back. I love me some jinx, but much like Vi, she is a terrible sister. Seems vi is the only one that gets the blame for being a bad sister though.
alex otis
2025-01-07 20:18:09 +0000 UTCYeah I think in the end my lack of expectations going into this season I think helped me. I wasn’t holding the creators to blow me away again. That’s the problem with second seasons. Very very very rarely are they on par with the first. So I just wanted to have a good time watching this. And I did. I’m not a critic. I’m not here to criticize the making of a tv show. I’m a fan of tv. It takes a lot to piss me off about a tv show. And when it’s this good I’m fine with whatever I get and I don’t think they owe us anything. And I’ll agree the end of this season is not as tight as last season. But to me, I just wanted to have fun and watch the beautiful animation. It did everything I wanted a tv show to do.
alex otis
2025-01-07 20:09:50 +0000 UTCNah. In case the girls read this, I really want them to know how much we appreciate their honest reactions and in depth analysis, whether they like what they're watching or not. Arcane is incredible but it's not above criticism, and their discussion was super constructive despite how messy this episode was at times.
Harfie
2025-01-07 09:41:48 +0000 UTCArcane was never designed to give a definitive status to the conflict between Zaun and Piltover. This conflict serves as a backdrop, existing long before the script began and persisting for decades after. The evolution of the characters and their future stem from Hextech and Arcane, as brilliantly explained in episode 7. Arcane lays the foundation for a much larger universe. I understand that many regret the absence of a third season, but it's important to know that Arcane is extremely demanding, both financially and in terms of human resources. To date, it is probably the most technically beautiful animated medium ever created. It's unfortunate to focus so much on its few narrative shortcomings when its visual quality more than makes up for them. I'm glad you take the time to review the episode even if you don't like it. It's not an enjoyable exercise, but I think it's necessary. I just wanted to share my thoughts on the series, even though, as a League of Legends player for over 10 years and a big fan of the lore, my perspective might be a bit biased.
Yanis Panagaris
2025-01-05 03:37:19 +0000 UTCInstead of having a 40 minutes discussion about something you feel negative about, you could've just cut the discussion part to 20 minutes max. Especially since you are making final assumptions 67% into the story. Let them cook in the last episode then have your lengthy discussion. Just remember, League of Legends currently has 169 characters in the world. In Piltover and Zaun they've used maybe 50-60% of all character in those 2 cities alone. Which is a very small part of the whole LoL world. Take a look at the interactive map. See how many regions there are what kind of potential could be in the upcoming spinoff stories within this universe. https://map.leagueoflegends.com/en_US
Pronto (SK)
2025-01-04 14:00:24 +0000 UTCI think they will watch Andor this year for sure. Season 1 was fantastic.
Raphael
2025-01-03 23:09:52 +0000 UTCIdk I kinda just think this episode (and somewhat all of this season but particularly this episode) is just really sloppily written. Feels like they had plot points and character arks that worked all mapped out but just couldn't find a way to link them together and progress them the way they did in season 1, especially with the entire Jinx / Cait / Vi scenario. In the 1st season it really felt like every action and reaction that the three had was linked to one another and that's why the last ep of that season works so well, it's all of them finally linking up and clashing. Here it feels like Cait and Vi have a story, Jinx has a story, Vi has a story, and Jinx and Vi have a story. Imo it just doesn't blend together enough which culminates in that sex scene feeling so insanely out of place
joster
2025-01-03 16:39:24 +0000 UTCI just leave that here 😂: https://www.reddit.com/r/arcane/s/waG0U3HRvV
Robert H.
2025-01-03 13:44:05 +0000 UTCNo i didn’t. I’m aware that that’s not actually Silco and that he represents Jinx’s thoughts. This is the culmination of Jinx’s arc. How the writers choose to write it is indicative of the message they’re pushing; what point they’re trying to make. Which is that they’re stuck in a cycle of violence that can only end when one side walks away. Jinx reaches that conclusion but seeks the wrong solution (suicide). I think that the entire conclusion is a lazy simplification of the real issue. This is how the allegory between jinx/vi (and silco/vander) and the two cities, Piltover and Zaun, completely falls apart.
jweher
2025-01-03 11:47:07 +0000 UTCThe whole cait and vi scene was so odd in terms of the timing. They could’ve done it at any other time, meanwhile her sister is trying to off herself and she doesn’t bother going to look for her after just pleading with her to not leave. It Just doesn’t sit right with me.
Ayandza Xaba (za-ba)
2025-01-03 07:25:11 +0000 UTCVi is my favorite character and I agree with y’all, I was so confused where she was at this entire season. It felt like she was just there to be hot and move the plot along for other characters 🗿 it was jarring for me to see her be against enforcers, become an enforcer, gas her own people, realize her sister is going to off herself but have sex real quick before saving her… like if I felt that my brother was in danger my fat ass would be SPRINTING out that cell immediately
Aellom : }
2025-01-03 03:46:28 +0000 UTCThat wasn’t Silco, that hallucination was supposed to represent Jinx’s subconscious convincing her to commit suicide. You completely missed the point
SoClose
2025-01-03 02:56:03 +0000 UTCPeople fuck in high stress situations btw. It’s very common. Now was it done well in this show? Clearly not. It felt out of place. They shoulda had that scene right when Vi woke up and had the conversation with Cait, not after they showed the audience that Jinx was about to kill herself. The storyboarding for this was a mess. I feel the weaker writer had the loudest voice this season. So much potential was wasted
SoClose
2025-01-03 02:54:02 +0000 UTCI really wish they took a break before watching this episode. They were crushed to pieces by episode 7. I hadn’t seen anyone in my life or online be that upset by that episode. As I said before I was all smiles and crying smiles during that episode. So to me it makes perfect sense that watching this episode immediately after being emotionally destroyed, your not gonna grab a hold of what this episode has to offer because it’s really just the first half of an episode. Like waiting a week would have let those emotions settle and like in your review after episode 7 you would have been thinking about it as one of your favorite episodes. A few hours after watching it I’m sure the tears hadn’t even dried up yet. Then again may be that wouldn’t have made a big difference. And since it’s jinx depressed and potentially looking to harm herself there was no saving this. I don’t know. I just see this episode in such a different way than a lot of the comments here and their opinion. And I don’t want to sound like I’m saying they are wrong or something. Because that is impossible. You see it how you see it.
alex otis
2025-01-02 20:13:49 +0000 UTCAh makes sense I forgot that season 2 was about to come out. Was hoping for Andor with the final season coming out in a couple months
My Toasty Toast
2025-01-02 19:15:15 +0000 UTCSeverance season 2
Raphael
2025-01-02 19:14:07 +0000 UTCFirst off happy new years! Second, as someone who's fav is Vi I agree. She was used to progress Caitlyn and Jinx's characters basically. And the things that she was supposed to struggle with like becoming an enforcer, Cait hitting her, losing Vander again, her pitfighting era, are just never addressed from her pov. Like they just didn't bother with letting that show. That said, that's true for a lot of the characters (though Vi suffered from it the worst). Imo Jayce is the one who's had the best character arc in season 2 and even his arc feels rushed. The whole season itself feels rushed, which is crazy to think about when you realize we waited 3 years for it. i think the main difference was that season 1 felt like the characters driving the plot, while season 2 feels like the plot driving the characters. i don't necessarily have a problem with the things that happen in the show, but a lot of them needed to be fleshed out a lot more for me personally to emotionally connect to it more
K M
2025-01-02 18:26:27 +0000 UTCI haven’t followed the Arcane reaction yet - do we know what the next show is after Arcane?
My Toasty Toast
2025-01-02 18:20:56 +0000 UTCTo speak on Vi a bit. To me Vi is quite consistently shown: step 1) Trying to help. step 2) Get a minor win, things are looking good. step 3) Lose hard, more than she is prepared for. This cycle repeats in season 1 and 2. She is cursed in that way, and in many ways she is more a "jinx" herself than her sister, which i find poetic. Another consistent curse for Vi is that she can never understand her sister. They always missunderstands eachother, they are never quite on the same page. Meaning their relationship will always be in conflict. (There is a cool thing about Isha's impact on Jinx i could talk about here, but that would spoil episode 9. Yes i think Isha is a good and important character.) Before season 2, one of my biggest fears, was a forced or awkward sex scene between Vi and Cait, with no meaning behind it. So you would think, i might have hated this. But i don't actually. Vi betrays Cait, and tries to help Jinx (step 1). Vi tells Jinx about her plan and Jinx agrees (step 2). But Jinx escapes and locks her up in prison again (Possibly Vi's worst fear) (step 3). Time passes. Vi is having a bad time, she is about to break, she is at her limit, she thinks she is only making wrong decisions. Her cycle won't end. Cait locks Vi out of prison again and tells her, she supported her decision (2 wins). This also means there is a sense of understanding between Cait and Vi (3 wins). The pattern is broken with 3 wins in a row for Vi. Caitlyn effectively let Vi out of the physical prison and Vi's mental prison, ending her cycle. The theme of the show is even about the prisons we make for ourselves and being stuck in cycles. So to me it just makes sense Vi would feel overjoyed, and just give into it. Though i understand, if you don't see it that way, then not liking it is fair. But i recommend rewatching the show in good faith, I just keep finding things that i like that way. This show in general just rewards understanding the context/subtext, nothing is wasted, if you ask me.
Oliver W
2025-01-02 17:24:51 +0000 UTCI don't disagree that the way that conflict has been handled isn't great, but I don't think that's what ghost Silco represents. For one thing, he's just a part of Jinx's psyche. He represents what Jinx is thinking and feeling right now, not what the character would say, and I don't think we are meant to view it as being "right" either. Especially if you take Jinx's intent to be self-harm, then I really don't think we are meant to agree with her interpretation of things, and that's all the ghost Silco is. Perhaps the idea of breaking cycles is correct, but again that doesn't meant we are meant to take everything this vision of Silco says as being true and right.
cosmotron
2025-01-02 17:20:56 +0000 UTCThe whole "banding together" thing only made like 10 people from Zaun show up, it wasn't meant to be a "Wow let's all be friends now, to fight a common enemy". I read it more like Jayce, and Jayce alone, was just begging for whatever help people would be willing to give, because HE knows what is coming.
Oliver W
2025-01-02 15:36:28 +0000 UTCHaven’t watched the reaction yet, but i remember my big problem with this episode was Silco’s speech to Jinx. While the dialogue itself isn’t badly written, once you contextualize it within the themes that the story has been building since s1, it falls flat. I just do not like the messaging at all. Dumbing down the class issues presented in s1 has truly been my main gripe with this season. Not to say that Arcane was doing anything revolutionary or uniquely nuanced in season 1, but I think how they reframed the core issue (via Ghost Silco, who is just the mouthpiece for the writers) is a huge problem for me.
jweher
2025-01-02 14:51:41 +0000 UTCDamn, you're right, it was 3 years. I don't know why I thought season 1 aired a year ago.
Jacob
2025-01-02 14:20:31 +0000 UTChappy new year <3
sakurabraus
2025-01-02 12:41:06 +0000 UTCI could be way off here. So I apologize. But if the roles were switched and for whatever strange reason bi was in that cell and jinx visited here and vi tricked her in the same to escape. Said all the same things and made it clear she may be going to harm herself or do something crazy. Then ekko came to free jinx and they have a wonderful connection and then have a make out seen, I don’t think they would just jump right to sex, but who knows. Would there still be this problem? Or are people just upset because it’s jinx that might be going to hurt herself and it’s vi that is apparently leaving her to do so. I just feel like people loooooooove jinx to the point we forget that in many ways she is the villain. She has killed sooooo many people in this story. Now part of the amazing story of arcane is her come back from that darkness. But let’s not forget that she was killing people all of season 1. I guess I don’t find it as easy to just want the best for her at all times. And like many people said. Listen to vi when she is in that cell. She thinks jinx left to go do bad things again. It doesn’t even cross her mind that jinx is may be going to harm herself. I don’t even know what I’m saying anymore. Hahaha. I’m just rambling. I am not good at expressing my thoughts when others feel so completely different. I apologize. Haha.
alex otis
2025-01-02 12:13:48 +0000 UTCI also watched it all together. I didn’t even know it existed till the second season came out. So binging the two seasons at once, season 2 was amazing. I’d say it’s rushed more than the first season for sure. But it’s still amazing. I can only imagine what my feelings would be if had to wait 3 years after that amazing season 1. I would expect the world from season 2. And I can see where it was a little disappointed if you waited that long.
alex otis
2025-01-02 11:59:32 +0000 UTCI think a lot of people have not understood that the characters in this scene are facing an imminent tragic event and just trying to release the pressure for a moment, of course it is still a pretext to introduce a lesbian scene but it remains logical given the events, would you not make love with your crush, tried to find comfort if the end of the world was in a few hours?
Charles Bartoletti
2025-01-02 10:12:08 +0000 UTCYou know what's interesting, I don't feel as though any of the scenes we were given in Season 2 were bad. It just felt like they skipped a bunch of them so it was jarring. It's as if you're watching a basketball game and only getting the highlights of the big chances but you were expecting to watch the full game and trying to work out how the ball teleported from one side of the court to another. I love the sex scene overall in a vacuum. The parallels are really amazing. Having it in a prison cell where Cait and Vi first met. Having Vi choose Cait and a reversal of the fact Cait initiated the first kiss. The detail on the animation which is consistently unbelievably good. If you just watch that scene without the context of Jinx wanting to kill herself, it's an amazing scene and great for representation too. But it's not in a vacuum. It feels out of place unfortunately because the viewers' minds are not remotely there at that time. As a coherent story, it doesn't work because it's way too rushed and the character progression doesn't get the time it needs and the overall conflict got muddled from Piltover vs Zaun into an avengers style beat the bigger enemy. I don't like that choice at all. A shame really. It could have been incredible especially since the setup from S1 was so good but we instead got a few great moments within a rushed and incoherent story. Still though, it can't take away the time bomb episode, some of the fight sequence animations and the sex scene which were big season highlights. And I enjoyed it for what it was. But this episode and the last few have shown that peak fiction it is not. And the writing and storytelling took a backseat to the 'action' which sucks but it happens especially for a show that's this expensive and can't get the required time it needs to tell the story it wants to.
Camzeee
2025-01-02 09:35:43 +0000 UTCThe entire sex scene in the prison is probably one of the most bafflingly misplaced scene in the entire show. To the point where it makes an overall intention of the scene, whether its allowing yourself to feel happiness for once, to be free of your past guilt, to some extent rewriting the identity that society made for you and choosing to become a true version of yourself, seems lesser and jarring in retrospect. It is almost comical how truly jarring the scene feels when you consider the emotional bridges between the Vi/Jinx scene and the Vi/cait scene. like, I get that having them be intimate in a prison cell is a direct callback to the first time they met in 104, but I can't help but feel like this scene takes a direction more akin to a cheesy lesbian romance fanfiction from a popular YN Book in an otherwise nuanced and layers shows about love, relationship and humanity. And the music they wrote for the scene certainly doesn't help elevate my initial takeaways at all. It is an overall disappointing scene that could been so much better given that Vi and Cait are both great characters in their own right. I wish the shows had done something differently.
Yarnaphrat Benchasart
2025-01-02 08:24:27 +0000 UTCSo regarding the girls' comment about the lack of Vi's character arc or storyline this season. The showrunner (Christian Linke) responded the criticism on X and Reddit, in his own words "It is true that season two had other characters occupy more screen time (than Vi). As writers, we were interested in these characters. I really don't know what else to say." Vi still has the third most screentime behind Jinx and Cait in season 2, but her screentime is less effective or purposeful than somebody like Ekko imo. The writers basically admitted they were less interested in exploring Vi's story than some other characters, which it's ashamed because they could put much more care in Vi's storyline than we get so far.
Raphael
2025-01-02 07:31:34 +0000 UTCYea Cait intentionally let Vi free Jinx because she chose her love of Vi over her hatred of Jinx, and Cait gave Jinx a second chance like Vi said to her. I get what the writers were going for (two characters finally confront their feelings before the final battle), but I just didn't feel it's as impactful to me as the Powder& Ekko kiss scene in episode 7. It might just be they speed thru or underdeveloped Cait and Vi's individual struggles after the breakup in Act 2 using music montage in the beginning Ep4 and 5.
Raphael
2025-01-02 07:07:16 +0000 UTCYeah, I figured this was going to be the reaction. Episode 8 was truly the culmination of glaring problems with this season. Now, I really loved Arcane after its first season and I can in my head justify just about 90 % of this seasons storylines. It's frustrating because I see what the writers were trying to convey but sadly it's uncooked, not given the right amount of time to breathe, to make us feel the characters through moments of dialogue. As you girls put it, not sure what the writers think the characters were thinking at certain moments. Even if they did know, they never got the chance to show it. Vi's thoughts on anything that happened is basically non-existent, we just get to see her anguish as she's tossed around between her sister and girlfriend. Which fits her arc as she is just as stunted as Jinx, just in a different way, being locked up at an early age and since being freed her purpose seemed to be to have something to fight or something to protect. What she fought and what she protected changed over the course of the seasons but season 2 faltered in conveying her feelings on the matter, and for Vi who has her heart on her sleeve that's just not fair to her character. Reading between the lines like at the prison sex scene just creates this jarring feeling. "Oh shit Jinx is suicidal, what does Vi think about this" Enter Caitlyn "Oh, wait, this, now? Okay.." I was just as confused. Not to say I didn't figure it would happen eventually just not right there. As to Jinx and Isha's storyline, I can defend that, in part. For the time given it was truly the fastest way to kickstart Jinx redemption arc. Now I don't mean redemption as in to justify or crucify her actions, that's a whole different discussion. But her redemption in the eyes of the rest of the characters, in that she could potentially heal and do some good for Zaun or at least for certain people in her life, especially Vi. Isha, through simply being with her and playing around is quite an effective way to accomplish this as it brings Powder back in a way. Jinx never truly grew up and through her stunted emotional development as well as her other mental illnesses she found a way to revert in a childlike way and in a stress free environment create new neuron pathways, to deal and cope. Her rough edges and violent tendencies certainly get smoothed out after the time skip, a shame we never got to see it naturally play out. I also liked the parallels Isha had to Powders own backstory, being what Powder wanted to be, but with the difference of Vi not letting Powder participate in fear of losing her and Jinx letting Isha tag along, very much be a part of the danger. Both resulted in tragedy but with very different outcomes. Now while I can defend the reasoning for killing more kids in this great tragedy of a story, I don't doubt there are better ways to do this kind of storyline. Jinx own mental healing also needed more time, which is the common thread I keep going back to. Isha very much was vital for the story, even after her death, despite resetting Jinx to her suicidal tendecies because Jinx has grown as a person because of her. I'm not sure if you guys just really disliked that she had to die or the way it was done. Either way I think we can all agree it could have been done different, and if not different at least better. But after thinking about the problems of the season Isha is not that far up on my list. Funny enough, Jayce and Viktor and Ekko, three of our boys with minimal screentime this season, are actually given more development in tune with their characters I found. I know what Jayce was thinking and feeling. Ekko with his lingering feelings of hopelessness towards Zaun being turned back into the dreams he once had before he became cynical, re-igniting his flame for fighting for something better. Viktor, while being abstract as you aptly put it, did convey his feelings towards humanity's contraction between reason and emotions. Just exactly how he came to those conclusions once again needed more time. They even had Sky there for him to converse with about these things but with not enough time to explore those concepts, he just got blasted and decided we needed a hivemind. I understand and feel him, I just wanted more of those feelings. Caitlyn was truly a miss in what I could consider a great storyline if handed properly. How often do we get to follow the dictator of a city truly engaging in a class war from beginning to end of their arc? How she had to reason to justify her actions, struggling with the emotions of hard choices and how to get out of such a mindset. Truly could have been a goldmine of writing but sadly they skipped over it in favor of music montages. This one needed the most time because I do believe Piltover vs Zaun was the backbone of season 1 and should have continued being it in season 2. While Arcane is the name and I expected the final battle to be about the magic conflict the way they easily pushed it to the side didn't sit right with me either. These kind of things never resolve easily, but over generations of healing for those affected. Here Caitlyn's arc once again would have been at the forefront in making at least a small step towards coming together. I expected a heartfelt speech from her but yeah, instead she was all silent at the meeting. And granted they did show that the Firelights leader and Sevika just shook their head and walked out of the Council meeting upon hearing what Jayce had to say. That I did expect, as well as a few of Zaunites coming to Piltovers side for what they believe is the right thing to do with the majority deciding not to join up. Which brings me to the last thing I want to mention, which is the 10 % of the story I can't justify. Mel's transformation into a mage. They did seem to setup this in a very small way in season 1 but giving her story so much time over multiple arcs just for her to end up back where she started but as a mage was.. a choice. 41 minutes was her screentime in season 2, that's more than 1 whole episode of mostly magic manipulation and her hanging out with the image of her dead brother. She could just as well have dipped out when she got kidnapped in episode 3, only to show up again in episode 8 and things would have been exactly the same. We don't know anything more about the Black Rose in episode 8 than we did at the start of the season and if they really wanted to have that in, they could have shown it way more quickly in flashbacks (Or a music montage since they like them so much) or she could have had it in her own show about Noxus. Adding so much into a season that is already so limited was an atrocious choice. We could have gotten more interactions between Vi and Ekko for example, letting us into both of their heads. Shown us more of Zaun and how they felt after the Chembarons got taken down. Viktor, Caitlyn, I'd even take more Singed and Sevika over Mel's storyline because it just felt lacking in connection to the main story. Or even Tank guy, Fishman and Maddie since they've been around since episode 1. Because at this point after only 1 watch I only knew Maddies name. After rewatching I still don't know Fishmans name. People have told me because apparently it's in the subtitles somewhere but not even once do they mention it. Oh well. Okay wow this became longer than I wanted but I just had to get it out, originally I watched the discussion and decided to reply tomorrow because I felt to tired to think of all I wanted to say but after an hour I just wanted to get it over with. Because when I truly love a story and it disappoints me I feel not very interested in engaging because I get so tired. At the same time it's almost cathartic writing it out because for all it's fault it's still a story I deeply resonate with. It made me feel the emotions I wanted at times but with a bittersweet feeling of something lacking, something more to elevate it to season 1 status of a great story. Truly, if we only had more time with these characters it could have been fine. But the stars didn't align for this one like it did for season 1. And with the price tag it took to get these two seasons I guess it was foolish to be so hopeful in a world where money is always the limiting factor of great art. Hope I didn't fuck up somewhere in this ramble, scrolling up it's a mountain of text and I don't want to proofread all that! Also, happy new year!
Teddy S
2025-01-02 06:16:43 +0000 UTCInteresting, I wasn't bothered by when the sex scene occurs at all. Maybe because I thought it was clear Vi interpreted what Jinx was doing as her running away, rather than hurting herself. Its also not exactly uncommon for people in high stress situations to grasp at whatever comfort they can, and that's very much what's happening here. Vi, like Jinx, is feeling very low. She knows there's a fight ahead of them, and thinks that Jinx just ran away after they maybe had finally reconciled. Then Caitlyn reveals that she knew Vi would want to free Jinx, and helped make it happen. It makes Vi feel something other than the terrible despair she's been sitting in, and she grasps onto that thing, tries to focus only on feeling this small scrap of joy for as long as she can, before more inevitable loss comes down on them. Idk, makes enough sense to me, but I can understand feeling like it is misplaced within the episode.
cosmotron
2025-01-02 05:33:35 +0000 UTCI think the wait is a big part why people feel unsatisfied. Because I watched season 1 when season 2 was released and binged them all and I personally enjoyed season 2 more, even though both are 10/10 imo. I’m not saying it doesn’t have issues, but watching it for me the positives were so much greater that it left me basically not thinking of the negatives.
Cole
2025-01-02 05:28:30 +0000 UTCJust came to leave a happy new year comment <3
Jack SV
2025-01-02 05:00:24 +0000 UTCI can't say I was a big fan of this season. Part of that was the pacing issues that plenty of people have already pointed out, but I suspect part of it might also be high expectations from how great the first season was. It wasn't bad or anything in a general sense when compared to the quality of the average tv show, just felt like it didn't deliver a particularly satisfying conclusion to the story we were left with at the end of season 1. At some point I'd like to rewatch the whole series without a gap of a year, to see if S2 holds up better when viewed with S1 still fresh.
Jacob
2025-01-02 04:37:34 +0000 UTCYup the Witcher showrunner is a lost cost. Arcane showrunners actually accepts some criticism and tryna improve in the future. Many problems people have this season can be solved with longer runtime for sure.
Raphael
2025-01-02 04:37:26 +0000 UTCI immediately suspected Jinx intended to kill herself after that conversation before it was confirmed, but trying to look at it from Vi's perspective I'm not surprised that just wouldn't occur to her based on the information she has. Even if she did manage to slightly reconnect emotionally with Jinx in this part of the season, so in theory could be able to read her a little better than before, there's just a lot of context she's missing, a big part of it being how much Isha meant to Jinx.
Jacob
2025-01-02 04:29:50 +0000 UTCLol well you knew perfectly well what shows they're reacting to on a weekly basis, and if you still chose to subscribe to them, then that's on you.
ODIS
2025-01-02 04:21:06 +0000 UTCVi’s headspace isn’t really debatable. It’s pretty clear she thinks Jinx left her and now has no one before Caitlyn visits her.
Cole
2025-01-02 04:19:05 +0000 UTCIn this particular instance. I would join piltover for whatever is to come. Zaun is part of piltover, whatever happens to them is gonna happen to us in zaun. Now I’m a bit a baby, so I’d probably get more killed than help. But I’m certainly not just gonna turn my back because piltover did whatever they did. The people that are asking for my help, are the good guys. It’s not the council we started this series with. I mean hell right now it’s essentially just Jayce and Mel. So yeah I’ll help them.
alex otis
2025-01-02 04:17:33 +0000 UTCCole, in your initial comment, are you talking from the POV that Vi KNEW that Jinx was suicidal or not? Cause if she did, then even if there's absolutely NOTHING that I could do, if my sister leaves ominously like that and I know she's suicidal, then having sex in a prison cell would be the last thing on my mind. You have to be in a certain type of mood for that kind of thing lol. It's not about options of what to do. LM are debating Vi's headspace.
ODIS
2025-01-02 04:15:47 +0000 UTCI genuinely just don't think there was anywhere in the episode to fit the sex scene that wasn't going to be absurd. To me it's not even about that it's right after Jinx's escape. They know that Viktor--an existential threat to both parts of the city and potentially the world-- could strike at any moment, so there's nowhere good to put that scene with his threat looming.
Jacob
2025-01-02 04:14:18 +0000 UTCI also want to add that regardless what the writers wanted, the choices that they made for their characters had consequences for the world that "our characters lived in", as you said. So, even if Zaun v Piltover WASN'T the main focus, if you want to write characters that make sense, then you have to make sure that they react authentically within that world. So, put yourself in the shoes of a Zaunite, someone who has been continuously oppressed by the topside. Then, one day, the topside calls on you and says, "hey, we need your help. It's for all of us, though, so it's all good", without even acknowledging their wrongdoing, or apologizing for anything... Yeah, no thanks. I might just tell them that I prefer to die at the hands of robots than to help them.
ODIS
2025-01-02 04:08:43 +0000 UTCYeah I didn’t see it that way I guess. I saw it as vi trying to find powder again. Just so happened one was on one side and one was on the other. And I guess I’m just glad I didn’t really care about that “story” and saw it more as just the backdrop for our characters to live and react to. So to me the outcome of that was irrelevant.
alex otis
2025-01-02 03:52:27 +0000 UTCI fully agree! I love commenting on their reactions, but it's so hard to give my complete thoughts because the "arc" structure means every episode is just one-third of the fuller story, and it's hard to talk about the individual parts, almost.
a. tree
2025-01-02 03:45:42 +0000 UTCI'd still consider the last episode of season 1 ending on a major development in the conflict between Piltover and Zaun almost guaranteed to shake things up yet again as a cliffhanger, given how much of the first season was focused on that conflict. The story wasn't finished narratively, though leaving it at that probably could have still worked on an emotional level.
Jacob
2025-01-02 03:36:12 +0000 UTC"Vi knows she has no chance of finding her if she doesn’t want to be found" I think this is the most concise explanation of where I thought her headspace was at when Caitlyn came to Vi in the cell. Like @James Long said elsewhere in the thread, Jinx is unpredictable, especially to Vi. Vi knows that she at any time has no way of knowing what Jinx is going to do until she does something, and she knows that Jinx will never be caught if she doesn't want to be caught. So right now she doesn't have a clue what Jinx is going to do next (tbh when I watched this I thought it was going to be blowing some shit up one last time in typical extravagant Jinx fashion, but in a positive way this time). All that Vi does know is that, even when she finally got the chance to do what she thought she had lost the chance to do and mend her relationship with Jinx, it still didn't work out and her sister is back to being out of her life again. She's in the exact same place, literally, as she was in the start of Act 2 last season where she has no idea where Jinx is or isn't, or what she may be doing. She's being forced to confront and fully grieve the traumas she's never fully dealt with of losing her family as a child. Of course, as we know, when faced with something difficult, especially emotionally, Vi will always prefer to confront that situation physically — whether literally punching her way out of it, or running, or binge drinking, or in this instance that Caitlyn presents to her, by venting out all of her emotions through sex. It's mutual, too, as Caitlyn in this episode has been internally struggling to confront the weight of the horrible things that she herself has done, and it's too much for her to bear. As soon as Caitlyn joins Vi in the cell they have this understanding that they're both at a really low point where they have no idea what to do to face their situation, and all they want to do is get that pain out, physically. Or in other words, they're not fucking *in spite* of a horrible situation that they feel they have the power to change, they're fucking *because* of their horrible situation which they feel powerless in the face of. It's an unhealthy coping mechanism for feeling overwhelmed by the world, yes, but I don't think it's conscious lack of caring.
a. tree
2025-01-02 03:33:44 +0000 UTCAn outside force from another country manipulating an existing divide in a society for their own gain is relevant to this type of narrative and in the real word. But, as others have said, this has always been a backdrop to character stories. Not trying to invalidate your feelings, just stating that is what it has been since the beginning. And Season 2 is driven by character stories, despite what other people might argue, just like Season 1.
James Long
2025-01-02 03:24:20 +0000 UTCI completely agree and I think this is why I like the second season so much more than other people. I would’ve been happy with season 1 being the finale season so in my mind anything in season 2 is just the cherry on top of an already 10/10 show. It seems the more expectations people had for this season to be a specific thing the more you find problems with it.
Cole
2025-01-02 03:13:36 +0000 UTCLola and Milena straight up speaking all the thoughts that ran through my head as I watched this episode and this season as a whole. Every character in Arcane is affected by the Piltover oppression of Zaun, every character in Arcane is integral to the conflict, and every character are where they are, or are who they are because of that conflict, so why in God's name would you throw that conflict away like it wasn't that big of a deal, in favor of a Marvel's Avengers- like villain/conflict for your LAST season? The main story should have always been Piltover/Zaun for me, and before anyone says "well the show is called Arcane." I would agree with you if they hadn't have made Piltover/Zaun the biggest conflict in the first season. Literally the entirety of the 1st season was built on that conflict, it wasn't built on the Arcane aspect, and every character was involved in it. For your last season, the writers should have continued with that story so the story in general would be more cohesive and concise. Instead they completely flipped the story and made the conflict seem like not that big of a deal which in turn made characters choices in response to that conflict like Cailtyn/Jinx seem like not that big of a deal, but it should have been. Which is why their "resolution" for those characters, no matter the outcome, is unsatisfactory. Also the fact that the Piltover/Zaun conflict hits wayyy too close to home for some viewers (for me definitely), you can't take a subject matter this sensitive and this important and very real in regards to the way the state of the world is, and not treat it with the proper care and respect it deserves, it just irresponsible in my honest opinion.
Nyeisha Melvina Clark
2025-01-02 03:12:20 +0000 UTCCompletely agree.
Marley
2025-01-02 03:09:51 +0000 UTCNot me, friend :)
Isaac
2025-01-02 03:09:02 +0000 UTCI still think that Season 1 in itself is a perfect self-contained story. It told the conflict between Piltver and Zaun and the character Arc of Powder to Jinx perfectly. If there had never been a second season, I wouldn't have been sad. The cliffhanger wasn't really a cliffhanger either, as the story that the first season focused on was concluded.
Robert H.
2025-01-02 03:08:23 +0000 UTCYup, the showrunners are extremely open to criticism and want to do better in the future. That gives me hope. What's the worst is when a writer, like with Witcher or The 100, just spits in the face of his/her fans and takes any criticism as the inability of the audience to understand his/her “masterpiece”. That's usually always the downfall. And the conflict between Plitover & Zaun really should have had so many more scenes that the season would have needed double the running time. Of course, the focus is very much on Vi + Caitlyn & Jinx and Jayce + Mel & Viktor, but Piltover & Zaun should have remained central despite the greater threat. Attack on Titan did that better, where the Warriors and Scouts still had quarrels despite fighting Eren together. And even after the Rumbling, Marley officers confronted the Eldians.
Robert H.
2025-01-02 03:03:29 +0000 UTCThat's not quite true. It WAS about that. It's just that the writer's wrote the end to it the S1 finale. Caitlyn's speech to Ekko, Jayce making terms with Silco, Jayce's speech to the Council, and the councilor's (including the most abusive ones) all accepting responsibility & supporting Zaun's independence. This is all that's needed to realistically conclude the story. The problem is that the writer's kept picking at the wound instead of letting it scab. I'm mostly fine with it, but the P&Z story is far more important to the audience and they didn't pick up on that. It happens
Isaac
2025-01-02 03:03:26 +0000 UTCWith every reaction of yours i've watched you girls always have such similar opinions to my own! Season 1 of Arcane is my favorite season of any tv show and while season 2 isnt bad it definitely was missing something that could have been solved by more seasons. I loved season 1 because the story was driven by the characters where season 2 felt like the characters were being dragged and thrown from point A to point B in order to execute the plot.
Marley
2025-01-02 02:58:58 +0000 UTCIt was fairly prominent is Season 1 primarily because it was one of Silco's big character motivations. With Silco dead in Season 2, there really is no character carrying that torch. Maybe Sevika, but she has always been to the side of the main characters. And as much as people want to say Vi, it has always been more about her personal connections. Most of that talking was prior to the timeskip in Season 1 and then one can see purely by her actions that it is just personal connections that she cares about. She only wants to take down Silco primarily because of trying to reach her sister. And if there is a second reason, it is more for revenge than anything else. Jinx never wanted that role and only reluctantly takes the hero role in Episode 4 to save Isha. And then becomes focused on saving Vander. If people want to argue with me because of the visual of Jinx waving the flag in the intro, then why not get upset about Vi and Jinx facing off in the Season 1 intro when they never fight in Season 1. They aren't even really enemies in Season 1.
James Long
2025-01-02 02:58:24 +0000 UTCyeah, I think criticizing how that is handled is fair, even though my expectations since s1 were that the piltover/zaun conflict was unfortunately more set dressing than anything else. Some of the ways its talked about in s1 always gave me that feeling. So I entered s2 without expecting them to properly dive into these topics, and I guess that meant I was never disappointed in that regard lol. Definitely worth criticizing all the same though.
cosmotron
2025-01-02 02:54:19 +0000 UTC100% agree. I don't get to bring up that point a lot because it can be hard to talk about themes when arguing for a character's existence. cosmo essays are back in 2025 :D
Isaac
2025-01-02 02:54:15 +0000 UTCSevika & Scar didn't buy into Jayce's appeal. Only a handful of Zaunites are participating, at this stage. For a separate point, I believe the overarching theme of Piltover & Zaun was largely addressed with Jayce's speech to the council in the S1 finale. The writer's gave us a solid capstone there, but I think they underestimated the importance of the P&Z conflict to many of us. The pivot definitely damaged the series' perception to the audience, even if they always intended to. I don't think future shows will have this problem.
Isaac
2025-01-02 02:50:24 +0000 UTCI don’t think Piltover vs Zaun was supposed to be anything more than a background plot that the themes and characters are built from.
Cole
2025-01-02 02:50:00 +0000 UTCI get what people are saying about Isha, but I just feel differently about it. I do think there are ways that she could have felt like a more full character on her own, but narratively I don't think her purpose was for nothing, or to just punish Jinx, or anything like that. I think there was another commenter who also noted that Isha is an intentional parallel to Powder/Jinx when she was a child. Down to using three of the blue crystals in her weapon. Both actions were done out of a desire to protect loved ones, and both resulted in greater tragedy. There's another layer to it as well: something Jinx/Powder has struggled with is feeling perceived as useless or unwanted. It's why she never understood why Vi didn't bring her along when Vander was kidnapped back in s1. Even though Vi said it was because she loved her and wanted to protect her, Powder still took it as not being good enough. That all she needed to do was "prove" herself and save them, and then Vi would understand she was worth just as much and shouldn't get left behind. She couldn't recognize being left behind as the act of love that it was. And, unfortunately, this led to her using technology she didn't really understand in the middle of a situation she also didn't really understand/have full context of, and we all know the fallout of those events. So, with Isha, Jinx thinks that she can do for her what Vi didn't. In some ways that's good - being more open with Isha about things that are happening and etc - but this also included bringing her into more and more dangerous situations. Isha idolized Jinx, and copied her actions and her beliefs, and while Jinx certainly wasn't trying to make that happen, it also resulted in Isha doing what she did. Even though Jinx tried to do her best to protect Isha and to keep her involved so she felt useful and wanted...that doesn't stop Isha from acting on her own based on Jinx's example. To throw herself into the middle of something even if it would result in her own death. None of which is to imply this is Jinx's "fault" any more than what Powder did all those years ago is Vi's "fault". But it is an awful thing that occurred because of a hundred tiny little choices, and the lessons that children take in by watching the adults around them try to survive in a violent world. It results in cycles of tragedy, and ultimately I think much of Arcane *is* a tragedy. Again, it's okay if you're not a fan of the choice, but I do think there's more behind it from a narrative standpoint than just driving Jinx to her low point.
cosmotron
2025-01-02 02:48:01 +0000 UTCI never actively noticed the thing about Vi not having much of an arc until you brought it into focus, but it's so true. You're definitely right that they used her more to serve Caitlyn's and Jinx's storyline in the story than her own, but then (imo) they fumbled with Caitlyn's stuff in this episode so it felt like what was even the point of focusing on her before then? With Mel though I do feel like they likely want to do stuff with her + Noxus + the Black Rose in whatever potential future series, and even early in this season it felt like there wasn't really much more to do with her character within the confines of the story that Arcane is telling. So given that, and then how her scenes were being presented from early in this season, I took the perspective that the writers were iceboxing her until she's needed later in this plot so they can focus on others; through that lens I wasn't really mad at how brief her scenes were. Personally I always felt most engrossed in Jinx & Vi's storyline, which I think they handled especially well through Jinx's lens; and both the Piltover-Zaun conflict and the overlapping Hextech-Shimmer experimentation stuff, both of which I felt satisfied with. But I definitely do see how other elements, especially for certain characters, could have used an extra episode or so. Also regarding all the prison stuff that happened this episode — genuinely asking is it just me who didn't think that Jinx was going to seriously hurt herself at any point in this episode? Seeing how other people took the things she said, I'm not quite sure how that thought never crossed my mind. I guess for me I've always Jinx as the type of character who yes is unstable and erratic, but will always be true to what she feels and act out her feelings about the world rather than letting the weight of the world drag her down. Something deep within Jinx just won't let the world kill her. That's how I see her.
a. tree
2025-01-02 02:45:46 +0000 UTCexactly. there's no in between, people hate vi's guts or put her on a pedestal. as i said in my comment she's probably the character i love the most but she's definitely not the most emotionally intelligent person in the room and she is far from perfect. she is stubborn as fuck and thinks she can fix almost everything by physically fighting. she loves powder to death but she didn't see that she was not mentally stable as a kid so obviously she was not going to recognise it either after more than 7 years without seeing her.
sand_fl
2025-01-02 02:37:48 +0000 UTCIt fits so well Viktor story tho of helping through the Arcane and getting rid of what he views as weaknesses.
Cole
2025-01-02 02:35:11 +0000 UTCVi’s actual character thought Jinx just left her again. That is obvious from her dialogue with Caitlyn. There is no reason to go after jinx after she just left. If she found jinx why would she think her mind changed? What would she do when she found her if somehow she did? Vi would’ve thought all of this and realized there is no point in doing that. She never thought Jinx was suicidal that was only something us viewers know from all the intimate moments we’ve had with Jinx that Vi hasn’t.
Cole
2025-01-02 02:32:00 +0000 UTCThat’s a fantastic take. And just want to say I totally agree with everything as a fellow Vi lover. By far my favorite character. So thank you for saying all of that way better than I ever could have.
alex otis
2025-01-02 02:31:47 +0000 UTCYou are not Vi. A big issue with this whole scenario is people putting them in Vi's position without thinking of Vi's actual character.
James Long
2025-01-02 02:28:04 +0000 UTCI think people have this idealized version of Vi or something. Vi is an extremely flawed person, who is very impulsive and lacking in emotional intelligence. She likes to solve problems by punching them. In the Season 1 finale, Vi is yelling stuff at Jinx that was very clearly causing her mental anguish and she refused to stop. Jinx even said "please stop" and Vi did not. Because Vi has this simplistic brute force idea of trying to get through to her sister. Were people upset with her when she continues to inflict mental pain on Jinx then? Did they think it was poor writing or just Vi being Vi? It is the same thing. She didn't understand what reaction Powder would have in being left behind when they went to rescue Vander in Episode 3. When Powder is clearly destroyed after Vader, Mylo and Clagger die, Vi gives in to her anger and hits her sister. And then leaves her. Sure, she regrets it later. But in the moment she gives in to her emotions. After Jinx blows up everyone on the bridge and shoots at Vi and Caitlyn, Vi leaves everything to Ekko and makes sure Caitlyn is safe before going back. Vi is a very flawed person. And that is what makes her such a great character. It is her blunt nature. So, when Vi cannot recognize what state her sister is in, it is the same thing as what happened in the finale of Season 1.
James Long
2025-01-02 02:25:31 +0000 UTCI completely agree with you. Making Viktor a villain who wipes out humanity through perfect evolution is true in the League of Legends world, but it didn't have to be in Arcane in my opinion. If we can have alternative happy Powder, why not have Viktor trying to fix the Arcane along with Jayce while Ambessa along with Singed try to usurp that power. Would have been awesome. Also instead of killing Vander, it would have been cool to see him fight Ambessa as Warwick.
Robert H.
2025-01-02 02:24:53 +0000 UTCi adore vi and she may be the character i love the most ngl, i think jinx, cait and vi are equal as my favourite characters but i have a soft spot for vi. i do agree that she is one of the characters that suffered the most in terms of writing this season. in my opinion both writing and pacing have bee much worse this season and some characters have suffered from it but to be fair it's still way better than many shows, so that's still something i suppose. and yeah, while i loved that we could get THAT scene, it really was poorly placed. obviously i believe vi didn't know what jinx intended to do, but the writers should have know better than to put a scene like that right after jinx showed suicidal traits. but also, in vi defence, she is not the most emotionally intelligent person even if i thoroughly believe she had the biggest heart of the show. and to be fair while we've watched the show as a viewer and have more insight to everything that's happening with jinx we also have to remember that it's not been long since vi got out of prison and she barely got to be with jinx enough time to get to know the new version of her sister. idk, maybe i'm delusional and trying to make sense of something that doesn't but i do believe vi did not know what jinx intended to do. i will write more thoughts about it after you post the finale since i'm not sure if you've finished it and i don't intend to spoil you.
sand_fl
2025-01-02 02:22:30 +0000 UTCHapoy new years everyone!!!! This reaction is a bit depressing. Love hearing other opinions on the show. But this is the first time I just genuinely disagree with just about everything they said. Hahaha. Which isn’t great. But hey. People see things differently. Not entirely excited to see how they react to the finale. We shall see. This really seemed like two very wounded people from the previous two episodes and there is no good that can happen now. And that stinks. And also. I just have to say. And I think I’m wrong but hey might as well share. I don’t think this show was ever about the zaun v piltover inequality and oppression. It was the world that our characters lived in. But I never thought they were gonna focus on bringing us a solution for that problem. This is a story about characters. And the people in the world. Not solving the problems. I don’t know. I don’t want to sound negative or something. Just stinks to see people not like things as much as you. But hey that’s tv/movies. Would be pretty boring if everyone loved everything.
alex otis
2025-01-02 02:20:42 +0000 UTCIt’s not sex that she’s thinking about, it’s comfort and support and stuff that she hasn’t gotten in most of her life that she needs. I don’t think it’s crazy that someone in Vi’s situation at this moment would latch onto that vs anything else. Jinx is gone she just left, but Caitlyn is still right here. And I think that means a lot to Vi and I don’t think it’s an inappropriate moment to show their love for each other when Vi needs it the most.
Cole
2025-01-02 02:16:52 +0000 UTCSeason 1 Ep9 also has great character dialogues. Man, I absolutely love the tea party scene in season 1 finale.
Raphael
2025-01-02 02:14:36 +0000 UTCThe reason why Vi initiates the sex scene is because Caitlyn is because she allowed Vi to free Jinx. Again, Vi can't read Jinx. She just can't. It has been shown time and time again in this series.
James Long
2025-01-02 02:13:13 +0000 UTCschnee always puts out good content. I do have to restate that without Isha, Vi & Jinx's relationship was COOKED.
Isaac
2025-01-02 02:12:46 +0000 UTC"basically admitted to pushing her to the side because they found other characters more interesting just makes me so mad." You can voices your issues without going there and taking stuff out of context, and twisting it to your support your opinion.
James Long
2025-01-02 02:12:11 +0000 UTCI do have some problems with this episode, but I'm gonna hold off until the finale next week to discuss. Ep8 and 9 are like a part 1 & 2 of a story.
Raphael
2025-01-02 02:09:37 +0000 UTCIt’s not about if she was going to accomplish saving her or not, it’s about the intent. Even if I know it’s impossible to find my sister and save her, I don’t care, I’m still going to do everything in my power to find her even if it’s hopeless, maybe it’s just the way I’m wired, maybe it’s just a me thing, but in my opinion that scene was incredibly misplaced. The very last thing I would think about in that situation is sex.
Jay
2025-01-02 02:08:53 +0000 UTCOne of the most poorly placed sex scenes I have ever seen. There were so many signs that Jinx was about to commit suicide and Vi as her sister should have realized those signs but instead of having her go check on her sister the moment she got out, they had her have sex in the very same cell her sister has been sitting in self harming herself. Pacing issues aside, there are also heavy writing problems for some of these characters and Vi is probably the main victim of this, she was definitely pushed to the side this season and considering she is one of your main characters and this is the last season, the decision to put her to the side is mind baffling, it truly is, also the fact that one of the main writers basically admitted to pushing her to the side because they found other characters more interesting just makes me so mad. But really it also comes down to pacing, they really just did not give themselves enough time to finish this story.
Nyeisha Melvina Clark
2025-01-02 02:05:56 +0000 UTCI completely agree with you. The sex scene between Vi and Caitlyn should have been somewhere else. In my opinion, there should have been several scenes between the dialog between Vi and Jinx and Jinx's escape, where theoretically the sex scene would have fit. The fact that this happens directly after each other makes the sex scene afterwards so absurd. In general, the writers had a lot more ideas in mind, but had cut a lot. For example there were practically ideas for an hour more of content for the last episode with just Jinx. But they only had 9 episodes, a limited budget and generally limited themselves to only 2 seasons. BUT the good thing is that the writers have accepted the criticism and want to tell the story much more slowly in the next shows. So I'm still excited. All of Season 1 and Episodes 1, 2 and 7 of Season 2 show very well that they can write great scenes and dialog.
Robert H.
2025-01-02 02:04:24 +0000 UTCAgain, Vi isn't good at reading Jinx. She just isn't. She wasn't in Season 1 and she isn't in Season 2. Listen to Vi when Caitlyn shows up. She just thinks Jinx screwed her over and ran away.
James Long
2025-01-02 01:57:26 +0000 UTCI think the rushed pace makes things feel like they're checking things off a list. They felt they had to have a Vi/Cait sex scene as a culmination of the romance, and that's fine, but to fit it in the they put it there. Feels misplaced because Vi's chief concern should be Jinx in that scene. You were debating what could be going on in Vi's head, but honestly it doesn't feel like the writers were even thinking about what Vi was feeling in that scene, they were just putting in the sex scene because they needed to fit one in the episode somewhere. And whatever the reason or character justification, it was definitely misplaced tone-wise. Similarly we have Jayce give a big "we need to unite against this threat" speech, but it falls flat because the Piltover/Zaun theme hasn't been developed. Piltover offers no concessions to try to win Zaun's aid, makes no reparations for the generations of oppression, makes no changes to the system - it all just gets swept under the rug because of this bigger threat. And I love Viktor and Ambessa as that bigger threat, and I love Jayce as someone trying to unite people for the greater good, but this should have been the conclusion of an arc that took more time and care with the themes it set up. While I still enjoyed this season, it really does feel like two seasons squeezed into one and the writers had issues fitting in all they needed to.
Saul Hughes
2025-01-02 01:54:46 +0000 UTCFor everyone who dislikes the sex scene I’m wondering what did you want vi to do in this moment? There are very few options. She could try to go after jinx and not find her(she doesn’t even know where her lair is) and Vi knows that piltover and Zaun aren’t small places, or she could be very sad and distraught, or she could grab onto the one thing of happiness in her life right now and escape with that. I can’t think of any other options and I definitely wouldn’t have rathered the first two happen.
Cole
2025-01-02 01:53:12 +0000 UTCThat thought never entered my head. The "walk away" line from Silco had me thinking Jinx was going to try leaving Piltover. And honestly, Vi would have never thought about it either. She's never been someone who could read her sister's emotions that well. Vi lacks in emotional intelligence. She just think Jinx betrayed her again when she leaves that cell. I think people forget how she kept yelling things that were causing her sister mental anguish in the Season 1 finale, even though Jinx told her to "please stop". For most of Season 1, for Vi it was about trying to "get though" to Jinx, even though that such a simple and wrong way of thinking about her sister.
James Long
2025-01-02 01:52:11 +0000 UTCI was very much on the same page as you when it came to Isha’s role in the story. I felt that her death and then the subsequent happenings in the following episodes held no weight. She felt completely pointless as a character. What was the reason for any of it? However, and I don’t know if this is just cope bcos I don’t want to believe this show could have failed in character writing like it seemingly had here, I saw this video essay about Isha’s character called “Why Jinx Wants to Die” by the YouTuber schnee. It gave an interesting take on what isha’s character represented to the story and to Jinx on a greater scale and I actually really enjoyed his take. It was a perspective I don’t think I could have come up with on my own. Maybe it will give you two a little faith back in the writing like it did for me! Again… this could just be cope but sometimes we gotta do a little coping for a series we love so much 😅
Lucie McCoy
2025-01-02 01:48:54 +0000 UTCI find it so hard to believe the same writers wrote this season as the first. As a previous league player and lore enjoyer I think it was a big mistake for them to make Arcane full canon to the lore and I think its a big reason they pushed so much into this season.
Daiga54
2025-01-02 01:48:29 +0000 UTCWoohoo! Hey just don't complain about my complaining
Johnny_Raincloud
2025-01-02 01:45:21 +0000 UTCComplain, apparently.
bushpusherr
2025-01-02 01:43:47 +0000 UTCVi is my favourite character in the entire show and I honestly don’t have a problem with anything about her character this season, though I can see why people do. I think Vi’s arc this season has been great. She started off with hunting jinx believing she killed her sister after the season1 finale. Then after seeing isha and jinx she realizes her sister is still there, and then after vander she realizes not only her sister is still there, but there’s a chance everything can go back to the way it was. Then isha dies and Vi asks jinx to help her and join them and jinx denies. Now I don’t think it even matters if Vi thought jinx was just leaving her or killing herself because by the time Caitlyn comes to get Vi out jinx would’ve been gone and Vi knows she has no chance of finding her if she doesn’t want to be found. She thinks she lost her sister and her gf, then Cait tells her she’s still with her and they love each other. Even if Vi immediately went after jinx there’s no way she would find her. There is no reason for Vi to deny herself the only pleasure she was given this entire show for some hopeless attempt to find jinx. I think the arc has been very consistently her grappling with Jinx/powder and realizing Jinx doesn’t equal bad and powder doesn’t equal good, and finding who her sister really is and accepting her for who she became, unlike season 1 where she was denying powder has changed. Season 1 was two sister breaking apart due to misunderstanding and season 2 is two sisters ruining due to their understanding. This is my take on her character at least.
Cole
2025-01-02 01:43:37 +0000 UTCThat Lola and I had the exact same reaction to the sex scene between Vi & Caitlyn 😂 "Now?! Jinx is suicidal and probably killing herself right now and you two are fucking?! 😂"
Robert H.
2025-01-02 01:40:30 +0000 UTCHappy New Year!
Alex
2025-01-02 01:30:37 +0000 UTCHappy New Year you two! 🤗
Yic17
2025-01-02 01:27:43 +0000 UTCIsaac you used to do amv’s no?
killezio3 killezio3
2025-01-02 01:22:22 +0000 UTCHappy New Year girls
Ulfway
2025-01-02 01:22:08 +0000 UTCOof madon'.....more cartoons. Whaddya gonna do
Johnny_Raincloud
2025-01-02 01:22:00 +0000 UTChappy new year to all of you ❤️
sand_fl
2025-01-02 01:21:28 +0000 UTCMay I suggest to film a post-series discussion to add to your 2x09 release? There's a lot of missable details in the finale that I think could dampen your review if done right away. To be honest, you do that anyways, lately. I just wanted to be sure :)
Isaac
2025-01-02 01:17:29 +0000 UTCHappy New Year 45²!!!
refo44
2025-01-02 01:16:22 +0000 UTC
