Arcane 2x9 - 'The Dirt Under Your Nails' TIMESTAMP / FULL LENGTH Reaction & Review
Added 2024-11-29 14:00:09 +0000 UTCA story for the ages.
Comments
In that case and the possibility of 3 additional series, all is good. They had much to resolve and honestly, all those stories were deserving of standalones. Glad they did not make it this way though, because it helped make their world a living place, with something going on beyond the one focus. Its a trade-off between too much delution and just the right amount of believable world-building.
Joel Quinn
2024-12-04 20:11:10 +0000 UTCCompletely agree with you. Jinx is alive. I would not be surprised at all if she becomes our 'thread' linking all the League of Legend series they have planned (at last count I saw 3 were in various stages of production).
Fury Roll
2024-12-04 14:15:18 +0000 UTCThere is strength in the sharing of this story, my friend, and I appreciate you posting it. Acts like this have a ripple effect and can help others with similar pasts. You helped me.
Fury Roll
2024-12-04 14:13:08 +0000 UTCFantastic insights, my friend! Especially love the Jinx recognition of Powder's contributions...great stuff!
Fury Roll
2024-12-04 14:07:37 +0000 UTCI have a hunch that black rose will be a tie in for whatever comes next.
Matt Drahos
2024-12-04 06:49:10 +0000 UTCI definitely agree with you about the Rose stuff. We really needed a little more backstory there but maybe they're holding off. I heard there are THREE additional series in the works. Great insights, my friend!
Fury Roll
2024-12-03 20:44:13 +0000 UTCFinished it yesterday night - what a ride. Sad it is over but I hope so much whoever shows responsible for this kind of quality is doing something else we can enjoy in the future. Overall, S2 had some weaker points for me (Chembaron Yordle part) but many iconic parts, even more than S1 I would argue, and many more artistic takes on certain scenes. I liked it and I'm also surprised at how it went overall. Jayce got no break whatsoever, trying to do the right thing until the end. I liked his development very much and I'm glad that he still remained in the centre of it all, even more important for the solution than our two main characters, who had all the space to tell their story. And rough Jayce is pretty badass. It was a bit heartbreaking that Jayce had to endure such hell during his "what if" journey but I think he was the only one able to do it, not just because he was linked to Viktor. And I can relate to Ekko quite well. Staying would only mean his own happiness, while forsaking his entire people. The universe where things went well was already the best it could get. If I had to voice one negative, I would mention maybe the black rose stuff. Never really clicked and what everything means and how Mel fit into it. Compelling nonetheless and a motivation for Ambessa, but the lack of resolution made this fall short for me. I do know what the organisation behind this is but in the show it was not explored enough for me for such a big impact it had on all the things that happened. But goddamn, Mel was outstanding (a bit biased here; I love her character design, her main colours, the style of her powers, just everything), and so was Ambessa. Singed, who "revived his daughter," was also very compelling; I liked their take on it - they did a pretty good job of a character, so smart and compassionate but also evil in his outcomes. Gonna stop here, If not, I have to mention everyone, which would make this comment 10 pages longer at least. More like that, even normal, not animated shows - I have more emotions for some drawn characters than real people - how hard can it be to create a decent show?!
Joel Quinn
2024-12-03 19:22:53 +0000 UTCI mean, we all know that Jinx is a well-established champion in league of legends. They had some limitations on how to dance around those things for many characters for the two seasons, so I think it is still not the case that Jinx is dead. Ambessa died though, right? Which is a bit surprising but let's be honest here - death is a strange concept in this world anyhow. Vander, Viktor another reality, which pretty much makes everything possible.
Joel Quinn
2024-12-03 18:54:04 +0000 UTCIt is crazy, how good Arcane is on all levels and how other multimillion dollar shows tank it left and right. I mean an animated show has some advantages in their disadvantages so to speak. Since they are forced to create every single piece from nothing, they have an endless amount of work to do, but everything needs to be created, and by that can be controlled and measured. This illustrates what happens when you entrust the task to competent hands. Of course they benefit from so much more - take the music. Riot as the company behind it, is doing that music-producing thing better than companies from that branch; hence, the show gets the best from two worlds already. That part is difficult to replicate. I could go on for hours on how strong Arcane is in writing, story telling, characters in all forms and shapes, drama, fun, art pretty much everything. So good, even if S2 had some parts that were not that compelling (the lacklustre chembaron part with that Cyberpunk Yordle) left me totally unimpressed compared to everything else in those two seasons. But that's it - nothing really bad here, just not superb like the rest.
Joel Quinn
2024-12-03 18:45:34 +0000 UTCThis show... Holy shit, this has been a groundbreaking thing to see happen... This series went so fucking hard... This show redefines what is capable with a team of writers, animators, actors, etc, who made this phantasm reality. While "Last of Us" had a deep story line to begin with, from what I gather League of Legends has none of this. Wow that was fun:)
Matt Drahos
2024-11-30 10:18:58 +0000 UTCThe role of tragedy in this particular work of art speaks deeply, to those of us who understand it most personally. My condolences for your friend.
Matt Drahos
2024-11-30 10:01:08 +0000 UTCFirst I wanted to say I really enjoyed your reaction to this series. Some general thoughts. 1) Jinx's smeared mascara in the first sequence looks like it spells "Vi" backwards. 2) When Ekko tells Jinx it is never to late to build something new, she looks down and sees his Z-Drive has little cymbal playing monkeys in it. I wonder if she recognized her own work in the device and that is what ultimately caused her to pause her attempts long enough to let Ekko get through. 3) We see wizard Viktor give different versions of Jayce stones with various different runes on them. The one he gives our Jayce has an acceleration rune. Running inversions on Jayce's acceleration rune is what allows Ekko to invent the Z-Drive, which was pivotal to events unfolding how they did. 4) There was some ambiguity about Jinx's death. Battlebug pointed out most of the clues in an earlier comment. Part of me wonders if the ambiguity was added at the behest of Riot Games. All the champion characters who are killed in Arcane have something ambiguous about their death. 5) All that said, I personally prefer Jinx not blowing herself up. She blew herself up on the bridge in Season 1. In this season she tried to blow herself up in the first Warwick fight and of course tried to blow herself up several times at the start of the episode. Having her finally succeed at the end might be realistic, but is less satisfying to me from a character growth perspective. I want her to learn she can break the cycle by walking away without killing herself. In my mind she is on that airship flying away from Piltover and ready to finally rewrite her future without the baggage of her past. 6) Regardless I just have to say bravo to the creators of this series. I personally preferred season one, but season two was still an amazing season of television and "Pretend Like it is the First Time" is probably my single favorite episode of the show. Every aspect of the show from the writing to the animation to the voice acting was done with exceptional care. 7) Out of the amazing voice cast I do want to single out Ella Purnell. So much of the emotional storyline rested squarely on her shoulders and she delivered. I've been seeking out other projects she is involved in since I first heard her in season one and so far I haven't been disappointed.
Robert Jazo
2024-11-29 19:20:50 +0000 UTCEkko repeatedly trying to keep Jinx from killing herself really hit me hard. I think everyone who has lost someone to suicide spends some time where they go over events in their mind wondering if they could have prevented it if they had done something differently. Back in 2005 my best friend killed herself. The day before she did she tried calling me. I was on a date, so I let it go to voicemail. In the message she said she was just calling to catch up. It didn't sound urgent, so I figured I would call her back on the weekend. I never got that chance. For a long time afterwards I replayed events in my mind. If I had picked up, would I have realized something was wrong? Could I have talked her down? I know it probably wouldn't have changed anything if I did pick up, but if I had a magical time rewinding device I know I would have picked up that phone. Even if I couldn't change anything, I would have given anything for one last chance to talk with my friend. Sorry for the bummer comment. I plan to post another one with more general thoughts about the series as a whole and Jinx's fate specifically, but wanted to address this scene separately.
Robert Jazo
2024-11-29 17:28:07 +0000 UTCgreat reaction! Its been so fun watching this along with you! I very much think Jinx is alive. The last scene being an air ship solidified it for me. She said in EP 1 one day she was gonna ride one of those things. On rewatch there's a shimmer colored streak moving out from the explosion. We know Jinx's shimmer enhancement makes her super fast to the point its almost like teleporting so I think she pulled the pin then jumped to the side and escaped in the airvents that cait was looking at on the blueprints. (I think cait figured it out too) I think Jinx knew Vi would always feel responsible for her and it would hold her back from living her own life. So jinx decided to Free Vi from the burden of responsibility and start fresh somewhere else. As Silco suggested end the cycle and walk away. I love that Jinx just brought her entire hideout to the war. Oh we going to battle? One sec lemme just stick a giant balloon on my house. My headcannon is that she was late to the fight cuz she had to find the right intro music. I also love that she painted ishas bunny ears and goggles on it. The show is so good at getting us invested in characters quickly. I was SO invested in the Piano player and the lizard/fish guy and so HAPPY they both made it even tho neither of them have any dialog. I like the tiny subplots they give the background characters throughout the show. As a Sevika lover Im sad she didn't have dialog this act but I love her getting the council seat. I love Vi and Cait getting a happy ending. Im so used to shows killing off the gay characters so this was refreshing. "I thought it was all going to come down to vi and powder" I agree and I feel a little disjointed about it. I do feel like Vi and also the Zaun/undercity story got sidelined a bit. I think a third season would have helped with that. They introduced so much this season I feel like I have whiplash. Its really impressive they were able to work this all out in just 2 seasons. Overall Im happy with it though. I really hope the success of Arcane paves the way for more epic animated shows. it's such a good medium for the Sci/fi and fantasy genre but it tends not to be taken seriously. Arcane shows what you can really do with animation.
Battlebug
2024-11-29 15:14:41 +0000 UTC
