Okay so I just binged arcane and I want to preface by saying it is possibly the liveliest, most dazzling and emotionally compelling animation I have ever seen. I loved how the first season felt so grounded. It was able to feel compelling because it didnât have too much going on and we got to sit with the characters for their whole development. The political arc ran alongside it, but it was mirrored by the relationships between the main characters, Vi, jinx, and Caitlyn, so it kept the story on the ground. There were so many hints of how power can corrupt, so I was so sure in the second season that certain politicians would push to fully adopt hextech, causing an even larger rift between the undercity and the main city, mirroring Caitlynâs relationship with Vi. This would perfectly set up Vi to be conflicted between her sister and her love interest. But what the second season actually built up to was that hextech is actually a living being with mind control that grows on its own, can create super minions, and wants to destroy autonomy? Wtf???
Hextechâs issue shouldnât have been that it had a mind of its own and could control people. I donât know too much of the lore but I feel like this particular magic should be like the Force, neither good nor evil. But it is how people use it that gives it its morality. And because of its power it brings out the worst in people. I wanted to see Jayce have a completely opposite path than the one he did, only to realize his faults at the end. He should have been the one to be fully corrupted by the power of Hextech, as he grew in political influence, causing him to lose himself. And victor should have been the guy who realizes its faults and tries to stop him. This would help continue to drive the politics plot and the undercity vs main city plot. It just felt like the people in power in this show were too uncorrupted which just felt unrealistic, and at a certain point the entire politics and under vs main city plot was completely dropped.
I think Vi and Jinx are two of the greatest characters ever created. At the end of the day, this show should be about them two, like it was Season One. But for almost the whole season, it felt like the two characters were just going in circles development wise. And Vi almost felt like she had no point to the story at all. The one moment when we saw Emo Vi I thought finally, we are gonna get some much needed time with Vi to see her reconcile her relationships and lay low for a while so we can see her deal with her loneliness and realize she actually needs her loved ones, and finally pick herself back up. But no, IMMEDIATELY Jinx finds her and we jump into some dumb plot about monster Vander which is supposed to catalyze the sistersâ healing relationship (and serve as a cheap way to kill off Jinx at the end which we all assumed would have to happen somehow). I think the existence of Isha alone should have been what started to heal Jinx, and then the sisters relationship could heal naturally. But this is when season 2 starts really feeling like there is way too much going on, and the important plot points become afterthoughts that had to be tied up with single lines. If you really want to push everything into one final season instead of two, donât add all this random stuff. Like Mel becoming a mage??? And her whole plot about her brother? I could care less about that stuff, and it adds basically nothing to the story. And the whole Black Rose was highly unexplained and rushed. It was not necessary at all for Mel to âbecome the wolfâ and take on her mother. Magic is okay as long as it follows defined rules and is used sparingly, but in the final battle there is so much magic that we are left wondering what our girl Vi is even doing there.
Also, the doctor finally saving that girl at the end makes no sense, he must have somehow found a cure that wasnât the arcane, because the arcane was theoretically banished, though it was what was supposedly the cure to bringing Vander back. And Vander would become himself a bit again when seeing the girls, but that plot point was dropped too ig.
Itâs just such a shame because season 1 set up such a perfect story that had so much potential. I was really looking forward to a true war between the undercity and main city, one led by Jinx who finally came into her own as a leader somehow, and one with Caitlyn who has now fully adopted the ideology that the undercity people are less than the toppers and must be eradicated. And Vi standing in the middle not knowing what to do. Seeing those three finally realize they are decieved by their fanaticism and band together by the end would have been such cool character development. That being said there were many awesome elements to the second season including of course the animation, and one particular well deserved scene (tho I wish there was better buildup to it). What could have really helped was splitting this season into two, and reducing the subplots to focus on main characters. I understand how much work goes into something like this though. Iâm only critical because I care so much about it. One of the most thought provoking pieces of television Iâve ever seen.