If you have interacted with me in the past few months you’ll know that my current hyperfixation is season 2 of the animated series Arcane (2021). Was the 3 year gap between season 1 and 2 worth the wait? Was the $250 million budget well-spent? I might be over a month late, but let’s discuss!

SPOILER WARNING: The following review contains spoilers for Arcane seasons 1 and 2. Read at your own risk!

Arcane season 2 teaser poster

The Good

The most consistently stunning part of Arcane in season 1 continued into season 2: the animation. You could even argue that they outdid themselves this time around, especially with the expansion of all things magical. Another thing I’ve always appreciated with Fortiche’s animation is their dedication to cinematography and making it seem like Arcane was “filmed” with a real camera. Things like animating a scene so it looks like the camera is attached to a Jayce’s hammer (in episode 7 when he’s running away from Viktor’s automatons), attached to Ekko’s club (in episode 9 during the “Come Play” sequence), or being handheld and following Caitlyn as she shoots down enemies (in episode 9) are so cool. I also appreciated little details like blood/dirt/spit splatter on the lens, glitching, match cuts, impact frames, using a dolly zoom when Ekko realizes he’s in an alternate universe in episode 7, Jinx in AU Powder’s reflection also in episode 7, hidden frames in each episode title sequence, or the Ekko/AU Powder dance scene being animated at 4 frames per second as a callback to how far back in time Ekko can go using his Z-drive.

The fight choreography this season was also top tier. While I noticed that this season leaned more into making fights look more on “epic and grand” side (utilizing a lot of slow motion) than the “realistic and gritty” side like Season 1’s fights, I think that matched well with the atmosphere and change in narrative focus. Some highlights for me included Sevika and Jinx vs. Smeech (episode 2), Vi and Caitlyn vs. Jinx, Sevika, and Isha (episode 3), Vi vs. Warwick (episode 5), and Caitlyn and Mel vs. Ambessa (episode 9).

Another thing they took from season 1 and dialed up to 11 was the mini music videos within each episode. Previously, there was usually just 1 song per episode and they only occasionally switched art styles (such as the Misfit Toys and Dynasties and Dystopia sequences). Now, armed with the well-earned confidence from season 1, the Arcane team included 2 musical moments per episode, with a variety of art mediums from charcoal to comic book to watercolor. And despite the dramatic increase in quantity, the quality of the songs and storytelling has (mostly) stayed just as high as before. The clout the music team earned after Season 1’s amazing soundtrack also enabled them to attract talent like Linkin Park (Heavy is the Crown) and Twenty One Pilots (The Line), while still partnering with up-and-coming artists to showcase their talent.

While I had some issues with the writing this season, there were definitely a lot of things that the writers did well. Act 1 was the strongest, with each episode building momentum and escalating the conflict between Piltover and Zaun (on a macro-level) and Vi/Jinx/Caitlyn (on a personal level) in a way that felt like a logical progression from the events of season 1. I also appreciated the slowed down pace in episode 7, where Ekko’s journey in the “happy” alternate universe was juxtaposed between Jayce’s journey in the apocalyptic universe. Additionally, I appreciated that the writers were not afraid to kill off champions, including new ones like Ambessa (who was a character original to Arcane but who recently became playable in League of Legends).

The last thing I wanted to applaud is the voice acting, which was so seamless with Fortiche’s expressive animation style that I have no notes.

The Meh

The instrumental score this season was still great, but there were noticeably fewer “dramatic scene where just the score takes over” moments in comparison to season 1. For instance, songs like The City of Progress, You’re Stronger Than You Think, She’s Here, The Concerto, Romance, She’s Back, and Fallout were all standouts to me in season 1, while in season 2 there were only a couple moments where I was watching a scene and thought to myself, “man, I need to look up the score for this afterward.” Those were Appointment of a General, I Promised You, and The Bridge (Reprise). Of course, this is probably just due to screen time constraints. Instead of dramatic score moments, there were more dramatic soundtrack moments as I mentioned above.

Additionally, while I appreciated the songs on the soundtrack, there were a couple times where I felt like there was a slight overreliance on montages to tell the story when having scenes with dialogue would probably have been a better fit, if there was enough time and resources to animate them in 9 episodes (I suspect there was not, and thus we got the montages). For example, episode 2 catches the audience up to what has been going on in the undercity in the wake of Silco’s death – all the criminal bosses are vying for control, with 3 left who have risen to the top. This sets up the expectation that some non-insigificant portion of time will be spent resolving this question of who will win, but instead this gets resolved in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment in the Hellfire montage where the 2 remaining bosses are seemingly arrested (or perhaps killed?) while the third boss, Smeech, was killed in the Jinx and Sevika vs. Smeech fight in episode 2. Another unfortunate result of relegating this plot point to a music video is the framing of character actions. As fans in the comments of that video point out, the fact that Caitlyn and the strike team are literally using chemical weapons against the undercity is lost in the coolness of the song and art.

Comments in hellfire montage video. The first one has 2.4k likes and reads, "I was so focused on how good the animation was that I didn’t even process that they were gassing zaun til jinx pointed it out" and the second one has 3.6k likes and reads, "As someone once said 'Police brutality never looked so good'".

Of course, I don’t think the Arcane team means to condone this kind of behavior – definitely the opposite, given the lyrics of the song (“Can I do the right thing for the wrong reason? Is it bad that I’m making friends with my demons […] But when you live for the thrill that death’s giving / I’d rather have some fun than to be forgiven”) and Caitlyn’s overall arc this season of realizing that justice and revenge are not the same. But when you choose to present the content in this way and let the rule of cool take over, it can muddy the waters.

The other montage that I felt should have been full scenes is the Paint the Town Blue montage. First, while the montage conveys the passage of time, to viewers it’s not clear exactly how much time has passed. And if you miss Caitlyn and Maddie discussing how several months have passed at the beginning of episode 4, it leaves viewers a little lost as to how long the martial law has taken effect. I’m fine with them having a time skip as a concept, but another issue I have with the montage is that this is basically the most the writers/animators were willing to go in terms of Piltover subjugating Zaun. At the end of episode 3, there is this whole dramatic scene with forboding music as Caitlyn is appointed general and you get this feeling that things are going to get a whole lot worse before they get better because now Caitlyn has absolute power, is spiraling after losing her mother and girlfriend, and is only going to be manipulated and egged on by someone as cunning as Ambessa.

And yet, by the time the Paint the Town Blue montage is over, Caitlyn is already expressing doubts about continuing martial law to Maddie. It makes sense to me from what we’ve seen in season 1 that Caitlyn is a good person at heart who is lashing out over her grief, but the show gives us no time to experience the hopelessness that comes when the person who had the most empathy gives into her anger. The setup and payoff was not done very well, resulting in a much less compelling story than the one I was expecting (moral corruption and subsequent redemption), but I suppose you could again chalk this up to limited resources.

The Bad

The aspect of Arcane that I think suffered the most from season 1 to season 2 was the writing. I would not go so far as to say it was a deal breaker, but it definitely felt like a shift from what I and a lot of people found engaging about the show in season 1. The show went from character-driven to plot-driven, from a show about the impacts of class conflict and technological advancement through the intimate lens of people living through it to a show about people who hate each other working together to overcome a common external conflict (without resolving the underlying hatred) and the nature of free will.

As an audience, we can only speculate about the reasons behind this change, whether it is completely intentional, limited time or resources, studio meddling, different writers in the room (seems like this was not the case), unrealistic fan expectations, etc. I like to give the team the benefit of the doubt considering how good season 2 was despite all of the issues I had below. I think most Arcane fans would agree that it would have been nice to get another act, or better yet, a whole other season to resolve all of these problems, but I also respect that the creatives didn’t want to drag out the show until it sputtered its last breath in an undignified manner.

I felt that a lot of the weaker writing decisions started happening in Act 2, and I even wrote a whole Reddit post about it. In the next few paragraphs, I’ll try to summarize/avoid repeating myself and add some more thoughts now that I have now watched the entire season.

The enforcer strike team (Maddie, Loris, and Steb) were underdeveloped characters. While the Maddie’s death in episode 9 was the culmination of an incredibly tense moment (I actually thought Caitlyn might die there), I felt that the reveal of her being a Noxian spy felt more like a convenient way to move her out of the way of Caitlyn and Vi’s relationship. We don’t really learn much about Maddie or why she is a spy (and some fans were even confused about when exactly Maddie became a traitor), so it would have been nice to get a scene to explain this. Loris and Steb barely say or do anything so they felt a lot like redshirts to me, but there’s already so much going on in season 2 I’m not sure where we could fit their character development anyway.

Isha felt more like a plot device than a truly fleshed out character. She literally falls into Jinx’s lap and follows her around without much explanation aside from the fact that Jinx saved her from the goons who were chasing her. It would have been nice to learn where Isha came from, why she was being chased, why she idolizes Jinx so much, etc., but instead her major impact on the plot is preventing Vi from killing her sister in episode 3 and sacrificing herself in episode 6 (also, it was so obvious to me that Isha was going to die the moment she showed up as a cute, innocent, underdeveloped character that I couldn’t even properly be sad in episode 6). It’s very heartwarming for us to watch her develop a sibling relationship with Jinx, and this gives Jinx some character development, but that’s just it – Isha is more of a character to push the plot and other characters forward, rather than a character in her own right.

The bad blood between certain characters was resolved too easily. There are 3 core character dynamics that I felt could have used more development: Vi/Jinx, Jinx/Caitlyn, and Caitlyn/Vi. The first two pairs go from being mortal enemies to begrudging respect due to an external character forcing them to work together. In the first case, Vander/Warwick, and in the second case, Ambessa and Viktor. While this is a logical explanation for them being temporarily aligned, I feel like more needed to be done (either through dialogue or a scene or some character actions) to resolve their mutual hatred at their core. As for the third pairing (Caitlyn/Vi), they do not get to the point of wanting to kill each other, but there was still a lot that each of them did to each other that was hurtful (for example Vi going back on her word when it came to killing Jinx, Caitlyn hitting Vi with her rifle, or Caitlyn leading the martial law efforts) that could have been addressed (for example during their argument in episode 8), but instead gets glossed over. Of course I acknowledge that people rarely explicitly say “I’m sorry” and that actions speak louder than words, but getting some kind of acknowledgment is nice. It’s just like how in their sex scene, it was on Caitlyn to make it explicit to Vi that she had been seeing Maddie during their separation. This not only demonstrates how Caitlyn is a communicative partner, but also acknowledges to the audience that yes, the writers did not forget about this hiccup in their relationship. It also makes it extremely cathartic when Vi says, “Cait, I don’t fucking care.”

A lot of plot points make sense on paper, but the execution is lacking. For example, in episode 3 when Caitlyn is appointed general, I don’t think anyone expected her to stay angry and vengeful forever given how empathetic her character was in season 1 and her relationship with Vi, who showed her that Zaunites deserve equal treatment. So it was not a surprise when Caitlyn switched sides and betrayed Ambessa. What is surprising is when she switches sides. Instead of Caitlyn learning some significant realization (for instance, that Ambessa was the mastermind behind the memorial attack or that Ambessa and her Noxian army were abusing human rights), the turning point for Caitlyn is randomly running into Vi outside Viktor’s community, Vi telling her that Warwick (who Caitlyn only knows as a bloodthirsty monster) is Vander, and Vi calling Caitlyn “cupcake” again. It just feels laughable and in fact has become the subject of many memes and discussions in the fandom.

The main response I’ve seen online to this criticism is, “Were you not paying attention during the entirety of Act 2? Caitlyn had doubts about the whole martial law deal since episode 4. This is a natural progression!” To this argument I will say yes, I did notice that Caitlyn was expressing doubts about martial law. However, the fact that this was the pivotal moment that tips Caitlyn in the opposite direction doesn’t make sense. For all the build-up of Caitlyn becoming a general in episode 3, her “redemption” does not feel very realistic or earned.

Another example of odd execution is Viktor’s turn to the dark side. I was confused as to why he would join sides with Ambessa, especially considering that for the majority of the series he is against the weaponization of hextech. His descent into being anti-free will could have been clearer. It is also confusing to me why Viktor was the mage who inspired Jayce to pursue magic. If the purpose of mage!Viktor was to prevent evolved!Viktor from destroying the world, then why give Jayce the means to create hextech in the first place? The only explanation I can think of is that Viktor would have invented hextech regardless.

Learning that Silco knew Vi and Powder’s mother, Felicia, recontextualizes his actions in season 1 and feels like a retcon. I find it a weird writing decision to have a flashback showing that Silco knew Felicia because that means he was hellbent on killing one of his close friends’ children in season 1. There was no prior indication that he knew that they were Felicia’s children in season 1. You could chalk this up to saying that Silco was so far gone that he didn’t care anymore, but even for Vander – someone he hated – he acknowledged their past history.

Mel and the Black Rose storyline felt detached from the main plot and more like a backdoor pilot for the next series which will likely take place in Noxus. It is when shows/movies try to emulate the Marvel Cinematic Universe with its post-credit scenes and tie-ins that we get lost in the sauce of setup for future projects instead of focusing on making the current project good.

There were also some issues I had with the writing in Act 3:

  • There was a lot of tonal whiplash seeing Caitlyn and Vi consummating their relationship after witnessing Vi being clearly emotionally distressed over what Jinx is going to do after she escapes. As much as we were all anticipating this moment for Caitlyn and Vi’s relationship, as much as I loved that Vi was finally choosing to take care of herself, and although there were some nice parallels between that scene and Caitlyn and Vi’s first meeting, the scene just felt misplaced. I don’t think it’s mutually exclusive for Caitlyn and Vi to have this moment and for Vi to demonstrate that she still cares for her sister.
  • Ekko was able to push past the 4 second limit on his Z-drive without any consequences.
  • Jayce shutting off the hexgates during the invasion instead of before Ambessa and Viktor arrived was confusing.
  • Zaun came to Piltover’s rescue without much explanation other than “Jinx and Ekko told them so,” despite years of oppression and animosity.
  • Jinx’s death-as-redemption fate turned out to be a fake out. I feel like it would’ve been much more effective to just have her live and leave Piltover/Zaun since I find death-as-redemption arcs lazy, but to each their own.

Meta: Fandom Discourse

With how much I’ve written about “the meh” and “the bad” you may think that I was a season 2 hater, but to the contrary, I have never felt more in love with Arcane than now. The only reason why I’ve analyzed it this much is because I care and think about it so much. I am a big proponent of criticism of all forms of media. It helps creatives improve and hone their craft, it helps fans keep the fandom alive. Debate is good. Different interpretation is good. Criticism of any media, even well-loved media, is good.

It does not mean a critic is “media illiterate”, “hasn’t paid enough attention”, or “can’t read the subtext.” In fact, if something is unclear to a consumer of media, that can often be an indication of weak writing, as this redditor explained so well. It can make sense for a character to go from point A to point B on paper, but if we are not shown that journey, then it still will not land or feel satisfying. It sucks that we have to have posts like this to make it clear that criticism is an essential part of consuming any piece of media.

arcane season 2 fandom discourse meme that shows Mr. Krabs grappling with Patrick and Spongebob looking at them with concern. Mr. Krabs is labeled, "People who thought s2 was ass", Patrick is labeled, "People who thought s2 was perfect", and Spongebob is labeled, "Those of us who thought s2 was good but flawed."

Source

At the same time, valid criticism is NOT personal attacks on the creatives or other fans. It is NOT throwing a tantrum or feeling entitled to get exactly what you want. Valid criticism is thoughtful, supported by evidence, respectful of other opinions and people, and takes into account practical limitations of producing a show like Arcane. It is done in good faith with the willingness to change one’s mind if a better case is presented.

At the end of the day, I’m very much still in the “shut up and take my money” phase with the whole Arcane universe. Yes, despite all of my criticism, I still think it is worth watching and I recommend it to everyone I know to the point of annoyance. I also acknowledge that there’s a lot about the production of an animated TV show like Arcane that I don’t know, and that as creatives, they must balance so many conflicting priorities and budgets. I will be the first to say that it ain’t that deep and just sit back and enjoy the ride.

Further reading and watching:

Lightning Round

Season ranking: 1 > 2

Favorite character this season: Caitlyn. I loved that she was fleshed out more this season and we saw her struggle with justice/vengenace for her mother, her desire to do right by the undercity, and her love for Vi.

Least favorite character this season: Maddie. Love the voice actor, Katy Townsend, but boy when it was revealed that she was a Noxian spy the entire time and went for the headshot I nearly screamed (it was 3 am though so I had to settle for internal screaming).

Favorite episode this season: Episode 3 Finally Got the Name Right. It felt like the perfect culmination to the escalation between Vi/Jinx/Caitlyn and was filled with emotional gut punches. Plus their fight scene being intercut with Jayce/Ekko/Heimerdinger playing with the anomaly and Woodkid’s “To Ashes and Blood” playing in the background was chef’s kiss.

Least favorite episode this season: Episode 4 Paint the Town Blue. Felt like things started going badly writing-wise here. The time skip was confusing and characters started acting weirdly.

Favorite lines this season:

  • “Why is peace always the justification for violence?”
  • “Sometimes taking a leap forward means leaving a few things behind.”
  • “As good as it feels to pour everyone’s drink, you need to fill your own cup every now and again.”
  • “Who decides who gets a second chance?”
  • “No matter what happened in the past, it’s never too late to build something new.”

Favorite songs from the soundtrack:

  • Heavy is the Crown by Mike Shinoda and Emily Armstrong
  • To Ashes and Blood by Woodkid
  • Isha’s Song by Eason Chan
  • Ma Meilleure Ennemie by Stromae and Pomme

The Verdict

8.5/10

Arcane season 2 is a beautifully crafted animated series that sometimes struggles to live up to the expectations and plot points it sets up, but is ultimately still groundbreaking and satisfying to watch.

All seasons of Arcane are out now on Netflix. It stars Hailee Steinfeld (Violet / “Vi”), Ella Purnell (Powder / Jinx), Kevin Alejandro (Jayce Talis), Katie Leung (Caitlyn Kiramann), Toks Olagundoye (Mel Medarda), Harry Lloyd (Viktor), Jason Spisak (Silco), JB Blanc (Vander), Reed Shannon (Ekko), Mick Wingert (Cecil B. Heimerdinger), Ellen Thomas (Ambessa Medarda), Brett Tucker (Dr. Corin Reveck / Singed), and Amirah Vann (Sevika).