It’s been three years since fans first witnessed the animated brilliance of the original Arcane season. Now, with the final follow-up season done, we have gotten to witness the final vision of Riot Games and animation studio Fortiche. Delivering drama, danger, and deep characters, the new season paid off on the plot threads of its predecessor by delivering a memorable journey that animation fans will be discussing for years to come. A landmark achievement, let’s talk about all the ways that Arcane deserves to be the Animated Series of the Year.
Season one left viewers with the image of Jinx’s rocket just as it shatters the glass dome of the council chamber. Naturally, this season opens with the aftermath of that act of violence, first with the council itself, then expanding beyond them to other characters impacted, like Caitlyn and Vi.
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This emotional opening harkens back to the first moments of season one, as we see the aftermath of Zaun’s march across the bridge. Seeing Caitlyn mourn her mother as “I Can’t Hear it Now” plays in the background pulls the viewer into the pain and sorrow of what has transpired and also sets up Caitlyn for her coming fall from grace.
Not all the pain in the season’s opening is of the somber kind. Jayce’s rush to try to save Viktor from his fatal injuries in the blast brings a measure of continued panic to the opening moments. As he goes against Viktor’s wishes concerning the Hexteck Core to save his partner, he blindly rushes headlong into the unknown. A choice that will decide the fates of many.
There is also another important element to Jayce’s focus on his friend, who is easy to miss but bears great weight. Due to his single-minded pursuit of Viktor’s life, he isn’t present during the crucial council meeting when the invasion of Zaun is discussed. Had Jayce been there, Mel and he would’ve been able to prevent the attack from moving forward.
Interestingly, the moment of horror that opens this season is also the only time we get what feels like a genuine human moment from Ambessa. Her arrival in the Council Chamber and panic as she confirms Mel is ok is the only moment of care or compassion we get from the villain throughout the coming nine episodes.
All of these moments and plot strands play out in a packed, but not rushed opening that gets the new season’s direction laid out while also hitting the viewer with several emotional gut punches. It establishes a strong opening for the following episodes to build upon.
Before we dive into the emotional sides of Jinx’s journey, there is an element of the young woman’s story that plays a pivotal role in the season’s early episodes. That is the symbolic nature that she comes to hold for both sides of the social conflict and how neither of them is actually who Jinx is.
To many Zaunites, Jinx is a revolutionary. A freedom fighter who has struck out against the oppressive regime that keeps them all under heel. To Piltover, Jinx is a terrorist. A force of chaos who has lashed out against their city and will do so again. But we know better, don’t we?
The truth is that Jinx is a traumatized individual who was lashing out more at herself for killing the father figure in her life than striking any form of political statement. Unfortunately for her, the myth has overgrown the facts to an extent where the truth no longer matters. Jinx has become something bigger than herself. And nothing she can do will ever fix the misconceptions surrounding her. If her life was ever truly her own, it would never be again. At least not so long as she remains in Plitover and Zaun. Another tragedy in a tale ripe with them.
Caitlyn’s vengeance is essential, making Arcane Season 2 the best television of the year.
One of the harder journeys the story requires viewers to go on is Caitlyn’s descent into villainy in the first and second acts of the show. As a fan-favorite character and one-half of the show’s most popular ship, seeing Caitlyn become a vengeance-obsessed dictator isn’t what most were hoping for her. Even though her actions towards Zaun are wrong, they also make sense when taken through the lens of Caitlyn’s recent experiences and the trauma she has accumulated.
The bulk of the discussion around Caitlyn’s motives fairly focuses on Jinx’s attack that takes her mother’s life, though this is far from the only cause of her moral snap. Informing Caitlyn’s state of mind is also the events at the end of season one. Lest we forget, she was strapped to a chair as she got to listen to Jinx’s promise to be the person Vi wanted her to be. All Jinx needed her to do was put a bullet in Caitlyn’s brain and she could have her sister back. And this was after the violent kidnapping.
All of this personal trauma is compounded by the fact that much of Zaun seems to worship Jinx like a savior. That she is held up as this glorious symbol of a bright future. But to Caitlyn, she is the furthest thing from it. She is responsible for the darkest moments of Caitlyn’s life and seeing her idolized only further drives her to unjustifiable actions.
That Riot is willing to send one of its more beloved characters down this dark rabbit hole is another element that makes Arcane deserve to be the Animated Series of the Year. The fact that the path makes sense for the character, even if it risks upsetting fans who are emotionally invested in her shows a dedication to the narrative that brings the strongest stories to life.
The impact that Isha comes to have on Jinx’s story greatly exceeds the character’s diminutive stature. Brought together by chance, Isha comes to symbolize the lost innocence of Powder. During Jinx’s reclusion from the brewing conflict at the opening of act two, it is Isha who brings calm to Jinx’s life that is so impactful that we even see her eyes revert to their original color, as opposed to the purple induced by the shimmer injected into her by Singed in season one.
But even as Isha brings stability to Jinx, she also brings friction. Thanks to both the larger narrative around Jinx, as well as Isha’s personal experiences with her, Isha wishes for Jinx to take a more active role in the unfolding events in Zaun, going so far as to disguise herself as Jinx to grow the myth surrounding her. This leads to Isha’s capture and Jinx’s return to the public stage.
“There is nothing as undoing as a daughter.” This was Silco’s observation to Vander’s statue as he struggled to decide his course at the end of season one. This sentiment feels like one Jinx would agree with as she thrusts herself back into a war she wants no part of to save Isha. And it would be made doubly true when Isha later sacrifices her own life to save Jinx and the others from Vander/Warwick when he goes mad at Viktor’s commune.
This aspect of Jinx’s journey helps create strong parallels between the various generations of the series’ narrative. Just as Vander’s choices were influenced by his desire to protect Vi and Powder, so too are Jinx’s choices where Isha is concerned.
Jinx’s mission to rescue Isha from prison ends up bringing her face to face with what remains of her adopted father Vander. Now a monstrous wolf-like creature, Vander can barely control himself after what Singed does to him, but he can recognize Jinx before disappearing into an old mine. Not confident that she can save Vander on her own, Jinx must reach out to her estranged sister, who is going through a self-destructive spiral after a hurtful confrontation with Caitlyn.
Arcane Season 2’s take on family is simply the best-even when its broken.
When Vi and Jinx manage to help Vander reassert control of himself, it delivers one of the most heartfelt moments of the series. So much of the pain that had built up between Vi and Jinx washes away as they are both embraced by the father they thought lost. This restoration of unity is further reinforced by the need to seek out a permanent solution to Vander’s struggles to control his new form.
Despite their contrasting personalities, Arcane does a great job displaying how much it means to both sisters to have each other back in their lives. They never stopped loving each other, there was just so much unresolved conflict between them that being in the same room felt impossible. Vander’s return gives them the impetus to push past those surface-level hurts and reconnect.
Just as the reforging of the family unit brings joy, the destruction of it once again brings pain. The deaths of Vander and Isha as Ambessa attacks the commune craft a level of emotional agony that is still hard to process. From the magma-looking tears that flow from Vander’s eyes as he unwillingly lashes out at all around him, to Isha’s finger guns goodbye to JInx, the moment quickly etches itself into the minds of viewers. One of superb storytelling telling and brutal emotional pain.
Near the end of Act One, Jayce, Ekko, and Heimerdinger are pulled into the anomaly beneath the Hexgate. Arcane doesn’t catch up with the trio again for several episodes. Rather than intersperse their story throughout Act Two, the first episode of Act Three is entirely devoted to where the trio was sent and how their journey through the alternate realities of Piltover and Zaun affects them.
For Jayce, his trip through the anomaly delivers him to a hellscape of a destroyed Piltover, overrun with monstrous parodies of people. His journey is wrought with physical danger, which eventually leads him to the discovery of what went wrong.
That his partner Viktor would succumb to a false belief in perfection that would leave their world empty and hollow, this revelation changes Jayce and creates the haggard version of him fans are reintroduced to when he appears at his homeworld’s Viktor’s commune, where he attempts to kill his friend to prevent that future from occurring.
The exploration of Jayce’s soul-changing journey is brutal in its hardships. What works best about the journey, though, is what it withholds from the viewer. Arcane keeps key elements of what happened and why till the closing moments of Act Three. These concealed elements keep the viewer unsure of Jayce’s motivations as the story unfolds. Upon his initial return to the main timeline, one would even think that Jayce is the villain in the confrontation between him and Viktor.
Jayce’s dark, physical turmoil is juxtaposed with Ekko and Hiemrdinger’s more emotional journey. They are sent to a Piltover and Zaun, which are at peace. One where the catalyst of the first season played out differently, causing no escalation of violence but costing Vi her life. Here, Ekko is faced with a version of Powder that never becomes the violent foe he knows, and his adopted father, Benzo, was never killed.
This version of the world feels warm and welcoming to the viewer, but it is not so simple for Ekko. There is joy in seeing these versions of people he loves. However, they also serve as reminders of what he can’t have. After all, his home needs him. As much as he’d love to stay in this sunny reality, he has to go back, though it means binding a kinder world. But what else could one expect of the Boy Savior?
Characters make Arcane what it is.
The excellent emotional beats and powerful character moments make these trips through time and space strong reasons for Arcane’s deserving to be the Animated Series of the Year. Despite many people being over the multiverse concept, Arcanee manages to utilize the premise in a way that is powerful and impactful, without getting caught up in the many pitfalls the concept can bring with it.
Eventually taking center stage in the series’ closing moments is the confrontation between Jayce and Viktor as the former strives to keep his partner from destroying everything they hold dear. Viktor’s pursuit of pure “perfection” drives him to enslave everyone as he believes emotion and choice are at the root of all the world’s problems. From a literal standpoint, he’s not wrong.
We make far more mistakes due to emotional choice than any other cause. Feeling like envy and hate prompt most of the world’s greatest evils. But the existence of these failures is the greatest of necessary evils. Without emotion and choice to let people grow, we are left with only stagnation. Jayce shows this to Viktor when he shares his experiences in the other timeline with him, revealing that an alternate reality Viktor is the one who set him up to stop his friend.
Once Viktor understands everything, it is left for him to stop what he has unleashed. Though happily, he doesn’t have to do it alone. Jayce isn’t going to abandon his partner. Together, the pair undue the damage done by Viktor, sparring everyone they can from the enslavement of Viktor’s Glorious Evolution, though it seemingly costs them their lives. The one of several emotional plot endings.
This powerful finale of the duo’s journey brings a satisfying conclusion to their struggles. With the two friends so frequently on different wavelengths, their coming together in the end adds a certain joy to their final sacrifice. They may have paid the ultimate price to set things right, but they did it together. And that is always when the two were doing their best work. Together.
Jinx is the heart of Arcane Season 2.
There is plenty of emotional pain to go around in Arcane‘s story, but it feels like no one takes more licks than Jinx. Already holding on by a thread at the end of season one, the emotional turmoil the new season’s losses take on the character is extreme. Losing Vander again as well as Isha in a single moment is too much for her to take. Even the one person who believes in her can only bring her pain.
Locked up in jail for her crimes, Jinx is allowed to escape, thanks to her sister Vi. Never willing to give up on her, Vi risks her own incarceration to set Jinx free. This is a beautiful moment on its surface, but for Jinx, it only hurts. She sees her presence in Vi’s life as just an opportunity for her ever-loving sister to get hurt again. If she keeps letting Vi reach out to her, she’ll eventually end up dead the way everyone else does. So she tricks Vi, locking her in her cell and saying goodbye. Her last words telling her sister to forget her and for her to be happy with Caitlyn. That she deserves that happiness.
This self-sacrificial choice showcases the changes in Jinx over the course of the season. Where she was once a chaotic storm of violence, she’s now just tired. Almost taking her own life before Ekko intervenes to stop her, Jinx feels like a husk of a person. While she is convinced to join the final battle for Piltover, she still moves in a way devoid of her trademark energy and enthusiasm.
Jinx’s final journey culminates in her once again making a sacrifice play to save Vi when her sister is beset by Warwick. As she plummets to what seems like her doom, she calmly embraces the onrushing end as she sets off one of her homemade bombs.
Despite the sadness here, there is also a noticeable layer of peace in the moment. Jinx is ready to be done with all the pain her life has become. She has chosen to do one last good thing with her life, preserving her sister’s. As the sequence cuts back and forth between Vi’s cries of pain and Jinx’s calm acceptance, we left with the comfort that at least Jinx went out on her own terms. Perhaps for the first time in her life, she was not being dictated to. Not being ordered by Vi or Silco, not being pushed into action by Isha, she chose this path purely for herself. To whatever end it leads.
The one perennial hope for happiness from Arcane‘s narrative is the relationship between Vi and Caitlyn. Even though the couple finds themselves on the outs with each other in the early episodes of this season, they eventually find their way back to each other. How the series cements the pair as a permanent arrangement is a moment that is beautiful in its nature and flawless in its execution.
After being locked in Jinx’s cell, Vi is eventually found by Caitlyn, who suspects she’d find Vi there. Feeling betrayed again by her sister, Vi delivers a self-loathing monologue about how she betrayed Caitlyn only to be tricked by Jinx, leaving her standing alone with no one. With just an edge of smugness, Caitlyn calls attention to the fact that she was the one who ordered all the guards away, despite Vi’s intentions to save her sister being obvious. The realization that Caitlyn willingly aided her and seemed to bear no ill will over Vi’s choice causes the woman to lunge at her love, locking her in a passionate embrace.
Caitlyn’s awareness of who Vi is and what she will do, as well as her acceptance of it, showcases the extraordinary understanding of the character. Her position kept her from feeling able to free Jinx for her, turning a blind eye so Vi’s actions were well within her. This choice establishes that, despite how devoted Caitlyn is to Piltover, she is even more so devoted to Vi.
There is also an exceptional layer of beauty in the physical portrayal of Vi and Caitlyn’s shared affection. With all the stress, pain, and trauma of their lives falling away for this one scene, the two were nearly giddy with joy. While the moment the two share is a passionate one, it is also much more. There is silliness, and awkwardness as well.
Giggles break out as Vi attempts to unbuckle Caitlyn’s trousers, reinforcing the sheer joy the two find themselves awash in. The love that the scene presents is layered and rich. Not just passion, it is deeper. It is love, hope, fulfillment, and joy. Virtually every positive element of human emotion can be found wrapped up in these two’s loving embrace, elevating the moment to far more than a mere sex scene.
Arcane Season 2’s visuals are more than just for looks.
All of the above plot beats and character-driven emotion is brought to life through the series’ trademark visual style. The time and care taken in the sculpting of this world and the characters that inhabit are brought to life through several excellently implemented visual elements.
The most impactful element of this series’ visuals is the expressiveness of the cast. Half of acting in an animated medium is the visuals and Arcane draws more personality out of its cast than any other. From grand physical gestures to the most gentle touch, every motion the cast portrays is done with a level of nuance and detail that is unsurpassed.
Another way that the visuals excel in this season is the world design. Going above and beyond its predecessor, Season Two doubles down on its world by crafting two additional ones through the multiversal journeys of Ekko, Hiemerdinger, and Jayce. These new worlds showcase just how different things can be, and the visuals do more than their fair share to drive that point home.
The growing presence of the arcane this season also brings new avenues for visual discovery. Viktor’s hivemind space is a gorgeous work of light and color that elicits awe from the viewer, even once Viktor’s intentions go bad. The psychic prison of the Black Rose is another striking space that the show brings to life brilliantly. Where Viktor’s realm is a light and serene space, The Rose’s jail is one of the deep reds and harsh shadows. Thorn chains criss-cross shots, filling the setting with a painful edge.
The voice acting across the board delivers the full promise of the excellently written script. Pain and joy, passion and despair all flow from the characters’ mouths thanks to the hard work and talent of the cast. Despite the relatively few episodes the series contains and the multiple years between the two seasons, each cast member feels intimately familiar with their character’s personality, allowing them to sculpt pitch-perfect performances.
Music was established as a cornerstone of Arcane in season one, and this season not only equals it but surpasses what its predecessor accomplished. Tracks like “Wasteland” and “Fantastic” bring the extra life to the season’s biggest moments, fusing the visual arts of animation with music in a seamlessly effective way.
For all the amazing elements of storytelling, visual design, and audio execution, Arcane deserves to be the Animated Series of the Year.
