
Content warning: Spoilers for “Arcane” (2021-2024) ahead.
It’s been three years since the first season of Arcane came out, and when I say I’ve been on the edge of my seat waiting for the second, you better believe it. This show has me in a chokehold.
Even though Act 1 came out on Nov. 9, I had to wait a little longer to watch it because I wanted to binge it with my friends. The season was six hours total, and we stayed up until 3 a.m. on Nov. 23 to finish it all. Like Season 1, it was released as three acts each containing three episodes.
I first started watching the show after seeing videos on TikTok when Season 1 first came out and thinking the animation was unique. However, seeing an edit on an app and watching the show are two completely different experiences.
Thankfully, I didn’t have that problem with Season 2. Instead of waiting for the next story to come around, I was locked on to whoever the episode was focused on because I knew everything was going to be connected.
I loved watching the relationship dynamics between the characters. Each connection was layered with growth, change and pain.
Since there is only so much I can write, I’ll go over my favorites.
So, How Did Things Start This Season?
The season starts with the aftermath of Jinx’s Hextech-powered rocket launch at Piltover’s – the rich, topside city – council chambers. The audience is shown the damages and the deaths of about half of the council, including the mom of one of the main characters, Caitlyn.
The moment that kick-starts the main conflict of the story is when Viktor, an inventor, is consumed by a cocoon crafted by the Hextech core. For most of Act 1, he’s in a coma, while at the same time being consumed by the Hextech.
After waking up and finding out what has become of him, Viktor distances himself from his best friend and lab partner Jayce, who saved him from dying by carrying him to the lab where the Hextech incident happened. Off-topic, but I swear those two are gay for each other.
Viktor takes on the role of Healer and leader of the Hextech commune after discovering his new healing abilities. While it may seem like he’s doing fine, he’s not. He’s slowly losing his sense of self because of the Hexcore and depends on an old friend, who now lives in his subconscious, to keep his humanity.
A Complex Sibling Dynamic: Vi, Jinx and Isha
While running from the many people who are searching for her, Jinx, a mentally unstable teen, starts to regain her humanity after a child literally falls on her.
Isha is a quiet girl who, over the course of the season, looks up to Jinx and is attached to her at the hip. It was nice to see Jinx’s nurturing side come out when she takes Isha under her wing and treats her the way she always wanted to be treated by her sister Vi.
During Act 2, Vi and Jinx reconnect after their adoptive, werewolf-mutated father, Vander, is somehow raised from the dead and experimented on by an evil scientist.
The sisters search for a miracle worker they hear can heal Vander – who turns out to be Viktor. Within the span of a few months, Viktor creates a freaking colony and becomes known for saving the lives of others.
Vi and Jinx seem like they are finally happy with their mini makeshift family, but it’s not long before they are forced to separate because of an attack caused by Jayce.
After messing around with Hextech, Jayce, along with previous council member Heimerdinger and boy savior Ekko, are transported to two different universes: the first, one where Hextech was never created and the other, a world that is consumed by it.
In the latter, Jayce is fighting for his life. The man went to hell, stayed sane, and after accomplishing what he needed to, came back looking smokin’.
He leaves the realm and kills Viktor after seeing what a world consumed by Hextech looks like. The temporary loss of Viktor – he’s later revived in another cocoon of Hextech – causes the deaths of everyone he healed and Vander to lose his last shred of humanity and turn violent.
To save her adoptive family after a fight led by the Piltover enforcers breaks out, Isha uses Jinx’s Hextech-powered gun to kill a now murderous Vander, sacrificing herself in the process.
The Romantic Parts
Another story arc shown in this season was the romantic relationship between Vi and Caitlyn, my favorite lesbian power duo.
At the beginning of the season, Caitlyn starts to lose a bit of herself when she accepts the fact that her mom is dead and feels obligated to take her place as the head of her household. Blinded by rage, she inserts herself in the search for Jinx and creates her own task force: Vi, a really hot fish dude, a ginger and a drunk.
After finding a lead on Jinx in the undercity and finally sharing their first kiss, Caitlyn and Vi cut the others loose and head out in search of Jinx alone.
Jinx is eventually found by Caitlyn and Vi. The fight between the three of them leads to Caitlyn almost killing Isha, which is when Vi starts realizing that she’s not the same person anymore.
The break-up, if you could even call it that, caused major transformations for both Vi and Cait. One became an underground emo fighter and the other a dictator. I was shaken to my core because these girls weren’t even dating yet, and they were going through the five stages of grief when separated.
Side note but, emo Vi can get it.
The two are later reunited after even more stressful endeavors and have a steamy love-making session in a jail cell. This is my absolute favorite part of the season; it had me questioning things about myself.
Moving on to my second favorite couple: Ekko and Jinx.
When Ekko is sent to an alternate universe, he is met by a very sane Jinx, something that surprises him to no end. After spending an extended amount of time with her, he begins to trust this universe’s version of his childhood friend and starts to show feelings the audience already knew he felt.
While Jayce went to hell and back, Ekko went to heaven and had the strength to leave.
We finally get a kiss scene between the two of them, only to have it ripped away. However, I think it is insanely sweet how he works so hard to get back to his home to return to his Jinx and basically saves her from herself.
The Gist
In general, this season was absolutely amazing. I went from happy to sad to mad faster than I had ever done before. Even though I’m upset there won’t be a season three, I am so excited to see what the creators decide to do in the future.
I’m going to go cry now.
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