EFAP

[@chriswolfe351]

The worst thing I thought was that when the big Shieldman starts talking to Vi, I thought he was just a drunk hobo that was talking to her. Then when he was part of the strike force, I was thinking 'Wait, why is the hobo Vi was drinking with part of this strike force?'

[@christhewalrus2016]

Yes where did he even come from?

[@carmandirda]

I had the same reaction. Until watching this EFAP, I had no idea he was an enforcer.

[@alexhayden219]

He was my new favorite character. He had so much depth and an interesting story. Such an arc. Wonderful addition. The bond between him and Vi was beautiful and I sobbed when his fate was revealed. Just kidding. What even was his name? I think Vi said it once after it was too late for him to correct her on it.

[@fffx2]

He is wearing an enforcer jacket when he is drinking with Vi... Maybe pay attention

[@chriswolfe351]

@@fffx2 He spent the entire scene off to the side or otherwise not in focus, which draws attention away from him and what he was wearing. Maybe fuck off.

[@JulianDoe]

Timestamps 0:00 The Sisters Of Pogos 0:58 Two Soldiers Down 2:03 The Penguin 5:40 Tyson vs Paul 8:10 Arcane S1 9:11 Arcane S2 12:10 Survivors 22:22 Visuals 25:00 Intro 34:05 Music Video 40:21 Council Meeting 51:27 Caitlyn & Vi 1:05:23 On The Brink Of The War 1:14:53 Expectations 1:17:56 Vi Meets A New Character 1:21:02 Jayce 1:22:41 Caitlyn & Jayce 1:49:40 Vi & Maddie 2:00:43 Memorial Fight 3:03:37 Aftermaths 3:19:47 Council Meetingb 3:29:25 Episode 1: Thoughts 3:51:50 Episode 2: Jinx & The State Of Zaun 4:05:16 Smeech 4:10:11 A Meeting 4:17:11 Sevika & Jinx 4:34:06 Victor 4:45:00 Echo's Sanctuary 4:50:55 Jayce's Lab 5:04:13 Jinx's Battle 5:13:10 Sevika's Arm 5:33:35 Viktor 5:36:11 Episode 2: Thoughts 5:40:35 Episode 3 5:43:05 Music Video 5:50:18 Events During The Music Video 6:02:50 Music Video Lyrics 6:06:43 Unhinged Caitlyn 6:09:58 Ambessa & Amara 6:15:37 Vi & Caitlyn 6:21:35 Ambessa & Salo 6:24:40 Mel & Catlady 6:27:16 Timeline 6:30:40 Runes 6:37:28 Mel 6:40:08 Jayce 6:45:00 Action! 7:21:00 Caitlyn & Vi 7:26:44 Incoronation 7:35:38 Act I: Conclusions

[@mwag8138]

❤

[@epiczk0n141]

You absolute god

[@alyaabadi8882]

Much appreciated. 🖖

[@mk-tu3gv]

We apreciate the stamps

[@ElevenBetter]

I think you dropped this👑

[@abdulsadiq8873]

the animators are hard carrying this season

[@dualwieldroxas358]

Cannot agree more. The animation was fantastic this season. I DO feel there were much better moments in Season 1 (Both Vi vs Sevika fights absolutely demolish, the Hextech battle was a blast, and Echo vs Jynx was poetry). But this one had some great moments. I actually really like that Wild Arcane comes in prismatic colors but also seem to decay everything it touches. Echo had some great animation moments this season, for sure.

[@lordvarrax5060]

1:34:50 Honestly can't believe none of the panel understood the genius of that line. After all, don't you know why a ship floats and a stone cannot? Because the stone sees only downward. The darkness of the water is vast and irresistible. The ship feels the darkness, as well, striving moment by moment to master her and pull her under. But the ship has a secret. For, unlike the stone, her gaze is not downward but up. Fixed upon the light that guides her, whispering of grander things than darkness ever knew.

[@Dr.Pelican-bw2zs]

"Steal from the best" - Jian Ronson

[@therukshuka3616]

If the rock looks down, why cant we just flip it? :)

[@jonbaxter2254]

Lion el Johnson!​@@Dr.Pelican-bw2zs

[@leadfaun]

Why are people complaining about that line?

[@EdgarFriendlysCivicsTeacher]

​@@leadfaunjust that it seems a little flat, but could use a little more time in the oven.

[@cobby407]

So much of what’s wrong with Arcane Season 2 so far (I’ve seen Act II) is about what’s missing, or what didn’t happen but should’ve. When Jayce and Heimderdinger meet and chat about science, I can imagine the average audience member saying “yeah checks out,” but Jayce’s massive betrayal, Heimer’s issues with Hextech, the grief over not just dead councillors but the loss of an opportunity for peace, especially with Heimer’s newfound investment in the undercity people, the tone and content of their conversation should be completely different. It really feels like Season 2 wasn’t interested in any of the threads that Season 1 ended with, and they had to fast-track characters to different states and have different priorities or even values. Season 2 wishes Season 1 was different.

[@bleeters5984]

Having seen act two this is a problem that's become endemic at this point. Characters have so much they could and would talk about when meeting again but instead the time is squandered, often with lame attempts at banter. 'You hair looks like an angry oil slick' made me want to hurt myself.

[@barnbwt]

What you said makes a lot of sense, as in, that would be the most logical way to pick up the plot from season 1. Sounds more like the writers were explicitly told to not focus on Jayce & Heimerdinger, if you ask me.

[@Neo2266.]

A lot of this is serious as well. Logistics are fucked, characters might as well have dementia. My poor Jayce, he was my favourite boi, look how they massacred him 😢

[@barnbwt]

@@Neo2266. The writers quite literally might as well have had him die in the blast; would the plot have really changed that much?

[@Neo2266.]

@@barnbwt It would by Act3… and Victor might have not been saved. That’s about it

[@notthere2681]

This season kind of gives me a bad feeling it might all end with the line: "So that's it. We some kinda... League of Legends"

[@MichaelGonzalez-uz5yj]

Girls get it done

[@r.k.5031]

And then they all look silently at the camera for a minute and a half.

[@daikhairai7194]

I feel like it might be better than that if there's enough of a backlash and the creators receive it but I doubt it would be very much better considering what I've seen.

[@auroraSLAP]

Thank god it doesn’t but man was I in this headspace a couple weeks ago

[@alexhayden219]

if only...

[@s.p.1434]

Imagine an alternative scene where Heimdinger, Jace, and Echo have still have tea, but it's all done with a starkly serious tone, starting off with Jace asking if they wanted tea while obviously distraught and on the verge of breaking down into tears. They could've still had their same scene (and the silly humor with Heimdinger leading up to it), but actually addressed the gravity of the entire situation appropriately and have the actual reaction from Heimdinger about what has actually been happening while he was away. I don't even have an issue with Heimdinger not immediately noticing the magical object floating in the room or being so unintentionally oblivious, as he's been consistently portrayed to be oblivious to things around him even in season 1. But that said, that we don't have a single shot of Heimdinger looking into a destroyed council room in horror is an absolute travesty. This all could've been such a great scene with emotional weight. Season 2 is so full of these missed opportunities and the show is worse off for it.

[@Saywhatnow72]

I agree, I thought it was going to play out with yes they have some tea and it seems light hearted at first, but then have heimerdinger get very serious and play the disappointed mentor, not angry at first just disappointment in his pupil, becuase he can see how rattled his pupil is and now is not the time for I told you so but now is the time for his guidance and sage advice.

[@HeckDescender2184]

Damn we need you in the writer's room now!!

[@Necrow_Productions]

I really like this. You would not have had to add any runtime at all with this. (Probably just more detailed animation on the faces)

[@135mikerules23]

To summarize by borrowing a bit from Pitch Meeting: “It feels like we could’ve fleshed some of these things out.” “Well there’s no time, there’s only so many episodes left.” “You could have more episodes if you want.” “I just don’t see any other way other than rushing it.” “You could do it in more episodes.” “Damn this short final season!” “Okay…”

[@HeckDescender2184]

"Short final seasons with rushed decisions that impact character reactions/developments are tight!"

[@sarwatarannya8786]

The main difference is that the got showrunners COULD have had more seasons, both HBO and grrm wanted more. Arcane, on the other hand, is even more expensive than got and I think riot wants to experiment with other shows. No use blaming the writers

[@TheLPRnetwork]

​@@sarwatarannya8786 Or, I don't know, the writer could of just forced on The ONE Season they got. rather than mash 3 seasons worth of story into a single one. Act 1: How Vi joined the enforces and how Cupcake became new Marshal. (No Echo, No Hex tech, No Victor. No Jinx. Just focus on Vi and caitlyn.) Act 2: How Jinx gained a new sister and how caitlyn slowly corrupted. (No Echo, Some Hex Tech, No Victor) Act 3: Literally episodes 2 & 3. Victor wakes up. The Echo tries to save the tree. Gas the under city. Everything in episode 3 gets proper setup. the season ends with Caitlyn becoming Marshal and Victor becomes a saint. "We could make one solid season, but na. Let's rush though 3 seasons worth of story cause we really want to tell all, rather than leave it in word documents."

[@stickupnobodymove5517]

​@@TheLPRnetwork headcanon

[@Dr.Pelican-bw2zs]

Lmao, Ryan George is great, maybe EFAP'll have him on one of these days

[@matthewcollins4773]

I'm glad they like Smeech. He was indeed a lot of fun, well animated and well voiced.

[@2xRainb0w]

He doesn’t hold a candle to Sneem

[@HeckDescender2184]

I didn't know his name before this so to me he was "Evil Leprechaun Rabbit Man"

[@matthewcollins4773]

​@@HeckDescender2184 That's what he puts on his formal paperwork.

[@HeckDescender2184]

@@matthewcollins4773 ty that makes sense aha

[@Neo2266.]

@@HeckDescender2184Oh mine was “cocaine rat” …I like mine better

[@tammyn1775]

is nobody going to talk about the part where jinx and silco kiss?

[@bigadam]

Poor Doomer

[@jonbaxter2254]

​@@bigadamcommon Doomer L

[@xentiment6581]

Doomer is never gonna live this down ong

[@tarotxiii9830]

They did him dirty. The guy has been playing video games for 30 years. He knows what he is talking about.

[@jonbaxter2254]

@@tarotxiii9830 He has also never played a game with good story, except all the ones he has played with good stories!

[@brianthom6798]

I was hoping EPAP would cover season 2, and I'm glad they did. I was also hoping they would not watch it with rose-colored glasses, given how good season 1 was (and it was), and they did not.

[@kaludgo5811]

The main problem imo with this season is that it's clear that this show should have had at least 3 seasons and because they only have two they are rushing through everything and this creates a shit ton of plotholes

[@Radman22]

I think even just one or two more episodes could’ve fixed this

[@matthewcollins4773]

Yeah. It's rushed; this season should have been two. They didn't have enough time to truly explore anything and I think that's where the biggest plot and characterization misteps happen. Like everything the EFAP crew were noting about Jace's bizarre lack of interest in the peace process he instigated -- missing scenes, essentially, that greatly weaken the overall tapestry.

[@UndergroundRose]

The biggest problem is the character assassination. Seriously, I would accept the world and plot being completely fucked so long as the characters were in check.

[@Сайтамен]

​@@UndergroundRose Like what?

[@theliato3809]

Arcane is an incredibly production heavy show. And it is so while being also extremely efficient comparred to spiderverse two which is also very well animated. That’s the main reason I’ve gathered why they went with two seasons instead of the original five

[@KrackerJacker]

I became pretty obsessed with this show because it was one of those stories where the closer you looked, the more impressive it became. As soon as I started looking closer at this, however, it became apparent that precisely none of what made the first season special made it to the second season. Crushing.

[@holysecret2]

I was rather disappointed by episodes 1-3 myself, but 4 and 5 have been great, in my view. Waiting to see the rest soon.

[@chuckleshelicopterwigwamjo6305]

​@@holysecret24 and 5 have massive problems as well, and uh...the second half of the show will not improve your opinion, if I had to guess.

[@therealfakecaptain7978]

I don' think it's all bad, there are still a few good ideas and pieces of dialogue here and there, unfortunately they are lost in a river of lousy stuff.

[@mantha6912]

Well said.

[@dire213]

If you're gonna start your episodes with music videos anyway, just get rid of imagine dragons. Why would they put 2 musical sequences back to back?

[@GrapefruitPizza]

because music good

[@oliverbodain5219]

Wait a minute. Jayce said to Silco that if he brought in Jinx to pay for her crimes, he would get independence. Silco is then killed by Jinx and Jinx attacks the council. How is it that the council's conclusion is that the undercity betrayed them? Wouldn't the obvious thing be Silco was going to get them Jinx and she is going rogue? Why is their first tought lets invade the lanes because they don't want peace?

[@blacktigerpaw1]

Initially they just wanted to get Jinx because Caitlyn and Vi saw her launch the rocket. They just assumed Jinx represented a volatile Zaun.

[@carmandirda]

​@@blacktigerpaw1did you not read the comment? Unless Vi believed Silco never planned to sell out Jinx, then why would they ever assume he died for any other reason than intending to sell her to Piltover?

[@tsusmildrides4937]

....because that's what the plot needed, get it straight it's. 1. Plotholes don't matter theme and character are the important things in story telling. 2. Characters may ve assassinated to ensure a smooth running plot.

[@blacktigerpaw1]

@@tsusmildrides4937 1. Plot holes do matter because they question the integrity of the plot 2. Characters can be killed off but doing it for no reason cheapens the plot

[@Dragonzord571]

@@blacktigerpaw1 Not literally assassinated

[@KingKamor2]

4:39:42 (in reference to Victor saying goodbye to Jayce) Fringy: "And that's the end of the scene!!" Yeeeeeah, this part really took me out of the show. All I could think about was Victor slowly hobbling his way down the halls of the Academy, through Piltover, and down into Zaun wearing only a thin sheet. And Jayce did nothing to stop him from leaving the entire time. Their conversation could have gone on so much longer, about how Jayce didn't destroy the Hexcore, about Victor's new perspective and body, what it means to both of them that he's leaving, and where he's even going.

[@blacktigerpaw1]

Yeah but the shipping potential!

[@tppt151]

The start of Jinx should have been her climax withdrawal where she goes deeper into her madness and a true war between her and Vi

[@emuman09]

Yes exactly she changes way too quick

[@DitlevPedersen]

You guys are gonna have a field day with the ending...

[@Proletariat12]

Im still pissed off at the ending. They did not have to do that. They could have ended it differently if they wanted.

[@Of_infinite_Faith]

​@@Proletariat12 season 2 was fucked from act 1.

[@amanpingle1497]

I've read the Koran, the Bible, the Bhagvad Gita back to back. None of them lists "All your media doth sucketh" as one of the signs of the apocalypse. So at least that's nice.

[@seeinred]

You made my day. So, i wish you a great day too :D

[@Falzelo]

Did you read Bigideas and Hiddel Subtleties though?

[@Neo2266.]

My dumbass read that as "The Korean Bible"

[@GrayStarFox]

Finished watching act two....I am genuinely baffled at how crazy fast and jam packed the writing is. There is no sticking with development of the story, just jumping between characters and going from one new plot line to the next without any payoff. These last six episodes could have been two 12 episode seasons. I can't believe this is the same writing team from season 1

[@georgeykitheka]

Very rushed. I think they didn't plan for it to end in 2 seasons. But Netflix forced their hand.

[@RilfDanielson]

@@georgeykitheka Ugh. I hate when writers try to smash all their plot together when they get essentially canceled. Just write out what you normally would. Let it stop with no conclusion. Maybe people will complain and you get more seasons.

[@nj7969]

I’ve definitely enjoyed the season so far. But I will admit I’d have loved more episodes to flesh things out more.

[@BertzTriscut]

​@@georgeykithekaRiot, actually.

[@nj7969]

@@RilfDanielson I somewhat agree, I somewhat disagree. There’s for sure something to be said for just standing on business and saying, “this story needs x amount of episodes to properly deliver as we intended.” But I also think the Writers did a good job of visual story telling with the intros to a lot of episodes. Which isn’t to say I would turn down a full episode of the content of those intros. But I don’t think it overly detracts from much.

[@xJbonez]

Never stay too long inside the goon tomb

[@Martijn_Steinpatz]

To summarize: too much, too fast, in too little time. This is were Occam's Razor should come in.

[@jonbaxter2254]

I think a second series needs a third to tie everything up. I still am really enjoying it though

[@Mozgodrobil]

Very much agree to this, it felt rushed, and a lot of details either omitted or skipped entirely for the sake of moving the story forward ASAP. Which did kill the flow for me, I couldn't really attach myself to the events or the characters since it was all happening too fast.

[@Martijn_Steinpatz]

@@jonbaxter2254 there's definitely still things to enjoy, but, yes, adding a third season would have been better.

[@nj7969]

@@Mozgodrobil I somewhat agree. I wouldn’t say not to more episodes, but I don’t think they really skipped a lot. They did a pretty good job of visual story telling with the intros to where I never felt lost. And I can tell there was a lot of effort in making them.

[@JohnKollar]

Caitlyn taking control makes sense if the position is inherited - and it passes through the mothers bloodline - in which case it would go to Cait and NOT her father - because he isn't royalty by blood. Bloodline would trump marriage in this case. (yes my history degree finally comes in some use)

[@TheRetroRenegade]

So... I have a theory that might explain this backwards long-jump in quality... Arcane has apparently set a record for the most expensive animated series of all time, which is no surprise looking at the animation in both seasons; this shit was obviously EXPENSIVE to make, and IMMACULATE in quality (the animation at least). Now, keep in mind, it took 6 years to produce Season 1 alone, including writing, recording, animating, etc. To put things in perspective, Mia Sinclair Jenness was 11 when she recorded her lines for Powder, and was 16 when the show finally debuted in 2021; knowing how voices are usually recorded before animation begins, that should give you an idea how much time they worked on animation/editing alone. Fast-forward to the last 3 years: They have half the time to work on their next season compared to the first, they cannot compromise on the animation quality (the most "dazzling" thing about the show), and they might have had plans in place to carry on to a third season at the very least - a solid trilogy, if you will... ... but the higher-ups - Netflix, Riot, Fortiche themselves, whomever - are concerned about how expensive the show is [becoming] and if the returns from a streaming service exclusive justify the costs for an animated show of this caliber. This would motivate these higher-ups to mandate that the show needs to wrap up its story in a second, final season, cutting long-term expenses while still finishing the story the audience is invested in... like cramming your final points and closing statements on an essay because you spent too long on the thesis and now you're running out of paper... Now the show has to cram everything it wants to accomplish story-wise into one final season while still only taking half of the production time as the first, while simultaneously not compromising on the animation quality. All this means more [re]writing challenges and less time to solve them before finalizing the script and moving on to recording and the lengthy process of animation. And from the looks of it, barring some continuity errors here and there, I can tell from just these episodes alone that they did not compromise on the animation. So far, Season 2 is still GORGEOUS! But... that gives me all the more reason to believe they went to work on it faster with less time spent polishing the script. And when you consider how Act I feels like they crammed almost a whole season's worth of material (or at least 6 episodes worth) into just 3 episodes, neglecting important information, plotlines, characters, and everything just feeling rushed in general... well, it really looks like the game was rigged from the start... TLDR: We're bleeding money! Time to crunch and wrap this shit up! I can't prove it yet, but it would make this dramatic dip in writing quality ALLLLLL MAKE SENSE...

[@sulaimanahmad2463]

I read in some article that they were still writing while they had already started animating,

[@matthewcollins4773]

Your logic is depressingly convincing.

[@TheRetroRenegade]

@ well that further complicates things if that means stuff they had written had to be locked in once they began animation… I wouldn’t be surprised if we get a “Production Hell” video from Drinker of a “What Happened” episode from Matt McMuscles or something in the future about this season…

[@TheRetroRenegade]

@@matthewcollins4773 Thank you, but I take no joy in it…

[@Dr.Pelican-bw2zs]

I was looking forward to S2 sooo much. When I saw it, I felt something was off, but I didn’t think about it all that much. Now I’ve seen each episode 3 times, and after having listened to the massives break it down, it’s a sad reality that this is not what Arcane S2 could have and should have been.

[@MaxRovensky]

Having now seen Act 2, they needed 5-6 more episodes to tell this story I can see every conversation happening in the writers room as I watch it, I know what they're trying to do, but they don't have breathing room for anyone other than Jinx and Vi

[@meris8486]

Also feel like stuff that should have big consequences isn't given enough time to let them sink in. Cait becomes dictator and Ambessas puppet but we have so little time for her actions to reap consequences for her to brutalize the city in the name of law, the kind of stuff that Vi would hate her for. The juicy drama stuff. The fight with Jinx in episode 3 meant little, I thought she was awakening the Goddess Janna to do big things but no actually. Vi as enforcer is a big deal but we have so little time for that, likewise her relationship with Cait ends up thin despite how much I wanted those characters together. Jinx is crazy and destructive then she's mopey and wandering Zaun. She helps Sevika crush a mob boss but then she doesn't try to take over shimmer production. She makes a big move in episode 3 but then is basically cured in episode 4. Vi never even brings up the 6? Councillors she murdered with the rocket when they meet again. Warwick is super awesome death machine, until he gets fixed within an episode only to break again in the same episode because JAYCE committed insanity. now he's dead. Already? We'll see

[@HeckDescender2184]

​@@meris8486me upon Jayce's return: "where is Heimerdinger? Is he safe? Is he allright?"

[@HeckDescender2184]

Defo agree. Act 2 could have been a whole season. If it was I think it would have been pretty strong.

[@MaxRovensky]

@@HeckDescender2184 yeah I feel like we can make half-season arcs out of: - Clearing out the chembarrons - Heil Caitlyn - Jinx and the kid doing the Kratos arc (super unearned so far) - Victor being an unintentional giga mass murderer - Heimerdinger and Jayce doing literally anything at all - Ekko solving the tree corruption - the Australian enforcer girl and other new supporting cast whom I don’t remember

[@HeckDescender2184]

@@MaxRovensky Shield Man aka Horace The Hobo Enforcer and Fish Face are the new enforcers. Another name for Shield Man that I personally use is "Vander's Piltover Cousin" because I thought he looked like Vander ahaha Really good points you made there. I wouldn't mind a whole season of Jayce and Heimerdinger just drinking tea not talking about the fact that Jayce betrayed him or that Heimer's colleagues are dead and war is brewing ; ) Reflecting on Act 2 theres a lot there that I think is actually great its massively let down by pacing. But hey I guess we are stuck with this now. Act 2 would have a been a great season on its own

[@Necrow_Productions]

3:09:16 This and the preceding conversation is just fantastic and a stand out to me. Mauler is very right when it seems characters are not themselves when the writers want to move a plot forwards very quickly. It makes me think that the writers were forced to do this since Arcane will only have two seasons... I just wonder why it could not have been tightened up a better way.

[@sulaimanahmad2463]

@@Necrow_Productions I think they just got burnt out and wanted to move onto something else. I hope their next endeavor is a shorter story with more consistent writing quality.

[@Doomward]

When the world needed him the most, doomer disappeared

[@ProxyDoug]

We're all doomer now

[@nont18411]

Tywin Lannister 🤝 Silco Patriarch villains who carried their own respective show, according to EFAP

[@sarwatarannya8786]

The one principal difference is that silco's love towards his daughter is why she is still continuing his mission while tywin nearly destroyed his family due to his neglect towards his children

[@jonbaxter2254]

Also British accent.

[@nj7969]

@@sarwatarannya8786 I don’t think Jinx really cared about Silco’s cause or Zaun. She isn’t an altruistic individual. She’s happy if “her person” is happy. That used to be Vi but then became Silco. In my mind, she nuked the capital for two reasons. One, she built the rocket launcher on Silco’s request and using it was part of her grieving process. Two, like the song in the background implied “I want you to hurt like you hurt me today. I want you to lose like I lose when I play.” She just wants everyone to hurt as much as she does.

[@duchessofdementia]

thank you for dismantling this so thoroughly. i absolutely LOVED S1 and put so much faith in S2. i watched 1-3 and felt uneasy, rewatched, saw so many issues and i realized it's kinda bad. watched 4-6 twice as well and... it's awful. every single scene has problems. characters don't act as they should, tisms and plot armor everywhere, awful decisions and complete heel turns. at this point i can't even get excited for 7-9. nothing there will feel earned.

[@__-gf3zn]

From warwick/vander being right nearby jinx to magically teleporting further away despite issha crying feeling like she had to pull the trigger up her own throat???? It's almost laughable as it felt like the writers felt like "oh wait, we can't have that, because we want to selectively (and poorly) choose who dies or lives like we did in the first act" It's actually kinda crazy how bad act 2 was imo

[@Relugus]

It's made me worried about Andor season 2 which will also have a ton of ground to cover, though that will have 12 episodes. Arcane needed at least 3 seasons. I think making only two seasons was a financial decision (the most expensive animated show ever made), not a creative one. Some of the still frame sketchy music video sequences felt to me suspiciously like cost-cutting.

[@nj7969]

I don’t know if I’d say awful. Sure, I’d love more episodes to flesh things out but I don’t think EVERY scene has problems. In fact I think a lot of the scenes have many interesting and character building details. The art style, in my opinion, is interesting to watch and they used said style as a way to inform us of what has gone on between episodes (tho I can see the argument that just having more episodes would work too). I don’t entirely know about heal turns either. There are some abrupt changes in dynamics but I’d largely attribute that to run time. Most notable being Cait ditching Vi. But even then, it isn’t like there wasn’t established tension pulling them apart despite their chemistry. Things just came to a head when they battled Jinx and Vi got in the way of Caitlin finishing her mission. And I actually really enjoyed this show actually letting characters talk to one another as well. Especially between Vi and Jinx.

[@nj7969]

@@Relugus I’d argue that creative cost cutting isn’t necessarily a detractor. And I honestly don’t think it takes away from the story a whole lot. Though obviously I’d love more episodes too.

[@nj7969]

@@__-gf3zn I didn’t think act 2 was bad. I’d have loved more episodes to have fleshed things out sure. But from a story telling standpoint, they teased Warwick in act 1. They showed him in act 2 while giving backstory that also helped to develop the relationship of the main characters. We’ll have to see what comes of this in act 3. This arc seemed to place an emphasis on the opportunity for redo’s. Like trying to save Vander in season 1 vs in this season. Powder getting a chance to have a sisterly relationship with someone. And lastly a thematic repeat of her wound up monkey killing her family as well as Isha (someone she wound up and set loose) with the same number of stones from season one being responsible for the (this is still a little speculative) final spiritual death of Vander. And following the theme, Vi has a chance to be there for Jinx unlike in season 1. And Jinx has a chance to face this occurrence through a different mindset than when she was a child. And Warwicks placement in the final scene, at least in my opinion, wasn’t jarring enough so as to take me out of the moment. It didn’t seem like it changed dramatically to me.

[@StromboRock]

Oh ohh, the misery...

[@lwazinkasawe3887]

Everybody wants to be my enemyyyyyy

[@defrostedrobot77]

@@lwazinkasawe3887 Spare the sympathy

[@lwazinkasawe3887]

@@defrostedrobot77 everybody wants to beeeeee my enemyyyyy

[@HectorLopez0217]

Look out for your self (self)

[@samuraibobafett1118]

@@HectorLopez0217 My enemy

[@chapman2001]

This show goes 100mph all the time there’s no respite it seems

[@TheRetroRenegade]

Just like VI’s running speed to grab Jayce’s hammer lol

[@nj7969]

@@chapman2001 I disagree. There are plenty of character driven scenes where people just talk to one another. Especially in act 2.

[@kangarooster857]

"We will fight them in the fissures." Churchill

[@CanadianBalll]

I thought it was super rushed just to provide fan service to have Vi and Caitlyn make out just so they break up a minute later.

[@HeckDescender2184]

Wait until the first scene of Act 2 Episode 4 ohhh boyyy

[@meris8486]

​Lmao. How many lesbians are there in this city?

[@gunterthekaiser6190]

​@@meris8486at least 3.

[@bazzy5644]

The most obvious and cringy fan service scene was vander, silco's and whoever the women which was the mother of vi and jinx turns out to be. I think they didn't mention her name yet. But that was the scene were you could feel the fan serice being the only thing the writers gave a crap about. The seem to have no powder left, which is just amazing to think about. To be fair I expected this, but how bad it's gotten is still schocking.

[@angrynapolean3820]

Boy will it be awkward for Caitlyn to mention her new girlfriend to Vi after Caitlyn was still on Vi's side the whole time and actually didn't have a problem with her at all for no reason!

[@Xeabii]

I think the line I hate the most when Caitlyn pops the badge on Vi is just after Vi responds with the obvious counter of "I can't wear this, they killed my parents, do you have any idea how that feels?" For some reason Kaitlyn responds with "Yes, I do." Like, no. You really don't, love. You watched your mother's murder by Jinx, an individual and you're not joining up with Jinx you're going to kill Jinx. How she thinks that is in any way equivalent to Vi watching her parents get gunned down by enforcers and then being asked to join that same organization and wear their uniform is beyond me.

[@MegaMighty]

There are a few issues I see here. The first being that there’s a rather large difference between how vi’s mother was killed and how kiramom was killed. Caitlyn’s mom was killed through no choice of her own via premeditated attack. VI’s parents on the other hand were killed during an insurrection attempt on the bridge that was organized by vander and silco. Secondly caitlyn does relate to vi in not just being a victim of being made an orphan but also being asked to trust someone directly adjacent to the cause of pain in the first place. Caitlyn is making the choice to trust Vi in spite of knowing she is directly related to a terrorist that needs to be put down. From Caitlyn’s side? Vi is the one good zaunite she knows the rest of them may as well be violent psychopaths. Anyway just my too cents

[@The_Punisher]

The only thing that can save this show is if somehow Doomer came back and said something dumb to make us laugh

[@Dr.Mandingo]

Every frame a headache. If there's was a time for doomer to bash the caitlyn and vi scenes, this was it, not in season 1

[@comeatmebro8120]

Doomer won’t come back unless the EFAP crew admits that Silco and Jinx made out

[@blackdragoncyrus]

@@comeatmebro8120 Doomer won't come back to EFAP because he's been gaming for 30 years.

[@comeatmebro8120]

@@blackdragoncyrus 30 years?! Wait thats a big number, maybe he had a point

[@Resijew]

Doomer won’t come back because Caitlyn wanting to talk to Vi in Stillwater was a coincidence

[@malzo1701]

"Hercules shouting DISAPPOINTED into the sky" 😢😒

[@mooncake8717]

Can't believe we are calling green enforcer "guy". All I could call him in my head Kiff. "Kiff, we are invading the Undercity fetch my rifle" "Ehhhhhh"

[@jonbaxter2254]

Show them my medal Kif!

[@chuckleshelicopterwigwamjo6305]

The focus that Kiff and Blander and even Maddie got is even more baffling once you see the whole season. Why did we waste time on them at all? Even Maddie's involvement is near zero, but they expect you to be shocked when the thing happens in the finale? Why? What were they thinking?

[@terrasur4168]

26:00 Ah yes, the famous Greek tragedies of... Phantom of the Opera... and Les Mis... and Macbeth? Should Jinx's have been Oedipus to parallel her Elektra complex according to Doomer?

[@meris8486]

Even when he's gone I hear his takes

[@TheRetroRenegade]

We just got all the worms back in the can, and you just opened it up again! XD I’m dying!

[@seeinred]

@@meris8486 didn't he returned to the internet as of late?

[@malachiconstant2756]

After Amnesia, Joker, the Boys, Last of Us, and now Arcane… I’m bracing for impact when Andor season 2 comes out

[@nont18411]

Before Andor, there is also Squid Game season 2 but since it’s made by Koreans, not Americans so fingers crossed

[@Arko777777]

@@nont18411 Too bad only plot A was good in the Squid Game, because plot B with the detective actively made the organization into morons. It's still like 6/10, but I couldn't stand of lucky the police officer was all the time he was there.

[@malachiconstant2756]

@@Arko777777 yea thats kind of why I didn’t consider Squid Game in my original comment. I personally liked season 1 but there were enough problems that going into season 2 the bar’s just not as high as Arcane, Andor, etc.

[@nont18411]

@@malachiconstant2756 Many people consider the VIP to be the biggest problem but for me, the worst part is that the show refused to hold the protagonist accountable in any way shape or form. I hate the old man being the real villain twist. The old man should stay an old man. The main character taking advantage of his dementia to survive should have a huge toll on his morality but nope, since the old man is the bad guy, then the main character stays morally clean until the end (That’s why I prefer a character like Sang woo more than him. He’s a bad guy because he had to make tough choices in this survival game and the show held him accountable while understanding his struggle. I love Sang woo’s nuance. The main character has no nuance thanks to the twist).

[@gunterthekaiser6190]

Eh, while Arcane season two isn't as strong as season 1, it is still pretty damm good. Even if Andor has a slight drop in quality, I think it would still be a great show, just not a masterpiece.

[@JacobSeraph]

Mauler - "They're doing like a GREEK tragedy thing with the opening (...) You have Phantom of the Opera, Macbeth, Julius Ceasar..." peepoStare

[@Phoenix0F8]

mfw Mewbsly implied Shakespeare was gay ... I mean greek

[@Ron_Jambo_]

MauLer is great and all but he despises reading so that explains it

[@carsoncollins3139]

peepoSus

[@Red_Cap5]

Idk what Caitlyn was thinking about when she was building that strike team at the end of episode 1. If your goal is to find Jinx, destroy Shimmer, and apprehend Silco loyalists, surely you'd bring more than 5 people to help do the job? Especially if you are attempting to search the entirety of the undercity to do so. Also, surely Cait could have found more people who were more experienced or qualified to be apart of the strike team. Maddie doesnt seem qualified because she gets scared easily, and we didn't get to see her show off any skills during Memorial attack that would make her a good fit for the team. Shield guy and Fish man seem to be more qualified as Shield guy is shown to be really strong with the shield when up against the Amazing Bulk, and both of them were shown to be courageous, quick-thinkers who were willing to go up against the Amazing Bulk. I still think it's a bit questionable bringing Shield guy to the super important strike team since he was shown to be a guy who was from the streets, but whatever. I wouldn't be having this problem if the characters were more developed and if the strike team wasn't formed on episode 1.

[@HeckDescender2184]

Ah yes as Nutsa put it: "The Scooby Squad". Yeah what happened to all the other enforcers? Ahah maybe they are okay with the brutal oppression of Zaunites but they draw the line at war crimes ahahahah. Also Shield Man looked like Vander

[@TheRetroRenegade]

I have no problem with the idea of a specialized strike team for covert ops instead of a full invasion, it’s just… why are these people the most qualified people she picked? And why are they using such insane tactics to do their job? And why is Vi cool with gassing her own city? And why is Caitlyn allowed to make decisions only the council should be able to approve of? And so many other questions that need answers and I have a bad feeling we aren’t going to get answers for…….

[@Radman22]

It’s to avoid a full conflict. Sending an army in is going to create retaliation.

[@Red_Cap5]

@Radman22 I understand not bringing a full-on army, but I think only 5 is just too little. Especially with how much of a threat Jinx has shown to be. Also, if they were trying to avoid retaliation, it didn't seem they did a good job at doing so. In the music segment of them patrolling the undercity, the team were shown getting into fights with people, and they were also gassing people with The Grey. That would certainly cause retaliation.

[@TheRetroRenegade]

@@Red_Cap5 “The NCR sends us when they want terrible things done to terrible people. You’ve got three days to improve your reputation with the NCR, or we come for you!”

[@meatforbreakfast]

While I agree with most of their assessments, the blatant mischaracterization of Sevika hurts my soul. To imply she "betrayed" Finn (who she has zero affiliation with) when she actually just reinforced her loyalty to Silco in that moment is A WILD TAKE. Her history of backstabbing is non-existent seeing as how backstabbing by definition is "the action of criticizing someone in a treacherous manner despite pretending friendship with them". Sevika never did that once, she was brutally honest and direct about her disapproval of Vander, literally called him out in front of everyone, she changed her loyalties but she was never secretive or pretentious about it. Even Silco she called out directly when he asked her if she was tempted by Finn's proposal, and her response was "not for a worm like him, but there will be others". Sevika at the end of the day is loyal to the Undercity as a whole, and more so to the Undercity gaining its independence, not to a single individual. She will follow whoever she deems best fit to lead them to that goal. That's why she turned her back on Vander, deeming his approach too feeble and ultimately fruitless, and reinforced her loyalty to Silco. And yes she will fuck up her enemies even if they're from the Undercity if they threaten her, the person she follows or their overall goal. And refusing to give up her own people (especially someone like Jinx who she has a lot of history with) is not contradictory to her overall goal to gain independence from Topside, seeing as how she sees them as the ultimate enemy. And lastly, you guys do remember that Sevika and Jinx have known each other for roughly 7 years yes? The day Silco decided to take Powder in is the day those two started sharing a space, especially since they were the two people closest to Silco, the ones he trusted the most and were instrumental in implementing his plans. Sevika saw Jinx grow up in front of her eyes. Moreover, if these two actually wanted each other dead, they'd be dead already. In season 1 Jinx has Sevika tied to a chair, she could have easily killed her right then and there, but instead she merely tied her to the ceiling. While I absolutely agree that their development (much like everything else in this season) is rushed, the fact that something as monumental as Silco's death would bring these two closer together is absolutely believable to the point where I foresaw this development coming even back when season 1 aired. It needed more time to breathe, more conversations of substance between these two characters for sure, it's the execution that is lacking for sure, but the fact that these two are joining forces in and of itself is a very believable and natural thing to occur.

[@toddstone230]

How Caitlyn is acting is how I expected Rhenyra in HotD S2 to act like. And theres more justification for her than Caitlyn

[@romainf3780]

Season 2 Act 1 is so concerned about showing you "cool" things on screen that they forget to make them substantial.

[@Grivehn]

In current year, thats still better than actively ruining everything you liked about the show on purpose. If it wasnt malice, but incompetence for once, Im far more lenient at forgiving that.

[@za-ir5ni]

Nah, they're still substantial. You guys are just being really bad at understanding what's going on.

[@nj7969]

@@romainf3780 How are they not substantial?

[@romainf3780]

@@nj7969 To make it short, everything subtantial about the character's decisions happen off-screen (as is made abunduntly clear in the video) : - Vi's decision to become an enforcer is huge but the show doesn't show you how she comes to this decision. - Victor's fusing with the Hexcore is basically Heimerdinger's worst nightmare come true. No screen time is given to the ramifications of this event. - Jayce's decision not to be involved with the council anymore is left to the viewer's imagination. - Jayce's decision to make Hextech weapons again is given no screentime although it is against his core values. - Cait's rise to power is given no context. Is it a coup? Does the council have any say about it? Does anyone oppose her? Why/why not? - Sevika does not learn that Jinx killed Silco, making all her decisions towards Jinx ill-informed. ....and more, but I won't try and summarize a 7+h video by text, that would take too much time I think.

[@nj7969]

@ I disagree with everyone of those points. -Vi is shown deliberating over joining the enforcers throughout episode one. And it was very in character for her to originally reject the offer. She didn’t decide to join until the end when she had been told Cait fought for her to be accepted, when Maddie told her several people on the force looked up to her, and after she had helped defend piltover from a chem baron attack. All of which was very on screen. -Hiemerdinger is quite aware of the potential danger. He recognizes the problem first in the tree, which leads him back to the lab. He, Ekko, and Jayce have a scene discussing how the arcane works and the ramifications of their use of Hextech which literally leads them to the base of the Hexgates to learn about the severity of the ramifications. Said ramifications are also shown from Viktors point of view as he literally starts an arcane hippie commune which will definitely be relevant in the coming episodes. -Jayce not being involved with the council is shown as he spends his time pouring over Viktor’s research after he built weapons for Cait and squad. Then going to the hexgate and getting yeeted into the next dimension. Coming back looking like a lumber jack with a migraine. -Jayce has been willing to engage in violence since all the way back in season 1. After the bridge attack, it was Mel that walked him back from suggesting they invade the fissures. Vi was also able to convince him to use hex tech weaponry to disable Silco’s labs. Jayce may have reservations about hex tech weaponry. But if a character convinces him it’s the only way, he’s folded in the past. - Caitlyn’s rise to power was hinted all the way back the beginning of the season as she progressively grew more and more ruthless. Ambessa was clearly manipulating things from the get go. Orchestrating an attack to make her look like a hero. She was very clear with Mel about her intentions to procure Hextech weaponry and her plot culminated in a cue. No, the council doesn’t get a say anymore because at this point there isn’t even a council left. And one council member organized Ambessa’s rise and she lil bro’d him right when he thought she was going to hand him the reigns. - I certainly hope Savika finds out that Silco was killed by Jinx. That would be an interesting character situation we haven’t seen yet. But I’ll reserve judgment until the series is over. As it stands, it doesn’t look like anyone other than Cait, Vi, and Jinx know what happened that night. And I don’t even think anyone really knows they’re witnesses either.

[@Cannonfodder0617]

Why is it so confusing that Cait's dad does not inherit? It's the same reason Queen Elizabeth's husband was not a King, he married into the family.

[@ryanburnett8251]

I think yall missed something on the ending of episode 1. Salo says "And what makes you think youll fare any better than our forces today?". This was after Caitlyn busts down the door and declares her mission (unauthorized mission). Based upon what Salo says it is the same day of the attack. That means within the day of the attack by Chembarron Lady, Jayce, even after being injured with a giant chainsaw slash to the back which would impede any normal person, made 4 new Hextech weapons for Caitlyn's squad, and repaired the gauntlets for Vi. I think this is a bit too much even for him, the creator of Hextech. To have all of that happen in a single day is really far fetched.

[@jmanjman2685]

Its just sad to have one of the greatest animated tv-shows turn generic and mid in the follow up season. I don’t hate this season so far but it really not the same thing you saw in season 1.

[@Crow12619]

I wouldn't call it generic but yeah it definitely is very disappointing so far

[@TheNoonish]

It's the 5 words you never want to hear from your dad: I'm not angry, I'm disappointed.

[@benjaminsnyder9587]

The creator insisted the show was not shortened, claimed that they did not have enough story to tell to make more seasons. But now, they are saying they always planned to have spin off shows from this.

[@therealfakecaptain7978]

​​@@TheNoonishThose are seven words, son, but do not worry for I am not angry, only disappointed.

[@angrynapolean3820]

Coming back to this after seeing Act 3 is like when Jayce returned after being sucked into the future. They don't know how bad it'll be.

[@blacktigerpaw1]

I can't wait for the honeymoon phase to be over and for fans to realize how s.hit this is.

[@yhormthemidget]

​@@blacktigerpaw1 funny thing is, I know modern league lore pretty well, so I could appreciate the little easter eggs and subtle hints, but I still found it rather miserable. I can not imagine how someone who is a little deeper thinker than average and new to this world would like this season.

[@blacktigerpaw1]

@@yhormthemidget You just get told you're not media literate enough. I still feel empty after watching the finale, especially how they handled Viktor's arc.

[@lightvader4618]

@@blacktigerpaw1 What the hell are you on about? Viktor, Jayce and their dynamic was done pretty well

[@yhormthemidget]

@@blacktigerpaw1 Ah yes the media literacy people. Also known as the midwit parrots. They will ADORE the season. It was beautiful, shiny, full of action and had nonsense paralel universes and easter eggs. It more or less explodes at the seams if you think about the plot for a minute, but we know it is not their strong suit. IGN 7/10.

[@TheTalan]

1:01:02 i think you forgot part of the deal for peace was turning in Jinx, what more of a reason would they conclude that Jinx, the unhinged girl so close to Silco, wouldn't have killed him to save herself?

[@govind.m86]

Caitlyn's character has been the most disappointing part of this entire season. Between her treatment of Vi and everything getting worse moving forward, her character got thoroughly assassinated. This is the girl who exchanged her cherished childhood weapon for a vial of medicine to treat a random girl she met a day ago btw. Going from a that to this is a travesty.

[@buildaburn8468]

It feels like someone dragging their least favorite character through the dirt for a laugh. The show ends up punishing her more severely for her dictator arc than it does Jinx for everything she's done. Absolutely awful.

[@Of_infinite_Faith]

​@@buildaburn8468 Cait, vi, Jayce, jinx, the ones who CARRIED THE PLOT in the first season are all handled so poorly. Also idk why but it seems like the second season is pro terrorism. Ambessa becomes dumb AF this season.

[@communicationsimulationati897]

Watching it, I couldn't put my finger on why i wasn't happy with it. Now, I realize I don't have enough fingers for the shit.

[@lolbuster01]

You might not have noticed it, *but your brain did*

[@jonbaxter2254]

Finally, a shit to sink my teeth into

[@AGoodPlace365]

Watching season 2 ep 8 of Arcane, and now I believe there is only one season of Arcane, 'Better to have loved and lost than Never to have loved at all'

[@thedoobieshrew0244]

Well that was something....and act 2.... oh boy.....i...i...just don't know. "You were supposed to be the chosen one"

[@Arko777777]

At least the Warwick and Signed scenes were cool. That's something.

[@xentiment6581]

Atleast its not terrible.

[@nj7969]

@@thedoobieshrew0244 I enjoy it honestly. I hear the “rushed” complaint and I don’t entirely agree. I agree that more episodes would give more time to flesh things out and that would be cool. But they wouldn’t change anything in the over all story. And they did a good job of visual story telling with the intros to each episode showing what happened in the in between. They still give characters plenty of time to talk to one another and compare and contrast ideas. And the fight scenes are damn near infinitely re watchable with the amount of subtle detail they put in.

[@benboothroyd1523]

@@nj7969yes, almost everything to do with animation and visual storytelling through animation is incredible this season, as it was with season 1. But people are saying it’s rushed because of the writing decisions re plot and characters (especially the latter). One that I didn’t even pick up on until this efap because it went by so fast was Jayce’s sudden resolve to create Hextech weapons for Caitlin, Vi and the others (who btw are barely characters and shown to be barely above average enforcers, what the hell are they doing on the most important strike team mission narratively and in-universe?). At the beginning of S2E1, he won’t create Hextech weapons to use for war against Zaun because he realises this was the attack of one deranged individual. Then, the attack by chem baron chainsaw woman makes him change his mind. Why though? She was trying to assassinate him specifically, for the death of her son, which he is responsible for AND is the reason he stopped the invasion of Zaun in S1. And don’t even get me started on Act 2. Caitlin and Vi making up within minutes in E6 - wtf? Caitlin working with Jinx (as Vi explained to her the situation) - wtf? The only enjoyable scenes are with Ambessa, her bodyguard, and Singed. Almost everyone else if fd up by the pacing. All of this could be fine, if it was actually fleshed out. It’s not just that it not being fleshed out is a little bit of a bummer, but it actively destroys characters.

[@nj7969]

@ I disagree on Jayce. The Chem Baron revealed that she wanted him dead especially. But the attack itself was staged in a way to make Piltover believe drastic action was necessary. That was why Ambessa orchestrated the attack in the first place. And Jayce had already broken his promise to Victor to destroy the Hex core. He broke his vow because he wanted to save Victor. Likewise, it was plain as day that the enforcers on their own weren’t capable of fending off the shimmered out guys on their own. They were on the back foot the entire fight. If the Noxians hadn’t stepped in, the only hope they had was Hextech weapons. And the Noxians were not at Piltovers disposal at this point. So like with Victor, he broke his vow regarding Hex tech to give Cait the edge she needed to fight on the chem barons turf. In his desperation to protect after being pressured directly, he folded and made the weapons. With the other enforcers in the Caits goon squad… mmmm I’ll reserve judgment. I think there’s more to follow in the coming episodes. Especially the beard guy. Also not convinced Maddie is as innocent as she claims. But who knows, maybe it’ll all go nowhere and I’ll eat my words 🤷‍♂️. With Vi and Cait. Vi was in a drunken stupor self destructing because she missed Cait. I don’t see a serious issue with her being happy to see her again. Even if it is antagonistic at first. Cait clearly missed Vi as well. So much so that Ambessa was going to kill Vi to make sure she didn’t continue to be a distraction to her pawn. And considering the promotional material for act 3, it doesn’t exactly sound like Vi is just going to overlook everything Cait did with Ambessa. Cait never worked with Jinx. She was surprised to see her there. Evidenced by her seeing Jinx and saying “You!😡”. They aren’t friends. Cait still hates her. I just don’t think I agree with the idea that characters are being ruined by the quick pace of the show. I still think they’re pretty consistent and with reasonable motivations.

[@raitoiro]

3:24:00 I really disagree with that whole discussion regarding the father. Using real world marital laws make no sense, everything we see seems to indicate that Caitlyn family is matriarchal and the father married into the family, Cait is an adult so it makes perfect for her to be in charge of the family. Her being a decorated officer does come out of nowhere tho.

[@alexhayden219]

People keep saying "they needed another season." Yes, things are condensed. But they're also shit. Another season or five would've given them more room to fill in gaps, but the scenes they did turn in is so far inferior to what came before that I think more would have only prolonged how much pain we're given.

[@alduinthetyrant5225]

You can practically envision Theo's frown growing.

[@Itisoverthere-rw]

Theo is an unhinged guy that wants to be the smartest guy in the room but his positions are always hot takes he can't even support well. The fucker couldn't even make a convincing case for the Clone Wars. The show is garbage for a multitude of reasons but his entire approach was: "I am smart, the show sucked. Not gonna explain anything"

[@user-pm7pw1tl3t]

His panties are always in a twist already

[@matthewlugo2417]

My problem with show is it was clearly meant to have more seasons

[@HeckDescender2184]

At the very least you could have made this season longer say maybe 13 to 15 episodes or make each episode over an hour or something and release 1 each week

[@Neo2266.]

Or it wasn’t and S2 was very mismanaged

[@matthewlugo2417]

@Neo2266. its official the show was meant to be 5 seasons in total but netflix only gave them 1 more

[@micahbrinson7950]

It was never meant to have more seasons, they made both at once pretty much. This just the writers first time writing, so I’m not surprised they rushed the ending. That’s a common issue with newer writers I’ve noticed.

[@matthewlugo2417]

@micahbrinson7950 no lol the first season was perfectly paced and the every character has their time to shine and have character development. The second season is fine but you can definitely tell they had plans to have more seasons with the amount of things they threw in, especially since there are plotlines that have one episode if that to start and conclude.

[@terribleplayer2526]

Finished act 2 and I'm more frustrated, the end of act 2 would of been PERFECT if they did more setup to it

[@HeckDescender2184]

Yep!!! Personally I think Act 2 would make an amazing season on its own. If the ending of Act 2 Episode 6 was a season finale imagine how cool that would have been. Would have blown season 1 cliffhanger out the water

[@TheRedGauntlet]

After finishing Act 3.....yeah the copium is off my system and in post GoT Final Season mode now..... God Dammit!!!

[@Paool]

There's a suspicious amount of women in this show.

[@dustindarby8628]

Who gives a shit they are good characters

[@goshtheguardian7454]

They're referencing NoBullshit​@@dustindarby8628

[@Aidan_2099]

​@@dustindarby8628*were + he's joking

[@sognurT]

​@@dustindarby8628it's a reference

[@dustindarby8628]

@@sognurT ahh didn’t catch that my bad

[@dreadedronin24]

ok after finished the entire video they have convinced me that season 2 is more flawed then just being rushed at first It felt like they were just complaining that the show was taking the route they wanted the story to go but as more and more of it starts stacking up the story just starts to break I'm not thinking of where part 2 went and I'm already seeing a bunch of break that don't even fit with that they set up in part 1. I can still subjectively find enjoyment with the show and interested to see where they end up taking the story but objectively I cant defend this seasons quality any longer by saying its only flaw is that its rushed. with all the things they pointed out its feel more like a completely different writing team was task with making this season and completely dropped the ball. unfortunately this series will join GOT as a series that started off great but then ruined itself. I still don't feel like the character assassination's is quite GOT level as they don't feel maliciously done just feel more incompetent then anything else. they did such a great job building the character up in season one that it blinded me to a lot of the flaw this season because I had to much faith that whatever they are heading toward would make sense but starting to lose that big time.

[@HectorLopez0217]

Caitlyn: Marcus the betrayer is dead but his death has given life to a new enemy, a deadlier enemy, a personal enemy we will not be blinded by his deception. We are the ones who are Enforcicons! RISE UP!

[@nont18411]

Caitlyn: “My equilibrium destabilized ooouuurrrggghhhhh!!!”

[@HectorLopez0217]

@@nont18411 Maddie: Oh too bad looks like I’m the new leader now *trips into hexcores*

[@loltwest9423]

You know, I tried breaking down that these three episodes were pretty much shit. Because they were. The gap in quality between Seasons 1 and 2 is jarring. The pacing was absolutely awful. We are introduced to ideas just as fast as they're implemented. People just meet each other and things just happen at such a breakneck pace. Unfortunately, trying to actually explain and articulate this is, shockingly, a hot take. Apparently, it's also a bannable offense. Ask me how I know...

[@barnbwt]

Six years is a long, long time...especially in this current day & age. Six years ago was 2018, two years after The Bad Times started in earnest in professional 'creative' circles. No one should be surprised that certain...influences took liberties with this property. I'm just glad there isn't overt tranny grooming stuff in it (just a lot of pink and blue in certain scenes). If the development had gone on another couple years, it almost certainly would have gone all-in. It's not so much that this injected content is the issue, it's that it causes massive compromises in the base storyline; they took a plot about complex relationships between heroic and villainous characters living in close proximity, and turned it into a morass of heel-face-turns, moral relativism....and fucking character-shipping. This is terrible, and it is not accidental, it is part of a broad and very consistent pattern of writing in modern corporate storytelling that has made modern media insufferable. TLDR, this season is excellent given all the headwinds it's working against.

[@nj7969]

I think it’s reasonable. I just disagree personally. I obviously would love more episodes to flesh things out, but the art style they used to show the time between episodes in each intro were enough for me. I personally didn’t see much in the way of character departures that a lot of folks are bringing up. Maybe someone can explain that to me. I haven’t really had any complaints with this season other than just wanting more of it.

[@sulaimanahmad2463]

Arcane S2: “I don’t know you anymore…you’re breaking my heart”

[@dustindarby8628]

I don’t like sand

[@Dr.Pelican-bw2zs]

Is Vi wearing her dead childhood undercity friend’s goggles as part of her ENFORCER uniform???

[@HeckDescender2184]

Why yes, yes she is!

[@Dr.Pelican-bw2zs]

@ …wow. Imagine what Clagger would say if he saw her now

[@nelguinevere4036]

​@@Dr.Pelican-bw2zstbh, if he were to somehow miraculously come back to life and go through the hands of the writing team on this season, he'd probably join her or something...

[@Alberecht]

War trophies, son! ain’t war hell!!

[@spacecore6000]

I mean, from the perspective of 'these characters end up like the game characters' Vi's affiliated faction/location is Piltover (while Jinx and that lot are Zaun) and her ig version has Claggers goggles.

[@Of_infinite_Faith]

I cant even take the police brutality seriously because the enforcers are incredibly incompetent in every scene. They're also piltover's only line of defense. They dont have an army, just a police force

[@josebuenrostro1430]

About Katelyn's father not being head of house after wife's death. Given it was the wife with a position on the Council it can be assumed she is the head of the house not her husband (ie a Rhea Royce Daemon Targaryen situation where the wife has the tile and family legacy to pass on) and like in that situation the husband would be a guardian until the child comes of age at which point all power and control goes to the child. Do we get confirmation on how old Katelyn is? She's a cop so I assume she's at least 18 which in our world is the age of majority so yeah her getting all the power and control makes sense if the Father married into the family.

[@skinnyguru_]

There’s too many music videos in this season. I could probably excuse one or two but holy cow.

[@Crow12619]

In particular they frontload act 1 with like 5, then act 2 has 1. Definitely a sign that the show runners weren't confident in the story and tried to hook the audience on spectacle instead.

[@nj7969]

Seems like a reasonable and entertaining way to show time passing while keeping the over all focus on the interaction between the main characters. At least from how I see it.

[@nj7969]

@@Crow12619 I don’t entirely see how that shows they aren’t confident in the story. The art set pieces in the “music videos” all tell a cohesive story that piece together what had been happening between the previous episode and where the latest episode picked up.

[@carmandirda]

​@@nj7969the problem is also that we are skipping too much time and too often. We don't sit with anything for the first act besides the death of Caitlyn's mother.

[@moe5020]

yeah it got really annoying when like the 4th overly stylised music video was used to substitute an actual scene.

[@vadandrumist1670]

Arcane was the chosen one! To destroy video game adaptation's bad reputation, not join it!

[@Seank7]

I can deal with plot holes and plot armor to an extent if the characters are still compelling, but stuff like Caitlyn suddenly abandoning Vi because "shes just like the rest of them" is just a bunch of bullshit created for fake drama

[@HeckDescender2184]

The first scene in Act 2 Episode 4 really pissed me off. Its one thing to cause unecessary drama but... well if you ain't seen it I'm not spoiling

[@lightvader4618]

​@@HeckDescender2184 I'm assuming you're talking about Maddie.. That was literally very realistic. She's a clear rebound

[@lightvader4618]

The main thing she was pissed off about was not getting to take the shot and Vi stopping her. She was not thinking straight as she was vengeful. Her behavior makes sense

[@jonbaxter2254]

I agree, the shit those 2 went through would make a bond forever.

[@ProxyDoug]

How long have they known each other? Two weeks, a month?

[@N0thing2SeaHere]

And now they'll say we hate it just because of lesbians. Even though we liked season 1.

[@Chirishman343]

it's a little annoying that no one could even attempt to steelman the use of the grey. unless jayce was building hextech iron man suits that'll render Cait team 6 invulnerable, how else is cait supposed to surgically complete her tasks? the full scale "invasion" is bad, apparently so what is left? special forces don't operate like in a video game, they have support on the radios, satellite overwatch tracking movements, and a Quick Reaction Force in case shit goes wrong. because otherwise you have 5 guys, surrounded by hostiles trapped in an urban hellhole. maybe if they had some hextech assault rifles they could shoot their way out, but over half the team only has melee weapons. 6 chemguards dropping in or bursting through walls would wipe that little team in no time. or just juice a few dozen shimmer junkies with a couple vials of the unrefined stuff and set them on the enforcers. an invasion force can handle them, but not a squad trapped in the bowels of zaun. while i'm here, has anyone from zaun actually condemned the attacks? mostly it seems they form a cult around the ppl who launch rockets at piltover. the only person from zaun who had an issue with the attacks was vi, and even after the second attack, she wasn't exactly rolling out condemnation, she just said Zaun it too hard for you pussy pilties. but when people put out actual plans, everyone just says, "that's awful you can't do that." and it always comes down to "piltover oppresses them, so it's not really their fault." note that every scene we've had of piltover's enforcers doing "oppression" has always been in response to someone from zaun blowing something up. never forget that zaun had near freedom under vander (under the table deal that was so sweet, that even if you robbed someone in piltover, if you gave the loot back, it was fine) and then defacto freedom in all but name under silco, who literally owned the enforcers top-down. hell, i've come around to the belief that silco would NOT give himself up for zaun's independence, he liked running the show far too much.

[@RedCornix]

2:04:00 - It's moments like this that make this frustrating to watch at times. There is an obvious material difference between Zaun Sneaking in to the memobill exclusively on their own efforts versus through contacts inside. It's also hilarious that they didn't notice that after having a whole conversation on Maddie's comment about the sheriff. I know it's been brought up to death but it really undercuts efap that rags is as flippant & dismissive as the people they mock. 2:08:00 - You could talk about how they got in because one of the people on your show pointed out this appears to be the efforts of people on the enforcer side as well. Damn rags, if only somebody had pointed out a hint there. 3:58:00 - how in tune with everything jinx actually is, is something of an open question. There's utility in her acknowledging it.

[@HumphreyHorsehead]

Is Random Film Talk one of the missing guys? He loves Arcane and made glowing reviews of the first season.

[@jessehershberger3507]

Yep. Also, if you check the video descriptions on these, you can usually see a list of the guests that are (or were intended to be) on the panel for the episode 👍

[@Johnboy6346]

Season 2 has been the biggest disappointment of the year for me, having seen act 1 and 2 now i am completely underwhelmed by the writing and story telling, i never played the games and know nothing about their story but my hope for season 2 was jinx was becoming the primary antagonist with how season 1 ended, the dynamic between her and vi is what really made the show interesing for me, but thats been pushed aside, season 2 has been overstuffed with plot threads that are given no time to breath, so much happens off screen, and those awful music video sections are so grating. I think this will end up with shows like west world and true detective, the only good season is the first one, better to not watch anything after

[@xentiment6581]

This is the final season, thats why its shit. You can tell they developed bunch of lore ahead of season 1 and tried fist it all into a single season now because a directive came from above.

[@AboutTheStory23]

My main problem with the show is the complete flip flops in the characters. How they end up isn't a problem, just how rushed and devoid of any context it is. When you established these characters so well in S1, we as the audience know who they are, it's a testament to the great job the writers did. Now Jayce, Vi, and Cait are all making decisions that just feel too fucking abrupt for having the stories that they have. For example, Vi coming to the conclusion that the ONLY option now is to not only become an enforcer, but to gas the undercity and KILL Jinx instead of idk, arresting her is so sudden it's jarring. That story for her should've taken a whole season but it's crammed in 1 act. The biggest letdowns for me personally are my two favorites Viktor and Jinx, both for different reasons. The fact we don't even get to see Viktor building his "utopia" is crazy, like not even 1 scene? I could totally understand him leaving Jayce especially after seeing the hextech gun schematics after picking up the journal, but we need more DIALOUGE, more time to discuss the decisions they made in S1. It's all so rushed and feels like, "well we got to get to this certain place but we only have limited time so let's move right along" smh. And Jinx, holy shit Jinx. I never would of thought the writers would put her on this big sister arc given the care they gave her the first season. Despite her being crazy, she always acted within character in S1, I'm genuinely shocked that she's SOOOO comfortable giving zingers especially with how dead she looked after killing Silco. After all the people she's killed, they are putting her on a hero arc and I can only imagine it's because of the reception she got in S1. I not only find that dishonest, but kind of spinless. I understand that they have a few different writers on this season, but it does not help them that for whatever reason they've only given themselves 9 episodes to wrap up such a complex story and characters. It's a shame, but I can always just watch S1 and imagine what happens after that.

[@TheBubZzz]

Vi becomes an enforcer to protect Caitlyn. And she decides to kill Jinx(the mass murderer terrorist) because she felt guilty and responsible for Jinx's actions and now wants to prevent more innocent lives to perish at the hands of her own sister.

[@AboutTheStory23]

@@TheBubZzz Ok, so if her goal is to protect Cait, she can do that without becoming an enforcer. Becoming an enforcer is a big fucking deal, she's hated them her whole life after they killed her parents. And she's SEEN Jinx kill many people but that never stopped her from believing Powder was still in there. And I think I have to emphasize, that is her family, and you can stop innocent lives being killed at the hands of Jinx by putting her in prison. If she was in character that should be her first intention, then after that they could have had it to where she escapes and still kills which could result to her coming to that conclusion of the only way I can stop her is by killing her. However that would take time, time they do not have.

[@matthewcollins4773]

The consensus does seem to be that the key problem is pacing. Rushing things leading to characters moving into roles and positions because the writers need them there, rather than taking the time to take them there organically. As Metal said, it's not that you couldn't see the characters ending up in these places, it's that they're suddenly there without any real process, and as you say, given how careful the characterization was in season one, it's unfortunately jarring. It needed more seasons. This season should have been at least two, maybe three, and then they could have taken the characters on the journeys rather than teleworking them from one status quo to a new one that is often at odds with what we know about them. Rushed, alas. Rushed.

[@TheBubZzz]

@@AboutTheStory23 "Becoming an enforcer is a big fucking deal, she's hated them her whole life after they killed her parents." I believe that's the point of Loris, Maddie e fish-guy introduction scenes. They show to Vi two things: 1- How Cait is desperately fighting for the enforcers to accept Vi as one of them. 2- There's still good ones left, even enforcers. "If she was in character that should be her first intention" That was shown already in S1. Jinx gave Vi the choice to get Powder back by killing Cait, after she refuses, Vi proposes them to runaway together and never come back. But everything goes downhill after Jinx kill Silco. Jinx herself tells Vi that they both changed and she(Vi) couldn't love her anymore now that she's different.

[@unusualaussie9606]

@@AboutTheStory23 ignore me if you wish, but I just wish to share thought on the enforcer thing as it doesn't seem that impactful to me. As all Vi does as an enforcer is get to hunt down Jinx with support/ Caitlyn. Nothing stopping her from just leaving after this is done. And as for Vi's decision to help kill Jinx makes sense to me as what would be the sentence for what Jinx did? I would imagine death. And speaking for myself, but if my family did what Jinx did? I doubt I would get in the way of them getting what they deserved. As they would have had to fired a rocket into a group of people that did nothing to them just because they had a bad day. No sympathy.

[@connorhull9215]

I am eagerly awaiting Theo's unbridled misery come the next act breakdown.

[@miltonfine947]

I can only imagine Mauler watching season 2 like the Coop from Interstellar meme. Also love the barely disguised contempt in Nutsa's voice.

[@crimsonpotemkin]

The problem with having a sloppy and nonsensical season 2 is that now I'm not looking forward to them expanding the series in the future. If it's going to be on this level then I don't want to see Shurima, Noxus, Demacia or Ionia. This season is reminding me of season 8 of GoT. Rushed job to wrap it up, no care given.

[@veryawsome3748]

the level of quality in this season is like 100x that of got s8. Jesus people here are grossly over exaggerating how "bad" this season is and nit picking or like efap just plain being retarded(cait is LITERALLY and adult and the heir to the kirriman household. In what universe would her father get the power after Cassadra's death? Also it appears to be a matriarchal household where power and name is passed down to the women not the men.).

[@ProxyDoug]

@@veryawsome3748 More and more I'm starting to believe the dead internet theory, where more than half of all Internet interactions are bots, cause there's no way there's this many people who think this was a disaster. It's just not as good, for crying out loud. Maybe it's just people that don't watch it and wait for reviewers to go over it first, but it's certainly odd how strongly against it people are right now.

[@The1337guy1]

@@ProxyDoug Dead internet theory is for narcissists who never leave their ideological bubbles. There's a lot of opinions out there you've never been exposed to that are very popular, but you don't interact with them for one reason or another. In short, a lot of people aren't happy with how this has turned out because they payed attention to the first season.

[@ProxyDoug]

@@The1337guy1 Ugh, there's so many people here who think they are enlightened,but are just spewing the most basic bitch philosophy ever... I thought EFAP had a better audience. On Dead Internet Theory, I don't disagree, but I think it's more a prediction of what we're slowly rolling into considering so many comment sections are actually made of bots, coupled with how YT comments tend to have from 3 to 7 deleted replies regardless of the channel owner moderating comments or not. We're not there yet, but it's not an impossibility.

[@AsrielCypher]

It's definitely nowhere near as bad as GoT S8, but it is a massive step down from S1.

[@istsandisms]

The universe had to self correct after gifting us with The Penguin 😔

[@bosikomtoptop]

Omg, Nutsa!!! What a stellar cast! @Nutsa, so happy to see you and listen to you with MauLer and Co. 👏👏👏

[@powerfist1340]

I hate this season. I would be so much less angry if it didn't have the absolute audacity to ruin the 1st season by association, or to get me hopeful for a season of television in the modern day.

[@angrynapolean3820]

Are you saying you didn't like the reveal of who saved Jayce's life?

[@yhormthemidget]

​@@angrynapolean3820 it was beautiful. The multidimensional hypermage decided to save his friend from the snowstorm just to let him stop himself in the countless futures. Mind you, it was Jayce who invented the hextech problem to begin with, so Viktor saved the guy who pretty much caused the apocalypse just to give Jayce a chance to fix it. Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Maybe if he instead stole the arcane stones or I dont know... maybe stopped the problem before it got out of hand... No, the omnipotent boy just watched as history repeated itself again and again. And it was pretty clear from the paralel timeline Ekko was in, all they needed to do was getting rid of the original arcane stones. Yeah sure, Vi died but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make...

[@blacktigerpaw1]

​@@angrynapolean3820"I'm gonna help you invent Hextech but also that will lead to the apocalypse so here's the gemstone you need to start the apocalypse"

[@blacktigerpaw1]

​@@yhormthemidgetLiterally a Bioshock Infinite plot.

[@jd2792]

​@@yhormthemidgetthe best part he dosent even fix it thats mostly echo and I still dont get why not go directly to old victor to tell him to stop

[@zen671]

Man, and I thought act 1 had issues, until I finished watching act 2 today.... What is happening with this, why does nothing make sense anymore? why is everything so fucking rushed and why are all the scenes disconnected from each other? Sadge times indeed, when Arcane would reach this shitty level

[@kaludgo5811]

Easy answer. A 5 season plan became 2 seasons. They say that arcane will only have two seasons because it is enough and they told the story they wanted to tell but it is most likely because the budget from season 1 to season 2 exploded and they don't want 3 others seasons with this kind of budget

[@chapman2001]

@@kaludgo5811they keep skimping on the budget as well they do these almost stop motion comic book sections which look cool but it’s clear they just don’t wanna splash the money out on the animation

[@Radman22]

@@chapman2001that’s not a money issue that’s a time issue. They didn’t have six years this time

[@DUKEzors]

I didn't get that from Act 2, but I was surprised to see multiple super weird edits that looked like mistakes.

[@Сайтамен]

I guess we need to wait for act 3.

[@armygamer0007]

Jayce getting sliced in the back is exactly the same situation as Finn in Episode VII, dear God, they're copying from the sequels

[@HeckDescender2184]

I thought about that scene too ahah!

[@ShakalakaKing]

Don't worry folks! Act 2 is much more something rather! Its all perfectly-mistic from here!

[@thedoobieshrew0244]

Mistic is the way to describe it all right 😂

[@VerySeriousMediaYT]

Does anyone have a timestamp for the meme image of the Arcane Avengers where someone added Victor?

[@HeckDescender2184]

3:29:55 here you goooo!

[@VerySeriousMediaYT]

@@HeckDescender2184 you're a gentleman and a scholar!

[@HeckDescender2184]

@@VerySeriousMediaYT why thank you good sir! I bid you a fine day!

[@nelguinevere4036]

The same old story. People are unhappy with Efap because they love a piece of media due to their own attachments to it. Efap gets accused of not engaging with the story being told, with being disingenuous and too harsh, of being negative for the sake of negativity and rage bait, etc, etc. Then a few months pass and suddenly KZbin starts pushing video essays with a "hot take" that actually that piece of media everyone loves was shit. And in a few more months the "hot take" becomes the overall consensus. Been there, done that so many times. And yet the Efap audience never learns. Season 1 was exceptional. Season 2 Act 1 was critical. Act 2 - catastrophic. I am dreading Act 3. And this hurts a lot.

[@sigy4ever]

:( I actually can't disagree with you, that is how it goes and... in retrospect watching act 1 and act 2 I was in full on cope mode "Maybe act 2 will fix this op... Well season 1 was so great so I will give them a chance to fix it in act 3" It ain't going to be 'fixed' in act 3 :(

[@nelguinevere4036]

@sigy4ever I know, man. I still had hopes after Act 1 for Act 2, even though even before watching Efap I saw an uncountable amount of problems. But I honestly thought they could be fixed in Act 2. Unfortunately, not one has been, there wasn't even an attempt. All I hope for now is that the damage Act 3 will inevitably add to the pile will not be so terrible that it ruins Season 1. I am very attached to it, I will try to protect it at all costs, even against the creators.

[@toddstone230]

Ppl seem to forget how much the crew praised the first season. I think it was their longest breakdown of any media so far. 3 videos and they spent over an hour on just the intro alone

[@gunterthekaiser6190]

Except that they don't hold absolute wisdom. I've personally found them to be sometimes too critical or not enough in the past, and I've disagreed with certain takes they had. And I have no doubts others have as well. I will agree that season 2 isn't as good as 1, but I feel like many fall in the trap of thinking that if the new is worse than the old, then it's the end of that media and complete garbage.

[@nelguinevere4036]

​@gunterthekaiser6190 of course, they do not, and of course, everyone can disagree with them. But mostly the above scenario is the most common, especially for super beloved media. In my estimation this season is a disaster. Not because it's worse than season 1. It actually is disastrous. I'll see those video essays in 6 months or so which will come out with click bait titles "Arcane season 2 was a disaster!!!".

[@dandybus1582]

It was Ambessa All Along!

[@ethan9870]

Oh my god it gets so much worse

[@EdgarFriendlysCivicsTeacher]

Oh no... Please ruin it for me

[@misternich4935]

Just saw the ending. I feel betrayed. I rewatched season 1 before starting 2, and it feels like two different shows

[@TheRetroRenegade]

"Well... it's all going to shit..." - Jinx, 2024 Oh the hu-meta-ty...

[@NotMegaKOBuster]

I thought that Ekko saying ‘so you pissed off the wild magic?’ was a reference to Jayce pissing off Ekko with ‘pass me the tome’. Which would be quite an interesting parallel in a better written season

[@edgescarborough4724]

Nothing annoys me more than seeing men vs women fights. They pit them against each other and I already know how the fight ends. Everytime. It's boring. Guy can't win. Or guy has chance to kill girl, but his options to do anything to defend himself or defeat said girl character, is never used. Rinse and repeat. Very few times do I see this scenario go in the guy's favor. Cobra Kai, girl is beating the shit out of a guy with no mercy, but guy has to hold back. Why have these dumb fights in the first place? It's never interesting.

[@rustyslug2943]

I feel completely disconnected from the Cait-Vi discussion post Vi's fuck up, because Cait is entirely right to be fucking furious, Vi fumbled astronomically. She got up and stopped her instead of just moving the kid. Of course Cait is seething, Vi just saved her sisters life against any and all reason

[@TeutonicKnight92]

I’m not sure Catylen’s “arrogance” going into the Undercity is the does result in positive results compared to her not. If she doesn’t go and free Vi then Jinx doesn’t spiral out of control and Silco doesn’t die. Which leaves the Undercity still intact and Jinx tethered, as I don’t think she would launch the missile attack without Silco. I guess it then comes down to how hard of dealbreaker is Jinx for peace and even if it is Silco had options. The Undercity can now weapon lose hex tech and he might be able to trade on that and/or trade away the weapon instead of jinx. I guess this also does depend on Silco’s willingness to use the weapon. If he is willing then everything is worse, if he isn’t or uses it as a bargaining piece than I think him being alive is better Also I don’t think people realize how empty a threat Jace’s made at the end of last season; I’m not sure if Silco or Jace himself realized how empty it is. Jace only gets a massacre if Silco chooses to actively engage him or unless Jace is willing to engage in wholesale slaughter. If Silco doesn’t actively resist Jace and march in and destroy the shimmer production facilities he can find, but then what? Does he leave which allows Silco and the Chem-barons to rebuilt with a newly incensed Undercity behind them? Does he choose to stay and occupy the Undercity, assuming he has enough men to do so? If Jace does the latter then Silco just needs to start an insurgency, which would seemingly be well within his power to do. How long is Piltover going to take their enforcers dying a few at a time, especially considering whenever one does that’s a new hextech weapon in Silco’s hands. Also given what we have seen of the enforces I very much doubt they’re going to be able to conduct a meaningful “hearts and minds” campaign. Furthermore what happens ones Silco looses Jinx or other bombers on Piltover. How long will they stomach attacks on them or even worse the shipping. Piltover could very well could be put in a situation where the other powers force them to make a deal or suffer an intervention. After all as had been shown in real life threading the great powers’ trade and economy is a sure way to get them involved. If Silco is patient and smart he will get his nation *for the House Kiriman thing, not the dad shouldn’t get control of the house it was the mother’s house and her closest descendant inherits. If for example King Charles dies his wife doesn’t take over, there son does. I think it would have been more interesting for Jinx to blame Caitlyn and her sister. Imagine the scene of her walking into the last drop carrying Silco and announcing it. Given her mental state she might be able to twist herself into actually believing it.

[@alexhayden219]

1:05:00 There's lots of character flips in this season that usually go like: "You need to do this." "I don't want to." "Yes." "okay." With not much more discussion than that. Sometimes less than that.

[@emuman09]

Especially with jinx

[@alexhayden219]

@@emuman09 Look at how they massacred my girl.

[@lukaschyla8430]

Currently rewatching this EFAP to gather clearer thoughts on the Second Season and the way it handles it's Charachters and Story. For example, the conversation at 59:40 about Jayce finding out about Silco's Death. I believe it to be such a huge lost opportunity to not have a conversation between Jayce, Vi and Caitlyn about what happened in that Final Scene of Season One. Just imagine Jayce coming to the conclusion that after making a Peace Deal with Silco, where the only condition was the handover of Jinx, that Jinx was the one to kill him meaning he could easily interpret it as Jinx killing Silco so she can stay free and Terrorize Piltover. You could even make it so that Vi wouldn't know of what Silco said to Jinx in his final Moments because of his Chair being turned away from her and him speaking softly due to him Dying leading to her not being able to confidently argue against that position. There was a Chance for a great Plot, of Jayce hunting down Jinx as he believed her to be the one thorn in the eye of Peace between Zaun and Piltover, and conflict, as we as of now don't have any Scenes shared between Jinx and Jayce. Instead we got what we got :/

[@diegofernandeztrujillo2517]

This is the thing about s2. Everything just becomes a missed opportunity, a neglected conversation, or at worst a retcon of someones character, motivation. Such a shame. What you describe in the s1 "style" could have been an entire episodes worth story, just between jayce/vi/caitlyn/mel, especially giving ambessa an opportunity to slowly sow discontent. And make her less of a "it was ambessa all along" meme

[@brat7489]

Fuck, I've just realized the shimmer soldiers are immune to gas since they are covered head to toe with armor

[@Brumy-os4tx]

The fact that “This is actually Jinx it’s not a plate this time” is actual commentary on this show is both funny and depressing

[@pumped3305]

I've been so disappointed in arcane, for me the animation is a 10, other than that they've downgraded in every way possible. The writing is trash, the fights don't matter, the tone is all over the place. I don't understand motivations or powerlevels anymore, there's some extreme plot armor which means there's just no stakes. I've watched 6 eps now, but even after 3 I already thought the distinction was there, like the way we talk about OPM season 1 or GoT 1-4, arcane is that now.

[@danielelder6361]

I think your being just a little too critical, sure the writing is a downgrade from season 1, animation is better than season 1, the fights do matter (?), there was always extreme plot armour, the tone is not all over the place. Sure overall its weaker but its no game of thrones sill like a 7 or 8 out of 10

[@za-ir5ni]

Seems like a media literacy problem on your part. None of these are true lol

[@jonbaxter2254]

Wouldn't say it's trash, little disjointed, but far from bad.

[@theocan]

Can we stop saying it's trash when we live in a world where The Acolyte and other Disney media exists. Calling something trash puts it on their level. And while this is a downgrade, it is not Acolyte level.

[@spudg8558]

​​@@danielelder6361 They really don't. You could maybe count Jinx and Vi's for the sole reason that Vi and Cait broke up after (for Cait going down an arc she was already on) and the one with Sevika and Smeech because she and Jinx made up after. The action doesn't have real consequences for the world around it, and it feels like every character impact could have been delivered with just the parts at the end of each fight where they talk to each other. It's like the fact that they're fighting isn't important, if that makes sense. It doesn't help that the character development is also weak.