Poor Recontextualization | Arcane | Season 1 and 2

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

This is, admittedly, not a great video. I see flaws in my definitions and examples... but I'm just done with editing it and reshooting bits. Time to put it out there and move on to do better on the next.

[@jernbean7856]

I don't know about the second season. I haven't gone into the faults of the show. It's too complex but it is a visual masterpiece. I agree with most of what you are saying but I guess hype ruined it and then the show went downhill.

[@jernbean7856]

@BrigadoonZyphoon thanks for the reply. Makes perfect sense thanks for that explanation ☺️

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

​@jernbean7856 there are lots of issues in S2 that are far more consequential than the recontextualization, but I wanted to discuss a writing device that is being mishandled a lot, today, and this was a great sample to use in showcasing when it's used well or poorly.

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

​@BrigadoonZyphoonIt's weird, because some bits were also superior to S1, I thought. But yeah. The company needs to re-evaluate what happened in production between seasons to cause this major change in the quality of storytelling.

[@jmatos316]

Its not a bad video-- i like the fact that you focused on one real topic, and you did a good job explaining the concept of recontextualization and gave good examples that we are familiar with.

[@okayolek]

to me the buildup of Cait becoming a dictator and the constant foreshadowing to Macbeth in the intro felt the most laughable to me from how badly rushed it was. once you realize there's no payoff because there was no setup in the first place and that they resolve it in less that 5 minutes of screen time makes me laugh because people claim it's quite compelling what the writers the did with Cait. huh? i've got so many issues with season 2, it's true i watched it for the visuals since the plot was just throwing stuff at the wall, seeing what sticks. it wasn't as cohesive, if at all, as season 1.

[@AVRGWIBWTHACN]

I'm gonna be honest I didn't even notice the foreshadowing of her becoming a dictator. Everything just felt like a phase of her grief.

[@boxingelfis1499]

​​@@AVRGWIBWTHACN Ouuuh this is so perfectly said! I think a mistake they did if they wanted to go the dictator route was they put too much emphasis on Cait having a vendetta against Jinx instead of the Zaunites as a whole. It felt as though the only enemy she acknowledged was Jinx which negated the necessity of her taking over. They put so much emphasis on Ambessa being the one calling the shots that Caitlyn's time as ruler wasn't as important as it could have been, as the Zaunites were reluctant but ultimately willing to work with her despite her orders that caused them to suffer not being addressed enough, her conscience was barely affected, Vi and her were cool again, without them showing Cait overcoming her grief.

[@sugarplumsoda]

People laughing at her death will becoming the most toxic gingerphobes that fortiche did. That is why I can't follow their fans did.

[@danutghidia5820]

Vander and Silco knowing Vi and Jinx`s mother, being close friends with her and promising to take care of her daughters was a big recontextualization that actually hurts season 1

[@hansolsson874]

Yes, but looking back at the opening we should have realized that he at least knew who their parents were. (As it's Vander who first glances back at the dead parents - showing Vi.)

[@TheCatsMe00w]

Yeah with how S1 presents the relationship I got the impression Vi was Vander's biological daughter especially with the 'I was just like you as a kid' & thats also why she had added responsibility over the adopted children outside of just being the eldest.

[@beden653]

​@@TheCatsMe00wWhere did you get the idea in season one that Vander was Vi's biological father when we were shown her dead parents and everything pointed to Vander taking the kids into his care. He literally said himself in the second episode that he regrets his actions, because they caused the death of Vi and Powder's parents.

[@TheExitStrategy]

@danutghidia5820 actually, Vander and Silco were to told to "figure this Zaun thing out", so that her kids can have a better life. Vander misconstrued this as taking care of her kids. He abandons Zaun, and learns to live as well as he can under the current regime. Ironically, Silco also later abandons Zaun (twice), but convinces himself he is still fighting for the cause. In S2 E7, we get to see what Zaun might have actually looked like, and how it would have improved the lives of the undercity (though it gets to that point in a dramatically different manor, and one that has little explanation in the show). I don't personally see how this reveal ruins anything, it just adds layers and information to the information we already had.

[@LindyLime]

​@@hansolsson874 I definitely realized that at least he knew who they were enough to connect them to their parents. I just feel like we didn't need those flashbacks. They undermine the idealogical reasons Vander and Silco have for taking the kids in. For Vander it's no longer just about renouncing violence. And then Silco... With the flashback it makes no sense that he's a near psychopath in season 1 trying to kill Vi but then takes in Powder "hello little girl, where is your sister?" Like he almost doesn't know who she is? And he takes her in not because he realizes their similar trauma but because he promised his friend? Idk I didn't like it. The story was perfectly fine the way it was. In fact it worked fantastically. We didn't need these flashbacks in season 2 taking up limited screen time and recontextualizing things.

[@MangaAddict86]

I think Arcane fell into two major modern writing pitfalls 1)Trying to make the story unpredictable while outdoing fan theories. 2) Increasing the stakes for a more epic finale when a smaller scope works better. The key conflict between was Zaun and Piltover and then having both sides unite to fight Ambessa's Noxian forces. All the character will resolve their differences to face a greater threat. Simple and easy to understand. But fans had already predicted this. so instead... Hextech is bad now and potentially world ending and there is wild runes and Viktor is a time traveling mage and there are multiple timelines and Mel is a mage and the black rose is involved but not and... wooo boy... way too complicated. It's why everything feels so rushed. The earlier conflicts have to be resolved quickly to get the characters to leapfrog to the more grand epic conclusions. It also doesn't help that several major characters go missing throughout the season. I still enjoyed arcane. It's ending didn't drop the ball like GoT. There are still plenty of emotional moments that I was satisfied. But it definitely needed a third season or more episodes to finish it's story Arcane is definitely a good show that could have been great if the stakes had been lowered. Music 10/10 Performance 10/10 animation 11/10 story. it drifts between 10/10 to 7/10.

[@dmitrigherson5160]

Regarding point 1 - the writers insist that the scripts for S2 were finished before S1 even aired. So, I'm not too sure about fan theories.

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

@MangaAddict86 you nailed it. And I agree with you on loving it but also feeling supremely dissatisfied. As for reducing the scope: this is absolutely true. The first season was set up for a much smaller but more emotional finale. But the second one season prioritized the epic ending. Although this story could have gotten to the bigger ending, they really needed more time to build to that sort of ending. I would argue that it could have done with anywhere from 3 to 5 seasons. But no less than 3, for sure.

[@jmatos316]

The other effect of the overuse recontextualization is that you miss things trying to figure out if you missed things...

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

@jmatos316 @jmatos316 oh! I think I did mention that. At 9:19 I briefly make that comment. I definitely neglected to expound on that point, though. 🤪

[@no_time_to_die-tl7oh]

Basically Arcane reminds me of a situation when I started reading Jane Eyre and I thought it was such a fantastic book, but then the pages started falling off somewhy and I decided to finish it by listening to an audiobook. And at the end I thought wow, it was fun, but cringe and totally unworthy of its praise. And then I realized that I don't remember some scenes from the first chapters that I vaguely remembered being in the book, so I reread it on my phone. And, basically, I discovered that the audiobook just cut all the build-up scenes between major events, most of the conversations with Rochester, a lot of Jane's thoughts, the suspense of Jane thinking the house is haunted and just some fun parts that showed the characters. It was a big lesson on how important a build-up is for a story, how it can turn one of the greatest books to just a list of events. And Arcane was just that - a list of events.

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

@no_time_to_die-tl7oh That's a great way to learn the importance of build-up! You can have the coolest fight scenes (visually) in the world, but the thing that makes them most memorable is their context. What does this confrontation me to each character? What brought them to this? What is at stake? Is this something we have been anticipating? Remember the build-up leading to the chair scene in the finale of S1? And holy crap, it was just a bunch of people in chairs, while Jinx had a meltdown. Hardly any action at all. Just a lot of really important meetings fueled by very well developed emotions.

[@mayumayudreams]

A big recontextualization is that Silco and Vander knew Vi/Powder's mom which is HUGE to me and ruins major character moments in S1 for these characters

[@Modrzew1988]

it was a totally unnecessary retcon

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

@@mayumayudreams No joke! This was one of the points I didn't remember until I was already burned out on re-recording and editing. But it's absolutely one of the clumsiest retcons of them all.

[@elisaelisaross]

Actually this was no recontextualisation. On the first scene on the bridge, littel Vi wears a necklace. We later see that as Vander's bracelet in the flashback with Vi and Jinx's mom. I think that Vi's necklace was there in season 1 already to prepare this link, because it is a quite peculiar necklace, at least I noticed it as peculiar, and asked myself why they'd gave her such an interesting necklace without a proper meaning. Also, little Vi on the bridge stops in front of Vander and looks around with an expression of interrogation. Vander hints with his head and gaze in the direction of their dead parents. This means that Vander recognised Vi and Jinx's as his friends' children, and he recognised the dead bodies as his friends.

[@nostalji93]

@@elisaelisaross the problem isn't really Vander knowing their mother, but Silco. Especially consindering he was the antagonist of season 1 the retcon weakings his motives and actions. Him taking in Powder as a daughter has a very different feel to it, if he knew her mother. Knowing the whole plot couldve been avoided with a simple conversation takes a lot of power out of the story.

[@mayumayudreams]

​@@elisaelisaross recontextualisation is providing knowledge that the viewer did not have direct knowledge of. While one might argue that there are indirect clues in S1 suggesting Vander knew Vi and Powder’s parents, these clues are minimal at best and not explicitly explored until S2. The introduction of Felicia, their mother, adds significant new context to the relationships between Vi, Jinx, Vander, and Silco, fundamentally recontextualizing our understanding of their dynamics. If we analyze the intro bridge scene with this new context in mind, the sequence becomes less coherent: Why were Vi and Powder on the bridge? If Vander was a close family friend, it seems inconsistent that he would allow them near such a dangerous battle zone. If they were looking for their parents, it would align with his character to prioritize their safety by either removing them from harm's way or reprimanding them for being there. Why doesn't vander try to emotionally protect them? Vander doesn’t shield Vi and Powder from seeing their parents’ dead bodies. This feels weird if he had such a close relationship with their mother or with them personally. Why do Vi and Powder look so scared of Vander? In the scene, they appear scared and hesitant of Vander. If he were a close family friend, you'd expect familiarity, comfort, or at least recognition that he could help/protect them. The most straightforward interpretation from S1 is that Vander knew Vi and Powder’s parents because they fought alongside him, rather than being personally close to them or their children. -- And this is just in regards to Vanders relationship with them. If we are to look at how Silco interacts with Vi and Powder then things become so much more messy. He literally calls Powder and Vi Vanders "secondhand family." He refers to Vi as "Vander prodigy." This indicates that Silco associates them with Vander, with no hint of a personal history with their family. He actively attempts to kill the two of them with no blanat regard for who they are. He first meets Jinx with a blade in hand ready to kill her. There is little to no indication in S1 that Silco knows who either of these two are other than the kids Vander adopted. You could argue he doesn't know what the two look like. But why would he not have explicit knowledge that Vi and Powder are the adopted children of Vander after his close friend Felicia died (the criminal mastermind doesn't know?). And the knowledge that he knew their mother makes his treatment towards them feel cold, calculated, and distant. It weakens his adoption of Jinx having this recontextualisation in mind. There is a lack of any acknowledgment in S1 of the connection between Vander, Silco, and Felicia. And having this new context in mind, undermines the relationships between Vander, Silco, Jinx, and Vi. By retroactively adding this connection in S2 without sufficient groundwork in S1, the show creates narrative inconsistencies that detract from the emotional and logical weight of the story.

[@Quotheraving]

I'm of the opinion that Arcane was originally intended to run for three seasons. Partly because the final season was overstuffed with too many rushed developments but mainly because of the way the writers use a three part structure throughout.

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

@@Quotheraving This is a very likely theory.

[@FredrikHaugen]

Season 2 felt rushed and would have been better if they would have concentrated on the Piltover - Zaun conflict and solved that. Then in season 3 do the Jayce - Victor battle. It would have given them time to set up the black Rose and Mel story line in season 2 and use it better in season 3. You could even set up the Jayce Victor thing as a minor plot in season 2 and go full throttle on it in season 3. Then a united Piltover Zaun would have felt a bit more rewarding.

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

@@FredrikHaugen I really wish they did this second season as a season 2 and season 3. I like your general outline.

[@okasart]

Genuinely them going to war and not uniting at all was the most realistic option.

[@ginawhatyoudoin8058]

"I thought Maddie was Marcus' daughter" *war flashback*

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

😅😅😅

[@proboffensive]

i have to agree that so much was happening and piling on that i, too, stopped being invested and was just watching for the beautiful visuals

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

@@proboffensive I have such mixed feelings about this second season. I loved some of the concepts, but they were NOT lead to properly. This felt like an outline of a whole bunch of ideas, rather than a cohesive finish to what was started in S1.

[@jernbean7856]

@@proboffensive completely understandable and agreed upon

[@chrishaven1489]

They shoved 2 seaons worth or material into one and it very clearly shows

[@chrishaven1489]

@@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS I started out having mixed feelings. But the more I think on it, the more I find myself hating this season. Less because it's bad, but more because it could've been so much more than what it was. The season had a lot of great individual moments, but altogether, the show was structurally terrible

[@supershid464]

if only the story didn't introduce time/dimension travel

[@TylPhumin]

Personally I would have let the story stay in a mostly zaun-piltover bubble, not introducing anything about the black rose, and not changing Viktor from Machine Herald to Arcane Herald. The "goal" which was introduced in S1 was thrown over board, it felt like, completely irrelevant somehow (Zaun vs Piltover vs other factions). Tho i guess the name Arcane wouldn't make as much sense - EXCEPT they would make it major in war/weapon/defensive development, tho i guess Hextech would be a better name then. Also the fact that Ambessa died and we can still use her ingame makes me all confused (in my theory no Champion is dead xd) I get the also wanted somehow to use it as a soft setup for the next show, but eh, better now, if its supposed to be self contained (new name) then they should treat it as such, and not go some Marvel/DC route, where it's impossible to get anything if you don't know the gazillion things and versions before that. Honestly, I called it the moment they mentioned the blackrose, that S2 WILL be rushed and WILL not be conclusive in any way. And then it did. The confusion from Arcane-only-enjoyers was amazing to see, as even lore-knowers were confused a lot/didn't catch everything. Im glad they made this mistake with this region and these characters, as all of it count towards my least favorite (as it's the most normie/close to reality)

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

@TylPhumin I actually struggle to see how they will top an epic ending like this in other shows. The writers will be greatly tempted to go the route of "Now the risk is to ALL timelines". It's a bad route. They need to focus on intimate stories, like what Season 1 did. The big political conflict was the setting for the personal stories.... which are the stories we were most invested in.

[@chrishaven1489]

I absolutely hate they're killing off champions. There's this sentiment that champions need to be killed off to introduce a sense of anxiety of whether or not they'll live in the story, which is a stupid thing to think if you've actually read the lore. Champions have an actual place in the world and how they impact it. Arcane is supposed to be an origin story. Killing off characters makes just as much sense as killing off Ironman and Batman in their introductory movies. It's stupid. Viktor is supposed to inspire the Glorious Evolved as a prominent cult/religion that very much exists in the current state of the story. And Warwick is supposed to be a vigilante who hunts down criminals in Zaun. Now they've taken that away, and now we can't interact with these characters in their upcoming mmo. Such a waste. "Im glad they made this mistake with this region and these characters, as all of it count towards my least favorite (as it's the most normie/close to reality)" I disagree with this sentiment. What made the first season of Arcane great was how grounded it was, both in its themes and its characters. Then they ruined it, placing more emphasis and focus on magic and monsters (like the Black Rose), thinking that was what the audience wanted to see, instead of its characters and their emotional journeys. If they carry this attitude into their next projects, the world of Runeterra will be made the lesser for it. It's like these numpties haven't learned from the Sentinels of Light event. Besides, Piltover and Zaun is interesting. It's interesting to people who enjoy Sherlock Holmes, and crime mysteries (which is kinda what was missing in this season), Victorian London monsters like Frankenstein's Monster, Jekyll and Hyde and the Wolfman, and people who enjoy Batman's rogue gallery, because the Zaunite champion roster is just Batman villains who treat Zaun like Gotham City.

[@TylPhumin]

@@chrishaven1489 Oh sorry, I might have not been clear enough. I meant to say, Im glad they made it with my least favorite things of LoL lore, so they hopefully learn and won't do the same mistakes with charaters and regions that are my favorites (ya know, kinda like a Beta or so XD) For reference, some of my fav champs (regardless of gameplay) are Aurelion Sol, Veigar, Vex, Jhin, Hwei, Vel'Koz, Thresh and Rakan

[@TylPhumin]

@@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS Yes, that was so weird to me. They originally said they wanted to streamline lore (due to inconsistencies across games and media), so they would NOT have a multiverse (other than AU skin line stories). And then they went like "Oh btw, all the important stuff from S1? yea fk that, timeline stuff is now important" I was so confused xd Personally I am no fan of timeline shit, because to me it minimizes the impact if else it is established in a small scope (aka its only about 2 cities and it suddenly goes to timelines. vs from the beginning, its about time travel and space, and universe and gods or what not (big scope), so it's part of it from the beginning. To me this ending was, pretty trash, tho not specifically the ending but the whole direction I guess. Code Geass still has one of the best Endings in tv media imho and they can just look how it was done there. (Especially since the writing with all the parallels and everything coming back full circle is done very similarly in Arcane and Code Geass)

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

@@TylPhumin Okay, you are the third person to mention Code Geass. I may have to check it out, because I loved the potential of taking this story in this direction, but I didn't like the way it was executed. They could have done so much with the Viktor and Jayce story.... two friends united by ideals and ambition, slowly pushed apart by one of them getting caught up in politics and the other battling with the temptation to save himself from a fatal disease... When I say that I wanted Viktor to win, I mean that I wanted him to have some grand plan that didn't contradict his moral direction. That was just so utterly baffling to me. I was holding out for the big reveal that he really WAS doing the right thing, and everyone was fighting him, trying to stop him, but it turns out that whatever his plan is was to truly heal everyone and then set them free.... like... he would sacrifice himself for that. I definitely thought that was the direction they were going after Viktor's conversation with Heimerdinger, where he was lamenting that his life was going to be cut short before he did anything important. He had no legacy. I was like "Oh Damn! He's going to use what's left of his life to save humanity, and then ALL OF HUMANITY will become his legacy! I love it!" But he just went "Viktor Borg" on everyone. Ugh! So disappointing! Why?

[@zwcook]

The change in Jinx from psychopathic killer to caregiver was way too abrupt for me. I had no idea why it happened.

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

@zwcook same. PTSD doesn't go away because your circumstances change. If it did, no soldier would suffer PTSD after coming home from war. When telling more grounded stories, as S1 did, you have to give circumstances realistic resolutions and progression.... which S2 forgot to do.

[@grAnita-]

Jinx at the end of season one: I accept and embrace my identity as Jinx. Jinx at the beginning of season two: Jinx is dead.

[@moe5020]

yeah her brain is just cured the moment Isha falls on her, in season 1 she had severe paranoid schizophrenia and had episodes where she could not distinguish hallucinations from reality.

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

@moe5020 Exactly what you said!

[@dmitrigherson5160]

This is a very interesting video, thank you. I have a few quick questions: 1. This might be somewhat covered by the Singed segment at 18:59, but isn't revealing Singed's daughter is a minor recontextualization? It gives purpose and meaning to all his actions until now. He's no longer "mad scientist" doing mad science just for the sake of it. 2. S2E5 flashback scene with Vander, SIlco and Felicia (the girls' mom) - I personally have a gripe with this one. It undermines the characters and actions of Vander and Silco in S1. Vander saw 2 girls mourning their parents, realized the collateral damage of his actions and abandoned the way of violence to look after them. After the flashback it's revealed that he knew them all along and was practically their uncle. With Silco it just doesn't make sense - he behaved in S1 as he didn't know them. He says as much. But now it's revealed that he was best friend with their mother. Is it also some form of recontextualization, or just bad writing? Or both?

[@seismic6435]

He knew Vi, but not Powder, which still tracks

[@hansolsson874]

For Vander in the second item; that is how we remember it, but that isn't what is shown. Vander didn't see 2 girls mourning their parents; the girls are walking around in the chaos - looking for their parents. Vander approached them in sadness and showed Vi their dead parents (and Vi collapses). That only works if Vander had already known their parents, and also had seen the parents dead a few minutes earlier - but Vi hadn't.

[@dmitrigherson5160]

@@hansolsson874 Vander literally sees Vi falls to her knees and cry when Vander nods to her parents' bodies. Vander was the leader of the rebellion, it makes sense for him to know the people he leads, they would've held multiple gathering prior to attack in Piltover. It's very different from making a promise to their mom to look after them. And naming Vi. Also, if this flashback it true, there's no way Vander wouldn't remind Silco in S1E3 that Vi is Felicia's daughter in an attempt to save her.

[@dmitrigherson5160]

@@seismic6435 Who? Vander or Silco? If Silco - he didn't know Vi. He says in S1E6 "we never had an opportunity to speak."

[@hansolsson874]

@@dmitrigherson5160 Yes, Vi does that - but this is moving the goalposts from we though Vander didn't know them at all and saw the girls mourn the parents to: we thought he didn't know the girls and their parents that well. And Vander is shown as a resistance leader, not a rebellion leader.

[@floofzykitty5072]

Mel being a mage was such a letdown to me because a lot of Mel's character arc is about how the fox can outsmart and overcome a world of wolves. Her magic not only recontextualises her manipulative and opportunist tendencies as being her latent magical abilities boosting her, but she also gets epic uber powerful magic powers... Making her a wolf. And then Ambessa says "you are the wolf"... Now riddle me this: What is wrong with enforcing the narrative that you can only succeed in a world of wolves by becoming one of them? That the fox is a lesser, weaker form that should be discarded in the pursuit of becoming the wolf? I can't believe that the people who wrote such a poignant narrative supporting "the foxes" suddenly did a 180 and started preaching the exact opposite narrative. Well done writers, you are actively perpetuating a patently false and arguably harmful narrative that you need to sacrifice everything you are to succeed in life.

[@giuliamentrasti422]

Great video!! You actually explained really well why this season feels so full and stuffed but at the same time it feels like nothing is going on because it doesn't take the time to metabolize all the information. In my opinion this season should have been 2 seasons and i think the showrunners think the same but Netflix/Riot got in their way. It's why i don't wanna be angry at the writers too much because i know that there were a lot of pressures around them to put in things just cause Riot wanted new skins. The show lost his focus, what was once a story about two sisters representing the two cities, it's now a show about a worlwide level threat. Like a war between Piltover and Zaun would have been enough, it actually was the whole point. When things get too big they are not grounded anymore and the core characters are so tiny they don't matter. Vi and Jinx don't feel like protagonists anymore; i heard so many people say that it's normal and poeatic that in front of war human are just tiny and ineffective but we learn from Lord of the Rings that the fate of the world is in the hands of someone as tiny and insignificant as a Hobbit. My point is, Vi and Jinx were always just two girls trying to survive, the plot was about them, they shaped it; but now they don't,what happens is mostly a coincidence, it has become plot driven. I'm not a writer but the changes that i would apply would be Jinx and Sevika becoming a team in the underground, strenghten their bond and trying to unify the underground maybe even with Ekko (the poor guy is just one dimensional, imagine him taking the decision to work with those who killed people of his own comunity); on the other side, Piltover is more fractured and is now realizing the type of threat the Undercity can be, this could push Jayce to weaponize Hextech even more, and doing so breaking up with Viktor who sides with the Underground. I would have Cait and Vi share more time together, becoming closer caring about one another. I wanna see the council blaming Cait for not shooting Jinx (another plot hole is that apparently Cait didn't say that Jinx killed Silco while that could come in very handy since the Undercity would worship her). In this way, Cait doesn't have just sense of guilt for not saving her mother but because she failed to protect the city, also people seeing her with a Zaunite (Vi) would probably harm the reputation of the Kirraman family. There is so much to dwell on Cait: on a side she loves Vi and has always considered herself a misfit in Piltover society but at the same time she failed to do what Grayson has told her "when i handle this weapon i can protect people", therefore she might decide to take on her mother's role. As to Vi, i don't really know, i feel like after the rocket she is completely empty and hold on to the one thing she has which is Cait, she is tired of fighting since it led nowhere and i would like to see her a bit more selfish maybe trying to adjust in Piltover. Again, i'm not writer so i don't know what to do exaclty with many of these characters but they need to re-establish themselves after the rocket and the shoe didn't give them the time.

[@89technical]

False: the Silco air scene doesn't recontextualize him as cleaning up the Undercity's air quality. It's meant to show the difference between him and the chem barons: They are from the Undercity but he lives and breathes the Undercity - it's why he can stand the foul air and they can't. It's a great way of introducing who some of our minor antagonists will be in season 2 while also showing who Silco is within this hierarchy and why they listen to him. This is deliberately done by having the meeting take place high above The Lanes => The implication is while they control the gangs they separate themselves from that which is below, in a similar way to how many of the Undercity's characters are cognisant of what's going on there, such as Viktor but ultimately separated from it. I think it was Schnee who did the proper breakdown of that scene. I recommend his video on it's meanings and implications.

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

Wait. I thought Silco commented on them forgetting what the games were like before he cleaned up the air?

[@JenniferDias-fl3mv]

​@@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS I believe it was this. And also, he only could breath well because he used to work in the mines.

[@hansolsson874]

@@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS What he says is slightly different: what it was like before he pulled them up from the mines and gave them a taste of topside and fresh air. S1E7 around 16 minutes in.

[@89technical]

​@@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS He says he pulled the up from the depths and gave them a taste of Topside, and Fresh Air. What he means by this is he's raised them up above the Undercity, and while they may be from Zaun they no longer live like Zaunites did before. The additional emphasis is them in a tower with plants and sunlight sticking out of the crack in the Earth that Zaun sits in. Also, it was the Kirammans who cleaned up the air according to season 2.

[@magical571]

Silco didn't fix their air. He just made them means to stop working in the fisures at the mines. Via trading drugs mind you, but still. He didn't clean the air, he "gave them a taste of topside". He got them out of of the mines, got them means and money, ans the city grew, no longer AS confined to just the fisures. The vents were made by piltover. Specifically under the order of caytlin's house.

[@MorningPants]

Singed being Dr Revek may be a minor recontextualization for viewers not familiar with the video game lore, but to lore nerds that name gives crucial context that he is Orianna’s father and reveals his motivations to revive her.

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

I don't know anything about Orianna other than she is a dead girl in a coffin. 😅

[@totalfree8740]

Arcane is something that you watch multiple times and still find something new to enjoy. Season 1 was a better magnet than Season 2 but at least it didn't end with a cliffhanger .

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

True. And true.

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

Also true.... Although, I'm the weirdo who will rewatch the ending of season 2, but will implant my headcanon, and still enjoy imagining what it might have been. 🤪 I know. It's a bit psychotic.

[@billtodd2194]

Thinking further on the Vander not dying bit, okay him being alive and wolf beast thing can be a recontextualization, but I think his role in the story was fairly necessary. Assuming they don't want to go tragic ending of one of the sisters killing the other they needed something to bring Vi and Jinx back together. Something big enough that would overcome their last encounters being trying to kill each other. Saving Vander is one of the very few things that could serve that purpose. It'd have been emotionally flat and disappointing if they simply teamed up to save the city when neither of them cared about it before.

[@SuDaixi]

I think a lot of the second season's problem was the thing they avoided in season 1 which was taking for granted that the audience was familiar with the LOL lore outside of arcane. If season 1 I feel is even better if you don't know league lore and don't know that Powder is Jinx or that Vander is Warwick or that Viktor is a technomage who wants to erase the imperfections of humanity across the league multiverse, or that Vi is fact an enforcer in a relationship with Sheriff Caitlyn or Ekko is the boy who shatters time. As a new person you get to be surprised at the dark turn that Powder takes, get to think that Vander dies, Be surprised by Cait/Vi, don't notice the glow on Mel during the bombing that tells you that yup she is a mage, don't know that Noxus is basically ruled in shadows by the Dark Rose and so that is obviously who Ambessa is running from, don't know that Viktor is the bad guy in most universes, don't realize that when they say that Piltover was made to escape mages THEY MEAN THAT because the wider world of Runeterra is filled with horrible magic and endless war and endless world-ending horror, and Piltover and Zaun are by far the safest and most peaceful little slice of heaven in this world (besides the country of Ishtal maybe). But then season 2 is so much more geared towards people who did their league homework and know the lore. We expected Vander to comeback as Warwick, we know exactly who the Black Rose are so we didn't need an explanation about them and it was kind of obvious that they would be the ones to scare Ambessa so much. A lot of LOL players were speculating on what kind of magic Mel had when season 1 ended because we all saw it activate. Everyone was waiting for Viktor to finally break mentally and go full "Glorious Evolution" on us. Also the fact that Noxians had a spy amongst the the Piltover was a given. That's just how Noxus rolls. It would have been so weird to not get any underhanded play by them including spies. Personally I was thinking the big drunk enforcer was going to be the spy but eh whatever. And obviously we were all waiting with baited breath when the heck Ekko will get his z-drive (time travel device). So actually I would say that season 2 didn't have too much problem the recontextualizing things. Almost 2/3 of the twists mentioned was something people familiar with league were waiting for, since Arcane is a sort of slightly alternate timeline prequel to the lore we already know. But it was more of a problem of them forgetting that new people will not know all these things and so they had to be explained in way more details. And considering how little time they had and how they already cut out a bunch of scenes because they had to fit them into 9 episodes, this really hurt both types of the audience. We really did need another season or at least a few more episodes.

[@qqq555-w6v]

I love this unique perspective in the critique of the show. Also the constructive criticism and the openness to engage in discussion. I feel exactly like you. S1 was very emotive. S2 was very cerebral, even in its attempts to emote. It felt like it was more plot-driven to pull the characters to a conclusion partly for the sake of the continuation of other shows in the franchise. S1 was very grounded and it felt the themes and the character arcs are well combined. S2 felt like the themes took centre stage and just went very cosmic, philosophical and allegorical and the character arcs couldn’t catch up. I thought the intersection of the sister cities playing out with the conflict between the sisters and Caitlyn should be central in tackling the inequality and interpersonal conflict. Also, Jayce, Viktor and Mel, in how they explore technology, the ethics and politics of the applications. I thought that the themes should be explored through them, instead of superseding and expanding beyond them and minimising the emotional investment tied to the characters themselves.

[@dudleymq]

What a relief. I thought it was just me not getting it. Your suggestions would have been a great improvement!

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

No. Everyone I was watching with was totally lost by the second episode.

[@Ariel4277gsc]

Even though I disagree with most of the criticisms of season 2, it’s nice to see that basically everyone admits that season 1 is pretty much perfect. Even more since season 2 came out

[@EmberAwoken]

How was this only JUST put on my feed! Notifications adjusteddddd. You and Arcane are both favorites so the injustice I feel from KZbin 😭😭😭!

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

HAHA! Thank you. I've noticed that I don't get notifications sometimes, too. I mean, I figured that if I click the notification bell, or if I say I want to be notified of a livestream, I should get a notification when there's a livestream about to start or a new video posted...... right?! You are not the only one. I've heard it dozens of times. KZbin has an issue.

[@EmberAwoken]

I’ve been here a long time and I noticed more in the last year that your most recent viewing habits take precedence over your long time viewing habits. Sometimes I have to search AmandaTheJedi, for example, and see her uploads of the last few months because the genre isn’t my current “active” viewing and doesn’t appear anywhere else. It’s annoying.

[@Aprici6892]

Everything you said should've been included in season one was included in season one, it was just hinted at instead of being part of an exposition dump.

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

Where?

[@loco_logic]

Do you have any examples?

[@Aprici6892]

@@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS There were hints of Mel being magic throughout season one, showcased in her and Jayce immaculately surviving the rocket at the end of the season with minimal harm. Vander was dropped off to singed, there was a scene of jinx sitting in the rafters watching singed work on him in season one, it may have been in an after credit scene. Caitlyn was always going to drop Maddie for Vi, it was clearly a just something to help her cope with Vi's absence. Ambesa would obviously jump at the opportunity to manipulate a now angry ex-girlfriend that is still a central part of Caitlyn's team.

[@JO-hs1ue]

@@Aprici6892 Just because it happened that way in the very end of season 1 and the beginning of season 2 doesn't mean it was a hinted that Mel had magical powers. That could have been easily tossed up as dumb luck or plot armor. I feel like we got to know Mel pretty well as a character in season 1, and there were ZERO indication that Mel possessed such prowess

[@magical571]

Mel's golden tattoos shine as she lools backwards at the rocket. I remember watching it with my ex and saying "oh, she is gonna be magic". Which, despite of wether or not i like it, also makes sense since she seemed almost naturally unafraid of the arcane, when it's made clear how dangerous it is and how they themselves at the council have experienced it's destructive side. Almost like she felt the "call". As she said about protecting jayce, "instinctive". Vander. Well, see, i believe it's an issue for non league players. Every league player who cared about lore knew 99% sure that vander was going to be warwick by season 2 because they were very on the nose about it IF you knew what you were looking at. He was nicknamed "the hound of the underground", (warwick being a literal wolf)he had a strong sense of protectiveness and passion for the people of the lanes that would abaolutely trascend concsious thought and be almost an instinct (warwick is known for inexplicably going only after criminals and protecting children). He was big and bulky and adopts a similar silouette to warwick after taking shimmer. He, well, drinks shimmer (which is part of warwick's origin), and takes a shimmer bath for good measure. He falls right there next to singed's lab, singed being known for having ties with warwick (in some universes being a pupil of human-warwick, in other's his friend, in others he continues experimentation on him after being transformed by shimmer). He is seen hanging above singed's lair eventually, only confirming all the hints. You see what i mean? They actually fit warwick's lore into season 1 word for word, but they didn't stop to spell it out for those who didn't know what to look for. I'm not saying that this is good. Byt that it is different experience depending on your previous knowledge. I know people took season 1 as "enjoyable with zero knkwledge", and to a degree it was! But it was also a case of you just aren't noticing what you are being shown.

[@ZhonoGrave]

Season 1 had character arcs happening within slowly rolling story, season 2 had a grand story that contained characters. Same problem as GoT season 6-8. You could have had a season entirely focused on the Noxian army approaching and the impact on a warring Piltover and Zaun, a season on the fascist necessities of Commander Cait, a full season on redeeming Jinx and yet having Piltover legitimately treat her like a terrorist. Instead you put the characters to the side and have things explode. It's wasteful writing. Stories should never be moving faster than good quality character beats, that's the speed limit. It's also bad to have characters sitting around being safe, but with stories like Arcane you have enough of a quality set of characters to switch them around. Just look at the manic arcs of Warwick, from beast, to redeemable, to second death via sacrifice, to superweapon in each episode. That amount of recontextualization is necessary when you've condensed season 2-4 into 1.

[@TheExitStrategy]

"Same problems as GoT season 6-8" Wow, slow down there just a sec. Maybe similar to GoT 6, and one could possibly argue season 7, but lets all agree season 8 of GoT is off the table for comparison. Arcane S2 does try to compact too much information into too little time, but even when it misses beats and glosses over important events, the threads are all still there. The characters are still themselves and the development remains. Look at it this way. Riot could do a lot of good by releasing mini videos that fill in the gaps as promotional content or such like they did with the "Enemy" music video. HBO cannot un-f*ck GoT after Season 8. No amount of material can fix what that season broke. GoT left me feeling betrayed even more than if my wife had cheated on me, Arcane was just a little disappointing. I was just as invested in both.

[@ZhonoGrave]

@@TheExitStrategy Victor is literally 2 completely different characters from the end of season 1 only counting episode 9 of season 2. His arc was just as sudden and disjointed as Danny. Jayce was only marginally better purely because the change towards destruction was justified by the circumstances and secret future knowledge. The reversion at the end however was almost as bad as Danny. Jayce just isn't the same character, it's not an earned moment. Because of the speed of arcs all options for character actions are effectively random. I'm not against subversion, meeting expectations or a mix, but the problem is when the choice being made is meaningless because you've filled the last 3 hours up with explosions. >No amount of material can fix what that season broke. That's the same as Piltover/Zaun, they've made the story impossible to be revisited, every character went through such an extreme that you cannot realistically return to petty politics, both cities allied against a shared god-level enemy, the populous was literally mind controlled. The stakes were raised so absurdly high that you cannot return to the setting ever. And we're going to be in the exact same situation as GOT. A move to completely untouched regions, a potential cameo, whispers of what happened at best. I'd argue that the only reason you felt so betrayed by GOT is that Arcane only gave us 1 good season, while GOT gave at least 5 quality seasons so there was more time to become attached.

[@TheExitStrategy]

@@ZhonoGrave Victor is a slow burn, that was set up in season one. His reckless abandonment for caution was the doorway into his change, always prioritizing HIS survival while justifying his actions as the eventual help of others. Even Heimerdinger notes the ominous change in him. The reckless behavior and abandonment of principals (like going back to his old mentor and using shimmer) only started to catch up to him after his carelessness got his co-worker killed. That is how he failed to do good in the pursuit of great. Then as he becomes part of the Hexcore itself, he initially laments the death of Sky, asserts his lack of human sensations, and abandons affection to spread the Hexcore corruption (under the guise of healing the sick). I think the Hexcore influenced a lot of his behavior at this point, as he continued his descent into a fever of justified self preservation. The hexcore becomes the mask he sees the world with, until it is pealed back both physically and metaphorically. Danny got 2 episodes of 180 degree character swing in an 8 season series. Not the same. The Undercity and Piltover were not "Fixed" by the end of the season, but they did at least start on a path. I would love to explore that more, and to explore how decided to unite to help stop Victor. I don't have a problem with either happening, just in the lack of presentation.

[@TheExitStrategy]

@@ZhonoGrave hmmmn, sorry. I think this reply came out bitchier than I intended it to. I'm probably still salty about season 8...

[@TheExitStrategy]

@ZhonoGrave hmmmm, sorry I think I ended up sounding bitchier than I intended to. I'm probably still hung up on season 8 lol...

[@xYalahx]

I'm torn... I loved Season 1, but only made it through the first three episodes of Season 2 before stopping. I just didn't care about anyone or anything that was going on. That's not the problem though. The problem is now I have to decide if I want to watch the last 6 episodes so that I can fully enjoy this video or if I just watch this one and miss what I miss.

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

@xYalahx Watch it for the pretty images, if you like. But the story will be confusing and a bit disappointing. I have plans to summarize and comment on the whole story for all the main characters. First up is Jayce and Viktor, who were the top priority in Season 2. Next will be Vi and Jynx, who were the top priority in S1.

[@chrishaven1489]

That's funny because I actually enjoyed the first three episodes. And I also enjoyed the fourth episode. Then the rest of the act got sidetracked from there.....then it progressively got worse. And a lot of it felt fanservicey.....and not like real writing.....It's such a strange downgrade from the awesomeness that was the first season. So disappointing.

[@magical571]

Stop over thinking it and just watch. Plus, for most people, s2 act 2 was better than s2 act 1, so just give it a go. It's only 6 episodes left too. It's not like you are commiting to finishing one piece

[@boxingelfis1499]

Mel working with her mother's enemy to fatally defeat her was so surprising to me but not in a good way. It felt like such a major choice especially considering that it led to Ambessa's death instead of incarceration. It felt like a character changing moment that had me seeing Mel in a new light, but it didn't feel as though Arcane saw it that way as they never showed Mel struggle and solidify her resolve to do what she did, as you said. Part of me even thought that she didn't know Ambessa would die. Still does in fact. There was so much happening plot wise that I feel as though the character driven story suffered for it. Maddie and Mel's "brother" turning out to be bad did not affect me in any way as so little time and significance were spent on them, "this might as well happen, I guess." Was my reaction. I feel we could have seen more of Vi's time with the enforcers, in a way that humanised them like the Zaunites were, which would have made it all the more tragic when they died during the war and Maddie's betrayal being more significant. Speaking of Vi, she's my favourite character in Arcane, and while the scenes we got of her in the underground arena were awesome, it went by so fast. She didn't feel as major or as significant of a character as she was last season, and her development was too fast for me. Anyway, I really enjoyed this video. It made me see various things I'd missed because I was at times too focused on my dissatisfaction to just allow myself to enjoy the show. Can't wait to see more of your work!

[@magical571]

Nel's brother wan't bad. That just wasn't her brither, it was le blanc (the deciever) messing with mel. Maddie...i guess this is subjective but, she was so saccarine sweet to the max, while at the same time blind to the context of, for example, vi being trashed and surrounded by trash and bottles, that shee seemed unreal, fake. And yeah, it turns out, she was fake.

[@picafresas1182]

im an aspiring writer and your video helped me so much to understand what I didnt like about this season. subscribed!

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

Hurray! I'm glad it is helpful. I do my best to make videos that are both fun and helpful.

[@dapearl1463]

Geez I thought all your previous points were pretty well thought out. It was actually enough to make me not watch S2 so that my memory of Arcane could stay positive. Normally I just say ... don't let mean words or disagreement influence you, but I realize that this may be some of your livlihood and THAT relies on your ability to attain and maintain viewership. Sad that you have to live with that burden ... but good on you and hopefully it is not an overwhelming burden. In any case ... Happy HOlidays! and nice haircut! :)

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

I make a point to never give a dishonest opinion in my videos. I really do like the second season. But I think I like it more for what it could have been than what it actually is. I want to invent a good headcanon, so that I can enjoy it more. Haha 😅

[@chrishaven1489]

The show should've been three seasons. The second season should've focused on Vi and Caitlyn hunting Jinx down with an emphasis on Vi's conflicting loyalties between wanting to help Caitlyn and wanting to save Jinx. If the first season focuses on Powder's decision to either be Powder or Jinx, then the second season should focus on Vi's decision to either be Caitlyn's partner or Jinx's sister. Vi should've caught up with Jinx and let her go out of guilt, because Jinx kiled Silco to save Vi and Vi wouldn't want to put her sister in prison after what Marcus did to Vi. Then Vi should've gradually grown attached to the enforcers she fights alongside, especially Loris. Then Jinx should've killed Loris in a kerfuffle between the chembarons and the enforcers. Probably a misunderstanding. Probably Isha getting caught in the crossfire, Loris trying to rescue the little girl, Isha struggling in the enforcer's grasp, and Jinx killing him to "save" Isha. Vi witnesses this, and then and only then would it make sense for Vi to turn on Jinx, because now she's actively killing off her friends, and its Vi would feel guilty because she's the one that let Jinx go in the first place. Then the Jinx vs Vi fight would be the climax of the season. Then the third season would focus on Vi and Jinx being forced to work together to find and cure Vander, while Caitlyn's running through her dictator arc, trying to chase them down. And while Vi and Jinx reconcile with their newfound relationship, Caitlyn would have to contend with watching her ex-girlfriend conspiring with her mother's killer and the Shimmer beast killing off her enforcers. It's the same story with the same trajectory but with a lot more room to explore and flesh out the many beats that are obviously missing from the multiple character arcs in this season.

[@arenkai]

Season 2 is still very good overall, but the pacing is complete whack. Jinx goes through 3 character arcs in the span of 9 episodes, so do Vander, Caitlyn and Vi. Mel gets Narnia-d into magic-land, we don't see her do much for 2 episodes, then she comes back over powered as hell. All those developments make sense on their own, but the speed at which they happen isn't right. It felt like they were cramming 2+ seasons into one. Oh, and also, I didn't feel much for the kid that blew herself up... To me she wasn't even a character, just a plot device to speed up Jinx's character arc so they can get her where they want by the end of the series. I felt like the only parts that were given some space to breath are the Viktor/Jayce story, and the Ekko episode where he goes in the other dimension. Episode 7 is by far my favourite of the season, and perhaps my favourite of the entire show. The story was taking its time to tell that one thing, and I was all here for it. I watched it with my parents, and they were very pleased with Season 1, but Season 2 completely lost them with everything going on. Granted, they are always lost immediately by high concepts like time travel or alternate dimensions, but I remember my mom telling me at the end of episode 3 or 4, "I have no idea what is going on anymore"

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

@arenkai The thing you say about Isha being just a plot device is EXACTLY what I said when she put herself between Jynx and Vi. This season is proof that context is everything in scenes.

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

@BrigadoonZyphoon You nailed it. I was so annoyed with the Jinx/Ekko romance. Why didn't we even have hints that this was potentially a thing when they were kids? It could have been so much more acceptable if we saw that Powder liked Ekko (or the reverse) in one of those first three eps of season 1. And we definitely should have seen Ekko in at least one instance in S1 E4-9 mourning the loss of his childhood friend (Powder becoming Jynx).

[@arenkai]

@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS I completely disagree. The scene where Ekko stops beating Jinx on the bridge, and the elements we have suggesting how close they were as kids (in the same scene in fact, they play-training together), are enough to have their relationship as a plausible outcome if the circumstances were different. To me that was just comfirmation of a seed that was planted in season 1: Ekko loves Powder. At some point, asking for obvious foreshadowing becomes ridiculous as a demand and dumbs down everything. We don't need obvious clues when what we have already makes it a plausible outcome. Ekko is a character defined by his empathy and compassion which drive his saviour complex. Isn't it odd then that he is the character so ready to tell Vi that "Powder is dead, it's only Jinx now" ? That's an act to hide his feelings, his longing to get Powder back. Vi cracks his facade a bit when they meet, and it falls appart on the bridge where he can't bring himself to hurt Powder. Ekko definitely has feelings for Powder/Jinx as shown by those scene. Longing for a lost friendship or a lost romance is up to interpretation after season 1. Season 2 just locks in one of the two conclusions we could already logically come to in season 1. That's certainly one of the weirdest criticisms I've seen for this season.

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

@arenkai were there any scenes with child Ekko and child Jinx in those first 3 episodes to show that that they were close? Poorly used recontextualization is a criticism I saw no one else talking about. That's the reason I made it. No point in repeating what others are already saying, and this was a cause of major disconnect for a lot of viewers in S2. That's why I made that note in the video.

[@arenkai]

​​​​​@@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS My point is that we don't need more scenes of them together to come to the conclusion that they were close. That's actually a brilliant element about how season 1 uses its runtime: there is ONE scene of child Ekko and Powder playing (the bridge montage), and out of this we can take away that they were close; often playing together since they know so much (even years later) of each other's patterns during their confrontation. Their smiles right before too, when the music starts, shows the bond they both share. It shows that to them, this is something they have already done countless times as kids, except now it's not pretend-fighting anymore, and the conclusion of the scene is the snap back to the brutal reality. That's not recontextualisation at all. It's extrapolation on something already there. What you are asking for here is akin to a dumbing down of something that was brilliantly handled in the first season. Edit: We also know that Ekko was close to the whole gang since he talks to Vi about how he's been training with her moves. He's also very comfortable with Claggor. All this draws a picture of Ekko and the gang hanging out together fairly regularly. That + the montage are enough. And if you really want more, purely for fanservice reasons, you can also watch the Enemy official clip with Arcane animation. It's basically a Slice of Life of the gang growing up, hanging out together. It's irrelevant when it comes to discussing the show itself since it's extra content, but it's always cool to see more of this universe. BUT !! what it can show is that none of what we see in this clip is surprising. There's nothing here that isn't outside the realm of direct inference from what we already see in the show. It's more direct, but it's ultimately confirmation of something we already knew. Which makes my point for me Edit2: anecdotal. That's the word I was looking for. What we see in this clip isn't the argument, it's the anecdotes expanding on the argument we already heard in season 1. It's repetition with extra scenes, but we learn nothing new, because everything relevant was already there. Having extra scenes just to show that they were close as kids would just be pointless repetition.

[@bidossessi]

I couldn't finish season 2. I didn't inow what the story was about anymore

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

@@bidossessi If I wasn't in a watch party, I probably wouldn't have finished it either, for that same reason.

[@suzygirl1843]

@@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS THANK YOU. I thought Maddie is was Marcus's daughter too until I realized that isn't consistent with the current timeline. She still a child.

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

@suzygirl1843 Her character had no purpose except to betray Caitlyn at the end, and we were given no reason she would choose to do that. Lol.

[@Elmarby]

I did the step short of stopping and demoted it to second monitor. Which made it even more confusing but I couldn't care any more. Such a muddled mess. Such a pity as the first season moved the bar on what can be considered a 10/10.

[@ZelindraArkathius]

I really love this. I didn't know what the hell recontextualizing was. I thought there were too many revelations in season 2, but this framework really put it into a good perspective.

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

Revelations are usually a form of recontextualization. You were not wrong. 😉

[@ZelindraArkathius]

@@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS I'm curious as to where I can learn more about this? was there a book you read or some kind of resource you came across you learned from or some resource you were inspired by to come up with this?

[@mrglassscience]

I'm not 100% clear on re-contextualization I think. You said that it was when something that we thought was happening is revealed to be something different, but then you list things where we don't know what it is yet, then we find out. Is it when something changes or when anything is revealed? Take the Firelights in season 1. All I knew about them was that they were opposed to Jinx and Silco, but they were awesome. So, when I find out that it's Ekko, nothing in my mind has changed, I've only better understood what is actually happening.

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

@mrglassscience In my pinned comment, I mention that my definitions are flawed, but I was too burned out to go back and fix them with rerecording. But you are correct. Knowing whether there was withheld info or not should be a different spectrum. But the point is that it's a spectrum. Some reveals will be more consequential than others. Any of these can be more or less consequential than the others. I put the Ekko reveal as leaning towards Major because Ekko was assumed to be out of the story after we didn't see him for 2 episodes, and the firelights were affecting the story for both sides of the other major characters. Revealing that it was Ekko changes the significance of the Firelights actions. It makes it more personal for the audience, especially when Jinx kills one of Ekkos friends.

[@mrglassscience]

@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS Cool. Thank you for the clarification, that makes sense. I often wonder about how much people are predicting what will happen in shows based on clues and foreshadowing. Personally I try to avoid guessing what will happen, but it seems like a lot or people are constantly updating a model of where they think the story is going. I'm probably doing it subconsciously as well.

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

@mrglassscience In my case, it's not so much about trying to predict where a story will go. Although, I do that a LOT, simply out of habbit. It's more about identifying themes and how a story might best exemplify those themes. There's not much I enjoy more in a story than one that manages to stay on theme and still go somewhere I didn't expect.

[@89technical]

"Didn't connect emotionally" - Hun I didn't know what to do with the rest of my life when season 2 was done, and I genuinely think I will never see anything so beautiful or well written as long as I live. Maybe it's my contrarian nature but all the "problems" and "critiques" are minor at best. Would sitting with the concepts longer and exploring them have been great? Yes of course! I'll never say no to more Arcane. But in terms of writing and details almost everything is there and they trust the audience to make the connections. The problem is every scene has the density of a neutron star and the visuals are so spectacular the details can be difficult to catch but it's all there when you look and tells the story many feel are missing. Take the Black Rose as an example: It's introduction was exactly where it needed to be. Arcane's second and third act take place over less than a week. From the time Caitlyn springs Vi to the tea party and explosion is at most 5 days. Introducing the Black rose or hinting at it with Ambessa's arrival wouldn't be prudent since we're wrapping up Mel's arc by having her confront her mother. But even so, all the pieces are there for them in season 1. Mel is a master manipulator. When Ambessa arrives, we're not expecting her to also be manipulative - the juxtaposition of her as a wolf and Mel as a fox is there to throw you off but Ambessa says, "You must be both the fox and the wolf". It's subtle but from the moment Ambessa arrives we're given several clues: She both knows about the problem with the Undercity and has procured an escort to "sample the local cuisine". To us, it's an interesting characterization but looking back from season 2 ~ she already has her hooks in this place. She's well informed and able to do as she pleases. This is moment one. Mel believes she's been exiles - incorrect: She's still in her mothers spheres of influence and doesn't know it. Her being sent there is itself a manipulation. Moment 2: Ambessa is there for Hextec. She needs it not against the Undercity but against her enemies ~ Aha, mother has not been truthful: We, like her assume the enemy is abroad. So there is someone else working against them both. This is what sets up the Black Rose perfectly from their introduction: Ambessa believes she is safe from her enemies, because this is the place she sent Mel to keep her safe from their enemies. But just as she was able to infiltrate Piltover without her daughter knowing until she arrives, so too has The Black Rose. It echoes exactly and is characteristic of Arcane's paralleling structure in seasons 1 and 2 to not have to hint at something but still have the audience understand why they can be here without having known about them before. In addition to that: Heimidinger says explicitly that Piltover was set up to get away from the ambitious warring of mages - one of whom saved Jayce's life which is why he's trying to create magic in the first place. Okay - there are mages in the wider world: This is not a disputable fact and they are constantly making power plays between each other. Ambessa is a warrior and a kingdom builder. The idea that her enemies would NOT be using magic when 1) magic has been established in the world and 2) Piltover's existence is defined in opposition to magecraft being used to cause harm and warfare and that's ALL the setup you need for a sect like The Black Rose to exist in opposition to Ambessa.

[@MistaPoetic06]

Thank you for this comment. It feels like this person and all the ppl agreeing just didn't understand what was going on and don't really understand how these moments were built up emotionally.

[@lockekappa500]

It's strange because 90% of these recontextualizations I felt EXACTLY in the moment, how you believe you would have felt if they added more. I guess it just shows that if you do indeed get lost with all this show is throwing at you (and its A LOT) then you will truly get lost in the sauce. As you stated. I think in general the average casual viewer of the show could have absolutely warranted another season to make all of these moments click a bit better.

[@danieltallon4316]

Thank you so much for making this video!!!!!

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

Thank you for watching it. 😅

[@wokluski]

great points

[@billtodd2194]

Hrmm, sorry, I mostly disagree with this one. I mean, I agree that season 2 was weaker paced and harder to follow, and on things like Maddie had no real purpose to exist. But, not so much on recontextualization. Many of your cases I wouldn't consider much recontextualization or even if so didn't adjust enough that it threw me watching. For example, Jace killing Victor before it's shown why. I don't see that as recontextualization because I never had any context to begin with, it was more of ordered to force a mystery for the audience (also to provide emotional contrast to Ekko's time in ep7 and that way it's clearer that both are not in the present time). Vander being alive is a shake up for sure, but didn't affect me. Maybe because that was spoiled by all the preseason 2 speculation that Vander was the wolf monster character Warwick. I still wouldn't personally think of that as a recontextualization, though it is a twist, so if all twists are recontextualizations, then sure. For recontextualization I guess I think of it more something like Jaime the Kingslayer and the reveal why he did it. It's not revealing anything new about what happened, but seeing what you already knew differently.

[@TheExitStrategy]

Very well put. A lot of these points are simply discovery or original contextualization/revelation. Some of the show is also blatant deceptions to trick the viewer to believe something false about an event or person before the big reveal. Season one does this with characters a lot, and many people STILL believe in the false face that was put forward about certain characters 3 years later.

[@smwad7103]

I didn’t even finish season 2.

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

Several folks I was watching with decided not to finish, too.

[@wackywitchwoman]

I just got got 6th sense (a film I've been looking forward to watching) spoilt out of nowhere 😃 How fun...

[@elisaelisaross]

In Episode 8, when Vi bursts into Cait's living room, Cait orders Maddie to get out, but she stops behind the door and listens to the conversation. Also, I did not understand why all the characters that seemed dead but then are revealed to be alive are not counted as recontextualisaiton. Knowing that a character survives, means reconsidering what seemed to be their last scene, or the importance of deadly sacrifices that were made. I am thinkting about Viktor and Vander For example Vander: - he dies - then he comes back as the beast - then Vander's mind is recovering - then Vander's mind dies with the rest of Viktor's commune and the monster goes crazy - then Isha kills the monster - actually the monster survives - then Viktor takes control of the monster and we find out that its mind still contained Vander's identity because now we see it being actually erased - then the monster is left apparently dead, like all the other hexcore-creatures, when Viktor disappears with Jayce in episode 9 - the monster wakes up again and attacks Vi - the monster explodes - some people still theorise that the monster is alive because we did not see it actually dying (even if other times we have seen Vander and then the monster die but then they showed up again still alive) Many of these events in Vander/the monster 's existence delete the effect of the previous ones. None of these is a recontextualisation? IF so, why? I could ask the same thing about Viktor: Jayce kills him, but then we find out he was not dead, so Jayce's attack was useless, and so was the consequent destruction of the commune.

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

LOL! You're right! I can't believe I missed that! I guess I didn't even notice them because I didn't believe either Viktor or the Vander Beast were dead after they got "killed" in the commune. But they definitely were left for "assumed dead".... especially after that lingering shot on Viktor's vacant eyes. When you have a motionless body with eyes open, they are definitely dead. Great catch. Haha! I missed the forest for the trees. This is why it's always a good idea to have multiple perspectives examining a story for holes before it goes to print.

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

@BrigadoonZyphoon Actually, the Vanderbeast and Viktor deaths in the commune are recontexts I totally missed. I don't think Viktor's death meant that the commune deaths meant nothing, though. Clearly, the nature of their lives was singular in a way uniquely illustrated by their deaths. And they were never the same after any of their "resurrections". They were different after being healed. They were different after being evolved. Viktor not being dead only means that his death didn't happen, and he was still alive to make decisions that would alter the story going forward. So... a player we thought was off the board was actually still in the game. And they waited a whole episode before telling us he was still alive. So... yeah. I'd say that works as a recontextualization.

[@elisaelisaross]

@@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS thanks for explaining your points!

[@gossim]

11:00 that's exactly what I expressed in other similar breakdowns of the show. I came out of watching S2 and felt practically nothing. Compare that to S1, where I felt heavy emotional hits multiple times throughout. What a crazy contrast....

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

@gossim As sad as it is we didn't get an S2 that matches the emotional power of S1. I got so inspired, creatively, from the choices they made in S2. I keep coming up with things I wish they did instead. I am sure I'm not the only one who felt that way. I'm betting we will get a lot of very cool new storytellers coming out from this show. Not because it was great.... but because it was almost great.

[@FredrikHaugen]

The thing that could have been so great, but feels like they didn't put it through properly and became a lost opportunity was Vander - Silco - Felicia. Combined with Felicia's children. S2 tells us that these 3 were friends. Silco knew about Felicia's children. Somewhere along the line it became sour between Vander and Silco, despite their mutual dream of Zaun. But you're telling me that Silco either didn't know that Vander took in Felicia's children after her and Connel, the children's father died on the bridge? What would have saved it would be if there was hints that he knew that Vander had taken in children but he never gave it any major concern. Then seeing Vi fight getting hints that she looks familiar. Then when Powder embraces him she tells him that she doesn't have a sister anymore. That Violet abandoned her. That she hated her. Then Silco would suddenly realise that this child was Felicia's! That the sisters breakup mimicked his and Vander's. So now he honors the promise given to Felicia and raises Powder. Believing that Vi is dead, having it reported by Marcus. Then the meeting at Felicia and Connols place, which he would have known, would have been so much more significant for him. He would try to shield Jinx, but try to reach Vi, but not really trust her since she would be with Caitlyn. But the whole thing goes south. Then at the end he would still try to shield Jinx but never have the time to tell Vi and Jinx about their mother. This would then make everything in season 2 so much more impactful.

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

@FredrikHaugen there are several holes like this. So much of season 2 seemed to forget that season 1 happened. I cannot help but think there must have been different writers.

[@TheExitStrategy]

I think we get hints that he knew, but didn't care. My guess is that Silco was so consumed with his revolution he didn't keep up with Felicia and her family anywhere near as much as Vander (and may even blame her kids partially for Vanders betrayal). Anyway, the big hint that he knew was S1 E3. He never sees Powder at the warehouse during the fight, yet when he comes across her in an ally, he knows she is Vi's sister. Him not calling her by name is part of the estranged relationship. He does not show up in any flashbacks, and Vi has no fond memories of him from before the bridge incident. I have another theory about Vander and Felicia, and how Silco may have blamed the kids but it's all just juicy gossip at this point. (Felicia plays a love song Vander notes to have some importance to them, Vi wears Vanders bracelet as a necklace in the first episode. Felicia let's Vander name Violet, and tells him before Conner. Vi is built "different" and acts very Vander-like. You know where this is goung)

[@jonathanmares9417]

@@TheExitStrategy "Anyway, the big hint that he knew was S1 E3. He never sees Powder at the warehouse during the fight, yet when he comes across her in an ally, he knows she is Vi's sister." Unfortunately for this theory, its established in S1 E3 that Silco has eyes on Vander's children (the teen they fight with and gets turned into a shimmer monster was spying for him). In S1 E3, Silco makes clear that he set up a trap to lure in Vander's kids to get rid of all of them to sell a story that Vander took his kids and abandoned the undercity. In other words, its established in S1, E1-E3 that Silco at least knows *of* Vander's kids. He has eyes on Vander and them, seemingly waiting for an opportune moment oust Vander from power.

[@FredrikHaugen]

@@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS My guess is that the writers where new to the craft and wasn't sure about what story they wanted to craft from the beginning. It feels exploratory, which isn't a bad way, it only needs a lot more revisions. They worked on the story for several years and I've seen that a lot was reworked for episode 1. There's an animated sequence of Powder, seemingly unwillingly, being onboard of an airship that never made it to the editing board. While the first season was great in many perspectives I feel like that they should have plotted a more coherent backstory and planning future pay offs by more careful setups in season 1 for future seasons. I'm not racking down on these writers because they're really, really good. Christian Linke and Alex Yee really hit it. Especially with Amanda Overton coming in and helping them to realise their dream. But if you're writing something that you wish to do over several seasons, laying out the full story, if only by plot points and a general direction is so much more rewarding for the audience and gives us a much more coherent story. There's a whole scene where Jinx and Echo prepared for the last battle that mirrored S2E7 that would have been so more fulfilling but sadly never left the concept board It's like the bits and pieces are there, in many ways the second season was a flawed diamond. If it was just cut a little differently it could really have sparkled. Especially if they would have given us 3 seasons.

[@seismic6435]

​@@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS I don't think that's a hole. We don't know the timeline of when Vander tried to kill Silco, but given he doesn't seem to recognize Powder, it can be assumed to be after Vi was born, but before Powder was

[@TheFreeBass]

Yer right... there's a lot to unpack here. But I'll start with where you put a lot of your attention ('cuz it's easy): Ambessa. I never liked her in the first place, but she served a purpose in S1 by developing Mel's back story & showing that the apple can indeed fall far from the tree. Mom was the iron fist & daughter was the velvet glove: Ambessa was a straight up warrior to Mel's manipulator. But in S2 they gave Ambessa Mel's manipulative traits... and she sucked at it. To be fair, they did get her right in that she was too proud to simply ask for help, but the way she tried to orchestrate her takeover from the shadows wasn't only badly done, it was stupid. She was in Piltover long enough to be aware of Silco's faction, & IMO it would have made more sense for her to ally w/ him (S1) or his leaderless remnants (S2) in exchange for shimmer which she could have used to A) boost her own army, 2) use on her enemy to get them addicted/ demoralized, or) both. But no... she had to have the big bad hextech. I do have to disagree w/ your assessment of Sevika in S1. I never for a moment though she was gonna betray Silco, despite all her bitching & moaning about how he ran things. Outside of Jinx ("family") & Vander (estranged) she was the closest thing to a friend he had (even if she was a subordinate). And likewise Silco was the only one she showed anything like friendship or loyalty towards. That's how friends relate: they don't say "Excuse me boss, but I think there's a better way to do this", they say "Dude, don't be stupid". And the former definitely isn't the way Sevika speaks to anybody... THAT would be a Major recontextualization. As for everyone else in their circles, they both either used or at best tolerated them. And as for S2 (not that you mentioned it), Sevika was probably the least changed character. She didn't try to take Silco's place for the sake of power, she tried to keep his dream of Zaun alive (her own belief in which is why I never thought she was gonna betray him). Great vid as always (despite yr humility in the pinned comment). And just to keep the Arcane ball rolling (not that I'm suggesting a future topic. Nope. Not at all😇) everyone loves to hate Top lists. I wonder who yer Top 5 Arcane characters are. My own are in no particular order: Mel (S1), Sevika, Silco, Viktor, & (obviously) Jinx (S1). I hate that I have to limit 2 of them to S1, but the character changes/ wasted potential in S2 kinda demanded it.

[@eumefmeauh6193]

Super video!

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

Thank you 😎Super comment!

[@dougdynamo9398]

This is a really good video. Succinct and evidence-based.

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

Haha! Thanks. Don't think too hard about some of my examples and definitions or your opinion might sour. 😅 But thank you 🥰

[@atomicaaron6720]

I agree with some of your points 100%. But even still. What I learnt from arcane was just amazing. It was one hell of a journey and I enjoyed every second of it. There were obvious flaws in season 2 but even with that, there were some amazing high points that reminded me of the Hugh of season 1. It’s a flawed and rushed Magnus opus in my opinion. And when it ended I was just grateful and thankful that it was a thing. It changed the way I view television. I could definitely see and feel the flaws but it didn’t matter to me…

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

I think we agree more than you think. I loved it even with the flaws. It definitely got the creative parts of my brain charged up. I hope you like my next Arcane videos. They will be more up your alley.

[@atomicaaron6720]

@ 100%. I’ve just seen so much negative things about the show and at the end of the day people should appreciate what we got. An amazing story that was moving in many ways. I understand how season 2 failed in comparison but the show as a whole definitely did not fail.. I think it was the opposite. This show will always hold a special place in my heart and it saddens me that the only thing most people took away from season 2 and the show as a whole was that it was a let down when I don’t really think it was.. however the way that this video was done didn’t feel like u were just hating on the show which I appreciate. I could tell that u still enjoyed it..

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

@@atomicaaron6720 As a developmental editor, the more enthusiastic I am about fixing a story, the more I loved it's potential. I want to help writers write better. I also love to learn more from deep exploration into the failures and triumphs of stories. This story had so much going on. I want to do some mental exercises, figuring all the potential directions it could have gone and seeing how each choice affects the story as a whole.

[@atomicaaron6720]

@ I can totally get behind that and will definitely be following future projects. What I don’t like is when there is unnecessary hate towards something which I have seen quite a bit with arcane s2. Many characters were written poorly (mainly VI) but I felt like some characters like jinx were written well. Especially her whole arc. I can see why it’s not ‘perfect’ but it’s not abysmal. For me it stuck the landing, barely. But I can understand why it may not have for others. And videos like this make me see the other perspective better. But I’ll still stick by what I said 😂 For me it wasn’t that confusing either. But that’s probably because I play too much league 😂. I personally felt more emotional during s2’s big moments than I did in s1. It’s probably bcs I’m more invested in jinx’s character as a whole… anyway enough of my rambling 😂 I’m just very passionate!

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

@@atomicaaron6720 Don't ever let anything break the passion for good storytelling. Keep loving what you love!

[@joshuamacdonaldmusic]

I made it through the whole season and I can definitively say that Vander is 100% probably dead. Maybe

[@reubenhugo6450]

What writing problems?

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

@@reubenhugo6450 I listed a few in my video, but there are several other youtubers making sound critiques.

[@Ariel4277gsc]

@@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONSand their videos suck

[@OJorEm]

Thank you

[@jmatos316]

That cog keeps showing up soich I thought it was important...and yet it really meant nothing....

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

@jmatos316 Haha. I spent a good ten minutes trying to figure out if it really meant anything. I gave up when I remembered they didn't even give a good reason for Viktor to change from not wanting to help Ambessa or Cinged because he doesnt want to sacrifice people's humanity..... to saying, "go ahead. Let's force everyone to assimilate." The cog is a prop. Nothing more.

[@TheExitStrategy]

One side of the Cog has the Hexcore corruption, the other doesn't. Victor is a slow burn into the machine he becomes, as he loses his humanity (or at least his former self) every time he takes a step forward with the Hexcore. He can eventually no longer see the difference between humanity and the corruption, and they become two sides of the same coin. This is how he justifies his enslavement of the world, wearing the mask of the Hexcore to hide his face and blind him of anything but his goal of completing the Glorious Evolution.

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

@@TheExitStrategy Oh nice! I like the symbolism. What prompted his change in belief, though? He went from telling Singed that he wouldn't sacrifice Vander's humanity (in fact he was willing to sacrifice himself to save Vander), to suddenly being okay with it. What prompted this change.

[@TheExitStrategy]

Oh boy, we get to start at the beginning. Season one often deceived us about character, where season 2 focuses more about deceiving us with events. All the way back to season 1, Victor in his own dialogue is focused on helping his fellow members of the undercity, claiming hew wants to "Improve lives now!". Victor according to his actions is very different, and far more self serving. He prioritizes his survival to that of safety, often falling into reckless behavior ignoring caution. He seeks out his old mentor, with the words "I understand, now". The understanding that "the MUTATION must survive" is that the work must proceed in spite of the cost. Victor must give up on his principals to further his quest to cure himself. He then continues to do so recklessly, and the result is his progress at the cost of Sky's life. This WOULD have been a turning point for Victor as he realizes he failed to do good in the pursuit of great. Yet even then, he cannot bring himself to destroy the Hexcore (his hope of survival) and asks Jayce to do it for him. Later, when Victor fully fuses with Hexcore, he begins to lose even more of himself. He still laments the death of Sky, but no longer has human sensations, and evens abandons his "affection" of Jayce to pursue his own separate path. You know the rest of the events up to when he says he will not "sacrifice his (Vanders) humanity" for the Dr.'s cause, but Victor is not presently forced to make a decision for his own survival yet. When Victor is mortally wounded, and his survival is "on the line, now", he takes the action he is used to taking vs. the ideals that are easy to say when things aren't tough. Even Sky is uneasy when he tells the Dr. to proceed. And after all the indignation he professed about Sky's death, he lets her go into oblivion as a SACRIFICE (theme of episode 6) with a half hearted goodbye. It is that betrayal of his own character that Sky pulls away from before she fully disappears.

[@TheExitStrategy]

@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS I guess the sum of all that is to say: what a character SAYS should be weighed against their ACTIONS. If you look back on a lot of the shows characters, you will find many of them contradict their stated goals. Silco and Zaun, Vander and trying to protect the kids, Vi never giving up on her sister, Caitlin and ending the cycle of violence. Many characters contradict the lies they tell themselves. We, as observers, are used to believing the stated narratives because that is how a lot of modern media presents its characters. Arcane lies to us with words and tells the truth through actions.

[@iogssothoth666]

I have seen à few vidéos of people saying "maddie was bad all along and I don't understand how or why". Did we watch the same show ? I mean, there are plenty of writing problems with the season, but this isn't one. Cait used maddie as a rebound girl. Ambessa warned Cait against relationships with subordinates, heavily implyimg that it might be a weakness, particularly if things turn out bad. Then at the first chance, she dropped her like a used sock to go back with Vi. Vi is fine with it. But why would we assume that Maddie is ? She is clearly more into Cait than Cait was into her. So she betrays Cait to Ambessa out of spite. "Hell has no fury like that of a scorned woman". It is a very used trope. It is not great writing, but it is far from confusing. There was plenty enough of confusion going on, but this one seemed to be one of the very straightforward plot devices.

[@MrSwanee11]

Love this

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

Why thank you, kind sir! ☺

[@Neos1heOne]

I like your hairstyle! No comment on this episode 😅 but just wanted to send you a compliment 👊🏻

[@ozmainthedark]

I liked the video. I enjoyed Arcane in general. I totes needed words for why the writing felt more fragmented in Season 2 and this put a definition to those feelings. I agree with most of it. Especially how unnecessary Maddie was as a character. I disagree with the Ambessa and Mel relationship thing. Not that it doesn't have issues. It's just that I have always felt like the point of the show is not to simply put people in the box of good and bad. At least with the major characters. I mean yes Ambessa is written like a sympathetic villain but by the end of season 1 so is Silco in my opinion. Plus Mel has been pleading and playing politics. I feel like her pleading more would've made her seem somewhat helpless. I feel like the bigger problem is that the emotional aspect of the goals for Ambessa are moreso implied or stated rather than shown. Everyone can be written to have goals but if there isn't a passion behind them then it's not as believable to me. Conquest can get you power but why have more power if you're already powerful? Black Rose is a threat, sure, but not a persistent and obvious threat. Why does Ambessa need or want hextech? Mel is mentioned as a weapon but also magic is mentioned to be hated in Nox as it's like cheating and not showing true power. So Ambessa could both want to use Mel's powers and/or hate the idea of using Mel's powers. While I can see how hextech is essentially a grey area way to improve power, there's never a clear reason why acquiring that power is so important. That would've done so much to contextualize why each choice can involve a whole love/hate thing with Mel and gaining power. Then there can be something where Ambessa disowns her daughter near the end because she can definitely use magic or some other thing to show the no going back part. Still with the dying words 'cause on some level Ambessa still loves Mel. There were lore reasons to make it so much more emotionally satisfying that weren't used and only vaguely hinted at. Then again hindsight is 20/20 and I have no idea how difficult it is to write a redemption narrative as opposed to a tragedy.

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

The difference I see is in how clear the motivations of the characters' were through their actions and words. Silco was complex, and this was played with a lot. What Ambessa was up to, what her motivations were, and how the audience was made to feel about her was presented more as fluctuating, unreliable, conflicting. Mel and the audience were guided to redirect their intrigue so many times with Ambessa, only in the end for Mel to betray her mother and then immediately rescue her mother, and it's unclear if this was Mel's intention all along, or if she regretted betraying her mother, or if Mel was just sad that she had to do it. Ambessa's and Mel's story really deserves a whole season to be fleshed out. I will go more into her story when I talk about specific character arcs.

[@quigsthevicious]

Silco's meeting with the bosses changed my opinion in a different way. Until then I thought he was basically an aspiring warlord wanting to be big fish of a small pond. When he describes how they were effectively slave labour working in toxic air it adds some serious righteousness to his cause even if he's still evil. You caught this later in the vid, but it was Cait's mom who cleaned the air. This for me recontextualized Cait's mom posthumously adding naive altruist to greedy aristocrat. Silco gave the bosses "time in the sun" by making them the new exploiters of the undercity once shimmer made the Lanes a criminal boom town. It's still my fave show of the year but I do have gripes and the biggest is how simple the characters are compared to last season. None of the new characters have an inner conflict gnawing at them or a hard choice to make. Ambessa has 1 line about how the mages hold down ambitious muggles. Lean into that. Let us know there's a noble fig leaf Ambessa's thirst for power hides behind. Turn Maddy into a Marcus who visibly loses faith in the person she used to respect and gets punished for it. The more I dwell on the show the more satisfied I am with the Black Rose. They were hunting Mom to get back what she stole, but they also knew about the pending Victorpocalypse and were actively trying to stop it by stopping Mom. Give me those layers in Maddy, Isha, Loris and whoever else got more than 2 minutes of screen time. These would likely count as more recontext stuff, making that season tally even worse 🙂, but would make real people out of cardboard cutouts. Q: If you would have stopped watching S2 (from another comment) were it not for an obligation then in what way did S1 captivate you less but enough to keep watching? Genuinely curious.

[@thomasmann4536]

Warwick being Vander - i.e. Vander not dying - I wouldn't really classify as a recontextualization that makes season 1 less painful. I mean, yes, he didn't die, but I would contend that the way things went after episode 3 is not (solely) because of Vander's apparent death. The main driver was Powder's "help", the deaths of Mylo and Clagger, and Vi's overreaction, as well as Silco taking her in. Even if we knew at that time that Vander was only passed out, this would not change Silco taking Powder with him, Vi lashing out at Powder, and most of the other things happening. I also think that given what Singed said and what we know about Vander it was quite adequately explained why this would be a one-off and why we won't see everyone just getting brought back from the dead from now on. Does Smeech (the steroid rat with the trump haircut) being a genius criminal mastermind - at least for 15 minutes until he is unceremoniously disposed of - count as a recontextualization? He didn't even have a line of dialogue in season 1, after all. on a different note: Victor giving young Jayce the gemstone to invent hextech and save the world from evil Victor sounds like a self-defeating prophecy. Because evil Victor was only possible due to the invention of hextech. In other words: Jayce was set out to invent something and then to save the world from his own invention ... also: I agree with you about the recontextualization of Jayce killing Victor. In fact, I would have loved it so much more if we FIRST learned that Jayce "has" to kill Victor and then we see him walk towards Victor, and until the end we're thinking "will he do it? Will he have the strength to kill his best friend? or will he do something else?"

[@billtodd2194]

I do agree on the Jace/Victor timeloop thing, the best route (especially as shown via Ekko's travel) would have been hextech never been invented rather than having Jace stop Victor in the present...Although without Jace's lab to rob then Ekko's alternate reality also would not have happened either, so it's all speculation if Piltover would have become a peaceful place or just as bad and with shimmer, but without hextech. I was fine with the Jace killing Victor order. While your order does give a good emotional decision over whether Jace will go through with it, the way they did give the mystery whether Victor was really the good guy or not. At this point in the show he'd only helped people and not yet done the creepy puppetmaster stuff. Less emotional and more thriller cliffhanger, but could be seen as equally valid TV hook.

[@thomasmann4536]

@@billtodd2194 hm. I dont think the order that it is now in gives any mystery though ... until Jayce "kills" Victory, we don't have any indication that Victor will be evil (correct me if I missed anything), so it almost looks like Jayce killing Victor CAUSES Victor to go off the rails in the first place (maybe indirectly if we say this only happens due to Singed reviving him). If I haven't missed anything, then I would argue, this post hoc revelation actually does more harm than good (though it would be problematic no matter the order, even though we could excuse it in "my" order as being a greek-tragedy-style self fulfilling prophecy)

[@billtodd2194]

@@thomasmann4536 I think it was meant to be self fulfilling. Future Victor gets Jace to go back and stop him knowing that Jace will fail to kill him. After the failed attempt Jace also realized he couldn't simply kill Victor, during the battle plan he says something about them being meant to lose. On this iteration it does seem that that failed attempt is what causes Victor to go off the rails as you say, but as he notes he has repeatedly done this. It can be presumed that prior iterations are what taught him to save child Jace and give him a rune to begin with because he needs adult Jace to do whatever he's going to do. Perhaps without getting Jace to try to kill him he waits years to get around to doing the hivemind thing and Jace or Ekko and the time machine are no longer around to stop it.

[@thomasmann4536]

@@billtodd2194 yeah, but i think it is poorly executed. Because at least to me, this all hinges on Victor actually becoming evil, which seems to only happen after Jayce failed to kill him and Singed gives him some of Warwick's blood. In other words, had Vi and the others successfully fought off Ambessa and her soldiers, Victor would not have turned evil in the first place, thus making the whole thing unnecessary. BUT, considering that Victor is practically Jesus, and if Jayce was on their side, there would be no way in hell Ambessa wins. In other words: Jayce and Victor came up with a retarded strat with a slim chance of success to save the world from a mess they created but could have easily avoided in the first place by doing nothing. I think the writer's didn't think this through at all ...

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

Oh no! Did I say it made it less painful? That was the wrong choice of words, if I did. What I meant by that is that it cheapens the pain. On second watch, you know its needless. In the same way that a fake out cheapens anything.... or a half-head conversation. Like when you have one person overhear half a conversation and walk away making an assumption based on what they heard.... but if they had just stayed to hear the other hand of the conversation, they would not have reacted as they did. In the case of Arcane, fortunately, season 1 was so well done, that it matters very little. If only the execution of the recontext reveal was done better, I think I would have had fewer complaints. The content is less a negative than the execution in this case.

[@sugarplumsoda]

I love Arcane, but one bigger problem... I don't like episodes 8 and 9 because it was rushed and stupid. The songs are actually perfect, but that one song where Cait and Vi are doing it in the jail cell is so catchy that I wanted to put a Phil Collins song in it. The worst part was they did Maddie dirty (I'm not joking! 4,000 people are cheering over her death for no reason!) I guess the writers are running out of ideas because they made her a "traitor" as a plot device. I tried to defend Katy Townsend and her character, but I'm too weak because haters are doing toxic things. She could be an interesting character, not a traitor.

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

@@sugarplumsoda I saw no point to Maddie, except as a plot device. It wouldn't have taken much to give her real purpose and motivation. And yeah.... eps 8-9 were breakneck. Those ywo episodes, alone, could have been a whole season.

[@DianaDonineaux]

Instead of having Cait and Vi develop their relationship , the writers chose toxic lesbian drama instead but the problem is that Cait and Vi must be endgame , it is why Maddie and Ambessa are used to absolve Cait.

[@sugarplumsoda]

​@@DianaDonineaux Did the writers are having gingerphobia or smth?

[@DianaDonineaux]

@@sugarplumsoda It was the Season of opposites , if I am not wrong it was said by Cait's voice actor. OPPOSITE FOR RÉGRESSION especially for character arcs instead of developing them. They made Jinx a hero , a symbol for Zaun ,lol, and they made Cait a dictator. A bad person has to have a redemption arc and a good person with a lot of empathy is suspicious let her make do evils things. It is crazy for me because a lot of people did not care that much for Caitlyn in S1 . But now she is looking hot doing war crimes and have sex with Vi , she is the best , it is why Maddie has to vanish . That's it. I think it was more that than anything else .

[@DianaDonineaux]

You tried to defend her ,do you have a channel ? On youtube there are channels who posts her scene death , the comments were insane . On reddit there are some posts who defends her , they really do not like that she turned out to be a spy .

[@Jremyisawsome1111]

watching this video has shown me that I fell asleep in season 2. which is unfortunate since I liked season 1.

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

I still loved what they did... just... not HOW they did it. I am going to fix my headcanon, though.

[@jmatos316]

Speaking of things that need to be said ... Our KZbinr looked strikingly hot in this video and thumbnail 🎉

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

🤣🤣🤣😅 Thanks! I just got a haircut, and the gal who did it heard I was planning to shoot a video later that day, so she styled it for me, too. The credit goes to her.

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

@BrigadoonZyphoon 🤣🤣 While this is true, I certainly don't mind compliments in the comments. 😋 It sure beats the folks telling me I'm an @$$hole or a dumb@$$.

[@jmatos316]

@@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS you're too modest... Accept the compliment 😉

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

@@jmatos316 I do accept 😜 And Thanks 😅

[@cristiancandru8610]

Unfortunately I find a video like this to be nothing more than an exercise of imagination, since Christian Linke, the creator of Arcane, stated that they made an executive decision that in season 2 they would focus more on the plot and not on character development. He gave the example of Vi who they decided to have it more in the background in order to focus on other characters because the plot needed them. Also we know that most of the writers of season 1 did not come back for season 2, and writing was completely disorganized due to covid. We also know that they wrote season 2 in 2020, during Covid, with Linke as the main writer (while season 1 had 6-7 writers which all worked together) and Amanda Overton, while brining other writers on episode basis, all this while season 1 was still not released, so they were under a lot of stress and did not know what worked or not from season 1. And on top of all this, Fortiche took 4 years to develop season 2 due to the high quality of visuals, so this long development process forced Riot to only commission 1 more season, hence all the music videos, rushed plots and subplots, which could have clearly been developed over a 3rd or even 4th season. So in light of all this, we can come up with a million ways to improve the writing in season 2, but how can any of these carry any weight when we know the creators admittedly didn't treat the writing with the respect it deserved?

[@drekbleh7081]

So Mel is a mage. That means she's closer to the type of people who cause calamities so harsh it sends goofy happy go lucky heimerdinger into harsh stoicism. And it's just treated like "well there she is." In warhammer40k there are types of people called pyskers who are treated with absolute fear and systemic cruelty because of their potentially world ending powers. I thought something like this was going to happen to Mel, where everyone becomes fearful of her.

[@drekbleh7081]

@BrigadoonZyphoon Heimerdinger's reaction to the hextech core looks like a flashback to a single person covered in energy, then an explosion. His attitude changes so drastic that he's willing to destroy the core, the only thing keeping Vicktor alive, and he loves Vicktor. During the Council meeting, he elaborates the dangers of magic That was ONE person Heimerdinger fears. And now Mel is one of those people. Mages being parallels to psykers are apt, but Mel doesn't get the same reactions of someone who might be a nuke because... well, no one really got the development they deserved imo

[@TheNightrider88]

By the way, have you finished the book 5 of WoT?)

[@gamuret-6442]

I liked this video

[@WonderousSmiles]

While Marcus' kid does look like Maddie. I think need a bigger timeskip to have that make sense And I should say, Singed was shown working on Warwick in season one. And the black rose necklace was the same one in Mel's painting and the girl in her flashback wore. It's fine flooring, but it needed more build up to be reintroduced . I feel as though they had too many pointless characters this season. You mentioned Maddie, but why was any of the enforcers there? What did Steb or Lorris even DO? Isha didn’t have to be there either. You wanted to make Jinx sad? You mean like how she ended season 1 and started season 2 as? Waste of time. Jinx rocks, do something with her. Let her go wild! And if Warwick has to exist, not to develop Vi's character and have her face some hard truths but, as some sort of band-aid for the sisters. To be frank, I don't want him. Keep him.

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

@WonderousSmiles Haha. I didn't even know the other 2 enforcers had names. Lol. Isha was a plot device from start to finish, and although the show didn't do her right, they could have developed her into a great mirroring character for Jinx. Yeah, leaving discrete clues that are represented with equal attention to props given meaning as an afterthought is not the same as foreshadowing or dropping clues to later be identified as evidence of a recontextualization. I, too, had issues with Warick being Vander.

[@JCGCompositions]

Did they 'recontextualize' or are they just comming up with new ideas as they go? I'm losing my faith in good writing.

[@darkwingduck9589]

Yay!

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

🥳

[@diy_cat9817]

🎉

[@sailorrinn6134]

🙌

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

👏👏🙌👐

[@saracarter9952]

❤❤❤

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

🥰😍🥰

[@rooksgate5574]

🤙

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

@@rooksgate5574 😎

[@billtodd2194]

Watched these out of order and just saw your older vid. To kinda answer that one here, I think the root flaw (assuming keeping the same story) is the 2 season length. Season 1 was tightly focused on the sisters and that's why it landed so emotionally. Your comments on season 2 are a bit of a catch22 as not adding new characters is too static/repetitive, but adding new characters inherently takes away from the tight focus on the sisters. It'd have been even worse to start all those side characters back in season 1, so I think the best solution would have been to extend season 2 to give the original characters more focus, while also giving time to properly introducing some new ones. That'd have helped for several of your recontextualization cases I think, Ambessa wouldn't feel like she flip flops within the same episode and there'd have been more character development on screen instead of off.

[@billtodd2194]

As a sorta off topic, but I was just thinking about story lines landing/not landing about another show today and I think one common issue in shows is that they feel the need to give everyone screen time, but 1 character's story is not at the same sense of urgency/scale. For example, I am watching season 2 of Silo and no spoilers here, but half the screen time is the silo in unrest and tense machinations and the other half is a rather sedate engineering task. The engineering portion is shot and acted well, I am invested in what is happening. And yet the entire time while watching it there is this voice in the back of my head going, "come on, get a move on, there's potentially society ending events in the works and you're fixing a hose". The mind dismisses it as filler and considers it 'wasted' runtime. Arcane didn't directly fall in this trap much, especially since season 2 already felt too abbreviated, but I think that is the issue you have with the new characters. Your mind flags them as less important than the sisters so time spent with them seems less important. Rather than enjoying time with the new characters for what it is, your mind keeps thinking you're wasting potential time spent with more important characters.

[@billtodd2194]

@BrigadoonZyphoon Are you saying you wanted it to only stick with the same characters and add 0 in season 2? You can certainly do that, but over time you do tend to want to add more characters, expand the world. Using Star Wars as the example, while I did love the old Expanded Universe, I read some IMO pretty valid criticism that the Star Wars galaxy was very small compared to other settings. Every story had to tie directly back to the original cast and took them umpteen books to even expand to their kids. Eventually you need to let a series grow by having a Star Wars story without Luke. Then there's the novel approach of starting all main characters in book 1 and following them separately until they finally interact in book 3, which doesn't work as well for TV, it's extra casting, sets, and more importantly, split limited focus time.

[@CaseyYam]

😀

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

@@CaseyYam 😊

[@Drudenfusz]

Weird,I feel the complete opposite that all the recontextualisations in Arcane have been necessary. I mean every episode begins with the taijitu of the two sisters, exact for when that too gets recontextualised in episode 7 of for the second season. That always carried the eternal interaction of yin and yang. And thus I feel like the urge that many western audiences have to "fix" the story is very much colonialism. I mean, just look at the motifs of kinsugi and the resulting wabi-sabi in the show, or the Daoist idea of wu wei that lives in these yi-yang dynamics. So, the answer is not to try to force a western philosophy on the narrative, but an analysis of how the Eastern philosophies are expressed in the fiction. Hell, I would say you missed a lot of recontextualistations that happens. I mean you start in episode 2, but there are already plenty in episode 1, also based on the short clip on the bridge and how then Vender gets recontextualised as working with the enforcers which he previously fought. I think you are wrong with Silco having cleaned up the undercity's air. That was never said, not even implied. Where did you get that idea from? I mean, Silco had no issues with the polluted air and he makes even fun of how weak the other Chem-barons have become forgetting from where they came from. And the second season shows then that it is actually House Kiramman that was reponible for it, and in the altered time line that Ekko, Milo, and Claggor where involved in these thigs. That is hence not a retcon, since the base assumption was never in the show. I don't think Maddie was bad from the beginning, but that she became disillusioned over time with Caitlyn. The got introduced as an idealist, and so it is no surprise that the had a fall arc, since that is how such characters often play out when they feel abandoned. Dictator Cait simply did not showed her that much affection, and was immediately all over Vi again when the reunited. But yes, Maddie gets recontextualised there, just not as being always bad, but more as a scorned lover. Maybe I just watch shows more in a zen like state of mind, that I do not wonder about if I should know something already or not, but take every moment as they are presented. And thus many of the recontextualisations mentioned here felt rather banal to me. Like all the stuf about Ambessa, for me it was clear that she was behind the attack on the memorial, with the show basically outright telling us when Mel says that they must have help from upside while having Ambessa on screen. Overall for me the show was very much high concept from the beginning, and I ever felt lost with all the recontextualisations, since I feel like they always had motifs foreshadowing everything and also callbacks to everything. And well, maybe it is also because I am used to Kishotenketsu as storytelling framework, in which the recontextualisation is part of how the stories get told. And so I leave the suggestion here at the end of not trying to fix any media when you do not understand the paradigm it operates in. I am pretty sure Korean and Japanese audiences will have a much better time with Arcane since it is much closer to their cultural sensitivities.

[@billtodd2194]

I am unfamiliar with the terms, but I mostly agree on rarely being lost. For me the points I was lost on were more of visual clarity rather than story telling clarity. For example, Heimerdinger's death. It was clearly shown when Ekko went back too far it had lethal consequences for those too close. But when the anomaly worked Heimerdinger just vanished. It seemed implied he died, but there was no definitive visual clue nor memorial for him in the ending sequence. Another was when Mel let Ambessa get trapped by the Rose then changed all the chains. Visually I was confused and had to watch a couple times to figure out how Ambessa was mortally wounded yet also praising Mel.

[@doro55-q5d]

Thank you for this video ❤. I am really disappointed with the second season and the disappintment grew the longer I thouht about it. Still, many of the critisising videos I came across were just a rampage of nitpicking instead of constructive criticism. I am grateful for what you did here, especially in terms of comparing the 2 seasons. This is what I cannot stop doing seeing how well structured s1 was and that how good season 2 could have been 😢

[@TheHawkssong]

I agree with many of the things you said how ever you over stepped the very real relationship between Mel and Jayce and how that was just dropped. I feel they did Ambessa, Mel and Jayce very wrong in season two. Mel was a very driving force in season one for herself and Jayce. As a Black women, it was very good to see a Dark skinned Black woman being intelligent, beautiful and feminine who gets the guy, instead they make her into a masculine super hero who is set up to take Ambessas place as the new masculine Black woman. It was good to have both representations of Black women on screen for once. Mel was obviously meant to be one of the top characters in the show, you can tell by the writing of her in season one and the into music with the credits. They emasculated Jayce and gave the impression that there was a gay thing going on with him and Victor when it was just fine for them to be best friends, they also didn't do the relationship between Caitlyn and Vi justice, they deserved way better than a nasty prison sex scene. I also hate the way they did Vander and killed him over and over again. We need the characters of season one more flushed out, I wanted to know more about Saveka and not just see her as Jinks new sidekick. The Fireflies should have been more explored. I could say much more, but yes, season 2 was a huge disappointment It would be good to see you make some videos on that.

[@OutOfTheBoxThinker]

Season 1 was a masterpiece. Season 2 was an abomination!

[@barb-bi]

Season 2 was terrible 😭

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

The sad thing is that all of these events on S2 could have happened and felt great... if they were properly earned. But that would have required way more time. S1 was a slow burn. S2 was a fling.

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

I would say it had a ton of potential, and not all of that potential stemmed from a great S1. Some of the story ideas in S2 were great. But they were crammed in and felt cheap for it.

[@Alektrophobians]

🤓

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

🤓 Same. 🤪

[@CallMeFVLL]

Arcane respects it's audience enough to not spoon feed us everything....some ish we as people should be able to grasp, but we've had so much trash in the last decade that if not shown expository heavy scenes...people get lost. The story of Arcane concluded just fine in the region of Piltover/Zaun, but it's not their story, it's the Arcane's. Every character's conclusion makes perfect sense for them, but with sprinkles for some that allow for the next expansion. Perfect, fxxk no...beautiful nonetheless. My only gripe is Jinx should have died properly.

[@jmatos316]

Mattie betrayed Caitlin because Caitlin set her aside to return to Vi... We are supposed to assume that she is a woman scorned...

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

@@jmatos316 I would buy that more if they actually showed Maddie looking scorned. Haha! Ugh. Such a weak reason.

[@danutghidia5820]

@@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS one of the writers said Maddie is from Noxus, so she is a Noxian spy from the beginning

[@harryballsak1123]

wrong. write you own show. No even watching beyond 24 seconds.

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

I wish I could respond to this, but I don't even know what you are referencing. 😅 Thank you for the comment, though. Every engagement with my video boosts it in the algorithm 🥳

[@MKD622]

💩

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

😢

[@kamilszczęsny-m9d]

are you trying to monetize and get more views and subscribers by making negative videos about arcane?

[@DonghuaTianlong]

Have you ever thought about stopping being an idiot? Arcane is a visual masterpiece, but no amount of beautiful animation can hide a bad script. Season 1 is incredible, but it's already showing warning signs. Season 2 went downhill just like GOT.

[@kamilszczęsny-m9d]

@@DonghuaTianlong thats your opinion dude.i and many tought both seasons were great but thats just our opinion.also comparing seasons 2 to got is pathetic season 2 of arcane is a masterpice then last 4 seasons of got

[@DonghuaTianlong]

@@kamilszczęsny-m9d I don't care if you like it or not, but what's wrong with someone making a video telling the truth about the second season of Arcane? If someone posts a video, it's obvious that they want views, likes and subscribers; otherwise, they wouldn't even have a KZbin channel. Otherwise, they'd be talking to the walls. And if Arcane is the work of the moment, that's what people are going to talk about. Visually, it's a masterpiece, but the criticism isn't about the visuals, the quality of the animation, the photography, the soundtrack, the special effects or the use of 3D. The criticism is about the story, the script, which fell apart, just as Game of Thrones did.

[@kamilszczęsny-m9d]

@@DonghuaTianlong they dont speak the truth they are telling there opinions stop acting like yours is correct thats not how consuming media works.so by your logic whats wrong youtubers who make positive videos of arcane season 2 calling it great even masterpiece? and they dont talk about music or animation they also speak about a story grow up

[@DonghuaTianlong]

@@kamilszczęsny-m9d I take out the “speaking the truth”. Don't you think your comment is a bit childish:“are you trying to monetize and get more views and subscribers by making negative videos about arcane?”?

[@phineascromwell]

👎👎👎 Basically what you are evidencing is that you missed the conceptual thematic dimensionality and actualization of the fundamental narrative. The crucial dynamic, algorithmic crux of the premise informed the significance of the story; a basic facet of this crux was the paths in life we take, the 'breakpoints' in those paths that, upon reflection, we could have or should have taken... all driven by moral crisis and dilemma... hard choices. Also, there was a significant dimensionality of the nature of the characters' drives and endeavors; the evolutionary arc of their moral choices, the ethical contradictions they face in making those choices, and ultimately how it has changed them and challenged them with newer moral choices. Moral identity is involved; regret, guilt, reconciliation, second chances. This is interwoven with the more specific paths of each character and the burdens of their endeavors to pursue what they want and need, and what they think they want and need. The scenes and sequences in both seasons of Arcane serve this fundamental thematic-conceptual crux.

[@dmitrigherson5160]

Did Chat-GPT puked here?

[@phineascromwell]

@@dmitrigherson5160 No, its just you have a banal, triggered response based on one-dimensional, trendy thinking that jumps at the chance to use brain-dead buzz-words.

[@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS]

Can you provide evidence from the story to support these theories?

[@phineascromwell]

​@@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS Rewatch the show. Listen to interviews/commentaries with the writers. To call these matters 'theories' is very sketchy. There is subjective range to reading and interpreting a text, but there is also self-evident objectivity in that very text itself because, being an example of narrative discourse, it communicates through the language of story, through archetypal idiom rendered and framed into recognizable patterns and forms, imagery and sound; and the objective facet of the meaning and significance is based on the simple fact that the story can be understood and be engaged with, in a humanistic sense. There is already much written and discussed about this topic; creating a wall of text here is redundant and will probably only serve petty contrarian responses.

[@dmitrigherson5160]

@@phineascromwell Nice try, Chat-GPT.

[@ameenoahmad]

❤❤❤