#arcane criticism

[luminarybody]

I would have loved if Jinx and Ekko had grown closer throughout season two by working together to lead the revolution.

I wish we got to see Ekko as a revolutionary and them fighting side by side, slowly gaining each other’s trust.

[sandraharissa]

s1 of arcane cooked SO HARD. it cooked so hard with the 'sister cities at war represented by two sisters raised by two fathers who preceeded them as the warring siblings'. what happened???

[revenge-of-the-shit]

No actually I need to add on more to this. Arcane very unfortunately suffers the same issue that a lot of "progressive" shows suffer in Western media, where they go like "here are some real, systemic issues that exist and look at the consequences of these issues", and then either (1) forget to continue with the theme, and/or (2) don't do anything about it beyond slap on a half-hearted Band-Aid solution that never addresses it.

Caitlyn gassing civilians; lack of accessibility for Viktor which created barriers for him due to his disability; enforcers as oppressors, going hand in hand with Noxian imperialism; Jayce weaponzing hextech, and him already having killed a child because of it; not a single moment is really spent on any of these in S2. If anything, the enforcers are really flattened at the end of this season with little nuance, the complexity that shone in characters like Marcus and Grayson disappearing. Many Piltovan characters do not get even a single second of introspection as to how their actions actively contribute to the oppression of Zaun.

[toaverse]

Plz correct me if I'm wrong here, but do we ever see Mel use her empath powers? I mean, LeBlanc literally told her (and the audience) that she's an empath, right?

I mean, sure, we see Mel create shields and whatever else she can do (it's not all that clear...), but I mean actually being an empath.

Because she brushed off Jayce's rugged appearance and state quite quickly after asking him once about it and talks about herself instead.

And after that, she just kicks ass in the final with her shields and what not :/

[calcified-fluorited]

what fucks me up abt arcane (and why I can't shut up about it) is that it isn't just the copaganda where the cops do nothing bad and refuse to punch people or whatever, because for the most of the series you are shown very explicitly just how brutal and dehumanising they are towards lower class people and how they are perfectly okay with revoking the right to BREATHE from zaunites as a simple means to an end, and then the show asks you to feel sympathy for these very same cops. Yeah they did bad things but they have feelings too :( that means they are already on the path to redemption right :( fuck off lmao

[swampgothing]

It's not acknowledged enough in canon that shimmer is a life-saving medicine. Like how many lives have singed and silco saved by giving zaun access to medicine. Vi gets what I assume to be a lethal stab wound and is healed in minutes after just from a small vial. Shimmer is like any other medicine helpful in a dose but poison in another. I always see the rhetoric that silco spread a toxic drug through zaun, and while that's not wrong, it's also not right (honestly I dont think people give silco enough credit when it comes to his role as zauns leader). Zaunites are shown to be sickly, and I doubt piltovan doctors were willing to help zaunites, and there definitely aren't trained doctors in zaun, so shimmer and chems would be all they have. I wish we got a short story or something from the perspective of an average zaunite because we never really know what life is like for them and how much the oppression of zaun effects the average person.

[magneticflower]

Also, why was like 95% of S2's dialogue just so— weak?

Half the conversations felt vapid or unfulfilling because they never even really got to finish the conversation. It was mostly just a back and forth of jabs or one-liners and then nothing, and that really dampened the storytelling. We needed substance in these conversations, especially knowing this was the end and we didn't really get that.

We didn't even get the actual conversation between Jinx and Ekko which led to her not killing herself after we had to watch him try to save her from doing just that several times. We got the start of it and then we got a cut off I assume to be like 'well did he or didn't he' even though that was unnecessary because we knew he had to have been able to get through to her at that point. We deserved that conversation. They deserved to have that real conversation.

I will also go on record saying that the 'I am the dirt under your nails' line was actually a horrible thing to make Vi say. Vi, the one in season 1 that we hear say 'I grew up knowing I'm less than them,' equates herself to dirt under her Piltover girlfriend's nails? That's just crazy to do. That line is not cute (honestly, it's just bad in general. No one should equate themselves to dirt in comparison to their partner) when literally nothing has actually changed. Like, oh yeah, you gave one seat at the table to Zaun? Big deal, the rest of the council was scowling at Sevika the moment she walked in to the moment she sat down. Anyone that could have served as an ally on that council is gone/leaving (Jayce, Mel, etc), and so Sevika's hardly going to have a fair chance at getting much for Zaun.

I could go on about more but those ones stuck out the most for me at the moment. I am just frustrated because I watched scenes from s1 last night and in comparison to s2, it is like day and night when it comes to consistency in character and substance.

[theterpiel]

Good take in the Arcane subreddit, the world has truly turned upside down

[localvillagecryptid]

"Jinx left so Vi wouldn't have to choose between them, she left so Vi could finally be happy"

Is anyone else bothered by the implication that a relatively NEW girlfriend would be capable of making someone just as if not MORE happy than healing their relationship with their sister, who they spent YEARS wanting to make up with?

Me personally, I can get over a bad breakup. But if either of my sisters DIED, or simply chose to actively walk out of my life forever, that would fucking break me. I would not, in fact, move on. And maybe it's different for you guys, but Vi consistently spent an entire season trying to find and make up with Jinx. I don't know what the hell happened in season 2, but her saying "the only thing that kept me going was the thought of getting back to you" about her 7-year prison sentence doesn't sound like "I'll be better off with this girl I've dated for a total of 2 weeks".

Why is there an immediate assumption that any romantic relationship holds just as much if not MORE weight than any platonic/familial one? I'm sorry but why is it even a contest? I'm fully convinced that in season 1, had Jinx not demanded Vi kill Caitlyn- aka take a life, ANY life- and instead asked for LITERALLY ANYTHING ELSE, she'd have done it. Remember what she said? She said they could leave the entire city behind, just the two of them, and never come back. She was ready to leave their home, leave Caitlyn, leave all of it, for Jinx. Because at the end of the day, all she wanted was her sister back. But suddenly season 2 rolls around and it's "Caitlyn makes her happier." When? Where? How? I don't see any scenes of Caitlyn making Vi happy. Oh but she did hit her though, after getting upset that Vi didn't want her to shoot at a kid.

I'm sick of romantic relationships being taken as "naturally" being the priority. Maybe if you're married with kids or something, you'll prioritize your partner over your friends, sure (but if you have kids they still take priority over your partner IMO). But a 2-week-long situationship? I've known people who get ghosted after longer than that. Fucking be real with me.

I'm simply not convinced that Caitlyn should matter this much to Vi so quickly. It shouldn't even be a competition. I genuinely cannot imagine Vi, who's SOLE MOTIVATION in season 1 was Jinx, and who's SOLE MOTIVATION in EVERY UNIVERSE and TIMELINE was her FAMILY, would ever "move on" and "be happier" with any romantic partner. Callous as it may sound, she can always get another girlfriend. There's no replacing her sister.

[soupradio]

You know what's also disrespectful? Turning violet's alcoholism self-harm and suicidal tendencies into a fucking montage. Not to mention trying to frame it like she's only upset about Caitlyn and losing her abusive girlfriend? She has a lot more to be upset about.

Also we never talk about the fact that she's literally homeless? Like without Cait she doesn't have anywhere to go and we never talk about this the show sure doesn't. The show also doesn't give a fuck about her alcoholism on top of the fact that they made it into a montage it's either never talked about or it's seen as like a funny haha. Which pissed me off to no end.

[krisdreemurrs]

hey can anyone who hated season 2 but still loves arcane and it's characters like this post. I'm tired of seeing mindless praise or posts hating the characters for the bad choices the writers made

[sapphic-bf]

“vi became an enforcer bc it’s in her LOL lore !1!1! it had to happen 1!!1!1”

oh, just like how jinx somehow magically gained sanity, cut her hair and then faked her death in LOL lore? or how caitlyn lost her eye in the “big battle” in LOL lore? or how—

oh… wait.

[xxbrightshadowxx]

Hot take but I feel like the writers in season two of arcane turning Mel into a super human with powers who can fight is a 180 of her character. Her character in the first season is strong because she’s intelligent, morally gray, and cunning. She is shown not to have any interest in violence nor any combat experience. I just felt it was a big leap from what her original concept was.

[ceaselesswatchersspecialboy]

The more I think on it, Arcane season two fundamentally doesn’t work as a story for Zaun or Piltover because it misses the entire point of the two cities: in a world of magic, they are cities of invention and science.

Visually, they’re based on Steampunk and Cyberpunk, which works for what both cities represent. Steampunk is associated with the Industrial Revolution, particularly in the Victorian era, and is thereby representative of invention and bringing humanity forward into an era of new technology, fitting for the City of progress. Meanwhile, Cyberpunk is associated with a society oppressed by technology, and often the rebellion against that society, or how the people suffer under it.

To Zaun and Piltover, magic becomes science, notably in the form of Hextech. It blurs the lines between the two, and truly does encapsulate the phrase ‘magic is just science we don’t understand yet’.

A lot of Piltover and Zaun’s champions are designed around this idea, and it’s what creates the unique appearance of the region.

This focus on technology and how discovery impacts the people also worked in season one’s favour, as it felt more down to earth almost, despite the fantastical world, and allowed us to explore the society over the fantasy, which worked for the story Arcane told.

Season two flipping this on its head, and making the science into magic, erased the identity of Piltover and Zaun and what made the lore and the characters unique from the rest of Runeterra in the first place. It makes the world feel smaller in the process as well.

[endearing-dalliance]

Arcane season 2 suffered from the writers deliberately not including content and working backwards.

Storytelling is not about being economical. It’s about communicating the story in the best way possible. To deliberately not include emotional conversations because “its been said” or “we can say this in a look” is just bad storytelling.

For season 1, Fortiche was given completed scripts. Now it seems they actually made the art ideas first, THEN the writers wrote the story around the art. “How could we fit that in?” is not how a cohesive story made. Music videos with on-the-nose lyrics are not a replacement for actual scenes. Their animation work is beautiful but THEY ARE NOT WRITERS.

I would love to see the storyboards that got killed because “we don’t need this scene”.

[calcified-fluorited]

Arcane season 2 afraids to commit and only wants the aesthetic of something.

Jinx is no longer really a loose cannon that murders people around her, she just says funny quirky lines and does some nonlethal pranks.

Cait does terrible things but she's not allowed to be a villain or even an antagonist.

Warwick never truly got to be Zaun's fury, he turns into a sad puppy pretty fast.

The Piltover-Zaun conflict is brushed aside so the whole gang can fight faceless puppets.

Silco was meant to be an influential figure but any effect of his disappearance is gone with the Hellfire music video.

The firelights..? where are they?

The people of Zaun hurt by Jinx's actions (including firelights)?? Not important anymore?