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sketchbonked · 3 months ago

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forgive my incoherence but i NEED TO DISCUSS arcane and specifically a storytelling device that i think is really interesting (SPOILERS AHEAD!!)

the device i’m talking about is specifically the bridge between the two cities and how it demonstrates both the divide between them and the divide (and unity) between the main relationships of the cast. in this essay i will dissect pretty much every single scene that takes place on the bridge and their implications for the story that we've come to know and love.

The very first scene of arcane is actually on the bridge, specifically right after the enforcer attack where vi and jinx’s parents were killed (images from capthat attached below).

This serves to set up one of the main conflicts of the series, in which the people of Zaun and Piltover constantly clash over the subject of Zaun’s freedom, with Zaun usually being brutally overpowered due to their lack of resources.

However, this scene also sets up a very important aspect of the relationship between Vi and Powder. In the scene shown above, Vi and Powder are walking through the aftermath of the battle. There are bodies everywhere and the corpses of their parents are clearly visible. Powder, probably at Vi’s instruction, is covering her eyes, presumably so that she doesn’t see the corpses to protect her from the trauma. Vi, however, leading her sister to safety through the rubble, has her eyes wide open and sees everything. This illustrates a major aspect of the dynamic between the two sisters. Vi will always try to protect Powder, but ultimately can’t do anything to stop her little sister from seeing the horror around them in the end. Toward the end of the scene, Vander scoops them both up and carries them to safety, much like how in Season 2, the rift between them is patched when they find Vander again (even if he’s now Warwick and not the same father they once knew).

The important thing to note in all of this is that it takes place ON THE BRIDGE. We as the audience understand the tone and significance of this structure immediately. We understand that Vi and Powder have suffered and will suffer at the hands of Piltover. and the cycle of violence. The opening scene on the bridge sets the stage for basically the entire series to take place, and several more pivotal scenes happen here.

For example, this scene between Vi and Vander in the following episode is incredibly important for Vi's character. Vander takes her here after the enforcers raid The Last Drop. When she asks why they're there, he responds with, "You still don't understand." "What i don't understand is how you can work with them. We were here. We saw what they did." She says to Vander, "I grew up knowing that I'm less than them, that my place is down here. I want Powder to have more than that, and I'm willing to fight for it."

There's a lot to pick apart here, but one of the most important things to come from this scene is Vi's statement that she wants the best for Powder and is willing to fight for it. Vi is, at her core, a fighter. It's what she's famous for. It's one of her first scenes in the second act of both seasons. But a vital part of understanding Vi is understanding why she fights. She fights to protect the people she loves. Her devotion to those she cares about is strong enough for her to put herself in harm's way for their sakes. We see this when she goes to rescue Vander, when she fights Sevika to find Jinx, and countless times throughout the rest of the series until the very last episode, when her last scene with both Jinx and Vander shows how scared she is to let both of them go.

We can't ignore the foreshadowing here, either. Vi expresses her anger at the fact that Vander is working with the enforcers to keep the undercity safe, saying that she doesn't understand how he can cooperate with them after all the hurt they've caused. The tragic irony of her words comes to fruition in season two, around seven years after this scene.

Vi becomes an enforcer upon Caitlyn's request, believing that she'll truly be able to help the undercity from the threat of violence that they face if she's able to bring in Jinx. Obviously, Vi expresses her unease about this to Caitlyn, but ultimately it is her decision to do it for the 'greater good'. As the fans, we're angry at this decision, just like Vi was angry at Vander. Ultimately, the scene she has with Vander on the bridge shows how she really does turn out like him. In Silco's own words, killing is a cycle that started long before him and Vander, and one that will continue long after the two sisters are gone. We see this evidenced in how Vi falls into the exact same archetype that Vander does--the blindly loyal, if somewhat misled, knight--and compromises her own beliefs and values to protect those she cares about.

After Episode 2, we don't get any more bridge scenes until Episode 7, after Jayce orders the blockade on the bridge and Viktor comes back from visiting Singed about their 'quandary'. This is the first scene between them where we see how entering the political sphere has affected Jayce's own mentality.

One of his lines in this scene is "Do you have any idea how this looks? I order a blockade and my own partner violates it?" Not only is this one of their only arguments in Season 1, but it also is the first example that we can see of how the divide between Jayce and Viktor is growing. Jayce cares more about his public image now than he did before, and this is the first time we see him actively exercising any kind of power over Viktor. Jayce replies to Viktor's explanation for his visit to Zaun with, "Well, you didn't say they were from the undercity!" Viktor gives him one of the nastiest side eyes I've ever witnessed in animated television and says, "What difference does that make?" His tone is quiet but apprehensive, like he knows exactly what Jayce is about to say. "They're dangerous!" Jayce exclaims.

Viktor reminds Jayce with no small amount of bitterness that he is from the undercity. Jayce is taken aback by this and immediately apologizes, but Viktor smacks his hand away. To me, this scene amplifies everything that drove the two partners apart. (For the purpose of this essay we're only focusing on what the writers explicitly want us to think, even though I do believe that they're married with four kids.) Jayce is the golden boy of Piltover. Even if he comes from humble beginnings, he's still the one raised on pedestals and dubbed the Man of Progress. Viktor, on the other hand, is constantly underestimated by everyone around him. People expect Jayce to do great things but don't understand that he and Viktor rely on each other for all the progress that they make as partners. Their different backgrounds didn't matter as much when they first met, because Piltover and Zaun were largely at a tentative sort of peace.

However, as the turmoil between the two cities grows, so does the turbulence of their relationship. It's only in the season finale when Jayce first speaks up for the independence of Zaun and introduces Viktor as his partner and his equal to the Council. The scene is one of his shining moments in the series, an instance where he shows how deeply he values Viktor's opinion. It's also the moment where he resigns from the Council, where he rejects the greatness that was thrust upon him in favor of doing real good with Viktor by his side. Jayce is a scientist, a scholar, a blacksmith. He was never made to be a politician.

By the time Season 2 rolls around and Viktor becomes the Herald, their paths have diverged once again from that single moment of unity. The story that Act 2 of Season 1 tells is how Jayce and Viktor are sent on two different roads--Jayce to politics and Viktor to an early death. Season 1's finale shows how, for an instant, Jayce and Viktor are once again united as partners with the common goal of restoring peace and helping both cities as a union.

This also reflects the current situation of the two different cities: Zaun and Piltover are on the brink of war, yet a peace negotiation between Jayce and Silco attempts to stave off this catastrophe. However, much like how martial law erupts between Piltover and Zaun, Jayce and Viktor are separated in Season 2 because their paths are now different. Jayce wants to return to science and his old life with Viktor, but Viktor's vision of the glorious ovulation leads him away from Jayce, away from what makes him human. In the show's finale, we see Jayce and Viktor reconcile, and in a similar fashion we see movement toward peace and independence for Zaun after their deaths transportation to a lovely cottage in the woods where they have four beautiful adopted children. To make a long story short, the fallout of their partnership directly mirrors the political tensions between their respective cities, and their reconciliation represents the slow healing that both nations will have to undergo.

We're still not done, by the way, because in that very same episode we see the infamous bridge scene between Jinx and Ekko.

I could go on and on about how this is the first Caitvi hug or the moment where Jinx completely loses her faith in Vi's loyalty to the undercity, which shows again how Vi is leaning more into Vander's stoic role while Jinx is leaning more toward Silco's aggressive pursuit of independence, but for the sake of giving your eyes a break I'll leave it at that.

And of course I have to mention the fact that Jinx blows up all the Enforcers on the bridge with her butterfly bombs. This scene is absolutely insane because this is really where everything begins to escalate.

The six enforcers that Jinx killed in the earlier episodes obviously didn't help relations between the two nations, but Marcus and Silco's bargain kept war from happening. But once Jinx murders the Enforcers and Marcus along with them, it's considered an act of war, and she doesn't stop once to consider the implications. To me, this entire span of like five minutes is when Jinx officially goes off the rails. She feels betrayed by Vi, abandoned by her sister, and uncertain about her own usefulness to Silco. However, the way in which she lashes out has disastrous consequences for the diplomatic relations of the two nations. People in both the undercity and topside suffer because she does this. As I said before, the bombing on the bridge is a declaration of war, one that even Jayce and Silco can't broker a peace for.

Furthermore, this scene is part of what convinces Caitlyn that Jinx is a monster, and it shakes Vi to her core once she sees what her innocent Powder is capable of. She doesn't love her sister any less for it, but it makes her afraid. Jinx attacking both of them also starts what is possibly the most significant bridge symbolism that we see in the entire show: Jinx and Ekko's dance fight.

I don't have to explain what this fight means, but I'm gonna do it anyway because I love their story so much. This moment shows how much Jinx has changed from the girl that Ekko knew. They've both changed, really. Ekko isn't the little kid that trailed after everyone anymore. He's the leader of the Firelights, a fierce fighter, and he's burdened by the need to defend the undercity from both the Council and the chembarons alike. Similarly, Jinx has left Powder far behind her. She's ruthless, but still fragile to even a glimpse of pink hair. They're both Zaunites, but they represent such different parts of their nation. Ekko is the Boy Savior. People view Jinx as nothing more than a loose cannon until she launches a nuke at the Council.

This scene is fucking insane by the way. The regret in his eyes when he sees how scared she is. Because he doesn't want to do this to her. Because he still loves and cares for her even after everything that's happened to them. We as the audience understand exactly what Ekko's thinking. It shouldn't be this way. They were friends. They shouldn't be trying to hurt each other, but that's what war does. Ekko knows that if he gives her a window, he's opening the door to the suffering of countless other people, but he can't bring himself to do what he has to.

Going out of chronological order for a sec, I do want to bring up the parallel to this in Season 2 Episode 7 because it's just so good.

In the alternate universe where Zaun is independent, Ekko stands in the exact same place where he saw Jinx's limp body surrounded by the corpses of the enforcers that she'd killed. Compared to the other universe, where Powder's living happily and both nations are prosperous, it's night and day, especially for Ekko who's seen firsthand how the struggle for power has affected the ordinary people of Zaun. Here, he sees children running and playing where civilians and rebels alike had been killed years prior. For Ekko, it's a total wake-up call. Later, at the rooftop with Powder, he confesses that he once gave up on the Undercity, that he once gave up on her. Powder replies by saying that she's never seen him give up on anything.

I find that scene so beautiful not because they kiss, but because Ekko truly had the chance to have everything he'd wanted, but he didn't take it. Instead, he goes back to his own dimension, to his own nation. The first thing he does when he gets back is talking Jinx off a ledge, and a day later he's in a battle fighting Noxian soldiers and soloing a god to defend his city. Ekko is loyal to the people he loves. He doesn't want a life with anyone if it can't be with Jinx. It's what makes TimeBomb so beautiful, because they both always love each other, even if it doesn't end well.

On the subject of the bridge fight, we see the aftermath of it in Episode 8 of Season 1 when Silco comes to Jinx's rescue. He has the chance to go after Vi here. She's right there, watching him, unsure of what he'll do. We expect him to go after her, or at least to send one of his men after her.

Instead, he looks away and carries Jinx to safety. Vi is an active threat to him and the empire he's built, but he prioritizes his daughter over his legacy, over the nation of Zaun. I really wasn't surprised in the slightest when he refuses Jayce's offer. He would never have given her to them. Not for anything. And the evidence is right there in this scene. His actions here aren't motivated by pride or hunger like his other moments are--he ignores Vi and carries Jinx away out of love for his daughter.

Technically this scene doesn't actually take place ON the bridge, but I'm counting it because it's directly under it. Ekko and Heimerdinger meeting for the first time is an interesting scene because it's the first interaction that Heimerdinger has with an actual citizen of Zaun. Viktor counts, but he hasn't lived in Zaun for several years. Ekko is the first person he meets who's actively experienced the oppression of the chembarons and the Council from both ends, and Heimerdinger is one of the few topsiders that Ekko actually trusts throughout the course of Season 2. They form a mentor-student relationship, though if you ask me I think that Heimerdinger learns more from Ekko. Their friendship shows that peace between the two cities isn't impossible. It's a beacon of hope in the dark times that follow the end of Season 1. Coincidentally, it's also the last bridge scene that we get in Season 1, and we don't get another one for a super long time--in fact, it's a full season that passes before we get another moment, but it's a pivotal one.

Episode 8 of Season 2 is Piltover and Zaun mobilizing for war with Noxus, preparing for the worst. Jayce calls for aid from the undercity, and at first it seems like a helpless fight. We follow Gert (the blue-haired Jinxer who dies in the first moments of Episode 9) for a few scenes, and eventually a few of the Zaunites end up here.

Steb and the enforcers are waiting for them, and once they cross, they greet them silently. That might just be because Steb doesn't talk, but their silence amplifies the power of this scene. Not a single word is spoken, but we as the audience understand the weight of what's happening. Zaun has spent the entire series actively being preyed upon by Piltover, but the first step toward reconciliation is made by the oppressed nation itself. When this group of volunteers steps onto the bridge, it's a peace offering, an acknowledgement that even if the two cities are meant to be two separate nations, they are meant to be allies, partners, sisters. It's a powerful scene. All the bloodshed that happened on both sides is faded here in a demonstration of unity, even if Zaun is still the one who will pay for it. As the audience, we expect there to be an ending with a total 50/50: Zaun and Piltover being treated as equals with Zaun gaining the respect it deserves. However, just like in real life and war, Zaun's ending isn't fully satisfying. They make steps toward independence, like with Sevika's position on the Council, but how much does their standing really improve?

The final scene on the bridge is similar to its first appearance: both occur after a heavy loss. The first scene has dead bodies littering the ground, Zaunites killed at the hands of the enforcers. In its final scene, Zaunites and topsiders alike stand together on the bridge, lighting slips of paper to mourn their loved ones who died in the battle against Noxus.

This really just brings everything full circle to me. The message of almost every scene on this bridge is simple: even with all of the losses we experience, there is always hope that we can heal. Arcane's themes of hope, war, and love conquering all are part of what make it such a masterpiece. Sure, the bridge is a concrete structure that connects two separated cities, but it's both literal and figurative. It represents healing and pain at the same time, the duality of life that the show captures so beautifully.

Anyway shoutout to the bridge for carrying Arcane. (Also, all the images are from capthat.com)

#sorry for yapping guys i just have a lot of thoughts #this is like 3k words #sketchbonked...babbles incoherently?#arcane #arcane rant #vi arcane #jinx arcane #ekko arcane #timebomb #caitvi #jayvik #arcane meta #arcane fandom #silco #vander arcane

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