In honor of the recent announcement of the upcoming release of Arcane season 2, I thought it might be a good time to revisit the series with a fresh perspective.
For those of you who haven’t seen Arcane yet (which you totally should), the show is created by the people behind League of Legends. It sounds insane that a game like League could possibly produce a successful TV show. However, Riot Games put forth an incredible amount of work in making the story of Vi and Powder come to life. The show explores themes of grief, love, morality and ambition.
Arcane mainly follows the story of two League characters, Vi and Powder. They’re sisters who are adopted and raised by a man named Vander in Zaun, the seedy city beneath the shining towers of Piltover. After a power struggle between Vander and his old rival Silco, Vi and Powder are separated. Several years later, Vi and Powder (now going by the name Jinx) find themselves on opposite sides of a war between those living in Piltover and Zaun.
Watching Powder start as an inventive young girl who only wants to help her older sister and her friends with her inventions to the unstable, manic Jinx as she struggles with Vi’s perceived betrayal is just as heart-wrenching on a second watch. Her relationship with Silco is equally as interesting; it’s clear that while Silco is manipulating Jinx, he does genuinely love her as a daughter as well.
While it’s nearly impossible to pick a favorite moment without getting into extremely heavy spoilers, one of the most striking moments both narratively and visually is the fight between Jinx and her childhood friend Ekko. Arcane excels at having character moments that could only work through a medium such as animation. As Ekko’s pocketwatch swings, the perspective shifts from their current situation to themselves as children. Jinx with a gun that shoots paintball-like bullets and Ekko with a wooden sword. The audience comes to the realization that they’re playing the same game, just with much deadlier stakes.
I am not one who’s usually able to commit to watching TV shows, especially on a rewatch, but Arcane held my attention the entire time. The story was just as compelling on a second watch, especially because there are so many details that a first time viewer is likely to miss. I highly recommend watching the show. It’s available on Netflix. Arcane season 2 is set to air in November of 2024.