REVIEW: Arcane – Season 2, Episodes 4, 5 and 6,”Paint the Town Blue,” “Blisters and Bedrock,” and “The Message Hidden Within the Pattern”

“That which inspires us to our greatest good… is also the cause of our greatest evil.”

Television Reviews

***SPOILERS***

“Paint the Town Blue” shows us the state of Piltover a few months after “Finally Got the Name Right;” Ambessa is mostly calling the shots, with Caitlyn following her “counsel.” Caitlyn has shacked up with Officer Maddie Nolen in the wake of her fight with Vi. Jinx hides in the shadows, playing games with Isha while her people suffer. Ambessa conducts dangerous experiments with Hextech. A frustrated Isha poses as Jinx, staging a demonstration that riles the people up, inciting a riot. Salo learns about a miracle worker in the fissures. Following the inter-city riot, Sevika asks a bemused Jinx to attend her rally. Jinx seeks the counsel of an old ally. The rally is ambushed by Ambessa’s men, and Sevika’s arm is destroyed. Singed and Isha are among those taken. Singed cuts his hand, drawing his beast with the scent of his blood. Sevika tells Jinx what happened, sending her into a spiral. The two women head to Stillwater, Jinx posing as an enforcer and Sevika as a prisoner, to bust everyone out. Ambessa, the warden, and all the guards are in for a rude awakening as Singed’s call works and Warwick attacks. When he makes it to Singed’s cell block, Jinx orders Sevika to save Isha, staying to face the creature herself. 

In “Blisters and Bedrock,” a despondent Vi brawls in an arena and drowns her sorrows in liquor. Jinx finds her and offers to take her to Vander after some convincing. Mel wakes up in a dark pit with only one person, her brother Kino. Caitlyn and Ambessa fail to get any information out of Singed. However, on her own, Ambessa strikes a deal with Singed, precisely what she seeks in a scientist. Caitlyn reveals Singed’s identity as Dr. Reveck, a disgraced academy professor. Everything he has done, he tells them, has been for his sick daughter, frozen in time. Meanwhile, Mel begins to solve the puzzle of her captivity and realizes her cellmate isn’t Kino after all. Her captors attack her, triggering Mel’s latent magical abilities. Vander comes to Vi and Jinx, drawn by Isha’s blood. He attacks at first, but Vi calls out to him, and he’s himself. Salo visits the Hexcore just as Jayce emerges from it, a changed man. Now, he thoroughly opposes the use of Hextech, and he kills Salo. 

“The Message Hidden in the Pattern” finds Viktor seeing Jayce’s violence through Salo’s eyes. Vi, Jinx, Isha, and Vander arrive at Viktor’s Commune. Viktor looks into Vander and decides that he’s worth the risk of trying to disentangle him from the beast. Slowly, Vander’s memories return, and he becomes more human. Ambessa, Caitlyn, and their detachment of Noxxian soldiers arrive at the Commune. Their weapons are prohibited, but Singed heads in alone to speak with Viktor. This meeting doesn’t satisfy either man, and Vi sees Singed leaving. She follows him and runs into Caitlyn, who turns her into Ambessa. Jinx aims her gun at Caitlyn and Singed as Vi escapes, revealing to Ambessa that Caitlyn helped her. Vi, Jinx, and Caitlyn save Vander just as Jayce shoots Viktor with his hammer, sending Vander and the whole Commune into chaos. Isha jumps in front of Vander and activates the gems in Jinx’s gun, sacrificing herself for the person she loves most. 

I’m going to take a second to talk about the animation before we really get into it. If there’s one aspect of Arcane I didn’t think they could improve on after season 1, it was the animation. It was already gorgeous, inventive, and revolutionary, a shock to the system of mainstream animation. Spider-Verse and Arcane were like a 1-2 punch that forced animation to change for the better (well, outside of Disney).  And yet, this season, they have experimented with different art styles to explore Vander/Warwick’s troubled mind and bloodlust, Vander’s recovered memories, and Jinx and Isha’s relationship. These unique art styles are extremely effective at showing us a character’s frame of mind or the rosiness of fond memories. Changing animation styles also emphasizes how something is different from the main events/timeline, more special or precious somehow. I also love little visual flourishes like Caitlyn’s eyes lining up with Jinx’s on her wanted poster. The songs in this block of episodes are awesome, too, although I think I’ll only touch on a couple of them this time. At some point, I may want to come back to the music of season 2 in greater detail.

I don’t really like “Paint the Town Blue” by Ashnikko, but I think it gets the job done in the episode. They released this song as a single prior to the season airing, so I was already pretty sure it wasn’t for me. It fits the vibe, but I generally don’t like defiant or rebellious songs; they strike me as edgy or trying too hard to be “cool.” But that is the song’s purpose, coming from the perspective of Jinx or her followers. I don’t fault the song, really, as this is a matter of personal taste. I have had problems finding “Remember Me” by d4vd, as the Internet prioritizes “Remember Me” from Pixar’s Coco. I found this song particularly poignant in Arcane as it plays over Vander’s memories of his life and what Zaun used to be. “Our Love” from season 1 returns here briefly, as we learn that it had a special meaning for Vander, Silco Felicia, Vi and Jinx’s mother. I already loved this song, so it was nice to hear it again and have its meaning expanded on like this. I find it interesting that Isha’s song, “这样很好,” isn’t in English. Isha never speaks, communicating with Jinx and Sevika, and eventually Vi, only through grunts and body language. Her song being in a different language than the others could relate back to this nonverbal understanding she has with the people around her. If it’s not already apparent, I liked the music better in the first arc overall, but there’s some great stuff here, too.

This is the part I don’t want to talk about and why this review took much longer than last week’s: this arc is poorly paced. A ton happens in these three episodes, but not in a punchy, action-packed way; in more of a “what just happened” way? I love much of what happens in arc 2 of season 2, especially visually and strangely, with Jinx. They’ve flipped the script on this character much like they did with Mel in season 1. Mel went from a manipulative clout-chaser to one of the most level-headed characters, and she really cares about Jayce. Now Jinx actually cares about others, most notably Isha, her mini-me bestie. But the speed at which events are set up and fulfilled is just too fast in this arc. I think a lot of this comes about because two seasons aren’t enough for this story; Caitlyn went from Vi’s grieving-but-well-intentioned lover to a dictator to having reservations all in 4 episodes. That’s too much, too fast, in my opinion. It feels like they realized they were out of time after the first arc and decided to speed-run the character arcs of at least Viktor, Jayce, Caitlyn, and Mel. Hey, I like Sevika’s haircut, though. Now, we hear about how Ambessa has manipulated Cait in Vi’s absence, exerting Noxxian occupation to subjugate Zaun and control Piltover. Why do we need to hear this? Why weren’t we shown such a significant turn of events, both for the story and the characters? What an odd thing to skim over with a few lines of dialogue. It’s honestly quite unclear for much of arc 2 how much time has passed. It has to be months between all the logistical changes in Piltover and the rise of the “Jinxers.” I usually love Arcane for not spoon-feeding us every last bit of context; it’s nice to watch a show that trusts you to figure it out. But Jayce exiting the Hexcore to murder Salo and hunt Viktor down is a bit much to swallow without any background or setup. I’m sure we’ll get a flashback next week, but a flashback in the series finale(!!) is too little, too late. One of my favorite characters just murdered(?) his best friend, whom he spent arc 1 saving. By the way, I don’t think Viktor is dead, at least not in the usual sense. He was benevolent Arcane Jesus, and by attacking him, I think Jayce has enabled Viktor to come back as something worse. Something less human. 

This brings me to two points I like: the savior parallels with Viktor and Jinx, and the irony of Viktor, a man losing his humanity, helping Vander to regain his. The people choose Jinx for what she did to the Council, for standing up to Piltover. But Viktor actually goes out amongst the lowest people in the Undercity and helps them directly. Salo remarks that he owes Viktor everything, and we can see that he’s far from the only person who feels that way. I’m not sure if I’m just barking up the wrong tree here, but I found these two “heroes” to their people interesting in their differences. I also like how Jinx is initially leery of the Jinxers for misunderstanding her and for seeing her as a hero rather than the confused, wounded teenager she is. It’s only when they connect with her as people that she’s able to truly see them and be seen by them. Since emerging from the Hexcore, Viktor has continually been changed by it. He becomes increasingly less human, so I found it both poetic and touching for him to help coax the man back out of the beast with Warwick/Vander. The scenes with Warwick rampaging are incredible, full stop. Parts of “Paint the Town Blue” feel like a horror movie as the beast hunts the scent of blood. The change in animation during these scenes contributes to this sense of dread as danger looms. The tension in this episode is also great, especially when Jinx and Sevika get into Stillwater Prison. Ambessa walking past Jinx and not realizing who she is feels unnerving. I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but I was on Jinx’s side. She has been a better mother/big sister to Isha than Ambessa has been a mom to Mel, no contest. Go save her, you crazed lunatic. 

Yet again, I think I may have to return to these episodes with more to say, perhaps after the season ends. Singed gets some wonderful character work in these episodes, as we finally discover why he has done so many terrible things. The comedy continues to be surprisingly strong in season 2; particular highlights are Jinx calling the one-armed Sevika “lefty” and being confused for a Jinxer. The latter reminds me of Dolly Parton losing a Dolly Parton lookalike contest. Classic. I want to say so much more, but this could go on forever. This arc has a good story at its core and some great character beats, but it’s just too rushed. This is the first time anything about Arcane has ever disappointed me. I just hope the finale is better.