Netflix’s Arcane Season 2 opens with shifting alliances and bad blood
“There’s a beast inside us all.”
The streaming service, Netflix, gave the media an exclusive look at the first episodes of Arcane’s second and final season, set in the League of Legends Universe. I saw Act I in front of a crowd of fans who were excited to hear the next chapters for Jinx and Vi as they battled for the future for Piltover. I will be sad to say goodbye to Piltover, and the colorful characters that make Arcane a heart-wrenching melodrama. Warning: Spoilers lie ahead for the first season.
Arcane takes cues from League of Legends lore, but has its own distinct history. The story is set in Piltover. It is divided into two worlds: a noble upper class of nobility, and a scientifically advanced lower class ruled by Heimerdinger. Heimerdinger was a long-lived Yordle Scientist and the de facto elder for the city. The first season of Arcane sees crimelord Silco dominating the undercity to the detriment to Vi, the brawler and Powder, who after being abandoned becomes the bomber Jinx under Silco. Caitlyn, a noble city soldier, is trying to bring Jinx (and Vi) to justice. The first three episodes, titled Act I, of Arcane Season 2 will be available on Netflix on November 9. Act II will be released on November 16, and the last three episodes, Act III, on November 23. There are no current plans to make a season 3 of Arcane.
Caitlyn (left) recruits Vi (right) to hunt down her sister Jinx.
Netflix
What happens in Arcane season 2’s first three episodes?
By and large, Act I is about dealing with the impact of Jinx’s attack on the council and the subsequent power vacuums that reshuffle the board. Below are spoilers for the first three episodes of season 2, which Netflix released today. Act I begins immediately after Jinx’s assault, when three council members are dead – including Caitlyn’s mother. Piltover elites are ready to invade the undercity with troops and clamp down. Vi, who is from the undercity, wears a Piltover badge to plead with Caitlyn that Jinx should be brought to justice, rather than punishing innocent civilians. Vi’s relationship with the noble soldier is strengthened as a small squad descends on her younger sister. After a brutal brawl in which Caitlyn, Vi and Jinx take on Sevika and Jinx from the undercity, they part ways.
Caitlyn, noble and soldier, pausing before a fateful shot.
Netflix
This is the main theme of the first three episodes: Character alliances are broken and others are formed, reflecting the shifting consciences of the cast as the war picks up steam. Ambessa, a Noxus noble who came to Piltover in the first year with mercenaries, continues to play chess, dividing the powerful in order to increase her influence. After Jinx accidentally killed crime lord Silco in season 1, undercity crime lords take over the power vacuum. It’s a nice parallel and an opportunity for Jinx to reflect, but it doesn’t pay off in the early episodes. It’s a nice parallel and an opportunity for Jinx to do some reflection, but it’s not paying off in the early episodes.
More secrets get uncovered about Hextech — and the titular arcane magic itself.
What does change, in another heartbreaking sequence, is inventor Jayce’s friendship with his assistant Victor, who was injured in the council bombing and placed in bio-stasis, thanks to the Hextech core. Victor, now a transformed being, shares bitter words with Jayce, poisoning their friendship. He chooses to descend into the depths of Silco’s undercity to be amongst the victims. In a dim alley, Victor lays hands on an addict and reveals startling new powers to cure them of their affliction (albeit changing them, too) — and creating his own saintlike following.
Jayce, adrift and neglecting his council duties to focus on Hextech, finds his lab invaded by the unlikeliest of burglars: His old mentor, Heimerdinger, and Ekko, a young leader of the Fireflies, a vigilante undercity faction fighting against the crime lords and Jinx. The trio, who are now at the Firefly headquarters, built around an underground tree, come up with a new, startling theory. New, wild magic was a reaction from the forces of magical power, to counterbalance Hextech’s increasing use. This seems like groundwork for the rest of the series, so we’ll wait until it pays off.
Ambessa, a noble from the city of Noxus, plays her own political game in Piltover.
Netflix
Netflix
As the last episode closes, a new order emerges. Mel is taken off the board by a magical force. Ambessa, in her absence uses a councilmember to rally Piltover’s nobility to military action. She then replaces her pawn with an embittered Caitlyn who takes control of the city’s armed forces. As Act I of Arcane’s second season closes, new alliances form and hearts are broken. But Piltover, no matter what the cost, is ready to invade the underground city en masse. Someone is slowly returning from death in the background. The first three episodes of Arcane Season 2, Act I, are available on Netflix today. Watch this:
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