Courtesy of Netflix
Arcane’s season 2 finale has left audiences in shambles as it concludes the show with a flurry of emotions. With so many strings left untied at the end of Act II, Act III barely had enough time to piece together a conclusion to all the character arcs. However, all the grey, good and bad feelings somehow still manage to converge into a satisfying ending.
One such arc is Viktor and Jayce’s conclusion, with both characters dying in an otherworldly supernova, ultimately saving Piltover and Zaun. Jayce’s time in the alternate dimension of a Piltover destroyed by Viktor and the arcane is wallpaper-worthy and compositionally stunning in every frame, but the show leaves much of his regression to madness up to inference. Especially with Viktor’s transformation into an inhuman Hexcore deity, the arc feels very bare-bones and stripped down to only what the plot needed to progress. If viewers are able to keep up with the pace, however, the visually beautiful and emotionally powerful ending to Viktor and Jayce’s opposition, along with Viktor’s surprise reveal as Jayce’s childhood savior, is very rewarding.
One arc that managed to escape the bare-bones plot structure was Ekko’s subplot. Most of Episode 7 is dedicated to Ekko and Heimerdinger’s endeavor to escape the alternate reality the wild rune sent them to, where the heist Powder, Violet, Claggor and Mylo went on failed and resulted in Violet’s death. Benzo still lives, Powder and Ekko are in a relationship, and Silco and Vander reconcile – almost a perfect world, which makes Ekko’s return to the original timeline all the more depressing to watch. If there’s one thing audiences can agree on, it’s that Ekko has shined through as “The Boy Savior” in season 2, as a “good” character in an otherwise morally grey cast.
Meanwhile, season 2’s “bad” character, Ambessa, dies during the Noxian invasion of Piltover at the hands of Mel’s new associate in the Black Rose. Her death is conclusive and justified, and makes way for Mel’s shiny new mage powers.
I’m glad that Act III has allowed for the return of these contrasting good/evil character dichotomies to conclude with a satisfying ending. It also brought us some incredibly hype and exciting fight scenes such as Jinx and Ekko’s appearance during Piltover and Noxus’ war, and Ekko’s final struggle with Viktor’s “evolved” soldiers, backing up Arcane’s reputation of having incredible fight choreography.
While Act III’s plot could definitely benefit from having another few episodes of screen time to work with, the act was still able to resolve Arcane on a nice note.
