Arcane Season 2 Episode 2 Review

Warning! This article contains spoilers for Arcane Season 2 Episode 2.

Key Takeaways

• The undercity of Zaun has fallen into chaos without Silco, with chem-barons at war and Jinx despondent.
• Sevika and Jinx form a tenuous friendship as they bond over Silco’s absence.
• Arcane Season 2 continues to experiment with new visual styles to great effect.

Arcane Season 2’s second episode follows up the first in explosive style, filling in the gaps with other characters that weren’t highlighted in the finale.

Where the premiere of Netflix’s League of Legends animated adaptation set the spotlight on Piltover in the aftermath of the attack on its council, Episode 2 “Watch it All Burn” takes things to the undercity, revealing how Zaun is faring without its leader. Episode 1 of Season 2 saw Fortiche iterate on Arcane’s animation style, and Episode 2 doubles down on the studio’s experimentation, showcasing an even broader range of visuals, all the while setting up new dynamics between its major characters and breaking old ones.

Zaun: A Lawless Land

What’s Happened to the Undercity Since Silco’s Demise?

In the opening of Arcane Season 2’s second episode, Jinx reveals that the undercity has fallen into disarray since Silco’s demise. Self-appointed “chem-barons” are at war for control of the Lanes, children are hunted on the street, and poverty is rife. But that’s not the only thing in disarray, Jinx is lost without her father figure, finding herself without someone to follow for the first time in her life. The visuals depict Jinx drawing in the water, clinging to Silco’s body, which is a clever mirror of how Arcane’s previous episode showcased Caitlyn’s grief, using differing animations and visual metaphors to show how the two characters experience the same emotion.

Fortiche further flexes its animation prowess in a montage showing the new world order in Zaun. A series of movie poster-style shots and grainy film clips set to Marcus King’s “Sucker”, introduce the new players who are causing chaos in the Lanes. All the while Jinx walks through the chaos, she is an outcast, wanted by topside and ostracized by both her people and her self-hatred. Sevika attempts to bring the chem-barons to heel by uniting them against topside, a role that once belonged to Silco, but they’re all consumed with their ambitions for power, and a yordle named Smeech suggests they solve their problems by handing over Jinx.

Sevika and Jinx: Enemies to Friends

Silco’s absence leaves a void large enough for Sevika and Jinx to bond over, but where Sevika wants to continue Silco’s vision, Jinx just wants to watch it all burn. A tenuous friendship begins between the two after Jinx is captured by Smeech’s gang and is rescued by Sevika. Jinx reveals a gift she’s been carrying around the Lanes for Sevika: a custom arm to replace the one Vi destroyed in Season 1. The new arm has a few of Jinx’s quirky surprises but gets the job done in the fight that ensues. Arcane has always had a way with action, but this sequence continues to show the series’ willingness to play with style, injecting color, anime-style frames, and comedic timing into the fast-paced fistfight.

Caitlyn’s Plan To Infiltrate Zaun Is Revealed

The Piltover side of the story doesn’t get much airtime in Episode 2, but the beginnings of Caitlyn’s plans are revealed as she leads the enforcers into Zaun under the cover of a green choking smog known as “the grey.” The mission is seen from the perspective of Jinx and the Zaunites, making the group of familiar enforcers feel more invasive than ever. In a clever callback to a scene from Jinx’s childhood in Season 1, one moment sees her shelter in the rafters to hide from the investigating enforcers, but this time she must reckon with the realization that her sister is one of them.

Viktor Finds Enlightenment

After seeing little of Viktor in the season premiere, Episode 2 sets up an intriguing journey for the character. After barely surviving the council explosion, Viktor is seen incubating in a Hexcore cocoon. When he finally awakens, it’s to find himself in a new augmented body, part flesh, part machine. Jayce is ecstatic that his partner has been revived, but Viktor is disappointed in Jayce for ignoring his request to destroy the Hexcore. Burdened by a strange new purpose, Viktor tells Jayce their paths must diverge which is a cutting scene for fans of the pair’s dynamic. It’s scenes like this one where Arcane’s animation shines, creating expressions so finely animated it’s easy to forget the characters are completely computer-generated.

This new path returns Viktor to his home in the undercity where he is quickly targeted by the desperate Shimmer addicts in the Lanes. Huck, the addict who helped Caitlyn find medicine for Vi in Season 1, is one of the Zaunites who reaches Viktor first. But when Viktor touches him a strange new power emerges, healing Huck from his Shimmer affliction and transforming him into a devoted follower. The imagery is poetic; the Hexcore allowed Viktor to heal his body, and now he has the power to do the same to others. The surrounding Zaunites bow before their new savior.

You need not suffer anymore.

Arcane Finds New Ways To Iterate On League of Legends Lore

The religious imagery is clear when it comes to Viktor’s arc in Season 2, but the character is still far from the League of Legends champion fans know him as. Given that Arcane is produced by Riot Games, the developers behind League of Legends, much of the series has stayed true to the game, albeit often in unexpected ways. This episode was a reminder that Arcane continues to hold surprises in how it adapts and evolves the source material, which is exciting for fans both old and new to the League of Legends world.

Arcane Season 2 Episodes 1-3 are available to stream on Netflix.