We Need To Talk About That ‘Arcane’ Season 2 Finale
The season 2 finale of Arcane is finally here and if you were one of the many people patiently waiting for the season's third act to drop, I'm willing to bet you were not disappointed. The final episode may not have said all that much per say (there wasn't a lot of dialogue, let me tell ya) but it was an action-packed, bitter-sweet, utterly amazing visual spectacle. The entire season has been building to this episode and it had you feeling every possible feel, and maybe even shedding a tear or two.
So, who lived? Who died? Let's get into it with this breakdown of the season 2 finale of Arcane.
Jinx Doesn't Want to Live Anymore
The episode opens with Jinx depressed and lying on the floor. She gets up and douses the room with what looks like gasoline, ready to end it all with one of her gemstone-powered bombs. Luckily, Ekko shows up in the knick of time and every time Jinx tries to set off one of the bombs, he uses his time reversal machine to stop her. That's all we see of them...for now.
The Council Is Ready For Battle
Jayce brings together Vi, Caitlyn and Mel to come up with a plan to shut down the hexgate, ya know, the one right in the middle of Piltover. He asks them to hold off Ambessa's army for as long as they can so that he can shut it down before Viktor reaches it.
And then BOOM, we're right into the battle scenes. Arrows are flying, swords are swinging, and Caitlyn is (unsuccessfully) trying to snipe down Ambessa, who has Viktor and his army of robot followers in tow. There's a fleeting, but heartbreaking, scene where Vi sees a dead soldier who looks a heck of a lot like her sister, Jinx. The battle rages on and it seems like a never-ending stream of Ambessa's soldiers are coming at them, and then they up the ante: the recently revived Warwick comes thundering up from the docks.
Viktor's cocoon is being hauled around by the enemy and Steb even manages to get a bomb strapped to it, though it fails, but it doesn't even matter because the cocoon was just a distraction and Viktor was already on his way up to Jayce and the Hextech gate this whole time (more on that later!). Caitlyn gets hit over the head and when she comes to, she and the rest of her team are either killed or being held at gunpoint. When she turns around to see who has their gun pointed at her, it's freakin' Maddie! That's right, she was working for Ambessa this whole time!! The gasp I gasped! Thankfully there was some near-immediate karma when Maddie goes to shoot Caitlyn in the head, Mel puts up a forcefield, and the bullet ricochets back and kills Maddie.
Viktor is Doing the Most
Jayce is up in the tower trying to dismantle the Hextech and it seems like he's making some progress. Then Viktor appears in his ominous-looking mask and suit and undoes all of Jayce's hard work. He tells Jayce he wants to "cure" humanity of all its flaws by having everyone connected to a singular hive mind where order and logic can prevail. Viktor harnesses the anomaly into his staff and begins to ascend up the tower to the top of the hexgate. Jayce, using his hammer, follows him.
The Battle Gets a Second Wind
Back on the battlefield, we see a hot air balloon getting closer, throwing colorful bombs down below—it's Jinx, Ekko, and some reinforcements! The fighting starts all over again and all of Viktor's robots come flying out, which Jinx starts to gun down from her balloon. We then got my personal favorite part of the episode: Mel confronts her mom, trying to get her to see what her ambition is costing everyone, and when that doesn't work, she punches her in the face. It was oh-so-satisfying.
Ambessa tries to attack Caitlyn and although Mel throws up a forcefield around her, Ambessa manages to get her knife through it and cuts Caitlyn's eye. But it may have been worth it, because getting that close let Caitlyn get the protective runes off Ambessa, which let Mel transport her mother to the Black Roses realm. The Black Rose sorceress seems to have a plan of her own, though, so Mel enters the realm herself and kills the sorceress, bringing her mom back out with her. But the whole experience was too much for Ambessa and she dies, but not before declaring Mel as "the wolf."
Warwick attacks Jinx's balloon and crashes it into the side of the tower. Vi runs over to help her and Jinx reminds her that she's always here for her, even when it seems that they're worlds apart. Warwick is attacking the sisters and they try to fight him off.
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The Hive Mind Starts Taking Over
Viktor's hive mind seeps out and takes control of everyone down below in Piltover, with one exception it seems: Ekko. While taking over Jayce's mind, the two former friends enter the astral plane, where they have a back and forth. Viktor says that he's trying to save humanity, but Jayce explains that his methods would remove humanity all together.
Meanwhile, Ekko is zipping around trying to take out robots left, right, and centre, and finally makes it up to Viktor, attacking him with his time reversal machine. Viktor's mask starts to fade away, allowing him to see more clearly. Jayce is able to show him that through all different realities, his efforts were never worth the cost, reminding him that there's beauty in humanity's imperfection. Viktor uses Jayce's rune to sever Piltover from the hive mind, which seemingly takes Jayce and Victor out of existence as well. Viktor's robots fall to the ground and the fighting stops.
But just because the battle is over, doesn't mean the heartbreak is.
Jinx Sacrifices Herself
After the hive mind comes crashing down, Jinx finds herself on a small beam, with Vi and Warwick both collapsed on another beam below. Vi gets up but takes a moment to look over Warwick, who seems to be dead, taking in the creature that used to be her father figure. But as it turns out, he's totally not dead, jumping up and attacking Vi. Jinx leaps down, slamming Warwick off the beam and sending herself over the edge. Vi catches Jinx's hand as she falls, but Warwick manages to catch Jinx's leg, and Vi won't be able to hold both of them up. Jinx accepts her fate and pulls the gemstone from Vi's gauntlet, causing it to slip off Vi's hand and send Jinx and Warwick tumbling down to their death. As she falls, Jinx pulls out one of her bombs and sets it off.
It's crushing, but we're not left without hope. In the final scene, we see Caitlyn, now wearing an eyepatch, going over Hexgate's blueprints and she sees a set of tunnels branching off from the tower. Her half smile seems to suggest Jinx may have been able to use one of these to escape. We've got our fingers crossed!
What Can We Expect Next?
Sadly this was the final season of Arcane, but that doesn't necessarily mean we're done with these characters just yet. Three sequel shows are in the works, all in the League of Legends universe, and they'll be set in Noxus, Ionia, and Demacia. One of the shows is already a year into production, which is good news considering that it took three years to make season 2 of Arcane. A release date for it hasn't been confirmed yet.
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