It's Not Just Me, Season 2 of Arcane is Rushed Right?

[Winter]

Like, there's a ton of plot points that are either skipped over or ignored altogether and characters or plot points that look like they're going to be important only for them to get less then 5 minutes of screen time, in total before ending or getting unceremoniously killed off.

Don't get me wrong the show is still great but it's like we're watching the series on fast forward, skipping over major plot points that could have filled an entire episode on its own. Like Caitlyn being a dictator or Vi's spiral into depression both get one music video and then we get back to the more normal versions of the characters.

As fast paced as season 1 was I never felt like the show was rushed because each act had a central story it focused on. Act 1, we focus on Vi, Powder and their family and the conflict with Silco. Act 2 Vi searches for Jinx while she develops feelings for Caitlyn and Jayce's rise through the ranks. Act 3 all the major plot points and character arcs reach their climax with just about everything wrapped up while setting up for the conflicts of the next season.

Here, I'm not even sure what the focus of each act is as it moves around so much and most of the time it feels like the 3 acts are trying to deal with their own stories and ignore everything else.

Again, it's still amazing but this feels like 4 or even 5 seasons worth of stories just kinda crammed together instead of creating a singular narrative that all tie together with one central plot that that they're all tied to.

One idea I've had about making my own movies, games or shows is the idea of pulling a Lord of the Rings trick, we're the entire saga is filmed/developed together and released over the course of a few years. This has it's issues but I can't help but think that Arcane would have benefited from this method. Like just give Riot a 36 "Second season" give them about 3 years to make the whole thing and then release that as 4 different seasons over the course of a year or two.

Because again there's so much in this season that feels like it could have been it's own season and issues that really just kinda sneezed at us with no real chance to resolve them in a way that feels more natural.

[CharlesPhipps]

I have to say that I think the 2nd season mysteriously avoided a lot of the talking points of the previous one regarding class, wealth disparity, revolution, and so on. Everything became more generic fantasy fair and the character arcs felt a lot less grounded or interesting as a result.

The first season was all about Zaun's oppression by the Piltovers and how the stuff trickled down to all of their story arcs. Jacye and Viktor tried to help via capitalism and SCIENCE but that failed because you can't use capitalism to fix poverty. Silco tried to use narco-revolutionarism to fix things but that just made a host of drug addicts. Caitlyn wanted to be a cop to fight crime but the entire police system was corrupt by design.

Vi is a product of the prison system. Mel is a person who comes from a much less stable non-democracy as an immigrant. Her mother is basically someone who engaged in large scale influencing of the country to get rid of its democratic (such as they were) traditions. It also ends in Jinx destroying any chance at peace with pointless terrorism.

And...

None of that matters in Season 2. It's all "The EVIL Foreign Invasion", "the MAGIC X-men future", and "Will Caitlyn forgive Vi"? It also gives very inauthentic character growth like Jinx suddenly being humanized again because she's a popular character versus her wholesale degeneration into Joker-esque violence last season.

[Winter]

I have to say that I think the 2nd season mysteriously avoided a lot of the talking points of the previous one regarding class, wealth disparity, revolution, and so on. Everything became more generic fantasy fair and the character arcs felt a lot less grounded or interesting as a result.

The first season was all about Zaun's oppression by the Piltovers and how the stuff trickled down to all of their story arcs. Jacye and Viktor tried to help via capitalism and SCIENCE but that failed because you can't use capitalism to fix poverty. Silco tried to use narco-revolutionarism to fix things but that just made a host of drug addicts. Caitlyn wanted to be a cop to fight crime but the entire police system was corrupt by design.

Vi is a product of the prison system. Mel is a person who comes from a much less stable non-democracy as an immigrant. Her mother is basically someone who engaged in large scale influencing of the country to get rid of its democratic (such as they were) traditions. It also ends in Jinx destroying any chance at peace with pointless terrorism.

And...

None of that matters in Season 2. It's all "The EVIL Foreign Invasion", "the MAGIC X-men future", and "Will Caitlyn forgive Vi"? It also gives very inauthentic character growth like Jinx suddenly being humanized again because she's a popular character versus her wholesale degeneration into Joker-esque violence last season.

With Jinx I knew they were going to shift her over to the good guys or at least chaotic natural. She's way to popular a character in League of Legends and I felt that this how they were going to go about it, that she would find someone who brought out the good in her.

What confuses me more is Ambessa, I did not get the sense that she was running from something or looking to weaponize Hextech to fight another enemy I just saw her as someone who wanted more power and wanted her daughter to be more like her. There was obviously something magical about Mel but the whole thing with the Black rose feels like it was tacked on at the last minute to give Mel something else to do in the story.

Also it feels like Mel and Jayce's relationship was put to the side a lot this season as the two barely interacted. Same thing with Jayce and Vikktor, the two barely get a chance to talk this time around.

I heard that Arcane was originally planned for 5 seasons not 2 and I think that might be true regardless what the creators say.

[CharlesPhipps]

Apparently, the creators have been working on Arcane for something like nine years and were ready to move on to other projects.

But yes, Mel and Jayce gets no real resolution.

Viktor and Jayce get redesigned to their LOL types.

Jinx gets the Last of us treatment and reverts back to Powder even though the entirety of season one is how Jinx is not Powder and Powder is dead.

Ambessa is used as the big villain with extremely little context and the Black Rose as well just to give something for the Zaun and Piltovers to unite against.

We speed rush through Caitlyn's story arc and make Viktor the Borg Queen just so there's a story to deal with it.

I mean, it's turbo rushed and practically incoherent, IMHO.

[Winter]

Apparently, the creators have been working on Arcane for something like nine years and were ready to move on to other projects.

But yes, Mel and Jayce gets no real resolution.

Viktor and Jayce get redesigned to their LOL types.

Jinx gets the Last of us treatment and reverts back to Powder even though the entirety of season one is how Jinx is not Powder and Powder is dead.

Ambessa is used as the big villain with extremely little context and the Black Rose as well just to give something for the Zaun and Piltovers to unite against.

We speed rush through Caitlyn's story arc and make Viktor the Borg Queen just so there's a story to deal with it.

I mean, it's turbo rushed and practically incoherent, IMHO.

Like I said, Lord of the Rings/Fear Street would be a more solid way to get this all done. Generally speaking it takes about 3 or 5 years for a film/show/game to get done properly so why not just make a deal to get entry filmed/developed at the same time. Saves time and money and allows a better chance to have contestant quality throughout a series run.

Again not perfect but I think it's better then the alternative and has shown to have worked no less then three times now, Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit Trilogy and Fear Street. Sure the Hobbit wasn't as good as TLOTR but still had overall positive reviews from viewers and all three made back their budget literally three times over.

Again not saying this should always be done but done a bit more often.

[CharlesPhipps]

Perhaps but I'm inclined to think it's a work that has run its course. Most of the series has set up the League of Legends canon and I feel like there's no real new plots to draw from.

[hammerofglass]

I was honestly super confused by the ending. Mel discovers the Black Rose is secretly... somebody, it's never revealed and other than establishing she's queen now we never go back to her. Jayce and Victor go... somewhere, maybe they're dead who knows? We see Caitlin looking at a schematic for the gate showing how Jynx might gave survived but there's no indication she did, maybe it's a "never found the body" situation. Then she and Vi are in an airship going somewhere for some reason.

It felt like there was prereading I was supposed to do and wasn't told about. It can't just be League canon, half the Champions are dead.

[CharlesPhipps]

I was honestly super confused by the ending. Mel discovers the Black Rose is secretly... somebody, it's never revealed and other than establishing she's queen now we never go back to her. Jayce and Victor go... somewhere, maybe they're dead who knows? We see Caitlin looking at a schematic for the gate showing how Jynx might gave survived but there's no indication she did, maybe it's a "never found the body" situation. Then she and Vi are in an airship going somewhere for some reason.

It felt like there was prereading I was supposed to do and wasn't told about. It can't just be League canon, half the Champions are dead.

Or maybe none of them are.

[hammerofglass]

I was honestly super confused by the ending. Mel discovers the Black Rose is secretly... somebody, it's never revealed and other than establishing she's queen now we never go back to her. Jayce and Victor go... somewhere, maybe they're dead who knows? We see Caitlin looking at a schematic for the gate showing how Jynx might gave survived but there's no indication she did, maybe it's a "never found the body" situation. Then she and Vi are in an airship going somewhere for some reason.

It felt like there was prereading I was supposed to do and wasn't told about. It can't just be League canon, half the Champions are dead.

Or maybe none of them are.

A couple are uncertain but Ambessa and Heimdinger died on screen.

[CharlesPhipps]

I was honestly super confused by the ending. Mel discovers the Black Rose is secretly... somebody, it's never revealed and other than establishing she's queen now we never go back to her. Jayce and Victor go... somewhere, maybe they're dead who knows? We see Caitlin looking at a schematic for the gate showing how Jynx might gave survived but there's no indication she did, maybe it's a "never found the body" situation. Then she and Vi are in an airship going somewhere for some reason.

It felt like there was prereading I was supposed to do and wasn't told about. It can't just be League canon, half the Champions are dead.

Or maybe none of them are.

A couple are uncertain but Ambessa and Heimdinger died on screen.

Ambessa yes but Heimdinger might have gotten transported to another reality.