Once again this is just my opinion but I really do think that making Jinx so disconnected and kind of uncaring toward Vi and the other way around was kind of a mistake. You see I believe one of the biggest strengths of s1 was exactly the obsession the character felt toward one another, the way Jinx is obsessed with Vi, the way Vi is obsessed with Powder and the way Silco is obsessed with Jinx and the layers it provides to the plot and the way in which those character give the feeling of being the ones who affect the plot and not the other way around is what truly made Arcane magic.

However in s2 at least imo felt like the obsession especially between the sisters was kind of nonexistent.

Vi wants to kill Jinx, because Caitlyn wants to and Jinx is pretty chill with it.

Don't get me wrong this my own dumb take extremely simplified and without all the actual layers the show has put into it, just to explain the portion of the story I want to talk about in a few sentences.

It was obvious that the writers wanted to justify Vi's change in alligiances, to show that she is devoted to Caitlyn at the point of annihilation by making her kill Jinx, however I don't think that having Vi stop herself on her own volition would have invalidated this process, it actually would have enhanced the dynamic, it would have made even more devastating the cocktail molotov montage in which Vi blames herself for not being able to give up the last piece of herself to appease Cait and it would have given Jinx a much more solid case to reconnect with her sister and kept intact the continuity of the story from the mad tea party. Honestly there is no point in not picking up the perfectly laid foundation for a story in which Jinx is ever more unhinged and Vi can't seem to be able to kill her, because since Jinx came and helped her out of the pit fighting ring she has showed Vi Powder is still in there. Because Vi has turned into a monster herself when in the Strike team.

Because they both made mistakes but they have found a way to love each other even though they're different.

Also having Jinx love Vi in a healthy way and have Cait make the conscious decision of letting go of her revenge because she loves Vi, makes a great point for Jinx to want to stay, not want to leave.

Truth be told the healthy relationship between the sister kind of invalidates both s1 and s2 final episodes.

In a way it feels like s2 ending was always supposed to end like this and they had a last minute change of heart regarding Vi and Jinx relationship and chose not to change the ending.

I don’t know why people are not talking more about the parallels between Cait and Viktor throughout both seasons but I’m about to.

I’ll start with the way both are framed as lonely characters from the beginning of the show.

I think it’s quite interesting also the way it is portrayed, let’s take for example their flashbacks in season one.

How Cait's mother seems to be looking for her and Sky takes an interest in him from the cliff.

I’d like to point out how both those scenes, at least to me feel like an invitation to join society, and in a way they both decline.

Viktor with his disabilities can’t join the other undercity children in their games so what’s the point of him looking at all of them having fun while looking from the sidelines?

Cait instead is expected to show up in a room full of adults most likely talking about politics so what’s the point of joining her family?

They both instead choose the anomaly, Grayson and Singed same as Viktor and Caitlyn are framed to be actively rejecting the society in which they live in and Cait and Viktor seem to finally find people they can connect with.

Which is the opposite of when we see them connect to Jayce and Vi.

Jayce and Vi attract people to them like magnets, Jayce is framed to be the sun of Piltover the man of progress, the heart of Piltover, he makes people believe the impossible is real.

Vi is framed to be the undercity’s north star, she represents Vander’s dream for a community in shambles, we see it in the way Jerrico, Babette and Huck (even though he betrays her in the end) help Vi, craving what used to be a community based on sound principles.

Both Viktor and Cait are not immune to their charm and gravitate towards them same as their entire community do.

Then fast forward to season two and we see Jayce and Vi alone as Viktor and Caitlyn are at the helm of their respective community.

However it is interesting to point out how both of them rarely ever interact with their people and the only time they do is a weird recreation of the dynamics they once had with Jayce and Vi.

Maddie has taken Vi’s place and even if we know she was being untruthful she was still pointing Caitlyn toward the just course of action, she was advocating for the people of the undercity same as Vi did in s1, but the difference here is that she’s also stroking Cait’s ego instead of challenging her believes and keeping her humble.

Sky is framed to be Viktor’s new lab partner instead of Jayce but she acts more like a conscience to him pointing out the faults in his experiments instead of pushing him to surpass his limits.

And those are the exact reasons why Maddie and Sky don’t work as well as Jayce and Vi as their counterbalance.

Viktor is restrained by the limits of his body but Jayce makes him believe in the impossible.

Just as Cait’s action are boundless in the scope of her privilege and Vi keeps her accountable.

The fact that they are both love stories is the reason they work so well, both Jayce and Vi could choose differently, but love is not framed as the reward of them choosing Cait and Viktor, as we all are so accustomed to see in other media, it is the reason they make that choice.

The outcome is much more bittersweet as Vi and Jayce leave behind some other people they love to stay close to their introverts, Cait and Viktor have tried (Maddie and Sky), but they cannot find anyone else to stabilize themselves the same way Vi and Jayce do.

It is extremely unfair for everyone involved, for Vi and Jayce to have been forced to let go of their entire life outside of Viktor and Caitlyn, and Viktor and Caitlyn to never be trusted to make their decisions with complete autonomy, but love as life rarely is.

I guess it has a lot to do with being a twenty-something and having to step up and become the first care-giver to a family member who is sick. Disease turns people into angry, hateful beings and the person closest to them gets the brunt of it.

It is an impossible job and that’s Vi’s job, over and over again, first with Jinx, then with Caitlyn and in the end with Warwick.

Vi annihilates herself for the people she loves, she is asked to make impossible choices, most times than not she becomes their punching bag , is forced to eat dirt when she dares say enough is enough and in the end accept the death of her father and her sister no matter what she’s had to endure.

All of this alone should’ve rung a bell in my head a lot sooner but it never did until the end. Nothing started my brain worm until act 3 and the way the writers relegated Vi’s arc into a footnote for Jinx and Caitlyn’s story.

A lot of people are angry about it and I was too but in the end I came to the realization that Vi is no big action hero, she’s honestly just a regular person thrown into Runeterra.

What Vi deals with are the most human problems of the show, she’s trying to take care of her mentally ill sister, she’s dealing with her girlfriend’s grief and then with her sick father, she’s not about to invent magic, she’s not about to turn the whole world into a wasteland of automatons and she’s not about to go down a dictator path and that’s the strength of her character and in the whole ecosystem of Arcane she is the force that keeps the show grounded.

I guess that’s why I think what the writers did in act 3 even if not intended made Vi even more relatable at least to me.

How Viktor doesn't simply heal people, but also the land, the place when he first arrived was barren, no plants, no water, no sun, no nothing, now it is blooming, plants grow high and healthy in full cooperation with hextech and the sun shines non-stop. We can see some of them even have the purple lines like the ones that kept dying in Viktor's lab. I guess I really did enjoy the duality of Viktor needing shimmer to force hextech to work with nature, but having to sacrifice his morality to do so.

The way Viktor's comune was portrayed into such a positive light was quite jarring, at the end ep5 we see it in a very ambiguous way and now it seems that it's just a force of good. Like this is a hive-mind situation, then why does this place feel so warm and cozy? I blame it all on the warm colors and the light fortiche used to lull the viewer into a sense of safety.

Vi, baby, I know you feel the same, I know the promise of forgiveness has lured you in, but seriously except for the mistake of hitting your sister in the worst moments of both of your lives, which isn't justifiable but understandable you haven't done anything wrong ever since. You need to stop blaming yourself for everything bad in your life and start putting at least part of the blame on your sister and your gf 'cause seriously they fucked up way worse than you.

Why was Jinx's color palette clashing so much with the environment? I mean, Vi and Isha seemed to blend in just fine, fuck even Warwick felt fine at some point but Jinx felt like a thumb in a sore eye the entire time they were in the comune.

Singed I love you, I also really loved the way this episode felt more like a clash of his and Viktor's phylosophy more than anything else. The only thing I'm sorry about is how in the end he is always right.

I enjoyed Vander's flashback sugarcoated as they were, as they turned into Vi's memory. I guess that's the whole point of nostalgia so no notes here.

I guess that placing this episode at the end of act 2 was a really smart move, we've just come from five episodes of darkness and smoke, everything from the situations to the art felt oppressive and the moment it started I asked my self if I was watching the same show as five minutes before. Putting a breather right before the situations plunges back into darkness destroys the viewer's heart way more than keeping the tension high the entire time.

Ambessa doesn't look like your typical villain, and honestly I don't really recognize her as one. She's framed constantly as nothing but a warmonger, yet she rarely ever leads sword first. Is it because of her situation as a destituted Noxian looking for allies across sea? Is it because she fancies herself fox and wolf? Guess we'll see next act, hopefully.

I guess it might have been a bit muted in s1 and harder to clock but Cait has always been the kind of character for whom the end justifies the means. She's not above stooping so low she can be considered un-redeemable, she's not above using chemical warfare to catch the chembarons, she's not above risking the death of a child if it means she gets to kill Jinx and that is something Ambessa had not considered.

I think it's quite telling the way in which Ambessa thought she needed to teach Cait about guile, no honor, no accountability, well Ambessa that's your regular Piltie, Cait's not the exception she is the rule. The fact that she encourages the worst parts of Caitlyn right before she betrays her is just so funny I can't stop thinking about it and the way she seems so angry and hurt by it is even better.

In her manipulation Ambessa is the one who forgot to follow her own rules she lost her vision and instead of doubling down twice as hard on Caitlyn, keeping her constantly under her scrutiny she started to consider her one of her own, her kin, giving her free reign of her camp, what is even better is that in a way the pupil surpassed the teacher and when it was time for Caitlyn to be the one to give in this alliance she instead metaphorically flipped Ambessa the bird and if we do not consider the act3 preview Caitlyn really did fuck up her plans with Warwick.

I guess in a way Ambessa found in Caitlyn the daughter she never had only for it blow up in her face, you better be careful with what you wish for.

Vi "rejects" Powder

Powder: I'm gonna be the daughter of the man who set in motion the series of unfortunate events that led me to kill my found family.

Jinx "rejects" Vi