Oh, Arcane. What happened? With its initial release, Netflix’s absolutely gorgeous adaptation of the video game League of Legends surprised me with its stunning visuals and compelling storytelling. Season two took three years to drop, and it’s every bit as beautiful as the last — to look at. Unfortunately, the narrative is a slapdash, hollow mess.
Arcane’s artfully executed class warfare in season one brought us to an explosive conflict between Piltover (an elite surface metropolis) and the Undercity (where the grungy, subterranean proletariat lives). Key figures in this conflict, sisters Vi (voiced by Hailee Steinfeld) and Jinx (Ella Purnell), wind up on opposite sides of the war when Vi falls in love with an aristocratic law-enforcement officer named Caitlyn (Katie Leung), while Jinx aligns with a scheming underworld figure named Silco (Jason Spisak). The second season begins with the sisters still at odds; Jinx has become something of a revolutionary folk hero, while Vi, Caitlyn, and the Piltover authorities work to bring her to justice. Meanwhile, Jayce (Kevin Alejandro), creator of the powerful, destructive “hextech” that has figured so prominently in the war, labors to make up for his invention.
Oh, much more happens in the season — wild subplots involving various, warring political factions, alternate timelines, and mysterious arcane dimensions. But it’s impossible to summarize, because the narrative is incoherent, buried in melodramatic vibes and flashy spectacle. Somewhere between the seasons, Arcane forgot how to tell a story. The new episodes are big-swing set-pieces that fail to remind us who everyone is, what they want, and why they’re all fighting. The show also doubles down on its soundtrack problem, padding its episodes with music-video montages that, thanks to jarring contemporary needle drops, feel anachronistic. Arcane’s prompt cancellation (before season two even aired, if I remember correctly) came as a shock, but perhaps it became clear to the producers how difficult it is to create such ambitious, sophisticated animation in a way that’s also coherent and entertaining. The visuals are still impressive as hell, at least, and with Purnell and Steinfeld leading the way, the voice acting remains top notch. But compared to its jaw-droppingly impressive first season, Arcane certainly goes out on a confused, distancing note. A real shame.
