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Arcane 2x09 Full Reaction! (Patreon)

Published:
2024-12-12 21:30:34
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2026-06
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Arcane 2×09 Full Reaction

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Thomas Corp

Lot to take in with this finale, thus there is a lot to say. I only saw this episode once, so in terms of discussion, we’re in the same boat of thoughts. Like you disclaim, maybe you’re not going to catch or comment on every single tiny little thing, no, but you are always fantastic with the thoughts, here was no different. I can’t improve on most if any of it. Now some of my comments are influenced by chatter across the internet that has come my way about this, so I certainly take your point. Begin with the opening. You admit you misread Jinx’s intent in breaking the cycle. I knew the darkness eating at her, so I didn’t disagree with what you said, given I knew what she was planning back when I first saw this. Lovely that Ekko goes through it multiple times to get through to her. Past a point, I’d say to her, “You want to sit and take a breather for a second?” Can’t improve on your read on Ekko’s scene with Jinx. Merely concur with how you said his dealing with the variant of her does go a long way to save her. Jumping then straight into the fighting, as per your description, the show said that we have limited time. Much to do and less time to do it in. Sad to lose the one guy, though he and Steb put in good work. The latter, I said, “Give that man a raise.” Similar feelings of being blindsided by Maddie being the one that partook in the fuckery. Said fuckery ended quick thanks to the bullet to the head. My initial thought seeing that reveal and subsequent death was, “...The shippers, especially the ones writing fanfiction, infiltrated the creative staff it seems. I’m not even mad, that’s amazing.” Certainly, I would imagine that the hardcore Caitvi (I believe that’s what I was told was the cutesy hashtag portmanteau name given to the ship) shippers were just delighted by that plot-twist. Given the previous sparring scenes, yeah, you knew that Caitlyn and Ambessa would throw down. Cailtyn having the “Screw your goddamn motive rant!” was good. Allowing Mel to step-in and fulfill where we both surmised where the arc would culminate. Impressive seeing Mel take out the Black Rose. So impressive in fact that in her dying moment, Ambessa expresses pride. Adoration was had seeing your delightfully wonderful reaction to Jinx coming in with her Thunderdome looking set-up. I was delighted myself. Seeing that entrance makes a man yell, “WILD CARD, BITCHES!!! YEEEEE HAAAAAAW!!!!” Leading to the last hurrah with the sisters, and seeing them fighting side-by-side, makes a man get VERY misty eyed. Knew you’d be happy with Sevika coming in, and then, her getting the council seat at the end. Shame Heimerdinger is dead, as I’m with you on him and Sevika would have had a good working relationship. Either way, she got one of the happier endings. The mad scientist actually ending the story with a happy ending was an interesting twist on things. Viktor proved too much, and the day was lost. Then came Ekko. Ekko, the beautiful blueberry muffin, as you so wholesomely dub him, coming in with his Omega-13 device. He did the goddamn thing! He was NOT FUCKING AROUND, that man!! Feet of FUCKING STEEL!!! And my emotions got fueled by preemptively feeling your reactions to that, which now seeing said reactions, they exceeded all expectations. This show gave you such fantastic gifts, Ekko-wise, in this third act. I liked how you liked that Viktor and Jayce’s conflict was a largely separate affair. Viktor trying hard to convince Jayce that the things that he keeps fighting for are illusions, vagaries of perception. Temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose. And all of them most artificial compared to the Arcane itself. Yet Jayce persists. Because he chooses to. And thanks to Ekko using the device that I love Viktor is gob smacked to see it, he has his clarity. Along with it, the reveal that I like how it seemed to surprise you. Not so much me as I felt the big reveal of the hooded figure seemed likely. Still pulled off well, and I loved your emotions at that, and the two men taking themselves off the board. Whether they are alive or dead, that fact remains opaque, though they have a good ending. Bringing us to Vander. I agree that Vi never did get the true opportunity to grieve the first time around, and her anguish here, it’s finally feeling it/grief reawakened. And unfortunately, it stalls long enough to cause the last dilemma. Understandable. Grief for the death of your dad is VERY soul-crushing. Hailee breaking our hearts selling Vi’s anguished pleading of, “Don’t you do it, Powder!” And Ella going above and beyond with delivering with Jinx responding with her own variant of the, “When have we EVER followed orders?” moment. Your reaction to all of it was striking. Man, Hailee, at least in what I’ve seen her in, does NOT have good luck with her characters having cheerful endings. And the amazingly depressing thing is that this ending oddly feels LESS downbeat than True Grit, still wrapping my head around that one. Even in Hawkeye, overall sweet ending though it had, she goes through some shit in that show. You observe what I did not: how in the alternate world, the variant of Jinx lives in a world where Vi is dead, and now this Jinx makes the big play so Vi can live in peace, without her. Vi and Caitlyn seem to be settling into their new life well. Could have had a better line to close, like you observed. Hey, Vi’s a better fighter than a lover. Tis why everybody else adores her, yes? Still, you can tell she keeps Jinx and her memory alive. There’s just one small rub that lies therein. Given a few hints, it seems likely that Jinx is not dead but is choosing to appear as such. And I think Caitlyn knows it and chooses to keep the secret. To wit: Caitlyn does notice that there are a few conspicuously placed air ducts. One would imagine that upon investigation, discovering that one of those vents has been opened, and left behind is Jinx’s lucky dime. Something she always took care to keep somewhere not in her pocket where it would get mixed in with the others and become just a coin. ...Which it is. And that last shot of the ship with the implications that Jinx is on it and sailing away. Just as she said she would in the first episode. That part got told to me by others. I didn’t catch that significance myself when I saw it. But that’s the rumor. In any event, a tremendous finale to a damn good show. It feels like you loved it more than I, and I’m happy for that. I love that this was a show that you so cherished. I enjoyed so much, hearing your thoughts and insights through this show. Thank you for the very beautiful journey through Arcane, Jess.

Ryan

I said that if this show stuck the landing, it would become my new choice for the best show I’ve ever seen, and what do you know, it actually pulled it off. Though the same week I’m writing this, Netflix gave it some serious competition with its adaptation of One Hundred Years of Solitude, but I’m still giving Arcane the edge since it didn’t have the advantage of an already amazing source material that it could just copy. I have to start by noting that one thing I’ve always loved about this show is how much every single hit looks like it really hurts, and that even stays true in a battle on this scale, because that’s how much this crew cares about their work. And that’s also why I give it some slack on underdeveloped plot elements like Maddie’s betrayal, because it clearly would have taken even longer than this three year gap to add more episodes of this quality level, and I’d rather their focus be where it is. I was quite surprised when you were surprised this is what Jinx meant by breaking the cycle, since it had never occurred to me it could be anything else. Marvelous song choice that if it wasn’t specifically written for the scene could have fooled me, and her making Ekko keep rewinding is a very tricky tonal balance that they pull off perfectly. Of course, no way I’m buying she’s dead for all the reasons everyone else has pointed out. Very shrewd move to give us one villain who can be taken down in a fight and another who can only be persuaded to stop on his own, so no matter what kind of ending you came for, you’ll be satisfied. And I’m sure the future shows we’re getting will pick up on what happened to Jayce and Viktor (I just hope Jayce gets to enjoy some pudding with Tricia Helfer first). I knew from the start this show was something special, and it’s just impressed me more and more ever since. I couldn’t be happier that we’re getting more of this world, and I just hope it doesn’t take quite as long to at least start them.

Ryan
>>158123503

My thoughts on Jinx’s entrance were more “Welcome to the ouch, motherfuckers!” Because I don’t care what anyone says, I liked the live action Cowboy Bebop (and Avatar, come to that). Though the best part was Ambessa’s reaction; I always love it when a seemingly implacably confident character can finally be driven to a pure “Um, the fuck?” emotion. Definitely check out Bumblebee if you want to see Hailee in a happier story, and surprisingly enough, her playing Emily Dickinson is often pretty upbeat. I’ve read that another hint of Jonx’s survival is her distinctive colored streak heading away from the explosion, but I’ve never been able to catch it.

Thomas Corp
>>158123503

Haven’t seen the live-action Cowboy Bebop, nor the live-action (I assume you refer to the Netflix show) Avatar series, so I can’t offer opinions there. I too always love it when a seemingly implacably confident character can finally be driven to a pure “...Um. ...the fuck?” type of emotion or reaction to something. One standing out in my memory is Varga when he sees Meemo coming back from the one job after Nikki starts fucking Varga’s shit up Ambessa had a good moment of her own here. Only caught snippets of Bumblebee. Know Pamela Adlon plays her mom in that, which Jesus Christ is that damn good casting. Haven’t caught the Dickenson show either. Again, I’ve only seen the Arcane finale the once, and I too did not catch the streak of pink, though I heard everybody talk about that.

Thomas Corp
>>158385278

In terms of sticking the landing, I’m still saying M*A*S*H has the best ending of any show. Even if it wasn’t my favorite show, which it is, I think I’d still have that opinion of the finale of M*A*S*H. In my lifetime, the finale to Monk comes in at a very close second in terms of my list of most satisfying series finales. Objectively speaking, this one would be up there high on best series finales. They did keep the thing of feeling the hits, even on the scale of this episode. The business of Maddie having partaken in the fuckery is the one big criticism in that it comes borderline right the fuck out of nowhere, it’s dealt with just as soon as it happens, and is never touched on again, leaving you with little to work with, feelings-wise. Since the rest of this show is as good as it is, the Maddie partaking in the fuckery business, I will let that slide. I kind of like that Jess didn’t predict what Jinx meant as it made her reaction better in that respect. I don’t even know who sang the song, so I can’t comment on its origin. Good tonal balance with Ekko rewinding. Well said on how the show provided in the satisfaction of the villainous resolutions. Viktor and Jayce feels nicely left open if they decide to follow-up on that, which wouldn’t surprise me if they do. All the chatter has painted the strong picture of Jinx’s metabolic processes have yet to become history. And unlike with Tech, the points being raised are all plausible, and I just like how if that is the case, which by all accounts, sounds like it is, the show treats us as smart enough that they don’t need to spell it out for us. As to more of the world hopefully not taking so long, I would assume covid was partially responsible for that given how we get a new season of Invincible within a few months. The more complicated animation here likely factored into it too. But yeah, not having to wait the three years would be nice.

Ryan
>>158385278

Plus, we have no real idea what she did for Ambessa beyond sabotaging an attack that would have been pointless anyway.