After an almost three year long wait, this hit Netflix show has finally returned to our screens again. That’s right, Arcane is back everybody!
For fans of the show this moment is arguably bittersweet due to this season of Arcane has been confirmed to be its last however, let’s not dwell on that sour fact for too long because we still have some more episodes to binge!
Season two of this masterpiece of a television show debuted with an initial three episodes November 9, 2024, and another batch of episodes released November 16, 2024 with the concluding episodes releasing today. If you’re still not caught up first of all, what have you been doing? But it’s ok, we do not judge here. Or if you need a refresher, here is a recap of act one and two of Arcane.
Spoilers for season one and two below!
At the end of season 1, we were left on a major cliffhanger with Jinx having kidnapped both her sister Vi and Vi’s new friend/potential love interest— the Piltover enforcer Caitlyn —, as well as both her boss and father figure, Silco. Jinx, not totally sure who to trust or believe, ends up firing a missile that barrels towards Piltover’s council chambers where destruction is sure to ensue. Now onto season two.
Act One
Season 2 picks back up seconds after the missile hits, unveiling to the audience the true chaos that has just been unleashed. In the wake of this attack, three Piltover council members died including Cassandra Kiramman, Caitlyn’s mother, while others were injured, including Viktor. Jayce, desperate to save his best friend, places Viktor into the hex core, which simultaneously heals him and provides him with new found abilities when he eventually wakes, such as the power to heal others.
Vi actively reckons with the decision to either let go of Jinx/Powder, the sister she once knew and her feelings of loyalty towards Caitlyn, and ultimately agrees to aid her and the enforcers on the hunt to find her.
Mel continues to struggle amidst her mother’s, Ambessa, presence in Piltover while she has her own agenda, which involves not only power, but wanting the use of hextech to fight against an organization she calls “The Black Rose,” whose true identity and motives also remain secretive to viewers.
Ambessa also created quite the stir for not only Mel, but all of Piltover’s residence, while Mel delivered a speech to Piltover’s citizens, but she is interrupted in a surprise attack, which creates the allusion it was another play from people in the undercity. However, it is revealed later on everything was orchestrated by Ambessa as a way to throw Piltover into a more depressing position which would allow a perfect breeding ground for her newly budding position there to grow.
Jinx, with a wanted bounty now hanging over her head, struggles with the death of Silco and seemingly loses her sense of purpose. That is until a small child by the name of Isha stumbles upon her and we see perhaps a promise of a new purpose for her– a new kinship.
Ekko and Heimerdinger enlist Jayce’s help in their quest for answers as to why the firelight tree is suddenly deteriorating and find out that both the hex core and firelight tree involve the arcane.
Caitlyn and Vi have a heart-to-heart that ends with them sharing a kiss, a moment that many fans have been waiting for in order to truly solidify their feelings for each other that have been slowly brewing since season one, while also agreeing to go after Jinx now just the two of them. Which leads to Vi and Jinx engaging in a heartbreakingly violent fight as the audience watches the two sisters who once shared so much love for one another now show seemingly none at all.
Ekko, Jayce and Heimerdinger travel underground to where the hexgate gemstone is located to see how or why the tree and the hex core are connected but the trio are delayed by an orb like sphere appearing that Jayce then touches, which sets off a chain of reactions leaving the audience wondering, what just happened?
“The Black Rose” makes another appearance as plumes of red thorn like entities abduct Mel from Piltover and take her somewhere unknown. With Piltover in a confused and almost leaderless state, Ambessa finally makes her move and delivers a powerful speech to its citizens as the voice of hope and, in a shock to both Caitlyn and us viewers, calls on her for help and makes her the Commander of Piltover.
Act Two
At the end of each episode throughout act one of Arcane, there were little glimpses of a familiar face from season one, Doctor Singed or Reveck, creating what looked like a monster. Each glimpse takes on a full shape this act because as Jinx teams up with Sevika to break numerous Zaunites out of prison. Unknown to them, Doctor Singed has some help of his own as he evidently calls upon the beast he created to assist in getting him out as well. However, this being destroys everything in its path and ends up face-to-face with Jinx much to her and the audience’s surprise, this bloodthirsty beast turns out to be none other than Vander (yes, that Vander).
With this shocking twist, Jinx seeks out Vi to see if and how they turn their father back from beast to man. Hearing whispers of a healer somewhere in the undercity, Vi, Jinx and Isha seek this miracle worker out and it’s none other than Viktor, who with his new powers from being in the hex core has started a peaceful thriving utopia.
Mel, after being taken and held somewhere by “The Black Rose,” believes she has been reunited with her long lost brother who was thought to be dead makes the unsettling discovery it’s another trick by them in an attempt to find out if Mel is in fact the secret child of Ambessa that they believe is her.
Ambessa, Caitlyn and Doctor Singer march upon Viktor’s new eden in hopes of obtaining the beast (Vander) he created but after Caitlyn and Vi reunite, Caitlyn helps Vi and concoct a plan to stop Ambessa and Singer from taking the beast.
Jayce, after coming back to Piltover from where the hex core had taken him, Ekko and Heimderdinger, emerges with this newfound feeling that the hex core is somehow now dangerous. He tracks Viktor down and in a stunning twist, kills Viktor ending him and all of the people he had saved up to this point. This action also reverts all of the work Viktor had done on Vander in order to separate the man inside from the beast, which causes him to go on a rampage throughout the once harmonious paradise.
Vander now being lost, to stop the beast Isha makes the ultimate sacrifice in the ending scene of act two and takes Jinx’s gun to end this fight once and for all in a devastating act of sacrifice.
We know, that was a lot but it’s not over yet! Grab some of your favorite snacks, take a deep breath and get to binging because the final three episodes of Arcane are exclusively streaming on Netflix today.
