Arcane’s second season is 2024's masterpiece

This review was originally published on Camila Domingues’ personal Substack, which is no longer active. It has been republished (and lovingly removed) with explicit permission (because she did it herself).

I will start off by saying there will be NO SPOILERS on this post. We didn’t wait three whole years for this second and final season to come out just for me to spoil things here, did we? I wouldn’t do that to you all.

You’re welcome.

What I will do, however, is explain to you how Arcane’s second season has surpassed all my favorite shows this year: House of the Dragon, Rings of Power, Agatha All Along, The Legend of Vox Machina… all of those.

Damn worth waiting for three years

The first season of Arcane dropped in November of 2021 and stunned audiences worldwide with its incredible animation style, perfectly adapted and voiced characters, plot twists, surprises, and cliffhangers. Season one was quite literally the whole package. And, the best thing is, you don’t even have to love the best most toxic game to ever exist the source material, the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) game League of Legends to be interested or understand what’s going on - though it does help.

I remember when I started playing League about 11 years ago, right when Jinx had ironically been released. I still play it religiously, though on my iPad (Wild Rift is so much fun), and I enjoy handing people their asses as Draven, Seraphine, Graves, and Jinx herself to this very evening. If you’re raising your eyebrow because I put Draven and Seraphine in the same sentence, I get it - those two fanbases hate each other.

When Arcane first came out, it was an experience. It was not only wild to see one of my all-time favorite games come to life, but also to see what kind of incredible animation and story writing came with it. Everything was perfect - the delivery, the voice acting, the backstories. And then, just as quickly as the obsession began, the ninth episode was released and the first season came to an end.

And then, we waited.

COVID decided to say hello and strikes happened, and we had no word on the second season for quite sometime. Then, the release date was revealed. And then, the release date arrived.

Spoiler-free thoughts on Season 2

As I watched the first 6 episodes of its second season today (thank you, Netflix and Riot Games for the screeners), I experienced a crazy amount of different emotions. They were all over the place - happiness, sadness, anger, rage, disbelief, excitement, relief, and, since I have to wait to watch the last three episodes with everyone else, so much goddamn anxiety.

Ella Purnell (Lucy from Prime Video’s Fallout, another series that is entirely too good) was born to voice Jinx. The way she brings her complexities to life is an absolute treat to watch. She captures her internal demons, her broken thought process, her destructive persona as well as everything that makes Jinx endearing. Her chemistry with Vi’s voice actress, Hailee Steinfeld, is beyond believable. It’s touching, it’s inspiring, it’s so real. Jinx and Vi’s relationship is something wonderful to witness - so many layers to peel between the two of them, so much vulnerability.

Season two literally goes beyond my wildest dreams for this story. It goes places I never expected it to go, while making sure every “I” is dotted and every “T” is crossed when it comes to plot twists and reveals. Shit, the first ten minutes of the first episode, “Heavy is the Crown” made me cry and had me by my very imaginary balls and in front of the TV for hours, until I clicked “next” and realized episodes 7-9 were not given to media. Well, at least not to me. I’m sure important people got them, and I am equal parts jealous and equal parts excited to experience what will be an insane climax with everyone else.

The writing is done so flawlessly, so well. Characters are fleshed out with no rush yet no delay, and they’re true to their game counterparts. The pace is perfect. The jump from situation to situation happens at all the rights times and in all the right ways. The soundtrack…….. THE SOUNDTRACK. I cannot tell you how fast I added those songs to my playlist. The fight scenes splash the screen with incredible colors and are, hands down, a spectacle.

I don’t know how else to put this - Arcane’s second and final season is, quite literally, the best thing you’ll watch on TV this year.

Where to watch it: Netflix

When to watch it: episodes 1-3 are out now (11/9), 4-6 will be out 11/16, and 7-9 will bless us all on 11/23, just in time for Thanksgiving.

Do not miss it.

Also love League of Legends and want more? Try playing the following Riot Forge games: Convergence, Song of Nunu, Bandle Tale and, my very favorite, Mageseeker. All four of those come with my stamp of approval. I really miss Riot Forge.