Arcane Reaction S01E03

The more detail I become aware of the more I start looking for! And because it’s animation everything is done so purposefully.

StuBoy

48:40 "its probably not as deep as that". Oh my friend, it scertainly is as deep as that, haha. I discovered you recently on youtube and adored all your analyses on powder and vander and the episodes in general! You really try to pay attention and notice details many dont on your first watchtrough. Loving your content man! Thank you for bringing us your amazing takes on things(uωu 人)💕

Yuria Tsugi

New subscriber here -- not sure how long I'll be able to remain a Patreon patron, but while I am, I wanted to thank you for this video series! I've been watching many analyses of Arcane, its scenes, its animation, and its characters on Youtube, but there is something very raw to seeing those first impressions and real-time thoughts that a well-written and rehearsed analysis simply can't provide. So, it has been so interesting to see your first reactions as you go through, and then to also see your continued more settled thoughts later (such as with the Vander and Powder formulations). The bit at the end of this video where you mentioned the potential therapeutic value of these kinds of stories had me honestly grinning from ear to ear. The cathartic power of storytelling to both author and audience has always been a fascination of mine since childhood. It's something that sparked a deep and lifelong passion for both stories and psychology. Seeing this particular story and its intensely human character relations bring you to that same conclusion hit me in a positive way I can't quite describe. So, all that to say, I'm grateful to have found your channel and I'm grateful to be here on Patreon while I can! I look forward to seeing your next Arcane videos and also looking through more of the music reactions that seem to be more of your main-stay. I hope you and your loved ones are keeping well and having a wonderful holiday season!

Kel Griffin

I think this episode also shows that vi has way to much on her plate. She is also just a teenager but has to take over the protector/parantal figure for the boys and powder. And when she realises that she failed them and lost them, especially Vander her parantal figure, she just snaps. She is also too young to regulate her feelings in this situation and powder is used as her outlet.

Lu

Seeing this show from your perspective is amazing. There's so many little nuances that you pick up on and explain with such depth while still keeping it accessible and comfortable. Not only is this really enjoyable, but I've learned a lot of interesting things from you in just these 3 reactions. Thank you, looking forward to the rest!

DJ Lobster

Hey I apprechiate you geeking out over the proccessing- process at the end there, because when I first watched season 1 I must've unconciously dug up some things.. watching you talk about stuff also brought back some memories for me that I had forgotten that majorly influenced me in my childhood.. so I'm assuming you might be right? The show helped me see a mirror sometimes

Arcane Fan

Powder saying "She's not my sister anymore" while Silco was looking at Vander dead on the ground gets me every time. I think he probably intended to kill her, but saw himself in Powder during that moment. Your comment about her falling mirroring his drowning really reinforced that for me since it's the moment both of them lose their connection to the person they're closest to.

Yawny

Hi Ghost Mom, thank you for the kind words about my content, I am glad that you find it helpful. My intention has always been that, although I am talking about pop culture (music/shows), people can somehow relate it to their life or give them a new perspective and something to think about.

StuBoy

I just saw your reaction to The Line on YouTube and I commented that you should watch the show before I realized you are already doing that lol. And now I'm here, I'm enjoying the reaction and commentary.

Christian F

Here are some of my video ideas for you! Silco, understanding his psyche, why he takes Powder in How death is used to form tragedy, turning that into something that fits your channel?

Soldier 69

Also I hope you’re going to churn the initial reactions faster because I can’t take the wait 😅… Also I think the soundtrack for both of these seasons are great listens

Thomas Cheetham

Honestly been loving this, finally been waiting for you getting to episode 3 knowing what is to come… your in for a ride, this plus season 2.. strap in

Thomas Cheetham

I wanted to say that your reactions just seems too genuine, and I like it. Just wanted to thank you, and I know it is to soon to say that, but consider watching season 2!

Nikita Kolomoiets

What I like about this episode is the no apologetic raw emotions by Powder: The powder's ugly cry and despair when abandoned at the hideout , the realization that she made something that worked and the realization of the impact that is had after and then again the unapologetic begging to not feel abandoned again! hits me every time and makes me understand her actions through the whole show. It feels so real, mainly because I experienced few of those. In my not so eloquent writing I feel like I'm sort of a mix of Violet and Powder(The despair when you realize your bigger than life figure broke you and the need to providing for those who consider you bigger than life and not let them down as you were in the past)

Mr.Furukawa1

the pause before the monkey goes off into "this is poor decision making" had me laughing

Ash

I'd love to see a reaction to the song playing at the end of the episode. It's a lovely song befitting the heart-wrenching ending to the episode.

Foozy

New sub here, would absolutely love a reaction to some of the soundtrack! Love the videos so far :)

Emil

Hi! I'm new here, but I wanted to say that I love your reactions so far, and the character formulation videos are amazing! If you can, I would suggest that you make formulations for Jayce and Viktor... I'm pretty sure people will agree with me that analysing these two would be very interesting for reasons I can't reveal yet!

xxnelli

Thank you so much for the kind words. Glad you’re enjoying it!

StuBoy

Of course, I’m going to go through the whole lot, then any extras I can find, and all the soundtracks! Becoming a bit of an Arcane Addict!

StuBoy

Are you planning on finishing season 1? Love the reactions and analysis!

Campleb

Just wanted to say that I’ve watched numerous arcane reactions, deep dives and analysis and picked through the show scene by scene myself and you have provided comfortably the most enjoyable and in depth insight of any arcane content. You are able to portray with words the emotions this show can evoke so simply and yet so in depth simultaneously, and I feel privileged to be watching this content

C_Forde

I’ve watched so many reactors and rewatched this series so many times on my own, but it still hurts so much. I’m still ugly crying at that episode and others too.

Alexandre

Agree with Duke !

Carol Grein Ericson

I think this was the episode everyone was waiting for haha. Everything and anything you post that involves dealing with this act is I think going to be amazing, you have your finger on the pulse of many of the characters. Also, please don't throw away the Vander formulation, he got so much spotlight this episode!

Matěj Macek

Amazing level of detail in this reaction! I love how you paused right after Powder sets the monkey bomb and commented on how she hadn't thought that through. Definitely lots to update in her formulation!

Alanna Roff

I don't think I can state just how much I adore your character analysis. I'm striving to be a character writer so it's become a hobby of mine to watch youtubers react to my favorite shows for the last four years. Not all are the same and I usually prefer to watch the people who talk about character motivations, emotions, trauma, etc. and you are one of, if not the the best I've seen when it comes to truly dissecting, analyzing and understanding a writer's intentions. I go to therapy and practice/study Mindfulness and DBT due to being physically disabled and struggling with anxiety, depression, and chronic pain. I've also been diagnosed with BPD. In the group I'm currently in we have been going over Rational Mind/Emotional Mind / Wise Mind and you're the first I've seen to ever bring that type of stuff up regarding this show. i'm quite passionate about characters who struggle with mental health issues/trauma due to my own experiences and trauma and love works like Arcane which are written so well. Watching people react and discuss well-written characters to this level of detail helps me work at becoming a better writer. You are just so on the ball at catching all the nuances, no matter how small, and I've watched a lot of reactions to this show in particular due to how good the writing and animation is. You're not even the only therapist I've watched share insight on this show. I intend to remain subbed to your patreon and ive subbed to and liked your youtube videos. I definitely would love to see more of this kind of content and hope you manage to finish both seasons of Arcane and then continue with this type of content for other character driven shows because your insight is incredible and valuable. Thank you.

Ghost Mom

Updating (or creating) the formulation of the main characters through the show should really be interesting, as so much speculation and discussion about them are in the fandom. Especially on Powder. So we have Powder and Vi thus far, next episode properly introduces a third main character, Caitlyn, (the little girl who is with Jayce at the exploision - who I identify most with, as she is a somewhat a mirror of my own upbringing). And yes, a deep dive summary of each act would be interesting.

Wolfsbane

i agree with duke

jacob schumacher

I also would love to see those songs, probably best if he waits until he gets to the point in the show they appear to avoid unitended spoilers though.

Last Thing

My go to for the description of the feeling is "Painfully Human"

Last Thing

I hope he does too, so that at the very least he see's that there is an alternate perspective. I've seen many other reactors experience ruined by holding onto an initial impression of the characters motivations and reasonings, unchanging despite what the characters do or say. The show does lend itself to misinterpretation on the initial watch due to its non handholdy approach and layered meaning. Its part of what I think makes this show gain more and more meaning on every rewatch. I do find myself often leaving comments on scenes where I feel things were misinterpreted because of that. All with the intent of deepening the reactors understanding of the situation. I just hope it doesn't come off as demeaning.

Last Thing

I'm sure this wasn't your intention, but I think comments like this are a bit spoilery no? Even if there isn't much information you can get out of it I think it is a nudge at something he hasn't experienced yet and can therefore ruin it a little. Just my thought I'm sure many people see it differently.

Duke

At 43:57 when you asked what have they done what did they make? What they did was remake the teleportation spell that Jayce learned from the wizard that saved him and his mother. They created magic!

Noosenoodl

Noosenoodl

RIP the "Hound of the underground". I like your insights about this show. Glad i found your channel.

Julio Romaní

Absolutely love your reactions to this series so far! There's not a lot of scenes with Mel in this first act, but I would be really interested in a formulation for her character :)

Jade

Great reaction to the first act! I would really recommend watching the behind-the scenes documentary on the first season called Arcane: Bridging the Rift before you eventually watch season two. It gives good context to a lot of things in the show and also to how important literally every detail in the animation, music and writing is. It's free on YouTube and pretty lenient on the copyright as Riot usually is with these things.

Benjamin

I agree! A reaction to the two soundtracks would be awesome as well!

Benjamin

1. I would love to see videos on the following music videos - Goodbye -Guns for Hire -What could've been There will be more for season 2 2. I would love to see a post arc video maybe every 3 episodes where you update any formulations and talk about anything you thought was interesting

Patrick Dawson

I hope he reads this, really good explanation.

Tobbe

All of the below is my interpretation and opinion Silco is so interesting as a character, his people don't do what he asks because they have to. They do it because they want to and its reflected in the way shimmer works. He couldn't give shimmer to someone that hates him because taking shimmer doesn't change the core of who the person is. It requires both loyalty and trust in both directions. He also seems to take no joy in his actions. He veiws them as a cold necessity. Vander stands in the way of his freedom so he has two options bring Vander to his side, which is his original offer to Vander, or Kill him. If he kills Vander then people would hold a grudge so he must come up with a rumor that vander left with his children. Meaning Vanders children have to die too. He doesn't know powder caused the explosion and taking her in runs directly counter to the rumor he wants to spread. There are only downsides in taking her in, but she leaps to hug him disarming him physically and emotionally. She tells him that her sister abandoned her. The same thing he feels vander did. He looks to Vander, Vi abandoned powder (not actually) at the corpse of her father. Another thing i'll note is that if killing benzo was somthing he wanted to do from the start he could have done it. Its only when benzo refuses his chance to "walk away" and tries to attack silco instead that Silco has him killed. I beleive the way vander was trying to hold the lanes together would not work in the long run. I don't think benzo would have been able to "handle things" in his absence. War is coming with or without silco and it seems silco at least has a plan and the means to follow through.

Last Thing

Might be a bit spoilery to mention these character names at this point? Since at the end of episode 3 we don't know if they live or die etc...

Lily

I really enjoyed this! I would love to see your initial thoughts about Jayce and his vulnerabilities/personality traits. Eventhough its not as dramatic, I think there are still a lot of interesting things in his charactirization and the way he tends to go from one extreme to another.

Aleksander Sørlie

Just finished (finally) -- I've had some work to get done -- and I can say that imho, this is the best reaction to this episode I've ever experienced -- and it's not even close. Others will have different favorites for valid reasons, but for me this type of insight into the characters -- their experiences, their emotions, their motives, their impact on each other -- that's what I've been hunting (and literally paying) to find for more than 3 years. Can't wait to see the deep dives. And thank, you so much for acknowledging us, the viewers, and the emotional impact this series has had on us, and our traumas; nobody else has done that. That was great, thank you

James Anderson

And some have music videos that also give us more insight!

Lily

Oh, I forgot, would also love a separate video on the ending song (and any other from the Arcane soundtrack). The songs were composed and written by the makers of the show so the lyrics give us a lot more insight into the characters than other songs would typically in TV or film.

Lily

Great reaction and analysis! This episode heralds a tonal shift for the rest of the series...one that definitely haunts our cast throughout S1. I loved your emphasis on what Vi has been through—she's not my favorite character in the series but Vi's own trauma tends to be overlooked in conversations concerning Arcane, so it was so refreshing to see you go over that and bring a little more light to it. Particularly excited for your ep 4 and ep 6 reactions! Thank you so much for doing these :)

Arowyn McHugh

Well this is where the story really starts enjoy it! IT WAS WORTH WAITING

gfb

This show, in my view, is really good at portraying its characters as messy and complicated people. Just from the first three episodes, they don't adhere to the naively predictable development of the tropes the characters are pulled from. The consequences of their actions are very 'real' and complex in unexpected ways. Everyone in the show is struggling in their own way, and the narrative direction seems intentionally geared toward getting its audience to understand that. I don't know how to describe it, but the show has a very lived-in atmosphere that sometimes feels closer to home than what is comfortable. These formulation / impression videos are such a good way to explore that complexity thoughtfully.

Kamen Randall

Yesss I have been waiting for this... love the reaction and analysis, it's incredible how you catch little details that most people only see on a second, third or fourth rewatch. I love seeing your thought process throughout the episode. I don't think Vander's formulation needs to get binned, in fact I think it could be a cool idea to make another video on his character. I was surprised on my first rewatch how passive he is (remembered it differently) and he seems to be such an emotionally intelligent surrogate parent at the same time. I'm sure a lot of it would be conjecture but I would find a video about his motivations fascinating, how he goes from basically leading a revolution against Piltover, to this subdued person who sort of makes a deal with the devil (enforcers) to keep the people he loves safe. It seems that parenthood changed him so deeply and your perspective as a parent yourself there could be particularly interesting (not asking you to share anything private of course!) I would also love to see a formulation of Vi, updated formulation of Powder, and maybe a short one for Mylo (who the fandom says has "middle-child syndrome") or even one for Silco. Very much looking forward to seeing you react to the next episodes, you always have such pertinent and insightful things to say that rewatching the series alongside you is a real pleasure. Despite all the heartbreak it reawakens lol. I assume we can expect a Christmas/New Years break but will be checking your page regularly anyway. Thanks so much for sharing your perspective with us and happy holidays!

Lily

48:30 on the "Drowing simillarities". I never noticed that but it actually could be a reference. Arcane does that stuff a lot. Wow. I watched it like 15 times at least and never noticed that. Good catch! Also, I really love how Vander seemingly gave up after the explosion until he saw that Vi was still alive. That was the thing giving him the strength to fight!

Kabidu

Fantastic reaction. Without meaning to give anything away about the arc of this series, your experience as a therapist who helps people with trauma is perfect for this show. The choice to start character formulations (poor Vander notwithstanding) is also a great idea, and I hope you keep that going through the entire series. In response to your question about characters that would be good to profile--I think every fan of the show would agree that there will be plenty of material to analyze for all of the major characters, but one of the many great things about this show is how skilled the writers and animators are at creating complex, fully-formed side characters. So I will throw out two of the cast with more "supporting" roles that I would love to see your thoughts on: (1) Sevika, the woman who called Vander "weak" in episode 2 and you may have noticed joined Silco's crew in this episode and (2) the Doctor (aka "Singed") who invented Shimmer for Silco and was briefly seen caught up in Powder's explosion. Given their limited screen time, it may be a while before you have enough to do anything with, but I vote for keeping an eye on them and the supporting characters of the world in general.

Jonah Jackson

I think one of the most revolutionary decisions of the development process for the show, is that Riot gave the creative team permission to end any of the characters / champions stories in the show. There are many characters from the game, that fans of League of Legends, would think have a significant amount of plot armour but the fact that everyone is up for grabs is something that adds to the gravity of the show. There are some caveats to that as always, but the main sentiment is that the writers had full freedom to be as "brutal" or as honest as they wanted to be to tell their story. This series has a lot to unpack psychologically, and I think they're able to show much darker aspects of the story because it's an animation. For e.g. if this was live action, I don't think they could have shown what happened to the younger members of the cast. It's very unique that they can depict that scenario and storyline, which shows that even those we consider as "innocent" because of their youth can be taken.

Craig

I have a suggestion, the series is set up for 3 episodes as acts .. I think would be nice to get one video to sum up the Act it self ! Usually the third episode is the one that has the most heavy stuff to set up the next act. Keep the raw reactions and sum up in one video for the act itself 🥰.

Carol Grein Ericson

great reaction. the formulations on the characters are going to be very interesting - looking forward to seeing how you pick this apart and analyse it

onemile

This is the big escalation of the series after a couple episodes of setup. S1 is fantastic from here on out.

Martin Waits

I'm still watching -- and really enjoying; just needed to say, that's a great detail you noticed about powder being able to access problem solving abilities associated with the pre-frontal cortex even while dis-regulated. I'm really interested in where that might appear in her updated formulation -- yes, I'm optimistically assuming you'll do an updated formulation for her :)

James Anderson

Silco did not plan what happened at the end there with Powder, he just walked in on her screaming and crying. Literally no one inside even knew she was there or that she was the one that set off the bomb. He was going to just kill her after finding out where Vi was (hence why he asked) until she hugged him and he saw Vander’s body. You’re meant to make the connection that Silco sees himself and his relationship with Vander when he learns about Powder and her sister, which is why he says “we’ll show them” after embracing her. This episode sure got a lot of people emotional. Lots of tears, some people got angry (I saw one guy punch a wall lol). I think a lot of people can relate to the sibling angle especially and that’s a really touchy subject for some 😅 Welcome to Arcane ;)

Chelly

Just started watching; so excited!

James Anderson