Arcane 2x01 "Heavy is the Crown" - reaction & review
Added 2024-11-19 13:56:47 +0000 UTCHey everyone! Here it is - my reaction to season 2 episode 1 of Arcane! WOW did we hit the ground running here! Picking up right where we left off, we find out about Caitlyn's mom, we get an interesting proposal for Vi, meet some new characters, and ultimately have a revenge attack in Piltover that totally prevents things from escalating, sheesh. I hate to even get excited over this under the circumstances, but how freaking awesome did everyone look at the end with their weapons?! And Vi in UNIFORM?!?!?! Enjoy!! ~ MH
Comments
I think the attack at the Memorial is written very well because we can easily understand why the Chembaron Renni decided to initiate this attack to get back at Piltover and particularly enact revenge against Jayce for accidentally killing her son last season & it’s sad that this is just continuing the cycle of violence that has been going on for a really long time between the 2 cities especially when Jayce felt such intense regret for killing that kid. I have to say with what we saw of Renni last season I did not expect her to basically become a horror movie villain in this episode but last season she was always in scenes with Silco & he commands so much respect & fear that it makes sense I wouldn’t see her as a very strong character but she certainly was in this episode being able to take a full force hit from a running Jayce & just keep going. The show did a great job of depicting the intensity & seriousness within this episode in a lot of ways but I want to focus on the attack with the lead up, all the unknowns, the brutality of Renni & the desperation of the characters under attack the most striking moment of desperation being Jayce crawling away and almost dying. Also it was nice to see Vi & Caitlyn and Vi & Jayce fighting together after all the conflict/drama last season at times as well as just Caitlyn’s skill in general. And what an entrance from Mel’s mother Ambessa showing the brutality, savageness & efficiency of her country Noxous as well as really trying to take command of things in some ways and having very interesting looks and reactions with her facial expressions multiple times while constantly lurking in the background. Finally I love the animation & music in this episode and I have to mention how this entire season has so much iconic dialogue & specific lines.
Supermonaman
2024-12-11 16:15:43 +0000 UTCI personally feel that each episode has a specific theme & the 1 for this episode is grief & how to move forward which is shown perfectly through Caitlyn especially with the absolutely beautiful funeral for her mother with the amazing black & white 2D animation that was confirmed to have bean done with charcoal. I think 1 of the saddest parts is when the coffin is closing Caitlyn’s facial expressions & movements are basically her trying to make the last look she will have of her mom last as long as possible. Also it’s hard to watch her dad in the background going through his own grief because while we didn’t see them a lot it was clear that her parents deeply loved each other & from what little we saw last season her dad just seemed like a really sweet guy. It sucks but makes sense that he reacts with anger towards Vi. I love the focus on the complicated emotions going on between & within Vi and Caitlyn because of the hard ask of Vi as well as feeling like she has metaphorically lost her sister all over again & feeling guilt much like Caitlyn over what happened with Jinx at the end of last season when Caitlyn could have killed Jinx & Vi not being able to talk her sister down so to speak. But I love how while Caitlyn has been putting on a strong front which seems to be something her family values in tough times as soon as she sees Vi she allows herself to express all the emotions she has been holding back as she just collapses into Vi it’s a very heartfelt moment. I was a little worried that Vi was about to go on an alcoholism arc with all that drinking but no apparently she can just really handle her alcohol LOL. I love the scene between Caitlyn & Jayce with the rapidly moving windchimes because it really represents Caitlyn’s mindset with how it’s like she is in a spiral of grief/rage and because I like the sibling like relationship the 2 of them have. I think it says a lot about Caitlyn’s character that while she’s feeling a lot of hate right now she has realized how easy it is to hate others showing that she is trying to keep a broad perspective on things which makes her starting to dehumanize people from Zaun after the attack by calling them animals sadder. I think the part of the episode of Caitlyn looking at what looks like family records & taking on responsibility of her family legacy while commanding a lot of respect with her authority as she reveals the strike team with the hex tech weapons Jayce has made especially with the group shot is awesome although like you I was conflicted because we know this is most likely just leading to more conflict & suffering especially the Undercity which is constantly getting the short end of the stick not to mention how conflicted Vi must feel acting as 1 of her own oppressors but the great thing this show does is make it feel like the characters have no choice but to do something like this because of the recent attacks & trying to keep aggression to a minimum & make the audience feel the same. Finally I love the transitions as Caitlyn introduces the squad especially Jayce hammering as he makes new weapons & I can’t imagine he is very happy that he’s breaking the promise he made to Viktor to not make more hex tech weapons but again he is someone who also feels like he has no choice but to do this. Once again awesome reaction & thoughts. Keep up the great work. :-) <3
Supermonaman
2024-12-02 05:36:45 +0000 UTCWhat a way to return us to the story right! Yeah there's so much conflict with both wanting Viktor to be ok and just knowing that this will lead to something bad. The visuals are great!!! They did such a good job representing the emotions of each character. That's such a good call about the stage play vibes too! There's totally homages to Macbeth and Les Miserables. Thanks about the subtitles! Honestly they haven't been working for me on Amazon but I'll see what I can do! They'd make things a lot easier. Thanks so much for all the support!!
Melissa Moore
2024-11-25 14:59:56 +0000 UTCSame!!!
Melissa Moore
2024-11-25 14:57:59 +0000 UTCWell I'll be getting a big boost then cause this whole season sounds traumatic :P It's cool that they're making the most of the 9 eps for sure. Oh I can see how she looked a little similar to Vander there! Everyone's got a lot of pressure on them right? Yeah I remember that Jayce was the one, I thought I mentioned that. Yeah I'm not even sure who could be working on the inside when it comes to security!
Melissa Moore
2024-11-25 14:57:54 +0000 UTCOh yeah good call!
Melissa Moore
2024-11-25 14:56:07 +0000 UTCThis was such a great reaction & I have been looking forward to your reaction to the 1st episode because it’s so great as a continuation of the last season. I think the 1st scene perfectly captures how an attack like this would be like with the amazing sound design of muffled sounds/talking, chaos & death/destruction. I think the most visceral part is the back-and-forth of Jayce seeing Viktor’s broken body & running to his lab with Viktor in his arms but the 1 Councilor with his legs crushed under rubble screaming in horrible pain is a close 2nd. I think a lot of us have similar feelings about saving Viktor knowing it’s dangerous but just wanting him to live because we have come to care about him so much. And maybe Jayce is making a bad decision doing this but it’s completely understandable because this is his dying best friend. I love the new visuals for the opening & I think it makes a lot of sense to have the same song when it was made for the show. I think the characters having much more basic clothing specifically in the opening is representative of the characters showing who they truly are in the face of everything that happened throughout the 1st season but especially what happened at the end of last season while I have potentially showing that the characters will be showing a lot of vulnerability this season & the visuals are just amazing as well. Also the visuals are set up like a stage play in many ways & some shots are even based on/inspired by specific plays like the shot of Caitlyn with her hands over her face making a shadow of a crown behind her based on Macbeth & the shot of Jinx waving a flag being based on Les Miserables a story all about revolution. The stuff with Viktor was crazy & the 1st time I watched this episode I had no idea where his character was going the only thing I was thinking in this episode was that the hexcore that now surrounds Viktor has a clear comparison to a cocoon that hatches into a butterfly. Finally I don’t know how you feel about turning the subtitles on but they don’t spoil by showing up too quickly & at least for me it was sometimes hard to understand the lyrics of the new songs on a 1st watch without subtitles & if you have that same problem I thought you might want to know the lyrics while watching but it’s just something I wanted to suggest if it’s something you want to do. Awesome reaction & thoughts. Keep up the great work. :-) <3
Supermonaman
2024-11-25 05:52:07 +0000 UTCI’m really feeling for Caitlin right now. 😢
Manny
2024-11-21 11:54:01 +0000 UTCI mean, I’m not too much further ahead than you so I don’t know what some of the others might. What I DO know is there’s a part of you that knows that trauma is a ratings boost on your channel. 😉 This is coming secondhand from another source, but I have been told that this season is actually the one most expensive animation budget ever in the US. Netflix apparently invested a lot into it. That being said, it’s the final season and we only have a total of nine episodes so I think I appreciate the fact we aren’t dilly dallying. The show is pretty much saying “if you’re here, you’re already hooked, we don’t need to go over it again.” It seems Ambessa (Mel’s mom) has already got her hooks into Councilor Salo (the one who was paralyzed by the incident), and he is more than willing to pull the trigger, but Caitlin isn’t so sure about it. There are only three members of the council left alive which is why you saw the emphasis on “it’s settled, 2 to 1.” Vi of course is probably the most confused about this because she has people important to her on both sides of the line. I couldn’t help but notice that the drunk she was boozing with looked kind of similar to Vander. Maybe it’s just me. 👀 Caitlin has the weight of the world on her shoulders, she’s lost her mother, her friend’s loyalty is unclear and others clearly don’t trust her. Jayce has his own issues trying to fix Voktor but he has no clue what he’s doing. Of course that hasn’t stopped him before… 😬 It seems Ambessa has an ambition to gain control of Hextrch and is influencing Salo to do so, a ploy her daughter is seeing right through. Of course, when the next attack comes that kind of seals it for everyone. By the way, the reason Chainsaw Lady was so hyper fixated on Jayce? Remember Jayce was the one who landed the death blow, because nobody could see who was in the Shimmer Suits. Vi wouldn’t want to be an Enforcer, but Caitlin’s plan sounds more tolerable so I’m guessing that, along with the encouragement she got from Maddie, is why she’s going along with it for now. They did bring up an interesting point: if the memorial was so secure, then who would have given the Zaunites access? Something to think about. You can’t say this show wastes any of its time, can you, lol.
Tyler Stobbe
2024-11-20 04:05:44 +0000 UTCDont know if you noticed but in the intro Caitlyn's shadow literally has a crown
Zen Reacts
2024-11-19 21:32:02 +0000 UTC
