Arcane is one of my favourite shows of all time but I got grievances and I need to vent!
I fell into this rabbit hole of show analysis after posting the last chapter of my fic on ao3 âAll Weâve Left Behindâ where I start to explore my headcanon for the Day of Ash, the revolution in general and Vander and Silcoâs past.
Itâs a very emotional moment as Vander relives the attack on Silco in his mind, torn between the guilt and regret over what he did and the responsibility he feels now for not having been able to actually kill him and stop him for good. In my story the focus on their relationship means that everything that happens between them, then and now, has a very personal component but itâs also important to me to maintain that the rift between them is largely ideological, stemming from irreconcilable differences over how to fight for and protect their people like in season 1.
I think season 2 cheapens the whole thing by erasing all that in favour of UNEARNED personal bullshit (and overshadowing the political conflicts in general but letâs not get ahead of ourselves)
To be clear I donât actually have a problem with the catalyst for the attack being Vanderâs grief and anger over Feliciaâs death because thatâs a very flawed and very human reaction which is what we love about the characters in arcane. My problem is that season 2 shoehorns that in, entirely forgetting the concepts previously introduced about those characters and the conflict between them.
It doesnât add context, it undermines what was already there.
The flashback scene in s2e5 does no favours to anybody and (together with the stroll we later take in Vanderâs happy go lucky family time memories) proceeds to retroactively assassinate both of their original characterizations which we so loved.
Season 1 shows Silco as a man who was always a bit too extreme and angry, making him dangerous in the audienceâs and in Vanderâs eyes, but a the same time he is very ideologically sincere and sympathetic as a human with relatable vulnerabilities and trauma. His bottom line is righteous is methods are not. 10 out of 10!
As his counterpart Vander is shown as a man who WALKS HIS WAY BACK from a similar place of anger and extremism towards different values that prioritize protecting the weak over fighting for an hypothetical future. Dropping his gauntlets to become a father when faced with the horror of war. 10 out of 10!
In season 2 Vander doesnât walk his way back from anything! They tell us he was always a piece of bread, a loving uncle that had always been very involved in the girlsâs life, undermining the choice he makes to change for them in season 1.
And (in my opinion even worse) showing us the trio and Silco being so close to the girlsâs mum makes everything he does in season 1, which was horrible but understandable, truly evil, cold and unforgivable. Because the implication is that he knew the girls as children, swore to their mother, a comrade, to make a better future for THEM and yet he is ready to kill them both without batting an eye. Him, a man to whom loyalty is everything?! That stinks of nonsense!
And the show knows that because it refuses to give us any more context about him whatsoever. His personality doesnât match, he is basically absent in Vanderâs memory slideshow and we get no meaningful information about their dynamic pre bridge disaster, Silco simply becomes an empty narrative foil to bend out of shape as needed.
In my opinion the writers did this for three reasons:
1. To make him an exact mirror for Powder/Jinx. On the bridge he is doing what he thinks is right but he ends up only causing death and destruction, just like Powder in e3, which is (now) the main cause of Vanderâs betrayal and abandonment, like with Powder and Vi.
2. To hammer home the âit only takes a bad dayâ idea theyâre so fond of in season 2. Again reducing him, and his relationship with Vander, to a mirror for other characters, mainly Caitlyn (they are basically the same person, gay vampires with serious anger management problems, Iâll die on that hill) but also Viktor. Both of them are trying to do good from their prospective but end up committing atrocities because they are blinded by emotional pain. Reminds you of anybody? Also nobody can convince me that Vikto and Jayce arenât meant to be the direct embodiment of Silco and Vanderâs dynamic, much like Jinx and Vi, and thatâs why we donât get to see it. Guess the writers where afraid of repeating themselves too much (says sarcastically)
3. The parabole of forgiveness. Silco was a good person before the betrayal, a pretty chill dude and he could have stayed a chill dude if heâd just chosen to forgive! You get it? Systemic injustice, police brutality, the negligence and indifference of a corrupt government, the consequences of terrorism, none of that matters every character should have just forgiven each other guys and every problem would solve itself!
Ahhhhhhhhhhh! I am so unreasonably angry about all this!
They turn every relationship in the show into a mirror of itself as this grand metaphor for âthe never ending cycle of violenceâ but itâs not! Itâs a damn dog chasing itâs tail! Itâs like they heard the praise over the parallels in season 1 and went âGreat! Now everything is a parallel! More praise please.â Entirely missing the fucking point!!! They didnât get praised for being self referential but because the parallels were well done, contextualized and narratively justified. Which is what we lose in season 2.
None of that is bad, on the contrary, but it feels so hella contrived because itâs spottily executed and contradicts itself! They flipped it, reducing the story in service of decisions that feel arbitrary instead of allowing context to organically build the story.
Anyway Iâm sorry, I feel like Iâm becoming less and less coherent, Iâm done with the angry rant I promise.
In truth I donât know that Iâll ever stop grieving over the wasted potential with this story because I love it so much.
And to conclude on a more positive note I want to really stress my love and gratitude for the incredible work of art the is Arcane.
Even with everything one could complain about I still believe Arcane is a nearly perfect show. I love every character, itâs visual style is mind blowing, and the voice acting and soundtrack will forever live rent free in my head. I am still in disbelief that this story has inspired me so much that it has pushed me to actually start writing myself and even posting online which had always terrified me. We need more content like this to inspire us to be creative and bring us together.
Thank you Arcane! I desperately miss you, I love you and I will never forgive youâ¤ď¸â¤ď¸â¤ď¸
