Mugshots (Arcane S02 analysis on Jayce)
No, not the ones you're thinking of. I post this, cause I think it needs to be out there, but full credits to my GF who actually called out the significance of the symbolismn back while S01 was airing
Buckle up, this is gonna take a while
I think everyone remembers this shot from S01, it's the Progress Day episode
The symbolism at this point. Jayce being the front man. Jayve covering up Viktor. Viktor always the person in the background not seen by anyone else, cause Jayce is standing in front of him.
Now in S02, analyzing scene, seeing more, now that I know what to look out for. I found the mug again. Therefore have these mug shots:
In these still the mug reapears in Jayce's lab it's on the desk behind him where he sits and watches over Viktor. The entire scene it's never really about Jayce, but mostly concern about the city but more importanty also about Viktor's wellbeing. The entire time, we see the mug, but the motive is not visible. Also, Viktor is not in these shots. The motive is always on the backside, cause it's not Jayce that matters at the moment. Even for him, all that matters right now is Viktor. Jayce even gave up an being on the council just for him
Let's continue
This shot was very important to me as I was looking at it. Back then, very dominant and zoomed in, the mug covered Viktor up entirely.
Now we have Viktor in the center of the image. And a crushed Jayce right in front of him. The real Jayce in his emotional state and not the famous inventor Jayce doing great for Piltover. Without Viktor Jayce isn't complete. He is not the man he can be. A part of him is missing. So we only see half of the motive on the mug, cause Viktor is there, but not really.
NEXT!
The next scene we get to see the mug are right after Viktor comes back to the living. Jayce being happy to have him back, convinced they can go back to where they where, before he gave it all up and sacrificed this relationship for fame and the council. Telling Viktor about it in the happiest state we have seen him this far this season.
We get Viktors vision of the desk and his look on the blueprints, which immediately makes him think of Sky. So full motive Jayce, cause for the longest time Jayce feels complete again, but also oposite of it Sky, which makes this scene look like some sort of crossraods for Viktor imo. We know which path he chooses. He leaves Jayce and follows his own path
So now to the last mug shot. I am not really sure, nor 100% convinced about my thoughts on that. But so far I think it show us that Jayce is recovering. He goes back to his roots. He prepares tea, after Heimerdinger and Ekko sneaked into his lab, but this time it's not just Jayce. It is Jayce without Viktor yes. But it's Jayce doing Hextec stuff with others. Making room for other personalities and not just him. His "him" back then only existed with Viktor, but Viktor not visible. This new Jayce, finds himself again where he started and allows room for others to stand with him. Truly together
thanks and shoutout to my beloved gf, who showed me the significance of the mug in the first place and got me into the heaviest brainrot this year :3
