#mic does analysis

[thewistlingbadger]

It's kind of crazy how the writers of Arcane literally forgot what happened in their own show/didn't know what happened in their own show. There are several examples of this, especially in season two, but right now I'm thinking about Jinx and Silco. Their relationship is often written off as "Silco was a monster who corrupted and groomed Jinx to be a weapon...but he also loved her," by a majority of the fans and even the writers. It's so easy to take a glance at their relationship and deep it as evil and wicked because it's a relationship between both of the villains in the show and it's not a healthy one. But if you dare to look beyond the surface, you will find that so much of their care and value for one another was sewn into the fabric of not only their scenes together, but in the characters themselves.

I think people genuinely forget that Silco raised Jinx. He took in a little girl and raised her. We never get to see all the moments of tenderness and silliness and fondness. Unfortunately, we only ever see the change between Jinx from act 1 to act 2 in season one and her reintroduction is meant to horrify us. The relationship between Jinx and Silco, arguably, is meant to make us feel uncomfortable. But even though we didn't get to see the formation of their bond, it is so evident in everything they do. Every single decision Silco makes post act 1 is with Jinx in mind. Jinx, in a way, looks up to Silco. To some degree she admires him, to the point where if you watch her animations closely you'll see she mimics certain movements and body languages that we only ever see from Silco. That's what I mean by their love is in the fucking fabric of everything regarding them. Yes, a lot of key parts of their relationship is given to us explicitly in season one but there's also so much of it that is buried in the subtext, in the writing choices, in the animation.

[thewistlingbadger]

The amount of sympathy Syril is getting is shocking to me. It seems like the majority of fans were of the belief that he was gonna flip sides and become a rebel. To me it was very obvious that Syril is an empire loyalist. He's someone who staunchly believes that the empire is good, and that's been a major trait of his character since he was introduced. He thinks the empire is a great thing and he wants to feel like he plays a significant role in the empire. He takes his bullshit jobs way too seriously because he's looking for power and respect. He demands that he be treated more important than he actually is. This is the guy that stalked Dedra because he was in awe at her power and wanted her to listen to him. This is the guy who went against his boss's orders and had his own men killed on a rogue mission just so he could feel like he did something. This is the same guy who dedicated he personally had to solve the Andor case and follow up on it even though he no longer had the authority to. This is the guy who LITERALLY SAID the best day of his life was the day he infiltrated a rebel group and became a permanent mole for the empire. This guy was NEVER going to be turned. He is the prime example of how ordinary people protect a harmful system because they believe it to be right and because that system offers them some benefit. Even though Syril got rejected time and time again he still believed in the empire because the opportunity for success was always available, an ever open door that would allow Syril to actually become someone. Syril dies the death he deserves. He's unceremoniously murdered in an event so chaotic that his death is nothing more than another one to add to the already high death toll. No one witnesses his death, no one calls out his name in a panic, nothing. He dies quickly and alone.

Syril was never a hero, he was never a rebel. He was an imperial bootlicker and generally a slime of a human being.

[thewistlingbadger]

Jinx did not purposefully kill Silco, Jinx did not "choose Vi over Silco", Jinx did not kill Silco to protect Vi, and Jinx did not kill Silco out of love for Vi.

Jinx only kills Silco out of instinct. This is demonstrated time and time again with the crows. Jinx is heavily associated with crows in arcane. Yes they're a symbol for death and the macabre but they also serve a narrative and character purpose.

Crows show up whenever Jinx is about to fly off the handle. They show up when she tries to beat Vi's score, they show up when the firelights interrupt her reunion, and they show up on the night she kills Silco. Crows are used to show us when something really fucking bad is about to happen to Jinx.

They also show us something very INTEGRAL to her character: she is willing to kill anything that so much as moves, even when she knows it's not a threat. Jinx is initially startled by a crow when she goes to the place she and her family used to hang out. She pulls out her gun, realizes it's just a bird (not a threat), and shoots it anyway. This is REALLY important and is hinting at the finale.

Jinx is someone who lives in a very dangerous and hostile environment. She's been exposed to violence all her life, and there's many things to be afraid (many things she IS afraid of) in Zaun. It's instinct to protect herself because everyone hates her and is out to get her.

In the finale, Jinx PURPOSELY and INTENTIONALLY puts her ONLY WEAPON IN FRONT OF SILCO when threatened by Caitlyn. Why? Because she knows Silco will protect her. She knows that if shit hits the fan, if push comes to shove, if she is somehow put in a position where she cannot defend herself, Silco will defend her. Always. If she was afraid of Silco or what he might do or if she was afraid for Vi's safety, she would have NOT put the gun in his reach. She KNOWS he's anti-vi, she KNOWS he doesn't like her, he is literally arguing against her in this scene. She also knows that Silco has no limits, no line unwilling to cross. Silco would EASILY and perhaps happily kill Vi if given the chance. But she puts the gun in front of him because she trusts him and knows he'd do anything for her.

And ultimately, he DOES die defending her. Vi trying to call members of the past actively and explicitly puts Jinx in a place of pain and hurt. She is actively damaging her sister and making her the most unstable we've ever seen this. VI doesn't know she's doing this because vi lives in the past and the past has always been her refuge. But the past has always been jinx's nightmare and personal hell. Silco knows this because HE was there. He was there for every meltdown and mental breakdown, he knows her and knows what she's like, which is WHY he does everything in his power to get her to stop. The amount of violence and aggression he enters just to get Vi to stop is actually insane. We have NEVER seen him act this way. He's yelling at the top of his lungs and THRASHING IN HIS CHAIR to get her to stop, because he knows A. This is hurting Jinx and B. No good will come from this. He tells her to shut up, physically tries to get her to stop, and then he notices the gun (notice how is initial reaction wasn't to just kill her? Notice how he tried other methods before physical and actual violence?). He grabs the gun, point the gun at Vi, and press the trigger. But the bullets don't come out, the safety pin activates.

Jinx hears the pin. This is the only thing that manages to pull her out of her meltdown: the threat of violence. She's not in a place to process or analyze the situation. Upon instinct, she opens fire on everyone within the room, firing at random. Her only intention to put down the threat of violence. Both Vi and Silco's chair have bullet holes, showing that this is the case.

It takes her a while to calm down but once she does, she realizes what she's actually done. She realizes the threat was no threat at all.

[thewistlingbadger]

Something very joyous about Jinx's self expression and Silco. Silco is a very controlling and cold man in a sense. He's not someone with a good reputation both IRL and in the show. His appearance is always ridiculously neat and fancy. Not an inch of skin is revealed and he always looks his best. One would think that under his care Jinx would be forced to present herself in a similar fashion but it's the exact opposite. Jinx is running around the undercity, committing crimes in Silco's name, in a crop top that doesn't even count as a crop top, a pair of overalls that are ripped and halfway down, and a pair of years worn boots. She has fucking tattoos along the side of her body, huge tattoos. Her nails are painted miss-matched colors. Her hair is at such a ridiculous length it would be considered unmanageable AND she has literal bullet casings in her hair.

Arguably NOTHING is serious about Jinx's outfit. She has the hair of a child and the makeup of an adult. Instead of wearing practical clothes that would cover herself against harm and the elements she opted for arm warmers. She has a fucking choker on. The more I look at her the less serious she becomes and the more hysterical it is that this man raised this girl. This man who's so obsessed with perception and looking good doesn't care at all about the amount of skin Jinx reveals or the paper-thinness of her pants or the floppyness of her boots. Not only does Silco have absolutely zero qualms about the way Jinx dresses, he also supports her style. He's the one that bought her those clothes and braided her hair. The gloves she wears were once his. And this could be interpreted in several ways. Maybe Silco genuinely does not give a shit it's her life she can do what she wants. Maybe Silco is understanding because he knows he used to dress similarly to her. Maybe Silco is encouraging of Jinx finding her style because it took him a long time to find his. It's just so fascinating to me because both of their styles are very different but they both get along very well and have no issue with each other's fashion. Additionally Jinx's adult outfit is very different from how she dressed as a child so that's interesting too.

[thewistlingbadger]

There was one line in early season two that struck such a cord in me that it immediately made me reconsider one specific character to the point where I went from not really caring about their character to them becoming one of my all time favorite characters of arcane.

"I never asked for this!" - Jayce Talis

This line took me aback the moment I heard it. It comes from such a complete moment of vulnerability and pain for Jayce, and what really captivates me is the truth behind the line. How accurate it is. Jayce didn't ask to be a little boy stuck in the freezing snow, watching his mother die, pleading to no one is a desert, being saved by magic of all things. He didn't ask to be left with that memory, he didn't ask to be stuck with an impossible dream that made everyone, even his own mother who witnessed that same event, in his life doubt and overlook him. He didn't ask for his apartment to be robbed, his illegal studies to be discovered. He didn't ask to be jailed then berated at trial, to be threatened with exile, to hear his own mother slander him in front of everyone, to be pushed to suicide, to be stopped by a stranger. He didn't ask for the overbearing responsibilities that came with his success, he didn't ask to see his partner dying with each day, he didn't ask to be made into a political pawn. He didn't ask to be made the deciding factor between peace and war, to witness death and violence first hand, to know that guilt firsthand.

And these are all just things that happen in SEASON ONE! This isn't even accounting for all the shit that occurs in season two! This line instantly won me over because it IS true he didn't ask for ANY of this shit! All Jayce Talis wanted was to prove that his dream was possible, and then use his dream to make the world a better place. You want to talk about noble intentions? Look no further than Jayce motherfucking Talis. And the only thing Jayce recieves for his troubles is more trauma and more guilt. He never gets a moment to actually process everything he's going through and having to deal with and witness. And the worst part? 80% of the things that are making his life worse are things he himself isn't responsible for. 8/10 times Jayce Talis is a victim of circumstance.

[thewistlingbadger]

I hate the argument that Silco always viewed Jinx as a weapon because it makes no sense. The concept lacks logic. And I've made a post about this before but I gotta say it again bc it pmo.

Firstly, if you think Silco viewed Jinx as a weapon, you must first ask yourself why? Why would Silco perceive her in that way? And you could have a couple of responses to that question:

A. Because of her ability to make weapons like bombs and guns

B. Because of her skills with a gun

C. Because of her emotional instability

Regardless of whichever is your answer, you must consider this thing first: Jinx is a child when she first meets Silco. This means that she doesn't yet have the ability to make guns or bombs.

"But what about the monkey bomb," you might ask? Well, we all know that the only reason that the monkey bomb is successful is because of the ammo it uses: the hex crystals, a magical, unstable crystal of great power. One crystal alone falling off a table was enough to make part of an entire building blow up. Jinx used at least 3 crystals to power the monkey bomb. So the bomb itself is not the reason the bomb works, the crystals are what makes the bomb work. And everyone seems to be aware of this, hence Jinx and Silco's reactions to the hex gems years later. Jinx is able to make effective weapons in the future not because she's always had the talent, but because she grew her skillset and kept refining her process.

At the time of meeting Jinx, Silco had no reason to believe that she was capable or talented at building weapons of mass destruction, and her ability to do so wouldn't come for years later. So at the time of meeting Jinx, there was no reason for him to view her as a weapon he could use and mold.

As for her guns? Jinx doesn't make or use any of her own guns as a child, so this is not a skill she could have displayed or a skill Silco could have witnessed when he first met her. Her ability to use a toy gun at a game doesn't mean she's gonna be the greatest marksman with a real gun. Again, this is a skill she developed with time and again, this is a skill Silco couldn't have possibly known about upon meeting Jinx. ADDITIONALLY, in the future, no one even uses Jinx's guns OR bombs besides herself. So she is not supplying or creating weapons for Silco and his crew.

So now we're down to C, her emotional instability. Jinx's emotional instability can be a great asset as it makes her threatening, menacing, and unpredictable to her enemies. But it also does the same for her allies. This character trait of hers is uncontrollable, and without control weaponizing jinx's emotional instability is ineffective.

So there is no genuine reason for Silco to have always thought of Jinx as a weapon, when half of the things she's known for she either couldn't do at the time of meeting Silco or Silco didn't know about any of those skills until years after knowing her.

But let's say you're not convinced, let's say that you believe that even if Jinx did not have any skills that Silco could have known at the time of meeting her that were obvious that she could one day be a weapon, he manages to see her as one later on. By believing this you admit that it is impossible for Silco to have always seen Jinx as a weapon, because he had no reason to view her in this way upon meeting her due to reasons I've already discussed. Which then begs the question: If Silco did not see the intrinsic value of Jinx upon first meeting her, why did he keep her around?

Silco, very clearly, does not care about his employees. He, at times, manipulates them to do what he wants, he puts them in danger, he is physically violent with them, and he does not care for the most part whether they live or die. The only two employees that he gives the slightest shit about are Sevika and Jinx. I say this to say that Silco's employees are clearly no one special, they are easily replaceable, he is not hand selecting them (at least not later on), they are just normal shmucks he takes advantage of. It would be out of character for him to not only take in a child, but dedicate years of effort into grooming her into being "the perfect weapon" when he A. Has no idea she has skills worth weaponizing and B. Does not typically go out of his way to condition his employees into working for him and being his pawns. This decision is seeming for trouble than it's worth, more risky than the potential reward could ever justify.

Additionally, Jinx has been a major fuck up her entire life, both before, during, and after meeting and knowing Silco. As a person, she's known for being unpredictable and unstable. As an employee she's known for being unreliable. As an enemy she's known for being a loose canon. She has fucked up tons of times while on the clock for Silco. If she's supposed to be his weapon, she's ineffective as fuck because she isn't reliable. Not only that, but her unpredictability makes her a threat to the rest of his employees, the ones that actually do their jobs. So even if Silco decided to groom her into being a weapon, it doesn't make sense for him to keep her around once she's an established fuck up who can't be controlled and can do serious damage.

So just to summarize: you can either think Silco always saw Jinx as a weapon or you can think that he later saw her as a weapon/developed her into being one. It doesn't make sense for Silco to have always seen her as a weapon when he didn't know she possessed skills that could be weaponized upon meeting her. It doesn't make sense for Silco to view her as a weapon later down the line either because she becomes so unhinged and uncontrollable she cannot function effectively as a weapon. On her best days, she's a fuck up who gets the job done anyways and on her worst days she's costing Silco things that never should have been lost in the first place. If Silco was grooming Jinx to become a weapon, not only did he fail due to what I just spoke about, he was always taking a major risk considering Jinx's skills as a weapons maker and a marksman were underdeveloped and would take YEARS of refining to get to the skill level we see in the show. Ultimately this risk isn't one that he needed to take, and Silco does not have a history or past of hand selecting and grooming Jinx in the way that's being alleged, so this doesn't make much sense either.

TDLR no matter which way you argue it it truly doesn't make much logical sense for Silco to see Jinx as a weapon

[thewistlingbadger]

Analyzing Viktor's eyes:

We've talked about how Jayce is never repulsed or afraid of the major changes to Viktor's body and accepts him instantly whenever he sees something that should not be the way it is when it comes to Viktor's body. What we have YET to talk about is just how Jayce doesn't turn away from Viktor's purple and metal body, he does not turn away from Viktor's steel and muted eyes and I think this is VERY IMPORTANT.

Because in season two Viktor's eyes are somewhat symbolic of his humanity. Viktor's eyes are naturally yellow and are one of the most distinctive elements to his design but after his transfusion with the hexcore they become this empty gray that sometimes changes color. It looks very weird and inhuman and nothing like Viktor. The only time we see Viktor's natural eyes in season two is in the astral plane, where he also maintains his season one hairstyle and features and build. However once Viktor goes full machine herald his eyes are completely gone. His face is split in half and the eyes of his mask contain no pupil or iris. It is only two glowing slits of yellow, both in the astral plane and in the actual world (although in the actual world Viktor's "eyes" actually take on a spherical shape but still it is literally just two glowing spheres of yellow). ADDITIONALLY even though is face is split we can still see it under the mask and we see his eyes are CLOSED. As if he is closed off from his humanity after fully becoming the machine herald or just refuses to look at it or the consequences of his actions.

It is JAYCE who's responsible for the return of Viktor's natural eye color once Viktor has become the machine herald. Viktor's machine herald mask in the astral plane BREAKS because Ekko throws the z drive directly at Viktor's face. We're able to see half of Viktor's real face and half of his mask when Jayce reveals that Viktor was the mage all along. The mask does not fully come off until AFTER Jayce hugs Viktor in the astral plane and Viktor pulls away from the hug. Jayce's hug is why we're now able to see both of Viktor's eyes.

This whole journey with Viktor's eyes and the relationship between him and Jayce is very fascinating to me for several reasons:

Jayce took away Viktor's humanity by fusing the hexcore to him. But Jayce is also the same person that made Viktor realize that humanity was beautiful because of its flaws. He is the one that made Viktor human again, literally. Jayce is the reason why Viktor's eyes change color in the first place AND he is also the one that is responsible for them returning to their original color.

Jayce and Viktor spend a lot of time looking at each other throughout the show but ESPECIALLY in season two. The first thing Jayce does when he's actually reunited with Viktor after their initial separation and Jayce's trip to the bad au is STARE AT VIKTOR. Viktor looks so different and is floating in the air and all Jayce could do was stare at him. The next time they meet after this, Viktor tries to hold Jayce's eye contact in the astral plane but Jayce isn't in the astral plane with him. So instead of seeing Viktor's eyes Jayce just sees the cold face of someone Viktor turned into a machine. Jayce looks Viktor in the eye almost the entirety of their finale in the astral plane. The last thing Jayce and Viktor ever do in the show is look at each other AND they spend their final moments in the show facing each other but WITH THEIR EYES CLOSED!

Eye contact is very important to humans. Eyes in general are just really important to humans. Not only for the practical reason, to see things, but also on an emotional and spiritual level. "The eyes are the window to the soul." You can tell a lot about someone by the way their eyes look and how they look when they look at things. The pupils of our eyes grow and shrink based off what we're looking at and sometimes that dilation is in accordance to how much we like something. You can see in the finale that Jayce and Viktor's pupils are practically blown out they're so big. You can communicate a lot just by using your eyes, without ever saying a single word.

Jayce is never really aghast by Viktor's body no matter how horrific it looks because Jayce cares about Viktor. When he sees him on the brink of death in the council room and sees how his leg is glowing purple, his first thought isn't "what the fuck is wrong with Viktor's leg." His first thought is "I have to save Viktor from dying." When Jayce actually got Viktor to the lab and saw the entity of Viktor's body he wasn't thinking about how inhumane and wrong it looked. He was only thinking about how the hexcore better be able to fix Viktor. When Viktor is stable but unresponsive for several days after the transfusion, Jayce isn't thinking about Viktor's notes on his self experimentation or how Viktor's body had several runes carved into it. He was thinking about whether or not Viktor was okay. Whether or not Viktor was going to ever wake up. When Viktor DOES wake up and is entirely purple and shiny and able to walk without a mobility aid and stand up straight without a brace, his first thought is "what the fuck happened to me and to my body? What have I become am I still human what am I?" And Jayce's first thought to seeing a Viktor of purple, metallic flesh is "holy shit, it worked. It worked, Viktor is alive and awake and back." Towards the end of the show when Jayce sees the machine herald for the first time, he isn't terrified by the fact that Viktor is extremely tall and other worldly looking. He isn't disgusted by Viktor's third arm or distorted voice or lack of a face or his unnaturally slim waist. He doesn't even look phased or bothered at all. Instead, one of the first things he says upon seeing the machine herald is "there must be some part of you that's still in there." After this interaction, after Viktor and him fight and it seems like Viktor is going to take his life away from Jayce, Jayce STILL is adamant on the idea that Viktor, his friend, his partner of several years, is still alive. Jayce fully believes that Viktor is still within the machine herald and he has so much faith that he risks his own life and the lives of everyone else on his belief. As Viktor actually begins to turn Jayce into a machine, Jayce spends his last words telling Viktor about how his humanity is beautiful and how he still believes in Viktor. Jayce's wholehearted care for Viktor is what ends up saving everyone! Jayce sees Viktor's body go through horrific transformations throughout the season and it doesn't impact the way he views Viktor in the slightest. He saw the way Viktor's body looked and never asked a single question about it and never asked questions about Viktor's notes on self experimentation. So of course he's not phased by Viktor's eyes being a different color. Jayce is able to see Viktor's humanity even when Viktor doesn't look or act like a human.

But arguably the reason why I find this so fascinating, why I'm so intrigued that Jayce has no concern for the fact that Viktor's eyes are no longer yellow is because Viktor's eyes are arguably Viktor's most important feature TO JAYCE. Viktor's eyes and their color and their intensity is something that Jayce canonically has taken notice of and has found importance in. In the finale montage, we see a shot of Viktor from Jayce's perspective on the night they met. The shot is the exact shot used in the beginning of the show. When you compare the two shots, the one from act 1 s1 and the one from act 3 S2, they are IDENTICAL WITH ONLY ONE MAJOR EXCEPTION. VIKTOR'S EYES. Viktor's eyes in the shot used in the finale are MORE yellow, MORE intense, and more distinct than they were in the original shot at the start of the show. This shot is from Jayce's perspective, so it's showing us how Jayce perceived and remembered Viktor to be. This detail is the reason I even wanted to write this post. Viktor's eyes are clearly an aspect that Jayce pays attention to and yet he didn't utter a single word when he saw that they were completely different.

[thewistlingbadger]

I'm going to be honest: I think one of the ways you fix season 2 is by getting rid of Warwick

Act 2 was more or less entirely dedicated to Warwick, a new character who really isn't that new bc he's actually Vander from s1. Despite the fact that he plays a heavy role in the act, his character isn't explored at all. Warwick is used in act 2 for the main purpose of reuniting Jinx and Vi. The sisters end up basically ignoring all their problems and differences and become family again solely due to Warwick's presence. If you get rid of Warwick, then the sisters don't reunite. They either stay on opposing sides or they end up reconciling later in the show, most likely due to them developing some sort of understanding for the other and by actually exploring their baggage.

Warwick is tied to Singed in this season, and through him and Viktor he's tied to Ambessa. Half of the plot in act 2 is Ambessa trying to find Warwick by using Singed to turn Warwick into the ultimate weapon. This part of the show was kinda weird and it definitely took away from the plot. If you get rid of Warwick you can actually focus on ambessa and her motives, or on ambessa and Caitlyn since their relationship is established but not developed.

The sisters end up bringing Warwick to Viktor's commune, which is how Viktor gets reintroduced to the story after not being seen for several episodes. Viktor decides to attempt to heal Warwick, but it isn't said why. We learn that Viktor's powers are suffering and that the commune isn't all that it seems, but we never get to learn anything further bc this segment isn't focused on Viktor- it's focused on Warwick. If you get rid of Warwick, you could actually focus on Viktor, his powers, his commune, his relationship with sky and the hexcore, and his motives.

At the start of act 2, we see that Vi is in a really bad place. She's fighting a lot, getting wasted, and isn't taking care of herself. We see that she has a friendship with Loris as well. However, we're not able to explore Vi's friendship or her current situation or her character bc shortly after Jinx asks Vi to help her with Warwick. If Warwick is gone then you can actually focus on Vi as a character and unpack all the shit the show has built up.

At the start of act 2, we see there's a lot of unrest in zaun. We see zaunites starting to band together and view Jinx as a symbol. This is a really cool concept that isn't explored because instead of Jinx spending the act with other zaunites, she spends it with Warwick. If Warwick is gone then we could actually explore the current politics between zaun and piltover and the effects they have.

It really doesn't make sense to have Warwick be the center of the act when he's not a main character. Hell, he isn't a character at all. He's a plot device. Literally almost everything that happens in act 2 is somehow related to him, yet he has no arch in the season. Everything he does just adds to the plot, not to the value of the story. We end up getting the most random piece of lore dropped in the middle of the season because of him. Lore that literally wasn't relevant at all to what was going on in the show and was never brought up again. I understand that season 1 hinted at Warwick being Vander but if it were up to me I'd be prioritizing the other, much more important shit that s1 set up. Not fucking Warwick. Especially since he's just Vander, an excellent character that we were done with at the start of the first season. There's no reason for him to be back. Since act two is so centered on him, the other acts had to condense and become jammed packed full of shit. But if you get rid of Warwick, you give the story space to breathe. You could have things stretched out longer and in more detail because now you have the time to! You can go into the gray and Caitlyn's dictator arc in detail because now you don't have to worry about wrapping it up before Warwick shows up.

Warwick was literally so big in the show that he took away time and development from literally every character, but especially mel, jayce, ekko, heimerdinger, and Viktor, who were rarely seen this season despite being key players from season 1. If Warwick was gone, you could actually show what happened to ekko, Jayce, and heimerdinger before act 3. You could give ekko some much needed depth and screen time. You could actually explain the black rose, which is never explained throughout the entirety of the show. You could have had Ambessa's backstory be in the show and not its own separate music video. You could have showed Mel more. If Warwick was gone, you could actually explore the characters of Caitlyn and Vi and their relationship. You could explore Sevika's character, who got pushed to the side despite her promising start. You could explore Isha as a character. You could explore lest as a character, who was introduced and then completely forgotten. You could have expanded on the chem barons instead of glossing over them.

In general, if Warwick isn't around you just have more time to do more shit. Like holy shit this is actually crazy.