Arcane Season Two, Episode Eight, Killing Is a Cycle Review: In a Prison Cell?

The penultimate episode of Arcane, “Killing Is a Cycle” begins by continuing Mel’s storyline from the fantastic Episode Five.
After exposing the Black Rose’s disguise of her brother, she is chained up, only to escape using her mysterious power, which reveals her as a mage.
It turns out her captor referring to her as “sister” was meant in terms of a sisterhood, rather than a familial sense.
This captor, a sorceress in her own right, attempts to convince Mel to join her, tasking her with stopping her mother.
Kind of unnecessary, considering Mel was planning on doing that anyway, but her magical powers certainly make that task easier.
Unfortunately, this is all we really get in regards to the Black Rose.
The identity of the sorceress is never revealed, and neither is the overall goal of her and the Black Rose.
It feels like the storyline in Season Two was mainly buildup for another show set in the Arcane universe.
Don’t get me wrong, I would certainly watch such a show, given how great Arcane is, but I would have liked a little more answers.
My only other option is to either wait years for the explanation or look up the League lore.
Following the intro, we fittingly cut from Mel to Ambessa, who has given Singed the task of reviving Viktor.
He succeeds and, like Episode Six showed, Viktor’s mindset has changed to wanting to evolve others beyond humanity in what he calls, “the glorious evolution.”
Ambessa makes a deal to get him to the Hexgates if he will empower her own soldiers.
I have heard some argue that Ambessa’s decision to help Viktor does not make sense, what with how obviously shady and powerful he is, but I guess it just goes to show how desperate she is to find a way to defeat the Black Rose.
Meanwhile, Vi awakens in Piltover to learn that Jinx has been imprisoned.
She and Caitlyn get into an argument about it, with Vi stating, “You can’t trust her enough not to shove her in a box.”
Well, it’s kind of hard to trust someone when they kill your mother, Vi.
I’m surprised Caitlyn didn’t bring that up, to be honest.
She does reveal that Jinx surrendered on her own, though, and Vi’s pleas do convince her to talk to Jinx.
Traveling to the bunker cells below, Caitlyn meets with Jinx, who is understandably in a pretty bad state after Isha’s tragic death in Episode Six.
Her braids are undone, she is not eating, and she is self-harming.
She ends the conversation by admitting she did not know Caitlyn’s mother was there when she fired the rocket, not that it would have made a difference.
Seeing Jinx in this state ultimately convinces Caitlyn to give Vi the chance to free her.
Before that, however, Jinx hallucinates Silco, seeing his scarred eye as a Hex Crystal.
Silco talks about the cycle of killing stating, “Jinx, I think the cycle only ends when you find the will to walk away.”
This line has multiple implications, both disturbing and hopeful, as shown in the next episode.
For now, it is at this moment when Vi shows up to free Jinx, only for her to lock Vi in the cell to stop her from following.
Jinx tragically declares there is no good version of her, which we know is not true.
Not only did we see a good alternate version of her in the last episode but Jinx herself has also done plenty of good as well as bad.
She gave Isha a family and inspired countless Zaunites.
After Jinx’s departure, Caitlyn comes to free Vi and reveals her part in allowing Vi to free her sister.
Vi throws herself at Caitlyn and what follows is a pretty explicit sex scene, which I found kind of funny because of how much the shippers were demanding one.
The writers certainly knew how to play with their feelings.
First, they had the two kiss and then immediately break up in Episode Three.
Second, they had Caitlyn rebound with a barely established character, crushing the shippers’ spirits.
Now, they rebuild those spirits with this sex scene in a dank prison cell.
That being said, the scene has also received some criticism, as a few viewers have said Vi should be rushing to stop Jinx’s suicide attempt, not have sex with Caitlyn in the exact same prison cell.
However, to be fair to Vi, I think her statement of, “I really believed she’d help” makes it pretty clear she did not think her sister planned to kill herself.
If she did know this, she would have run to save her the moment Caitlyn freed her.
Vi and Caitlyn’s storyline this episode ends with their intimate moment, but they are not the only couple featured in “Killing Is a Cycle” because we earlier see Jayce and Mel reunite.
Both have been through a lot and their relationship is clearly strained, with Jayce realizing it was Mel’s mage powers which saved them from Jinx’s attack.
Any separation or reconciliation between them is halted with the arrival of Viktor, using a transformed Huck’s body as an avatar.
He tries to convince Jayce to let him reach the Hexgates peacefully, but Jayce has seen what will transpire if Viktor is allowed to do so.
A fight ensues, in which Viktor’s avatar is only defeated because he is distracted by something, which I think is Ekko returning from the alternate dimension.
Following their fight with Viktor, Jayce holds a meeting with the Piltovan and Zaunite leaders, including Sevika, to propose they join together to stop Viktor and Ambessa.
It is here where my big issue with Act Three comes into play.
While Sevika and some of the Piltovan elites do not agree to join Jayce, many others do, and I don’t really think there was enough justification for this.
For starters, not only did none of the Piltovans see the fight with Viktor, but why are so many of them okay with fighting Noxus?
They were allies just a few episodes ago.
Yes, Caitlyn betrayed them, but she did that on her own.
I feel like the Piltovans either should have learned about Ambessa orchestrating the attack on the memorial, or we should have seen them also suffering under the Noxian martial law, maybe both.
As for the Zaunites, their reasoning for joining the fight also does not make much sense.
Piltover has been oppressing them for years so why do they suddenly believe them when they announce the threat Viktor poses?
If I were them, I would assume this was a ploy to arrest more Zaunites and put them in Stillwater.
Again, this could have been explained away if the Zaunites saw the threat of Viktor’s glorious evolution.
His sanctuary was in Zaun so maybe a few residents could be attacked by his avatars, which proves to the Zaunites that they need to help.
I think Act Three really needed more scenes to help explain these things and, unfortunately, this issue does persist into the final episode.
Going back to Episode Eight, though, its final scene sees Mel visiting her mother in a final attempt to convince her to back off.
Ambessa’s resolve is firm, however, for Viktor has already created his army of metal avatars.
We see this process in a flashback, where Viktor doing so results in the sacrifice of Sky.
Was she real, a hallucination, or a facade created by the Hexcore to manipulate Viktor?
I still have no idea.
Whatever the answer is, Sky as a character felt pretty underdeveloped.
Using Warwick, Singed fully revives Viktor, resulting in the tragic erasure of all his memories, killing Vander forever.
The episode then ends with Viktor fully transforming inside his cocoon, his face splitting open to reveal an ominous, shadowed face, revealing the big threat for the final episode.
Overall, I would still say “Killing Is a Cycle” is a good episode, despite its issues.
It reconnects certain characters and sets up the main threat for the finale well.
I just wish there was more time to explore the wider Zaun and Piltover conflict, which was the main overall conflict for Season One.