Arcane Season Two, Episode Seven, Pretend Like It’s the First Time Review: The Boy Saviour Who Leapt Through Time.

Although I have been enjoying Season Two of Arcane, I will admit that it is not without its issues.
One of the bigger issues I have had is the way some characters have been used, primarily Ekko.
Going into the season, he was one of the characters I was most excited to see.
Unfortunately, he was only in a couple of scenes in Act One, before disappearing for the entirety of Act Two.
I knew he would be back for Act Three, given that there was trailer footage of him we had not seen yet, but I was afraid he would not have enough time to shine.
Well, Episode Seven, “Pretend It’s Like the First Time” proves me wrong by gifting us with an entire episode focusing on him, Jayce and Heimerdinger, explaining what happened to them after they were abducted by the Wild Rune.
“Pretend Like It’s the First Time” begins as all Arcane episodes do, with a record that has “A Netflix Series” written on it being played.
However, this time, it is different.
Rather than showing Vi and Jinx on the record, it instead shows Ekko and Powder, foreshadowing the events of the episode.
It is revealed that, following his experience with the Wild Rune, Ekko was transported to an alternate universe where things have mostly turned out well for everyone.
This becomes apparent very quickly with the arrival of Powder who appears less pale and skinny than the one we know.
The contrast is immediately made apparent because, when Powder first speaks, we see Jinx’s reflection in the glass she is standing beside.
This is not only a wonderful piece of animation, but it also does a great job showing off Ekko’s mentality.
There was a lot of bad blood between him and his universe’s Powder, so it makes sense he would instantly see her as a threat, despite appearing different.
It is only the arrival of Benzo that snaps Ekko completely out of fight or flight mode, making for quite the emotional moment when he is reunited with his father figure.
He is even reunited with Vander, Mylo and Claggor.
Those last two I was especially surprised to see alive, and this episode makes their deaths even more tragic because it reveals that if they had survived, they could have helped purify Zaun’s air.
Ekko is clearly suffering from the effects of travelling dimensions but thankfully Heimerdinger appears to help him out, having arrived in the dimension much earlier.
Sadly for Ekko, Hextech was not created in this world, meaning there is no way home for them.
The reason for this become tragically apparent when Powder asks Ekko if he wants to visit Vi.
Instead of taking him to meet an alternate version of her sister, Powder takes Ekko to her memorial.
In this dimension, when Jayce’s workshop blew up, the explosion killed Vi, most likely convincing Piltover’s elites not to get involved with Hextech.
This also somehow appears to have led to peace between Piltover and Zaun, although I’m not quite sure how that happened.
Ekko’s knowledge about the workshop explosion does allow him to retrieve fragments of the Hex Crystals though, meaning that he can use them to potentially find a way home.
Heimerdinger agrees to help him, acknowledging he feels guilt for forsaking Jayce at the beginning of the story.
In the meantime, Ekko seeks to make amends with this universe’s Powder, creating a mural for Vi just like he did all of his fallen friends from his universe.
He paints Vi as he knew her, unknowingly gifting Powder with what her sister would have looked like today had she lived.
Through this, we can see how Vi’s death shaped Powder.
Rather than use her genius like Jinx does in Ekko’s universe, she instead focuses on living a normal life, no doubt feeling guilt for the explosion which killed Vi.
So, despite things being mostly better for everyone in this universe, there is still inescapable tragedy through Vi’s death and its effect on Powder.
Ekko strives to help Powder move forward, and the two of them work with Heimerdinger to eventually making their own miniature Wild Rune.
This results in Ekko creating a time loop, from which he can go four seconds back in time.
To go any further back could prove disastrous, as proved by Heimerdinger exploding, which Ekko quickly resets.
For a moment, I was afraid Powder would want to go back to save Vi, driving her down the path of Jinx in a different way, but the story thankfully did not go that direction.
Knowing that this will most likely be his last night in this reality, Ekko tells Benzo how much he means to him at the party.
He also sees that Silco made up with Vander in this universe, meaning he found the letter Vander left for him.
Ekko mentions Vander trying to kill Silco, but he responds, “Greatest thing we can do in life is find the power to forgive.”
While it is great to see Silco again, and his words do hold weight, this moment did make me wonder how exactly Ekko knew about Vander’s attempt to kill Silco?
As far as we know, he was never told this.
That is only a minor issue though.
It is not long before Powder arrives at the party, and the shot of her boots is exactly the same as Jinx’s entrance in Episode Four of Season One.
She and Ekko dance in a moving, four frames per second sequence that really hits you in the feels when you think about how easily things could have been different.
After their dance, they meet in the same place Vi and Powder used to as kids.
Ekko tells her he “used to dream the Undercity could be like this. But somewhere, I got consumed by all the ways it wasn’t. I gave up on it. Gave up on you.”
This shows the impact Ekko’s brief time with Powder in this universe has had on him.
Going back, he will no longer give up on Jinx, which results in something big in the final episode.
Getting back to this episode, the tender scene between Ekko and Powder leads to a kiss, confirming the Timebomb ship.
To be honest, going into the episode, I was not sure how to feel about the ship.
I had heard rumors about it becoming canon, but I thought it would be difficult to pull off since Ekko and Jinx had a lot of bad blood between them.
That being said, the writers found the perfect way to pull it off by having Ekko connect with an alternate version of Jinx, which convinces him not to give up on the one from his reality.
Whether Ekko and Jinx become a couple in his universe, or this remains a tragic what could have been, their scenes together are beautiful.
Returning to Heimerdinger, the two prepare to travel back using Ekko’s Z-Drive, only for Heimerdinger to sacrifice himself to accomplish this.
Or, at least, it seems like he sacrifices himself.
He was either blasted out of existence or transported elsewhere.
It’s kind of hard to tell.
If Heimerdinger really is dead, though, I would say his death is kind of abrupt.
Still, it is not enough to take away from the emotion of Powder appearing and realizing Ekko was from another universe before he disappears.
For a moment, I was scared the writers were going to have her get hurt or killed but, thankfully, they seemed to realize there was enough tragedy with Episode Six.
Following Ekko’s departure, we see Powder for the last time, placing a trinket Ekko gifted her inside a cabinet, which also holds the Hextech Crystals, items which hold meaning to her but will never be used in her universe.
With that, the episode comes to an end, but it is not the only storyline this episode.
I have yet to mention Jayce’s arc, which sees him transported to a universe the complete opposite of the one Ekko and Heimerdinger were taken to.
Whereas they landed in a universe where there was peace between Piltover and Zaun, Jayce landed in a universe where both were destroyed because of Hextech.
Traveling through the ruins, we see him sustain injuries, and be brought to the edge of madness, before encountering the hooded mage who saved him and his mother at the beginning of the series.
Realizing the danger his creation holds, Jayce tells the mage to send him back to save his universe, swearing that he will not fail.
This makes Jayce’s brutal actions upon his return a lot more understandable, since he is literally trying to prevent the apocalypse.
His story this episode was a grim one, but it is balanced nicely with the mostly happy Ekko storyline, which sees him reconnect with Powder.
Overall, I would say that “Pretend Like It’s the First Time” is another fantastic Arcane episode.
Yes, I did think some things about the peaceful timeline could have been better explained and Heimerdinger’s death(?) felt a little abrupt, but it was still an emotionally moving episode which gave Ekko the screen time he sorely needed and deserved.
It is for these reasons that “Pretend Like It’s the First Time” is my favorite episode of Act Three, and probably my third favorite episode of the season.

Arcane Season Two, Episode Six, The Message Hidden Within the Pattern Review: The Final, Glorious Evolution.

After the greatness that was Episode Five, Episode Six of Arcane Season Two closes the second act with a bang, along with a whole lot of mysteries still unsolved.
“The Message Hidden Within the Pattern” begins, not with a music video scene, like every previous episode this season, but with a cold open depicting Viktor’s perspective on Jayce killing Salo.
We see that his power allows him to astrally project himself to see what those he has healed see.
Curiously, he comments, “That isn’t Jayce. But there is another will at work within him.”
What this means, I have no idea, but the questions we all have about him will hopefully be answered in Act Three.
We also see that Sky is still a part of Viktor and is helping him with studies of the Arcane.
I am still of the belief that she is actually the Hexcore attempting to influence him but, if so, that is also not revealed this episode.
The main plot instead focuses on Vi and Jinx trying to receive help from Viktor in curing Vander.
They arrive at his community, which has grown exponentially over the time-skip, and we see that multiple sick and injured people have traveled to be healed by “the Herald.”
Although, heal may not be the right word considering how creepy and cult-like Viktor’s followers are.
I mean, the metallic imprint of Viktor’s fingerprints are literally covering all of their faces, and Jayce did say in Act One that Wild Runes are the Arcane’s fingerprints.
Vi and Jinx do not know any of this though and, after a tense reunion with Huck, enter the community without their weapons.
Huck takes them to see Viktor, who has had quite the glow-up and also seems to live in a structure which looks suspiciously like a Wild Rune.
He attempts to heal Vander but is forced back by Warwick’s presence.
Still, Viktor does seem to have some effect on Vander because his fingerprint marks can be seen on his face, if slightly.
And, even if Viktor is being manipulated by the Hexcore in his body, he still clearly has good intentions about helping Vander, stating, “He is worth the risk.”
Jinx is also skeptical about Viktor, until he calls her Powder, proving his capabilities.
It is great to see Viktor finally meeting and interacting with the sisters, even if it is brief.
This scene also gives us a good look at how Vi and Jinx’s relationship is being mended, as Vi cares to ask her opinion, which shocks Jinx.
We next get a montage of Viktor trying to help Vander, journeying through his psyche, eventually resulting in seeing his memories through watercolor-like paintings.
The emotional sequence eventually transfers to Vi’s memories of those times, before transitioning to the present as Vi and Jinx hang around what little remains of their old house.
It is striking to see the change from Season One, where the area was dark and desolate but now, under Viktor’s guardianship, it has become green and plentiful.
Just as Vi suggests staying together to help the community out, the writers, of course, send a wave of misery towards them.
Singed has tracked Vander to the community and lead Caitlyn, Ambessa and her Noxian forces there.
Singed convinces Ambessa to let him speak with Viktor before marching in, most likely saving many lives, although this is certainly not why Singed suggested it.
No, he clearly has his own goals in mind, as he meets his former pupil for the first time since Season One.
It is revealed that Viktor’s condition is declining through every use of his power, making his attempts to save Vander even more noble.
Singed, naturally, attempts to twist this, telling Viktor he could stabilize himself if he took Vander’s healing abilities for himself.
Viktor is unwilling to do so, while also learning about Singed’s motivations, seeing a memory of Singed reading to his daughter when he touches him.
The story Singed is reading perfectly reflects his own dark turn and, depending on how Viktor’s story goes, could also reflect him.
After all, Viktor does say that evolution’s goal is to supersede nature.
“The final, glorious evolution,” he calls it, which is a line he has in League.
Viktor tells Singed to leave but receives a warning that if he dies, his community will also fall, a grim bit of foreshadowing for what is to come.
After Singed leaves, he is followed by Vi, who is quickly intercepted and taken down by Caitlyn, using a move Ambessa showed her earlier in the episode.
And, just like that, the writers have the excuse to tease the Cait and Vi shippers with all of the gooey stuff we saw of them in Season One.
Caitlyn tells Vi she looks like “an angry oil slick,” calling back to the oil and water speech Vi gave way back in Episode Eight, and Vi once again calls her cupcake.
It was this scene which made the whole bit where Caitlyn pretended to have captured Vi pretty obvious.
Although, I am not sure if the writers wanted us to buy into the idea of Caitlyn betraying Vi, or if it was supposed to be obvious that it was an act.
Either way, it fools Ambessa, giving Vi the chance to subdue her with Caitlyn’s electrified net.
Back in the community, we can see that Jinx is watching over Vander from afar, when Isha arrives, having stolen back Jinx’s gun.
It is at this point that Jinx decides to tell Isha just how much she means to her.
It felt like the writers were planting death flags right around the child’s feet.
Down by Vander, Singed sneaks in to inject him with a serum that will ruin Viktor’s efforts to save him.
He is ambushed by Caitlyn but then she is ironically ambushed by Rictus.
But who should save Caitlyn other than the woman she most despises, Jinx?
The following fight between her and Rictus is great at showing off Jinx’s cheeky ingenuity, but her hair nearly gets her killed when Rictus grabs it.
It is at that moment when Vander steps in for the save, blocking Rictus’ attack and telling him, “Don’t touch my daughter!”
The gravity of that voice would have anyone apologizing and pleading for mercy.
After Rictus’ defeat, Caitlyn regains her senses and is understandably none too pleased about Jinx’s presence.
Still, with Vi’s arrival, there was always the potential of things to calm down and end happily.
I say “was” because, at that moment, Jayce reaches Viktor and blasts him with his Hextech Hammer, supposedly killing him.
As Singed predicted, this causes the end of Viktor’s community, with all of his followers releasing a ghoulish scream before collapsing dead.
To make matters worse, Vander then loses himself completely to Warwick, either because of Viktor’s death or Signed awakening to inject him with the serum.
Personally, I am going with Singed doing the deed because Vander was still able to resist Warwick’s bloodlust without Viktor because of Jinx and Vi.
Rictus is the first victim of Warwick’s rage, and he is brutally beaten to death.
Vi and Caitlyn attempt to fight off Ambessa’s charging forces, while Jinx tries to bring Vander back but is slammed back onto the ground by him.
It is then, both predictably and tragically, that we get Isha’s sacrifice.
The kid had massive death flags ever since she showed up, and I expected her to die at some point during Act Two, but the death still hit me like a ton of bricks.
Loading Jinx’s gun with multiple Hextech crystals, Isha runs onto the battlefield, her colorful memories with Jinx playing to crush the viewer’s soul.
She flashes past Jinx, as if she were strengthened by her own adopted sister’s power, and the Loose Canon has to be held back by Vi.
Positioning herself under Warwick, Isha says her goodbye to Jinx with a final shooting gesture, and then fires, supposedly ending both her and Warwick.
The episode then ends on an ominous note with Viktor’s dying narration, “That which inspires us to our greatest good is also the cause of our greatest evil.”
So, Jayce just screwed everything up, right?
He murdered Viktor, resulting in Vander’s full transformation into Warwick, leading to his and Isha’s deaths.
Well, I think things are a little more complicated than that.
We still do not know what Jayce saw when he was trapped with Ekko and Heimerdinger by the Wild Rune.
Hell, we still don’t even know what happened to Ekko and Heimerdinger.
However, we do get a hint about what Jayce knows because he keeps seeing members of Viktor’s community as purple monsters.
Given this, and the multitude of other red flags regarding Viktor and his community, I think it is safe to say that Jayce was trying to prevent something terrible from happening.
Whether he achieved this or not is another matter entirely.
I do not believe this is the end for Viktor yet, and his final narration does suggest him going down a darker path, with him stating “humanity” to be the reason for his failures.
So, if Viktor is revived, he may strive to purge that humanity from people.
As for Warwick, I am unsure if he is truly dead, for reasons I will get into in my Act Three Predictions section below.
And Isha?
Well, unfortunately, she is definitely gone.
It will be interesting to see how this shapes Jinx, though.
Hopefully, she will not completely sink into nihilism without her adopted sister, although I think it may start out that way.
As for Episode Six itself, it is another really good one that ended Act Two well.
There were a lot of emotional moments, and some good action set pieces.
That being said, I think I will have to wait for Act Three before I know where I would rank it among the other episodes.
I need context for what Jayce knows and what is really going on with Viktor.
I hope to get the answers tonight with Act Three.

Act Three Predictions:
The teaser for Act Three absolutely confirms Viktor’s survival.
Caitlyn mentions him, we see him in what looks like a cocoon, and Singed is shown experimenting on Warwick.
He is probably using his body to power Viktor, like he suggested doing earlier.
It is not clear if Warwick is alive or dead at the point of Singed’s experimentation.
Either way, Singed will also strengthen Ambessa’s forces using Shimmer.
We see Vi fighting one of these Shimmer soldiers in the teaser.
Caitlyn is shown fighting Ambessa, and we also see Mel at the table with Jayce, Vi and Caitlyn, so she managed to escape the Black Rose.
But the most interesting part of the teaser is Jinx.
Vi is heard telling her, “If you come, use all that explosive potential of yours for good, maybe we could rewrite your story.”
In one shot of Ambessa, we also see a colorful balloon shooting out pink smoke in the background.
This is most likely piloted by Jinx, with a new outfit, designed to honor Isha and also remove the issue of her braids getting caught.
But what will convince Jinx to return?
Ekko.
I would not be surprised if his statement from the trailer, “Sometimes taking a leap forward means leaving a few things behind,” was being said to Jinx.
Maybe after he and Heimerdinger return to the story, he will run into Jinx, learn about Isha, and convince her to help.
It seems like a role Ekko could be given, and he sorely needs a role because of how little he has been used this season.
He only appeared in a few scenes before disappearing entirely.
Well, we are about to find out what role he will play in the ending tonight, along with the fate of every other character.
Going into Act Three, I am curious to see if the spoiler I regretfully saw is true or not.
Whatever the case, I hope the writers can stick the landing with this ending.
If I know Arcane though, it will most likely be tragic.
Fingers crossed that some hope can be injected in there.
Onto Act Three!

Arcane Season Two, Episode Five, Blisters and Bedrock Review: Best Episode of Act Two?

Usually, the best episode of every Arcane Act is the last one.
Well, this trend changed with Episode Five “Blisters and Bedrock”, which is not only the best episode of Act Two but also the best episode of Season Two so far.
It begins with the same pit fighter Vi tease we got before Act One released.
In this scene, we see Vi at her lowest.
She has lost Caitlyn and now spends her nights fighting for money, wasting that money on getting blackout drunk, pushing away any friends she has, until she even starts losing fights.
It is at rock bottom where Jinx finds her, returning to tell her about Vander’s return.
Naturally, Vi does not take too kindly to seeing her sister after their last, violent interaction.
Still, seeing her start to strangle Jinx was pretty uncomfortable, and the following shot of Vi’s face in the cracked mirror shows just how far she has fallen.
It is a good thing that the episode works towards bringing the sisters together.
But, since this is the best storyline of the episode, I will save talking about it for later.
First, I will talk about Ambessa recruiting Singed.
I had a feeling she would, given how desperate she is for a weapon to combat the Black Rose.
Her recruiting him also lead to quite a few revelations about Singed.
We learn from Caitlyn that his name used to be Reveck, a once respected doctor in Piltover who was banished for a crime that was buried, most likely by Heimerdinger.
Singed tells Caitlyn he committed many unspeakable acts “for love” and then reveals his daughter to her and Ambessa.
Like Mr Freeze, he has sealed his loved one away, all in the hope of eventually curing death itself, only to become more of a monster with each passing day.
Because, as Silco said back in Season One, “Is there anything so undoing as a daughter?”
Singed is not the only character we receive a few revelations about this episode because we also see what has happened to Mel after being kidnapped by the Black Rose at the end of Episode Three.
She is locked up in an Oculorum, a chamber used to seal away false prophets.
Or, as Mel’s fellow prisoner calls it, “the fancy pits peacock princes like to toss their friends into.”
This line causes Mel to realize that the man is her brother, Kino, thought dead by their mother.
Sadly, it turns out that Kino most likely is dead because the brother Mel is seeing is later revealed to be a hallucination made by the Black Rose to try and get whatever power Mel has.
The Black Rose, disguised as Kino, tells Mel that what she inherited, “is of terrible interest to our captors.”
When the disguise is broken, whoever is holding Mel captive also calls her “sister”, but it is unclear if this person is her actual sibling or just referencing Mel as Kino’s sister.
Either way, there are a lot of mysteries to unpack her, and we will have to wait until Act Three to have them answered because this is the last time we see Mel in Act Two.
At least we have one answer, which is how she and Jayce survived Jinx’s rocket at the beginning of the season.
When she is held by the Black Rose’s chains, Mel’s eyes start to glow, and her golden armor shines before releasing a wave of power which frees her.
This pretty much confirms this power is what saved her and Jayce, and I am very interested to see what it is and why the Black Rose want it.
With Singed and Mel’s storylines out of the way, I can now get to discussing the main storyline of Jinx and Vi searching for Vander.
Traveling down into the mines below Zaun, the two sisters quickly begin to bicker.
In my opinion, Jinx easily wins the comeback duel, hilariously referring to Vi’s gauntlets as “bitch mittens” before proving she can last one second in a fight against her.
Isha quickly gets involved in the fight on the side of Jinx, and Vi hits her, resulting in a bloody nose.
I cannot help but wonder if that brought Vi back to the night when she slapped Powder.
Jinx references that night, saying she recruited Vi to help Vander so things would end differently this time.
“Besides,” she says. “He’s your father too.”
This was a great scene between the sisters, and the use of mushrooms which glow whenever someone claps or lands a punch was a nice touch.
Eventually, the trio find out why Vander fled into the mines.
This place used to be a hideout for him and Silco, and we see a letter Vander addressed to him, apologizing for his betrayal and telling Silco he knows where to find him, meaning the Last Drop.
The letter makes me think Vander attacked Silco after the Bridge fight which orphaned Vi and Powder.
Seeing the deaths his revolution had caused, Vander decided to live a peaceful life.
The only problem with that was Silco wanted to keep fighting, leading to Vander attempting to drown him so the peace he was attempting to forge could be maintained.
He only realized the enormity of what he had done after it was over and left the letter to Silco in the hopes of patching things up.
Unfortunately, Silco never went back to those mines so never read the letter.
If he had, as Jinx says, “everything might have been different.”
During this moment, we see the first sign of the bridging rift between the sisters when Vi almost puts a comforting hand on Jinx’s shoulder but stops herself.
They leave the hideout, but the three are quickly confronted by Vander, who was drawn in by Isha’s blood.
Vi understandably does not recognize Vander under the bloody visage of Warwick, and fights him off, only for Jinx’s pleading to convince her to reach out to him.
In an imposing shot, Vi faces off against Vander, shouting his name, which draws us into a flashback before Vi and Powder’s births.
We see that both Vander and Silco were close with the girls’ mother, Felicia.
As she dances to “Our Love” from Season One, she tells the two of her pregnancy, putting them on the hook to look out for her kids.
She tells them, “You two are gonna figure this Zaun thing out. I don’t care if you have to carve it out of the bedrock, covered in blisters. You’re not allowed to fail anymore. For her. For me.”
Along with delivering the title for this episode, Felicia’s lines also add another layer of tragedy because Vander and Silco did fail.
Their fallout led to the tragedy that separated Vi and Jinx, a separation which is only now just beginning to heal.
Although, the flashback does end on a hopeful note, by revealing that Vander was the one to name Vi.
The scene then cuts back to the present day with Jinx and Isha alone in the darkness, unsure of the fates of Vi and Vander.
They walk through the dark, until they find the two in an embrace.
Vi reaches a hand out to Jinx.
“What are you waiting for,” she says, paying off Jinx’s earlier statement. “He’s your dad too.”
And, with that, the water works officially started.
Yeah, I was a mess during this scene.
Seeing the sisters reunite and embrace their father after so much tragedy just broke me.
But this is Arcane so, of course, something bad is on the horizon.
We see Salo, who has been cured of his paralysis thanks to Viktor, attempting to take something from the Hexgate’s failsafe.
This coincides with the return of Jayce from whatever alternate dimension he, Ekko and Heimerdinger were trapped in at the end of Episode Three.
Jayce has clearly had it rough, what with his grizzled appearance, beard, and even his arcane crystal infused into his hand.
As for Salo, he is oddly upbeat, a complete turnaround from his prior personality.
You could say that he is just happy to have the use of his legs back but, as some Arcane fans have pointed out, Salo is not breathing.
We have seen the breath of every character in this room, whether it be Jayce, Ekko or Heimerdinger.
Salo is the only character whose breath we do not see, suggesting a much more sinister nature to Viktor’s cures.
Backing this up is Viktor’s creepy takeover of Salo’s body to talk with Jayce.
Through this, we can see how the two’s perspectives have flipped.
Viktor originally wanted the Hexcore destroyed, but now he uses it to help others, or at least that is how he sees it.
Jayce used the Hexcore to save Viktor but, through whatever traumatic experience he has had, now realizes the danger of all Hextech, wanting to destroy it.
The episode ends with him killing Salo, another showcase of his development.
Back in Season One, he told Vi he could not allow her to leave with the gauntlets but, in the end, relented.
Jayce does no such thing now, killing Salo without hesitation and, on that grim note, the episode ends.
Overall, I would say that “Blisters and Bedrock” is the best episode of the season so far.
Mel’s storyline deepens the mystery of the Black Rose.
Singed’s storyline perfectly falls into Arcane‘s theme about the lengths fathers will go to for their daughters.
Speaking of, Vi and Jinx reuniting with their adopted father got the tears flowing.
To top it all off, the episode ends on the dark return of Jayce, building to his and Viktor’s meeting in the next episode.
“Blisters and Bedrock” is not only a fantastic Arcane episode, but the first one that was the best of its Act without being the final episode.

Arcane Season Two, Episode Four, Paint the Town Blue Review: A Very Familiar Wolf Man.

Arcane Season Two had a great start with Act One.
Episode One delivered the Piltover Perspective, Episode Two the Zaunite one, and Episode Three brought those perspectives together with the tragic fight between Vi and Jinx.
Having seen Act Two, I can say Season Two’s middle portion of episodes are just as good, with one of them being my favorite of the season so far.
As for Episode Four, “Paint the Town Blue”, it is another great one, ending on a long-awaited reunion, which would have been surprising for viewers who did not know League lore.
The episode begins just like most of those from Act One, with a music video, the titular “Paint the Town Blue.”
This music video is used to show the progression of time since Episode Three.
In my review for that episode, I predicted we would not be getting a time skip until maybe Episode Five, since we had yet to see Jinx become a symbol.
Well, turns out I was wrong because the time skip is in Episode Four, and it covers probably only half a year, compared to the few years I was expecting.
In the music video, we see Ambessa and Caitlyn’s forces cracking down on Zaunites who have come to revere and emulate Jinx following her attacks on Piltover.
As for Caitlyn, we catch up with her after the opening and see that, in the aftermath of her fallout with Vi, she has been hooking up with Maddie.
I find it funny that, with all the other insane stuff to happen in this episode, Caitlyn and Maddie drew in the biggest shock from the fandom.
Although, there is a theory going around that Maddie is a spy for Ambessa, so that would be interesting.
It would certainly give a point to Caitlyn’s squad existing, since those characters all seem pretty useless to Season Two’s plot so far.
Is there any evidence of Maddie being a spy?
Well, she does remind Caitlyn that the Noxians are there to “keep us safe”, and Ambessa later says that Maddie is “quite the familiar face these days.”
So, make of that what you will.
Whether Maddie is a spy or not, Caitlyn is still setting her sights on capturing or killing Jinx.
Speak of the devil, we next see the Loose Canon as the ring master of a brutal fight between two giant insect monsters.
This turns out to be a hilarious misdirect, as Jinx is merely putting on a show for Isha with two tiny insects.
She has taken Isha under her wing following Episode Three, seeing who she used to be in her.
Isha certainly proves she has Powder’s drive because she later poses as Jinx to help save some of her fellow Zaunites from Ambessa’s right hand man, Rictus.
Right from that moment, I thought I knew where the episode was going.
Jinx would be reluctant to step forward as Zaun’s hero, so Isha would keep posing as her until she got herself killed, leading to a vengeful Jinx finally taking on the mantle.
Kind of like an Achilles and Patroclus situation.
Thankfully, this is not where the story goes but I was still constantly expecting Isha to die at some point throughout Act Two.
The writers had constantly proven themselves cruel enough to do so, after all.
Instead of being killed, Isha is captured by Rictus, along with many other Zaunites from different factions.
Unfortunately for the Enforcers, they also arrest Singed, who has the advantage of having a giant mutated werewolf in his basement named Warwick.
All it takes is a drop of his own blood for Singed to activate Warwick, which begins pursuing him.
When Jinx learns of Isha’s arrest from Sevika, she sets off to Stillwater to rescue her.
Before doing so though, she once again hears voices tormenting her.
I think this goes to show just how good her bond with Isha is for her mental health.
She seemed to have a lot less hallucinations when Isha was around but the moment she gets taken Jinx experiences a breakdown.
Thankfully, it is not big enough of one to halt her and Sevika’s rescue attempt, which is filled with about as much hijinks as you would expect.
First, Jinx distracts an Enforcer long enough for Sevika to knock them out, allowing Jinx to disguise herself.
Their interaction is also pretty funny, with the Enforcer not believing Jinx’s identity because of how she is dressed.
Another comedic moment follows when Jinx flips off an Enforcer who attempts to flirt with her.
But, man, that guard was pretty incompetent, considering he failed to notice Jinx’s mechanical finger had a smile spray painted onto it.
Guess he was too embarrassed to realize.
The comedy vanishes, however, when Ambessa passes Jinx and Sevika inside Stillwater and looks like she might stop them for a moment.
Instead, she keeps walking, and Jinx and Sevika execute their escape plan, freeing the Zaunites, and allowing Jinx to see firsthand what she means to her followers.
They each pass her, touching her shoulder as they go, and even the Firelights look grateful.
The happy times end quickly, however, with the arrival of Warwick.
What follows feels like something out of a Doom game, as Warwick bloodily tears through the Enforcers while the heavy metal soundtrack booms.
While Sevika gets Isha to safety, Jinx fights Warwick.
The two Singed experiments go head-to-head, with Warwick eventually winning, only to be stopped from killing Jinx when he sees her bomb and remembers her as a child.
“Dear Friend, Across the River” begins to play, and the violence fades from Warwick’s eyes, revealing a very familiar face.
“Powder?” The resurrected Vander asks, bringing an end to the episode.
Having read Warwick’s lore before Season Two, I knew he was most likely going to be Vander.
Despite knowing this, it did not stop the emotion from hitting me full force when he recognized Powder.
It made me a little teary eyed, to be honest, which served as the perfect setup for Episode Five where the water works really started for me.
Keeping on topic with Episode Four, “Paint the Town Blue” was a great start to Act Two.
It did a good job of building up Jinx and Isha’s bond, along with showing off how Jinx has become a symbol to Zaun, and, of course, features the return of Vander as Warwick.
I was incredibly excited to watch the next episode after this one and, boy, did it not disappoint.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 183, Barf, Head, Perv Review: Bitter Memories.

I was pretty excited going into Chapter 183 of Chainsaw Man, “Barf, Head, Perv.”
The previous chapter ended by teasing one of Denji’s memories of Aki and Power, making many of us believe we were going to get a flashback about them.
Unfortunately, all we actually get is a couple of panels of the back of their heads, as Denji remembers them.
The brief, mournful flash is quickly followed by disgust as Denji throws up another Devil, this one the Bitterness Devil.
Denji doing so allows him to remember the bitterness of the coffee he shared with Reze, followed by another now tragic memory of him walking the dogs with Nayuta.
This causes Denji to realize that Pochita ate all of those Devils to make Denji remember the times when he was happy.
The Snow Devil was to remember Aki and Power, and the Bitterness Devil was to remember Reze.
Once again Pochita proves himself to be the best Devil there is.
Denji gets his second wind and, in a crude way that is so typical of him at this point, tells Asa that he is going to get them out of the Aging Devil’s dimension.
Whatever Denji’s plan is it involves Pochita’s stomach in the outside world, but Denji declares that this plan is “super smart.”
Given Denji’s previous “super smart” plans in the series, I am willing to bet this is a plan so stupid that it will somehow work to hilarious effect.
But we will have to wait until next chapter to see what this plan is because, with Denji’s declaration, the chapter comes to a close.
Overall, it is a pretty good chapter.
It was disappointing to see that the Aki and Power cliffhanger only resulted in a brief tease, but it was also nice to see Reze again, if only briefly.
This shows Fujimoto has not forgotten about her and hopefully has plans for her, since she should still be alive like the other Devil Hybrids.
We will have to wait and see, just like we will have to wait until next chapter to see what Denji’s “super smart” plan is.

The Penguin Review: The Greatest Comic Book Show Ever?

There was a lot to love about 2022’s The Batman.
One of these things was definitely Colin Farrell’s portrayal of the Penguin.
The makeup and prosthetics for the role were outstanding, and Farrell completely disappeared into the role of Oswald Cobb.
So, when it was announced that there would be an HBO show about the character, I was excited.
That being said, I never expected it to be this good.
Developed by showrunner Lauren LeFranc, and produced by The Batman director Matt Reeves, The Penguin follows Oz Cobb on his attempted rise to power after impulsively killing the heir to the Falcone crime family, Alberto (Michael Zegen), in a moment of rage.

Oz’s impulsive murder of Alberto kicks off the events of the show.

This act does not go unpunished, however, because Oz quickly finds himself under the scrutiny of Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti), Alberto’s sister and a supposed former serial killer who was just released from Arkham Asylum.
Wanting to protect his mentally unwell mother Francis (Deidre O’Connell) from Sofia, Oz recruits Viktor Aguilar (Rhenzy Feliz), an impoverished teenager with a stutter, to both care for her and aid him in his power grab.
All of the four key players, Farrell, Milioti, Feliz and O’Connell give excellent performances, but it is Colin Farrell and Cristin Milioti who steal the whole show.
Farrell once again completely disappears into the role of the Penguin, to the point that I once again did not even recognize him.
On top of his performance, the writing for Oz is also stellar.
You cannot help but be drawn in by his charisma, despite being constantly reminded of just how evil he is.
By the end of the show, I was practically begging for Batman to fly in and beat the ever-loving hell out of him.

Watching Oz receive a beatdown from Batman would be incredibly cathartic.

As for Cristin Milioti’s Sofia, she so often felt like the protagonist of this show more than Oz.
For the first three episodes, I was on the edge of my seat; constantly creeped out by Sofia while wondering if she would win her game of cat and mouse against Oz.
Then, we got her backstory in Episode Four, “Cent’Anni”, one of the best episodes of the show, and I went from being terrified of her to actually rooting for her.
Despite being a bad person herself, it becomes quite clear towards the end which of the two is more morally bankrupt and it is certainly not Sofia.

Milioti perfectly plays someone who became a monster because of her environment, as opposed to Oz who was always a monster.

Farrell and Milioti deserve all of the awards for this show, as do many of the people behind it, with the makeup, soundtrack, cinematography, and sets all being fantastic.
Speaking of the those sets, just like in The Batman, Gotham City feels like its own character, from the devastated slums of Crown Point, to the luxury of the Falcone estate, to the insanity of Arkham Asylum.
Not everything about the show is stellar though, because there a few issues, namely the level of convenience in the show.
There were quite a few times where characters had the chance to kill Oz and yet they just let him keep talking, despite knowing how duplicitous he is.
Along with this, there are a few scenes that require leaps in logic to believe, the most obvious of which being something concerning Salvatore Maroni (Clancy Brown) in Episode Five.
Aside from these issues, The Penguin is a phenomenal show, and definitely one of the best comic book shows of all time.

*The Penguin* has set the standard for great comic book shows going forward.

The acting is fantastic across the board, with Farrell and Milioti delivering the best performances, the storytelling is great and full of tragic turns, and the set design of Gotham makes it feel like a living and breathing city full of corruption.
It is a corruption that Batman will need to clean up in the next film, and let’s hope he starts with a beatdown on Oz Cobb.
The guy certainly deserves it based on every horrible thing he did in this amazing show.

Arcane Season Two, Episode Three, Finally Got the Name Right Review: A Tragic Fight.

In Season One of Arcane, they always saved the best episode of every act for last.
It seems Season Two will be no different because Episode Three, “Finally Got the Name Right” is definitely the best episode of the three, setting up a lot of ominous events and having a spectacular and tragic fight scene.
The episode begins with, you guessed it, a music video scene, just like the past two.
This one explains how Caitlyn’s strike team is controlling the Grey.
It turns out her mother had ventilation systems constructed in the Undercity to stop the factories’ fumes because, “The people of the underground deserve to breathe.”
Well, Caitlyn takes her mother’s good intentioned act and corrupts it, weaponizing the Grey as chemical warfare.
She and her squad flood areas with this dangerous gas to incapacitate the Zaunites and then move in to make arrests and get information.
Now, you could argue the people they are using the Grey on are gangsters but, even then, the montage makes the horrible effects the Grey can have on the body quite clear.
It is also easy to imagine civilians getting caught up in the crossfire, so I would argue Caitlyn is definitely not in the right here.
Vi picks up on the way Caitlyn is changing for the worse and talks with her alone, begging her not to change.
This leads to their first kiss, an emotional moment which I knew would not end well because of the teaser showing Vi as a cage fighter.
While Vi and Caitlyn go to confront Jinx, Ambessa is having troubles of her own.
She meets with Amara, who you may remember as the merchant Jayce made a deal with way back in Act Two of Season One.
In a truly unexpected moment, Amara reveals herself to be some kind of witch associated with the Black Rose, a mysterious group which killed Ambessa’s son.
Ambessa is able to eventually gain the upper hand and kill Amara, but this is far from the end of the Black Rose Threat.
Mel is one step behind her mother, investigating her actions through an informant but, before she can do anything with what she knows, it is revealed that her own assistant Elora is either part of the Black Rose, or been possessed by them.
She is consumed and Mel is kidnapped to who knows where.
So, whoever the Black Rose are, they now have a stranglehold on Ambessa since they hold her daughter hostage.
Maybe Ambessa distancing herself from Mel would have kept her safer, if she had not told Amara how much family meant to her.
Along with the mystery of the Blase Rose, there is also the mystery of what is going on with the Arcane.
We see Jayce explain the concept of Wild Runes to Ekko and thus us as the audience.
Wild Runes act as fingerprints of the Arcane, but in a wild and unpredictable manner.
These fingerprints are then seen underground by Heimerdinger when he, Ekko and Jayce travel to the Hextech’s failsafe.
Before Heimerdinger can warn the two about the fingerprint on the ground, it transports the three of them right to a Wild Rune just as Vi and Caitlyn are confronting Jinx.
Vi calls her sister by her new name, while Jinx calls Vi out for using the Grey on Zaunites.
While Jinx is certainly no saint, it is hard to argue with a lot of her points about Vi’s actions.
Both sisters are walking down dark paths.
Jinx is a terrorist and Vi has engaged in chemical warfare.
Now both are prepared to fight to the death.
Neither is alone, however, with Sevika and Caitlyn also duking it out, all the while Jayce, Ekko and Heimerdinger are affected by the afflictions of the Wild Rune.
What follows is an intense fight sequence, with Woodkid’s “Ashes and Blood” playing in the background.
This is already one of my favorite Arcane OSTs and I have listened to it multiple times since watching the episode.
Its vocalist’s deep voice and the wild orchestral chanting works incredibly well with the tragedy of the fight, as we literally see Jinx and Vi smash through graffiti of their childhood innocence.
At the same time, Jayce’s interactions with the Wild Rune cause the Hextech to go crazy, influencing the fight and giving Caitlyn the chance to defeat Sevika.
The interference ends when Jayce strikes the Wild Rune with his hammer, leaving his, Ekko and Heimerdinger’s fates unknown.
Caitlyn overcoming Sevika allows her to take a shot at Jinx, shooting off her middle finger.
Vi tackles Jinx down onto the alter and prepares to deliver the final blow, to which Jinx says, “I’m glad it’s you. Had to be you.”
So, when Jinx said in Episode Two that she was planning “to finish what’s left of my family” was she referring to herself?
Well, thankfully, it does not end here for Jinx because, at that moment, Isha jumps in to save her, putting a gun between her and Vi.
I am not sure if Jinx’s following “No!” is because Isha is interfering with her suicide attempt, out of concern for her, or a plea for her not shoot Vi.
Probably a mixture of all three.
Isha’s interference snaps Vi out of it and she steps in Caitlyn’s way when she attempts to shoot Jinx, despite Isha still being in the way.
This gives Sevika enough time to activate Jinx’s plan, sending the Grey up to Piltover in colorful fumes which pollute the city.
The force of the fumes blows Vi and Caitlyn away and we expectedly get the big break up scene.
Caitlyn is angered that Vi stopped her from killing Jinx, but Vi calls out Caitlyn’s own actions, which results in Caitlyn hitting Vi in the gut with her rifle.
She then leaves a crying Vi behind in a moment that is extremely reminiscent of Vi leaving Powder.
The big difference there is that Vi only left Powder to cool off before she was kidnapped.
Caitlyn does not come back for Vi, showing how far she has fallen since the death of her mother.
And, if the ending of the episode is any indication, Caitlyn’s morality is only going to grow greyer (if you will excuse the pun).
Following the Grey being unleashed upon Piltover, Ambessa suggests naming a general to lead their forces against Zaun and nominates Caitlyn.
Councillor Salo is shocked at this, clearly having expected himself to be chosen, but it is no surprise that Ambessa chose Caitlyn when you look back at how Salo himself described her.
“She’s gotten no closer to Jinx. But that doesn’t seem to steal the stars from anyone’s eyes… it’s not the girl. It’s the name (Kiramman). It bewitches people.”
Ambessa’s face shows intrigue during this scene, revealing exactly why she chose Caitlyn.
Her actions against Zaun and important family name have made her a symbol for Piltover.
Ambessa also believes she can control Caitlyn, literally calling her a child.
Whether Caitlyn will remain childlike under Ambessa’s thumb or if she will break free we do not yet know.
What we do know now is what the symbolism in the opening means.
We see Vi and Caitlyn getting closer, foreshadowing their kiss, before Caitlyn shoves her away, representing their breakup.
The next visual shows Caitlyn cradling her face in despair, while her shadow makes it look like she is wearing a crown.
This symbolizes her rise to becoming Piltover’s general and essentially a dictator, which is going to naturally haunt her.
Caitlyn is not the only character in the opening Episode Three gives symbolic understanding, because Ambessa holding a black rose and Mel being surrounded by shadowy hands represents the kidnapping plotline.
As for Ambessa herself, it is also revealed this episode that she really was behind the memorial attack.
She will do anything so long as it benefits her family but, again, she will probably be locked in a stranglehold with Mel’s kidnapping.
Episode Three then ends with a final Singed tease in which we see what he was doing with the body of the two-headed wolf he killed.
It is revealed he is using it to create a giant werewolf monster.
I will discuss the implications of this in an Act Two prediction section, which you will find below.
In conclusion, “Finally Got the Name Right” is definitely the best episode of Season Two’s Act One.
The final fight is excellent with its tragedy, incredible animation and score.
As for character arcs, Caitlyn is on the fast-track to being a puppet dictator and I am personally enjoying this dark turn for her character.
I hope she can pull herself out of it.
Finally, the third episode also does an excellent job of raising plenty of mysteries for the following acts to resolve, namely the ones surrounding the Black Rose and the Wild Rune.
I would call “Finally Got the Name Right” a top five Arcane episode, and I am eager to see if any episodes in Acts Two or Three can surpass it.

Act Two Predictions:
So, let’s start with talking about the massive werewolf Singed is creating.
This wolf is clearly Warwick, whose lore I looked up before watching Season Two.
In all likelihood, he will turn out to be a resurrected Vander.
Ordinarily, this would ruin the impact of Vander’s sacrifice, but Warwick looks to be a completely different character, making his resurrection tragic.
This tragedy will be amplified when Jinx and Vi have to fight him, as seen in the Act Two teaser.
We see Jinx shooting at Warwick in one shot, and Vi facing off against him in another.
The Vi shot is ironic, considering the back of her jacket has a two-headed wolf on it, the same creature Singed used to create Warwick.
There is also the matter of the predicted time skip where Vi becomes a cage fighter.
Originally, I thought this time skip was going to be right at the beginning of Act Two but, given how we have yet to see Jinx become a symbol, it will probably be Episode Five or Six when it happens.
When we do get the time skip, I expect that Ekko will be presumed dead by the Firelights.
I believe this because you can see his face on the mural with other dead characters.
This probably means that whatever happened with the Wild Rune caused Ekko, Jayce and Heimerdinger to be trapped in some alternate dimension.
The shot of Jayce in the teaser looking grizzled and with a beard supports my theory.
What I am less sure about is what will happen to Mel.
We see her attempting to escape the Black Rose, only to be pulled back by its red tentacle-like force.
There are so many mysteries for the rest of the season to unpack and I, for one, cannot wait for Act Two.

Arcane Season Two, Episode Two, Watch It All Burn Review: The Zaunite Perspective.

After Episode One’s great start to Season Two of Arcane, Episode Two, “Watch It All Burn” proves to be even better.
Focusing on the Zaunite plotlines this time around, the episode begins with a Zaunite funeral, parallelling the Piltovan one we saw last episode.
This time, we see Jinx laying Silco to rest in the waters of Zaun, a fitting resting place for him, considering it is where he was reborn in a sense when Vander tried to drown him.
After letting Silco go, Jinx watches his body sink from view and then hears his voice in her head, “Have you had enough?”
This line is from Silco’s narration at the beginning of Season One, Episode Three, and its placement here makes me wonder if Silco told Jinx this at some point.
Jinx’s response, to scream into the water, shows that, for now at least, she has not “had enough” and intends to keep fighting.
Following the opening, we get a music video scene, much like in the first episode.
This one is less somber, though, and used to illustrate the chaos that has emerged following Silco’s death, and the lone path Jinx is currently treading.
This sequence is temporarily interrupted by a kid who the subtitles name Isha.
They are being chased by some of the Chem-Barons’ goons until they literally fall on Jinx.
She protects the kid, killing the goons with ease and earning herself a follower.
While this is happening, the Chem-Baron turf war is continuing but there are issues, as we see the Yordle Chem-Baron Smeech find one of Margot’s stashes overcome with a mysterious fog known as the Grey.
Smeech later meets with the other Chem-Barons, where Sevika, is proposing they unite rather than fight.
Smeech instead proposes handing over Jinx to appease Piltover.
He insults Sevika when she shows her reluctance stating, “Bird without a wing is just a funny-looking rat,” in reference to Sevika’s missing arm.
It speaks to the strength of Sevika’s convictions, when she is unwilling to hand someone over, even when that person took her arm and killed the man she followed.
About the latter point, though, I don’t think Sevika knows that Jinx was the one to kill Silco.
She knows Silco is dead, but she never acts accusatory towards Jinx in their following interaction.
The two meet at the Last Drop where, despite their mutual disdain, they connect through their memories of Silco, ending with Jinx leaving to fix Sevika’s prosthetic arm.
This leads to her almost being tracked down by Vi, Caitlyn and the rest of their squad who it is revealed are using the Grey to storm parts of the Undercity.
Here, Vi retrieves Claggor’s goggles, and Jinx realizes Vi has joined the Enforcers, but she manages to slip through the cracks.
It is also here that we see how brutal Caitlyn is becoming, as she fires off a shot in frustration at not catching Jinx, which does not bode well for her future morality.
Caitlyn using the Grey to attack Zaunites also explains why Smeech was so eager to hand Jinx over to the Enforcers, because he knew they could not withstand such attacks.
He attempts to capture Jinx after her run in with Caitlyn’s squad, taking advantage of her poor mental state from seeing Vi, and poor physical condition from being affected by the Grey.
He attempts to intimidate her, but this has the opposite effect, resulting in her intimidating him when she tells him she killed Silco.
Smeech’s shock is another reason I think Sevika does not know it was Jinx who did the deed.
Good thing because, if she did, she probably would not have saved Jinx.
The fight between Sevika and Smeech is top notch in terms of animation and soundtrack, as she battles him with the new arm Jinx constructed.
Only Jinx could build a prosthetic arm with weapons based on the outcome of a slot machine.
It makes for a fun and very satisfying fight.
Sevika even gets to throw Smeech’s insult back at him by asking, “Who’s a funny-looking rat now?”
With the fight over, Sevika notices a look in Jinx’s eye and comments on it, to which Jinx ominously responds that she is planning “to finish what’s left of my family.”
This brings Jinx’s storyline this episode to an end, but her storyline is far from the only one.
First there is Ekko and Heimerdinger’s story where they notice that the Firelights’ tree has become infected by what looks like Hexcore corruption.
I like Ekko and Heimerdinger’s interactions, but I think it’s weird that Ekko does not blame him for any of Zaun’s suffering.
There should at least have been a scene of them addressing Heimerdinger’s involvement.
Well, at least he is helping out now.
To find out what is happening, the two sneak into Jayce’s lab, only to be confronted by the Man of Progress himself.
As for Jayce, his storyline this episode began with Viktor’s emergence from the strange cocoon formed when he was merged with the Hexcore to save his life.
His body now primarily made of Hextech, Viktor breaks his partnership with Jayce after he sees the Hextech weapons Jayce is designing.
He also clearly feels betrayed by Jayce not destroying the Hexcore as he asked.
My one criticism of this scene is that Viktor revealing Sky’s death is glossed over pretty quickly by Jayce but, otherwise, his and Viktor’s separation is emotional.
From here, Viktor travels into the Undercity, going down to its depths where he is confronted by Huck and the other Shimmer addicts, hoping to rob and kill him to fuel their addiction.
Instead of fighting Huck, Viktor helps him, using the power of the Hexcore to heal his addiction, replacing and augmenting his Shimmer infected parts with metal.
Viktor tells a healed Huck and the rest of the Shimmer addicts, “You need not suffer anymore.”
And so, Viktor emerges as a messiah-like figure with his own band of followers.
He even hallucinates Sky, which seems to tell Viktor that he is doing the right thing.
However, I would argue that things are going to turn out to be more sinister than they appear.
Huck’s appearance is identical to the floating figures from the trailer.
Along with this, the place where Viktor heals him is clearly a decayed version of the technologically advanced place also seen in the trailer.
This makes me think the Hexcore inside Viktor is probably using Sky’s image to convince Viktor he is helping these people when, in reality, he is actually contributing to some kind of nefarious goal.
We will have to wait for Act Two to learn more of what Viktor’s plans are though.
The episode then ends with another Singed teaser, showing he is experimenting with blood cells and keeping the heart of the two-headed wolf beating.
What he is using this for is shown in the next episode but, for now, it adds to the intrigue.
“Watch It All Burn” is a better episode than the first, with ominous development for Viktor, and an alliance forming between Jinx and Sevika, along with a great fight to boot.
But, in typical Arcane fashion, they saved the best episode of the Act for last.

Arcane Season Two, Episode One, Heavy is the Crown Review: Greatness Returns.

Arcane had the best first season of any show I have had the pleasure of watching.
The characters and story were fantastic, the animation was stunning, and I still listen to the soundtrack years later.
After watching it, I immediately knew I was willing to wait however long it took to get a second season of the same quality.
Well, the first act of that season has finally aired.
Personally, I have had a pretty miserable week (and I will leave it at that), so having Arcane back certainly improved my mood.
The three episodes of Act One all blend together well, with the first episode covering the Piltovan plotlines.
Episode One, “Heavy is the Crown”, picks up by instantly resolving the epic cliffhanger of Season One.
Jinx’s attack expectedly results in the death of Caitlyn’s mother, Cassandra, along with Councilors Bolbok and Hoskel.
In contrast, Councilors Salo and Shoola are alive but injured, with Salo being paralyzed from the waist down.
The real interesting detail though is Mel and Jayce, who are both unharmed, despite being right in the missile’s path.
The reason for this is not shown yet, but I think it will eventually be revealed that Mel’s mysterious golden armor saved them.
It was not enough to save Viktor, though, who is on death’s door from the blast, until Jayce merges the Hexcore with his body; a decision I think he will soon come to regret.
Following the resolution of who survived the Season One cliffhanger, we get the new Season Two opening.
Imagine Dragons’ “Enemy” is still the song for the intro, but the visuals are entirely different with a lot of symbolic meaning, although that meaning is not clear until Episode Three.
After the opening, we get our first of quite a few music video moments, but this one is solemn, as we see Caitlyn at her mother’s funeral.
The somber, grey coloring of the funeral makes the vibrancy of Vi and Caitlyn stand out, perfectly reflecting Caitlyn’s grief and Vi’s guilt.
In the aftermath of the attack, Ambessa quickly gets Salo in her pocket, leveraging his need for revenge, which only Mel is able to combat, if slightly.
In the meantime, Vi and Caitlyn go through their own issues, with Caitlyn struggling with her own desire for vengeance against Jinx, while Vi spurns her offer to become an Enforcer because, well, the Enforcers killed her parents.
This eventually leads to Vi meeting the future members of her and Caitlyn’s squad.
There is a man who resembles Vander and seems to be struggling in similar ways to Vi, a fish man, and a young woman named Maddie Nolen.
Maddie’s is the only name of the three we know at the moment, which I think was a bit neglectful on the writers’ part.
I mean, if we are going to care about these characters’ survival, we need to know their names, right?
In any case, Maddie makes an interesting comment that Caitlyn said, “If every Enforcer had a heart like yours, we could take on Noxus itself.”
Funny she should say that because it is made very clear by the end of Act One that Ambessa’s Noxian forces definitely do not have Piltover’s best interests at heart.
For the time being, “Heavy is the Crown” makes the Zaunites out to be the big threat for Piltover, with them attacking a memorial for the Councilors.
This attack is headed by Renni, the Chem-Baron whose son was killed by Jayce last season.
Out for revenge, like many of the other characters in this series, she makes a play for Jayce’s life and would have succeeded had it not been for Vi, who then teams up with him, while Caitlyn and her squad attempt to fight Renni’s Chem-Tanks.
The whole fight is extremely well-animated and tense, ending with the arrival of Ambessa and her Noxians, who kill all of the Zaunite attackers, including Renni.
The attack, and a last message from her mother, convinces Caitlyn to lead her new strike team into Zaun, all to the tune of “Heavy is the Crown”, which the episode is named after.
It is during this moment that it is revealed someone helped the Zaunites attack the memorial.
I am sure the immediate cut to Ambessa’s face after this is said is entirely coincidental… no, I’m not being sarcastic, why do you ask?
Vi also makes her choice, joining the Enforcers to help end the violence between Piltover and Zaun, appearing to walk in Vander’s footsteps.
Although the following episodes prove she is going about it in a darker way.
Speaking of the Hound of the Underground, the final scene of the episode shows a two-headed hound being hunted by Singed for reasons unknown, a tease which will be shown at the end of every episode in Act One.
Overall, “Heavy is the Crown” is a great start to the season.
It shows off Piltover’s perspective perfectly, which flows nicely into Episode Two, where we get the Zaunite perspective.
My only major criticism is that we do not get the names of some new characters we are introduced to.
Hopefully, we will find out their names in Act Two.
Otherwise, “Heavy is the Crown” starts the season well, and Act One only gets better from here.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 182, Cute Review: Let It Snow.

Well, Chapter 182 of Chainsaw Man sure was a surprise.
Its ending left me both in shock and incredibly excited for the next chapter.
Starting from the beginning, though, Chapter 182, “Cute” begins from where the last one left off, with Yoru kissing Denji.
Going into the chapter, I wondered if we would be getting a Tokyo Ghoul Chapter 125 kind of deal but, in hindsight, this was pretty shortsighted of me.
For Denji to give into Yoru’s advances would be to walk back on his development, and he proves how much he has grown by pushing Yoru away, telling her, “I can’t reflect on my mistakes for crap like that.”
It is unclear if either Yoru or Asa talks to Denji next, since we cannot see their face, but I think it is Asa, given how solemn she seems when she talks about all she has lost.
It is Yoru who clearly takes over next though because, with scars clear on her face, she tries to cheer Denji up by joyfully telling him he will get over his grief like she did.
Asa rightfully punches Yoru in the face for that and takes back control.
It is not Yoru’s platitudes about getting over grief that will help Denji, but Asa’s realistic dissection of it.
She tells Denji about the loss of her mother, and the guilt she harbors from that day, telling him that it is impossible to get over it.
Asa then throws Denji’s words back at him, stating that he taught her that she has, “Something I look forward to so much that I’m willing to eat a Crapburger!’
This somehow causes Denji to do the very opposite of eating, throwing up the Snow Devil that Pochita ate.
This seems to release its power inside the Aging Devil’s dimension, making it snow.
The chapter then ends in the most shocking way of all: showing Power and Aki on a ship from a time before their deaths.
Originally, I thought this was them somehow manifesting in the Aging Devil’s dimension, but the black background of the paneling makes me think Denji is flashing back to a time when he was happy with them.
Whatever the case, I am incredibly excited to see Power and Aki again next chapter.
It has been so long.
I thought Power might be making a return soon, due to Pochita taking part in the blood drive, but Aki was a complete surprise.
Asa’s development with Denji is also great, as she relates to him through her own grief in a moment that actually felt reminiscent of Kobeni opening up to Denji at the end of Part One.
Overall, “Cute” is a fantastic Chainsaw Man chapter.
It has great emotional development for Denji and Asa and hypes up the return of two long gone fan favorite characters, even if that return will be brief.