Arcane – Season 2 Episode 2 Recap & Review

Watch It All Burn

Episode 2 of Arcane season 2 switches down to the Undercity for much of its run-time, as we sees things from Jinx’s perspective. Zaun is in disarray. Without Silco here to try and fix things and unify the forces, there are gang wars and a fight for power. Jinx, by comparison, isn’t a leader. She’s an anarchist and lost in her own crippled mind. Much like Caitlyn, she’s also in mourning. This time for Silco, the man she looked at as a father for much of her life.

There are Wanted posters up all over Zaun for Jinx, who’s on the run and certainly not welcome. The Undercity isn’t completely lawless though, as there appears to be a hierarchy of power, overseen by a rabble of big players in Zaun. At the head of the table is Sevika, who has her own score to settle with Vi. She wants to try and stop the turf war gripping Zaun and unite to take out the Topside.

However, one of the gangsters at the table is a guy by the name of Smeech. He’s running with the chembarons and admires Silco, wanting to be at the top of the podium. He suggests they hand over Jinx and stop an incoming war. He’s clever, simultaneously showing a bolster of power as he demeans Sevika for her lack of outright strength and power without her Gauntlet.

Sevika, like Jinx, is also lost in this new world order. She strangely connects on Silco’s disappearance from this world. They’re both feeling the hole he’s left in the Undercity and neither really know how to handle this. Jinx is happy to watch it all burn, thriving within the chaos, while Sevika is in this makeshift leadership role, trying to keep the gangs from tearing each other apart. However, she’s still unclear how to lead and unify the gangs.

Viktor awakens from his Hextech cocoon and tentatively hugs Jayce. He can feel a charge deep within him and he’s seemingly connected to the Hexcore now on a more spiritual level. Viktor is conflicted though. He was supposed to die and he’s not particularly enthused over the fact that he’s kept alive by the very thing he wanted to destroy. As a result, Viktor decides to walk away from everything.

An unlikely little bromance brewing here stems from Heimerdinger and Ecco. Still within the ranks of the Firelights, they show up at Jayce’s lab. They’re noticed that there’s corruption within the Hexcore, and it has reached all the way to the Firelight HQ, so they’re trying to figure out how to fix it.

Speaking of reaching, Vi, Caitlyn and the rabble of Special Enforcers show up in Zaun. They walk right into Jinx’s hideout but with no sign of her, Caitlyn is angry. As for Jinx though, she’s scared and crying, and as she heads into the alleyway, she finds herself confronted by Smeech. The latter is taken aback when he finds out Jinx was the one who killed Silco, and their momentary lapse sees them saved by an unlikely source – Sevika.

This really is an episode of unlikely alliances, and both Sevika and Jinx work together to take out Smeech’s goons. Oh, and Sevika also has a new Gauntlet too, courtesy of Jinx’s handiwork. Obviously it has an array of little trinkets, but she gets the hang of it quite quickly and eventually kills Smeech outright, bathing herself in green blood.

Meanwhile, Viktor finds himself in the company of those in the darkest recesses of the City. He manages to heal one of them, and uses the Hexcore for good, as he’s looked at as a Messiah among these people.

The Episode Review

This really is an episode of unlikely alliances isn’t it? Between Caitlyn and Vi showing up at Special Enforcers, to Jinx and Sevika forming an alliance for Zaun, there’s a really nice consistency to the theming here. This episode in particular has parallels to the first, where we see order within the disorder, and, in particular, the way our characters have to try and work together to find a new way through this chaos.

The episode does well to show Jinx’s mindset, as unhinged as it is, and how she and Sevika are both feeling the loss of Silco in their own ways. Of course, Jinx was the one who pulled the trigger but Silco was still like a father to her and that really eats her up inside.

Likewise, we see more drama with the main plotline and Smeech, who makes a play for the crown, finds himself meeting a messy end.

The teasing glimpses of a higher power and a big bad coming into play is definitely a welcome tease too, and it’s anyone’s guess exactly what this could mean for those within Piltover.