Arcane – Season 2 Episode 5 Recap & Review

Blisters and Bedrock

Episode 5 of Arcane season 2 starts with Vi slipping and beginning to fight her way through the boxing world in the Undercity. This is a very different side of her that we haven’t seen before. Her hair is stark black, she’s angry, bruised, and consumed by her own rage.

When she wakes up, she finds Jinx watching over her. Jinx brings up that Vander is back and he needs their help.

Elsewhere, Caitlyn arrives at the prison and sees the slaughter for herself. Singed is still in the prison cell where we left him, deciding to stay rather than join the others. He obviously summoned Vander to the prison. Singed is a patient man, and promises to wait it out while also bargaining with them. Ambessa tries to play her hand, offering him immunity and to be treated as an esteemed advisor… in exchange for all his weapons. Well, one anyway. She wants Vander.

Singed explains that at the time, he thought Vander to be an incredible specimen, capable of terrible but great things, thirsting only for blood. That’s what he thought anyway. Now he’s realized that he never found the right catalyst to bring that humanity back. And that comes from Jinx and Vi.

In his workshop, Caitlyn speaks to the doctor, and soon realizes that this guy is actually Corin Rebeck, the creator of Shimmer. He doesn’t deny it. Signed explains he did all of this for love, wanting to bring back his daughter from death. He thinks the beast may be the final puzzle piece to make this a reality.

Meanwhile, Mel wakes up in a Black Rose prison. They have a way of mentally manipulating their captors, which includes a number of frightening visions. She’s not alone in this large cell though, as a mysterious man called Kino is there too. This happens to be Mel’s brother. He doesn’t have any love lost for Ambessa either, and here he explains why.

Kino was a fighter, and after a few rounds with some noblefolk, he heard rumours about Ambessa falling in love. He kept looking into this and Ambessa’s affair apparently led to a child. The insinuation here is that it’s Mel.

Kino also explains that this place they’re in is an Oculorum. According to legend, the ancients built these specialized chambers as a way of sealing false prophets. He keeps jumping around the cell, and Mel eventually realizes something isn’t quite right. She manages to break free from this cell, destroying the imposter pretending to be her brother. 

When Mel properly awakens, she’s bound by a number of chains but she manages to break free, harnessing some hidden power deep within her.

Meanwhile, Vi joins Jinx and Isha as they head down to the basement. She’s surprised to see Jinx is a symbol here, with a beautiful mural up on the wall of her alongside Vander. Jinx and Vi head down into the tunnels, where Vi follows along begrudgingly.

The pair certainly have their differences, which they skirmish out a bit, but it’s clear that they’re both bound by their love for Vander so for now they agree to let bygones be bygones. While looking through the tunnels, they eventually uncover Vander and another fight breaks out with the beast. Vi drops her hands and shouts “Vander!” which snaps him out of his raged trance.

As Jinx steps through the darkness, she finds Vi and Vander together, hugging. Vi encourages Jinx to step forward and join the family reunion, and she does just that.

Meanwhile, Jayce and Viktor find themselves reunited under extraordinary circumstances. Viktor ends up joined with Salo thanks to the Hextech, and encourages him to come join to see his accomplishments. He’s given the Hextech to the people and the changing fates here see Jayce very much against this, thanks to being touched by the arcane, while Viktor is all for it. Jayce refuses to let him leave, and smashes his hammer right into him.

The Episode Review

This episode slows things down as we see Vi and Jinx reunited under surprising circumstances. Seeing how the pair are differing in their beliefs and faith in the system is absolutely fascinating to watch. Their little skirmish, and desire to be back with Vander, ultimately leads to an emotionally charged reunion at the end. But damn did this feel rushed! Given how much history the pair have with one another, the pacing in this is definitely starting to show.

As for the rest of the characters, it’s clear that Mel has a far bigger part to play in all of this than we’re seeing, while the drama involving Jayce and Viktor is intriguing and could have massive repercussions for everyone, especially as the Arcane is unstable and threatens to destroy everything. It’s all built up to a rather dramatic conclusion to Arcane act 2!