Arcane – Season 2 Episode 7 Recap & Review

Pretend Like It’s The First Time

Episode 7 of Arcane begins with Ekko in a distorted vision with Powder. They’re back in the Undercity, and it’s very much an alternate reality for what could have been before the bloodshed and misery. And, more specifically, without the invention of Hextech.

Gert and Mylo are still alive, and there’s a positive glow over everything, especially with Vander still running the bar. Vander speaks to Powder and believes she’s destined for better things.

Ekko is not alone though as his new bestie, Heimerdinger, is here too. It would appear that the pair have been thrown into an alternate universe, where the anomaly has dislodged and sent them hurtling through time. While Ekko has only just woken up in this place, Heimerdinger has been here for 1128 days. He’s been waiting all this time and out the back of the bar, Powder shows up too.

In this reality, Powder and Ekko have been working on an invention together, and it now becomes clear that Vi is dead. The reason there’s no Hextech stems from the tip-off for a job, given by Ekko. It would appear they were successful in destroying all of it rather than the other crewmembers dying and Powder joining Silco, but instead, it destroyed Vi.

Ekko goes hunting at the warehouse and recovers fragments of the Hextech. He wants to use this to recreate the anomaly and mess with the arcane. He encourages Heimerdinger to help him, but does take the time to talk to Powder, painting a beautiful mural of Vi and explaining how she’s strong and an icon in her own right. This is, of course, a lovely contrast to that mural of Jinx we saw earlier in the second season.

Elsewhere, Jayce awakens in a nightmarish realm completely destroyed and consumed by the arcane. A whole bunch of humanoid androids suddenly awaken amidst the rubble and look set to attack. Jayce tumbles off a cliff-edge and hits the ground hard. He can barely move his leg, while he sees the horrors of the Arcane upfront and in person.

Meanwhile, Ekko, Heimerdinger and Powder work together on reconstructing the anomaly and find out they can manipulate time and send themselves back. Ekko realizes that the limit is 4 seconds, thanks to some pretty gnarly visions of Heimerdinger being destroyed.

During a big party that night, we find Silco is still alive and it seems he and Vander are pals again after letting bygones be bygones. Powder and Ekko start dancing together, pretending like it’s the first time they’ve been together. As they kiss and enjoy their time, Jayce makes it to the very top of the Arcane-ravaged construct. This is where it began; the end of Piltover because of Hextech. Jayce is desperate for a chance to change things, which is intriguingly the exact same mission that Heimerdinger and Ekko are conducting.

Remember those visions of Heimerdinger dying earlier in the episode? Well, it turns out they were foreshadowed glimpses of what will be, and he’s been aware of his own demise all this time. He sacrifices himself to send Ekko back, just as alt-Powder shows up and sees Ekko passed out. Our Ekko is consumed within the Arcane and disappears from view, back to our reality, as alt-Ekko re-awakens.

However, Alt-Powder is back in her lab and it turns out, she’s had the Hextech all this time, locked away to potentially use.

The Episode Review

Seeing what could have been works really well to understand the stakes that we’re building up to, and I’m glad we didn’t linger too long in the alternate universe. This has been a big trope in media lately but it does hit hard to see how every thing could have been if Vi sacrificed herself and the Hextech was never created. Although the irony here is that she has the ingredients stashed in her drawer so theoretically, she could actually still use it to face the same reality.

As for Jayce, he gets whisked off to figurative hell, seeing the destruction and chaos that’s consumed the world thanks to the Arcane getting out of control. This is really a vision of what could be and now Jayce is more determined than ever to stop this reality from coming to pass.

With these being the final episodes, Arcane certainly hasn’t been shy about killing off characters, this time around it’s Heimerdinger who meets a sad demise at the hands of fate. Hopefully his sacrifice won’t be in vain!