Arcane - Killing Is a Cycle / The Dirt Under Your Nails
After peaking with "The Message Hidden Within the Pattern," the Second Season of limps to the finish line with a what if multiverse style story followed by two episodes more concerned with the Noxian army's collaboration with Viktor (Harry Lloyd), while never truly exploring the moral ramifications of what he has accomplished or Jayce's (Kevin Alejandro) obsession which cause the conflict, and their attack on Piltover rather than the characters who have made up the emotional core of the series. The result is an underwhelming finale with some individual moments that ends with a whimper rather than a bang.
Mel's (Toks Olagundoye) story with the Black Rose ends, although I wouldn't say resolved, and she does get to show off some new underdeveloped powers in the final battle. After already bringing Jinx (Ella Purnell) and Vi (Hailee Steinfeld) back together, the show pushes them apart unnecessarily before bringing the back together (again) and delivering another big sacrificial save for a character (that, unfortunately, pales to what we got in "Message Hidden"). What works mostly are nods to previous episodes, bringing back (and slaughtering) many smaller characters for the big war, and of course the romantic reunion between Vi and Caitlyn (Katie Leung). For a show that at it's best was really, really good, to go out with such an underwhelming final few episodes is certainly a disappointment.
