Arcane: Season 2 - Act 3

When I published my review of the first two Acts of Arcane's second season, there was one clear underlying point that I made. While the first six episodes of this follow-up season were some of the most remarkable animated television I had ever seen, it never really left much room for a fitting conclusion to have been set up. Effectively, at the end of Act 2 there was around two hours to conclude this story and in a way that befitted and lived up to the standard of the near-impeccable whole. My fears that it wouldn't "stick the landing", so to speak, were perhaps a bit overexaggerated, but at the same time it's clear that Arcane needed an extra bit of time to wrap up in a way that felt absolutely perfect.

Now let me explain what I mean here. Act 3 spans three episodes and those three episodes cumulatively last around 130 minutes. It is pretty much a movie in duration and that should mean there is plenty of time to reach a fitting conclusion, however Act 3 also doesn't want to be anything other than the Arcane we know and love. This leads to one of the three episodes basically being a mini-story in and of itself, with this mostly revolving around Ekko in an alternate world. This episode is fantastic. Whether it's the narrative weight, emotive potential, artistic flair and creative variety, animation technique, the list goes on. This episode, which presents a new take on Powder, gives Heimerdinger an unexpected conclusion, and properly explains Jayce's motivations, is one of the strongest Arcane episodes to date. But, it has arrived so close to the end that it takes up a large portion of the breathing room that the last three episodes require to have an even pacing.

This fantastic seventh episode leads directly into an eight and ninth episode that feel as though they have no brakes. These are entertaining and top television, but where we were expecting a really action-packed and explosive finale, instead we get what feels like a more rushed and instant conclusion that lacks that bit of precision the rest of the show almost always succeeds at. We don't really get a big fight between "good and evil", not in the way that we have seen in prior episodes. Some of the biggest characters feel forced into the concluding story, and others feel as though they get so much focus placed on them that it's clear that Riot wants to use them as a focal point on future projects. The point is, it's uneven, but it's uneven by Arcane's standards, and that means it misses the mark by a centimetre or two, and doesn't come across as a huge dejection as is the case in other video game adaptations we have seen.

So, it should be said that Act 3 is still brilliant television, some of the best you will ever see, but after wrapping these final three episodes I can't help but feel as though it needed one extra episode to do and tell what it wanted to do and tell with an even pacing. I still feel absolutely comfortable in saying that Arcane is the greatest video game adaptation we have ever seen and arguably the greatest animated television series of all-time, and that's because both seasons have continued to impress with remarkable narrative, top performances, strong pacing, and some of the best animation styles and techniques I have ever seen. For all of these reasons, Arcane is a true one-of-one series, a show that every person - be they a League of Legends fan or not - should watch. And amid it's slightly unevenly paced final Act, Riot and Netflix has managed to cap off this series in a way that it will not be forgotten or misremembered in the future. Arcane is a masterful piece of animation and for that reason, my minor qualms with this final batch of episodes feel less relevant. We have been spoiled and I find it hard to believe any adaptation of a video game will reach the heights this show achieved. Bravo, bravo indeed.