|
Post by Martin Stett on Mar 5, 2022 1:14:06 GMT
Is anybody watching this or seen it already? I just caught the first episode and I'm impressed. This is solid fantasy adventure stuff. I'm completely unfamiliar with the game this is based on, but it stands alone quite well.
|
|
|
Post by themoviesinner on Mar 5, 2022 11:11:14 GMT
I've seen it and I was a big fan of it. It's the kind of fantasy stuff I'm a real sucker for. The animation is also really well done. Now, the game isn't anything special, as it's the type where you just select champions and battle online with others. It doesn't have a story, although it does have a great amount of lore. But, yeah, I loved this series and I'm eagerly awaiting for season 2.
|
|
|
Post by Martin Stett on Mar 6, 2022 1:31:53 GMT
One episode whetted my appetite, and two episodes confirm that this is YA fantasy nirvana. Its actions scenes are fun and well choreographed (I appreciate that the fat kid can kick ass by using his bulk to beat opponents into submission - it's like the directors have actually seen real fights before!), the show looks FANTASTIC (the animation here puts any animated movie of the past few years to shame), the characters are all very catchy and just complex enough, and the narrative is building webs between all of them for things to explode. This is the kind of thing that Brandon Sanderson tried and failed to do with his Mistborn and Elantris novels: create a fun, vibrant fantasy world. Whether or not it can set up a proper narrative remains to be seen, but already I'm seeing the dominoes falling for an epic confrontation, and the show has barely begun.
I've privately bemoaned the fact that there are no proper fantasy narratives in movies/TV that I have encountered (I'm on record as being "meh" on LotR). None of them could ever catch the high of immersing yourself into another world. Few have ever tried. Arcane could pull it off.
|
|
|
Post by Martin Stett on Mar 7, 2022 3:02:36 GMT
Episode 3When I said "I'm seeing the dominoes falling," I DID NOT see literally half the cast getting brutally killed in a single episode, signaling the end of a prologue and putting pieces into a new configuration on the board. I was having fun before this, but now I am emotionally hooked. Powder's impotent rage is some of the scariest stuff I've ever seen - and that was before that blood chilling finale.
Baby, give me more fantasy narratives that are willing to get this emotional and willing to back it up with violent consequences, and I will answer the siren call. In short: HELL YES
|
|
|
Post by Martin Stett on Mar 9, 2022 4:04:16 GMT
After five episodes, I'm pretty much convinced that this is the best TV show to ever come out of America. I am physically restraining myself from binging this (I think that good television needs time to soak in between chapters). This is a very well written web of characters and motivations, with consequences to the actions these characters take. I'm gonna have to see just how well this pulls together the plot (and how this handles Jinx, who is a fascinating but enigmatic character), but right now, this is everything I could ever wish it to be.
|
|
|
Post by Martin Stett on Mar 11, 2022 4:02:03 GMT
Episode 7 I always assumed that Marcus's story arc would end with him turning on somebody: either Silko or Jayce. He was caught between two masters, and eventually he would snap and go against somebody. But instead, this took a much more realistic approach to his character, and to all of the characters in the show: he is trapped by his decisions, forced to sleep in the bed he made. Just like Jinx. Just like Silko. Just like Jayce. And I'm assuming that Victor will join them in making an irrevocable decision soon enough. They're all tragic villains, people who made decisions that have determined the course of their stories. There's no turning back. Marcus will die with his arm blown off, unable to pass on a message to his daughter. Jinx will, eventually, have to face the consequences for what she has done. Whatever good Silko may have had planned for the Lanes was forgotten long ago. Jayce will create weapons that could cause loss of life on a massive scale. They made their decisions. Heaven help them. Which is what makes the prologue segments of each episode - showing each character as a child, before things went to hell - so damn hard-hitting. Jayce never wanted to hurt anyone, Vi and Powder were touched by violence at a young age, Victor never wanted anything to do with Shimmer, Caitlin (and Marcus!) admired Grayson and wanted to become a cop because it helped people. There are some characters - the good guys, or at least as close as this show gets to something so simplistic - that haven't yet made that leap. Vi was stuck in Stillwater and has had no chance to make her own mark on the world. Ekko has fought against Silko every step of the way and has, in turn, kept his soul (although after that ending, he may have lost his life ). Caitlin is still trying to sort out how to be an enforcer (literally, one who forces the will of an authority on someone else) with how to protect people and serve them. They are the light in a show that is looking to be rather grim on the subject of human nature. I shall be curious to see how they are handled. Oh, and that fight scene between Ekko and Jinx is one of the most clever and touching "I know you're in there" fights I've ever seen. It's such a common trope in this kind of fiction that rarely works for me... but seeing the flashback of the two playing with paintball guns was a moving moment. It really illustrates the tragedy of this world, seeing the two friends forced to face each other with real arms, replaying the war games of their youth.
|
|
|
Post by Martin Stett on Mar 12, 2022 2:19:47 GMT
Episode 8 Just some scattered thoughts this time:
- Mel's house as a child would have made for one hell of a reality show. - I'm looking forward to Heimerdinger joining the Firelights and riding a hoverboard. - Savika turning on Silko would be exactly the sort of payoff denial the writers of this show adore - everyone wants a piece of Silko, and it would make the most logical sense to have his #2 turn on him for another gang. And just as importantly, it would feel hollow. Everybody has a right and a reason to want their vengeance on this man, and it would be the least emotionally fulfilling option to have Savika just stab him through the chest. This show thrives on denying its characters the emotional fulfillment they typically receive in high fantasy epics, subverting the romanticism of the genre with its cold-blooded, bleak view of humanity. - On that note, Victor accidentally killing Skye fits right in with the show's tone. Everybody talks about George R.R. Martin being willing to kill anyone, but I find Arcane to be a more effective example. Even the smallest characters are shown to have agency and humanity, and the writers relish the thought of butchering characters large and small to showcase the cruel world the leaders of the tale have created. - Mel, sweetie, this isn't the show for blind idealism. It's cute that you still believe in goodness when you were the driving force behind Jayce's "growing up" into a cynical politician who is two steps away from becoming a warlord. - Dear Infinity War writers: that shitty bit with Thanos supposedly "loving" his daughter? It was crap, because there was never any sign that he cared for her outside of one flashback you awkwardly shoved in. If you want to show an evil man who truly feels affection for his daughter and does everything he can for her wellbeing - while still maintaining that he is evil incarnate! - look at Silko. He has repeatedly shown a fondness for Jinx, he has tried to teach her and raise her, and he has shown that although he is generally a cold, violent man, he becomes someone else around his batshit daughter. That doesn't at all excuse him, but it does make him a more three-dimensional, relatable bad guy. - It was a nice touch setting the final fight scene of the episode in the same refinery from episode 3. - Silko's outfit is super cool. Shallow observation, I know.
Okay, so I'm obviously crazy about this show. But I wouldn't be me without noting some negatives:
- Jayce's rise to de facto leader of the Council was too fast. I think another episode needed to be spent to ease him into the business of greasing palms, instead of relegating it to what is pretty much a montage. (Good montage, though.) - The teased romance between Vi and Caitlin is really awful. It's hard to even believe them as friends, since the narrative has given them little time to get to know each other. I adored the big scene between the two of them here, as it is the first time that Vi has actually opened up to Caitlin at all. It makes Caitlin refusing to name Jinx to the Council (and Vi's willingness to do so) a more significant act. But it is still too little, too late. And besides, that scene is still centered around Vi and Powder, which is where the emotional depth comes from. It is important that she feels comfortable enough to tell Caitlin about Powder, but she's still more focused on her sister than her potential girlfriend. It really makes the queerbait rather obnoxious, like they want points for queer characters without having the guts to maturely handle them. Which is a shame, as this show is SO MUCH more intelligent and mature than any other fantasy show/movie series I've encountered. - The scene in episode 5 that has Caitlin saving Vi at the last moment. Where did she come from? There is no evidence that she followed Vi. The last time we saw her was when she was in the brothel, and she seemed otherwise engaged. - Okay, that's really all I can come up with. I am ashamed of myself, finding only three points (all of which are kind of nitpicky) that bother me. I called this the best show to come out of America, but apparently it's a French studio? It's probably fair to call it American because of the writers and voice cast, but if I label this as French I can still keep my hatred of U.S. TV going, as the best show I've seen from the country is... Firefly? Well, actually it's Animaniacs, but sketch comedy doesn't count.
|
|
|
Post by Martin Stett on Mar 14, 2022 1:35:50 GMT
Season one FINALE I'm not completely sold on this episode. It isn't bad by any means, but it is very clearly meant to be set-up for season two, instead of a proper chapter in itself. But then, one could say that of the whole season. The ending montage with characters like mad scientist shimmer man (edit: that would be because he doesn't have one: he is credited as "Singed") holding a portrait underneath a... shimmered corpse (I think?) and Heimerdinger hanging out with the Firelights is much more of a teaser of the next chapter than a proper end to this one. They were clearly banking on the banquet being the big emotional moment of the finale, and it sort of works. (Side note: Apparently I was wrong about the previous episode's shimmer factory being the one used in episode 3, as it seems that the banquet takes place there. I'm not sure, I can't recall specific visual details.) I think that it went a little too Batman (Jinx seems to be inspired by Batman villains from the Joker to the Mad Hatter) and felt a bit off. So many of the show's greatest moments are small things that pack wallop (pretty much anything with Marcus, Victor running without a cane, Ekko's paintball fight, literally any interaction between Silko and Jinx), and this seemed to be stretching to hit some big, memorable, emotional highs that the show rarely attempted before this. (The exception being the finale to episode 3, which it nailed by virtue of ripping the mask off of the fun fantasy setting to reveal the violent cruelty that was simmering under the surface. It was SHOCKING. This was inevitable, and so I could prepare for it. And that's fine. It is a good scene. It works. I can't think of what I would do differently. It's just that in a show that thrives on the accumulation of detail, this big moment came off a bit forced in comparison with what the writers have proven they have in them. What else? Silko is pretty much my favorite writing of a villain that I've ever seen, but I don't have anything intelligent on that topic. His two big scenes (one with Jayce, the other with Vander) in this episode just cement that. I also dug everything about Victor's scenes in the past two episodes. He is looking to become my favorite character, now that my previous favorite ( Grayson Powder Marcus Silko) is no longer a part of the cast. Mel's pacifism will be interesting to see develop if she survives the cliffhanger. Not too much else to say. The show rocks. Edit: After reflecting on it for a couple of hours, the ending works better for me. Jinx is one of the least relatable characters in the series on account of being nuts, but the resolution of her character arc as she finally chooses Jinx over Powder - and Vi over Silko, in the same horrifying moment - is magnificent. She makes her decision, like everybody else, and the show doesn't shy away from how painful it is for her to reject Powder (or how painful it is to have killed her father... again ). So yeah, the ending is warming on me. Anyway, this is, on the whole, the best show to come out of the non-anime world in... maybe ever? In all sincerity, this was everything I could have asked for, and more besides. I'm a sucker for a good fantasy story, and Arcane took my expectations of that - a fun adventure - and fulfilled them while creating a tragic character study in which everyone has equally strong writing.
|
|
|
Post by Martin Stett on Mar 14, 2022 21:26:21 GMT
Final thoughts on things that I didn't touch on, aka The Vi/Jinx appreciation rant: Okay, so I focused more on Silko, Jayce, Marcus, etc. than our leads, but that's because their arcs were clearer and easier to understand than Jinx and Vi. It is only at the end that I can look back at their actions and get a good view of what the writers were attempting (as opposed to Marcus, whose story was straightforward: he was caught between what was "morally" right and what was best for himself). I didn't know precisely what specific flaws were meant to bring these two down until Jinx's banquet. Obviously, they had flaws, but the specifics of what would sink them eluded me.
The banquet (which I have now fully embraced) is the answer to the question: "What drives these two?" Vi seemed like a pretty single-minded "heroic" character, but taken from Jinx's perspective, she is spiteful, ugly, and selfish. It is Vi that named her, and Vi that could never look at "the monster she created" (to quote the song that plays at the end), like Victor Frankenstein. Vi's whole quest is to find the child she remembers (as illustrated by Powder's chair at the banquet being seated in front of dolls and crayons). But Powder is no longer a child - the problem isn't that she is now a murderer who has voices in her head, the problem is that she is no longer an innocent girl to be protected. Jinx sees this as a refusal to accept who she really is... and it's true! It's horrible, but Vi could never love Jinx the way she loved her sister, because she will not ever look on Jinx as a woman with agency. She will try to change Jinx and crush her into Powder.
As for Jinx, she gets the full tragic arc treatment. She flirts with the idea of becoming "Powder," but even her ultimatum (kill Caitlin and she'll go with Vi) is a sick joke that is all Jinx. She faces herself and accepts what she sees. Silko could do that. He didn't have some rosy vision of "the real Powder." Her name is Jinx. It was Jinx before he ever adopted her. And knowing that, he loved her for who she really was. I always felt that I gave short shrift to these two, but that's because the show kept the resolution of their arcs pretty well hidden. Oh, one other note about the banquet: I really, truly didn't know if Caitlin's head was on that platter. It is high praise to say that the show could conceivably do that to a core character and not seem like some try-hard stunt to shock the audience.
|
|