Arcane 2x06 Edited & Full

One of the many things Arcane does right is one.. subvert the expected! Secondly, that though the world is beautiful, it's fraught with dangers. So nothing wrong with being a bit on the idealistically side of things Juliette, or do you prefer Jules? Don't tell me to choose since my preference is whatever Y O U prefer! Sorry had to drive that point home lol. However, depending on the circumstances the odds are that realistically nothing ends like a fairy tale. It's exactly the point of this episode, world being beautiful and dangerous or idealism and realism are two sides of the same coin, inextricably bound to one another. Depending on the conditions, it's not always going to be a 50-50 split in the odds, as fair and unfair being on the scales of equality are tipped in favor of individual circumstances in the game of life we are all gifted to play. Unfortunately, for those like Vi and Jinx it's a game that presents numerous obstacles and always perilous, which certainly mirrors Vi's dialogue to Jayce in season 1 episode 8 "One dead kid, there's are plenty more where he came from.." meaning the poor, outcast, and under privileged have the odds stacked against them. That included Isha, sadly. Yet, it was a choice she made, yes.. an idealistic one and done in a moment of desperation not having the awareness at her age to fully make the best realistic decision, it was done with the utmost best intentions for the sake of those she loved!

That was an amazing episode. Very sad of course, but amazing nonetheless. I was fairly certain (but hoping I was wrong) that Isha would die at some point this season and here we are. The thing that makes it slightly less traumatic is that she went out on her own terms and in a very brave and heroic way, sacrificing herself to save the person she loves. I do wonder how Jinx is going to take losing Isha though. I mean, badly, obviously, but that could manifest in many different ways. Well, only three episodes left to go then. I'm very excited to see what happens next but I'm also wondering just how thoroughly they can wrap things up in such few episodes. Guess I'll find out soon! Thanks for another great reaction Juliette. As always, I really enjoyed watching this episode along with you. Hope you have a lovely end to the week 💜

This episode didn't just break my heart, it made it bleed! 💔 Viktors power might be finite, but the pain this show is causing is infinite...😭🙈 Ambessas tone with Caitlyn is interesting. She actually seems to have gained respect for Caitlyn and likes to train her. Maybe because she could never train her daughter like this? She does seem to see Caitlyn as a daughter ersatz.🤔 Viktor built his commune right where the sisters lived beneath the water tower. You can see the old post where they marked Vis and Powders heights and later on, when Vi and Jinx talk about helping the commune, you can see that they're sitting on the remains of the broken down water tower.😱 Viktor terrified my here, talking about a "glorious evolution" and surpassing nature. Not even the doctor is that hubristic. While the doctor tries to manipulate evolution to overcome death, Viktor seems to aim for what he perceives as perfection, erasing everything he recognizes as a flaw in humans. The hexcore is definitely the more dominant part of his new personality. Viktors followers aren't really healed. Yes, he may have cured their addictions and healed their bodies, but now their lives depend on his and he turned them into a hive mind, where he can seize control of anyone of them as he pleases (see Salo). They are not themselves anymore. Remember how Salo seemingly didn't need to breath or just look how calm and collected the ever jittery and afraid-of-everything Huck has become. He doesn't even flinch when Rictus tries to intimidate him. 🤔 DETAIL: Viktors followers all have his fingerprints branded on their faces. DETAIL: Isha takes the gemstones out of both of Vis gauntlets and puts them in her pocket. 🙈 Viktors expedition into Warwicks mind to find Vander is so trippy, but at the same time overwhelmingly beautiful. Vander is buried so deep inside Warwick, that they have trouble finding him. In fact, only Isha showing him affection by bringing him food and water and communicating with him calms him down. Vanders ethereal face got a bit brighter when Isha brought him fruits and only then Viktor and Sky discovered him.😍 Oh the irony – When Viktor gets the glimpse in Singeds past, he hears him read a story about a man straying so far from the right way into darkness, that he can only go forward, because he is beyond the point of no return. One could think he reads his autobiography, and after Viktors words about evolution to overcome the human nature and seeing what his commune – or better cult – really is, it applies to him to. I think Viktor is the definition of a villain who is absolutely convinced he is doing a good thing...🙈😱 Caitlyn only realizes she has taken down Vi after it happened, she didn't recognize her due to her longer black hair. It's actually funny, she seems really pissed off that Vi dared to dye her beautiful pink hair black (Since we know she has a thing for redheads - see Maddie 😅). Even when Vi called her a mongoose, she can't stop looking at Vis hair. Ambessa said two things to Vi that made me listen up. Firstly she said: “You're the one who captured Caitlyns heart." How did she know that? Their relationship wasn't common knowledge, only a few people close to them could have known about it. Namely her parents, maybe Jayce and maybe a small handfull of enforcers who heard her praise Vi when she tried to enlist her. Then secondly Ambessa said something even more interesting: “Your absence provided a vacuum I was able to fill.” First I thought she meant herself, but then I got the thought – what if she placed someone directly in that Vi-shaped vacuum? In the end, Jayce did what he promised Viktor to do such a long time ago: He destroyed the hexcore. It was no easy thing to do though for Jayce, you can see how he needs to amp himself up to do it. The screams of the dying souls is the most eerie sound I've ever heard. And I've seen a lot of horror movies. They can't exist without Viktors powers. So much for doing good...🙈 Unfortunately that also affects Vander and Vi had to see her father die again. He is bleeding/burning from the inside. His death is a co-production of Viktor connecting him to his powers, Jayce trying to destroy this power, Singed injecting him his serum (You can see him in the dark of the tent with his injecting device during the chaos of the battle) and Isha turning Jinx' hextech weapon into a bomb by intentionally overloading it with three gemstones (One was in there already and the other two where from Vis gauntlets). 😭🙈 What happened with Vander? Viktor fills physical wounds with some kind of Arcane liquid metal and connects the "healed" to his hive mind. They become extensions of him with a tiny harmless bit of their old personality. With Vander he didn't get that far since the Shimmer blood inside him tries to reject the hextech metal. After Viktors death the hextech stopped working, since it lost its power source. It dies. Parallel, the doctor injects his serum and the metal begins to melt. Normally that would kill him, but the shimmer blood fights it and keeps Vander alive. It must be immeasurably painful for him, so he blindly lashed out against everyone around him. Isha saw all this and came to the conclusion to release Vander from it's pain and from accidentally hurting his family, by killing him and sacrificing herself in the process. Isha is a hindu name and means “the one who protects”. And she did. From her first drop into Jinx' life to her last move, she saved and protected Jinx with all she had. Ishas truly heroic sacrifice, combined with the chalk drawings style of her remembering her time with Jinx, simply just broke me...😭💔🙈 Please google the lyrics of “Ishas Song”. It is basically an incredibly loving farewell from Isha to Jinx. For example, the chorus: “Don’t be troubled or sad. Don’t forget: Even if tears fall, we must keep running, Run to where even time can’t find us. Be the birds that soar at the edge of the sky.”😍😭💖💔 Let me close with the final lyrics of “Ishas Song”: “Don’t keep searching; Just give me a hug. Let’s quietly forget, for this is good enough for me.“ 💔💖😭😍

This episode is both tough and beautiful. The hardest part for me was Isha's sacrifice. You could see the beautiful life that Isha had after Jinx saved her. But Jinx gave Isha both the best and worst parts of her. Isha, without hesitation, did what probably not even Jinx could do. She took risks to save others. She gave no thought to her own well being, to save Jinx and to stop further violence. She went out a hero, but was her sacrifice necessary or worth it? Jinx has put herself in that situation many times but has pulled though. What will the impact be of seeing what happened with Isha? Why did Jayce do it? The next episode is my favorite of the series. Looking forward to seeing what you think.

I had forgotten which episode this was. When I remembered all I could think was "oh no."