I liked this Act of Arcane Season 2 just as much as I had a tinge of 'why did this happen?' at the ending. Not because I disliked it not at all, because what we got in the ending was very true to this world, and very real, the finale was one of the most emotional things I have ever seen.
No, the problem lies in something that I have felt across Arcane, while all the story lines in the how itself are absolutely perfect in their writing, and even better executed, certain things seem a little, wtf? Why did you do that?
And like I get what you were going for story, but... pretentious much??
And I am absolutely not alone in feeling this, I know a person who basically binged through the show and didn't get the hype, I thought it was because he didn't absorb the things, he didn't give space between acts, but then I think back to it, even I binged it, and I got it...
Besides, it's Netflix, they ain't idiots, they expect Binging, so where is the issue?
Well the issue is, I am not perceptive enough... Or more precisely the Friend in question was... see there are these moments in the show, which give you this... Backronym like feeling.
For Those who don't know, A Backronym is an Acronym that you can very clearly tell has been worked backwards from for the sake of sounding cool.
For example : -
USA PATRIOT Act: An acronym for "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act"
SPECTRE: An acronym for "Special Executive for Counterintelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion"
SWAT: An acronym for "Special Weapons Attack Team"
MADD: An acronym for "Mothers Against Drunk Driving"
ZIP code: An acronym for "Zone Improvement Plan"
SAD: An acronym for "Seasonal Affective Disorder"
MASH*: An acronym for "Mobile Army Surgical Hospital"
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: An acronym for "Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division"
W.I.F.E.: An acronym for "Wired Integrated Female Electroencephalograph"
APGAR: An acronym for "appearance, pulse, grimace, activity, and respiration"
EDGAR: An acronym for "everyone deserves a game above reproach"
DREAM Act: An acronym for "Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act"
I thought only fiction was guilty of this atrocious crime against literature and language, but no, so is the U.S. Govt., but at this point what aren't they guilty of? And that friends is all the real life politics I shall inject into this.
Now I get it okay, sometimes you just want a cool name to sound even cooler by giving it a backstory.
And there in lies the problem.
Just like you can tell the absolutely atrocious design choices in a Backronym, you can tell the absolutely atrocious design choices present in a manufactured backstory for something that already exists.
That is right boys! HE SAID THE THING!!! And therein lies the problem, you see in the game, my boi Viktor is, in the Game, basically Iron man... I mean he is Jesus currently in the show, and he began as a scientist... man what a story...
But seriously, Viktor, is Iron man if he was suddenly taken by an urge to evolve everyone to the peak of their existence, He runs a factory where he just wants to evolve everyone to the peak of their existence.
Glorious Evolution.
And it seems a lot of the things in the final episode in particular were written endings first, like they wanted this point in Viktor's life when he realizes how futile all of this is, how inevitable the destruction of it all is and it is so due to Humanity.
That which inspires us to our greatest good is also the cause of our greatest evil... Humanity is the problem...
The message hidden in the pattern.
And while I must emphasize that the ending itself is absolutely amazing, the way to get there and everything leading up to it has this feeling...
And I didn't get what this feeling was until I actually looked Viktor up online and saw that this line, "Glorious evolution" is something he says regularly in the game.
And I hate to criticize the writing this way because when it comes to someone like Warwick for example, the backstory is perfectly set up, "who taught you how to punch." is something Warwick tells Vi in the game and that line is very well set up.
Warwick taught her, as Vander.
And I can't point out what exactly makes this difference any more than I can point out what makes an obvious and atrocious backronym and what hides it well, or at least, makes it more palatable, or maybe I can, but I simply haven't given in the time yet, who knows.
But the important thing is all of these backstories are Backronyms, for lack of a better term, and that fact only makes it that much more impressive that the story is as awesome as it is.
So remember kids, if it ever feels that they selected a cool ending before the story, it is because the did, well, the game makers did, and they didn't know that this was ever going to be made... so...
It's an inevitable crime of circumstance, but regardless the story of Viktor somehow elevated itself after knowing that this is the end point to everything, but when it comes to Warwick, that goes down in level, because somehow, this monstrosity is not something the authors came up with, this is something that already existed in the game.
Like yes, the fact that the writers could write this intense backstory for Warwick is amazing, but that almost makes Vander feel like less of a Character and more of a plot device, and I did not get this feeling while watching the show, I only get it now.
So I guess elements of the story have this sort of weird relationship with knowing the lore versus not knowing the lore.
For example, if I had known the Viktor thing earlier, I would have called the story good but predictable, because I could see from a mile away what was about to happen, I would call Vander's story good, but knowing this post seeing the episode, I feel the opposite, simultaneously if I had known the lore earlier I would have seen some twists like powder becoming Jinx from a mile away.
But I still would have liked it, it's very well executed.
So I guess all things considered, being a previous League of Legends fan does on the whole decrease the experience for you because you can tell a lot of it from far away, but not knowing some of the things before hand makes them feel... weird.
So I guess what I am saying is, it is complicated, just like the last episode theme, that which makes the show good is also the source of it's greatest fuckery...
I feel very smug for having seen that parallel and you can't take that away from me.
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