This episode is so beautiful that I don't know what to cry about - the beauty and perfection or for the horrors of it all.
“The level of sadism unleashed against Palestinians is truly unfathomable. It is redefining what genocide looks like, and yet, no one reacts.”
Francesca Albanese
The second I think I am safe from Adolf Caitler apologists they come at me swinging. I need to vent but I am also sick of people calling me "mentally deficient" or "fascist pig" on Twitter for calling them out on their bullshit arguments. Both are real quotes btw.
People really love bringing Jinx up in these arguments so I want to start there. Caitlyn stans find it hypocritical that so many people love Jinx but hate Caitlyn completely missing how one was a product of the oppressive system that had ruined her life multiple times leaving her with lifelong trauma and mental issues while the other is a ignorant person with privilege turned a FASCIST oppressor.
We all could see that Jinx's actions in S1 weren't right but were also a result of trauma and grooming (not in the sexual sense) and I think that most fans could see that she needed therapy and a support system, not prison or some other form of punishment. On the other hand, Caitlyn's arc in S1 was about learning to see beyond her own prejudice, privilege and ignorance and making a step to help the people. This was her goal - to help the people, this is the reason she became an enforcer in the first place, but in S1 she sees with her own eyes that they don't really help the ones that need it and were corrupt.
I personally believed that in S2 she would either change the enforcers for the better or leave them and fight for Zaun against the oppression. Boy, did it hurt to be wrong. S2 put her whole arc in s1 in a completely different perspective. One where Caitlyn cared for Zaun and what happened to the people there on a very surface level. It was more of a pity project than anything. All that while we see Jinx change for the better and have better character development than Cait or Vi combined making the contrast between the two even more striking.
At the end of the day, I will forever and ever find it easier to feel sympathy and forgiveness for characters (and actual human beings for that matter) who are products of a corrupt broken system but are anything but perfect victims and 100% harder for people who grew up with privilege and the second they were hurt sought revenge on the masses even if they weren't at fault for what happened. So arguments like "Jinx killed her mother" and "Cait was justified in wanting revenge" don't resonate with me in the slightest.
"But, in season two, she lost her mother bcs of Jinx, she just blew a blaze like Jinx broke one when she accidentally killed Silco, why want more of Caitlyn and keep defending Jinx constantly? Jinx did a lot of harm around her and everyone eats her hand as if she were a saint...."
...This is a real comment a person wrote to me. Some people are in fact mad that people see Jinx as a product of her environment and as someone who at the end of the day did more to break the cycle and change than the one that gassed people with a chemical weapon which can cause life-threatening long-term effects. I could say more but in the end, this person was just an annoying hypocrite who given a real-life example (Luigi vs corrupt ceo) could say which side was wrong but couldn't do the same for the show just because they liked the character. (People can like any character but arguing that every wrong they make is either justified or non-existent is wrong and annoying. Stand up with your cancelled wife and be proud of it or like them privately and quietly if you are too embarrassed to support them and their wrongs.)
Another one of their arguments that just makes the hair on my arms stand up is about the gassing. There are 3 types of arguments on this topic and they get progressively worse.
"Yeah, it was bad but it was better than going gun blazing like the annoying blond wanted." Here I am simply not sure. Would it have been as bad as when Vi and Powder's parents were killed, would even that have been better than making people live through what that gas causes, only to die young and in pain? I don't know much about the gas except that it is what caused Viktor's condition and the little we saw from the notes of Cait's mom. What are the chances of long-term negative effects? Maybe even if they are high, better painful short life than a quick death there and then. Who knows?
"The gas is not dangerous. It's like tear gas, stop overreacting!" I would understand missing how dangerous it is if we didn't have Viktor as a main character this whole time but come on
"They only gassed criminals and they deserve it" This one truly makes me sick. I once argued with someone about whether this was a war crime or not and if it even mattered because it's a show and not real life. Anyone who tries to justify gassing people and thinks that it's ok bc they are criminals (especially ones who were forced on this path by the broken system) should question where the line is for them. When do people deserve rights and when not? Also, Cait's fans will in one breath justify it saying that it was for the good of all especially the children forced to work in the factories and then say that no one innocent was harmed. Which one is it? Are there children there or only adult criminals?
Then comes the topic of Caitlyn's redemption...Minute for silent scream bc we all have neighbors. I can't say how I would have felt if she was given redemption because...I really liked her in S1 and I was Caitvi's shipper to my core. In S1 it was the only ship that mattered to me bc the others were either not my cup of coffee or I saw them as cute crack ships so maybe I would have been sold on her redemption arc... The problem is that there wasn't anything even remotely close to that. I didn't even hear her apologizing in this whole fucking season and people left and right are "she did all of that (imagine here are dumb examples of what they think her redemption arc was) but you all are just misogynistic/homophobic/racist and just want her to suffer". No, I just wanted the writers to admit that Piltover was the oppressor and they weren't just equally bad.
I am mad that Caitlyn never apologizes for what happened with Vi. "She betrayed Ambessa" Yes, she did but I think we really needed her to apologize to Vi or at least admit she was in the wrong but I don't remember a scene like that. Also even if she had done it it would have been a step towards making things with Vi right not - redemption for everything she did to her or playing a dictator and terrorizing Zaun.
"She fought Ambessa in the end" ...yes but Ambessa was attacking her city and the end-goal would have been the end to them all so what is your point? If Ambessa was going only after Zaun I am not sure Caitlyn would have lifted a finger.
"She freed Jinx" - this again was towards repairing her relationship with Vi not about suffering consequences or working towards undoing everything she did to Zaun.
Now this one actually make me sooo mad. "She gave her seat to Sevika". I hate that from every angle. First of all if she did, that brings a larger problem with the writing this season for me - forgetting or brushing over the very real issue between Piltover and Zaun and minimizing Piltover's fault in the suffering and hardships of the Zaunites. Zaun not being independent by the end of the series makes me want to scream but if the writers' ending to the Zaun-Piltover conflict was Caitlyn giving ONE seat out of 7 in the council to Sevika letting her be surrounded and outnumbered 6 to 1 by people who see her as nothing more than dirt on their shoes I want a refund. If the council wouldn't have done anything for Zaun after the war and it was only Caitlyn... fuck me. I myself question whether she even had the power to give the seat because which dumbass would give a seat on the council to a person who until recently was playing dictator stripping them of their power and working with the very same woman that they were just fighting?
If you read until here I have to apologize for all my rambling and admit that it is only coffee and spite that kept me going. There are probably more things but this is on the top of my mind. If we weren't living in times like these I would look at all these people defending her, her actions and Piltover as a whole and have a good life but now it just makes me mad.
To end this on a positive note (said the person who wrote a whole fucking rant post) the songs from Arcane S2 are so connected to specific scenes and characters in my mind that seeing a sisterly Jinx and Vi eddit on Fantastic permanently traumatized me.
Do better.
Here’s the truth: every right and freedom you have today exists because people before you got involved in politics and fought for them.
They went up against unfair systems that didn’t, and still don’t, want us to have rights.
Rights are fought for, not given.
When you say, “I’m not political,” you’re showing you don’t understand where your freedoms come from.
You’re also showing that you're fine enjoying the benefits of activism without helping out.
It is time to step up.
Let’s do better together. <3
Like, okay the dehumanization and misogyny of it all. Mauer treating this woman like a toy and attempting to gaslight her. The unspoken threat of sexual violence and what he could have done to her. Gemma clearly hating this man and him still toying with her because he can. It’s a violation, it’s abhorrent. The way that it’s not even clear that the company knows or not. That this technology would attract freaks who would abuse women and that it’s a plot point that in the news an innie did get pregnant. Literally kidnapped and treating her like a Testing animal. It’s so fucked up. It’s so fucking fucked up.
The way that this technology is being actually developed by real technofascist cretins who would do this.
If you care about women's right to abortion and are a citizen of the EU give https://eci.ec.europa.eu/044/public your support.
Arcane fandom right now:
WHat dO yOu mEAn SHe is deAD NO SHE ISN't TaKE THAT BACK
"Maybe in another life" "Why not this one"
SESBIAN LEX LETS GOOOOOOOOOO
He got his partner back but at what cost
I WAAAANA FEEL IT... I BET ON LOOSING DOGSSSSSSS
"I finished Arcane or did Arcane finish me" "I don't know about you but Cait did finish and that is all that matters"
All the "I would have also dated Dorian Gray knowing how morally bankrupted he is. Have you seen him?" posts annoyed me a little but I thought they were just jokes and didn’t think much of them...But were they really? With the amount of people on the internet arguing how "books are not political" and debating how characters like Batman would be republican I am not so sure anymore.
Sibyl's mother
No one:
Me: The Picture of Dorian Gray but James McAvoy plays all roles.
Dorian:
Basil:
Henry:
I wanted to come here and be very respectful, very mindful, very demure and just share with the class...
...but damn. The creators are showing us the inside of his mouth and these damn cute kitty teeth every other panel. How am I supposed to act normal? I can't right now so I will leave it at that.
Please enjoy
No one:
Me: The Picture of Dorian Gray but James McAvoy plays all roles.
Dorian:
Basil:
Henry: