The Message Hidden Within the Pattern

Arcane is on a terrifyingly promising pace right now and is showing absolutely no signs of slowing down as we're reaching the final act of the series.

A part of me was worried after season 1 that Arcane would be milked by Netflix due to its popularity, but with only 1 more season a part of me was worried that maybe it was too soon. But simultaneously I knew this meant that Arcane would have 0 time to waist and be able to go all out with this 2nd and final season, and that's EXACTLY what has transpired so far and it's amazing to witness.

Given that 1x3 was so great I wondered if Arcane would start hot again this season, and given that this is it I should've known. And now the 2nd act does even MORE and sets the bar even higher, and sets the stage PERFECTLY for the final episodes.

I'm not trying to be a prisoner of the moment, but I think we'll look back at this one day as TV history. This act is the most non stop brilliant TV I've seen since Breaking Bad's final season and I'm praying that they stick the landing next week.

It's hard to stomach the fact that we have to say goodbye to this show in just 7 days, but I'm extremely grateful that such a masterpiece isn't getting milked to death but instead getting it's time to shine and set it's legacy, and be forever remembered as hopefully one of the greatest television experiences of the modern era.

(Edit: January 1st, 2025) - After finishing arcane and mulling for over a month, sadly I don't think the final act lived up to the standard of what I was hoping for. I think the entire 2nd act as a whole is the highest point of season 2, but the overall experience of act 3 and the many off-putting moments in act 1 make me look at the whole season in a different light knowing the payoff. I still love this episode and the amazing parallels it made, especially to my favorite episode of the series (1x3), but as a whole I think arcane season 2 completely missed the top tier category of the wire's, breaking bad's, AOT's and BCS's of all time great final seasons. I'm glad that many people still loved it but as a whole I think the execution could've been much better and more fleshed out, and in retrospect with the full context of the entire season it's sour to reminisce on this episode knowing the full context of the season and where it goes. This episode just doesn't have the same punch knowing the full story.

Honestly one should take a 5-minute breath after finishing this episode in order to grasp what just happened when seeing an animated top of the art series phenomenon that comes once in a decade.

The depth of each character, the richness of this universe the visuals and the sound, yes the sounds are really second to none.

When you thought you are already invested in every figure and generate the "right" feeling to them, then this episode enters and shattered it all and force you to cry and reinvest all from the beginning because everything is blown up to pieces.

Right become wrong, villain become hero and friend become enemy. Amazingly this being done in a such way that all this chaos unrealistic script becomes the most beautiful logical human show to see.

I really don't have anything to say except for lets wait for next week's explosion!

No words are needed. Whoever gives this episode anything less than a 10 is just a lunatic. From the smallest detail to philosophical arguments, hands down gave me the same (if not better) feelings/goosebumps as Game of thrones used to. Nothing else needs to be said just a massive bravo to everyone that contributed to this masterpiece. I just hope it will live up to the expectations that it has created up until this episode. Also just be ready for the emotional Rollercoaster this episode is going to create for you. Okay okay I'm for real done now (I will actually never shut up about what I just saw) PS. I never played LOL.

While I stand by my assessment that Act I of Season 2 had some pacing issues and made some unfortunate jumps in story-telling hidden by all too frequent music video styled montages, I realize that it was the compromise which got me to this amazing Act II.

This act almost feels like an end-of-life final lecture given by a great philosopher. The amazing thing is that we are being treated to subjects which are deep and meaningful but we get to see them through the lense of emotion rather than intellect. That is an amazing feat of narrative skill which is artfully supplemented by near perfect music editing and directing.

This is nothing short of great art. It is touching and thoughtprovoking and it shines all the more brightly when compared to the emotional slop and writing hackery that poses for "modern media" in recent years.

Thankyou! Thanks for treating me like an adult with your gift of a story rather than preaching to me like I am an immature child.

Me and my dad watched this episode. I'm fourteen, and my dad is fifty-four, but we had the exact same reaction to this episode. I ended the episode with at least a good ten minute sob session, and he ended it with a look of complete shock and a hand to his forehead.

I could make a pretty good argue that this episode is better than 1x3 and 1x9. It has to be one of my favorite episodes of media ever, which is saying a lot. It managed to capture so much. The emotion, the dialogue, the storyline, to the animation. It's been almost a full day since I watched the episode, and I'm still in shock.

It really was amazing. Kudos to the Arcane writing team!