Arcane season 2 review: "One of the greatest video game adaptations of all time"

When The Last of Us premiered in January 2023, it was heralded as proof that the so-called 'video game curse' had finally been broken. But HBO's adaptation was actually just one of many shows and films that had already defied this 'curse', including Castlevania, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, and even Sonic the Hedgehog on the big screen. However, arguably the strongest case arrived in the form of Arcane, a Netflix animated series set in Riot Games' League of Legends universe.

Upon its arrival in late 2021, Arcane blew up with fans of League of Legends and newbies alike thanks to its faithful yet bold new approach to fan faves such as Vi and Jinx. No preexisting knowledge was required for this prequel that explored what happened to these sisters after their lives literally blew up with an explosion that changed everything, setting them on very different, opposing paths.

This time around, preexisting knowledge is very much required, and not just because it's been three whole years since we last visited the world of Arcane.

Hitting the ground running

Unrest between the gilded paradise of Piltover and Zaun, the seedy oppressed underbelly that struggles below, reached a head at the end of season 1 when Jinx fired a stolen Hextech gemstone at the Piltover council. Season 2 hits the ground running in the immediate aftermath, escalating the conflict tenfold with a more expansive world that still finds time to hone in on the bad blood between Violet and Jinx.

Everyone has been irrevocably changed by the attack, whether they were physically caught in the explosion or are later impacted by the political ramifications of what happened. There's more tension than ever, tangibly etched into every frame, every expression you see on screen. And with this being the final season, it really feels like anything could happen, so those raised stakes couldn't have come at a better time.

In the first season of Arcane, notable characters like Silco and Marcus snuffed it. This time around, brace yourself for even more heart wrenching tragedy. showrunner Christian Linke teased as much during a recent chat with Black Girl Nerds where he said: "We definitely always wanted our world and stories to feel like they have consequences, and death is the most severe consequence."

Achingly beautiful

Yet as dangerous as this world can be, it's still achingly beautiful. Even as we move through rubble at the start of season 2 – picking up immediately from where last season's explosion left off – Arcane wastes no time in reminding us just how stunning this show looks in every respect.

French animation studio Fortiche Production has somehow outdone themselves, expanding on their signature mix of 2D and 3D elements with even more intricate detail, bold coloring, and dynamic movement that will have you screaming "hang it in the Louvre" at any given point throughout.

One scene early on juxtaposes that beauty — a thousand spinning purple petals in this case — with the line, "I want to tear that laugh from her throat forever," which sums up so much of what makes Arcane work as well as it does.

These unexpected contrasts are key to the worldbuilding, making these fantastical environments infinitely more real than you'd expect from a video game property this stylized. The animation always serves the story, not the other way round, which can sometimes be the case unfortunately with a show that looks like Arcane.

Season 2 experiments with this in key scenes, such as a funeral procession where the drawn lines are blurred by grief and color is drained from the edges. Another scene later on, this time shot from the perspective of a monstrous, rabid creature, heightens our fear with a skewed, animalistic vision that evokes video games without foregoing the cinematic tone of the show. Key moments in the final episode number among the show's most beautiful yet, splashing rainbow watercolors across the carnage of the battlefield.

There's still beauty to be found in moments like this or even the grisly fights where every punch to the face or slice of a limb flows with mercurial precision. The scale of each confrontation is matched only by the music, often accompanied by large choirs singing, which is somewhat heavy-handed yet still fitting for a show like Arcane where everything is dialed up to 100.

Every episode brings the energy you'd typically see in just the finale of any other given show, yet Arcane still doesn't disappoint when it comes to the grandeur of its actual series finale, upping the ante yet again somehow with something truly special. Small character details are just as important as the bigger picture, and that's also true of the animation itself where as much attention is given to the intricate, sprawling backgrounds as it is the action in the foreground.

Bigger scope

Even the weapons have so much character to them, and that's true of the world-renowned character design as well. New characters, including a young companion for Jinx, effortlessly slot into this world while the voice cast from last season continue to perform stellar work across the board. Katie Leung is a particular standout as Caitlyn Kiramman, the enforcer who's now forced herself to make even harder choices this time around.

Disgruntled fans who were disappointed by how season 1 tiptoed around the relationship between Vi and Caitlyn will be much happier this time around. Even with everything going on, more time is devoted to the pair in season 2, culminating with a gorgeously animated sex scene in Act 3 that's just as emotive as it is important in the wider context of queer representation on TV — and in animation, especially.

But the success of Arcane ultimately hinges on the central relationship between Vi and Jinx, and once again, Hailee Steinfeld and Ella Purnell ground that push-and-pull they share with emotional clarity and so much warmth, even when they're fuelled by hate or bitterness. Neither is entirely good nor evil, and it's in this blurring where their humanity can be found, which in turns speaks to how impressive the writing is in this show.

As their journey together reaches its crescendo, fists are thrown and tears are shed as Vi and Jinx come to blows one last time. It was always going to be emotional, this biblical confrontation, but it's made all the more harrowing by an alternate reality excursion in episode 7 which looks at what could have been if things had gone down differently for them both. It's in these last three episodes where the writing sings most, prioritizing emotional struggles just as much as the final battle itself.

And what becomes of the rest of your favorites? Without spoiling too much, Arcane ends with a surprising yet fitting end for each of these beloved characters that successfully weaves all the show's many, many threads into an epic, emotionally resonant payoff. It really shows that Arcane was always supposed to end this season because there's no awkward cliffhanger. This is a complete story that's beautifully told yet still leaves us wanting more.

With the final three episodes in particular, Arcane has lived up to the high standard set by season 1, easily cementing the show as one of the greatest video game adaptations of all time.

Arcane season 2 is available to stream in its entirety on Netflix. When you've finished Act III, check out our picks of the other best Netflix shows to add to your watchlist.