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Arcane Act 3 - Blog Posts
I am being consumed by the Arcane hyper fixationβ¦.π
i was so scared for him
I did like timebomb with Ekko x Powder. I don't like it with Jinx, but even with the Symbols and everything I didn't feel the ship was forced into Jinx and Ekko and I did appreciate that. To me it felt more like the two were reworking themselves to fit their "new us" together, not as a couple, but as a team to build up something new. They spent so much fighting and resenting the other while also missing the ghost of their childhood friend (and possible crush), I don't think they could ever work that out.
In the alternate universe what Ekko mostly gained was closure, he was able to say goodbye to Benzo and Powder. To me it meant a lot when Ekko corrected himself after almost deadnaming Jinx, I don't think it was because the last time she saw her she was Powder, but because Ekko was like Vi in season 1. They didn't want Jinx, it was Powder or nothing, because Jinx is Silco's daughter, the daughter of the man who killed Benzo and Vander deciding to remain loyal to such man.
It left me wonder: when Ekko said he gave her chances, did he ever gave Jinx one? Or did he only ever give them to Powder? The way he says "she is gone" to Vi implies that it was Powder the one who he extended his hand with.
Then there is Jinx, who he just found out trying to kill herself (in all shown it's clear that, even through everything, he doesn't want her to die). We don't know why Ekko was there, if he went there for Jinx, if he just apammed there after the arcane multi-verse travel or if he was there for something else, but he was there and decided to stop her. And the words that get through Jinx are this:
"It's never too late to build something new. Someone worth building it for."
That was something important for Jinx AND Powder in both seasons. First, her gadgets for the team, then the Hextech weapon for Silco, the Sevika's arm, then her new finger, then Vander's death, then her relationship with Vi, then this: Isha's sacrifice. To make it worth something, which is why the globe had the symbol of the bunny (Powder AND Isha's symbol) instead of her iconic symbol of the monkey. From Sevika's arm, while building is important, there is a shift from "building" to "fixing".
"It was something I could fix."
That is Jinx's whole plot during season 2, it's what gave her motivation in the first place after Silco's death.
We don't know how much Ekko knew, but if he saw that Jinx had taken his place, becoming a symbol of the one that take cares for the Undercity, then he had to give her a chance. With the closure he needed, he was ready to accept Jinx, even if she is not Powder and he would always grieve her and what it could have been if things have been different.
Forgiveness is not a theme in arcane, but something deeper. The characters never really forgive each other but learn to live with what happened and move forward accepting that the other person is there. Accepting that, they too, haven't done things right, so they really can't keep pushing against that person and pretend that they are justified in whatever are the consecuences of their actions.
Ekko and Jinx just started building, because people they cared about needed them to, and they decided to give it a chance because it was sonething they could fix. Whatever that something was their friendship, their battle efforts, the sacrifices made, ir didn't really matter. They just gave each other a chance, that was why the monkeys in Ekko's timeloop were important, not because they represented a "good version of Jinx", they represent Jinx, and Ekko was willing to add them, just like he was willing to add her now. To give her something to work with.
Now I'm aware I probably just got it the way I wanted it because content was cut short, I would have lost it with actual Ekko x Jinx content, but this ambiguous way it works and I'm grateful that I got it.
I also believ this is a ship you dislike more the fanon content than the actual content, as Timebomb shippers more often than not ignore that Powder and Jinx are in fact NOT the same person to try and force the Ekko x Jinx. Same individual yes, but not the same person. It's one of those ships you dislike more because of the fans disregard of canon and important content than the little we were given or oven force fed by the show. (Becaus c'mon, the whole tea party scene in season one was NOT so people could say "tHeY aRE tHe sAMe pERsoN")
How it feels to not like timebomb after s2
"JINX IS ALIVE" i yell as i am dragged through the halls of my high security asylum
jayvik
(they're literally quantum entangled your honor)
oh the misery
Will yall hate me if I said smash
AND HES TALL TOOO
Hello there Jesus of Nazareth
Okay jokes aside, this moment is extremely beautiful and I'm watching this on my own, I cannot explain the surreal feeling that courses through my veins. This show is the air I breathe, the water I drink and the soul inside me and this scene, however the hell you see jayce and viktor literally doesn't matter. Lovers, platonic soulmates, idc. This scene is beautiful, in any context and any universe. Thank you arcane production team.
How to get this song out of my head?
The way he immediately shies away once a glimpse of his real self is revealed.
The way he literally gets smaller and tries to hide it.
The way it shows how much he is ashamed of his imperfections.
The fact that he doesnβt want Jayce to see it
Heartbreaking.
The dances of Jinx/Powder
The paths of Powder
ARCANE SPOILERS WARNING!!!
My honest reaction to Arcane ending:
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vi (arcane) masterlist π»
ππππππππ ΛΛΛ β ΛΛΛ open !
smut ; π
fluff ; π§Έ
angst ; π₯
. β βΉ . βΛ . β
ONESHOTS :
[ coming soon ]
DRABBLES :
β .β¦ furniture shopping with vi π§Έ
[ more coming soon ]
HEADCANONS :
[ coming soon ]
SERIES :
[ coming soon ]
β°ββ€ main masterlist send a request
Vampire Viktor I love you (soon to come Vampire slayer Jay)
Glorious evolution Viktor π
chat I have a confession to make. chat.
Missing scene comic
Parallels between Jayvik and the Phantom of the Opera
I can't believe I haven't seen any discussion yet around the musical theater influences in Arcane S2 so far (besides my one mention of its parallels with Les Miserables).
So as a basic, Phantom of the Opera-loving bitch, can we please take a moment to examine the Phantom of the Opera parallels that are literally shoved in our faces during this opening sequence and what that means for Jayvik?
Viktor is the Phantom. The show opening outright says it. The parallels are there. They're impossible to miss.
And then, when you dig a little deeper, hooo boy those parallels become even more stark. Especially if you read Viktor as romantically pining after Jayce, which 99.9999% of humanity does.
To quickly summarize, Phantom of the Opera is the story of a deformed genius who falls in love with an opera singer, Christine, and then nurtures her talents, only for her to in turn fall in love with a nobleman, Raoul. The ensuing love triangle is the heart of the plot, with Raoul and the Phantom both vying for Christine's love.
This shouldn't be a hard one to see the parallels for.
Viktor = The Phantom. Literally a genius born with a disfigurement, in this case a disability he sees as a weakness and a disease that is sapping away his life and hope of a legacy. He is riddled with jealousy for the person trying to pull his scientific/musical partner away from him, a person who happens to be beautiful and live a life of privilege that Raoul/Mel could offer to Jayce/Christine instead.
Jayce = Christine. Instead of sharing genius in music, he and Viktor share genius in science. Like Christine, he is tugged between the glittering world of politics and privilege, vs his genius and love at a more esoteric skill, in this case science instead of music.
Mel = Raoul. Literally an aristocrat who is far more beautiful than the Phantom/Viktor, who steals away his partner's attention and offers them a glittering life of privilege in the public eye instead of the wonders of their joint musical/scientific pursuits. Whether or not Mel meant to embody this, or steal Jayce from Viktor, this is the role she fulfills in Viktor's view of the world.
But the most profound moment for me of, "Oh wow, they're doing Phantom of the Opera! Actually, they're not just doing Phantom, they're doing Phantom fixit fic?!" was this:
Which, if you'll forgive the potato quality of the screenshots, is literally the moment Viktor has his mask knocked away and then cringes in on himself to hide his exposed face from Jayce.
Which... is literally a scene in Phantom of the Opera? Just after "Music of the Night"?
But we're already in Phantom fixit territory, because Jayce doesn't recoil like Viktor expects! Instead, he embraces Viktor and loves him for all his self-perceived flaws.
And then, AND THEN, in a moment that made my Phantom-loving heart sing, Viktor tells Jayce to go!
And Jayce doesn't.
In the final song of the Phantom of the Opera musical, Christine is forced to choose between Raoul and the Phantom. She chooses the Phantom and kisses him. Flooded by remorse, the Phantom then relinquishes her to the man he knows she truly loves, and when Christine hesitates to leave, he shouts at her, "Go!" and then, of course, she and Raoul leave together.
Viktor is expecting that to happen! I think his order to Jayce very clearly implies that he thinks Mel and Jayce are still together. It's the classic, "Go be with the woman you love instead of staying here and dying with me," trope that we see over and over again in dramas.
But Jayce. Defies. The Trope.
Unlike Christine and just about every buddy war movie out there, he stays with Viktor. He chooses his scientific/artistic partner over the life of aristocracy and privilege that Mel would theoretically offer him. He chooses the masked genius with the disability and calls him perfect. He refuses to go when he is ordered to leave. He stays with Viktor until the end.
And I still can't believe that no one else is talking about this!
Young Jayce and Viktor (sketch)
