Back in November 2021, the Netflix series “Arcane” was released and received a storm of praise from audiences and critics alike. The animated show had a unique world, a fantastic art style and many complex characters to explore. The end of the first season left us with an engaging cliffhanger and the need for more.
After three years, the series returned to amaze us again and picked up right where it left off. This season was a fun ride, but that isn’t to say it was perfect. Something felt off about how the story was progressing, with the biggest complaint being the final episode feeling somewhat unsatisfying. Thinking back on why that might be, I’ve concluded that the show simply needed more time to flesh out the aftermath of the climax and neatly tie up the loose ends of some of the characters’ arcs and their goals.
These issues are not found with everyone. Viktor and Jayce sacrifice themselves to save Piltover, Jinx sacrifices herself to save her sister and Caitlyn and Vi are left to pick up the pieces after the battle. Ekko, Singed and many other side characters either get unsatisfying conclusions or are not given one at all. Some characters are even killed off before we get the full idea of who they are.
For example, Loris is introduced in the first episode of the season and befriends Vi on the street. Throughout the show, he has small moments of subtly showing that he is not all that he seems. I figured everything would be revealed about him eventually, but he is never given time in any of the episodes and dies during the final battle. It made me wonder why he was in the show at all. There are other moments like this in the show that feel pointless at the end. Perhaps if there had been more episodes, they could have dedicated more time to each character and given them endings that truly felt conclusive.
