It’s been three LONG years, but Arcane: League of Legends is back and picking up right where it left off. And they haven’t missed a beat. If anything, Season 2 has turned the visual, narrative, and emotional depth up to a new level.
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Arcane: League of Legends Season 2 Act 1 Episode 1, “Heavy is the Crown,” opens with the aftermath of Jinx’s (Ella Purnell) attack on the Piltover Council chambers. Jayce (Kevin Alejandro) and Mel (Toks Olagundoye) look scruffy and stunned but are unharmed. They cling to each other while Enforcers walk through the rubble, looking for survivors.
Arcane, “Heavy Is the Crown”
Shoola (Mara Junot) stumbles out of the dusty haze, her mechanical neck cuff damaged and one eye swollen shut. Jayce scours the carnage, spotting an Enforcer trying to pry Salo (Josh Keaton) out from fallen wreckage. Spotting a body on the ground, Jayce rushes over and discovers that Cassandra Kiramman is dead. Ambessa (Ellen Thomas) grabs Mel and checks to see that she’s all right. Reassured, Ambessa proceeds to direct rescue efforts.
Jayce spots Viktor (Harry Lloyd) on the ground, unconscious and badly injured. He carries Viktor back to their lab and frantically looks through their notes for a way to help him. The Hexcore becomes agitated, and the HexTech in Viktor’s leg responds. Jayce lifts the Hexcore toward Viktor with tongs and its energy reaches out, connecting with him. The Hexcore rips itself away from Jayce’s tong grip and flies to Viktor. The room fills with a blinding light.
The Aftermath
Cassandra Kiramman is laid to rest while a musical montage of Piltover mourners, highlighting Caitlyn (Katie Leung) and Vi (Hailee Steinfeld) plays. After it is over, Caitlyn stands in the ruins of the Council chambers. Mel walks over and offers her condolences. Shoola stands nearby. Salo wheels in, pushed by Ambessa. Salo regrets ever agreeing to give Zaun sovereignty. Mel questions her mother’s presence in the chambers. Salo insists her experience and advice are invaluable.
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Shoola broaches the topic of moving forward. The people of Piltover are scared and need reassurance. Salo insists they flood Zaun with Enforcers armed with Hextech. Caitlyn protests that innocents will be harmed. Salo doesn’t care and demands to know why Caitlyn is there. Mel explains that Caitlyn witnessed the attack and has confirmed that Jinx acted alone.
She further argues that with Silco (Jason Spisak) dead, Zaun is leaderless. An attack now would unify them against Piltover. She recommends turning them against Jinx by posting a reward too great to ignore. Shoola dissents, stating Jinx must be brought in immediately, preferably by their Enforcers. Salo sees this as a Council vote, two to one, to invade. Ambessa points out they need to present a unified front. Mel concedes but draws the line at Hextech. Shoola backs her on this, making the decision two to one. Ambessa turns and makes meaningful eye contact with her henchman, who quickly leaves the chambers.
Legacy
At home, Caitlyn opens the Kiramman correspondence and finds a black envelope sealed with the Piltover signet. Inside is a black ribboned patch for official mourning. Her father sits down next to her, disheveled and clearly at a loss in his grief. He ignores her offer of tea. She sighs and confesses that she had the shot. He turns and gives her the Kiramman Key, telling her Cassandra left it to her. Caitlyn tries to refuse it, saying she doesn’t deserve it. He reassures her that it’s her legacy now.
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Vi stands in the parlor doorway. Caitlyn’s father spots her and angrily asks why she’s still there. Vi turns and walks away. Caitlyn follows. In the corridor, Caitlyn throws herself into Vi’s arms, sobbing. They embrace and then step apart. Vi admits that Caitlyn was right, that Powder’s gone. She vows to make things right by bringing in Jinx herself. Caitlyn tells her they need to do things right this time. She tells Vi the Council’s sending all the Enforcers after Jinx. When Vi insists she needs to help, Caitlyn offers her a position with the Enforcers.
Vi drops the offered badge in shock and refuses to join, reminding Caitlyn the Enforcers killed her parents. Caitlyn questions whose side she’s actually on. Vi leaves.
Seeking shelter from the rain, Vi throws an empty bottle out of frustration and accidentally hits a man sleeping under a pile of newspapers. He walks over and offers her a flask. She takes it and takes a long swig.
Recovery
Mel finds Jayce in his lab, barely awake, staring at the stasis cube the Hexcore has created to hold Viktor. Only his unconscious face is visible. Jayce reports that he is breathing and his pulse is stable. He explains the Hexcore is evolving in order to keep Viktor alive. He confesses his guilt over surviving the attack without a scratch. Mel tells him about the Council meeting. She advises him to visit Caitlyn.
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Caitlyn sits in a Piltover garden surrounded by swirling purple petals. She imagines hunting down Jinx, her finger on the trigger. Jayce interrupts her daydream. She tells him that she and Cassandra used to escape to this garden. They never argued here. She confides in him how she’s feeling. Grief over her mother’s death. Fury at Jinx. Mixed emotions about Vi.
In Memory
In the daylight, Vi drinks herself into a stupor with her new friend, both of them lying on the dais of a public monument. A couple of Enforcers find them. One, Maddie Nolen ( ), calls her by name. Vi assumes they’re there to harass her, but Maddie denies that, explaining she’s a bit of a legend among the Enforcers. She asks if she really went after Silco alone. Vi’s buddy opens an eye at that. Maddie tells Vi that Caitlyn threw a fit at headquarters when they denied Vi’s enlistment and threatened to withdraw her family’s funding. Maddie offers a hand in friendship, happy that Vi’s joining up. Vi shakes her hand.
Fanfare plays, summoning Piltover residents to the memorial service for the Councillors who died in Jinx’s attack — Irius Bolbok, Torman Hoskel (Dave B. Mitchell), and Cassandra Kiramman. Maddie and her partner leave. Vi wakes the big guy up, and they attend as well, submitting to a search before entering the plaza.
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Mel steps up to the podium and prepares to deliver a speech. Several veiled guests arrive and hand the guards their invitation. Mel begins to speak. Vi senses something is awry. A man in an Enforcer uniform shuts the doors. Vi sees him walk by and spots a Zaun tattoo on his neck. She follows through the crowd but is stopped at the VIP guest railing. The tattooed Enforcer drops his bag at the foot of the veiled guests.
Attacked Again
He walks onto the stage and approaches Mel from behind. Drawing a pistol, he knocks her to the ground with it before aiming at her lying on the ground. Behind Jayce, the veiled guest comments on how awful it is to lose a loved one before flinging her disguise off, revealing herself to be Renni (Abigail Marlowe), and revving up her chainsaw. The tattooed fake Enforcer raises his gun and fires a flare into the air, signaling the next phase of the attack.
A sky ship arrives, and Zaun invaders in HexTech suits dive through the skylight. Vi and Caitlyn try to engage the suited fighters while Jayce faces off with Renni. Maddie and her partner try to get the counselors to safety only to have their carriage knocked over. Together, Vi and Caitlyn manage to disarm and neutralize a suited attacker. Caitlyn gives Vi a hand up. Looking around, Vi tells Caitlyn to get everyone clear. She has a plan.
Another suited attacker pulls Maddie from the carriage by her foot. Backstage, Jayce tries to attack Renni with a mallet/gavel. It is ineffective, and he gets a chainsaw wound to his back as he tries to run. He crawls away, but Renni catches up and prepares to eviscerate him as payback for killing her son in the Season 1 shimmer factory raid. At the last second, she is knocked flying by a shot from Jayce’s Mercury Hammer held by Vi.
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Hammer Time
Vi sees a suited Zaun fighter approaching Caitlyn and the Enforcers. She’s unable to arm the Mercury Hammer alone but, with Jayce’s help, prepares to fire at the suit. Just as the Zaun invader is about to strike the Enforcers, but before the Hammer does its thing, a long-handled axe flies through the air and knocks him down. This is followed by a shower of spears that pin the invaders to the ground and walls.
Caitlyn and the Enforcers look around and spot a masked Ambessa slitting Renni’s throat, surrounded by her warriors.
Another Aftermath
Ambessa’s warriors secure the site. Vi goes to talk with Caitlyn about calling off the invasion because the Enforcers will be slaughtered down in Zaun. Caitlyn’s desperate to retaliate but calms down, listening to Vi. She admits she shouldn’t have tried to force the badge on Vi but shares that she can’t see a way forward. Vi promises her they’ll find a way together.
In the Kiramman home, Caitlyn hears her mother’s voice in her head as she inserts the Kiramman key into a device. As she searches the archives for the makings of a plan, we see Jayce back in the workshop, preparing to get to work.
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In Piltover’s dungeons, the remaining counselors meet. Salo is seething at the indignity. Shoola wonders how they were able to infiltrate the memorial. Mel theorizes it was an inside job as Ambessa leans against a wall nearby, listening. Salo states they must attack Zaun with HexTech weapons. Before Mel can agree, Caitlyn arrives and states a full-scale invasion is futile.
Assert Authority
When Salo challenges her right to be there, Caitlyn asserts her authority as a decorated officer and head of House Kiramman. She announces that she will lead a strike team into Zaun. There are three objectives to the mission: locate Jinx, dismantle Shimmer and neutralize Silco loyalists. At his forge, Jayce is hard at work.
In the dungeon meeting room, Caitlyn and her strike team display the HexTech weapons Jayce has armed them with. From out of the shadows, the last member, Vi, joins them, wearing the Atlas Gauntlets. Linkin Park’s “Heavy is the Crown” scores the scene.
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His work done, Jayce slumps against his anvil, a contemplative look on his face as he gazes at Viktor, still ensconced in the Hexcore cube. Viktor grimaces.
Arcane Season 2: Stinger Scene 1
Out in a frozen landscape, Singed (Brett Tucker) walks away from a sprung leghole trap covered in blood and fur. Following a trail of blood, he approaches a cave. Two pairs of glowing eyes are seen in the cave’s darkness. Singed uncorks a gas grenade and prepares to throw it.
Arcane: League of Legends is currently streaming on Netflix.
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