The second season of Arcane on Netflix begins with changing alliances and bad blood

“There is a monster in each of us. It’s time to let the monster out,” says Undercity crime boss Silko in the Arcane Season 2 trailer – and from the three episodes I’ve seen, it’s clear that everyone cuts through the delicate threads of “Arcane” love, hate and Loyalty that once bound them together.

At Netflix’s Egyptian Theater in Los Angeles, the streaming service gave media a look at the first episodes of the second and final season of Arcane, the show set in the League of Legends universe. I saw the first act ahead of its release on November 9th with a packed crowd of fans cheering on the next chapters of the story of Jinx, Vi, Caitlyn, Jayce and others committed to the future of the city of Piltover.

The first three episodes lay the foundation for the second season, and while a lot of time is spent laying the groundwork, there are also plenty of gripping character moments and intriguing developments that have me excited for the final six episodes. I will be sad to leave Piltover and all the vibrant characters that make Arcane such a joyful, heartbreaking melodrama.

If you haven’t seen Arcane Season 1 yet, it’s worth checking out to prepare for Season 2 – but here’s a quick recap to get you up to speed. Warning: There are spoilers for the first season.

Arcane follows League of Legends lore but has its own story. It is set in the wonder city of Piltover, which is largely divided between a genteel upper world of nobility and scientific advances, ruled by a council of privileged upper classes – along with Heimerdinger, the spirited, long-lived yordle scientist and de facto elder of the city. His prodigy, Jayce, develops magic-infused hextech that advances the city’s progress but brings it into conflict with the undercity’s poorer residents, who demand independence to form their own nation of Zaun.

Over the course of the first season of Arcane, crime boss Silco dominates the undercity, to the detriment of the sisters Vi, a thug, and the unstable Powder, who, after being abandoned, becomes the mad bomber Jinx at Silco’s right-hand man. Pressure simmers between the self-proclaimed Zaun and Piltover’s council and military, with noble city soldier Caitlyn trying to bring Jinx to justice (in the process, falling in love with Vi). In the season one finale, this culminates in a brutal battle that leaves Silco dead and Jinx bombarding the council – creating a firestorm as the upper and lower factions of Piltover head towards war.

Act I of Arcane Season 2 picks up right where the first season left off – and if you thought the unlikely team-ups between the top and bottom Piltover characters in the first season were surprising, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

When is Arcane Season 2 coming to Netflix?

The first three episodes of Arcane Season 2, Act I, will be released on November 9th. The second trio of episodes, Act II, will be released on November 16th, and the final three episodes of the series, Act III, will be released on November 16th. 23. There are currently no plans for a third season of Arcane.

What happens in the first three episodes of Arcane season 2?

Broadly speaking, Act I is about dealing with the impact of Jinx’s attack on the Council and the resulting power vacuums that are reshaping the board. Spoilers for Season 2 below – but only the first three episodes, which arrive on Netflix today.

Act I begins immediately after Jinx’s attack with three dead council members – including Caitlyn’s mother. The elite of Piltover are eager to attack the lower city and invade with troops. Vi, a native of the Undercity herself, wears a Piltover soldier’s badge to ask Caitlyn to bring Jinx to justice instead of punishing innocent civilians. A small force sets out to take on Vis’s younger sister, and her relationship with the noble soldier deepens. But after a violent brawl pitting Caitlyn and Vi against Jinx and the Undercity enforcer Sevika, the former lovers part ways.

This is the main theme of the first three episodes: character alliances are broken and others are formed, reflecting the changing consciences of the cast as the war gains momentum. While surviving council member Mel tries to uncover conspiracies between the drug-infested Undercity and Piltover’s elite, her mother Ambessa – a noble from Noxus who arrived with mercenaries in tow in the first season – continues her political moves and plays quietly quietly the city’s powerful against each other in order to increase their own influence.

After Jinx unknowingly shoots crime boss Silco at the end of the first season, the crime bosses of the lower city plunge into the power vacuum. Some stage an attack on Piltover’s nobles during a ceremony celebrating fallen council members, but mostly they clash with each other and make life worse for the residents of the Undercity – including a young girl whom Jinx saves from criminal family ties and becomes one little buddy will be. It’s a nice parallel and an opportunity for Jinx to do some thinking, but it doesn’t pay off in the first few episodes.

What changes in another heartbreaking sequence is inventor Jayce’s friendship with his assistant Victor, who was injured in the city council bombing and put into biostasis thanks to the Hextech core. When Victor emerges from his doll in a newly transformed body, he speaks bitter words to Jayce and poisons their friendship. Instead, he decides to descend into the depths of the Undercity, to the miserable victims of Shimmer, the drug that Silco was coursing through the Undercity. In a dark alley, Victor seizes an addict and reveals startling new powers to cure him of his suffering (though he also changes it) – and create his own holy following.

Jayce is adrift, neglecting his council duties to focus on Hextech. His laboratory is attacked by the most unlikely of burglars: his old mentor Heimerdinger and Ekko, a young leader of the Fireflies, a vigilante faction beneath the city that fights against the crime bosses and Jinx. As they return to the Firefly headquarters, built around a giant underground tree, the trio develops a startling new theory: new, wild magic is a reaction from the forces of magic itself, counteracting the increase in magic-using hextech. This seems to be a foundation for the rest of the series, so let’s wait for it to pay off.

At the end of the last episode, a new order emerges. As hinted at in the first season, Ambessa had fled her homeland of Noxus due to a factional feud that claimed the life of her son and affected the rest of her family. A magical force kidnaps Mel and takes her off the board. In her absence, Ambessa uses another council member to persuade Piltover’s nobility to take military action once and for all – and then replaces her pawn by appointing an embittered Caitlyn to take control of the city’s armed might.

As the curtain closes on Act I of Arcane Season 2, hearts are broken and new alliances are forged, but Piltover is ready to invade the Undercity en masse, whatever the human cost – a powder keg (pun intended), that is waiting to explode factions and champions. And lurking in the background is someone slowly coming back from death as something completely different.

The first three episodes of Arcane Season 2 arrive on Netflix today as Act I.

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