Today's episode contains spoilers for the first three episodes of our Cane season one. Watch those before you listen today or don't.
I folks, I'm a Boo and I'm Aaron, and welcome to x ray Vision Extras, an x ray Vision series where we dive deep into even more of your favorite shows, movies, comics, and pop culture.
Every superhero team needs side quests, and our rotating panel of producers and guest hosts will be suiting up to help Jason and Rosie cover even more of the pop culture landscape.
That's right, and in these first couple episodes of Extras, Aboo and I will be rewatching Netflix's Arcane season one and a lead up to the release of season two, coming out on November ninth. Today, we will be covering episodes one, two, and three, Act one.
But first let's introduce you a little bit to x ray Vision Extras.
Haaren I figure we let the.
Listeners know what's going on and whether they're hearing our voices or not.
Rosie and Jason, Yeah, I think the main thing to know is that nothing's changing with the main show. This is literally just us giving you extra bonus treats. There's not enough time to have Jason and Rosie cover everything, and we're just trying to fill in the gaps.
That's right.
We'll have a mix of the other producers, Joelle and Carmen who you've heard on the show. We'll have guest hosts. Jason and Rosie will join us. Sometimes this is literally just a.
Bonus, another cherry on top of your Sunday. Yeah, who does want two cherries?
And for those of you who don't know us, let's introduce ourselves a boo. I'll introduce you. Many of you have probably heard a boo on X ray in the past, including my favorite a boom moment the Deadphone Wolverine episode where you famously said the mask means nothing to me or something along those lines.
I did say that.
Why don't you give the listeners a quick rundown of your background and your interests.
Sure, I am six feet tall, Please don't fact check that Dating me is like rewatching the Digimund movie on a rainy day. And the green flags that I look for are whether or not you spoil your dog and whether or not you use a budgeting app.
So that's everything you need to know about me. What about you, Erin, I.
Don't watch the Bachelor? Is that like a Bachelor thing? Is that? I just googled top hinge questions, hinge props. Okay, my name is Aerin. You've probably heard me on the show talk about elden ring or magic. I love video games where you have to roll to dodge attacks with a standina Barka. I love heroes that use quippi remarks during battle. And I'm a big fan of pretty much everything that X ray covers. And it's been really cool to be a part of the conversation with all these things.
And I don't like rogue one, and we're not going to talk about it, so let's stop telling about it. Yeah, we'll do it a different time.
Yeah, we'll put a pin in that one.
Okay.
So that's a little bit about us again. Over the next four episodes of x Ray Vision Extras, Aaron, you and I will be rewatching and recapping that first season of Arcane to refresh our memories, but also to refresh the memories of our listeners who maybe haven't watched in a while.
Yeah, it came out a long time, a long.
Time ago, and this is kind of the norm for TV shows these days, right, it's the years and years in between seasons.
And it's instead of like twenty episodes a year, you get eight episodes over three years. So that's where we are with our kide.
Right, unless you're the bear somehow pulling out a miracle. We're also, of course going to be rewatching and recapping for folks who are maybe interested in just jumping right into season two and don't want to bother watching season one, then maybe these next four episodes of Aaron and I
talking about it are for you. I will say, I really need those folks, in particular the weirdos who are only going to listen to us and not watch the show, to hit us up in discord and explain why it's unfathomable to me.
But I know there's some of you out there.
I could see that for sure. And I will admit that there have been times when I've watched a season two of a show and I have not finished the season one within the past recent time. I will not say how recent because it may give away what show. But before we start reviewing ourcane and recapping it, it's worth pointing out that the show is based off the lore and the characters of the Legal Legends World, a game which I have never played. Do you have any background with the game?
It would be an overstatement to say I have a background with a game.
The last time I.
Played it was definitely over ten years ago.
Wow.
Okay, But I think that's kind of the magic of this show, right. You don't have to know anything about the game at all, and you can watch this show and walk away so satisfied and loving it. But I think if you do know some of the lore of the game, it doesn't hnce your viewing of this show
because there are these little easter eggs sprinkle throughout. There's fun world building that they pull from the game itself, and you and I will do our us to try and call out whatever easter eggs we find in these next couple of episodes. But again, neither of us are a huge league of Legends players, so I'm sure we'll miss a ton, So it's up to our listeners to point those out to us and let us know.
But yeah, if for whatever reason, you've listened this far into the episode and you haven't watched the show, and you are not panicked by the fact that Jason and Rosie have not shown up yet, know that you are okay to get into the show, even if you have no background or context for League of Legends itself.
All four of you that are still here, you're okay to watch Arcade season one. Okay.
So that's a bit of preamble and housekeeping out of the way that we wanted to take care.
Of up top.
But we have three year old episodes to recap and get through today, so let's take a quick breather. But coming up right after the break, we are diving into episodes one through three of Ourcane.
And we're back with Arcane Episode one. Welcome to the Playground. We start off Violet and Powder are walking hand in hand across a bridge that's been devastated in battle. There's fire everywhere and they look up and through the smoke they see this figure who we later learn is Vander, exhausted dropping his combat gloves, and he sees these girls who are terrified. They have looked and they see the bodies of their parents there. Vander goes over and carries them away from the carnage.
Boom.
Title card.
Incredible, here we are, and not to hit pause right off the bat. Here before barely into the show, but I just have to say already blown away by the art style, blown away by the animation. Having seen the trailer and watching this first episode, I remember thinking this was another into the.
Spider Verse moment for me.
Hmm, wow, Like the way I felt watching Spider Verse and going I've never seen animation like this before.
This is gorgeous. Is how I felt watching Hurricane.
It does feel elevated. Like there are plenty of incredible animated shows out there, this just feels like it has a bit of uniqueness to the entire style, and it is like someone put I don't know, two hundred percent more effort into all the animation.
Yeah, yeah, everything, the lighting choices, the cinematography, the character designs, everything is so gorgeous. There are frames in the show that are.
Worthy of being printed out and hung up on a wall.
They are definitely frames that remind me as we go through the show, that remind me of like the Avengers movies where they would have comic splash pages. It's like, here are all the Avengers and Age of olschron r, here are all the Avengers like circling up. There are definitely like Team Up comic book cover movies in the show design, which is a very cool way of making it.
One hundred percent.
I am curious, Aaron, you're a musician, you have a music background. What do you think of Imagine dragons? God, Imagine dragons. DNA is all over this show.
It very much is. I will say that again. We don't want to pause too quickly. We don't want to get negative too quickly. I think an immediate stumble of this show is I don't know his name, but the Imagine Dragon's lead singer's voice comes through, and I X Ray tries not to be negative, and that's one hundred
percent a great way to do it. I have never clicked skip intro as quickly as I do in the show, and that is you know what, There's just something about a modern band being the title card for a show that I don't always love, and in particular right here I really dislike. It's the way he delivers the lyrics. It is the lyrics, it's the melody, it's the song itself. Sure yeah, So, like I said, my favorite artist of all time. Can't wait for more Imagined Dragon than season two.
All right, Well, continuing with our summary of this very first episode, we join Violet Powder and their gang of ne'er do wells, these Ruffians as they break into this fancy apartment in the upper City. Things quickly go for them when they discover this chest of mysterious blue crystals and someone starts knocking at the door. Powder Panics accidentally drops a bunch of the crystals, causing a massive explosion,
and then a chase ensues. The enforcers are after them, and the kids are trying to get.
Away, jumping over a bridge as a ship goes underneath it. Yeah, very important detail, so good.
I want to pause here again because I just got to say I'm a bit of an audio snob as an audio producer and podcast person. This is one of the best sounding shows that I've watched ever. And I don't have the most high end, incredible surround sound system at home, but this is still a show that begs to be heard on whatever nice soundbar, rear speakers, surround sound janky system you have at home because it is
just so good. It's mixed so well, and in scenes like this, in this chase scene, in this explosion scene, you can feel that all around you in the living room.
It's so good.
I wrote down that. This is a very visceral chase scene because like you, when Milo is running and hits the wall, you hear a sound, but when Clagger is running it hits the wall, it is a completely different feeling, just from listening and the animation. Again, this is like going above and beyond to show like these are two very different characters. One is very tall and skinny and one is this larger character, and they feel like they
have different weights in this scene. This opening scene is great. I also love the Violet's doing her jump first across the buildings and you see the little cupcakes on the patio or the balcony whatever it is, and then someone else jumps down. You see them again, someone else jumps down, You see me, and then Clagger jumps down and you see him jumping over eating the cupcakes. It was just like, yeah, they set that joke up and they let us know it's happening, and then it happens. It eats them.
Yeah, it's a little touches like that, and the way each of the characters jump down is part of their characterization, part of their movement.
It's all really great stuff.
Yeah, So the crew is running. They successfully escape from the Enforesters who are chasing them, but then they're confronted by Deckard and his band of thugs and we get into a little bloody slow mo fight. And as this is happening, they throw the bag with all the loot to powder and.
She books it. That's right.
I want to pause here once again. I feel like I'm hitting pause on the TV like every three minutes. This fight scene so good, and I'm gonna be saying that about practically every single fight scene in this entire season. I think this is another example of how this show takes it to the next level because the incredible fight choreography is enhanced not only by the amazing like cinematography, but also.
By Imagine Dragons.
Also by Imagine Dragons, the incredible lyricism of Imagine Dragons. But I love the choices they made with the camera work because throughout a fight scene like this, we see so many things happen to the camera it loses focus. There's like mud that splashes onto the camera lens. At one point, the camera gets like knocked around, like when somebody gets punched, the camera just like falls to the ground. It reminds me of like Punks Gate movies that you would make us a kid were like, oh shit, like
I ran my skateboard right into the camera. It reminds me of that type of like nineties punk skate movie in the skate park, and I think it just adds another level to an already great choreography. In the fight scene, now, as you said, Powder ran off with the bag of stolen goods, one of the older kids peels off and begins chasing her. She tries to get rid of the kid with one of her smoke grenates, which she names Mouser, but it doesn't go off. It doesn't work, so she panics.
She tosses the bag in the river and makes a run for it, much to the group's dismay. Everyone is pissed up Powder.
For getting rid of everything they work so hard.
That's the real thing they worked so hard for.
Back in the under City, we see Vander again. He is now the head of this bar, the Last Drop, and he shows up where there's this other criminal merchant. Whatever role in business they have a deal is going poorly and vandersteps into help them, showing he's a good guy. He's what we saw in the beginning that stays his attitude. He's helpful, he's respected in this community. The kids show up and Vander goes down to talk to them. He realizes that they messed up the job he has heard
about the explosion. Things get a little heated and Violet has a heart to heart with him and he tries to talk her down because Violet has a lot of energy and Vander's trying to tamp that down a little bit.
That's right.
I found this to be a really touching scene. We really see how much Vander cares for these kids. These are clearly not his kids. We're all adopted children, probably
orphaned in whatever battle we saw at the start. And at the same time, we also see how much vi respects Vander because she could keep pushing his buttons, she could keep being rebellious, but she does stand down eventually and at least for now, listen to what he has to say, because it's clear Vander has a past and he's speaking from experience.
There's definitely a great parent protector role that Vander plays with Violet. And similarly that we see Violet playing with Powder as she struggles in the beginning, andlet is there to help her, and like Milo's you know like, oh, we shouldn't have brought her, She's causing all these problems, and Violet is like, shut up, she's here, she's part of this group. We're not leaving her behind.
Totally and actually speaking. In that scene, Powder finds one of those blue crystals in her pocket, so not everything has been lost from their little job in the Upper City. She rushes off to tell her sister the good news. Sadly, as she approaches the door, she overhears Milo and Vi talking about how Powder is too young and she's the weak link of their group. She can't keep up with us, she shouldn't be out on jobs like this with us. VI stands up for her sister, puts Milo in his place.
She says, quote, see this look on my face. It will always mean it's time to shut up.
It is one of those moments where it's like a TV cliche, I feel like, where someone overhears something that's being said about them and they leave before the other person defends them.
Yes, but yes, it's a bit of a cliche, but it certainly causes the beginnings of a rift between the sisters, even though VI's clearly defending Powder at this point. I will say, Milo, not much ground to stand on, my guy. You fucked up on this job too, couldn't pick that lock at the beginning, wasted time stealing useless junk from the apartment. Let's slip to DECKERD and his crew that y'all got some good loot. Sounds to me like you have fucked up and struck out, Milo.
Well, that's why he's blaming someone else. Yeah, that's just Milo. Vander goes to visit his old friend Benzo, who is running a shop that sells goods that have come about by potentially questionable means, and they're trying to cover up for the kids. And then two enforcers show up and they start interrogating them, and Benzo's assistant Echo or little Man overhears Vander and the head enforcer, Grayson colluding. They have been working together. They've got a little deal. Vander
keeps his people away from top side. They don't make trouble on the enforcers stay out of his business down here. But now she's like, this is a big deal. This was an explosion, I think I think. He asks, did anyone die, and she says, yes, they blew up, but building. So she's saying, look, I can't come back empty handed. I need someone to take back to the council or we're going to be in a lot more trouble.
That's right now.
Back at home, VI is controlling Powder and takes her up on the roof. We get this really gorgeous shot of the city scape down here in the lower city. She points out all of the other mistakes that the other kids have made in their past, quote, We've all had bad days, but we learn and we stick together. Such a beautiful line that really struck a chord with me. Powder then shows her sister the blue crystal that she still has, and the two decide to keep.
It secret from vanderfer.
Now definitely a good idea. I'm sure this will not pun intended blow up in anyone's face.
Yeah, totally Ugh what a scene. I loved this as the book end to this episode. As someone who myself is an eldest brother and also very much a parentified child to an annoying but lovable little sister.
This scene fucking got me.
Really, I was already so emotional at this scene, and obviously we're going to see the relationship between these two sisters of all over the course of the season.
It gets me every time, folks.
The episode ends with a mysterious man interrogating Decord, who you know, Decord was only supposed to be following the kids, wasn't supposed to engage. Decord lies and says, they jumped me, blah blah blah. But this mysterious man, who we later find out is Sosco. He is there with his lab assistant Singed, who was demonstrating this magical grape soda on a rat, and the rat hulks out and kills a cat.
This like Doctor Evil, tiny little hairless cat. And it sounds like Decord has been volunteered to be the first human trial of grape soda number nine.
Yikes. I think I've had this grape soda from seven to eleven before.
You know, with your food choices. I feel like this that checks out good? All right, after the break, we're going to get into episodes two and three of Arcane.
We'll see you soon, all right, folks, we are back dive for episode two of Arcane, titled Some Mysteries Are Better Left Unsolved.
We open on a completely new setting. We have Jace and Caitlin on the other side of the door that Vibe blocked during their robbery, and Jace is attempting to open the door and he's thrown hurdled backwards from the explosion, and in the chaos, he has a flashback. We flash back to his childhood in upstate Minnesota, which I can recognize because that's where I went to college. So in Minnesota, it is freezing. There is a blizzard, and he's with his mom and she is beginning to get frostbite on
her hand. Jace calls out for help. She collapses, and then a mysterious cloaked figure arives and uses a very impressive looking like hand motion, very elaborate scroll of town portal and teleports them to a warm and sunny locale. And he used this small mysterious rock and he gives the rock to Jace and disappears.
Wow.
Loved this flashback. I think it explains a lot about Chase the character. It also reveals something that infuriates me. Jase was a cute little kid and now we see him as an adult and he's an absolute hunk, and we know he's smart and charismatic.
Aaron, some folks just have it all.
I disagree, and we'll get into that later.
Oh all right, So back in the present, Grayson and a guy with a cane who we will eventually learn is Victor are searching the wreckage of Jase's apartment and they arrest him while the quote unquote council decides his fate. Always a good sign when a council gets involved. Jace is visited in his holding cell by Heimerdinger, who he has history with through the academy, and Jase explains his research to heimer Dinger, who warns Jase not to mention
anything about magic to the council. Okay, just say you're sorry, say you won't do it again, and they'll let you off with a slap on the wrist. Don't say the M word around the council.
Seems pretty easy, the cut and dry way to get out of this. We cut back to the under city. Violet in the gang are hiding out in this tricked out arcade they've got. There's a boxing machine, Powder's rigged up this shooting gallery where she completely hands Milo his ass Outside, though, enforcers are questioning citizens and they're looking for the kids, and then they chase after the kids and they flee up a fire escape. Thanks to little Man and then back at the last drop. People are
getting restless and they're doubting vanders leadership. They're saying, like the enforcers are here, they're supposed to stay out of our business. We got to teach them a lesson. And while this is all happening and people are losing faith in Vander, Echo tells Violet about Vanders deal with Grayson.
Ugh, that's got it hurt.
That's got to be like finding out the tooth fairy isn't real, right, all right? Jumping back to pilta Over, the council members arrive for Jas's trial. Mel Madara, who we saw plotting earlier, brings a children's toy for counselor hospital, which, of course is better than a half eaten bag of nuts that he's allergic to.
So good on her.
Yep, yep, wait to do your research.
To your research now. The trial officially begins, and Jace is pretty cooperative.
He's doing everything Heimerdinger told, saying all the right things, until the council questions his skills as an academic, as a scientist, as somebody who could discover something new for this city. And this roused him up enough that he says the M word, he drops the M word. This becomes very problematic, but Heimerdinger jumps in and is able to convince the Council to go easy on Jase. Just expel him from the academy, get rid of all of.
His research and his tools.
Don't banish him from Piltover all together.
Please.
Yeah, and it's we get a little interesting backstory here as well as exposition wise with we learn from the I don't know, the android looking cyborg creature with the neck that magic has destroyed his people. There's clearly an anti magic sentiment here, and we get a little bit more of this as the episode goes, you know, with
some more fantastical creatures. I really like heimer Dinger's design, and I really like the variety and the diversity we see on the Council with like the clock ticking necklace is one of my favorite costumes in the show so far. But I am excited for more of that too, and there will be more of that. But yeah, I like. One of my favorite parts about the Council is there are multiple non human creatures or characters. I have no idea what the robot thing is, but that we may learn later.
Yeah, a little fun fact about Himerdinger. I did look up some more about him, oh, very quickly. He is a Yordel, yeah, of course, which is a race of small beings that live in Bandal City, which is a region that's not actually in room Terra, which is like this oh universe that we're existing in now, but is actually in a pocket dimension that has many entrances to Rune Tarra.
So he's from another dimension.
I am a little shocked that all these non human creatures are worried about magic, considering you think that like the involvement with of magic, with their involvement in this city. See, I don't know. I have no idea. They hate magic. That's all that I know.
That's true now, Silko and singed in their underwater villain Lair convinced Deckerd to take a shot of the magic rape soda vile number ten presumably, and they tell him, look, quote, there's a monster inside all of us. It's time to let the monster out, which is what I say to myself in the mirror.
Yeah, psaking yourself up for recordings. The enforcers return to the Last Drop looking for the kids, and Vander warns them with this nice little you know, panic button that
Powder's designed, and they hide and narrowly avoid getting caught. Powder, of course, almost Moos falls as the Enforcter is down there again some great camera work where like the camera is underneath the table and you think that that's the view of one of the kids, and then it turns out it's not and the kids are actually up hiding in the rafters. Lots of rafters in this show. You'd think this was like a dark soul's level. We will get back to more things with rafters. Violet wants to
fight back. Vander brings her up to the bridge where we saw in the opening of episode one, and he's like, look at this is the last battle we had. I led the charge and your parents were part of that group and we lost them, and like war is horrible.
You don't want this, Yeah, And I think the most telling part of this is he says, who are you willing to lose in this war?
Milo?
And Via doesn't react Clagger, She doesn't react Powder, and she instantly looks over, you know, she looks away. She can't bear the thought of losing powder at a war. And that's the thing that maybe stays her hand. I love this push and pull between Vander and Violet. He's obviously more experienced, he's somewhat jaded, clearly based on his past experiences. VI, on the other hand, as this like idealist, hot headed young person who thinks they can fight their way out of every situation.
And what's cool.
And I think what makes this emotional drama between these characters so interesting is that neither is necessarily entirely wrong correct And you.
Could argue either side of it.
You could say Vander is taking the more level headed approach that's keeping more people alive at the moment. You could take VIA's side of things and say, look, things won't get better until we fight, and that's going to require some sacrifice.
I actually think they've done it. They do a lot of flipping back and forth between Piltover and the under City, Yeah,
which we can talk about more with three. I think it becomes a lot more apparent in episode three, but I think they have they're trying to toe the line between like we don't want you to hate Piltover, but we want you to think the under City hates them, and that that's holding them down because other than the which, let's be honest, are cops and are villains of every story anyways, Like there's no part of me that's like, hey,
Heimerdinger hates the under City. Like so there's this interesting back and forth where like I kind of get where Vander's coming from, because, like you know, their status of living is clearly not great in the under City. Anytime you live in something called the under City that you have to get to by like parcouring your way down the sewers, probably not the best place to live. But I haven't seen anything other than the Enforcers through these
two episodes where I'm like, yeah, we're against Tiltover. Like I understand Violet doesn't love her a lot in life, and it is there's a lot that's going wrong down there. And again we have to be reminded this is from war. They went to war and they lost, so they're clearly like there's a victor. History is written by the victors, and it is Piltover. Yes, but maybe I just like talked myself out of that thought because yeah, they lost
the war. But so far, like the idea of the Enforcer staying out of their stuff that Vander has set up is kind of a nice yeah band aid. Yeah.
No, I think what you're getting at is, like, no one hears overtly the bad guy. I mean, Silko obviously is the bad guy, but even Silko will see in the next episode, has reasons for what he is doing, and you can really empathize with those reasons. And you're absolutely correct that nobody in Piltover makes me go, oh, yeah, I'd want to go to war against this guy in particular, and in fact, I'm out here rooting for Jace to
win and get his magic off the ground. Yeah. And I think that is the magic of the show, Like we're rooting for both sides as the viewer, and we empathize with all sides as the viewer, and you can understand where everyone's coming from and where the drama and the emotional intensity comes from is the disagreements between parties. Yeah, and no party from their point of view is necessarily wrong. They're all justified in what they're doing as they see it, which makes.
For a really interesting show.
Agreed.
So back to our summ reach, Ja finds himself back at his apartment.
He is distraught.
He's about to jump off the ledge when he is stopped by Victor, who arrives with some of Jase's notes and arrives with a proposition, Jace, what if we work together?
Cut to a message going up our Paddington mail tubes. Grayson receives her mail, and then we cut to Vander sitting at the last drop with powder and she's very sad, and Vander ports are a drink of I assume some non alcoholic beverage. And then we cut to Violet sitting alone. She's broken into Benzo's shop and she's waiting to turn herself into the enforcers, and you hear the marching of footsteps, and we cut to the end of the episode.
Oh God, what an eldest sibling thing to do? Love it?
I volunteer is tribute?
All right?
Let's roll right into episode three. This one is titled The Base Violence Necessary for Change. The episode opens on a flashback of young Silko being drowned and fighting for his life against some unknown assailant. Of course, later in the episode, we will learn that this assailant was none other than Vander.
Speaking of Vander, turns out it was not the Enforcers coming to get Violet, it was Vander and Benze. They're here to prevent Violet from turning herself in, and they lock her in a storage cabinet or something that locks from the outside. And then Grayson, Marcus and a bunch of other enforcers show up, and Grayson tells Vander she can't take him because if she takes He's basically saying, I'm turning myself in, I will be the pound of
flesh that calms this conflict. And she's saying, I can't take you because without you, this whole thing falls apart, this old shady alliance we have, like who knows what's going to happen down here? And then suddenly we hear screaming outside. Violet watches from the window in this little closet storage room and we see blood splatter against the window.
Beautiful, beautiful and horrifying. Yes, yes, the camera pans outside. We see a few dead enforcers, including Grayson. Rip Silko walks up out of the shadows, and Benzo, who clearly recognizes him, though clearly have some.
Sort of cast.
Benzo rushes towards him, but is absolutely decked by our guy deckerd in hulk mode. Clearly the grape Soda worked and kills Benzo right in front of everybody. Marcus is in shock. He says a thing out loud that he shouldn't have said. This wasn't the deal, Silko, what are you doing?
And Silko's response is cold, deal's changed.
A really again, here we are with the sound and the visceralness of the show. Yeah, and we're getting sneaking shots of a decord in hulk mode, but just like a really well set up scene of danger.
Oh yeah, definitely. I mean it's horrifying stuff. Yeah, you can put yourself in violet shoes looking out that window.
And it's especially like I love how Benzo recognizing Soco kind of puts you at ease, like, oh, these this is like they oh and then no, never mind this totally. We cut back to Piltover. Jason Victor are hard at work and they think they've found a formula to stabilize the hex crystals, the blue gems that they've been working on, but they are going to need some of his equipment from Heimerdinger's lab.
To test it. Mmmm. This is giving Upenheimer. MM.
I do love this storyline though, this Jason Victor teaming up to figure out the magic formula. I love that this is another tension in this story, right, this idea of science first progress just because you can, should you? Heimerdinger, of course, is much more cautious. Yes, really echoes of Vander.
There on the flip side, we have Jason Victor who are very much more hot headed, are focused on making progress at all costs, and aren't afraid to break a couple of eggs or cause a couple of explosions along the way.
Yeah, we have these two fatherly figures, in Vander's case overtly a father figure, who are trying to tell the young people like, please be careful, you know, this is not something we need to rush into. And then of course the kids are rushing into it.
Yeah, and again nobody's wrong here.
Correct.
Either side could be argued, And I love that the show isn't shying away from tackling these big ideas in a way that is mature and nuanced and could lead you to the fall on any side of that argument, depending on who you are.
Vander wakes up in a cannery where Soko has been mass producing the shimmer. I realize we've just been calling it a grape soda. This whole time it's called Shimmer. Silko reveals the reason he's doing all this is he wants to intimidate Piltover with his shimmer infused soldiers and wants them to fear him. And Silko's trying to recruit Vander because again we're learning more about their backstory. Vander
and Soko have not always been enemies. They used to be partners, and he wants him to fight with him.
Oh, it's beautiful stuff.
And Silko says, you'd die for a cause, but you won't fight for one.
That gave me chills.
What a line, And that was the line where I was like my own Silko side.
They're definitely a lot of really good one liners. Is the wrong phrase because it's not like, it's not like quips, Yeah, but it is really good quotes to summarize character's emotions.
Absolutely, and it sounds like something that Violet would say to Vander and probably has a to Vander, why don't we fight more? It's really lovely characterization. And I loved this episode in particular sort of being underpinned by that flashback where we learn more about Silko and Vander's relationship and that clearly traumatic drowning scene that has come to define Silko's life in a way that we see the
fallout for to this day. Now, Victor and Jace back in piltovert sneak into Heimerdinger's lab, or they try to sneak into heimer Dinger's lab and they're caught by Mel in the hallway. Mel agrees to not turn them in, but they have one night to prove that they can make this damn thing work.
And the reason they're caught is because this hallway has no lights whatsoever. We are in and they we're in the city that won the war, and is the technological advanced of the two no lights. They're carrying like little flashlights, and she's standing there and catches them.
Incredible.
Yeah, and then my.
Question is yeah, and look, I'm not going to question Mail all that much because she's hot and she gets the pass, But what is.
She doing in this completely pitch black dark hallway at this hour?
I mean, she's looking for the lights. I assume I'm going around. Yeah, she just happened to be there at the right time, and she's like, oh hello. Violet returns to the last drop to collect her things. She's distraught, she's going to rescue Vander and she collects the guys Milo and Clagger. She's like, come on, we're going, and Powder wants to come. She's pulling her bombs together and Violet's like, no, you got to stay home for this one.
And she's learned something from Vander and she's like, you're the only thing I have left. You have to go here. You can't go, you have to stay. She gives her this flare and says, use this shine it. I will come find you. I do want to talk a little bit about We've talked about this flashback with Soko and Vander.
Yep.
I love that. I think that was an incredible storytelling device in the beginning. I love like we have the Kendrick Lamar swimming pools ask a visual. I in this episode in particular, was getting a little sick of the constant back and forth. Cut to Violet three minutes, cut to Jason's story four minutes, cut to Violet for five minutes, cut to Jace for three minutes, And I think this
is the episode where I'm losing it with Jay's storyline. Yeah, I'm just like, we have this underground city like gang warfare thing going on, and Jason Victor still have not figured out how to turn the lights on, and that has impacted how I have watched the rest of the show. I love Violet and I love this storyline. Oh yeah, And I just think like there are a couple times they do these flashbacks when I'm just like, come on, just let this one story breathe a little bit more
before you cut out of it. But yeah, I understand that they're trying to get us into both narratives. But one of the things I think, like Episode one, I think was very strong because it's focused on one group and it's a ton of people in that one group. We introduced a bunch of people, But I think the show right now is having a hard time making me care about Jace because the only connection is that they robbed him, Like this will not be the case later on.
I just think there's a little bit in these episodes two and three where I was like, I love violet storyline a lot more than Jason's, and no amount of snow and frostbite is going to change that. So that was just how I felt as we're getting to the end of Act one.
And I think that's a totally valid criticism. I agree Jason Victor's story slow burn here in these first three episodes, we're still building up to the hex Tech basically, and Violet and Powder storyline has just been go, go, go, go go from the minute we saw them. How many fights have they already been in three episodes? And Jase's only conflict so far, obviously very devastating for him was the council. Yeah, it was the council trial and getting kicked out of the academy, you know, and now he
just has too much free time on his hands. Yes, so I totally understand that criticism, and I don't disagree. It's certainly a bit slower if I were to put myself into the writers and editors and show creators shoes.
A little bit.
I think their intention of cutting back and forth was maybe to try and hype up the Jase stuff a bit more, to intercut it with the Violet stuff that is so good, so intense, so dangerous. If we had a very long, extended scene of Jason Victor doing calculations on a on a chalkboard, I would, yeah, exactly, with no interruptions. Oppenheimer certainly made that interesting. It would have
been tough in this show, I think. So I do want to hand it to them for trying to increase the tension of Jace's storyline, because it is a bit slow at this moment.
I do think, you know, like you were saying, you you really like Jason his storyline, and that is to do through those first three episodes. I it gets better, of course, but through those first three I was kind of like, I know the parts of this I want to be watching, certainly.
Okay, Back to our recap, Powder in tears devastated, Sobbing accidentally drops the hex crystals that she still has on the ground and she sees them react violently and puts two and two together. She realizes these crystals are what caused the explosion earlier during the job, and so she knows that she can help.
Now. Cut back to Jason's storyline. Back to Heimerginger's lab, Jason Victor are also experimenting with the crystals. I'll be it in a slightly more structured way, but they of course cause an explosion and people on the street see it.
That's right.
Cut back to Violet, Milo and Clagger, who sneak into the cannery to say Vander they very quickly realize, oh, it was too easy.
Getting in here. It's a trap.
Soilko and his goons are waiting for them, and so Violet puts on those power gloves and prepares to fight them. To distract the goons while Milo tries to free Vander, and while Clagger looks for an alternate exit, Powder arrives with her hex crystal infused bombs and is scaling the wall outside. It's a really tense scene. There's this really subtle tick tick tick that's not quite a clock, but it's in the sound design, and it's so good because you're like sweating the whole time.
Thank you, imagine dragons, Thank you.
So much, Imagine dragons.
Powder sees Violet on the catwalk fighting silko soldiers and knows now's her moment to help.
So Violet is taking out most of these low level googles. A good job, yeah, doing an incredible job. There's some great fight choreography here again, and then Silko gives Deckard some more shimmer and he completely overpowers her. She has another one of these comic books like jumping in the air and doesn't matter, so she crawls back to the room where Vander is and she closes the door and locks it, which I guess is an enough to keep him out for a little bit.
That's right, Such a good fight scene again, great camera work, visceral punches, you could feel all of the hits that Violet's taking and the goons are taking. And then yeah, that power jump iconic so cool.
I loved it. Wish it would have worked better.
I also like we see Violet earlier using the boxing dummy that has like the painted face and everything right, and we it's very cool. In this fight as well as in later episodes, we really get a sense that Violet's fighting style is a boxing fighting style. She is like a bare knuckle brawler, except she's not bare knuckles. She's got the most elaborate power gloves that we've seen so far.
Okay, back to Piltover, because we can't forget about Jason's Victor are boys, Heimerdinger and some enforcers break down the door. Just as Jas and Victor succeed in their experimentation. The light is illuminated in blue and everything is floating. Jace and Victor sure are up there, cheering and happy that they've solved it. The era of magic has begun to clear his mel and Jays quickly cuts in the era
of hextech. And look, I just gotta say, Chase, smart guy, good looking, just had an incredible breakthrough, But his real genius is knowing the power of good branding.
Yeah, no one is gonna in a city that hates magic. You're not gonna get very far, saying, ladies and gentlemen, it's the era of magic. No, you need something different.
Yeah, good branding, hex tech all right.
Back to the fight. Powder throws her bomb infused with hex crystals at DECKERD and it goes off in absolutely horrifying fashion. So you have the circus monkey banging at symbols and every bang sends out a new shock wave. Powder is thrown clear off the wall that she's been clinging to. Milo and Clagger are killed in the aftermath of shocks, like a pole goes through Milo's shoulder. Clagger is crushed, and Vander and Violet are both trapped underneath rubble. Deckard,
of course, is completely still alive and kicking. The bomb did not seem to hit him at all, even though it was right next to him, which is probably how any of my experience playing League of Legends would go missing the target entirely. In order to protect Violet, Vander grabs makeshift brass knuckles, not his power gloves, just like I don't know what they are. They're like two pieces of metal. And he tries going toe to toe with Deckerd, and then Soko arrives and stabs Vander in the back
literally and throws him off the bridge. Vander lands in a pile of shimmer vials because this is where they are producing all the shimmer, and the shimmer powers him up, and he hulks out and comes up and beats Deckerd and then he looks He's got Silko's fleeing to one direction and Violet is underneath rubble in the other direction. The place is falling. We have a real Sophie's choice, and Vander, even in this monstrous, hulked out form, saves.
Violet right Jesus his daughter, and then he dies. This is the end of Vander.
His last act in this mortal coil was to save Violet. And he turns to her and he says, take care of your sister, take care of power. Heartbreaking stuff. Now, Powder herself shows up, excited at first that her bomb worked and went off and presumably saved everyone, but quickly learns the horrifying truth. Violet, of course, is distraught. She's just lost her father figure, she's lost all her closest friends, and it's because of her.
Brat little sister, who she told us stay home.
They get into a heated argument. Violet says some things that she will come to regret and probably shouldn't have said in this moment, but you can't fault her.
It's emotionally heat.
Not only does she say some things, she slaps her slaps Powder.
It's heartbreaking stuff to see this. Violet walks off on her own, leaving Powder there sobbing in exit next to the body of Vander.
Soko so alive, still looking for the girls, and he comes into the alleyway and he sees Powder and he pulls out a knife. He's ready, and Violet, who has been escaping, turns around, sees Silko there sees Powder, unaware that he's there, and she's gonna go save her. But then Marcus shows up and you know, I forget what it's called. Put yeah the chloroform over her mouth. Silko shows up Powder, having just lost her entire family jumps into his arms and oh.
Yeah, horrifying stuff. And you know what's beautiful is like how thematically resonant this is. Silko knows better than anyone what it's like to be betrayed. It's the thing that is defined him. This whole episode, we've watched flashbacks of him being drowned by his brother, by his brother in arms, Vander, somebody who he to this day is trying to recruit
to his side. Silko knows what it's like to have a brother betray you, and now Powder knows what it's seemingly like to have a to turn on you as well. And so she is looking for comfort in the arms of somebody who knows exactly how she feels in this moment.
It's powerful stuff.
Yeah, not her best move. She's got a lot of blunders. I know she's a little kid, but I think she was so good in the beginning of episode two when she was at the shooting range and she made a lot of mistakes she did.
Yeah, certainly you can't be mad at Violet here for the way she reacted, and uh, you do.
Powder is so.
Cute and you want to protect her and hugger, but she really fucked up here and caused a lot of people to die. It's a tough look and a tough day for Powder and at the end of the day, like most of these people just need therapy in a hug and they're.
Just not getting it. It's stuff.
Yeah, I don't know if a place that doesn't believe in magic, I'm not sure how Piltover and the under City feel about therapy unfortunately.
Woo.
All right, this episode's one two and three of Arcane. That actually wraps up this like first arc of this story. If you know anything of what's to come in the future episodes, you know that we are going to flash forward and see a couple of years down the line what the results of these actions in the first three episodes have been. So I'm excited to get into that with you, Aaron.
But that's it for today, all right. On tomorrow's episode, Rosie and Joel will be here and they are back with more vampires, in particular interview with a vampire and queen of the Damned.
That's right, and Aaron, you and I will be back next Wednesday for episodes four and five.
LeVar Kanes, Let's hope Jace can redeem himself in my eyes here you know.
Yeah, I'm rooting for Jason.
Yeah. All right, that's our episode. Thank you everyone for listening, See you next week.
X ray Vision is hosted by Jason Simsion and Rosie Knight and is a production of iHeart Podcasts. Our executive producers are Joelle Smith and Aaron Kaufman. Our supervising producer is a Booze Afar. Our producers are Carmen Lawn and Mia Taylor. Our theme song is by Brian Basquez.
Special thanks to Soul Rubin and Chris Laude, Kenny Goodman and Heidi our discord moderator.