The conclusion of a masterpiece, between art and epic fantasy.
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| Image Credit: Netflix |
We have reached the final season of Arcane, a circle that closes and does so in the best possible way. In our review of the first three episodes, we highlighted how the choice to divide the season into parts was not only a way for Netflix to retain the viewer, but above all a strategy by Riot Games and Fortiche Production to create three almost self-contained narrative universes, three stories that find their peak in a not perfect ending. Arcane, in fact, is not perfect. There are some defects – narrative, the aesthetic sector together with the soundtrack are simply masterpieces – that create a smudge in the last episodes, but it is impossible not to forgive them.
The aesthetics of Arcane
Arcane is pure cinema. Every frame is a masterpiece, but it is with the animation, with the movement that Arcane becomes a work of art. There is nothing to criticize in the aesthetics: from the steampunk style, from the different schools of drawing that intertwine to form a harmony in which none overwhelms the other up to the color palettes that give shape to the different narrative universes. The animation together with the soundtrack that always manages to elevate the moment is without a shadow of a doubt what makes Arcane a little gem.
If with the visual aspect Arcane decides to risk and present something new that does not resemble any other animated TV series (or film), it is with the narration that winks at the classic. The choice to divide the entire season into three parts has proven to be profitable, excellent for creating two stories linked, but parallel at the same time, with the last episodes that act as a conclusion. Heroines and heroes, sorceresses, tyrants, characters who sacrifice themselves for the common good, and a conflict that dominates the lives of all the inhabitants are classic-flavored gimmicks that embrace epic fantasy.
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| Image Credit: Netflix |
An ending that is not perfect, but that does not preclude the series from being a masterpiece
Even the starting idea of Arcane takes up one of the most famous gimmicks. A narrow society isolated from the rest of the world in which everything is drastically sharpened. The dynamics of power, the ironclad politics, a strong social inequality are the flame that lights the fuse. It is the political criticism from which the story of Vi, Jinx, and all the other characters involved starts; it is the narrative engine that drives the motivations of the characters from the first to the last episode. In the last two parts of the season, the conflict becomes even more bloody, but never takes over.
What continues to be central is the humanity of the characters. Multifaceted, real, and authentic, the writing of the characters in Arcane is sublime. A humanity that reaches its peak precisely in a not-perfect ending, but that manages to dose cynicism (a peculiarity of the series since the first episode) with hope and to make the latter shine.
We have defined the ending as not perfect for two reasons. While the animation succeeds in creating a unique narrative universe, the writing slips in being able to conclude all the storylines, to give meaning to each subplot in the shortest possible time so as not to ruin the narrative rhythm that is fitting. What is a bit disappointing, however, is the introduction of the multiverse. Used as it is exploited in practically every screenplay of recent years, the multiverse also in Arcane represents a quick and convenient solution.
Arcane 2: evaluation and conclusion
Multiverse or not, a necessity in wanting to conclude the story or not, Arcane remains a masterpiece of animation. The first season is impressive with its story of the slums where the population has no opportunities, unlike the bourgeoisie that pours to the surface where technology and magic have the opportunity to grow and expand, a war that is coming, and two sisters whose fates are two sides of the same coin. As much as the first season was praised, these new episodes managed to exceed the quality standard that had been set.
Arcane makes animation its strength, a technique that is often underestimated by the general public and considered suitable only for an audience of children. Arcane on the contrary shows that some stories really need the freedom that animation gives. Each of its frames is a small work of art that comes to life with the cinematic language. Arcane has learned a great lesson: in cinema you have to show, not tell. But even when it tells, it does so with class and elegance in depicting the most disparate human conditions. As deep and intense as the storylines of the main characters are, it is the secondary stories that give intimacy to the narration. Those minutes stolen from a family that is held in an embrace while saying goodbye before parting and then returning for just a second at the end, those moments in which in the background you see how a barmaid becomes a warrior give all those levels of interpretation and depth that make Arcane a true gem.
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