Riot Games, the massive League of Legends company, makes the bold move into television with confidence and style, but Act 1 is a little too formulaic at times.
Editor’s note: just to let you know, we do go into some minor tale stuff here, but most of it is already known if you know the characters from the games previously.
Like everything Riot Games does these days, Arcane is a visually arresting new animated series, with the first act debuting on Netflix this past weekend and the second on the 13th. The money is very much on the screen in this one. It is an unexpected pleasure, full of winks and nods and sparkling blue nuggets of lore, exactly as I’d hoped, and indeed guessed, a studio of Riot’s already formidable standing could deliver. As a League of Legends fan (to my everlasting shame), this is. As an enthusiast for quality television, however, I must admit that I’m surprised. Arcane is real, quality television.
To answer the obvious, no, you are not need to be a fan of League of Legends in order to play Arcane. It’s a precursor, and the clear aim is to attract a fresh audience via a completely different media, some of whom could even become devoted to it. When exactly League of Legends’ “now” arrives, Arcane is set a few years prior. It basically follows a few younger characters that are drawn from League of Legends. Those in their late 30s are in their early 20s, those in their mid-300s, such the Yoda-like Yordle scientist, Heimerdinger, are in their early to mid-ish 300s, and some whom frequent gamers would recognize as being in their 20s are really in their teens and tweens.
Riot has actually been creative here, all around. It’s a great approach to strike a balance between the two: an equal entrance point for inexperienced viewers and an onslaught of recently added knowledge for LoL aficionados. Arcane is set in the twin cities of Zaun, a “undercity” that lives under Piltover, a dazzling steampunk paradise of scientific (and economic) advancement, and Piltover, a steampunk land of freedom, security, and money. It’s a clever setting because, in terms of League of Legends’ Runeterra (and related “realms”), it’s the one that balances the safety of something familiar – humanoids, guns, fairly modern technology – with something a little bit different – the combination of magic, the comparatively unpopularized steampunk genre, and Heimerdinger’s peculiar yellow hair that kind of looks like a giant brain.
Arcane is innovative in many respects, but it’s also quite safe in many other respects. Riot seems to be revolving around this idea. You’ll notice that the new games released after League of Legends, such as the auto-chess spinoff Teamfight Tactics, the card battler Legends of Runeterra, and the tactical shooter Valorant, all fall squarely in the middle of their respective genres, offering a kind of severe competency first and novelty second. It might seem a lot like those games while switching to Arcane.
Characters are one prominent, inescapable example in this case. Arcane’s protagonists, Vi, Jinx, and Jayce, as well as supporting cast members Ekko, Caitlyn, Viktor, and Heimerdinger, are all League of Legends champions. League of Legends champions are often associated with very recognizable archetypes, and sometimes even other well-known figures. For example, Jinx is a skinny, violent, and chaotic villain that fits the description of Harley Quinn. By the time of League of Legends, Viktor is a smart, resentful scientist who comes with a robotic arm, much like Doctor Octopus.
This is very essential in League of Legends, and it’s also part of the fun. MOBAs are, at their core, role-playing games with specialization, advancement, and a unique type of immersive character, but they’re also really intense, packed with action-packed, fast-paced gameplay. It implies that the heroes of the game must all be instantly recognizable, shown in broad strokes, and distinguishable from the chaos just by their outward look, their four powers, and maybe a dozen or so vocal barks. More than in previous iterations like the occasional short animated trailer with a few cocked eyebrows and cool flips, or even a feature-length film, bringing those well-realized, but ultimately fairly shallow characters to life in a television series means the writers have had to undergo a kind of retconning of depth, well beyond the already significant lore reworks LoL has undergone in recent years.
It does appear in some locations. Arcane covers two simultaneous storylines, at least in the first four episodes that I’ve seen thus far. One centers on a teenage orphan named Vi (which, it turns out, is shorthand for Violet) and her younger sister Jinx (née Powder), who are competitors in the “present day” of League of Legends as they navigate crime and more risky mischief in Zaun. As a result, the B-plot centers on the handsome and intelligent Jayce, as well as his glitzy scientific endeavors on the surface. Viktor, Professor Heimerdinger, and his very wealthy childhood friend Caitlyn are all featured, as are other Academy members.
The issue is that you often get the impression that you’ve seen these characters’ story a lot before. Vi is the good-hearted person compelled to act immorally by external circumstances alone. Ahead of an important turn, Powder, who is younger, is repeatedly told she is “not ready” for the actual action and spurned by her older pals. Jayce has a subdued, hesitant haughtiness. Caitlyn’s upbringing in a high society contrasts with her bravery and determination. Viktor is a brilliant man who may have given that talent away too easily for his own benefit. Once a pioneer, Heimerdinger’s age and experience have made him cautious and conventional. Characters undergo well-telegraphed character development, but because of the sheer number of them and the relatively short amount of time Arcane devotes to each on-screen, there’s less time for just character, between the big, broad beats they must all hit on cue. This effect, along with the fact that Arcane originated as a series itself, can sometimes make the entire thing feel more like a lore-expanding exercise than a storytelling one.
However, and this is really important, those personalities are instantly captivating and the rhythms are masterfully performed. Part of this stems from my viewpoint as a player; I consider myself to be as heartless as anyone when it comes to fictional character attachment, but as a devoted fan of Viktor, I found myself strangely, intensely drawn to him when he was on screen, moving. At times, it felt like watching recently found 8mm film of a parent from before I was born: this is my guy; this was his life. It’s strangely, almost shamefully, emotional. It’s obvious that spending thousands of hours playing League of Legends with a small group of elite players affected me in a way beyond just improving my dexterity (or blood pressure).
Riot’s partnership with Fortiche, a French company that has previously worked on promotional events like music videos for the major K/DA K-pop events in League of Legends, produced Arcane’s animation, which is nothing short of remarkable. Arcane seems to be a piece of static, hand-sculpted concept art come to life at first view—actually, at every glimpse. It may sometimes seem eerie and strange. Sometimes I get the impression that this painting aspires to be something other than what it is—a moving image that yearns to remain still, propelled into an abnormal gait by some kind of prohibited necromancy. However, it is always powerful, reaching its pinnacle during both the calmer, one-off glances, chuckles, and shrugs that provide such a pleasant touch of texture to the action, as well as the times of strong, frightening violence and screen-filling explosions.
Through that animation, Arcane manages to achieve some real subtlety, gentle enough to cut through the broader strokes of its plotty story. Seldom does more than one thing at a time actually move on-screen, or at least rarely does it seem that way, evoking the classic, staid Japanese animations like Neon Genesis Evangelion. We can all see what’s happening to Powder—she doesn’t even have to sneak; she just leaps into her Anakin-like metamorphosis into Jinx—but that inevitable moment doesn’t lessen its poignancy or awful outcome. Not to mention the inevitable conflict between Viktor and Jayce—I haven’t seen it occur yet, but I’d bet pretty much everything on it. It’s important to note that some have pointed out possible queer-baiting in this instance, which could be problematic depending on how things work out. Having said that, there’s also a case to be made for this being a straightforward bromance, and platonic, emotional male relationships are also important for entertainment in their own right.
Even with all of this, there are still just four episodes total—the first three acts plus a little portion of the second. The most important thing to keep in mind is that we are skimming over these people’ pasts at the speed at which the series is unfolding. Arcane is a single series that was probably meant to be self-contained, but given that there are a good six other locations on League of Legends’ planet Runeterra, along with an additional two “realms” for good measure, I imagine there is enough to spend a season in a new place every time.
The “good TV” fan in me disagrees, but the LoL fan in me loves it as I am addicted to a fast-paced origin tale and can’t wait to see more of it applied to more of what I love. In its second and third acts, Arcane would greatly benefit from just slowing down, spending a little more time with the limited cast of people it already has, and appreciating them as characters rather than entities that have to be developed programmatically at a breakneck pace. It’s vibrant and alive, and it’s an amazing delight. However, the best of contemporary TV is, ultimately, all about the slow burn. Which will just add to the sense of relief for those who are waiting for that great, decisive explosion, like Jinx.