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"Killing Is a Cycle" is the eighth episode of the second season of Arcane, and the 17th overall.
Synopsis[]
A brewing storm fuels a series of startling transformations. Elsewhere, the spark of rebellion still burns.
Plot[]
Following the battle within Viktor's commune, Ambessa oversees the burials of Rictus and her other fallen warriors near the remains of the community, while Singed sets up an arrangement of tubes connecting Warwick and Viktor's motionless bodies, the latter of which is now contained within a spherical cocoon of Viktor's design. Ambessa mounts Rictus's weapon above his grave herself, and takes the magic-nullifying runes he had previously wielded against Amara and Jinx. As she does this, Singed can be heard expressing regret at being unable to save Rictus, to which Ambessa replies that a warrior's death should be avenged rather than lamented.
Following the burials, Ambessa asks Singed about Viktor's status. Singed explains that he can keep Viktor alive for a short time through transfusions of blood from Warwick, but his survival will ultimately be a matter decided by his willpower. Ambessa claims that Singed had promised her a cure to death, but Singed replies that such an outcome is dependant on Viktor's survival.
As Ambessa approaches Viktor's cocoon, Viktor's voice - now possessing a robotic register - addresses Singed, commending the doctor for his ingenuity. As he speaks, the cocoon and the markings on his deceased followers light up, before the previously dead Huck gets to his feet, Viktor possessing his body. Speaking through Huck, Viktor claims the world he sees is more lucid than ever. Ambessa questions his apparent ability to inhabit his followers, to which the followers simultaneously reply in Viktor's voice that they are one, before declaring themselves to be the Glorious Evolution that Viktor previously spoke of to Singed.
Viktor then claims that he is dying, before speaking of the anomaly beneath the Hexgates, which he believes can complete the transformation Singed initiated with the blood transfusion. Ambessa asks if the process will grant him the ability to evolve others; Viktor replies that it could, but with the damage done to him by Jayce's attack, he will not be able to reach the anomaly through the defense that will inevitably be raised against him. Ambessa offers to get him to the anomaly in exchange for him evolving her soldiers, with Viktor accepting the offer. He then places his hands to his temples and strains, whereupon Huck levitates off the ground and begins to glow. Ambessa looks upon the sight with amazement, while Singed takes a step forward.
Meanwhile, an unconscious Vi has a vision in which Caitlyn crouches over her body while expressing concern for her, before Jayce comes over and states that the group need to escape. She then has another vision of the bloodthirsty Warwick and Jinx's failed attempt to prevent Isha from sacrificing herself to stop the beast, before waking up to find herself in Caitlyn's bed at the Kiramman residence, with Loris sitting nearby. Initially mistaking him for Vander, Vi asks him what happened to Caitlyn and Jinx; Loris hesitates regarding the latter, claiming Caitlyn wanted to tell Vi herself, but Vi insists that Loris tell her.
Elsewhere in the building, Caitlyn and Maddie are looking over a map of Piltover and the surrounding area, with Ambessa's fleet marked as being positioned nearby. Maddie suggests they may be able to negotiate with Ambessa, but Caitlyn is certain her former mentor will stop at nothing to destroy Piltover after being betrayed by her. Maddie tries to comfort Caitlyn by encouraging her not to blame herself, but Caitlyn pulls away from her and states she needs a plan, rather than consolation.
The discussion is then interrupted by the arrival of Vi, who has learned from Loris that Jinx was arrested following the battle. Caitlyn dismisses Maddie from the room with an instruction to check on her father; Maddie leaves with an unhappy look on her face. With Maddie gone, Vi and Caitlyn argue over the events at the commune; Vi calls out Caitlyn for her apparent ingratitude towards Jinx - suspecting her of having the other woman arrested - while Caitlyn calls out Vi for not telling her of Jinx's involvement in their plan to rescue Vander, guessing correctly that Vi had employed her as a contingency against Caitlyn betraying them due to being unable to trust her. Vi defends her lack of trust by reminding Caitlyn of her past association with Ambessa, accusing her of happily swallowing the Noxian's words; Caitlyn angrily states her awareness of this, stunning Vi into silence.
With Vi having gone quiet, Caitlyn explains that rather than having her arrested, Jinx had surrendered to her after the group escaped from the commune; by the time Caitlyn was able to think about what had happening, Jinx had been taken away. She explains that Jinx is currently being held prisoner in the bunker until Caitlyn can decide her fate, with the commander indicating that she had been waiting for Vi to recover before making her decision. Vi pleads that her sister has changed, but Caitlyn insists that people cannot simply erase their mistakes. In response, Vi asks who gets to decide who should be given a second chance before exiting the room, leaving Caitlyn to contemplate things silently.
Following the argument, Caitlyn brings a tray of food to the cell containing Jinx, who has stopped eating and become despondent over the loss of Isha. Guessing that Caitlyn has come to execute her, Jinx tells the other woman to make sure of her death afterwards, and dismisses Vi's claim that she has changed when Caitlyn brings it up. Caitlyn asks that Jinx account for her actions, before admitting that she has hated the person she turned into over the hatred she felt for Jinx, and she no longer has the energy to continue doing so. She turns to leave, and Jinx - while admitting that knowing likely would not have stopped her - tells her that she had no idea Caitlyn's mother was in the Piltover Council's meeting room when she attacked the place following Silco's death.
Meanwhile, Mel returns to Piltover following her escape from the Black Rose's clutches. She enters the Piltover Council's meeting room, where she finds Jayce recalling the aftermath of Jinx's attack. The Hextech inventor guesses that Mel was responsible for keeping the the two of them from getting killed on that day; Mel confirms such, but claims her magic abilities only awoke then, and that she has yet to fully understand them. Still shaken by his time in the other timeline, Jayce demands to know why Mel only saved him; Mel insists she did not consciously decide to do so, but Jayce proceeds to question her honesty, accusing her of using him and Viktor for the sake of advancing Hextech. Mel replies that she valued the two men for their shared dreams and their abilities to do the impossible with Hextech; as she speaks, Jayce has more haunting visions, causing him to become agitated. He then raises his Mercury Hammer and fires a blast at one of the meeting room's support columns.
Following this, a slender, humanoid, white and gold mechanical construct descends from the room's rafters and approaches the pair. Viktor is shown to be controlling the construct, which is implied to be the transformed Huck; speaking through it, he addresses Jayce, saying that the two of them must talk. Jayce questions how the construct was able to get into the meeting room, to which Viktor reminds him that he once helped Jayce sneak into the same building, and laments being unable to show him the merits of "their" work during their previous meetings. Jayce dismisses Viktor's transformed followers as solely the result of the other man's obsession and attacks the construct with his hammer; the construct dodges his attacks before flying into the air, whereupon Viktor claims that he is no longer alone, and that he speaks with the voices of all his followers.
Jayce demands that Viktor say his intended message, but Viktor suggests that the other man already knows he seeks the anomaly in order to complete his mission. He warns that while he hopes to do so without conflict, "the Noxian" has other intentions, leading to Mel deducing that he and Ambessa are working together. In response, the construct darts behind Mel with superhuman speed; she turns around and projects a shield of magical light between them, only for the construct to extend a hand and start pushing through it. Jayce fires a blast from his hammer at it, causing it to break off his attack and turn away from Mel, whereupon he urges Viktor to stay away from the Hexgates for everyone's sake. He then attempts to strike down the construct again, but it easily dodges the blow, and Viktor claims that Jayce's mind has become rigid, his judgement clouded with fear. He reminds the other man of his role in starting this chain of events, before declaring the Glorious Evolution to be "destined", and asking that Jayce work with him as a partner once again.
In response, Jayce declares that his partner died in the room, to which Viktor replies that he had sincerely hoped to avoid this. Jayce then tries to take down the construct once again, but it evades his attacks with superhuman speed and agility, before subduing him, disarming him, and attempting to choke him into unconsciousness. Just as Jayce is about to pass out, Mel manages to use her magic to restrain the construct and make it break its hold, allowing Jayce to retrieve his hammer and then destroy the construct with a point blank blast. He then catches Mel as the exertions from using her magic call her to collapse, while a shaken Viktor tells Singed to begin the process.
Within her cell, Jinx is idly rolling a Hexgem around when she imagines herself being approached by Silco. Jinx tells her deceased father figure that he is too late, and Silco comments on how the late Marcus once had Vi imprisoned in Stillwater as a supposed merciful alternative to killing her. Jinx denies killing is mercy, prompting Silco to remark on the spark of rebellion still inside her despite everything before agreeing with her words. He claims that killing is a cycle, one that started long before his and Vander's time and will continue long after Jinx and Vi pass on. Jinx claims to be done with running in circles, and Silco states that people build their own prisons; oaths, codes, commitments, self-doubt, and accepted limitations that define their identities. He tells Jinx that he once thought he could escape his own such prison by fighting Piltover, but now believes that the only way to end the cycle is to find the will to walk away.
After the apparation of Silco disappears - along with the Hexgem Jinx had been playing with, suggesting it too was a figment of her imagination - Vi approaches the cell. Revealing to Jinx that she previously stole the cell's keys, she offers to help her sister escape, suggesting the two could use her talents and drive to "rewrite [her] story" just as Jinx did in Zaun. Jinx half-heartedly accepts the offer, and Vi enters the cell and embraces her. Remarking that her sister will never give up on her, Jinx punches Vi in the chest, stunning her, before escaping the cell and locking Vi inside. As Vi reacts with shock, Jinx tells the older woman to stop worrying about her and not feel guilty about being happy, before encouraging her to be with Caitlyn. She then walks away, claiming there is no good version of her; when Vi asks what she intends to do, Jinx claims only that she will "break the cycle", leaving Vi distraught.
Jayce and Mel have the Piltover Council and their families gather in the Piltover Council's meeting room, with Sevika and Scar attending as representatives of Zaun. There, Jayce displays the remains of the mechanical soldier of Viktor's he and Mel fought with, and reveals that Ambessa is planning to attack Piltover with hundreds more constructs like them in order to reach the Hexgates, with the consequences of her victory being the end of humanity itself. He urges those gathered to help him fight her, or to at least get as far away from Piltover as possible, prompting Sevika, Scar and some of the other attendees to depart. Other citizens of Piltover - and some from Zaun - agree to help, and the city makes preparations to mount a defense at the Hexgates.
Within the bunker, Vi hears approaching footsteps, and looks around to see Caitlyn at the cell door. The commander admits she had expected to find Vi here and enters the cell, whereupon a broken Vi states she believed Jinx would help. Turning away, she tells Caitlyn to berate her, citing her various mistakes - trusting Jinx, going behind Caitlyn's back, and consistently making wrong choices - before claiming to have lost everyone as a result of them. Caitlyn however approaches her and asks if Vi really thought she needed all the guards stationed at the Hexgates, causing Vi to look at her in shock as she comes to a realization: Caitlyn had deliberately altered the guard assignments to provide her with an opportunity to rescue Jinx, effectively giving the other woman her blessing to save her sister.
As Vi takes in the reveal, a smiling Caitlyn teases her for being predictable. Overcome with relief and love, Vi lunges forward and passionately kisses the other woman, with Caitlyn quickly responding in kind. Before long, Vi removes Caitlyn's jacket, at which point Caitlyn breaks the kiss and nervously admits to her fling with Maddie. Still overjoyed at Caitlyn's previous revelation, Vi happily assures her that she doesn't care; she proceeds to resume the kiss, and the two women ultimately go on to make love within the cell.
Meanwhile, Mel makes her way over to what was previously Viktor's commune to confront her mother. Upon entering the tent where Ambessa is sheltering, she takes off her hood and reveals herself. Although Ambessa initially looks joyed to see her alive, her happiness quickly fades into shock followed by defensiveness as Mel reveals she's aware of the Black Rose. Ambessa tries to downplay Mel's intelligence by telling her the Black Rose is little more than a facade, a corrupted lie, to which Mel responds by reciting her mother's words to her, saying 'The best lies come wrapped in truth.'
Mel asks Ambessa why The Black Rose killed Kino anyway, and she specified that Kino was so infatuated with the Order, and it ended up being his undoing. Mel disapproves of the vagueness of this answer and accuses Ambessa of letting him die, to which Ambessa responds by slapping her and reminding her of the hardships motherhood brought to her, praying that Mel will never suffer the fate she did of having to forsake Kino to keep her safe. Mel offers to avenge Kino alongside Ambessa, finally returning to Noxus in the process, and Ambessa once again attempts to deceive Mel by trying to get her to believe that her desire for ending the Black Rose comes not from vengeance, but from wariness of the danger they stand as. Ambessa simply tells Mel she's 'found another way' without going into detail.
Ambessa takes Mel further into the commune, revealing to her what she, Singed and Viktor are trying to do, I.E taking the former commune members and transforming them into soulless machines that never need fear death. It's then revealed that Viktor told Singed using his hivemind that the process for Warwick's glorious evolution can ensue. Sky, still incarnated in Viktor's mind, leaves him behind, allowing him to get on with his plan. Viktor tells Sky that he will miss her, to which she simply responds by saying 'No... You won't.' and disappearing. Singed begins injecting Warwick's corpse with fluids that will resurrect him, alongside Viktor's powers. During this process, all of Vander's life, all his memories of it are erased, including who he once was. All of the dead commune members are corrupted into machines, Warwick is resurrected, and Viktor transforms into his final form.
Cast[]
- Kevin Alejandro as Jayce Talis
- Earl Baylon as Loris
- JB Blanc as Sky Young
- Minnie Driver as Illusionary Sorceress
- Keston John as Kino Medarda
- Katie Leung as Caitlyn Kiramman
- Harry Lloyd as Viktor
- Bill Lobley as Huck
- Toks Olagundoye as Mel Medarda
- Ella Purnell as Jinx
- Jason Spisak as Silco
- Hailee Steinfeld as Vi
- Ellen Thomas as Ambessa Medarda
- Katy Townsend as Maddie Nolen
- Brett Tucker as Singed
Appearances[]
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This article is a stub. You can help Arcane Wiki by expanding it. |
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Trivia[]
- This episode marks the first time the entirety of Vi's back tattoo is shown.