Moving some of my higher quality posts over from Reddit. Originally wrote this for /r/Arcane
⚠️⚠️ FULL SERIES SPOILERS AHEAD ⚠️⚠️
Original Post
One of Arcane's achievements is it's ability to not reach for cheap drama, which I find especially refreshing in a fantasy context. There were a lot of moments where Arcane geared itself up to do The Dramatic Thing™ and then subverted it, not by doing The Dark Thing™, or the Out of Left Field Thing™, but by doing the human thing instead.
Examples:
- Mel not being a Femme Fatale. She genuinely wanted what was best for the people and respected Jayce. I thought for sure she was just using him, and I'm sure it started that way, but they really developed their relationship in a beautifully natural way so there's no Moment™ where she either sees him for the first time and totally changes or betrays him.
- Powder overhearing Mylo vent to Vi about her and leaving before Vi takes her side. They talk it out later that night and reach an understanding.
- Powder and Vi's reunion. They just hug and share a genuine moment before their differences begin to manifest.
- Vander's tough but supportive reaction to the failed job. He uses it as a teachable moment for Vi, and Vi takes the feedback rather than it being a well you're not my real dad moment. We get to learn a lot about the trust and care these characters have for each other.
- Vi and Caitlyn cooperating with each other right out of the gate, resolving differences as they come up in good faith (even when heated) rather than constantly being at each other's throats the way most shows would do.
Storytelling, as a craft, has an obsession with conflict. Almost all works on how to tell stories focus on how to craft good conflict. And yes, every story needs good a central tension (which Arcane has in spades), but Arcane shows that moments of cooperation can be just as dramatic as conflict, and isn't afraid to let it's characters find ways to come together as a way to mine drama.
I can't think of a single contrived dramatic beat. There's no forced misunderstandings or characters overreacting. It lets the drama flow from the characters and their choices, rather than a contrived situation they are being put into. It forces the show to dig deep and find the things the characters truly care about so it can push those buttons.
Silco's genuine care for Jinx and his people underneath how abusive and shitty he is for both is another great example. Most villains -- even when given a good motivation and philosophy -- feel Evil™, like the philosophy they are espousing is more an excuse to be cruel, or is a purposefully twisted misreading of a moral precept to justify and deflect their actions; the fiction needs to prove to you that they deserve their demise. Arcane manages to give it's villain an actually noble goal of freedom for his people and lets him genuinely believe in it while he paves his way to hell.
No moment of tragic redemption, either, where he repents his choices and accepts the moral of the story into his heart. Arcane mines it's characters for additional depth instead of changing who they are. Character arcs, while strongly present, are just as often a study in revelation as change. Silco's moment of crisis when he is asked to give up Jinx is used to reveal another layer, rather than change what we've already seen. The show isn't afraid of making us feel for it's villain without changing him. His evil is able to be the best he is capable of for who and what he cares about.
Silco is such a great villain: A man forged by the cycle of violence who can only love and care in toxic ways. He's both awful and tragic. A choice that genuinely surprised me: In act 2 I thought for sure he was going to betray Jinx and reveal she was just a tool to him, only to be changed in some moment of connection. Instead -- again -- there is no Moment™ where he either gives into his evil completely or repents to the light. He is a consistent, contradictory human to the end: genuinely ruthless, genuinely caring, genuinely idealistic, and genuinely cynical to his last breath. The scene of him agonizing over his situation at Vander's statue isn't one of a crisis of choice, but a crisis of acceptance. He is lamenting what's important to him. We get to see a beautiful moment of self reflection and sorrow because Arcane echews the normal cheap conflict many shows would grasp for: drawing out the suspense of what Silco will do to mine for drama. Instead, Arcane mines the acceptance of his inability to choose anything else.
Even between adversaries there is often a deep respect and/or complex history that isn't just boiled down to a single feeling. Silco vs Vander. Ekko vs. Jynx, Jayce vs Victor, Mel vs her mother, Marcus vs Grayson. All these relationships have a rich interpersonal interaction that never makes it feel like they are completely at odds, even when they are in each other's way.
Sevika, who is set up to be super jealous of and frustrated with Powder has that "She'll come to you when she's ready" moment with Silco; we learn SO MUCH about her character in such a small interaction. We get to see her in a redeeming moment of reassurance, where many shows might twist the knife a bit with a catty line because well, she doesn't like Jynx.
Instead, Arcane chooses to let us see over and over that while there might be an overriding top layer to a character or relationship, moments of deeper layers peeking through are where the real story lies.