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Arcane Season 1 Episode 8 Recap – Oil and Water
BY Harris
Published 2 years ago
Affairs of State
A young Medarda stares at a broken throne. A female warrior approaches her and tells her about his father. She teaches her to be both fox and wolf, cunning and strong. Mel shares her plans for the rebuilding process when the rebellion leader is brought before her. Before she can decide on her sentence, the warrior decapitates the leader.
Mel wakes up in the present day behind her painting. Jayce is there beside her, sleeping.
Meanwhile, Vi carries Caitlyn to safety. Caitlyn realizes the crystal is missing from the canister.
Silco arrives at the bridge. He sees Marcus dead. Then he rushes to where Jinx lay. Vi tries to return for her, but the responding enforcers block her. Silco hugs Jinx while she’s holding the crystal and carries her home.
Aftermath
Morning comes. Jayce and Mel see the dead enforcers along with Marcus. Jayce’s stomach churns, vomiting at the sight while one of the firelight bombs whirr below him.
Vi carries Caitlyn back to her room via the window. Caitlyn’s mother meets them, pointing a shotgun. She introduces Vi to them, who is shocked by their affluence.
Caitlyn’s father nurses her wounds as her mother scolds her for her actions. She scolds them back about their indifference to the people of the bottom. Her mother wavers, telling her they can address the council themselves, but they’ll have to prepare accordingly.
Silco takes Jinx back to Singed’s lab. He says the procedure would be risky and asks Silco if he’s prepared to lose her when she wakes up. Silco assures him she won’t die as he kisses her forehead. Singed injects Silco instead, and the crime lord passes out.
New Players
Back at the bar, Sevika is fixing her own arm when Finn of the Chem barons comes by. Finn appeals to Sevika, telling her that what she’s running isn’t her own ship. It’s Silco and Jinx. She doesn’t buy it, so Finn finds a new angle. He argues that Silco and Jinx are both slipping, and she’s been cleaning up their mess for far too long.
Mel and Elora meet someone from the airship. It’s Ambessa, Mel’s mother, the ruthless warrior and the one who banished her. She tells her of his brother’s passing. Things are stirring back in Noxus, and she would want a piece of the Hextech weaponry. Ambessa offers to guide Mel to make the right decision.
Monsters
Caitlyn comes back to Vi to tell her the news. Vi is impressed by her investigation. Caitlyn assures Vi that what happened to Powder was not her fault.
Vi tells her of a story when they were kids. They would pretend to be giant monsters. Sometimes she would scare Powder, so she pretended to scare the monsters away instead. She vowed to protect Powder from monsters, but now a real monster has gotten between them. Vi is guilty she left her.
Jinx’s body is injected with Shimmer. She convulses as she remembers her sister. Visions flash before her eyes of Vi and Caitlyn laughing at her. Singed injects her again with the purple serum.
Silco wakes up as Singed is cleaning his scalpel. The crime lord staggers to find an empty bed. He threatens to stab Singed, but the alchemist says he saved her life.
Allies
Back in Zaun, a hooded Heimerdinger patrols the streets, seeing the poor and their plight. He sees a little girl who approaches him. The girl gives him a few bolts. Heimerdinger replaces it with a top then her mother takes her away.
The professor walks to the docks, where he finds one of the hoverboards broken. He meets a wounded Ekko. Ekko recognizes him and asks him what he’s doing there. The professor wants to help the Undercity, but he feels unwelcome. Ekko laughs, noticing their shared misfortune.
Ambessa is at the bath while having a conversation with Jayce. She advises him his leadership is impotent and the threat of the Undercity is real. Jayce refutes her, saying Piltover is strong. She argues the council is the problem — they lack warfare expertise. Ambessa offers her experience as she has a vested interest in the future of Hextech.
Oil and Water
Jayce meets with the council about their delayed profits and the Sherriff’s betrayal. Vi and Caitlyn arrive, telling them of their insights. Caitlyn reveals the situation of the people in the Undercity who are starving and sick from the Shimmer. They talk about Silco and his plans to build his own city of Zaun.
Jayce asks about the bomb; Vi tells him it’s from Jinx. They admit Jinx has the gemstone. Jayce wants to act immediately, but Mel cautions him, saying war is a last resort. The council mostly agrees.
Vi steps up, appalled that they want to negotiate with Silco. They can’t talk to the crime lord as the man hates the council. A councilman asks the enforcers to take her away, but Vi storms off herself. Caitlyn follows after her.
Vi is despondent, but Caitlyn tells her they can make another plan. Vi isn’t convinced. Topside and bottom are oil and water, she says.
New Life
Back at his lab, Viktor attempts to let go of the cane, his right foot glowing with a purple hue. He staggers with his first steps, but soon enough, he can run. He goes back and tries to take another shot, but his Shimmer has run out. Miss Young checks up on him but discovers that Viktor has wounded himself again and is being sucked by the Hexcore.
Young tries to pull him away, but she is sucked into the core. The orb explodes and has turned into something else.
Jayce is back at his forge, finalizing his weapon when Vi appears behind him. She asks him if he wants to make Silco pay. He agrees after a few exchanges, but Jayce says he’s not a vigilante. He needs council approval. Vi wears one of the hex gloves and reminds him he’s the one Caitlyn trusts.
Vi tells him the only way to stop Silco is to halt the supply of Shimmer. They can do it by taking out their supply facilities.
Raid
Back in the Undercity, a train ferries a few barrels of Shimmer. The enforcers appear to sabotage it with Jayce on the lead, carrying a giant hammer. The enforcers arrest the workers, but one of them sounds the alarm.
The Chembots wake up — superhuman creatures enhanced by the power of Shimmer. They beat the enforcers, leaving Jayce alone. But Vi appears with two gauntlets to join in. A Hextech versus Shimmer battle ensues, with Vi and Jayce gaining the upper hand. Jayce goes on a rampage, blasting through the facility when he hits one of the young workers.
They reach the lower ground, passing by dead workers to find the young boy in his last breath. Jayce breathes a sigh as he sees the many faces of the workers lined up in front of the enforcers.
Back home, Caitlyn remembers Vi. But then she notices Jinx’s symbol written in her mirror. Jinx emerges out of the fog behind her, her eyes glowing purple.
Our Thoughts
It’s a fantastic episode with a great action sequence in the Undercity. We finally see Silco waver and the balance of power shifting in Piltover. What will happen to Caitlyn? I can’t seem to predict the resolution this will all fall into, and that makes me super excited for the finale. I rate this a 4/5.
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