Netflix and Riot’s first season Arcane animated series made various pieces from League of Legends into a beautiful, devastating story about a society on the brink of the abyss. The show imbued each of its characters with a depth and complexity that felt unlike anything Riot had done elsewhere in the long-running franchise. And its commitment to telling its own story made it remarkably easy for new fans to dive in.

There is a density to it Arcane‘s second season that is a reflection of the show’s creative team working to bring this massive story to a satisfying conclusion in just nine short episodes. Especially since it’s been three years since season 1, you might need a refresher on how things got so dire for the residents of Piltover and Zaun. But while the new season drops you right back into the chaos in a somewhat disorienting way, it does a great job of weaving together the season’s many different threads. Arcane‘s powerful legend.

Arcane‘s first season ended with a literal bang: an explosive attack by Jinx (Ella Purnell) on Piltover’s elite councilors just as they were about to sign a peace treaty that would have ended their war against the impoverished population of Piltover. Zaun. While Jinx’s attack was rooted in years of personal psychological torment and growing up as part of Zaun’s abused, disenfranchised underclass, it was a moment where her sister Vi (Hailee Steinfeld) truly saw her as a terrorist monster. It was not clear who would ultimately emerge from the smoking rubble, but there was no doubt as to how much harder Piltover would retaliate with his dangerous Hextech weapons.

Arcane‘s second season picks up in the immediate aftermath of the attack, highlighting the sheer amount of destruction Jinx has caused in her crusade to make Piltover pay for its history of injustice. With so many of Piltover’s political leaders dead, the city’s priorities and its balance of power must shift in ways that seem necessary for Vi and other survivors, like enforcer Caitlyn Kiramman (Katie Leung). But while the new season takes some time to make you realize the magnitude of Piltover’s loss, it continues this act of Arcane‘s story in motion by exploring how oppressive societies create the monsters they ultimately come to hate and fear.

Everyone suffers like Arcane moves the characters into a new phase of conflict, but the show uses Vi and Jinx in particular to emphasize how deeply war can disconnect people from their sense of self. It’s easier for the sisters to let each other go than for either of them to see themselves in each other’s faces. And when they are given the opportunity to put their feelings into action, it rarely occurs to them that fighting to hurt the other side is guaranteed to inflict wounds on themselves.

Arcane repeatedly reiterates that idea as it quickly shifts the focus to the rest of the cast and brings the devastating danger of Hextech into sharp focus. Inventor Jayce Talis (Kevin Alejandro) and politician Mel Medarda (Toks Olagundoye) understand the severity of the escalation her warhawk mother Ambessa (Ellen Thomas) is hungry for. But that foresight can only do so much to keep calls for a full-scale invasion of Zaun at bay.

Arcane‘s second season uses the mounting tension and Jayce’s fears about what he helped create to delve deeper into the magical mysteries of Hextech with a subplot that zooms far out into new realms of the world. League of Legends universe. It’s another way the show reinforces its ideas about actions having consequences that aren’t immediately apparent up close. And in some Arcane‘s characters crystallizes how high the price the planet can pay if humanity goes to war.

Hextech also largely features in most of this season’s visually stunning set pieces, which again are really the show’s biggest strength. While the show as a whole is still utterly beautiful, the action feels even more brutal this time around. Occasionally the ‘cool’ needle drops feel a bit tone-deaf for their frankness Arcane tries to be in its portrayal of a society tearing itself apart. But that has always been the case Arcane‘s atmosphere, and the season that really leans on it, will likely appeal to hardcore fans.

Because the stakes are even higher and all that ArcaneBecause the players are now fully engaged in the war, the first three episodes of this season often feel more narrative-driven and like they’re moving at a much faster pace. That might be more exhausting if the season ended all at once, but Netflix has smartly chosen to split it into three separate acts that will debut through the end of the month. We won’t know exactly how that will happen until the end of November ArcaneThe creators of the franchise plan to bring this story to a close and explore whether it will pave the way for what comes next for the franchise. But this first act is a strong opener for Arcane‘s last chapter.