When Arcane season 2 continues, just moments after Jinx’s bomb decimates the Piltover council meeting, tragedy has already struck. Wreckage is everywhere, bodies appearing among the rubble as the dust begins to clear. Even for a series as bleak as Arcaneit is desolation; as one character puts it, another atrocity or so later, it’s something that makes you “understand how easy it is to hate those” who did this to you.

That’s an extremely complex emotion to express in any show, not least one released in the same week as the tough US election. But in the first three episodes of season 2, Arcane proves she is up to the challenge, continually struggling with not only the hardships of life in Piltover and Zaun, but also the terrifying ease with which resentful anger – and violence – draws ever closer. Such leisurely destruction makes the world at once messy and full of focus, whether it’s Vi figuring out if any of her sister’s left in Jinx, or Cait struggling to figure out how much of her instincts are unyielding and how much is in mourning.

That Arcane may illustrate so much of their struggle with its artful animation, it would feel like cheating if the show wasn’t so damn good with it. Everything from the memorial battle to the fight in the alleys of Jinx looks impeccable, showing that it’s very easy to dial in animation styles that naturally fit the mood, person, or situation. When we see Cait delve into the science behind ‘the gray’ noxious gas, it’s set against a comic book style – once again illustrating how easy it is for her team to see everything they do as ‘good’.

All the more fun that such a montage can feel equally at home with Sevika’s skirmish with her new, unpredictable Jinx arm. Sometimes Arcane it feels like it’s emulating lush anime, classic art, or deft music videos; often, like when the second episode kicks off Zaun’s power struggle, it feels like all of those things at once. Thanks to the work of animation studio Fortiche, the visual language of Arcane can be somethingand go everywhere.

And so the show dives in. The shock of last season’s cliffhanger hangs over everything that happens, and the threat – that such a disaster could be around every corner – shadows the story. There’s a real sense of struggle and melancholy in everyone’s storylines (who couldn’t imagine that?). While Jayce and Viktor’s evolving experiences with hextech may be more focused than Mel’s attempts to hold Piltover together, they share a desperate will to fix everything and a nagging fear that it may already be too far gone (who can’t relate). Even Jinx, always ready to play the bad guy to avoid facing her wounds, is more ready than ever for a release.

In a lesser premiere, these struggles can seem distant, overshadowed by the small eternity we spent waiting for season 2. Instead, Arcane keeps it moving, artfully woven into just enough context to make an impact, and lets the remarkable images speak for themselves.

There’s a saying that’s been popping up on TV shows lately: It’s a miracle if we get a season every year. It’s a bit anachronistic; it doesn’t matter that there are some heavy examples that work against this, either by jumping ahead by a season or so (Slow horses) or just be network television functioning as it always has (Abbott Elementary, 9-1-1the list goes on). People are tired of waiting between seasons, with no set regularity or schedule. The wait, especially with a streaming show, can feel interminable. But then a show like Arcane comes along and takes his time deliberately and methodically. And it ends up being a bit of serendipity, while perhaps being a mirror to our own experiences.

Media can never be purely an outlet; it interprets and spits out too much of what we put into it. And even in times like these, when many are scared, stressed and struggling, simply turning away and covering ourselves does not help us. Arcanewith its long-planned release, feels like a reminder of this in its first three episodes, thoughtful and nuanced as it follows a number of people trying to improve their condition. There’s no way the long gestation could have predicted this exact moment, but it feels like one of many responses to it, another encouragement to channel pain into something thoughtful. A reminder that big ideas don’t have to be difficult.

We see that in the final moments of episode 3 Arcane taps into something bigger – this is not a simple revenge story, nor is it a bleak world headed for disaster. This may be a tragedy, but every second of it will be a choice. We’ll just have to wait and see where exactly this ends up.

It may not be easy, but if these first three episodes tell us anything, it’s that we should be wary of what that is. Sometimes things are worth waiting for.

The first three episodes of Arcane season 2 is now streaming on Netflix. The next act appears on November 16.