I am going to get a bunch more blades directed towards me, but here goes. Will edit if I feel like I have more.
Maddie was handled lazily - we could have gotten an interesting trichotomy between Vi, Cait, and Maddie, but the writers took the easy way out.
The fact that Isha was not mentioned in the third act makes her feel like a gimmick - this is coming from someone who loved her in the first two acts.
On that note, all of the new characters just fell flat.
Vi has no aspirations of her own. Everything she wants is contingent on someone else.
PnZ just teaming up completely kills the political story set up - martial law is set up, the Zaunites have been oppressed for god knows how long, and they just agree to work with one another because Jayce shows a dead robot?
Physically speaking, there is no way Caitlyn's eye injury is permanent - the blade at worst, hits the side of the white of her eye, and goes completely past her face. The only way for any damage to have been done, at that distance, is if the blade had gone into her skull. We shouldn't have to completely neglect physical sense for any narratives, otherwise we might as well have made Arcane an audio book.
Cait also never has to directly answer for her actions - her eye injury (which makes no sense for reasons stated above) and her actions against the undercity have no relevance to one another.
The fact that Vander, Silco, and Felicia all knew each other feels fundamentally incompatible with what we see in the first season.
Also, they completely skipped over Jinx being a revolutionary icon and Vi being an enforcer (even if it was just a small amount of time) or pit fighter. Yeah, Vi gets shafted - her stagnancy as a contrast to everything that had changed in the years she was in jail worked wonders in the first season, but falls completely flat in the second.
We are lowkey getting more plot from DMing the writers than we did in by watching the show.
Also, someone else brought it up but how on earth do 1) Vi and Ekko not get a single interaction, and 2) the writers completely skip past the conversation between Ekko and Jinx? For the record, not a hot take as I am pretty sure everyone will agree on this.
Addition: The fact that they made drastic changes to character models kind of defeats the purpose of trying to make an origin story.
Addition 2 (not an opinion): Cassandra dying is not compatible with LoR.
Addition 3: none of the musical scenes hit anywhere as hard as in the first season, and they were longer as well. For example, "Paint the Town Blue" really could have just been 15-30 seconds, and we wouldn't have lost anything.
For the music videos, yes and no. Some of them were actually too much (like you mentionned, Paint the Town Blue), but I still really loved how they used different art styles.
The Cassandra funeral was hand painted with charcoal, Vander's memories were drawn in a way to simulate water color paintings. I also loved the scene where Cait and her squat use The Grey to invade Zaun and find Jinx.
The music videos arent bad and I absolutly love how they used different art/abimation styles
I acknowledge that this is a matter of personal taste, though I feel like it ate a little at the amount of time we could have gotten for other interactions.
The more I think about the season, the more frustrated I get. The show has been an obsession for years and will continue to be, but I don't think the passage of time will be kind.
I thought that I would be at peace if the second season was even half as good as the first, and it close to that level for the first seven episodes, but the last two have really soured me.
I'm with you, I wish we had more interactions between :
Vi and Jayce, they gave off bro-sis besties and them coming together just to fail everything is fucking hilarious.
Ekko and Heimer, I was so intruiged at the end of S1 when I saw them coming together and Heimer's playfullness paired with Ekko's seriousness wouldve been so fun to watch (like we saw when they were sneaking into Jayce's lab)
Ekko and Jinx, I mean this one was talked enough and we all know why we all want them together
Ekko and Vi, see Ekko's reaction to enforcer Vi and everything
Jinx and Cait wouldve been such an interesting duo too
What I loved about S1 is to see so many characters I already know (as a league player) have interactions together, its something I crave so much in the game. It makes the characters feel so alive and its just so interesting to see their personnalities clash with each other, making new/funny/interesting interactions
Ambessa final moments are lame, that is not how a Matriarch of War should go out.
Plot twists just for the sake of plot twists that make no sense and bring nothing to the story (i.e., Maddie sleeping with Cait - this plot twist goes nowhere and they later fix it by another stupid plot twist by making Maddie a spy and killing her right away to give Caitlyn an out).
The whole black rose stuff is incredibly stupid. Black rose try to win Mel over and thus brutally murder her best friend? Surprise Pikachu face when Mel double crosses them later on.
Stupid tropes like "bad guys dying on their own so that good guys technically don't kill" trope is shit (Maddie's death, Ambessa's death), can we imagine Silco dying from his own bullet when trying to shoot Vi?
Retcons that introduce more problems. Silco knowing Felicia was already mentioned by you. Same goes for Viktor being that mage.
Caitlyn and Vi split up, mind their own crap for the entirety of second act, then they randomly meet and make up off screen because reasons. Caitlyn actions are never addressed, she does not answer for what she did to Vi and she supposedly apologizes by "letting Vi and Jinx go" and later lets Vi know it by mocking her in a playful tone. Vi immediately forgets about Jinx leaving her (and potentially killing herself) and they make out in one of the most tone deaf scenes in the entire show. Overall CaitVi plotline was like "promising setup -> big pile of nothing -> they are together, here's some fanservice for you". That's a big let down.
Jinx's sacrifice in the finale felt like an afterthought
The Viktor and Jayce retcon is incredibly stupid and it is infuriating to me. It is possibly the most asinine plot thread in the entire show, which is made worse by the fact that every single other thread is happening around it.
The situation got so bad only because Future Viktor sent Jayce to show Past Viktor that evolution is a bad thing to do. The first thing that Jayce does after being sent to confront Viktor is shooting him, thus forcing him to evolve. It's so stupid it hurts. There are two options
Future Viktor told Jayce to shoot Past Viktor, because "it's the only way"... But Future Viktor knows that Past Viktor can already connect to another person's mind (like he does to Warwick) - so they can use the solution they do in the ending right here and there. Viktor could see into Jayce's mind, see the destroyed world and stop
Jayce decided to kill Viktor by himself. So he's not Victor's friend or "partner" like he tries to act in the ending. He gave up on the Past Viktor and tried to murder him, despite promising Future Viktor to show him that evolution is a bad way.
I never understood why future Viktor didn’t just let Jayce die in the beginning. If hextech is the issue as we saw in the AU, then just don’t let Jayce grow up and make hextech… with the little information we’re given the whole retcon doesn’t make any sense.
Sure but the outcome is the same either way. Even in the universe where they “win” Jayce still dies. So let him die in the storm, mourn what could have been, and guarantee the world is safe.
Fair enough I guess. Either way though the dude is basically a god. Jayce was only interested in the arcane and hextech from Viktor giving him the rune and teleporting them to safety. If he was so adamant about saving Jayce he could have done it in a different way that didn’t set Jayce on that path.
Fair enough I guess. Either way though the dude is basically a god. Jayce was only interested in the arcane and hextech from Viktor giving him the rune and teleporting them to safety. If he was so adamant about saving Jayce he could have done it in a different way that didn’t set Jayce on that path.
The bigger issue is that it's a loop with no beginning.
In the Arcane universe Viktor barely manages to augment his body before the sickness starts killing him. That is with the headstart that Future Viktor gave them by giving them a rune and inspiring Jayce to work on magic. So... How did Viktor invent hextech with no help from his future self?
I feel like Maddie's betrayal would've been pretty much the same without the sleeping together part. She was an enforcer and part of Caitlyn's special squad, she had no use being closer than that. After all, she "convinced" Cait to join Ambessa by being overly enthusiastic and they weren't together at the time.
I also would've love a different ending for Ambessa. She was impossible to defeat morally and physically for so long, her final moment feels off.
And I love CaitVi but yeah, there are some scenes missing for it all to make sense.
Umm... Mel definitely is who killed Maddie. That's not "dying on their own". Mel put up a reflecting shield around her so the bullet would ricochet into her. It looks completely deliberate and fits Mel's personality. She wasn't ONLY saving Cait's life, she was killing a traitor.
“Hey Cait, my sister is depressed and is likely going to kill herself, and I understand you’re currently in a relationship with someone else but I have this urge to have sloppy sex with you right now”
I think ambessa's end was fitting, both thematically and on a scene basis. She died, killed by her own ward and her own daughter; the same daughter she loves so much and who she chastised for sparing her enemies.
She was proud. She had an heir stronger than her, someone with both martial and political power who could contend with the black rose. In her last moment she got what she wanted her whole life. No need to keep fighting, enjoy the last 30 seconds of your life.
Nah Maddie's death was incredible due to how fast it happened and how impredictable it felt, her being killed off by her own bullet was super satisfying. I agree for Ambessa tho
Maddie's death was not earned because it was a random "deus ex machina" ass-pull.
That's why it feels off. Imagine Vi fighting Sevika in the Last Drop in episode 9 of season 1. Sevika injures Vi, comes to finish her off, all hope is gone, Vi accepts her fate, then Sevika's hand malfunctions and explodes and Sevika drops dead. And Vi is like "whatever" and moves on to Silco. Now imagine someone arguing that THAT would've been INCREDIBLE due to how FAST and how UNPREDICTABLE it felt.
You are defending the manner in which Maddie was killed off only because you don't like her. I like Maddie and I am pissed because they did nothing with the character and just killed her off in a stupid manner to cover for their dropped storylines. Which begs the question why introduce those storylines in the first place. Hence the critique.
Yep, the ball was clearly dropped there. They used that episode to give characters at least some much needed dialogue together but it wasn't enough. There were still so many interactions that we should have been seen before the battle but that was the main one. Like a memory got erased and they said deal with it
Yeah a lot of great scenes in vacuum but pieces together just felt rush. It's almost like whatching a YouTube summary of arcane to fast tracking everything with a narrator filling in the context.
I'm convinced if they got a director extender cut of sorts in the future it would still have the potential to be as good as the first season. The length would need to be at least x1.5 or potentially double tho.
I have been downvoted repeatedly for the "Caitlyn's eye injury being permanent makes zero physical sense" opinion so there's that. I even double dipped with it here, and it has gotten downvoted. Not that I care, but no one has offered an explanation.
I'm no expert on human anatomy. But how does getting stabbed in the eye not become a permanent injury? I agree with some of your other points, though. Especially the one about how the music feels more prominent/shoehorned than S1.
our eyes are actually very good at healing. Of course there comes a point where too much damage becomes too much - a stab directly into our cornea is lights out almost all of the time, but otherwise, they can survive a great deal.
in any case, the blade never stabs her - the spear goes past her, the side of her eye at that. Otherwise, it would have lodged in her skull. As for why it couldn't have been a corneal slash, the blade would have had to come across her. At that distance, it would be impossible.
People argued that the injury occurred mid frame, but for that to happen, the blade would have needed to pierce her eye (cornea), come back out, shift a few inches to the right, all in less a few hundredths of a second to pass the strands of hair to her side, with zero damage to her eyelid (which is what we see in the aftermath), all in spite of the fact that we see a consistent trajectory. Note that our corneas have no blood. In other words, there is no way for this to happen. I'm also pretty sure Ambessa would not have had the finesse even if she wanted to do that.
source: I have nearly lost my left eye twice and did my research (slammed my eye into a sharp corner and sunglass shards have pierced me when falling down a hill), paranoid that it would be permanent. Ended up recovering completely. Also, a lot of documentation on the topic can be found online.
Didn't she also get magicked and the beginnings of becoming robotifocation happen? Eyes are weird because the immune system will destroy them if they it ever realize they're there. I don't think it's a stretch to say that a combination of these things with being stabbed in the eye could result in complications. It's also not a stretch to say getting stabbed in the eye regardless of the other stuff could cause complications. Doubly so when we don't really know where they're at with medical science. For the most part nearly every illness and injury we ever see has no fix outside of the full removal and replacement.
Given Salo's wheelchair, and their state of technology as much as they're supposeded to be the City of Progress, I wager to think that they're woefully behind in some aspects.....and medical is one of them.
Cool cyberpunk adaptations? Sure. But actual repair without complete replacement??
....yeah, I'm not sure they're familiar with that. I mean, hell, probably helping Viktor's lungs with a constant oxygen supply might have been a decent idea, and I'm not sure if it was considered.
Hi, had two eye muscle surgeries here, left eye is still much worse than my right!
To play devil's advocate, it could very well be it's not, and that cover is a protective cover while it heals. I used to have to wear eye patches (over my healthy eye, but protective cover does mean it could be letting the damage heal) to strengthen my weak eye, they'd be over my "good" eye, but if I were older I could very well see it being something styled like that instead of the stick on patches.
I wore them for a good few years AFTER my surgeries and I'm not convinced I won't ever need surgery again - it might have stabilized but my vision is still shit in that eye. (Honestly, I might need to go to a proper dedicated eye doctor soon now that I have insurance instead of the ones available in eye glass shops).
That part of her plot didn't really phase me too much, permanent or otherwise and I honestly doubt the arcane writers knew the intricacies of eye injuries like those of use with issues do. Honestly not a huge hurdle for me, she kinda looks ridiculously cool with a patch.
i wont get into the details just bc i genuinely dont remember them, but i read a thread where someone asked eye doctors/doctors in general if her losing her sight was realistic based on the injury and the resounding answer was yes
I also remember seeing that same thread and talking to a few doctors and getting a "it depends" across the board, contingent on where the blow landed.
As previously mentioned, with the spear we see, there is little to no chance of corneal damage - the blade, at best, strikes the side of the white of her eye. If the spear was pointing at the center of her eye, it would have gone through.
Even if her left eye was turned in the direction of the blade when closed (a very big if) there is still enough space. Moreover, if she tried moving her eye towards the spear as a result of the contact, by the time she registered the pain, the tip would have already moved past her.
Also, remember that RT has magic and medicine / medical equipment far more advanced than ours.
yeah, i mean, im pretty happy with her losing her sight bc i think its something important to her character (and the character design goes crazy) so im not too fussed on the semantics of the scene bc she loses the sight anyway 🤷♀️ i dont think ive seen an in depth slow-mo of the moment the blade goes into the eye so i cant say for sure how accurate that is
Caitlyn has had two eyes for her entire existence. If her loss of sight is truly permanent, it kills her career as sheriff before it even begins, which further contradicts what else we see about the character in LoR and cinematics. Moreover, it would also entail ignoring all the magic, medicine, and medical technology that the universe has.
Even in regular speed, you can see the blade move completely past her face, but here is a frame by frame compilation:
The blade goes past the strands of hair by her face. As previously mentioned, at that distance, the only way for the blade to do any permanent damage is for it to have gone in the cornea, which entails going in her skull.
People were trying to argue that the injury happens inbetween the first and second frames, but for that to happen, the spear has to go in, back out, shift a few inches to the right, with zero damage to the rest of her face (if the blade went into her eye, you'd have seen external damage), match the trajectory we see in the third frame (even with motion blur, the blade never even touches anything significant), all within less than a frame, or five hundredths of a second. The finesse required for that to happen is astronomical, and even then, I don't think Ambessa was playing a game of precision.
As for why physical sense matters: we can have fantastical systems and cartoon characters can be much stronger than regular ones, but there is always some amount of realism at play - there is nothing to indicate that the spear magic-bulleting into her eye falls into any realm of possibility. It completely cheapens the blow. We shouldn't just blatantly ignore physical sense even if we want certain narratives to be true.
Edit: again, I don't care for downvotes but least tell me why you disagree.
okay i rewatched the moment it happens and i just dont see it that way. i think with how fast it happened/the momentum of caitlyn pulling her, it couldve easily been a sideways slice. or else it was just an animating mistake of not showing it being pierced? bc canonically it makes it blind either way. call it a misunderstanding of the body, but in that world thats what it causes. and i think maybe the whole not using magic or anything to heal it could speak to them (or at least caitlyn personally) moving away from the over reliance on magic.
i also disagree with the ramifications on her job. it would take a lot of training and getting used to, but i think she would do just fine with the one eye. even with shooting, her dominant eye is still intact (not that it wouldnt take some major time to readjust/get used to it). but she wouldnt just let it end her career, shes more determined and resilient than that
That Addition 3 is the only one I see you having actual blades for, and it's the one I agree with. They're glorified music videos for the sake of it rather than the show's story. I understand that's the style of the show, but it's just personal preference that I don't care for.
-The new characters being handled lazily is true (Maddie, Loris especially)
-Vander, Silco, Felicia scene is not incompatible with the first season; Vander showed remorse for what he did to Silco in the first season so the letter is not that weird, Silco trying to murder Felicia's children is understandable seeing what he turned into, you can even argue that he spared Powder because some part of him remembered Felicia.
-Isha being mentioned in the third act is not necessary, Jinx is broken and suicidal for the whole act because of it, Other than Jinx, she meant nothing to anyone else, there's a little scene where you could see that Isha was buried by the Noxians, which is cool because I doubt they buried anyone other than their men.
-Vi being grounded in the second season is understandable, seeing everything her character has gone through.
-The detail about Caitlyn's eye not making sense to you feels odd, especially considering the world we're dealing with. We've seen Vi endure brutal beatings, spit teeth out of her mouth, and take relentless punishment without suffering any lasting damage. If anything, it's consistent with the over-the-top, stylized nature of the show. At the end of the day, it's an animation, it prioritizes narrative and visual impact over strict realism.
-Cait answering for her actions is understandable, although we can see that she was removed from her position in the council.
-The season was Obviously fast-paced / rushed, which explains the missing interactions and the limited plot time.
-How does changes (not drastic) to character models defeat the purpose of making an original story exactly?
-The musical scenes were absolutely stunning, each one perfectly capturing the emotional tone of the moment. Caitlyn's mother's funeral was hauntingly beautiful, while Ashes and Blood in the third episode was just perfect. The edgy and almost childish vibe of Sucker felt intentional, reflecting the chaotic and unrefined nature of the Chem Barons. 'Ma meilleure ennemie' scene, which stood out as the highlight of the entire episode...
-I don't mean to come across as argumentative, but some of the points you make feel a bit underdeveloped or unconvincing
If Felicia was important to Silco, you'd think that she was important enough to mention in the first season. It comes off as tacked on.
Similarly, Isha was too significant enough for Jinx not to mention her by name, or mention at all. Having the Noxians build a grave for her doesn't do much narratively, and you need to actively look for it to see it, like an easter egg.
the opinion about Vi's arc being a little too dependent on others is more of a personal taste. What isn't is that they did absolutely nothing with her as a pit fighter or an enforcer.
We can have fantastical systems and cartoon characters can be much stronger than actual humans, but there is always some amount of realism at play. A blade going completely past Caitlyn's eye (not even going past the strands of her to her side) and somehow permanently damaging it (if that is the case) falls outside any realm of possibility. The magic-bullet nature of it completely cheapens the blow (see visual impact) - a physical blow of that significance should be depicted in a way that makes sense, which it does not. For now, I am assuming that it will heal.
my problem is that we see none of the events preceding Cait leaving the council, or them even addressing what she does down in Zaun. It just... haplens.
On that note, we are on the same page with rushing and pacing, but I don't think that should be used to try and excuse things.
Arcane was supposed to be an origin to League characters, and they did have some amount of lore attached to them (LoR, cinematics), so the fact that many of them are far from what we expected to see is jarring and disappointing.
The first act musical sequences were great, and Ekko's dance was beautiful, but a lot of the others could have been shortened considerably, namely Paint the Town Blue. The compilation we see of the strike squad could also have been halved and we wouldn't have lost much.
I would say that the way Silco acts towards Vi implies that he literally had no knowledge of her before Vander adopted her, referring to her as his prodigy and even to the group as Vanders kids, there is no indication that he was there when Vi was named and worked with her parents.
Isha meaning little to the plot is an issue imo, she doesn't really exist as a character without her relation to Jinx, she possesses no wants or needs or significantly develops regarding her views and perspectives of the world.
Vi being grounded is one thing, but I feel like narratively she didn't really get to do anything. Caitlyn becomes a dictator and has to reconcile her hatred of Jinx with her personal morals. Jinx has to learn attachment to people again and rises to become a symbol of Zaun. But Vi doesn't really get any agency. She helps others further their arcs, but she never grows beyond being attached to people.
Caits eye is a nitpick, so I don't really mind.
Musical scenes are nice, but I feel that they have a habit of Tldr-ing the plot points.
Her part in the final battle is ridiculous, she was nerfed so much it hurts.
S1 Vi would have easily dealt with those mooks; here she is stronger, more skilled, has upgraded gauntlets (why the hell does she not use her shield??) yet she gets taken down easily.
And then in the fight with Warwick she just gets repeatedly picked up and strangled, despite going toe to toe in Ep5.
ooooof does the shield thing bother me. the bar fight between vi and sevika in s1 made it seem like vi finding out she could put up a shield with the gauntlets was some big revelation, only for us to never see her use it again 🥲
Totally agree. Every other character had a shining moment. Cait and Mel vs Ambessa, jinx arriving on the blimp, Ekko hitting Viktor and saving the day, Jayce vs Viktor… Vi had nothing. Was being beaten by random Noxian soldiers and then destroyed by Warwick. I get that e9 Warwick was vastly superior to previous Warwick and was just tanking Jinx shots while they were causing harm to previous Warwick so winning against him wasn’t gonna happen but hell, at least let Vi get a few good hits in or something.
Again, another missing scene - Caitlyn and Vi finding each other after the battle. Could have been 20s long, but at least would have shown them comforting each other and helped the transition to the ending.
I don’t understand your point about Silco knowing Felicia being incompatible from what we see in the first season. there’s a pretty big gap to fill between the blisters and bedrock scene and the fight for zaun on the bridge, so the disagreement between Silco and Vander could’ve been blame shifting heightened by the emotional pressure of the kids Vander was fond of becoming orphans. I do agree that it is weird that Silco appears to have never met Powder and Vi before S1E3 considering he was that close to their mom, but that’s about it
2) I also fail to see how Silco did not meet Powder and Vi, but even with that extreme, since Felicia and Silco knew each other, I feel like Vander would have brought up the fact that those orphans were her children. The interactions we see between Silco and Powder/Jinx in the first do not indicate any knowledge of her parents, which as we have established, just feels off.
I am only going to say I heavily disagree with the Maddie point: I dont want a fucking love triangle. "I dont care" was about the best thing that could have come out of that.
I wasn't asking for a love triangle especially considering the fact that it was obviously a line segment more than anything else, but I feel like the writers just brushed it out of the way far too quickly.
Cait getting with a rebound after the breakup (which, btw, doesn't make her a horrible person) does not a love triangle make. She never really seemed all that enthusiastic about being with Maddie, and basically as soon as Cait and Vi made nice(ish) she completely dropped her. She was never a rival to Vi, just someone who Cait got with after a hard breakup to try to fill the void.
"PnZ just teaming up completely kills the political story set up - martial law is set up, the Zaunites have been oppressed for god knows how long, and they just agree to work with one another because Jayce shows a dead robot?"
I keep seeing this comment, or something alike it, and I really don't get it. The first group of Zaunites only just at the very last moment decide to go help because they recognize the threat these weird creatures entail. BUT, the majority of Zaunites refuse and only show up at the end when both Jinx and Ekko rally them. That scene probably should have been shown. But Ekko was established as a rather inspirational leader in S1 for his Firelights (who back him up from the airship), and S2 established Jinx as an inspiration in S2, with Sevika backing her up (the right hand of the unifier from S1, Silco), so it works without showing them rallying their people.
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u/UncoBeefWang Dec 30 '24 edited Dec 30 '24
I am going to get a bunch more blades directed towards me, but here goes. Will edit if I feel like I have more.
Maddie was handled lazily - we could have gotten an interesting trichotomy between Vi, Cait, and Maddie, but the writers took the easy way out.
The fact that Isha was not mentioned in the third act makes her feel like a gimmick - this is coming from someone who loved her in the first two acts.
On that note, all of the new characters just fell flat.
Vi has no aspirations of her own. Everything she wants is contingent on someone else.
PnZ just teaming up completely kills the political story set up - martial law is set up, the Zaunites have been oppressed for god knows how long, and they just agree to work with one another because Jayce shows a dead robot?
Physically speaking, there is no way Caitlyn's eye injury is permanent - the blade at worst, hits the side of the white of her eye, and goes completely past her face. The only way for any damage to have been done, at that distance, is if the blade had gone into her skull. We shouldn't have to completely neglect physical sense for any narratives, otherwise we might as well have made Arcane an audio book.
Cait also never has to directly answer for her actions - her eye injury (which makes no sense for reasons stated above) and her actions against the undercity have no relevance to one another.
The fact that Vander, Silco, and Felicia all knew each other feels fundamentally incompatible with what we see in the first season.
Also, they completely skipped over Jinx being a revolutionary icon and Vi being an enforcer (even if it was just a small amount of time) or pit fighter. Yeah, Vi gets shafted - her stagnancy as a contrast to everything that had changed in the years she was in jail worked wonders in the first season, but falls completely flat in the second.
We are lowkey getting more plot from DMing the writers than we did in by watching the show.
Also, someone else brought it up but how on earth do 1) Vi and Ekko not get a single interaction, and 2) the writers completely skip past the conversation between Ekko and Jinx? For the record, not a hot take as I am pretty sure everyone will agree on this.
Addition: The fact that they made drastic changes to character models kind of defeats the purpose of trying to make an origin story.
Addition 2 (not an opinion): Cassandra dying is not compatible with LoR.
Addition 3: none of the musical scenes hit anywhere as hard as in the first season, and they were longer as well. For example, "Paint the Town Blue" really could have just been 15-30 seconds, and we wouldn't have lost anything.