Where to begin…

Season 1, above all else, was one beautifully cohesive story. Everything and everyone was connected. Vi, Powder/Jinx, Vander, Silco, Sevika, Zaun, Piltover, Mel, Jayce, Viktor, Hextech, Enforcers, Caitlyn, Heimerdinger, Ekko — it all worked together to tell a single, multi-dimensional story. 

Season 2, on the other hand, felt disjointed and rushed. The individual stories didn’t feel as closely linked as before. We sometimes went multiple episodes without seeing certain characters, all while filling those potential spots with rushed development of the characters we were seeing. 

I’m not saying this season wasn’t still entertaining, but I think it leans too much on stunning visuals, action sequences, and plot pushing while leaving the immersive storytelling and character development a step behind. There are obviously still amazing, unforgettable moments, but they are just that — moments. 

And I’m not underestimating how difficult it is to create a well-balanced, perfectly paced season in only 9 episodes with so many characters and storylines to resolve. But the bar was set so high by S1, this continuation just fell short in many ways. 

I think it was a big miss to not focus more on the characters and complexity of their relationships. Vi and Jinx. Caitlyn and Vi. Caitlyn and Jinx. Ekko and Jinx. Mel and Ambessa. Jayce and Mel. Jayce and Caitlyn. Viktor and Singer. Viktor and Jayce. Heimerdinger and Jayce. I could go on, but you get the idea. I just feel like there were so many intricacies to these relationships that weren’t fully explored, though the potential was there. The Hextech plot line kind of hijacked the entire season instead of being one piece of a larger story between the characters (all of the characters, not just Jayce and Viktor). The biggest loss being more exploration into the complexity of Vi, Jinx, and Caitlyn — which, to me, felt like it should have been the main focus with Silco and Vander (mostly) gone. 

There are very clearly two general opinions on this season. One being that it is a masterful continuation of one of the greatest animated series ever. Two being that it was a disappointing end to a perfect season 1. All this to say that maybe it’s for the best that the show ends here. With more time, maybe it could have fleshed out a lot of these shortcomings and recovered. But as many of us know from our experience with other shows, when the ship starts to sink, it’s almost impossible to get it to float again. 

All that being said, this show definitely deserves credit for bringing such a unique experience to the audience and it gives us hope that the spinoffs and movies that will come from this will take the good, leave the bad, and continue to provide us with a peak entertainment experience. 

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