I can't be bothered to write a well formatted explanation of my thoughts on this season right now so I'm just gonna do some quick bullet points. -First of all, the first 7 episodes of this season are incredible! It feels like a completely different show from season 1, the world-building is so much broader and it handles its themes in a far more ambitious and impressive way. As much as I had some minor faults throughout that stretch (particularly with 2x4), at that point I was fully expecting to call it better than season 1 which was already one of my strongest 9's ever. -Act 1 is definitely the most consistent, Caitlyn almost takes up a protagonist role of sorts after the events of 1x9 and she fits that position beautifully. The way they execute her grief in 2x1 and her development in 2x3 is unforgettable. I do think they brushed her to the side after that a little bit too much, particularly in relation to her dynamic with Vi which was unbelievably rushed and lacked some very necessary emotional weight. -Mel's plot across this entire season was frustratingly mid. Her character arc really didn't feel natural and for almost the entire duration of the season it's not only deeply disconnected from the other ongoing conflicts, but far too vague to be substantial or worthwhile. The black rose stuff was so unnecessary. I really feel like they could have used the scenes Mel and Ambessa spent together in season 1 where they were less significant to the plot in a more productive and meaningful way to flesh out their dynamic because I really wasn't invested in it here. -2x6 is a masterpiece, utterly thought-provoking, made me cry and is potentially a top 50 episode of all time. -2x7 is a masterpiece, utterly thought-provoking, made me sob and is potentially a top 50 episode of all time. -The animation and dialogue both improve here. The dialogue felt kind of basic and unsubtle in a lot of season 1 but there were so many memorable lines here and a lot distinctly written dialogue, the best of which being the INCREDIBLE monologue in 2x6. I also absolutely fucking LOVE the variety of animation styles that they poured into this, and some of the design and action sequences here were just beyond words. -One pretty consistent issue I had here was with the music. Generally in season one the needle drops were quite fantastic and are utilised perfectly as a way to characterised the people or events going on in the scene, the best example of this for me will always be the action sequence at the end of 1x7 over a song from my goat Denzel Curry. This season on the other hand, often uses music quite poorly. Here they frequently take away from the tone of the scene and make scenes unnecessarily busy to the point where it distracts from the main focus of that scene. -The one thing I here that I really believe they got truly, unequivocally right is the Jayce and Viktor plot. Holy shit it was some of the most awe-inspiring stuff I've ever seen. Surprisingly, by the end of the show it became the main vessel for the show's themes rather than Vi and Jinx's dynamic, and such a compelling and mind-blowing one at that. Their conclusion in the finale was so beautiful and thematically resonant. By the end of the show they ended up being the two most consistent characters of the entire series purely because of how inconsistent everything else was in this season, which I wasn't anticipating at all. -The ending isn't awful, but still a pretty weak conclusion for the show nonetheless, and likely the worst finale I've seen in my relatively minute experience with TV. So much of it was rushed and very poorly conceived/written. My biggest precaution coming into this show is that its ambition and narrative complexity was a bit too much for its own good considering it's only 18 forty minute episodes, and that's exactly what came true. I really wish they had put a lot more time and thought into practically everyone's conclusion. Overall, despite my (minor) flaws in the first 7 episodes and (major) flaws in the last 2, so much of this was absolutely incredible TV and for the majority of the season I was expecting to confidently call this better than season 1, so it still rounds out to an 8.