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Arcane’s second season is a revolutionary powderkeg

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1 year ago

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Arcane’s second season is a revolutionary powderkeg

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

There’s a density to Arcane’s second season that feels reflective of the show’s creative team working to bring this juggernaut of a story to a satisfying end in just nine short episodes. Especially since it has been three years since season 1, you might need a refresher on how things became so dire for the citizens of Piltover and Zaun. But while the new season drops you right back into the chaos in a somewhat disorienting way, it does an excellent job of weaving together the many different threads of Arcane’s powerful legend.

Arcane’s first season ended with a literal bang — an explosive attack from Jinx (Ella Purnell) on the elite council members of Piltover just as they were about to sign a peace treaty that would have brought an end to their war on the impoverished people of Zaun. Though Jinx’s attack was rooted in years of personal psychological torment and her growing up as part of Zaun’s abused, disenfranchised underclass, it was a moment that made her sister Vi (Hailee Steinfeld) see truly her as a terroristic monster. It wasn’t clear who might emerge from the smoking rubble in the end, but there was no question about how much harder Piltover would retaliate with its dangerous Hextech weapons.

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

Everyone suffers as Arcane moves its characters into a new phase of conflict, but the show uses Vi and Jinx in particular to highlight how profoundly war can unmoor people from their senses of self. It’s easier for the sisters to let one another go than it is for either of them to see themselves in the other’s face. And when presented with chances to channel their feelings into action, it seldom occurs to them how fighting just to hurt the other side is guaranteed to cause self-inflicted wounds.

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

Arcane’s second season uses the rising tension and Jayce’s fears about what he has helped create to delve deeper into the magical mysteries of Hextech with a subplot that zooms far out into new realms of the League of Legends universe. It’s another way the show reinforces its ideas about actions coming with consequences that aren’t immediately obvious up close. And in some of Arcane’s characters, it crystalizes how heavy a price the planet can pay as humanity wages war.

Hextech also features largely in most of this season’s more visually stunning set pieces, which are once again truly the show’s greatest strength. Though the show as a whole is still utterly gorgeous, the action feels even more brutal this time around. On occasion, the “cool” needle drops feel a bit tone deaf because of how frank Arcane is trying to be in its depiction of a society tearing itself apart. But that has always kinda been Arcane’s vibe, and the season really leaning into it will likely appeal to hardcore fans.

Because the stakes are even higher and all of Arcane’s players are now fully locked into the war, this season’s first three episodes often feel more narratively dense and like they’re moving at a much faster pace. That might be more exhausting if the season was dropping all at once, but Netflix has smartly chosen to split it up into three separate acts set to debut through the end of the month. We won’t know until the end of November just how Arcane’s creators intend to bring this story to a close and whether it might set the stage for whatever’s coming next for the franchise. But this first act is a strong opener for Arcane’s final chapter.

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Betterment’s financial app sends customers a $10,000 crypto scam message

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6 hours ago

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January 10, 2026

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Betterment’s financial app sends customers a ,000 crypto scam message

We’ll triple your crypto! (Limited Time)

Bryan: Betterment is giving back!

We’re celebrating our best-performing year yet by tripling Bitcoin and Ethereum deposits for the next three hours.

For example, if you send $10,000 in Bitcoin or Ethereum, we’ll send you right back $30,000 to your sending Bitcoin or Ethereum address.

Send deposits to these addresses:

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Fox News AI Newsletter: 10 showstopping CES innovations

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6 hours ago

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January 10, 2026

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Fox News AI Newsletter: 10 showstopping CES innovations

The LG CLOiD robot and the LG OLED evo AI Wallpaper TV are displayed onstage during an LG Electronics news conference at CES 2026, an annual consumer electronics trade show, in Las Vegas, Jan. 5, 2026. (REUTERS/Steve Marcus)

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

Welcome to Fox News’ Artificial Intelligence newsletter with the latest AI technology advancements.

IN TODAY’S NEWSLETTER:

– CES 2026 showstoppers: 10 gadgets you have to see
– Construction giant unveils AI to help prevent job site accidents: ‘It’s essentially a personal assistant’
– Fox News gets exclusive look at company helping businesses nationwide harness AI-powered robots to boost efficiency and fill labor gaps

CES 2026 put health tech front and center, with companies showcasing smarter ways to support prevention, mobility and long-term wellness. (CES)

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FUTURE IS NOW: Every January, the Consumer Electronics Show, better known as CES, takes over Las Vegas. It’s where tech companies show off what they’re building next, from products that are almost ready to buy to ideas that feel pulled from the future.

SAFER SITES: Construction equipment giant Caterpillar has unveiled a new artificial intelligence (AI) tool designed to improve job site safety and boost efficiency as the industry grapples with labor shortages.

FUTURE OF WELLNESS: The Consumer Electronics Show, better known as CES, is the world’s largest consumer technology event, and it’s underway in Las Vegas. It takes over the city every January for four days and draws global attention from tech companies, startups, researchers, investors and journalists, of course.

FUTURE OF WORK: As artificial intelligence is rapidly evolving, Fox News got an exclusive look at a company helping businesses nationwide harness AI-powered robots to boost efficiency and fill labor gaps. RobotLAB, with 36 locations across the country and headquartered in Texas, houses more than 50 different types of robots, from cleaning and customer service bots to security bots.

The LG CLOiD robot and the LG OLED evo AI Wallpaper TV are displayed onstage during an LG Electronics news conference at CES 2026 in Las Vegas, Jan. 5, 2026. (REUTERS/Steve Marcus)

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COMPUTE CRUNCH: The price tag for competing in the artificial intelligence race is rapidly climbing, fueling demand for advanced computing power and the high-end chips that are needed to support it. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) CEO Lisa Su said demand for AI computing is accelerating as industries rush to expand their capabilities.

AI GONE WRONG: A California teenager used a chatbot over several months for drug-use guidance on ChatGPT, his mother said. Sam Nelson, 18, was preparing for college when he asked an AI chatbot how many grams of kratom, a plant-based painkiller commonly sold at smoke shops and gas stations across the country, he would need to get a strong high, his mother, Leila Turner-Scott, told SFGate, according to the New York Post. 

DR CHAT: ‘The Big Money Show’ panelists weigh in on a report on people turning to ChatGPT for medical and healthcare questions.

‘FUNDAMENTALLY DEFLATIONARY’: OpenAI Board Chair Bret Taylor discusses artificial intelligence’s potential to change traditional work and its increasing use in healthcare on ‘Varney & Co.’

MIND TRAP ALERT: Artificial intelligence chatbots are quickly becoming part of our daily lives. Many of us turn to them for ideas, advice or conversation. For most, that interaction feels harmless. However, mental health experts now warn that for a small group of vulnerable people, long and emotionally charged conversations with AI may worsen delusions or psychotic symptoms.

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A California teenager sought drug-use guidance from a ChatGPT chatbot over several months while preparing for college, his mother told SFGate, according to the New York Post. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

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Stay up to date on the latest AI technology advancements and learn about the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future with Fox News here.

This article was written by Fox News staff.

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Meta expands nuclear power ambitions to include Bill Gates’ startup

Published

18 hours ago

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January 9, 2026

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Meta expands nuclear power ambitions to include Bill Gates’ startup

These AI projects include Prometheus, the first of several supercluster computing systems, which is expected to come online in New Albany, Ohio, sometime this year. Meta is funding the construction of new nuclear reactors as part of the agreements, the first of which may come online “as early as 2030.” These announcements are part of Meta’s ongoing goal to support its future AI operations with nuclear energy, having previously signed a deal with Constellation to revive an aging nuclear power plant last year.

Financial information for the agreements hasn’t been released, but Meta says that it will “pay the full costs for energy used by our data centers so consumers don’t bear these expenses.”

“Our agreements with Vistra, TerraPower, Oklo, and Constellation make Meta one of the most significant corporate purchasers of nuclear energy in American history,” Meta’s chief global affairs officer, Joel Kaplan, said in the announcement. “State-of-the-art data centers and AI infrastructure are essential to securing America’s position as a global leader in AI.”

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