Just finished S2E9 a few minutes ago. Not gonna lie… the last episode shat the bed. I would have given the show a 10/10 through S2E7. S2E8 wasn’t bad, but it set us on the path towards the finale.

I watched Season 1 at least three times. I absolutely love this series (present tense, even now). That’s why I am so disappointed in the last episode. I feel like S2E9 was on par with the worst of the CGI-fest 3rd acts that mar so many superhero movies. This act should have wrapped up the Zaun vs Piltover story, where the Noxians played a wildcard third party, but instead we just got a steamroll over the primary conflict of the past 1.5 seasons and this silly Allies vs Robots and Fascists battle with wildly underdeveloped players.

Act 3 was just completely rushed. Vi and Caitlin needed more time to reconnect. Caitlin and Jinx needed more time to earn Caitlin forgiving her. Jinx needed to address her “hero of Zaun” role. Maddie’s heel turn was basically there to justify Cait dumping her ass as soon as Vi came back. Vander/Warwick was just there to die again. Heimerdinger was dismissed out of hand. Ekko and Singed had better arcs than S1 set them up for, but they are maybe the only beneficiaries of the last act. Sevika got the absolute fucking shaft. God damn.

The last 20 minutes of the episode were absolutely maddening. Shoehorning that scene in with Jinx sacrificing herself to save Vi who had suddenly lost all parkour and self-preservation instincts? Fuck. They felt so disconnected from everything else that the show had set up. That last council scene with Zaun reprsentatives at the table felt as unearned as Daenarys’ turn in the Game of Thrones finale. It is really mind boggling to me that it was part of the same show that I had enjoyed so much up to that point.

Season two overall was just inferior to season one in so many ways. Storytelling and pacing especially. Worth a watch, but nothing to shout about