This shot from Arcane is the one most used to promote the show. It’s all over the internet and is probably the most noticeable of all the frames of the show (besides maybe the “you’re hot cupcake” frame with Vi pinning Caitlyn). And it’s also the moment I would argue Jinx was born. Many people would argue that Jinx was born much earlier and I would be inclined to agree but I think the moment Jinx takes her seat in episode 9 is the moment that Jinx the loose cannon was born. This moment and the scenes that directly lead up to and follow it are so masterfully framed with the use of music only solidifying it as a rebirth of sorts and I’d like to get into why. This is my (probably) overly long analysis/breakdown of a scene that is one of my favorites in the whole show. The film nerd/student in me couldn’t resist a thorough breakdown of this scene.
Also, I’m going to be ignoring the council scenes or this is going to be even longer than it already is. And I’m going to focus on Jinx in this post (clearly) with some Vi sprinkled in (in the second part).
I’m going to start here, right after Silco passes away in Jinx’s arms (in yet another masterful contrast to Vi and Vander). Right here when she opens her eyes. The look on her face is one of resignation. The voices whisper incoherently and then stop as the music quietens. And Jinx rises to her feet. Right here is the shift within Jinx and it’s shown most prominently in the framing, which goes from a wide shot of Jinx on her knees crying before a dead Silco to a close-up shot of her resigned and tired face, and the sound, which goes from the score “You’re perfect” being the loudest noise in the scene to becoming quieter and overtaken by the whispers in her head.
The next part has Jinx standing up and slowly walking away from Silco’s chair. She stops to look back at Silco one more time while Vi is trying to comfort her. She avoids looking over at Vi Until she sits in the chair (a little bit later). The score turns from sad to more sinister. This shift in the music is very notable because of when it happens, right after Vi calls Jinx “Powder”. Jinx doesn’t show any acknowledgment to Vi. That isn’t who Jinx is anymore. There’s no ounce of Powder left.
There’s a very purposeful divide between Jinx and everything else. She’s boxed in by candles on each side. She’s separated from the back of Silco’s chair and the hex crystal and she’s boxed in from behind by the candlestick at the edge of the frame. She’s noticeably boxed in with the Jinx chair. It makes her look trapped.
Then we get another close-up of Jinx from the middle of her chest up with her eyes obscured. These frames are noticeably separated by Vi trying and failing to reassure Powder. It cuts from Vi when she says “It’s okay” to this shot back to Vi again when she says “We’ll be okay” back to this same shot. Jinx is trying to keep her breathing even and just like Vi we can’t totally tell what Jinx is thinking. We know that she doesn’t agree with Vi based on her body language and the hitch in her breathing each time Vi tries to say they’re okay, but the hair in her eyes keeps us from getting the full picture.
Jinx uses her gun to tap on the chair and move it out to sit on. The score has one final sinister tone that matches with Jinx’s first tap before cutting out altogether and the only noise is diegetic (noise that the characters in the story can hear). The lack of outside noise simultaneously makes the following scenes eerier and more personal.
It cuts to a shot from above of Jinx in front of the chair. It’s at what could be a bird's eye view above the scene. It’s a high angle which is commonly used to convey the psychological vulnerability of the character in the scene or how something holds power over the character in frame. It’s not necessarily the chair that has power over Jinx but the name written on the chair. This is emphasized by the fact that the name Jinx is legible even from this angle and the bright color it is written in is in complete contrast with all the rest of the much more muted colors of the scene. Even Jinx’s blue hair is lit in a way that makes it blend in more with the surroundings than it.
This shot is used to be put in contrast with the next one that utilizes the superior angle. The name has power over Jinx but she is accepting the name or reclaiming it in a way. It’s meant to be different than when she first took on the name all those years ago where she seems to have taken it out of guilt and a blind attempt to reclaim it.
The next shot is of Jinx alone in the frame from the waist up. Everyone else is angled out of the frame and the angle of the camera is a superior angle from the top of the chair looking up at Jinx. This shot is used to make the character in frame seem strong, imposing. This scene is eerily quiet as Jinx stands above the seat. The only source of light is hitting her from behind causing her front to be bathed in shadow making the glowing purple of her eyes stand out. Because everyone else is angled out of the frame she is surrounded by inky blackness. She isn’t framed like a lone figure rising or coming into her power. It instead feels like a tragic moment of someone who held so much promise and potential to change the world for the better falling to her darker nature due to failings outside her control (the shimmer which is glowing in her eyes, Silco whom she is facing, and the dinner table of her dead family and Vi which she has her back to). She has also literally and metaphorically turned her back to the light (which can be the candles or it can be Vi).
It’s important though that this final choice is all hers. There’s no one behind her pushing her towards the chair. The whispering is quiet for once so all the thoughts running through her head are her own. It’s a tragedy because of all the things outside of her control but also because this choice is purely her own.
Jinx then sits and it starts on a close-up of her face with her eyes closed, the music is still nonexistent, we are left to stew in the moment with Vi and Jinx before she looks up and we get the iconic shot.
This is the first time she has looked at Vi since she shot Silco. And it’s at this moment that the song “What could have been” starts playing softly in the background. Jinx has made that final leap, she has made the decision to become the loose cannon that she is in canon and her next actions will solidify that. The song starting up is indicative of the sad reality that at this moment all those what-ifs that the audience and Vi have been hoping for are only “what could have been”. Jinx the loose cannon is a reality and Powder and the idea of Vi and her becoming a family again are gone. The shot is straight on. Before this moment every shot of Jinx head-on had an angle to it. A way to change the way the audience viewed her but not this one. We are looking at Jinx as who she really is for the first time. We are witnessing a rebirth.
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