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Arcane Season 2’s Best Episode Feels More Like Life Is Strange Than League of Legends

Gizmodo’s Isaiah Colbert calls “Pretend Like It’s the First Time” Arcane Season 2’s strongest episode, citing its intimate alternate-reality story about Ekko.
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Arcane Season 2, Episode 7, “Pretend Like It’s the First Time,” is the episode behind the “best episode” claim. In a November 26, 2024 review, Gizmodo’s Isaiah Colbert calls it the season’s strongest episode and says its story has the heart and sincerity of Life Is Strange. That comparison comes from the episode’s intimate focus on Ekko and an alternate version of his world—not from the episode leaving Arcane or its League of Legends roots behind.

Which Arcane Season 2 episode is being called the best?

It is Episode 7, “Pretend Like It’s the First Time.” Rotten Tomatoes lists its air date as November 23, 2024. Calling it the season’s best is a critical judgment, not a universal ranking: Colbert makes that case in his Gizmodo review, published three days after the episode’s listed air date.

Why does the episode invite a Life Is Strange comparison?

The key shift is one of perspective. After an encounter with a wild rune, Ekko finds himself in an alternate reality. Colbert’s comparison points to the story’s attention to one character’s personal experience in a changed world, and to the feelings and consequences that follow from that premise.

That is a different emphasis from the broader, conflict-driven story many viewers associate with Arcane: the series follows sisters Jinx and Vi amid the struggle between Piltover and Zaun. Episode 7 still belongs to that setting and franchise; its alternate reality gives the story a more intimate route into them.

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How the comparison differs from Arcane’s usual frame

Angle Episode 7’s emphasis Broader Arcane context
Point of view Ekko’s personal experience in an alternate reality An ensemble story shaped by Jinx, Vi, and the conflict between Piltover and Zaun
Story engine Speculation about a changed life and what it means to the character A conflict-heavy world within the League of Legends universe
Emotional register Character-focused feeling and consequence, as Colbert reads it A larger dramatic canvas that also includes action and spectacle

These are interpretive contrasts, not a claim that the episode is formally part of Life Is Strange or that it stops being Arcane. Colbert also contrasts Ekko’s alternate experience with Jayce’s harsher one, underscoring that an alternate reality can carry very different meanings for different characters.

Why the episode still belongs to Arcane and League of Legends

Netflix describes Arcane as based on League of Legends. Its official Season 2 guide frames choice and consequences as a major theme and says the season explores the characters’ darker sides. Jinx voice actor Ella Purnell puts the theme this way: “One of the biggest themes of ARCANE is, you are the choices that you make, and you can never predict the consequences of those choices.” That is broader Season 2 context, not a statement specifically about Episode 7.

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The series was made by Fortiche Production and Riot Games in partnership, with Christian Linke and Alex Yee as co-creators. The episode’s change of scale—from a large, established world to Ekko’s alternate experience—can therefore feel like a different kind of story without severing its ties to that world.

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What the “best episode” claim does—and does not—establish

Colbert’s review is direct support for the claim that Episode 7 is a standout: he calls it the season’s strongest and makes the Life Is Strange comparison. Rotten Tomatoes lists the episode and its date, while its season-level critics consensus describes the final season as expansive and moving quickly toward its endgame. That broader consensus does not independently establish Episode 7 as the best, nor does the review represent every viewer or critic.

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