With a frown, the man turns his head and, following his gaze, the two glimpse the corpses of their mother and father in the rubble. It’s someone they obviously know, given how Vi-with a mere look-seems to ask if he’s seen their parents. Through the smog, they see a giant of a man beating the shit out of someone. Among the carnage, we see a much younger version of League champs Vi and Powder (who later becomes Jinx), as Vi leads her sister by the hand while she covers her eyes and sings a lullaby to ward off the horrors that surround them. Hours earlier, it seems, residents of Zaun tried to storm the gates into Piltover and were met with the unbridled fury of Piltover’s storm-trooper-esque Enforcers. On a bridge extending between the scientific utopia of Piltover and Zaun, its wasteland underbelly, two orphans wander through the smokey remains of a battle looking for their parents. The first scene doesn’t waste any time setting the tone.

And that’s what makes its first episode so damn good. Acting as a kind of origin story for some of League’s most iconic champions, it’s much more down to earth and melancholy than you might expect. But Arcane, the Netflix animated series based on Riot’s uber-popular MOBA can hit unexpectedly hard. When you think of League of Legends, the word “tragic” probably doesn’t come to mind-not unless you’re laning against a Teemo. You can read our review of Act 1, or check out our recaps of episode 2 and episode 3. Each Saturday until November 20, a new act containing three episodes will premiere on Netflix.

Netflix’s Arcane is finally here, and we’re recapping each of its episodes.

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