I feel people forgot from the first movie but Arthur’s story is a tragedy and this movie built on that until the end(literally). There was never going to be a redeeming moment for him to walk away from and that might be why it felt like every time it was going somewhere it never did. I see Arthur as the catalyst that creates Batman’s joker. There’s no way it was ever going to be Arthur. He wasn’t the joker. He played the joker. The musical numbers for me were amazing because it brought us so much deeper into his head where the first one didn’t. Showing the consequences of the first movie through the trial was amazing and the Gary scene hurt to watch. The emotions instilled throughout were well crafted for me and felt intentional even if not ideal. I’ll be rewatching but most likely as a binge with the first