#like she is so very clearly being manipulated by ambessa

[ideologyofone]

I am begging some of yall to put your thinking caps on this season Caitlyn is NOT THE BAD GUY

[epitaph-of-rebirth]

Doing this post to explain what lots of people missed on the Cait x Maddie thing and are just angry and freaking out about the character and not understanding WHY and also show that they already broke up and will not be danger on act 3 (srly I really believe on this and feel like we all missed because is a small scene).

So here is a explanation on WHY, because I'm going crazy that you'll missed lots of things.

Some of the explanation that I'll put here we got from Amanda Overton itself (you know, one of the writers of the show) on the epi4 watchalong party (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgpWJl1NuTE) the rest is showed on the episode 4 itself so here we go (Also SPOILERS FOR ACT2 here):

First, Amanda told us that the time skip from Act 1 to Act 2 is between 3 and 6 months, is not bigger than that like some you are saying. What is very helpful to know that Cait x Maddie affair also isn't happening for so long and we get this information from Ambessa herself when meeting them on Cait's office:

Caitlyn didn't rebound imediatly after the breakup, her thing with Maddie is recent, a few weeks at maximum or one or two night stands. Yes guys, you can stop being mad thinking that she fucking Maddie for months.

Also a important piece of information that again, Amanda shared, is Caitlyn's mentality about this relationship:

She is not after Maddie because she felt for another person, Caitlyn is struggling to live up to the ghost of Cassandra, she is trying to be the daughter she never was and this affect's even who she dates.

Amanda literally told that in Cait's mind she is thinking: "What if I dated someone my mom would approve of?"

Lot's of people think that Cassandra approved Vi because of the council scene but in Caitlyn's mind that's not the truth. Maddie is someone who would be approved, she is from piltover, probably has some family name and has a good job.

With all that, why a sex scene ? Well is very clear that Caitlyn is not able to be vulnerable anymore, the only one she let's under her wall's after her mom's death is Vi and it was already hinted that for Caitlyn's flirting with woman casually was a natural thing.

The only way for her to "date" someone without being able to be vulnerable, is by the thing she knows she can separate her feelings and don't need to be vulnerable to do it: sex. And we can in this case considerate that sex is also a way for her to cope with all like Vi does with alcohol.

Also even after having sex with Maddie, Cait clearly don't want the girl touching her and this is show not only by her expressions:

But also on the way both are dressed, Caitlyn's is untouched and clothed while Maddie is basically naked under her shirt and messy, giving a subtext of Cait being a top on this encounter so she can evade Maddie's touch.

And right after the scene we can see that Maddie herself KNOWS that Cait is evading her and not wanting to be touched, she KNOWS something is wrong and that Cait seems to not listen to her.

Other information that is given by Amanda, is that Ambessa is supposed to be the devil on Caitlyn's shoulder while Maddie is to make the position of a angel. The character exists to show that Caitlyn wasn't alone against Ambessa manipulation and make clear that she has some foot herself to be able to see what is right and wrong and later realize her wrong doings and fix that.

And now comes the part I feel like most people missed and are worried about in act3.

Maddie and Cait already ended their relationship, how I know? the statue scene:

Here we can see again Maddie looking up for Cait but Cait not acknowledging the girl existence until last minute when seems like Maddie told something.

Caitlyn's expression again is cold and then we can see Maddie's:

She is thinking and ready to cry and also show some hurt. She probably is ending things with Cait because the next time we see Cait. Is from Maddies eyes, something that fortiche does a lot and did on that very famous CaitVi bed scene. And this time is done again but we are looking at Caitlyn from Maddie's eyes:

The upper and low corner's are blurry, as if Maddie is almost crying. Also we can see Cait looking the ground and thinking on the next frames, as if reacting to something said to her.

And here is their breakup.

Yes is not a spoken scene, but considering how small her relationship is to Caitlyn, makes sense for things to end and Cait not really give much thought about it.

After that we NEVER see Maddie anymore, she is not on the side of Caitlyn for the rest of the act, and also Cait is always using her Commander cape after this scene, what makes clear: She is totally on the side of Ambessa, the devil won and the angel left.

And this cape is another thing that is used to reflect Caitlyn's mental state and choices, because we only see her back to her uniform without the cape, when she decided to ally with Vi by the end of the Act 2

I understand people who got annoyed by having "another one" in the middle of CaitVi ship and yes I know everybody worry about this making messy their reunion, but I feel like most people forgot that in Arcane, and on this season mainly, lots of things are being show by the art and animation and not by text, like the statue one.

Srly guys CaitVi will be alright, Maddie is not a horrible characters and this was not a bad choice to show Caitlyn mental state and character development. I understand being bitter with the angst but also let ourselves enjoy it a little.

[emaline10tothe-9]

Okok maybe someone else has already brought this up, and I don’t really know LOL lore, but I’m stuck at home sick as hell and all I have to do is make Arcane theories.

Arcane Season 2 Act 1 spoilers below!!

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Aight, so that OP though. Let’s talk character outfit colours.

Most of our characters are in white (or off-white), and the clothing is all fairly open, airy, shoulders are uncovered. There is freedom in their dress.

We have Vi

Ekko

And Jayce

Who are all slightly off-white, but largely unaffected by external manipulation (congrats on your character growth Jayce).

Mel is the most clearly in white. She has always been the one trying to prevent war. She is cunning and manipulative, but ALWAYS to prevent more violence, so she is the clearest of all.

And Jinx, the least clear. When she is waving the flag of the undercity, the flag and her top appear black. Perhaps suggesting the influence of something darker, of the Black Rose in her actions.

Viktor is also unclear. He doesn’t appear to be wearing black in the first shot, but the mask is a clear white as opposed to his cloak in an off-white. And later, his cloak appears to have some very distinct white, and some darker shades. Again, implying some darker influence, though I currently feel like Viktor is off on a bit of a side-quest right now and the Black Rose likely isn’t involved.

Then we have Cait, and oh our girl is not well. Cait is very clearly wearing BLACK. And unlike the open and airy designs of the white garments, she is in a tight-fitting turtleneck. Setting aside how good a look it is for her, it implies a level of constraint and control, particularly having her neck covered (think being choked). Black also implying the Black Rose, perhaps pulling the strings even past what Ambessa can see and control.

Speaking of Ambessa, Mama is SLAYING in red. She is the only character who is conscious of the Black Rose’s influence, so she gets the most life-like colour, the red of blood. She is also only seen holding a black rose, as though she is contemplating crushing it.

So in summary, I think the colours of the characters’ garments suggest the level of manipulation by the Black Rose they will be subject to this season.

[jbk405]

Like I said last night, my read of season 2 of Arcane so far is that they're trying to fit two (or even three) season's worth of content into these nine episodes. I could be wrong, but that's how it comes across.

What I'm guessing was the original plan was for the first episode to actually be spread across the first three (Act 1). They would spend time introducing the three members of the Enforcer Team so that we-the-audience would understand why Caitlyn is drafting them into her personal strike force. This would in turn give the show time to actually introduce them to us (I still can't get past the fact that they literally still haven't even named two of them yet). We'd see them display some unique skills -- any skills -- and also perhaps show some area of unique bravery or honesty.

These episodes would also give time to show Caitlyn buckling under the grief of losing her mother as an ongoing crushing weight instead of a single breakdown. Vi, seeing Caitlyn falling apart and also seeing her try to "soldier on", could grow to accept joining the Enforcers with the rationale that she's supporting Caitlyn in her time of need. Maybe also with having conversations with the other three people where they talk about 'reforming from within' and 'showing that not all Zaunites are bad' or something else along those lines.

So, at the end of Act 1 we have the scene where Caitlyn stomps into the council chambers and 'takes charge' with her team, and instead of wondering 'Who the hell are these people with her and why the hell is Vi an Enforcer now?' we think 'Ah yes, she's going to Kick Ass and Take Names with this badass crew!"

And then we get to the second three episodes (Act 2) and we see that it's not quite working out that way. We can still have the one year timeskip here, and we see that the Enforcer Team is now jaded and cynical. After a year without any real obvious gains, no end (Because these things never end at the barrel of a gun), they're getting violent with civilians in the Undercity and they're using the Gray as chemical warfare. The bubbly Junior Officer who was going to be the cute team sidekick is instead twitchy and trigger-happy, and the other two are...something (We don't know anything about them so I can't guess what kind of angle the show would have gone with). In essence, they're just another crew of Enforcers kicking around the inhabitants of Zaun.

Hence why Vi has the conversation with Caitlyn where she explicitly discusses how everybody is changing, and she begs Caitlyn to stay herself.

Here they would show Caitlyn unraveling most of all. Over the course of these three episodes we see her obsession with Jinx growing and growing. We see at least one operation where they almost catch her, before she gets away (And the Enforcers know she was there, unlike that sequence where she hid in the Gray and they never realized what was going on). She comes very close to crossing 'the line' several times, and always only just stops herself. So when they manage to corner Jinx in the fight with Sevika, to see her get away again, apparently with Vi's "help", it's the climax to an arc we've been following all along of Caitlyn becoming consumed by her hatred instead of just being fueled by it.

This would have let them lay the groundwork for Caitlyn turning on Vi in a moment of anger, instead of it really coming out of nowhere and just being stupid.

The final three episodes of the season (Act 3) are less clearly divided based on what we've already gotten, but I imagine it would have showed Ambessa's manipulations to set the stage for her coup. Perhaps with Caitlyn being installed as the dictator of Piltover in the final episode to set up season three.

Everything that we've gotten so far in the actual Act 2 probably would have been saved for season three, combined with what's still upcoming in Act 3. Although maybe with some of the Viktor stuff still happening now, spread out here-and-there.

In addition to better pacing and groundwork for these stories, spreading this out would have also given them time to actually show Mel Medarda, who has tragically been sidelined for much of the season. We could also follow whatever adventure Jayce, Ekko, and Heimerdinger are on, instead of presumably having the info backfilled in the upcoming last three episodes.

It really feels like that's what they wanted to do, and are just cutting out all the setup for each plotline so that they can squeeze it into the episode count they have.

[ex-vespidae]

on another note I absolutely love love love Caitlyn's character its so good especially this season. cause you know her mother dies at the attack at the end of season 1. She's clearly having to deal with intense grief and loss due to that and the fact was she could've stopped it. At the end of season 1 if she had shot Jinx when she got the jump on her mother wouldn't have died. But she stopped because she cared for Vi. Which eventually leads to Jinx blowing up the council.

So she probably has some internalised guilt from the event as well, which maybe she could've been fine if it was just the attack on the council but then there was the attack on the memorial as well. It's this constant cycle of violence. And then she finally snaps and puts all her rage and grief into finding and killing Jinx by any means necessary.

And that by any means necessary is the most important part since it where Caitlyn and Vi breakup lmao. Also there's the line where Vi says "Why are you the one acting like her?!" and shit fuck i like that so much. She's falling so far that she's becoming something that she will hate. and Caitlyn is just so mad and angry so she hits Bi with the end of her rifle, and after Vi falls to the floor crying, because yes her girlfriend did in fact change, there's this look on Caitlyn's face it looks very angry though just for a split second before she turns away her face almost softens? like a sudden thought of like fuck this is bad.

and then she gets I would say elected commander general when Ambessa says to enact martial law, but she really doesn't get elected as much as Ambessa just chooses her. But the choice makes sense especially if she wants a war to create a distraction for whatever she wants. and unfortunately Caitlyn is in the perfect position for manipulation, with personal stakes and also being driven by that anger and grief oh and also the breakup so I'm really excited how they'll continue with this...

also the cape is fucking amazing 10/10 not for symbolic reasons its just pretty lmao (there probably is symbolism there i just can't put it together yet)

ooohhhh watched act 1(??? id ont actually know how it works) of season 2 of Arcane and oh my god 1: pretty as fuck the show looks as incredible as season 1 (maybe better?) 2: oughhh the writing.... its really good...

honestly don't know what else to say show is great can't wait till next Saturday(?) i think its saturday