i was reminded of my great love for arcane so i’m going to do a short analysis about caitlyn kiramman gassing everyone ever in zaun
one of the most debated parts of her arc is her choice to use gas in zaun. the show shows it as unsettling, if i rmr correctly, almost directly after her mother’s words about building ventilation to give zaunites clean air. now cait is doing the opposite, releasing gas and toxins into those spaces.
but the criticism she gets often overlooks context. she isn’t targeting zaun as a whole just silco’s bases. yes the gas could still harm innocents nearby and yes it betrays her mother’s ideals. but her intent was limited- capture jinx, stop shimmer, and cut down silco’s forces. vi’s presence on the team also reinforces that cait wasn’t trying to gas civilians. even her choice of net-shots over lethal bullets shows some form of restraint.
the rushed pacing of season 2 really hurts this arc, since the abstract montage doesn’t clearly show her moral struggle or the specifics of her actions. but we see she does take down shimmer production and silco loyalists (just not jinx.) (also on that note i don’t get how you people be loving jinx and hating on cait, really don’t get it)
anyway. vi notices cait slipping deeper into anger, and they talk. caitlyn asks vi “are you sure you’re ready (to capture/kill jinx)?” (she knows vi loves her sister and doubts she’ll actually follow through.) but for now, she chooses to trust vi, sealing it with a kiss meant to reassure them both.
during the confrontation with jinx, vi encourages cait to take the shot, and she wounds jinx’s hand. but when vi has jinx pinned and jinx stops resisting, vi hesitates. she hesitates again when isha steps in, and finally prevents cait from firing a second time. whether vi acted out of love for her sister or concern for isha doesn’t matter to her because what cait sees is betrayal. in her eyes she had the shot and vi stopped her.
for vi imo the hesitation might also come from her own trauma (knowing what it does to a child to watch someone you love die.) cait though was consumed by grief and anger, she wouldn’t be thinking about that.
this moment is similar to the tea party where cait also lost her chance to stop jinx because of vi. the fragile trust she’d been holding onto shatters here. her anger at jinx shifts onto vi, leading her to lash out and walk away. (this was so fucked)
without vi cait loses her last anchor and now she’s completely alone.
i may do more if i feel like it but i need to finish eating lol x
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