A Quick Take on Cheshire
After watching “A Tale of Two Sisters,” the main difference I see between Artemis/Jade and M’gann/her siblings is that I believe Jade left to protect Artemis. There’s a lot of parallels between the various siblings on this show, but Jade and Artemis have always been the “healthier” one in YJ because we’ve seen them genuinely care for each other. We probably won’t get a “I was a child too” situation with them, but we will get to see that leaving doesn’t lead to an easy life (i.e being alone, constant outside dangers, etc.).
The narrative is saying “you can’t guarantee the health/safety of those you love if you leave them,” which we see with M’gann and her family since their individual decisions to leave were based on self preservation given their societal standing. It’s a little more gray with Cheshire since her father pitted her and Artemis against each other. It’s highly likely that one day, Sportsmaster would have them try to kill each other in training (as seen in their flashback). I don’t think Jade’s decision to leave was entirely altruistic; she wanted to leave for herself but Artemis’ survival was at least guaranteed if she wasn’t around.
But that decision to leave in order to protect Artemis parallels with her decision to leave Lian. I think Cheshire left knowing full well she would be hunted and on the run for the rest of her life. It’s the trope of “protecting the ones you love by leaving them behind,” but given the episodes where we’ve seen Shadow/Light members knowing where heroes live/work/go to school, Cheshire’s worries were rooted in sound reason. She’s had a target on her back since she decided to give it all up to help Red Arrow recover Roy.
In regards to Lian, Jade says it point blank toArtemis and Will in S3 that Lian (and Will and Artemis) are better off without her. She says she’ll always be “Cheshire first” and “once a shadow, always a shadow,” but this is out of cowardice (as pointed out by Tahlia). Jade is afraid of what will happen to her family and that she’s not strong enough to protect them. Part of the reason why Jade left away the life of crime temporarily is to get Will back on his feet so he could raise Lian. I highly suspect that she knew that there was no way she could fully protect Lian if the Shadows were going to be on her back all the time. And it was confirmed in this week’s episode that Jade more or less is ready to throw her life away to end the cycle and keep her daughter safe. She’s “lost her touch” in keeping up with the life of crime, as she got shot in S3 and got caught by Will while spying at his house. Not to mention she let Shade go without any strings attached.
What makes me a little sad is that Will fully believes Cheshire was committed to her life of crime because of her upbringing. That would be last thing I would think after seeing Jade run away in tears (which is very un-Cheshire her) rather than just “disappear” like she usually does. Will doesn’t understand her, which I’m sure is done on purpose by Jade, despite all that time they spent together. But this is inconsistent with Will’s journal entries from Legacy. That’s kind of been their relationship where she’s always been one step ahead of him.
I’m pretty sure that Jade is going to continue on her road to self destruction until Artemis is able to pull her out.
