Totally Lost

Alright first and foremost holy shit, that show was incredible and not just as an animated attachment to a video game but as a show. That was truly special.

The characters are amazing, the performances were top notch. The music and sound design? A-fucking-plus. The writing? Superb. The animation? This and spiderverse are on the same damn level, yeah I said it.

I heard a quote once saying there are three things you should do everyday: Laugh, think, and cry. If you do that you’ve had one heck of a day. This show made me do all three. The story was a nuanced personal and global tragedy. The destruction of innocence, the unfair cruelty of the world, how people become broken and the often unintentional part we play in it. In spite of that darkness it also gives up hope, that no matter where we’re from or what we’ve done we can choose to be better, to try. I won’t ramble on too long, but if you told me years ago that League of Legends would produce a story this moving and resonant I would have never believed you.

Excellent work to all involved.

That being said my brain wants next season right now so assuming we’re getting one I’m gonna throw out predictions:

A bunch of the council is gonna die, this one is pretty obvious but my guess is obviously Mel will be dead as well as Caitlyn’s mom plus a few less important ones.

This leads to Mel’s mom getting involved and possibly dissolving the council entirely taking power for herself bringing her faction from Noxus into the city which leads too...

This wouldn’t be a forefront plot point but I believe we would start to see some champs from Noxus show up and the threat of Noxus being a S3 thing (yes I’m already resigned to there being a season 3)

Jinx isn’t going to be as primary a fixture, I think she’ll be pursued by the likes of the enforcers like Caitlyn Jayce and Vi but I think she takes a back seat to the looming social turmoil caused by her killing of the council.

Said turmoil will lead to more violent conflict between Piltover and Zaun which eventually forces Viktor to become what he is in game to defend Zaun so we get so Jayce v. Viktor

Speaking of champions fighting, while I think it’s now pretty clear they have feelings for each other, Caitlyn and Vi are not going to be in a good way to start. Caitlyn will either blame Vi for stopping her from killing Jinx thus leading to the death of her mother (mirroring what happened between Vi and Powder in episode 3) and push her away too harshly that they end up being on opposite sides of the battles between Zaun and Piltover OR Vi blames herself so much that she pushes Caitlyn away forcing Caitlyn to try and find her while...

Caitlyn becomes the new Sheriff of Piltover (yeah this isn’t too deep)

Ekko and Heimerdinger become more important to the story as they become the middle ground of the story (in a similar role to Vi and Cait this season less romantic tho) working together to make peace with both sides.

Singed becomes the main bad guy

Another time skip probably occurs either right at the beginning where we get to piece together the now fractured city and relationships within it or near the end which....

If I had to guess Vi officially becomes an enforcer at the end of the season before a foreboding shot of the next threat is shown.

Alright that’s all I got FOR NOW. Thanks for reading and happy arcane season 1!

https://twitter.com/leeloo104/status/1461004061780504581?s=21

This wasn't right.

None of this was right.

No matter how many times she blinked or looked away however the image in the mirror kept staring back at Vi: She was an enforcer.

The small badge pinned to her jacket made her skin crawl and her fists tighten. The images of her mother and family dead on the bridge, the aches of the beatings she received in prison, the hollow acceptance of being worthless all slowly flowed through her mind. Vi swore she would fight them, she would never leave her family in The Lanes. She would protect them.

Yet here she was standing in the office of the newly appointed sheriff with a badge strapped to her chest. She felt her heart in stomach the more she took upon her own visage. Vi always fucked things up when they mattered most, she wasn't smart enough to keep her friends out of trouble when they were young, she wasn't strong enough to protect Vander when she had to, and she wasn't a good enough sister to protect Powder from a monster. Now she had failed once again becoming the very thing she once swore to always fight.

She could feel the heat rising in her face, her fists begin to shake when a gentle touch to her shoulder and a soft but refined voice broke her out of thoughts.

"Vi?"

Caitlyn, the new sheriff of Piltover, would by most standard be only a new friend at best given how little time they had known each other but after the event with Silco and her sister, Cait felt different. Vi couldn't explain it but something clicked between them and despite their differences she found it easy to be around the dark haired woman. She was more kind than almost anyone she had ever met, hell she saved the brawler's life after barely knowing her for a day. Now here she was staring probingly into Vi's eyes with a look of focused concern on her face.

"Oh sorry Cupcake did you say something?"

The pink haired woman looked away and scratched the back of her head in deflection.

Caitlyn didn't move

"I asked if you were ready to go? We won't have much of a police force with the corruption investigations going on so we're going to be busy. Is everything alright?"

The concern in her voice stung, she hated pity, she hated feeling weak. Still Vi did her best to hide her emotions.

"Yeah yeah, we're all good! Just a little tired it's been a wild few days."

Vi did her best to emphasize the point with a fake yawn.

She was slightly taken off guard when Caitlyn stepped fully in front of her and gently took hold of her hands

"Vi it's ok if you need to take time. You've been through a great deal recently and I'm here if you need anything. Don't feel pressured to do this right away the city will be here tomorrow."

The taller tattooed woman looked away, Caitlyn's gaze was digging deeper than she wanted to go.

"I don't know how much the council or the houses would appreciate the undercity vagabond skipping her first day of work protecting them."

Vi was hoping her joke would derail things but Caitlyn pressed on

"It doesn't matter what they think, it doesn't matter what anyone thinks...

Vi felt as Caitlyn grasped her hands tighter

...Vi I know this isn't easy, you're stuck between two worlds and both of them feel like they despise you now. I can't know what that's like but I do know that there's no one else I'd rather have right beside me. You have a good heart Vi, and I'm sure if you're family, Vander, everyone from The Lanes could see you now they would be proud of who you've become, who you are becoming."

Vi was stunned and could immediately feel her heart flutter, shatter, and sew together all at the same time. She quickly wrapped her arms around the smaller woman bringing her into a tight hug. The sheriff was initially shocked by the contact but quickly gave into the hug.

"Thank you, Caitlyn."

There was a small sniffle from the taller woman as Caitlyn slightly pulled back before cupping Vi's tattooed face and placing a small kiss on her cheek.

"Thank you Vi."

THE END

So I'll preface this if I didn't make it clear enough I am a huge Vi/Cait shipper. I love the dynamic and the potential of that story, so I'm not coming at this from a completely unbiased lens but I will do my best to do that.

First I feel that the show is doing a good job of hinting that Caitlyn may be gay, namely the brothel sequence where she ended up with a woman to talk by the end and her interactions (as an adult) with Jayce. I think they're trying to be nuanced in their portrayal of her sexuality which I respect greatly. I think Vi is a little less clear but the flirty behavior at the brothel as well as her reaction to Cait talking to a girl before leaving. Admittedly that reaction could be interpreted in many ways and as the title says I'm hopefully cautious. It may be Vi being pleasantly surprised that her new attractive partner is into girls or it may just be something she finds cute/funny and I'm projecting my own wants onto the situation.

The thing I'm less sure of is the presentation of their relationship. While the moments of physical closeness, in isolated scenes, would be clear indicators for a romantic development certain parallels have me concerned. When looking at Caitlyn Vi has been reminded of two people: Vander and her mother. I probably don't need to explain how those two things don't equate to romance, that being said they could also be implications that Caitlyn is someone her mother and father figure would like.

I say all that to say this. I really hope we get a confirmation for this relationship by the end of the show, that being said I think we should also be cautious in our hope. I've been spurned by my own projections of hope onto things more often than I'd like to admit and I don't want to get my hopes up to be disappointed.