People always talk about how Vi and Caitlyn's lesbian situationship breakup resulted in Vi becoming an underground fighter and Caitlyn becoming a dictator. It is a really common, really funny meme. But I never actually see anyone talk about the way that Vi's whole life has been leading to this mental breakdown, because it is actually a really interesting aspect of her character to explore.
Her entire life, Vi has never had someone that she could depend on, that she could lean on. She's always been the person that people are leaning on. Vander tells her, presumably more often than just the one moment we saw on screen: "If anything happens to those kids, it's on you." She leaned on Vander to a certain extent, but he put so much pressure on her. Vi's life was defined by the people that she fought for. She had Powder, then she had Mylo and Clagger, and then she was in prison and she could only focus on herself. She doesn't trust anybody else. And just in general, she has learned that she cannot rely on anybody except for herself.
Then along came Caitlyn and got her out of that prison where she spent seven years rotting since she was sixteen years old, which is such a hellscape of a situation to be in. Obviously, Vi does not trust her at first, but Caitlyn earns that trust. Caitlyn is then with her for the rest of Season 1 and the beginning of Season 2, the grounding or stable factor in her life that "won't change." Caitlyn is the sole thing that stays the same, which makes her the sole thing keeping Vi sane. Vi trusted her, even though she has never had someone that she can rely on. Vi has never leaned on someone, and it took so much for her to get to that moment where she could trust someone, anyone.
When Vi and Caitlyn break up, Vi is watching that grounding, stable, reliable relationship shatter, and that is the straw that breaks the camel's back. Caitlyn tries to shoot Jinx, even if it means risking shooting a child. This is the beginning of the end because these are Vi's own people. She already didn't like that they were using the Gray against them, which is even beyond the enforcer brutality that she had always feared as a child. Vi had been able to ignore it up until that point, but the fact that her girlfriend was willing to go that far meant that from that point on, Vi could never look at her the same way.
I think even when they reunite in Season 2, when they mutually apologize, there is always going to be that level of mistrust that stems from a childhood of evading the same corrupt enforcers that Caitlyn nearly became. Caitlyn says, "I keep telling myself that you're different... but you're not. It's her blood in your veins." Caitlyn is talking about Jinx's blood, but this statement extends to all people from the Undercity. So when Caitlyn turns against Vi, when she hits her, that trust is instantly broken.
This leaves Vi in an uncertain state where, for the first time in her life, she has no purpose. First, her purpose was to be a kid and obviously survive the Undercity, but to be a kid. Then her parents died, and her purpose was to keep Powder safe. Then her purpose was to keep Mylo and Clagger safe. Then Mylo and Clagger died, and she was sent to prison, and her purpose was getting out of prison to go find her sister. And then she found out that Powder became Jinx. Then her purpose was to be Cait's girlfriend, and to help her through the loss of her mother, and to find Jinx and bring her to justice.
After the breakup, however, her sister is out there alone, and Cait's abandoned her, and she is completely lost. Nobody is relying on her, and she doesn't know what to do with that. So she breaks. Vi spent her entire life fighting to protect other people. Without someone else to fight for, she fights to self-destruct. Because isn’t fighting all she's good for?
Just food for thought beyond the toxic yuri breakup stereotypes. (By the way, I don't hate Caitlyn at all! This post may make it seem that way, but it is written entirely from Vi's perspective, which makes it skewed towards her.)
snowghoul
dededos
areudirty
pixelskylines
