With season 2 of Arcane hitting screens very soon, it’s worth taking a look back at what made this Netflix enjoyed enormous success, winning the animated series four Primetime Emmy Awards, nine Annie Awards and a Hollywood Critics Award.

So Arcane is back – and we’re all excited for its second (and final) season, but the stakes are high. Inspired by the League of Legends franchise, the series follows the complex relationship between Vi (Hailee Steinfeld) and her younger sister Jinx (Ella Purnell), two sisters raised in the aftermath of a tragic civil war, the one that killed their parents.

In this tragic, high-octane cyberpunk epic, Arcane delves deep into the existential questions we tend to do our best to avoid: How far would you go for the people you love?

It’s often easy to choose your heroes, villains, and martyrs, but Arcane doesn’t let you get away with it that easily. As tensions simmer between the wealthy town of Piltover and the slums of Zaun, Season 1 of Arcane leaves us on a cliffhanger, wondering if we really know any of its main characters.

It’s now been three years since Arcane’s debut on Netflix, and we’re all eagerly awaiting answers about it. that relationship.

Yes, we’re talking about Caitlyn and Vi. Throughout Season 1, there were plenty of tense moments: Vi calling Caitlyn “Cupcake,” the duo saving each other’s lives, and, of course, the straight-up flirting between the two.

The connection between the two has generated a lot of interest, even earning its own ship name “CatVi” from fans and, apparently, also Netflix.

However, Arcane is far from being a casual queer romance series. Rather, it might be better summarized as a sapphic power combination of The last of usKill Eve and Code Geass (for anime fans). It’s intense, incredibly scripted, and honors queer characters with the nuance that sometimes feels overlooked in previous TV shows.

In fact, the final season of the BBC’s Killing Eve or The CW’s 100 were arguably prime examples of LGBTQIA+ roles being focused on entertainment value, but then stripped of their agency and storylines in the name of entertainment value. shock, i.e. “bury your gays”. ” trope.

It seems unlikely that Arcane will suddenly devalue the carefully curated storylines behind two of its fan-favorite characters. However, a new season may mean a change in the writers and, ultimately, a change in how your character presents on screen.

With Season 2 soon underway, it seems important that Vi’s character retains the tenacity and courageous character traits that were sewn into the first season while allowing viewers to see her grow and evolve as she does facing new challenges. After all, Season 1’s huge ending left many of us speculating about what will happen next.

However, with the arrival of Arcane Season 2 Trailerit seems the show’s creators stuck to their Vi guns, giving him an emo aesthetic upgrade while still remaining true to his fierce, masked ways.

As for Caitlyn, well, her character’s fate is only partially confirmed. She appears briefly, dressed in an enforcer’s uniform, choosing the side of order and regulation over Season 1’s underworld ways of catching a bad guy.

The aftermath of where this leaves Caitlyn and Vi is unexplored, but it appears there is still hope for them. A flash image from the trailer shows the duo side by side in the Piltover Police Department, leading us to believe that in fact the two are still working together to catch Jinx.

Regardless of how their character arcs play out, Vi and Cait’s choice to confront their old (and new) enemies and the growing corruption of Piltover and Zaun seem, thankfully, central to their roles. But with this new territory comes a new subplot: an exploration of how they continue to evolve together.

Both characters were well-crafted, their interactions well-paced and their emotional intimacy delicately explored. As the new challenges of Season 2 begin to unfold, we hope that their subtle romance will no longer remain attributed to prickly intimate moments, but openly explored, despite the chaos of their larger lives.

After all, the presence of homosexuality exists, ultimately, no matter where you are — much like how Vi and Caitlyn met.

So, as Ekko aka The Boy Savior (Reed Shannon) says in the Season 2 trailer: “Taking a step forward means leaving some things behind.” Change can be good, and as season 2 rolls around, let’s hope the Arcane writers finally give us a queer character ending we can get behind.

Having Vi and Caitlyn end up together is one thing, but seeing their characters dutifully respected until the end of the series is another. Now, with Acane coming out in three acts, they have three strikes to succeed.

Arcane season 2 arrives on Netflix on November 9, 2024.

If you’re looking for something else to watch in the meantime, check out our TV guide And Streaming Guideor visit our dedicated site Fantasy hub. For more on TV’s biggest stars, listen The Radio Times podcast.