Rant About Caitlyn Overhate
It really hurts me when people overhate Caitlyn.
Caitlyn got kidnapped while naked by Jinx, then watched as Jinx dropped a gun in Vi's lap and get rid of her, then watched Jinx blow up her mom. Then, at the memorial, they get attacked. And people act like she was just going to be like "oh okay." People are quick to call her a facist or a dictator, and they use The Gray against her, but she didn't gas the entire undercity. She did it to get Jinx and to dismantle Shimmer. She was also wildly manipulated by both Ambessa and Maddie. She didn't choose to become a Commander, Ambessa saw her as moldable.
A lot of people are saying that because Jinx had more trauma that Caitlyn is just a bad person and character. Most would've gone off the rails, but Caitlyn's good heart won in the end. The same people that preach "your trauma is valid!" are quick to hate Caitlyn and quick to forgive Jinx. Caitlyn got kidnapped, and her captor killed her mother. Then the same person who kidnapped her and killed her mother is hailed as a hero. She's not wrong for going after a criminal. Of course, she's not perfect and made many mistakes, but if we can forgive Jinx, we should be able to forgive Caitlyn.
Right at the point the council was voting for peace, she saw it get destroyed. Her grief causes her to focus on capturing and neutralizing Jinx. She's pinned all her hopes on it. With her fallout with Vi, Ambessa fills that hole (both as a mother and to use Caitlyn as a weapon). She's insanely lonely, trying to fill the holes her mother and Vi left in her life. Ambessa and Maddie try to fill those roles, manipulating her. Caitlyn even admitted she didn't really trust Ambessa.
When they go to hunt Vander/Warwick, Caitlyn does it because she believes he's a scary chemweapon, while Ambessa wants to use him. But when Vi tells Cait that he's her dad, Cait, who lost her mother, agrees to help. She chooses to risk her life for family. I think she's always been uneasy about Ambessa. It's not like she flips sides all of a sudden. It took manipulation and grief. If we had longer, they could've made the character beats clearer to establish Cait's questioning of Ambessa's way. It was easy for Cait to realize that Warwick was a victim.
The blade cuts both ways. Yes, Caitlyn stepped out of line at times, but she's got a good heart and a good head on her shoulders, and that's why Ambessa's choice to use Caitlyn was a mistake on her part and would lead to her downfall. She doesn't want violence. "Why is peace always the reason for violence?"
You could clearly see Cait being unsure about Ambessa when they were training. The foreshadowing of her backstabbing Ambessa was when Ambessa was walking away after throwing Cait down, and then Cait stood up and attacked Ambessa while her back was turned. Ambessa's flip of Caitlyn wasn't identical to the one that Caitlyn did to Vi. Ambessa used too much force, injuring Caitlyn, possibly on purpose. Caitlyn was methodical and precise, even when she didn't even know it was Vi yet.
"The story beat you missed, that sets Caitlyn on a path of self reflection and potentially forgiving Jinx is the scene with Singed. Caitlyn comes at Singed demanding his motivation for such despicable acts. She finds out, that it is love that drives all people to act in ways despicable to others. The scene of the daughter reflects caitlyns mum in a coffin. Her expression goes from disgust to softness and understanding, followed by contemplative. By the time she runs into Vi, she has stepped away from leading to more of a subordinate role, her drive to hunt Jinx or anyone has already faulted and Vi provides the opportunity to escape the horror she had trapped herself in. The writing is subtle and what I love about arcane is how it shows you the story instead of spelling it out for you. I'm glad there wasn't a scene of Vi and Cait hashing out the pros and cons of saving Vander. That would have been too sledge hammer dialogue" (@KiijiSimurgh on YouTube).
Caitlyn was doing what she thought was right. Anyone that chalks up Caitlyn as a villain really has no media literacy.