Caitlyn’s Heel Turn in Arcane Season 2 Is Deliciously Good Television

In professional wrestling, it’s called a “heel turn” when a babyface, the squeaky-clean good guy who wins over revelers with their unwavering optimism, sense of self, and morals, corrodes. This phenomenon has seen heroes like Stone Cold Steve Austin and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson turn their backs on the people who supported them, becoming villains themselves. Although not all heel turns are equal, Arcane‘s implementation of one of wrestling’s greatest narrative twists with Caitlyn Kiramman should be studied as one of the best slow-burn fall from graces on television. And so we shall.

Although Arcane season two is three years divorced from its Emmy award-winning first season, Riot Games and Fortiche’s sophomore effort picks up directly after its predecessor. We witness the destructive fallout of Jinx declaring war on the posh city of Piltover. In retaliation, the city charges Caitlyn with arming a strike force to infiltrate “the Undercity” to capture Jinx, snuff out any of her and mentor Silco’s supporters, and neutralize any possibility of further terror attacks. By her side is Jinx’s sister and her conflicted will-they-won’t-they love interest, Vi, who begrudgingly joins her in a revenge crusade masked as a civic duty to their detriment.

While everyone in Arcane season two is “going through it” in their own way, no one is being put through the wringer quite like Caitlyn. Season two makes no secret of the separation Caitlyn has from the rest of the cast; its stunning opening sees the return of Imagine Dragon and JID’s unironic banger of a song, “Enemy.” Unlike season one, which saw its heroes depicted as stone idols of their video game counterparts, season two’s version of the opening sees them kitted out in white loose-fitting clothing. All save for Caitlyn, who is adorned in a restrictive black turtleneck. As she cups her head with blood-stained hands, her silhouette towers over her with a jagged crown reminiscent of Scott McKowen’s Macbeth illustration.

As lampshaded by Arcane‘s opening, Caitlyn’s awful time comes as no surprise, given that her mission hasn’t allowed her to properly mourn the loss of her mother from Jinx’s terrorist attack. Her only place of refuge has been in Vi’s comforting arms, and Vi feels profusely guilty for every bad thing that’s happened to Caitlyn. However, their stolen moments of solace cross a boundary when Caitlyn asks Vi to take up the Piltover badge and join her in raiding her hometown of Zaun—the same badge of the antagonistic forces that claimed her mother’s life.

While this narrative thread is used to push the odd couple closer together—an event Arcane fans have been waiting three years to be made canon and League of Legends players have been waiting over a decade for—it also prods at the festering class differences laden within Arcane‘s overarching narrative and among its sapphic pairing.

What makes Caitlyn’s descent all the more enthralling is that it’s the first time viewers have witnessed one of Arcane‘s well-written female characters mourn and change in real time. In contrast to Caitlyn, Jinx and Vi evolved off-screen between the third and fourth episodes of the first season’s leap forward in time. Any inclination toward settling into their cagey ways is implied by how they carry themselves as an unhinged agent of chaos and a brutish fighter. While the two eventually found a support system, Caitlyn has no one else to turn to. This fact is made painfully evident when she hits Vi with the butt of her rifle in a wound she once helped mend before leaving her in the gutter and turning full fascist.

oooh i just wish she would say that in front of ekko pic.twitter.com/U4Q7h2si5k

— nate | arcane s2 spoilers (@boysaviuh) November 10, 2024

Caitlyn’s delicious extremism comes from the show’s depiction of Piltover’s copaganda and how class differences are at the root of its story. Jinx’s actions on behalf of Zaun are spawned from rotting frustration with how Piltover has suppressed Zaun for generations. Piltover, conversely, can’t get over the stench of Zaun’s pollution and its disenfranchised residents, and wishes to snuff out anything impeding its “progress” for societal good. This all coalesces within Caitlyn in season 2, whose empathy with the citizens of Zaun subsides as she weaponizes the infrastructure her mother made to prevent them from choking on poisonous fumes, in pursuit of Jinx.

What’s more, Caitlyn casually orders her officers to arrest a Zaun informant in front of Vi, knowing full well her partner was wrongfully imprisoned for a decade of her life at the hands of corrupt Piltover officers. When fans thought they wouldn’t need to defend their favorite as she becomes more controversial, Caitlyn breaks her promise to Vi—a pledge sealed with a kiss—that she wouldn’t change as everyone else has in her life. And boy howdy does she break that promise spectacularly: by recklessly firing at her, endangering an innocent child just to shoot Vi’s defenseless sister, labeling the people of Zaun as animals, and declaring martial law on its citizens. All of this happens in the final episode of season two’s Act One batch of episodes.

Indeed, the girls are fighting, and everything is coming apart tragically like a painterly car crash. As evidenced by Arcane skyrocketing to the top of Netflix’s charts, folks can’t keep themselves from rubbernecking at the show, rewatching the new episodes and retreading its previous season too.

Arcane season two’s first three episodes have, in turn, given fans a serious case of whiplash, as they went from celebrating “Caitvi” becoming canon and “divorcing” in 20 minutes with an ample serving of memes, TikTok skits, AMVs, and exhaustive social media posts praying the animated show’s mature rating for sexual content will culminate in a make-up for the ages. What’s more, all of the above is but a small slice of the grander machinations yet to be unveiled with the show’s narrative thus far.

Needless to say, Arcane‘s second season so far not only has fans gagged from its gripping Act One cliffhanger, it also makes a huge case for the show’s staggering $250 million budget. Its animation is as stunning, if not more so, than its previous season. No line of dialogue feels wasted in each episode’s 40-minute run time. Hopefully, the show will maintain its momentum in the coming weeks.

Arcane Season Two, Act Two premieres November 16; Act Three arrives November 23.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.