For me, Arcane is easily one of the best shows on Netflix. The second and final season, which just ended amid the 2024 TV schedule, receiving critical acclaim like its predecessor. While the animated show is based on the video-game League of Legends, it supersedes it with its world building, character development and heartbreaking parallels. It also has some of the best queer representation I’ve seen, thanks to writer Amanda Overton. Just recently, she talked about that, as she recalled "dreaming" of a romance like Vi and Caitlyn's.
Arcane’s Amanda Overton Discusses Crafting Vi and Caitlyn’s Romance
It’s been confirmed by the creators that the Piltovian officer and Zaunite fighter were endgame from the beginning, the One True Pairing (OTP) that was to be developed throughout the series. Very rarely is the main relationship in a show a lesbian one. Thankfully, Riot Games hired Amanda Overton to lead the charge on Arcane. In an interview with The Gamer, the True Blood alum revealed she knew this was the opportunity she’d been waiting for:
This is what I’ve been dreaming for. I still write stories for my 16 year old self. I love video games. I love big sci-fi and world-building shows, but I so rarely saw myself in those spaces. And if I had seen myself more in those spaces, maybe I would have come out sooner. I would have had an easier journey. That is a huge motivator for me, driving me to tell these stories and trying to get representation into those spaces.
It’s not an easy task creating well-received sapphic representation. The LGBTQ+ community can be very scrutinizing, because of historical misrepresentation in the media. Amanda Overton worried that with Caitlyn and Vi’s slow-burn romance, people might mistake it for queerbaiting. So it was really important to her that their notes of a queer relationship and same-sex attraction were not left to chance in the subtext of the show. It’s the little things that matter, like Overton fighting to keep Vi’s iconic flirtatious line “You’re hot, cupcake,” and the showrunners trusted her judgement:
And I had the support of the entire team around me. Constantly, Christian [Linke] and Alex [Yee] would empower me, or defer to me, and even the entire team over at Fortiche all came together to make that story what it is. I’m so happy everyone connected with it because I just poured my heart and soul into it.
As a young queer person, the privilege of having this sapphic representation is not lost on me. To see myself represented in one of my all-time favorite shows is unreal and exactly what the Umbrella Academy writer intended when writing this storyline for Arcane.
Why I’ve Wanted A Queer Relationship Like Vi And Caitlyn’s
What makes Caitlyn and Vi’s romance so special is it creates a sense of normalcy for queer relationships. Arcane isn’t a drama that relies on romance for ratings. It’s a sci-fi show based on a video game. But every good show has a romantic dynamic, a main canon couple fans are rooting for. To make that couple sapphic is everything to me.
The good queer representation happens in the natural timeline of these two characters being drawn to each other, like any romance you might see on TV. Yet it also captures the sapphic experience so well. Caitlyn’s gay panic in the brothel scene is one that had me kicking my feet, and the amount of times they softly hold each other’s faces without kissing is criminal. The obvious closeness and attraction without actually admitting any sort of feelings is so painfully accurate to the queer experience.
Though Caitlyn and Vi don't kiss in Season 1, the way they lean on each other and quickly begin to care as they face trials together in the Undercity is more intimate than any liplock. Their companionship develops alongside their attraction, and that makes the physical intimacy in Season 2 more meaningful. Also, these characters were clearly developed for the sapphic gaze, instead of the male gaze, as too many lesbian portrayals are subject to.
Finally, this isn’t a tragic relationship. While both characters face a lot of tragedy and death throughout the series, they face it together, and their story concludes in a warm way. Too often do sapphics on TV have tragic endings but, with Caitlyn and Vi, the creators have all but confirmed they end up together in every timeline they exist.
While it's sad that Arcane has come to an end, I'm pleased with the result. I’m also just glad the lesbians got a (somewhat) happy ending for once. See Vi and Caitlyn's epic romance play out on the show using a Netflix subscription.
