Arcane season 2 debuted over the weekend with three episodes encapsulating the first part of the series. But even with just three episodes, it seems like the team behind the series managed to pack a lot in, including a scene that fans have been clamouring for ever since the first season aired three years ago.
[Minor spoilers ahead for Arcane season 2.]
It was pretty obvious that we were at the event horizon for a Caitlyn and Vi kiss after the first season of Arcane. The pair had spent most of their time together after the first act, and it was clear to most fans like myself that their relationship was only going to continue growing from that point onwards. Even still, I don't think I'm alone in asking why the hell it took so long to see these two characters finally respond to each other's feelings.
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During a TechRadar interview, Arcane creators Christian Linke and Alex Yee Linke actually revealed that the choice to delay Vi and Caitlyn's kiss to season 2 was not just determined by the show's storytellers but that the animation studio Fortiche Production wasn't sure that it had the capability to do justice to such a beautiful scene back in the first season.
"Interesting tidbit: I actually spoke to Bart [Barthelemy Maunoury], our animation director, about the kiss last week," Christian Linke says. "He was asked the same question and he later told me if we'd written that last season, the animation team wouldn't have been able to do it well because they weren't technically capable yet.
"So, he thanked us for not doing that!" Linke says."He said, 'I don't think we would've done a good job. We couldn't have done it in season one', so it was interesting to hear that it wouldn't have been possible from a technical standpoint, even if we'd have wanted to do it."
Waiting until season 2 for such a crucial moment to take place between Vi and Caitlyn also made sense, narratively speaking. "They've both just lost something at the start of season 2," Linke says. "I think they're both very afraid of change, too, and they have that moment in episode 3 where they're still holding onto those things that have slipped away from them because they're starting to tread down this dark path [of seeking revenge on Jinx].
"In that moment, Vi is making a big commitment to Caitlyn by choosing her over Jinx," Yee adds. "And I think that's ultimately why Caitlyn takes the lead [in instigating the kiss]."
