Discussing Maddie from Arcane

[Winter]

If there was one character that perfectly highlighted how rushed and clunky season 2 of Arcane was it would be Maddie. Maddie is a textbook example of the Trope "They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character" as we learn nothing about her and she somehow plays a role that is both vital to the series and yet so insignificant that she could be swapped out for anyone and nothing would change.

She's the reason Vi joins the Enforcers... except it was more of a result of the attack at the funeral, her love for Cait and her anger at her sister that lead to that. She starts a relationship with Cait between acts 1 and 2, and is barely mentioned and Cait has no issue going back to Vi. She betrays Cait and all of Piltover which does basically nothing as the one thing her betrayal accomplishes wouldn't have affected the story anyway.

And then there's her being a traitor. Was she always working with Ambessa, did she join her during the time skip, if the former why would she try to recruit Vi as she's not that important in the grand scheme of things and Caitlyn was going to go after Jinx no matter what so bother with her? What was her thoughts on Caitlyn starting up a relationship with Vi again, did she feel betrayed or was unbothered by it?

The closest thing we get to insight of her character is her last words and a freeze frame scene when she attempts execute Cait. She says "I did appreciate your warmth" and in the freeze frame bounce JUST as she takes the shot we see her with a slasher smile implying that she likes to be the one that will kill Cait.

But that's pretty much it. Maddie has a very limited about of screen time, appearing in 6 episodes and only have a speaking role in 3 and between those three she only has about 5 or 7 minutes of dialogue. In a season that is about 7 and a half hours long that's basically nothing so there's no real chance to get to know her.

Season 2 of Arcane bugs me, it had such potential but was so wasted. I still think it's great but following on the heels of what is seen by many, myself included, as the greatest video game adaptation of all time it's disappointment. Still miles better then other VGAs but not as good as it could have been.

[hammerofglass]

She was the first one to start the enforcers doing the Zaun salute after Ambessa's New Order speech so she was working for her by then.

I don't think there was a plan on getting Vi to the funeral beyond making the big public fight as dramatic as possible in-universe. Get her killed or make a hero out of her, either way take advantage of the fact Cait just made her famous. Honestly if everyone but Mel died there Ambessa would have called it a win, she didn't care about Cait either at that point.

[Winter]

She was the first one to start the enforcers doing the Zaun salute after Ambessa's New Order speech so she was working for her by then.

I don't think there was a plan on getting Vi to the funeral beyond making the big public fight as dramatic as possible in-universe. Get her killed or make a hero out of her, either way take advantage of the fact Cait just made her famous. Honestly if everyone but Mel died there Ambessa would have called it a win, she didn't care about Cait either at that point.

Or she just got swept up in the moment and came to believe what Ambessa was saying and joined her soon afterwords.

[CharlesPhipps]

Basically, Maddie was a character they made evil to wrap up any romantic loose ends versus the more mature, "My ex had other girlfriends between our breakup."

[hammerofglass]

Basically, Maddie was a character they made evil to wrap up any romantic loose ends versus the more mature, "My ex had other girlfriends between our breakup."

Which is weird because they'd already done that too.