Curate, connect, and discover
But Isha did have something special for Jinx, it was Jinx's inner child, who was just hurt by seeing Vi with the enforcer uniform. Up until that moment Jinx already had come in terms that Vi was not in her side, that she would not put her over Caitlyn (who is an enforcer). But to have to see her as her enemy, and no only that, but the enemy who killed their parents, hurts her, so she does a tantrum very similar to the one Powder did when Vi, Mylo and Claggor left her behind to save Vander in Season 1 Act 1.
Isha has parralels with Powder, mostly in the fact that Isha is a "little devil" and a wildcard that is weak, sly and eager to join the older people around her in what their adventures and try to make herself useful when in reality she is the most vulnerable spot of the gang.
Jinx doesn't have a reason to hurt Isha, so at first she does nothing. She never plans anything with Isha in all act one, Isha just seems to follow her around and Sevika and Jinx just don't bother with her as she didn't get on the way. Before the fight with Vi and Caitlyn none of the women seem to even address her. She is just there, her fault if she gets hurt.
Because they, unlike Silco who saw himself in the little girl who was betrayed and abandoned by her older sister, didn't feel responsible for Isha until act 2, where she was already part of the gang with a time skip that had the girls bond over just being girls. Because after Isha saved her and decided already she would stay by Jinx's side, holding tight into her just like Powder (I'm convinced she was Jinx in that moment, but still) did with Silco, Jinx didn't have a reason to send her away as she planned to waste away anyway. She was already partially suicidal, no purpose in her life, but ended havibg fun with what resulted in her own Powder, who unlike with Silco, she doesn't view as herself, bit it's her inner child, who she had a chance to fix and heal. Silco got attatched to her daughter in a blink of an eye because he saw himself on her, we can infer Jinx got attatched to Isha slowly as a result of time together given by a "why not".
And Jinx was never a monster like Silco was, every kid SHE orphaned (not Silco) was an enemie's children. Caitlyn (who was probably THE person Vi was refering to to be able to say Jinx orphaned children, as Vi didn't really care about all the enforces Jinx killed so she had to go for the hypothetic children to condem her instead), Marcus' daughter, and any child of any enforcer and councilor that died because of her doing. She orphans Piltover's children, and the child she gassed's as of Piltover as well, and he wasn't targeted in particular, he just had the luck to be there when Jinx and Sevika set the paint bombs (event that I remind you, the Undercity children were cheering on). Isha is from the Undercity, so she gets a benefit of a doubt of being left to be as long as she doesn't get in the way children of Piltover would never, because they are from and with the enemy.
Jinx is not meant to be a morally good character, but she is not Silco's worst. Isha was different BECAUSE Jinx got attatched to her and reminded her of Powder, but besides that, as a Zaunite kid that didn't get in the way, she was already different to any kid Jinx hurt directly and indirectly.
Isha from the start rubbed me the wrong way but I ignored it.
I think they reason why I ignored it was that many times before s2 came out it did occur to me that Jinx would likely bond the easiest with kids. That since she’s so childish in a lot of ways it would be easier for her to interact and find common ground with a kid, it would be the first time in her life that the familial power dynamic would be reversed, it’d be interesting to see her in an irresponsible but fun big sis role. And initially it seems that that’s what they were doing with Isha so I wanted to give her a chance.
In retrospect I think the reason why it felt off to me from the start is that what they did in ep 2, which introduces Isha and reintroduces us to Jinx, was they gave us a metaphorical scene portraying Jinx’s grief, then we see her walking to music for a minute and immediately after that Isha falls into her lap. We saw nothing of Isha whatsoever before that moment and we never learn anything about her past, she was never a character. The story’s visuals create parallels between this meeting and Silco and Powder's meeting, and like many parallels in s2 it falls flat cos the parallel just highlights how those two are not the same at all.
In s1a1 we spend 3 eps with Silco and Powder individually, with it never occurring to us and the story never hinting at these characters ever coming together. After all this time of establishing what each character has going for them, what makes them tick, and with some visual hints sprinkled in ep 3 we get to their first meeting and even tho you’d never anticipate it the characters immediately click and you GET IT. The characters’ pains and emotions and connections and goals that we’ve explored for 3 eps slot with each other perfectly. What happened when Isha met Jinx for the first time? she fell into her lap. ok.
Like at this point in their lives Silco and Jinx were monsters, and with Silco you need to give me a good reason why this kid was special and he didn’t stab her, and in the same way you need to explain what’s so special about Isha that differentiates her from all the other kids that Jinx apparently orphaned or that one piltover kid (and more) that she gassed.