#chloe lila alliance

[internetgiraffekid1673]

I Had Miraculous Ladybug Thoughts, Specifically the Chloe Lila Alliance Situation, and I'm Making It Your Problem! I am So Sorry!

Just. Read the title of this post. I am the most biased person you could have on this topic. You've been warned.

Okay, so. Chloe. If you are in the ML fandom, first off, my condolences, we shall suffer together. Second off, you know that Chloe is incredibly divisive. On the one hand, she's an absolute a**hole to everyone around her at any point in the series that is not season 2 and parts of season 3. On the other hand, it is clear that she has no adults teaching her how to not be an a**hole or regulating her behavior because the only people who have the necessary authority should not have ever been parents.

And then you have that whole thing in season 2 where they started to explain her awfulness and gave her the bee miraculous and she started getting better and developing a support structure, and then she stopped being allowed to have the bee miraculous and dove headfirst off the deep end. This frustrates pretty much the entire fandom. On the Chloe hate side, you wonder why they were wasting time with this. On the Chloe love side, you just got baited, and you're annoyed as heck, and you also are wondering why they wasted your time with this.

But fine, okay, it's dumb, but whatever, the fanfiction can work with this. What the fanfiction has a MUCH harder time working with is Chloe and Lila forming an unholy alliance over their mutual hatred of Marinette and Ladybug. Because the problem here is, it's redundant, it doesn't make sense, and makes Lila even more of a Mary Sue.

Tangent warning: YEAH I SAID IT! I think Lila is a Mary Sue. You don't have to think that. My definition of a Mary Sue is "a character that warps the fabric of the story around them without it making any sense because the author likes/hates/pities/has other strong emotion about this character/ too much to care about a coherent narrative." Not everybody defines a Mary Sue this way, but by this definition, Lila is a Mary Sue. Everyone immediately loses their brain cells around her despite being compassionate and sometimes intelligent individuals who will kill for Marinette in most other scenarios. Nonsensical story warping just because the author said so. Tangent aside:

What this alliance does is it gives you two manipulative lying b*tches who willingly get akumatized to further their petty schemes and are out to destroy Marinette and Ladybug and are weirdly possessive of but don't actually seem to care for Adrien. There's really no point in having two. They occupy the same narrative niche and it is awkward and stupid and I DO NOT LIKE IT. Neither does most of the fandom it seems, because this alliance rarely appears in fanfiction.

There are a couple default solutions in fanfiction:

1. Redeem Chloe. I like this solution. I like Chloe, I think she's entertaining, and I think her interactions with other characters as a good guy are especially entertaining, I think she brings a lot of valuable skills and perspective to the cast as a good guy, I think she has a lot of reasons for being an a**hole that should be properly addressed, and I think the reasons her redemptipn arc got aborted were stupid. Most fanfiction goes the route of having redeemed Chloe viscerally hate Lila too, because Chloe goes after enemies with passion and her whole heart. This is a clean solution, but not great if you don't like Chloe all that much or are trying to make it canon compliant (best of luck to you, canon is all over the place).

2. Only focus on one as a villain and yeet the other out of the story. If Chloe is the villain, set the story during the time that Lila was off being Cerise or wandering around Paris or whatever, or before she showed up. If Lila is the villain, give Chloe an unrelated reason to decide she's not dealing with that today, thank you very much. Usually used in salt fics to dunk on whichever character grinds your gears more without unwanted interruptions. I like salt fics, and this is also a good clean solution. Having both of them is redundant, so just remove one. For Lila, it makes sense because she's a Mary Sue and writing her is annoying, so pretending she never existed is a great fix to that. For Chloe, it makes sense because "lying manipulative ladybug hating b*tch" only really starts being her archetype after the writers screwed up her character with a million inconsistincies. Before that, she was more of a "comically loud, bossy, really obssessive fangirl b*tch," so Lila just works better for certain plots. Downside is that you can't focus on Chloe-Lila interactions, and you sometimes have to do a bit of finagling to figure out how to remove them from a situation they would ordinarily be VERY invested in.

3. Make them hate each other. This is one of my favorite solutions because I have a weakness for villain rivalries that are equal parts comedic and dramatic, but bias aside, this absolutely works. They both want Adrien's sole, undivided attention, and, prior to aforementioned screwing over of Chloe's character, Chloe is the world's biggest Ladybug stan, and Lila is her number 1 hater. They also both have a weird power over the adults in the story that two 14 year old girls really shouldn't have. All these factors make it very easy to guess they would clash. Watch as they try to destroy each other! This plays into the "they both suck, but it's different flavors of suck," and makes those flavors mix BADLY together. The one downside is that it is hard to not make this the central focus of the story, because both of them are so over the top that they're absolutely going to drown out most other going ons, and this is technically supposed to be about Marinette and Adrien. It also erases some of the storylines you can get from an actually thought out alliance.

4. Redeem Lila. I have only seen this in one place, but it is a prominent place and that's more places than my suggestion on this whole ordeal. The prominent place being the Scarlet Lady AU by the very talented and lovely ZoeOneesame. Her take on it was basically:

"Chloe in this AU has the ladybug miraculous, and Chloe sucks at her job, so Lila's ladybug hatred is justified. Marinette is in love with Chat and isn't involved in the ladybug drama, so Lila has no reason to hate her. Adrien is both much smarter and much more active in this AU, so he wouldn't deal with Lila in the same hands-off way. Everybody else is also smarter in this AU and would probably know Lila was lying and also not care because they are forgiving and compassionate. So Lila's lies would most likely get called out, she would have the freedom and desire to figure out who she is beneath the lies, and she would have a justified hatred of Scarlet Lady matched by other characters in the AU, and would probably band together with them."

And thus, no filter, vindictive good guy Lila was born! Again, I have only seen this in Scarlet Lady, but it is amazing over there, so I had to talk about it. Redeeming Lila is an unconventional choice for sure, but I think if you arrange for circumstances where Lila would rather ally with the heroes than the villains, then you can get a lot of mileage out of her people-reading/manipulation skills helping out the heroes while possibly scaring the crap out of them at the same time. This has basically all the same downsides as the Chloe redemption though. It's not fun to do if you're here for Lila salt, and it's ABSOLUTELY not canon compliant.

Now. You may have noticed that nobody who writes fanfiction for this show does the canon Chloe-Lila alliance. This is for a myriad of aforementioned reasons: it's redundant, it continues the confusion of Chloe's character arc, and Lila is a Mary Sue, so anything that involves her tends to be frustrating. But, I think there is a way to make it work, so I'm writing about it.

First of all, don't do what canon did where 6 just have Lila teach Chloe how to lie. Take full advantage of the fact that they are two very different types of a**hole. They can ally for the same reasons: they both are super possesive of Adrien and are raging about him getting together with Marinette. And while I don't like the arc of Marinette being a trash and controlling guardian who shows inordinate favoritism to Alya and Zoe and literally nobody else because she's gay for them, you can still do that and have them both hate Ladybug too. I don't like that plot beat, mostly because it's never really addressed that Marinette is in fact a bad guardian outside of some light sulking from Chat, but it can work. She's a 14 year old girl in way over her head with no adults left to help (except the kwamis, but they don't really count because they are very unhelpful). It makes sense that she wouldn't do a good job at first. But whatever their reasons for teaming up, lean into the fact that Lila is a two-faced secretively awful person while Chloe is an in-your-face publicly awful person. From there, it depends on the tone you're going for.

Chloe is a great villain for humor because she's so loud and dramatic. She can get away with saying and doing really insane and rude stuff on the grounds that she's insane and rude (and also rich and powerful). People don't have any expectations for Chloe to be nice or rational, so she can do stuff like try and write a Queen Banana character into the class film and be met with annoyance and frustration rather than outrage and shock. So if you're going a lighthearted route, let Chloe be the one who does all the public legwork for their schemes, and let her be absolutely over the top about it.

On the other hand, Chloe can also be threatening in a far more tangible way than Lila. Lila can make people think you're a bit of a jerk, but it takes a lot of work for her to come close to getting Marinette expelled, even with all her Mary Sueness to help. Chloe can just look at the principal and say "My dad will fire you and remove all school funding if you don't expel her." Chloe won't make people dislike Marinette because nobody likes her, but she can physically hurt Marinette in ways that Lila can't. So if you're going for drama, you can lean into that. Chloe is in a completely different social class than everyone else and has actual power.

Either way, let Chloe be a complete drama queen who is publicly out to get Marinette, because there isn't anything anyone can do about it.

Meanwhile, let Lila work in the background. Lila has never been a comedic villain, only getting introduced after the show had taken a turn for the more dramatic, so don't bother. Leave that to Chloe's antics. Let Lila be the actual threat who is driving their plans. A lot of the reason Chloe was manageable while Lila never was is because Chloe's rage tends to be directionless and impulsive. She has a short temper that can easily be triggered, but also easily soothed, and she doesn't have any thought out plans or long form schemes. She just does whatever she thinks will make her happy in the moment. Have Lila be the one who convinces her to think in the long-term, and who comes up with an overarching plot to get rid of Marinette, adding a sense of real tension to the situation. Sure, before Chloe could have you expelled on a whim, but she also would have stopped bothering the second Adrien paid attention to her. Lila will help Chloe drop that boundary.

Lila also has the advantage of people actually liking her and being willing to do things for her without threatening or bribing them. Lila can do things like make it so Marinette doesn't have any of her friends around to help in an emergency. She can make it so people believe Chloe might actually be justified in her crusade against Marinette this time. She can plant seeds of doubt and distrust and she can socially isolate Marinette in ways Chloe can't. Make people love and believe in her instead, slowly destroy Marinette's support system, and so on. It not only is really dramatic and upsetting, it basically leaves Mari with just Adrien and Chat to rely on, which is FANTASTIC ship fuel if that's your jam. This can also let you have some other prominent characters come to the fore. Have some Kagami focus. Have some Luka focus. Bring in Socqueline and Felix and see how that changes things.

Point is, between these two, you could have a genuine, non-redundant threat that you can get emotional mileage out of. Lila is on one side turning all of Mari's friends against her and scheming to destroy her in the long term. Chloe is on the other side threatening Marinette's lifestyle---her bakery, her school, her fashion career, her public image, her existence in Paris---anything that can be damaged by the Mayor and the Style Queen is under attack. And then you have Hawkmoth on the other end, throwing akumas in her face and forcing her to make impossible choices. I would imagine Lila also gets akumatized on purpose whenever she needs a little extra help, while Chloe just gets egged on and pushed off the deep end by Lila whenever Lila thinks it'd be advantageous. So that trifecta is super genuinely threatening. But you can also have Chloe being a really stupid drama queen whose fits of rage can still be silly and poorly thought out, even with Lila helping her. And you can have some really heartwarming stuff as the people left in Marinette's support system band together and become even closer to get rid of these two once and for all. I just think this plot beat has a lot of untapped potential if the writers didn't make then fulfill the same narrative role, and I haven't really seen it explored yet.

Feel free to use this idea in fanfic, tell me that it sucks and would be bad, or ignore me, I mostly just needed to write this down!

If the mood strikes me or multiple people express interest (yeah right), I will make a (probably much shorter) post explaining how you can redeem both of them effectively and also why I think that would be bad in most circumstances.

Congratulations if you read this whole rant, now please go to sleep. Please. So much please.

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

Just realized something dumb about how the show deciding miraculous holders can just bullshit their way into getting power-ups or negating the whole time out sequence. They could basically make miraculous like the fox overpowered/broken by just going "fuck you that's no longer a weakness"

Like

Alya just removing the whole Illusions get dispelled by physical contact thing

Max being able to open multiple portals simultaneously instead of two connected ones

Lila be able to create multiple Akuma at once without them originally sharing an item, Catalyst/Puppeteer/Gamer2.0 being used to modify/help her or whatever Gabriel & Tomoe did with the Alliance rings

ect

I can't even tell what even happened that caused Marinette and Adrien to "grow up". They were at Chloe's mercy, they decided they didn't want to detransform, and boom! No more timer.

It's hard to tell what's dumber: The fact that simply "growing up" is enough for you to unlock the full power of your Miraculous, or the fact that every Miraculous has a different transformation phrase specifically designed for evil uses that also slowly kills you for some reason.

[ladyofthenoodle]

i keep thinking about kagami and lila’s friendship in season 5. because it was so fascinating the way lila manipulated her and played into her insecurities but also the way that kagami never really admired lila or pined for her friendship the way she did with marinette. and that lila had to be okay with not receiving that admiration for her to get what she wanted out of this friendship, that she had to fawn and fawn over kagami to earn the status of friend while kagami tells her to her face she’s not a precious gem. meanwhile kagami is absolutely starving for adrien and marinette’s attention and lila just has to live with that which she must have HATED, and THEN kagami just shuts down the whole manipulation scheme and insists marinette and lila are both her friends. and lila hugs her and SMIRKS like she’s not done plotting and then…

then that’s the last we get of the two of them. lila gets exposed to the whole class and yet we don’t see even a hint of whether kagami is told any of this or what her reaction is. the storyline is just dropped. sure, lila’s mad about kagami replacing her as the face of alliance, but they don’t interact again, and we can only guess whether kagami tried to reach out to lila or thought about lila at all.

but in a way, this makes sense: kagami and lila both meet someone new. lila gets closer to chloe, who she doesn’t need to convince to hate marinette. and kagami, of course, meets felix. and plenty has been said on the ways that felix lives up to the expectations kagami had for adrien, but not enough on how felix filled the need that lila had previously been exploiting in kagami. lila’s manipulation of kagami was twofold: it played on her own sense of isolation from her peers and on the pressure she felt to be perfect all the time. and then felix comes in and says, hey, actually, there’s a reason you have felt isolated and it’s because you’re different, but so am i, and i admire you but i’m not scared of you, and you were created to be perfect but i’m going to set you free from that.

so by the time confrontation comes around, maybe it doesn’t matter what kagami’s reaction to lila’s exposure would have been, because all those cracks in kagami’s armor that lila was trying to slip through are gone now, either sealed or blown wide open, and there’s no place for lila anymore. kagami had already moved on.

at the same time, i’d LOVE to see it. i’d love to see lila barely hiding her resentment of kagami taking her place on alliance while assuring kagami that of course they’re still friends! to see lila coming to kagami after collusion and insisting that marinette framed her and kagami turning to felix like “would you believe what she’s saying about marinette?” and he’s like god no i spent 10 seconds with her while i was pretending to be adrien and that was 9 seconds too many. and maybe at that point lila finally drops the act and admits she was only pretending to be kagami’s friend. that she was only trying to turn her against marinette. and kagami, matter of fact as ever, would apologize that lila wasted so much time on something that would never happen.

[mcheang]

Reality

As Nino lays out his plan for targeting Gabriel, Alya points out one thing. “Sure I know Ladybug can fix the mess an akuma causes. But Gabriel will still be mad. He already doesn’t like you, Nino. Don’t push it. For all we know, Gabriel might threaten to transfer Adrien to a different school. Remember, he totally lost it when Adrien lost his book?”

Nino: oh…right. I didn’t think of that. Then, who do we target?

Marinette grins sneakily. “I know someone who can get upset very easily.”

Adrien: really, who?

Marinette: i don’t want to spoil the surprise.

Later, as the parent-teacher meeting commenced, Marinette bursts in, “Oh, I’m so sorry to barge in like this. But I forgot I needed Mrs Rossi’s signature for Lila’s trip to Achu.”

Caline: Marinette, can’t this wait?

Mrs Rossi: what trip to Achu?

Caline and Marinette look at her. “You know, the trip she’s taking to join Prince Ali in teaching children for free. It’s such a shame that she won’t be able to attend the school’s weeklong camping trip but it’s for a good cause.

Mrs Rossi stands up. “My daughter is doing what?”

Caline: why are you so surprised, Mrs Rossi? Lila went to Achu for months less than a week after she joined Dupont.

Mrs Rossi: she told me the school was shut down from akuma attacks!

Marinette pretended to look faint. “Oh no, was it because of her special lying disease?”

Mr Cesaire looked skeptical. “A lying disease…? Do you mean compulsive lying?”

Gabriel almost regretted not being able to akumatize Mrs Rossi, if only to make up for losing Lila Rossi as a spy since clearly Alliance can no longer use her. Oh well, there’s always the fallout when her sheep find out.

Alya and Nino were recording this with open mouths. Adrien wasn’t so bothered by this after seeing more of Lila’s hateful personality.

Needless to say, the parent-teacher conference was delayed as Sabine then angrily wanted justice for her daughter if she was indeed framed by a liar. Gabriel had to admit the teaching faculty here was lousy to fall for Lila’s reception, but that’s what makes this place so prime for his akumas! Why did he send Adrien here again? Oh right, it’s the most prestigious school and he’ll never hear the end of it from Andre because Chloe would never accept his perfect son being in another school away from her.

Later, after Marinette received an apology from Mrs Rossi, she agreed to bring Lila up. Alya and Nino looked apologetic. “We’re so sorry we didn’t believe you.”

Marinette looked behind her. “It’s ok. Keep recording. If Mrs Rossi isn’t angry enough to attract an akuma, her daughter will be. Nothing akumatizes Lila like being caught.”

Lila was immediately suspicious when Marinette of all people came to get her, however it was subdued by Marinette’s poorly hidden dislike and the fact that it was Gabriel who asked her to come.

Certain that Mr Agreste wanted her help against a stupid boy’s resistance team, she agreed.

Boy was Lila surprised to see Sabine and her mother standing in front of the classroom instead of Mr Agreste, who looked disappointed in her.

Uh oh. Now Lila could see Marinette’s triumphant face and could see what had happened. Her one consolation was that the team’s plan to anger a parent into akumatization had failed. Though she was also irked she couldn’t get akumatized and make that loser suffer for exposing her like this. This is worse than Ladybug’s exposing her in front of Adrien!

As Lila was dragged by her mother to the principal’s office, Caline tried to resume the parent-teacher conference though it was clear all now felt disheartened by her incompetence.

The resistance was confused. Angry Rossis and disappointed parents were around. Where was the akuma?

Eventually they had to give up. What a waste of free period.

Not entirely a waste though since Lila was now exposed. Alya sent the recording to the whole class as the parents left.

Outraged gasps were heard everywhere.

Nino: why didn’t you wait till class was about to start? Then we could prepare to record the akumatization.

Adrien: if Monarch didn’t come out for Mrs Rossi and Lila, I doubt he’ll come for-

Reverser promptly swooped by, ready to turn Lila nice and honest.

Adrien: never mind.

Marc was deakumatized and the class apologized to Marinette for not believing her.

Lila returned to class, sulky in her forced apology, not really bothered by their angry reactions now that she was expelled. Only Marinette’s smug attitude infuriated her. Having been forced honest by Reverser, she had confessed to having duped two other women into being her mothers and had initially planned on running away to join one of them. Her mother now has their numbers. It was a nightmare.

Alya: who else can we akumatize for the greater good? Mayor Bourgeois?

Marinette: I don’t think our plan works if we our expected target isn’t even akumatized. We’ll have to think of something else.

Monarch is disappointed he won’t get to akumatize the akuma class again for a while. Ah well, it can be a favor to Adrien.

[motherofplatypus]

According to Selah Victor, the VA for Chloe, we'll be seeing our blonde queen in future season. And let me show you my reaction.

They just can't let their favorite punching bag go, can't they?

All disappointments and slandering aside, let's see how Chloe could potentially be an interesting character in S6, the role she could play to make the story more interesting.

Before that, get your expectation of a redemption arc out of your head. If the last 3 seasons haven't been clear enough, they have no intention of giving her redemption arc.

False Hero Chloe

This is the Best Possibility and best route they could do with her.

They could pull a Princess Morbucks from PPG and make her use technology to be a super. Since she went to NY with Audrey, a place where even your neighbor is a superhero with homemade gadget, she might be able to get herself some gears and become an antihero.

Yes, i know it may seems close to redemption arc which she'll never have, but it all comes down to her motive. She hates Ladybug, and the heroes of Paris as an extension. Since going full on villainy will get her in more trouble, why not make the other heroes look bad?

She can pull off a Syndrome and cause a problem herself and then fix it. Do a Queen Wasp 2.0 and kick it up a notch, she's already immoral in the writers' eyes.

And we know with absolute certainty that she'll be a victim to an akuma, even working together with Lila/Chrysalis. Under the assumption they won't pull another "Lila is a mastermind while Chloe is a dumb blonde who don't even know what generous even mean", they can make Chloe an equal threat but on different category. While Lila is full on terrorist, Chloe is a fake hero.

This route can play out even better if she also mention the worldwide catastrophe with Monarch and Alliance Ring and how Ladybug barely manage to save people, even mentioning that a civilian (Gabe) had to die to help her win.

And in the very, extremely off chance they decided to give Adrien a crumb of relevance, Chloe could call out both heroes about their failure. This leads to internal conflict within Chat Noir about his role on a different level, where he's usually feeling left out and sided, he's thinking if he's still a hero. He thinks if he had helped, Gabe wouldn't have died.

Man, I'd love to write a fic of this, but i already have wip going on and also busy raising awareness about genocides that's happening right now. If you want to write it, please do, i don't trust the writers to do it lol.

[marinetteplztakeabreak]

Miraculous ladybug season 5 episodes (released so far) guide:

For my lovely friends who cannot recall which episode is which (sidenote, if you havent seen season 5 please remember that a very brief memory-jogging summary is not gonna give you full context and please just watch the show if you wanna know what’s going on)

Evolution: time portals, gabi chooses violence against teenagers over saving his loved ones, alix is put into witness protection

Multiplication: Alliance is announced, Adrien quits his job, no one can find Félix

Destruction: Gabi attempts to doxx Ladybug but is foiled by the power of scavenger hunts. Then he cataclysms himself

Jubilation: gabi uses spyware to doxx ladybug real? psyche! It’s just marinette’s old friend in a costume! Also Ladynoir gets married and has four kids and then gets divorced and never speaks of it again

Illusion: “i’ll make you pancakes any day, son.” Gabi is so divorced and in a custody battle. Nino creates the Resistance and akumatizes Gabi on purpose for intel

Determination: adrientte goes back to the wax museum with luka and kagami as wingmen. Marinette fails the date successfully by finally deciding that chat noir is so hot

Passion: Natalie gives Adrien romance advice and gets akumatized on purpose to fight her ex-husband. Ladynoir kwami swap happens.

Reunion: old-fashioned stuffy ladybug calls chat noir a silly little clown boytoy but ladybug will not be stopped from loving him even more

Elation: glaciator 3.0

Transmission: crying sobbing in bed, love confession, rejection, the kwamis decide the depression has gone too far

Deflagration: kittybella, gay rights, five seconds of ladrien, that adrinette hand-raising thing, my entire life

Perfection: “i love moo,” dolphin love song, kagami turns into a cloud for a minute

Migration: luka goes into witness protection

Derision: marinette traumatic backstory reveal. Adrien tries to maim a man

Intuition: gabi is dying. This is his own fault. They are in outer space

Protection: adrinette cute picnic date, look how polyamorous-coded they can make kagami

Adoration: power of lesbians so strong it convinces marinette to say i love you to her boyfriend

Emotion: diamond dance, argos reveal, red moon, laying on the floor bathed in moonlight and wailing rights

Pretension: kagami is slightly kidnapped but then takes over her own kidnapping and gets to trauma dump. Marinette insults Gabi’s pancakes

Revelation: someone Finally gets doxxed! It is Gabi. Lila becomes a conspiracy influencer and a class rep

Confrontation: lila tries to ruin everyone’s lives by messing with their class schedules. marinette is 12,000 steps ahead of her. Lila’s wig is snatched

Collusion: evil police robots are a thing. Bustier is a confirmed lesbian who craves the proletariat uprising. Ladynoir says guillotine the elites. chloe is mayor. Superheroes are illegal.

That’s all that’s been released as of today (may 28, 2023)! Please dont mention leaks on this, this is just a reference for keeping track of released episodes, okay thanks!

[nobodyfamousposts]

Can we ask about the otome au? It’s one of my favorite au’s and I’ve been so curious about it but it’s been a while since anything was mentioned about it.

If we can, has anything changed and/or any new details kinda sprung up in the lull interval?

Certainly!

It's a little odd since Lila is pretty much the Lila as we know her from canon while Felix and Luka are not. I originally just thought of the transmigrated into an otome game setup as an explanation as to why Lila would say Ladybug "betrayed" her. Since originally, Ladybug never does anything with Lila except protect her from akumas and support her as a hero and eventual replacement for the Ladybug Hero.

A couple additions are in regards to Gabriel and Chloe.

With Chloe being the "villainess" of the otome game, she's got a pretty poor fate set up for her. Unless SHE ends up isekaied as well, the only way for her to really avoid this fate would be if someone else helped her change. In this case, it would either have to be a result of some machinations of Lila that end up making Chloe act against her in a way that would be a benefit to everyone else (aka: reveal she's a liar and manipulator) OR it would take Felix or Luka to have some influence on her. Alternatively, they could push Adrien to be a better influence on Chloe by holding her accountable. If Chloe would change for anyone, it would be for Adrien.

Lila never really bothered with any route of the game other than Adrien's. Both the Hero side and the Civilian side. But neither side actually revealed Gabriel was Hawk Moth. The DLC alluded to it, but again, Lila never bothered with it, so she's as lost on Hawk Moth's identity as she is on Ladybug's new "role" in the game. Of course, that's not going to stop her from trying to find out who he is and make an alliance if it means taking out Ladybug for "interfering".

Felix and Luka have a strange duality.

Luka knows only the bare basics about the game—monsters attack, heroes help, and people who are now his friends and family get targeted. The problem is that he doesn't know just HOW these incidents occur or turn out, just that it's all ultimately supposed to be up to this one girl to resolve the problems. So he is understandably concerned that the girl in question doesn't seem particularly inclined to help and thus takes it upon himself to try and fix things or protect his new friends and family.

Felix, on the other hand, HAS the information about the game. He just doesn't care.

They end up forming a partnership that eventually turns into friendship. Albeit mostly because Luka forces the matter and Felix is just dragged along for the ride.

Felix: Why not? It can't be worse than what the game would originally have had me do.

Luka has always wanted a little sister. And now he has one in the form of a little goth cutie. The especially hilarious thing is that there is really no difference between Luka pre or post isekai. Both versions of Luka adore Juleka.

Luka (First Morning He Wakes Up): (Hugs Juleka) OMG I have the cutest sister in the world!

Juleka: (Nonplussed) Do you have to do this every morning?

Luka is...less than pleased when he realizes he is one of the potential capture targets. Especially when he realizes the type of girl Lila is.

...although......

Hear me out: since Luka knows only the basics about the game, what if he doesn't know who the Heroine is?

What if he thinks it's Marinette?

Luka: Okay, to help protect my new family and resolve any potential issues, I just need to find the Heroine. But where do I even start looking for her?

Marinette: I'm Ma-Ma-Marinette.

Luka: ...there she is!

Of course, he's not happy when Felix corrects him.

Luka: But she's cute and huggable and so darn lovable! Who else could be the Heroine if she isn't?

Felix: Well...

...he's even LESS happy when he finds out who the Heroine IS.

Luka: I'm sorry, you're saying WHAT?

Felix: (Sigh) The Heroine of this game is Lila Rossi.

Luka: ...the sausage-haired girl?!

And it only snowballs from there.

[m3nt4llyr4v3d]

Gabriel vs Chloe/Lila

I used to frequent the Miraculous subreddit (biggest mistake of my life) to see others opinions on Seasons 4 and 5. One question I would see pop up usually is as follows:

Why do people think Chloe/Lila is worse than Gabriel?

The common answer I’ve seen is that bullying and isolation are issues that the audience can relate to, something that’s more down to earth and closer to a viewer’s potential issues. Gabriel, meanwhile, is a supervillain who makes other ridiculously costumed supervillains when they feel bad, his situation was farther out, less relatable, so hammed up at times (cartoon and all) that people would take it less seriously.

And honestly? I completely understood this answer: many viewers’ overwhelming hatred of Chloe and Lila, from what I’ve seen, stemmed from personal relation to their victims, and their own experiences with bullies. It’s completely understandable why people would feel this way.

But then I thought about it for a second, and while I still understand that reasoning, I don’t understand it in any other context.

I mean, I’ve seen people on there genuinely say that Gabriel had more redeeming qualities than them, which confuses me. Lila I kind of understand, I mean we know literally nothing about this character, and the fandom reason of “she lies for attention because her mother is barely home”, which would give her sympathy, was a little… muddled, when it’s revealed she has 3 moms that she’s somehow lying to about being their daughter (what on earth) and has multiple identities. But Chloe? Season 2-3 was showing that she did have redeeming qualities, that she cared about people (few but regardless), she was even able to suck up her own pride when being a hero! Gabriel… He’s an odd case in which the story goes back and forth on whether he’s an awful irredeemable monster, or flawed but sympathetic dad trying his best, while also flip flopping on when exactly they want you to believe as much. Right now? He’s horrible, but the narrative want you to believe he’s just “trying his best” and thinks that he somehow has the room to ask Marinette to “tell Adrien to remember all the times I was a good father” (Marinette should’ve spat on his statue ngl)

Also, Gabriel is a neglectful, dare I say abusive father! Literally mind controls his son and is trying to control him to have the “destiny” that HE wants, not caring about his son at all. He literally pretends to bond with him at one point in Season 5 just so he could give him an alliance ring and walk off smirking, planning on akumatizing him (never brought up again btw). Like, I get that Hawkmoth is more of a hammy cartoon villain, and a lot of those aspect spill into Gabriel (I mean he had a silly stupid number near the beginning of season 5 that I hate to love). But the Gabriel half is genuinely horrible, and those aspects spill into Hawkmoth. Akumatizing, physically abusing your son, and ruining his relationship to akumatize his girlfriend in Chat Blanc, emotionally manipulating him with his dead mother in both Chat Blanc and Ephemeral, literally any time he causes an akuma on purpose by ruining the life of someone he used to be close with or personally knows (the comedian, Andre, anyone working under him), emotionally manipulating his son AGAIN just so he could plan to akumatize him later, locking him up in a white room and emotionally depriving him of everything, literally everything he does in season 5 actually. I understand that some of his more atrocious actions are supervillain things, and that could be more difficult to relate to real life problems. But come on, “neglectful, abusive, controlling parent” is absolutely a real life issue that people have, and it’s a bit strange I haven’t seen that brought up more often

I’m not saying that Chloe and Lila are saints by any means at all! But I am just saying that’s it’s kind of funny that people will say, with their whole chest, that vindictive bullying is actually worse than terrorism and abusing your child, and the idea that the narrative could agree with this scares me

[flightfoot]

ML Fanfic recs for 2023: Under 2K Words

So I’ve been going through and adding particularly good fics I’ve read throughout the year. Only Complete fics, of course. Enjoy!

Markov wishes to get to know the Alliance AI better, and discovers an unusual chatroom as a result, one filled with some very surprised creatures who wish for him to convey messages to the class...

After Hawkmoth and his accomplice Chat Noir’s defeat, Marinette wants nothing to do with Adrien Agreste - until she watches him at school.

After Pollen’s capture, Chloe’s feeling some inexplicable sensations - hunger, pain, and fear without cause. For some reason her sister is as well.

Financial advisors have seen it all. Which includes planning for a billionaire supervillain.

The universe is homophobic. It is very bad at it.

All this and more below the break!

Trust by @bisexually-finger-guns

They thought that because they believed Lila’s lies, they would not be trustworthy to Ladybug anymore.

They thought wrong.

I just love how sweet and kind this is to Alya and Nino, and how understanding Marinette is here. Neither Marinette nor Adrien are going to blame their friends for falling victim to Lila’s lies. They just want to help their friends heal.

---

The Markov Alliance by CrochetJellybean

Slight spoilers for season 5!

Markov was excited to use Max's class time to learn more about the AI system within the Alliance rings. In his exploration, he accidentally discovers a chat room of 14 non-humans connected to the Alliance network, so he decides to join it.

This was hilarious and fun and heartwarming. Markov accidentally stumbling across the kwamis and them hinting as best they could about what to do and who to tell about them (as best they could without spewing out bubbles) was great, along with the Miracuclass’s reaction to finding out about them. 

Also their groupchat name is “plagg is oblivious” due to Plagg not figuring out that Nooroo was in the same house as him all this time, which is just perfect XD. I’ve reread this fic several times, it’s so good and bite-sized!

---

oh, look now, there you go with hope again by @ladyofthenoodle

After the defeat of Hawkmoth and his accomplice, Chat Noir, Marinette is ready to return to her normal life, but she can't escape Adrien Agreste, who was sentenced to a fate many consider worse than prison: public school. Specifically, her public school.

Still, that doesn't mean she has to interact with him, does it?

Except, if she doesn't... who will?

I love a good enemies au, and seeing the aftermath of an enemies au... that’s rare. She’s wary of Adrien, but with how he’s being bullied, and how he’s just taking it in the hopes of being accepted, she can’t help but reach out to him.

---

SCP-136: The Cheese Gremlin by Distraught_by_your_Love

The SCP Foundation was transporting a shipment of assorted cheeses for reasons relating to the study of an SCP.

Upon arrival at the European Facility, it was discovered that all of the cheese had disappeared somewhere along the journey.

A replacement shipment was requisitioned, this time with added security measures including closed-circuit security feeds.

This was when the Foundation became aware of SCP-136: The Cheese Gremlin.

Plagg has fun threatening the Foundation for cheese, and Ladybug is exasperated. And I have fun reading about it!

---

It Started With by imjustabirb

When a kwami and their holder become close enough, the holder starts to get the instincts of the animal their miraculous represents.

I adore fics where the holders get animal instincts! I especially liked the Alya and Zoe chapters, with Alya being comforted by still having animal instincts after Trixx was kidnapped, and Zoe getting Black Cat instincts because she bonded with Plagg even in just the few hours she was his Holder.

---

She’s Cheating On You! by MsSkywalkerWeasleyParkerStark

Lila thinks she finally has it. The thing that's going to break up Adrienette once and for all and allow her to finally get Adrien for herself.

She just didn't count on the love square.

It’s the classic “people catch Adrien and Marinette making out as Marichat or Ladrien while they’re dating as Adrienette and/or Ladynoir”, and it’s as funny as ever XD. They actually decide to play it up a little before revealing that they’re fine with it.

---

Can’t Sleep Either, Huh? by EmeraldButterfly

Chloe gets up late at night. Turns out she’s not the only one who’s worried about Pollen.

(AU where former Miraculous holders have an empathetic link with their kwamis)

This is a very interesting AU. Chloe and Zoe are both able to feel Pollen’s emotions and even things like her hunger, and end up taking solace in each other to try and cope. It’s just really sweet.

---

Alya Cesaire Should Be Allowed To Swear by @stripesandblossoms

Akuma attacks don't stop just because Alya is no longer a Hero, but that's fine, because she can still help clear civilians from the danger zone. Even celebrity-friends like Adrien Agreste.

Hey guys this is an amazing one-shot, even with as short as it is. I love how it goes into Alya's thoughts and feelings about why she doesn't swear (because you can't do that on-air as a journalist and she has little sisters that she can't swear around anyway) and her coming up with ways to suppress her swears when she's tempted.

Then of course, she finds out a secret that makes all of that go out the window...

Seriously this is really funny, please read it!

---

Gabriel Seeks Financial Planning Advice by @uptoolateart

As Gabriel accepts his imminent demise, he decides to make plans to protect Adrien's inheritance and livelihood. This is the letter his trusted financial adviser writes to him, summarising the key points of that meeting.

This is hilarious. The financial advisor just takes all of Gabriel’s statements and aspirations at face value and writes up a letter to help work out what to do, no matter how ludicrous it all sounds.

---

Tapestry by @hamsteriffic

Luka’s tattoos mark each milestone in his life, but none is more important than the one prepared for him by Grandmaster Su Han for completing his training.

I love the description of the various tattoos Luka has, it helps to develop him as a character, show what matters to him, and the fic even includes artwork of Luka and all his tattoos!

---

The Universe is an Accidental Ally? by @lostinthe--stars

'As it turned out, the universe was very homophobic. Or very into overpopulation. Either way, this was bad news for Adrien'

<3

Adrien is dreading his soulmate, just hoping for the best that whoever it is, is down for being platonic soul mates. Luck, for once, is on his side.

<3

Just a short soul mate AU oneshot, with a bit of a different spin on things.

This was hilarious! The universe might be homophobic, but it’s terrible at it XD.

---

Back to Life (Back to Reality) by @2manyfandoms2count

Toxinelle and Griffe Noire return to their world after their night in the canon timeline.

I loved seeing these two talking a bit more amiably, especially with Toxinelle commenting on how silent Adrien is as a civilian. That doesn’t appear to be something he really wants to dwell on.

---

Here’s Hopes For Moving Forward... by allthingsasian

Gabriel finds out his son is Claw Noir.

Set just after the Paris Special...

I loved seeing Gabriel’s perspective here, finding Claw Noir broken down, crying on his son’s bedroom floor, and realizing what that means. How badly Adrien must have been hurting, how he’d been lashing out and hurting everyone he could reach, including himself, with the self-cataclysm. 

But now, Adrien and Gabriel are ready to talk, with Adrien getting the hug he’s sorely needed for a long time.

---

Where We Go Now by @trishacollins

After going to the other world, after his life-changing meeting with his other self - Adrien comes back to his silent room, in his silent house.

Just because he changed doesn't mean the world has changed to keep up.

Where do you even start?

I love the “What Now?” energy of this work, and Adrien and Marinette talking through things after getting back to their world. They’ve changed, but the world hasn’t. I especially liked the attention paid to how silent Adrien was as a civilian, compared to how chatty he was as Claw Noir. That seemed purposeful.

---

oh, no, not again by @bittersweetresilience

Félix doesn't want to broach the subject, but he won't be able to after they leave.

So this is a glimpse into a time-travel fix-it story, with various wielders being sent back into their younger selves. But Felix doesn’t think he’ll be helpful, because well... his backstory. He would be unable to step out of line. It’s pretty angsty and I love Chat’s reaction to learning about how bad Felix had it.

[sweetcloverheart]

You know what - Marinette should do what Gabriel asked and make sure Adrien only remembers “the good times” he had with his father. It’s only fair she honor the poor man’s last wish after everything he went through

And I want her to continue honoring them, as she and Adrien throw out all of Gabriel’s things from the manor - commissioned paintings, his suits, that godawful desk, everything.

I want her to do this as Adrien renames the company and does a complete rebrand of it. He has slides installed in the new break room and a moviehall and gives everyone full benefits. The employees love it.

I want her to do this as the alliance rings get destroyed and the materials recycled into other items like cars or computers.

I want her to do this as she takes down Lila/Chrysalis and finally frees Nooroo from this seemingly endless cycle of his holders being complete psychopaths. When he’s ready, she lets him pick his own holder (The choice of Chloe is...shocking to say the least, but they did say he could chose, and she’s been doing pretty well with the therapist her new foster family set up for her)

I want her to do this when Fei comes to visit and when they finish, Master Wu gets a statue honoring his death, and his school reopened to the public

I want her to do this as she and Adrien finally reveal their identities to each other and laugh themselves to tears over never figuring it out for so long.

I want her to do this when she finally discovers a way to sever Adrien, Kagami, and Felix from their amoks and let them obtain true freedom.

I want her to do this as they each walk down the aisle during their wedding, thanking all the people that brought them this far. (Adrien was hesitant to invite Nathalie after cutting contact for so long, even with his mother assuring him, but he decided enough time had past for letting old wounds linger)

I want her to do this as she breaks down in tears at Alya’s wedding, while Adrien congratulates his bro for finding his other half. They all laugh at the joke Nino makes at their toast about how grateful he is that the girl he almost dated locked him in a cage with his future wife.

I want her to do this at Kitty Section’s after party celebrating another success tour. Juleka proposes to Rose, Mylene announces her pregnancy, and they all congratulate Luka on his new solo album. (Jagged is there, but he makes his visit brief. He knows that this day isn’t about him)

I want her to do this when Felix finally officially changes his name to Graham De Vanily and rebrand his father’s old company, taking a page out of his cousin’s book (he doesn’t install any slides in the break room, much to Adrien’s disappointment)

I want her to do this at Kagami’s press-conference as she announces the new direction Tsurugi Tech plans on heading towards after the merger with her husband’s company. (She doesn’t even bother extending an invite to Tomoe. The pleabargin she made allowed her to remain on the board of directors but the position’s held in name-only mostly)

I want her to do this at their next class reunion, where they celebrate Kim’s recent gold medal and him finally realizing Ondine was proposing the last 4 months, and Bustier cries big wet tears at the bouquet they give her thanking her for the years of guidance.

I want her to do this at their anniversary, as their friends joke about how long it took them to get this far and congratulate her on her new fashion line and Adrien on the children’s charity he’s setting up with Mylene and Prince Ali’s help

I want her to do this when Alix returns to the timeline and she’s yelling herself horse because no I don’t care how cool you think it is, you can’t bring a T-Rex into Paris Alix did you learn nothing from Jurassic Park?! (She lets her keep the T-Rex. Max and Markov help create a nice little enrichment center for it)

I want her to do this when Marc and Nathaniel’s old comic receives an award and despite knowing how stupid it is, they all get wasted celebrating and end up hung over.

I want her to do this when Lila gets out of her court-mandated therapy and comes to her with an actual, sincere apology - oh and also the Kwami of Null (Don’t worry, they got therapy too. It was very helpful)

I want her to do this as Zoe finally gets her first acting award and calls her fiance up on stage to celebrate. She thanks the entire film crew and her directors, and her friends for encouraging her choice to continue acting even after everything that happened.

I want her to do this as Chloe celebrates her new job and tries to make a huge speech, only to have to toss the whole thing out because Zoe and Nooroo kept crying and interrupting her. Sabrina jokes it was a “very Chloe-like” speech and deserving of a toast. (Neither make reference to their parents at their individual events. Chloe cut contact with Audrey ages ago and Zoe refused to speak to Andre after he missed her graduation getting caught money laundering with one of his films, and only talks to her own father when unavoidable. Besides, these are their accomplishments to celebrate).

I want her to do this after the birth of her first child, and she and Adrien argue that yes, that is the middle name we want to give them. (Marinette asks again if this is what Adrien wants, and he says yes - because that name should be given to someone who will leave it a much kinder and better legacy)

I want her to do this during their 15th anniversary heroes day celebration, where she and everyone thank the city for their support and bravery during all the ups and downs they faced, and promises to never stop being their heroine.

I want her to do this at Fu’s funeral, where she thanks him for all the guidance he tried to give her, and apologizes for not keeping in touch more (Him and Marianne never officially wed, but they are buried next to each other with matching inscriptions. Su Han comes to pay his respects, and is surprisingly broken up over it, muttering about how he won’t miss “old chicken legs” while clearly crying)

I want her to do this when she brings her kids over to the bakery and Tom is more than eager to teach them proper kneading techniques so they can “properly inherit the store” while Sabine rolls her eyes.

I want her to do this when, while out with her oldest, Gabriel drags his boney ghost hide out from hell (because lets be honest, ain’t no way Gabriel earned a ticket to the pearly gates with his rapsheet) to scream at her because “What have you done? This isn’t what I asked for!”

I want her to do this when she replies “What ever do you mean? I did exactly what you ask.”

I want her to do this as he cries “You haven’t! Adrien was supposed to remember what a good father I tried to be! You were supposed to make sure that after the wish, he would only think of me as a hero - but instead, he’s completely forgotten about me, as has the rest of the city!”

I want her to do this as she look at him, eyes cold, and says “Right after you finished with your wish, I found Adrien as Ladybug. I told him about how I fought Monarch, and how I saw his father die after the battle. When he cried and asked what he should do now that his father was dead, I told him that he should try and remember all the good and fond memories you two had together.”

And I want her to pause, letting him stew in his rage before looking him straight in the eyes and saying “And when he did, we both realized there was nothing to remember. The reason Adrien’s “forgotten” you is because even in this new world you built, you still prioritized your own selfish wants over your own child, and failed to leave a single good memory for him. If you son doesn’t try to think about what a “good father” you were, then that’s your own fault. ”

I want her to lean in real close, unblinking, as she tells him - “After all, You can’t remember something if it doesn’t exist .”

I want her to step back and watch him seethe, completely unbothered as she gives him a polite smile “But don’t worry Gabriel - unlike you, I am a bug of my word. I’ll make sure Adrien continues to “remember” the good and kind man you were, just like you wanted.” and beam as her eyes sparkle with determination “And not just him - our children, and their children, and their children, and everyone afterward, they’ll only “remember” what a kind person Monsieur Agreste tried to be. Not a single person in the city - nay, the entire world, will ever even bother to think about the horrible villain you became in your last moments, because they’ll be too busy trying to remember when was the last time you tried being an actual human being.”

I want her to tell him goodbye and call for an exorcist to properly send him back to the underworld (One of the friends Fei made during her travels was visiting if she recalls. Apparently, they’re used to dealing with the undead on the regular) as he rages, trying to bargain and manipulate her again. I want her to watch happily as he’s banished back down below and tells him to call in advance next time he wants to make a surprise visit. I want her to take her child back home and call Adrien, telling him that she’s feeling like pizza tonight.

I want her child (Emma Gabriel Dupain-Cheng) to look up at her and ask who that strange transparent man she was talking to earlier was.

I want her to look down on her with a smile and say “No one worth remembering dear.”

And I want none of them to ever forget this.

[galactic-glamour-girl-posts]

RANT : ML Season 5's Ending

I don't post about Miraculous much, but I need to get this off my chest.

WARNING :

Salt. Just...all the salt.

Chloe:

I don't like Chloe, she's a horrible person and hogged a lot of screen time throughout the show that could have been given to other characters, such as Nino. However, I find it disturbing that they decided to send a teenage girl to live with her abuser, with absolutely no friends; meanwhile her father, who only deciding to put his foot down last minute, gets to quit the job he's always hated anyway (even though he's abused his power before, and not just for Chloe's sake) without being called out for how he spoiled his daughter AND the adult magical terrorist gets a statue.

Not to mention Felix, a teenage boy who also has done terrible things, basically gets away scot-free. Remember when he basically tried to kill EVERYONE except for four people including himself, remember when he tried to force himself onto Ladybug, remember when he gave all the miraculous to a terrorist, remember when all it took to "redeem" himself was to emotionally manipulate someone in a vulnerable state into watching a play to convince her to solve the problem he caused for him (btw I can't believe Kagami came up with that plan and revealed Ladybug's identity behind her back, what the heck?) I get that he was abused, at the end of the day he's an abuse victim doing literally anything he can to gain the freedom he never had, but if he gets sympathy after all of that, what about Chloe? She was abused, she was neglected. Felix not only is seemingly forgiven and "redeemed", but still gets to be a permanent miraculous holder. When you combine that with how the narrative treats Gabriel and Andre, it looks like a sexist double standard...probably because it is.

Chloe sucks but that isn't entirely her fault. Andre spoiled her rotten, Audrey was a horrible influence when she wasn't straight up neglecting or verbally abusing her, Miss Bustier coddled her and Damocles let her get away with pretty much anything (although in their case I guess the mayor would've prevented them from letting Chloe face substantial consequences), Gabriel (and Lila) manipulated her multiple times. I'm not absolving Chloe of all blame, but she's 14. Leaving her with her abuser is horrible. That isn't cathartic, it's cruel. I'm not even asking for a redemption, I just think this "punishment" is too much.

Gabriel (and Tomoe too I guess):

Let's talk more about Gabriel. Gabriel, the abusive father, the magical terrorist, the guy that spent some of his final moments manipulating a teen, not only gets to make his wish, but also gets to be remembered as a hero. Statue included. Never mind that pretty much all of Adrien's classmates knew he was a terrible father at this point, they all clap and cheer when it's revealed he's getting a statue. The whole world is lied to and told the Alliance rings were hijacked by Monarch and that Gabriel sacrificed himself whilst trying to help stop him (I don't blame Ladybug for that though, I'm solely blaming the writers here). And we're supposed to be fine with this because he misses his wife and "tried to be a good father"? No.

An abused teenage girl is supposedly terrible beyond redemption, but an adult abuser is essentially outright vindicated by the narrative (the person he abused is tricked into thinking he was a hero, and Paris is basically a utopia post-wish). What a horrible message.

Remember, this may not be the end of the show, but this is the end of Gabriel's Agreste's story, and what an unfitting end it is.

Oh, and Tomoe gets away scot-free by the looks of it, because of course. Maybe she'll get comeuppance in a later season, but I'm not gonna defend the finale because of what a future episode might do, especially when this would've been the perfect time (and this goes for the possibility of Gabriel's secret identity being revealed to the public too).

Adrien:

I think Adrien is easily the most overrated character in the show. He's constantly coddled by the narrative, tends to "inspire" Marinette to be more passive and forgiving than she should be, and is incredibly bland (or at least he was until they started pushing just how angry he could get and how entitled to Ladybug's love he could feel, which I guess is something, but that something sure isn't pleasant); but you're telling me he doesn't get to have a legit passion beyond knowing he loves Marinette, to be involved in the final battle, to find out his dad is Monarch OR even that he's a sentimonster? He needs to know his life is tied to that ring and that he should be careful with it. This isn't "protecting him" (he's not a baby, if Felix eventually came to terms with being a sentimonster so can Adrien), if anything it's the opposite. Not letting him know that is dangerous! If not Marinette, Felix? Kagami? Nathalie? No one's going to tell him?! I hate to say it, but by robbing him of his agency and deciding they know what's best for him, they're being controlling over Adrien too; and no, I don't think that's "interesting", not after five seasons of Adrien already being controlled by someone else.

What is the show even trying to say? That Adrien needs to be controlled because he can't handle his emotions? Forget about giving him time or a good support system, he just wouldn't be able to handle it? If it was just his nightmare that'd be one thing, but Chat Blanc seems to indicate this is legitimately what they're saying. Why is this show trying to portray an abuse victim as someone who's dangerous and needs to be kept under control? Not just dangerous, but ultimately more dangerous than his abuser, since Gabriel made his wish and everything turned out fine (and at worst maybe one innocent person would have died/fallen into a coma had his wish not changed), but in "Chat Blanc" EVERYONE other than Chat died.

It does not matter if he finds out in a later season; it doesn't change the fact that his family is willingly lying to him and potentially endangering him by doing so, all for the sake of his abuser. Sure, you could argue Gabriel emotionally manipulated Marinette, but what's everyone else's excuse? I don't care if it leads to "interesting conflict", a) it's a conflict they've done before (Ladybug keeping secrets from Chat Noir), I'm not gonna praise the show for repeating itself, b) don't tell me telling Adrien the truth would've been "too sad" for the show to do but Marinette having to keep her mouth shut about Gabriel for the rest of her life (or even temporarily) is "interesting angst" (at least try to hide your favouritism, besides it's never even implied she feels guilty over this), and c) it's not like it will have a satisfying payoff, after all, it didn't last time. Even if Adrien does find out, Gabriel's not around anymore, so chances are Marinette will have to suffer the consequences of that, not Gabriel. That's not satisfying.

Like...Gabriel may as well have been related to Marinette instead (not her father but her uncle or something). Why not? Remember when he was her favourite fashion designer? (Don't worry if you don't, the show doesn't either.) Maybe have him become her mentor, imagine how much more of a personal impact Ladybug and Monarch finding out each other's identities could've had on both of them.

Why even have the main villain be related to the deuteragonist (giving him a closer connection to the main villain of the show than the actual main character) if you were just gonna side-line him in the final battle and rob him of any sense of closure? Whatever drama they can squeeze out of him finding out who Monarch is (IF he does) won't be nearly as interesting as it would've been to see Chat Noir confront Monarch, face to face, knowing that he's his father. Adrien might not even remember Gabriel being abusive at all, it's not made clear. But if he doesn't, all that time spent on Adrien's relationship with his father, building up a big confrontation between them? Wasted.

Remember how season 4 ended? How it built up Ladybug and Chat Noir working together to retrieve all the Miraculous back, after a season of them being more distant?

What a joke.

Is he the deuteragonist, or a trophy? The show can't seem to decide.

Marinette:

And then there's Marinette who, in a show that supposedly wants to empower young girls, doesn't even get to defeat the main male bad guy. After multiple seasons with her as the main lead, after multiple episodes where she's apologised or made to feel bad for either completely justifiable reactions or things that straight up weren't her fault (remember when she was made to say she was "out of line" at the end of an episode that was supposed to be about racism and police aggression?) meanwhile other characters rarely apologise to her in return, we don't even get the satisfaction of seeing her truly defeat the person that's caused her so much grief.

Seriously, she went through so much in this show; between the class consistently siding with Lila over her (btw turns out Lila basically had nothing to lose the whole time because she had multiple identities, yet another unsatisfying conclusion to a conflict), being forced to become a guardian, losing all the Miraculous, etc, and for what?

She failed. That's not me being too harsh. She may have influenced Gabriel to change his wish (emphasis on "may have", I'm pretty sure that woman was originally Emilie but in that case Nathalie being healed doesn't make sense), but her goal was to prevent the wish in the first place.

And why did they have to make her look like a fool? Felix's play spelled it out for her that Gabriel is Monarch, she even realises that he referred to the day she lost the Miraculous, but from the way it's presented she only figures out Gabe's Monarch after seeing him de-transform? Why did she think giving him a another chance would turn out well? She tried that all the way back in season 2, and it didn't work. Marinette is kind-hearted but she has her limits. You're telling me Lila crossed a line but Monarch could maybe be reasoned with? Why? Because he has a sob story?

Marinette is strategic and quick-witted. She's not an idiot.

Gabriel gets to make his wish and everyone else (who am I kidding, just Ladybug) has to clean up after him. Not only that, Ladybug does him a favour and ensures everyone is tricked into believing he was a hero. If anything, Chat Noir, the main male superhero, landed the killing blow.

Great. Just great. How empowering.

Bonus nit-picks:

--Did everyone on the planet seriously forget that the Adrien and Kagami in the Alliance rings aren't real, they're virtual simulations? That wasn't a secret. How did they fall for Gabriel's fake plea?

--If they were gonna put the girls from the specials and Future!Alix on the poster, they could've have them do more at least.

--Okay, Luka training with Su-Han was random but I guess since he was a temporary Miraculous holder it kinda makes sense...Penny and ESPECIALLY Jagged though? Nah.

--Ivan was the first person to EVER be akumatized then saved by Ladybug and Chat Noir. So with that in mind, surely he more than anyone would trust that they'd never kidnap two virtual innocent people, and would join Alya in reminding everyone else how they were always there for them, in a touching moment that brings the "first arc" full circle...oh.

--Look, Marinette is very talented, and I realise she had the book to help her but...I'm sorry literally HOW did she fix the Miraculous? Gabriel needed high-tech, presumably very expensive, machinery to re-shape them.

Final thoughts:

What makes this all sting so much more is that, wasn't season 5 supposed to be the original ending, just in case future seasons didn't happen? All seasons after this one are basically bonus seasons. So originally the show ended HERE. The last we would've seen of Chloe was her crying, trapped with her abusive mother. For all we knew Adrien would've been living a lie the rest of his life, looking up to his abuser. Gabriel is never fully revealed as the monster he truly was and is honoured as a "hero". Marinette literally gets stabbed in the back (well, it was her stomach, but you get the idea). There wasn't even a reveal, Ladybug and Chat Noir would've just never found out who the other truly is I guess.

Oh, but don't worry. Marinette and Adrien kissed.

That's all that really matters, right? (Never mind the fact that they spent five seasons building up to the start of a romantic relationship, and it will undoubtedly take even more for it to become a healthy one.)

Maybe the ending was originally different. Maybe they modified the ending of the season finale after finding out season 5 wouldn't be the last season. Maybe this will all somehow be fixed later (no matter how long they may will drag it out for).

Or maybe Marinette's blatantly out of character action (she hates liars, and only lied about her identity because she had to, even considering Gabriel's attempts to emotionally manipulate her previous episodes have made it clear she would not lie to Adrien, let alone the WHOLE WORLD, about Gabriel) will come back to bite her for the sake of having something to blame her for next season.

I don't know.

I don't care.

The writing for this show has been poor for a LONG time. I only stuck around because I still found myself having fun watching it from time to time, even as the problems got worse. That, and I was hopeful it would at least stick the landing. But after this, I don't think I can stomach continuing to watch a show that will probably continue to push such awful messages, and with such awful pacing.

Word of advice, all shows have flaws, so feel free to complain when a show does something you think is stupid (I've never found the argument that kids shows shouldn't be criticised because they're kid shows to make sense), but if you're not enjoying yourself because you can't overlook a show's problems, if you don't find pleasure in watching a show...just stop watching it. It's a waste of your time. Don't "wait for it to get good", don't wait for future seasons to clean up a current season's mess, don't continue watching it just because the fandom makes better content. I promise you there are better shows out there that deserve (and need) your attention.

So with that in mind...I don't think I'll be watching what comes next.

[princess-of-the-corner]

Imagine AU, where Lila's attempts to persuade Sabrina to be "more independent" epically backfire, due her being so "cunning schemer", that Lila, Marinette and Chloe need to enter "three-way alliance" (with each other, obviously) to be able to act against her

tbh if Sabrina learned to be independent she'd be unstoppable

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

IOTA Reviews: Collusion and Revolution

Well, the final confrontation with Lila was a bust, but maybe Chloe's swan song will be bett----HAHAHAHAHAHA! Sorry, I couldn't even finish that sentence without laughing.

Let's get into the twenty-second and twenty-third episodes of Miraculous Ladybug's fifth season: Collusion and Revolution

“Collusion” starts off with... oh, for God's sake... Gabriel monologuing to Emilie's body for the umpteenth time, only now, we see just how bad his Cataclysm wound has gotten, now making his entire hand black.

Marinette and Adrien wake up and we get a pretty cute scene of them talking on the phone while getting ready for their respective days. Afterwards, Gabriel talks with Adrien about being sent to London, and is somehow aware that Adrien hasn't told Marinette yet. Even when Gabriel tries to use his ring to keep Adrien under his control, Adrien still shows signs of resistance.

Later at school, Chloe walks up to insult Marinette and Adrien as usual, but Marinette has a little rebuttal of her own.

Marinette: Be mean while you still can, Chloe. I'm gonna let you in on a secret. Remember your friend Lila who used to hurt everyone with her lies? See her anywhere in this classroom? No, because I put a stop to her nastiness and I'll do the same with you!

Yeah, and you were only able to do so because one of Lila's minions decided they didn't like being evil, and had no plan of your own prior to that.

It's revealed that not only is Lila (I'm not calling her Cerise to make things easier for myself) still in contact with Chloe through their Alliance rings, she also somehow got her own supervillain lair. How did she set up here, much less find the resources to do so? You guessed it, never explained!

And yeah, let's just get this out of the way. I hate what they're doing with Lila here. For reasons I'll get to in a later review, it's clear that there had to be some changes made so Lila remains a key player, even after the events of “Confrontation”, so they decided to make Lila manipulate Chloe as part of her plans. For a pair of episodes that are meant to show Chloe at her absolute worst, it devalues her status as a villain if she's just going to be used as a glorified attack dog for bigger threats like Lila. Remember, we've seen Chloe come up with her own plans before (Mr. Pigeon, Dark Cupid, Darkblade, Kung Food, Antibug, Despair Bear, Zombizou, Frightningale, Queen Wasp, Queen Banana, Gabriel Agreste, Penalteam, Determination, Derision), and we know she's not a complete idiot. She doesn't need Lila to hold her hand and tell her what to do to get what she wants. I get that it's supposed to be ironic that Chloe, for all her bluster, is ultimately a pawn in a larger scheme, but it just doesn't gel with the whole “irredeemable monster” stuff the show has been going with whenever Chloe has been on screen for the past two seasons. You could easily take Lila out of these episodes and not much would really change.

During class, Chloe makes a scene by blasting some music and dancing on her desk, and we get what has to be the most unrealistic thing this entire show has done for the past five seasons: Assuming kids still care about school when the year is almost over.

Rose: Chloe, quit it! We wanna hear the lesson, we care!

When Ms. Bustier tries to send Chloe to the principal's office, Chloe calls Ms. Mendeleiev (who is the new principal after Mr. Damocles resigned), and essentially forces her to change the rules to music is allowed. After Chloe taunts Ivan, just as Marinette tries to stop Ivan from hurting her, she uses the opportunity to frame Marinette for hitting her. Oh, sorry. I mean Lila uses the opportunity to tell Chloe to frame Marinette for hitting her.

In the principal's office, Ms. Bustier tries to reason with Chloe by showing her the present she got her all the way back in Season 2's “Zombizou”.

Ms. Bustier: Chloe, do you remember this gift you gave me on my birthday? To me, that is proof that you're a fragile teenager who doesn't know love and is simply looking for attention. And... we all tried to help you. So, please, whatever it is you want, ask yourself if it's worth all the suffering you're causing.

Chloe: Did you hear that? A homeroom teacher using a student's feelings to blackmail her. This is inappropriate, utterly inappropriate! My father, the mayor, would never tolerate this in a school.

Remember kids, FUCK showing compassion to your enemies! Everyone knows Gandhi was a loser anyway.

The negative emotions attract an Akuma to Ms. Bustier, but she manages to resist Monarch's influence for now. Monarch transforms back into Gabriel, who has a meeting with Tomoe and Andre to discuss the state of Paris' law enforcement.

Tomoe: Your policemen mostly get paid for doing nothing. It seems that Ladybug and Cat Noir are the ones who have been enforcing the law in Paris the last few months, wouldn't you agree?

Because I guess Ladybug and Cat Noir have also been stopping drug rings off-screen or something.

Chloe storms into the office, and even though Lila has no idea what's going on, she tells Chloe to record the conversation. Once again, Lila has to tell Chloe just how to be mean and selfish while she chews out Andre, and that if she was the mayor, she'd ban superheroes, right before Chloe learns Adrien is going to London next year.

After a scene that's only there to remind the audience that Adrien hasn't told Marinette about London yet, we see Gabriel talking with Andre about replacing Paris' police force with robots... even though this should really be more a discussion for the commissioner. I guess the writers didn't have enough money for a commissioner model because they had to allocate resources for Ms. Bustier's baby bump.

Andre: Seriously, Gabriel, what's this whole police robot idea all about?

Gabriel: Have I ever offered a single bad idea to you, Andre? We've always helped each other, haven't we?

Andre: Remember when we were young and penniless? When Emilie, you and I would make the world right from our little attic room? You made me my very first suit so I'd feel confident and Audrey, whom I'd fallen in love with, would finally notice me? Don't you think we were much happier back then? That our lives were more beautiful, more fair?

Gabriel: Come on, you have everything to be happy, Andre. Your wife, your daughter, Paris City Hall...

Andre: A woman who barely respects me, a selfish, heartless daughter, and a City Hall that I never wanted. I only got into politics like dad to impress Audrey, you know that.

Gabriel: I have no idea what you're talking about.

Andre: Look at me, Gabe. All my life I've lied, I've cheated and I've abused my power. I used to be a dreamer, an artist, I wanted to make movies! Now I've become a tyrant in servitude to my family and friends...

Aw, poor baby. Did someone condition their daughter to develop an entitlement complex while refusing to divorce your abusive wife?

I'm sorry, but I don't feel bad for Andre at all here. While I'm happy to see that the show is trying to teach kids that male mental health is important too, it doesn't really earn him a lot of sympathy considering a lot of this is his own fault. Sure, we don't know what Audrey was like when they were younger, and she could have gotten worse as time went on, but considering how rich he is coupled with the fact that Audrey spends most of her time in New York, he doesn't really have much of an excuse to not divorce her. As for Chloe, he has even less of an excuse, since he was responsible for her upbringing. He spoiled her rotten, he refused to properly discipline her, and he failed to teach her the slightest bit of humility. I'm willing to accept that Chloe is a lost cause by the show's standards, but I can't accept the fact that Andre had nothing to do with how she turned out. He's as much of a failure as a parent as Gabriel is.

As Lila somehow finds where the two are talking so she can overhear their conversation, Gabriel secretly records Andre, altering what he says to make him look bad. While I can't exactly describe it through text, this clip from The Simpsons should summarize it.

Ms. Bustier sees the video of Andre, and this time, she fails to resist an Akuma, turning into Wonder Woman—I mean, Miss Sans-Culotte.

Miss Sans-Culotte has a okay design. I like how it's meant to have a more patriotic theme with the color scheme, and the fact that it's based off some of the people in the French Revolution, aptly named the Sans-Culotte, is a nice way to teach kids about history. The problems I have are the golden armor, which goes against the fact that was previously mentioned in this very episode that the Sans-Culotte wore more simple clothing. That, and the guillotine blade for a weapon, which gives off some uncomfortable implications. The Miraculous power this time involves the Pig Miraculous' Gift, which somehow allows her to transform anyone her blade touches into balloons... even though the Pig never had that ability, and we saw what it really did just earlier this season (Jubilation).

Right when it seems like Adrien is about to tell Marinette about London, the two learn about Miss Sans-Culotte, and split up to transform into Cat Noir and Ladybug respectively. Meanwhile, Chloe hears the news about Andre before getting a call from Gabriel, who offers to “give her Andre's power”. Even though Chloe always uses her dad's power to get what she wants, she literally has to be told to accept the offer from Lila because she didn't think of the political ramifications. You see what I mean about Lila adding nothing to this episode? It'd be like if Thanos kept in contact with someone who had to tell him how to get the Infinity Stones at every step. As for Gabriel, I'll talk about his plan next episode.

Ladybug and Cat Noir confront Miss Sans-Culotte, demanding to know what she's doing.

Ladybug: Terror isn't a solution!

Cat Noir: There are elections to make your voice heard.

Miss Sans-Culotte: Or a revolution when everyone is corrupt. Nothing can stop freedom!

Because it's not like the video of Andre confessing to abusing his power, tampered or not, is an open and shut impeachment case, right?

Ladybug summons her Lucky Charm and gets a crown. After focusing on Miss Sans-Culotte and City Hall, she gets an idea.

Ladybug: Mayor Bourgeois is acting like the king of Paris, and maybe he should be removed from office after all.

Cat Noir: Are you saying we should give this villain free reign?

Ladybug: I don't know... I feel like that's what the Lucky Charm means. You're right, it's not up to us to decide who gets to be the mayor and who doesn't. An akumatized villain just needs to be deakumatized.

Yeah, remember how Ladybug said it was too risky to forge a temporary alliance with Matagi Gozen in order to stop the person who stole almost every Miraculous she had last season? Well now, she's saying they should essentially let this Akuma force the sitting Mayor of Paris out of power, which is all kinds of illegal. Now this might just be because I'm not French, and don't understand how politics work over there, but here in America, the last time some people stormed a major government establishment to protest a fair election, they were seen as fucking lunatics.

Zoe tries to reason with Miss Sans-Culotte, but she's still in favor of using that guillotine blade in ways that don't involve balloons. They try to reason with her and convince her to reason with Andre... right as Andre is about to resign himself, so this whole conflict was pointless. Still glad to know Ladybug and Cat Noir are now willing to let Akumas use their powers to get what they want when that was almost always seen as taboo.

Miss Sans-Culotte once again rejects the Akuma with ease, Ladybug uses Miraculous Ladybug to fix the damage... only to be cornered by several police robots, and ones that look really stupid at that.

Remember, Gabriel and Tomoe wanted taxpayers to pay for these.

Yeah, somehow, the Lucky Charm was actually meant for Chloe, because, well...

Cat Noir: A crown for the queen of brats, of course!

What, did calling her the literal Antichrist not do well with test audiences?

Yeah, this makes no goddamn sense. Why was the Lucky Charm prioritizing Chloe of all people instead of the Akuma as usual? What was Ladybug even supposed to do here? Yeah, she really should have stopped Miss Sans-Culotte, but was she expected to know about the police robots or something?

Chloe tells the press that Ladybug and Cat Noir helped an Akuma force the current mayor out of office. This is all part of Gabriel and Tomoe's plan, but once again, she's not wrong. The two still helped a dangerous supervillain force a major political shift, and the resulting power vacuum that allowed Chloe to rise to power is really their fault. After Cat Noir uses his Cataclysm to free himself and Ladybug from the nets the robots used to trap them with, we get the start of a running gag where Chloe struggles to say the word “democratic”, because remember, she's blonde, and therefore stupid. This happens several times across both episodes, and none of them are actually funny.

The episode ends with Chloe unlawfully taking control of Paris as the new mayor, which is totally different from Miss Sans-Culotte unlawfully forcing Andre to resign. The last time I saw double standards this blatant, I was watching RWBY.

THE BIGGEST IDIOT OF THE EPISODE IS... CHLOE

If there's one thing I love about my irredeemable villains, it's that they're so stupid, it's impossible to take them seriously. Not only did Chloe need Lila to hold her hand through every major decision she made throughout this episode (and by extension, the next), she failed to understand her dad's political career falling apart and needed to be told to take an opportunity to own an army of advanced robots, and couldn't even say the word “democratic”, which isn't that hard of a word to say even if you're borderline illiterate.

“Revolution” starts off with Chloe essentially declaring martial law in Paris for the time being. Once again, Cat Noir says the sane thing for once and suggests they go and beat up Chloe themselves. Well, I say that, but somehow, Cat Noir contradicts himself in his very next line.

Cat Noir: We can't let Chloe make up the rules.

Ladybug: If she were akumatized, it'd be easy. Find the object, break it, de-evilize her.

Cat Noir: But there is no object, and we can't attack someone who isn't akumatized, or we'd look like the supervillains.

I think you forgot something, guys...

THE ENTIRE FUCKING REASON SHE'S MAKING THE RULES IN THE FIRST PLACE IS BECAUSE YOU HELPED A SUPERVILLAIN IN THE LAST EPISODE! HOW DID YOU FORGET THIS VITAL INFORMATION?!

What the hell is with the sudden change of pace? They were willing to let Miss Sans-Culotte have her way by making Andre resign, so why can't they stop Chloe when she's already taken over Paris by force? I don't think you'd really look like supervillains if you stopped a tyrant instead of a democratically elected mayor. All you need to do is stop Chloe from controlling the robots, and you're golden.

In fact, where the hell is the rest of the Parisian government during all this, much less the French government? Why aren't they doing anything about this? We don't even get a throwaway line that explains it like Chloe bribed some politicians to keep quiet about the whole thing. Instead, despite an obvious violation of democratic rights, nobody outside of Paris is even bothering to stop this.

After a brief scene where some citizens are interviewed about Chloe, we see Adrien once again angsting about going to London. Like what Lila did with Chloe last episode, Plagg has to outright tell Adrien to talk to Marinette about this, because I guess this show has a really low opinion on the intelligence of people with blond hair. Also, good to know that even though Chloe is currently ruling over the city with an iron fist, she's still allowing air traffic to flow normally. Good thing too, as it's almost tourist season. Adrien tries to tell Marinette through a call, but she talks to him about Chloe, and how they can protest her regime.

Meanwhile, at City Hall, Chloe has already gone mad with power, as she orders her new box robots around, while Gabriel calls her to praise her for how she's been doing. Afterwards, Gabriel transforms into Monarch and absorbs the powers from a few Kwamis before Voyaging to City Hall. Chloe orders her robots to arrest Monarch, unaware than Tomoe is the one actually controlling them, only for Monarch to offer a deal... which Lila once again has to tell Chloe to listen to even though Chloe has worked with him in the past. Monarch offers to akumatize Chloe in a way that makes it look like she's not working for him. She accepts, and becomes Queen Mayor.

Queen Mayor's design is pretty simple, but I guess it works for the plan. It's just Chloe in an admittedly nice-looking jacket. Not sure if she can actually take it off like her other clothes or not, though. As for the Miraculous powers, Monarch transfers five of them to her robots, the Turtle Miraculous' Shelter, the Horse Miraculous' Voyage, the Ox Miraculous' Resistance, the Bee Miraculous' Venom, and the Rooster Miraculous' Sublimation, which gives her an unclear power. Given what she subjects her victims to later on, I guess it's the torture chamber she creates? I also don't get how the robots are capable of using the Miraculous powers when earlier episodes established you needed to have multiple Alliance rings to use them (Transmission, Pretension).

But now's as good a time as any to discuss Gabriel and Tomoe's plan, and why is makes absolutely no sense. In case you got confused, here's a quick summary: Tomoe created an army of robots designed to replace the police, and when Andre refused to use them, Gabriel recorded a private conversation so he could edit it, then transform into Monarch to akumatize someone and hope Ladybug and Cat Noir would let her force Andre to resign, then talk to Chloe about taking over as mayor, hope she says yes while Ladybug and Cat Noir do nothing to stop her, then pretend to give her control over Tomoe's robots before akumatizing Chloe so she can actually control the robots, all while praying that Chloe doesn't find out the truth, much the government doesn't get involved with this.

Gabriel and Tomoe did all of this instead of just, you know, akumatizing Chloe like usual. If the plan was to akumatize her all along while making it look like she's not akumatized, why didn't Gabriel just do that from the start as soon as Andre resigned and Miss Sans-Culotte rejected her Akuma? Also, why the hell is Chloe so crucial to the plan anyway? Yeah, they plan to throw her under the bus once they win, but wouldn't it make more sense if Tomoe, the one whose company made the robots, was the one who took over as Mayor?

It feels like the show is trying to recreate the plan from “Miracle Queen” where Chloe teams up with Monarch, but that plan at least made sense, as Chloe was crucial because of her connection to Ladybug. Here, it just feels like the writers needed an excuse to actually make Chloe a threat, but just like when Felix gave Gabriel all of the other Miraculous last season, it's forced. I'm not really seeing Chloe as a threat when she needed Gabriel to hand her the keys to an army of robots, and I don't care if that's the point. If the show wants us to take Chloe seriously as a villain, it needs her actions to speak for themselves instead of turning her into a glorified attack dog for Gabriel, Tomoe, and even Lila to an extent.

But here's my biggest problem with this plan. Consider the fact that Gabriel put Chloe in a major political position, presumably in order to bank on the fact that Ladybug and Cat Noir wouldn't use their powers to beat up a civilian. Gabriel then transformed into Monarch and akumatized Chloe into a form that would make it look like nobody would even tell she was akumatized in the first place. So let me ask this: If Gabriel's plan involves making it look like Chloe isn't akumatized, how is this going to actually attract Ladybug and Cat Noir so you can get their Miraculous?!

Yeah, Ladybug and Cat Noir eventually decide to fight Chloe anyway, but they don't learn she's akumatized until she blurts it out, and that's well into their fight. The plan is to turn the local government against Ladybug and Cat Noir and discredit in a way that prevents them from taking action against an obvious threat, but that just doesn't gel with Monarch's goal of getting their Miraculous. Did Gabriel and Tomoe assume that Ladybug and Cat Noir would just have no qualms with presumably beating up a civilian? If so, why even bother hiding the fact that Chloe was akumatized? This is a problem the plan faces no matter who the mayor is. Hell, if anything, it would be better if Chloe was akumatized from the start, as no matter how long she hides it for, she still has control over an army of robots armed with Miraculous powers, which wouldn't decrease the threat she poses in the slightest. This isn't even the first time an Akuma has hijacked the position of mayor (Rogercop), so it's even less excusable!

The next day, the students stage a protest at their school to get Ms. Bustier her job back, where Chloe (I'm calling her that instead because nobody else calls her Queen Mayor) questions why they're using their right to protest. She also plans to tell Marinette that Adrien is moving to London (something Gabriel told her earlier), but once again, Lila tells her not to. Also, you want to know how stupid the whole “Chloe can't say the word 'democracy' right” gag is? In the same scene where she struggles to say the D-word, Chloe uses the words “Libertarian”, “negative”, and “influence” correctly. It's hard to really buy Chloe as this illiterate moron while you still have her use words like this.

We get what can barely be considered a montage of Chloe abusing her power, but it's only like, three scenes before the plot kicks back in. We get a scene of Chloe screwing around in a private one-on-one class, an admittedly funny bit where she had a golden statue of herself commissioned to rest on the Arc de Triomphe, and then a scene where she shows Andre the ice cream man just how unfair her rule is.

Chloe: Did you pay the permit fee to sell your ice cream?!

Ice Cream Man Andre: I don't need a permit to sell love in Paris!

Chloe: Well, now you do! Otherwise, you'll end up in detention!

I mean, she reasonably calls out Andre for not having a permit to sell ice cream. How... evil of her?

Marinette goes back to her place, only to learn Chloe abducted her parents and placed them in “detention”, before doing the same to her thanks to one of her robots using a combination of Venom and Voyage. We do get an admittedly decent scene of Chloe threatening to tell Marinette about Adrien moving if Adrien doesn't become her deputy mayor, only for Adrien to vow to tell Marinette himself... even though he kept trying to tell her earlier in the episode, so this moment feels a little hollow. But hey, it's not like the finale will make this scene seem even worse in retrospect, right?

Adrien is sent to detention, a torture chamber where footage of Chloe mentally conditions the prisoners into believing that they're ridiculous or that they can always count on her, all while the prisoners are told to find a chair in an endless maze. Again, another decent visual I'll give the episode credit for. After Adrien, Marinette, and Alya escape detention, the former two transform into Cat Noir and Ladybug respectively and get ready to finally do something about Chloe.

Ladybug summons her Lucky Charm, a bikini bottom, and gets ready to stop Chloe alongside Cat Noir. Okay, Chloe has an army of robots on her side alongside the public's favor, so they'll need to come up with a really clever plan in order to—they're just going in guns blazing even though that's a terrible plan in a situation like this. Unsurprisingly, the two heroes immediately get trapped by a combination of Shelter and Resistance, nullifying the Lucky Charm and Cataclysm. Only now do they figure out Monarch is behind this, even though both of them saw the robots use Venom and Voyage to send them to detention, yet when Chloe actually says it, Ladybug is still shocked by this.

As Ladybug and Cat Noir start to detransform, they encourage the public to take action once they lose their Miraculous, even though Monarch will have won by then. As they do this, somehow, they stop detransforming until they manage to recharge their Miraculous by the power of because the plot says so. How did they do this?

Gabriel: I am an adult! Not transforming back is a power belonging to grown-ups!

Nooroo: I guess they must have grown up, Master.

Yes. Seriously. Even though there's been nothing else to signify that Ladybug and Cat Noir have matured this season, they now have the full power of their Miraculous at their disposal because now, they're adults. If you have to tell the audience that your characters have developed, then you've done a poor job at writing character development. Ms. Bustier takes the sash containing Chloe's Akuma while Cat Noir uses multiple Cataclysms to destroy the rest of her robots.

Ladybug de-evilizes the Akuma, oddly enough, doesn't use Miraculous Ladybug to fix the damage, doesn't give Chloe a useless Magical Charm because Andre says he's going to “correct his own errors”, and after being convinced by her students, Ms. Bustier decides to run for mayor.

We then cut to a private jet where Audrey is chewing her daughter out for failing, even though she supported her earlier when she was mayor. Yeah, you know how it seemed like Andre was finally going to properly discipline his daughter. Dream on! Instead, he just decided to send her away with Audrey, someone who he knows is a terrible person, and lets her deal with Chloe in a way that heavily implies she's going to put Chloe through hell when she isn't at school.

Audrey: Because of you, we've lost face! You've ruined our name and our reputation! You had all the powers in your hands and you foolishly lost them! Bourgeois do not raise losers. You think you're going to London on vacation? Dream on! I'm going to take control of your life again, starting with your education.

This is seriously meant to be an appropriate punishment for Chloe while Andre gets absolutely no consequences for being responsible for his daughter turning out the way she did. I have only one thing to ask.

WHAT THE FUCK, ASTRUC?!

How the fuck did anyone involved with this show think any of this was okay?! How did Andre think this was okay when in the previous episode, he pointed out how awful Audrey was?! Why the fuckare both Andre and Audrey, the two people who helped make Chloe the person she is, getting away scot-free while Chloe gets condemned for everything?! Why the fuck are we supposed to be happy Audrey is diciplining Chloe when we know she's worse than she is?! WHO THE FUCK THOUGHT THIS WOULD BE OKAY TO GREENLIGHT?!

I can either interpret this scene in two ways.

The first way is that, like he's said for a few years now, Astruc still doesn't see this as child abuse, and that Chloe is being punished like any other misbehaving child is.

THIS IS WHAT THOMAS ASTRUC ACTUALLY BELIEVES.

The second way, and I consider this to be the worse option, is that Astruc's team is fully aware that this now qualifies as child abuse, and that Chloe deserves this treatment. Put aside the fact that a common mentality of abusive parents is that they believe they're helping their children by “toughing them up”, this is still a demented way to punish any character, no matter how bad they are.

“But IOTA! Chloe needs to be punished for what she did!” Yeah, she does, but not like this. Hell, you don't need to do a lot to change the ending and avoid the harmful implications. Just have Andre be the one to move out of Paris with Chloe with the intent to send her to boarding school. Also, rather than say he's “going to take control of Chloe's life again”, have him explain that while he still loves Chloe, he isn't mayor anymore, so she can't use his name to get out of trouble, meaning that like it or not, Chloe will have to grow out of her bratty attitude or else she'll get in even more trouble. That way, we see Andre actually taking responsibility for how bad of a parent he was, Chloe realizes her old tricks won't work anymore while the door is open for a redemption should you choose to bring her back next season, and most importantly, there's no implications of child abuse here.

But believe it or not, things were even worse for these episodes initially. As detailed in the Season 5 scripts, there was originally a scene in “Collusion” where Andre used his powers as mayor to divorce Audrey and steal custody of Zoe while leaving her to deal with Chloe herself, officially joining Jagged Stone in the Rich Deadbeat Dads Club.

And Astruc wasn't even aware it was taken out, not being told this until he found out on Twitter.

Because somehow, he considered Andre walking out on his family and leaving his biological daughter in the hands of an abusive bitch crucial to the story.

And do you want to know the worst part? No matter how you view this scene, either way, it's portrayed as Chloe getting punished, but the next scene plays Gabriel abusing Adrien straight, ordering him to pack his things as he'll be heading to London that night. The show literally can't make up its mind on whether child abuse is bad or not. Why is it okay for Chloe to be mistreated by her parents while we're supposed to sympathize with Adrien? No matter who the victim is, CHILD ABUSE IS STILL CHILD ABUSE.

I don't care how bad Chloe is, child abuse is NEVER justifiable, and it's disgusting that the show seems to take that stance, whether they intended to or not.

Let's just get the last few minutes out of the way so I can end this. Adrien is forced to pack for London, Nathalie does nothing to stop Gabriel from doing this, Lila steals one of Tomoe's computers, Gabriel tells Tomoe about keeping Adrien and Kagami safe in London while they execute “Operation: Perfect Alliance”, Marinette and Adrien have their first kiss for the third time in five seasons, Chloe calls Marinette to tell her about Adrien, but Marinette tells her to piss off, and Chloe ends the episode crying because Astruc thinks she deserves to suffer. THERE. I'M DONE.

THE BIGGEST IDIOT OF THE EPISODE IS... GABRIEL

Gabriel joins Marinette in earning the Biggest Idiot Award for the third time this season. He had no reason to include Chloe in his stupid plan, he was essentially banking on Ladybug and Cat Noir choosing to do nothing, and tried to create a scenario were Ladybug and Cat Noir wouldn't be able to lose their Miraculous. At least you could argue that Ladybug and Cat Noir needed to stay on the down low at first. Gabriel doesn't get that excuse.

These episodes sucked, but I honestly thought they were slightly better than the last two.

Yeah, all joking aside, I thought these episodes had more positives to them than “Revelation” and “Confrontation”. Where those two episodes were insulting and confusing respectively, these two episodes were the kind of bad I've come to expect from the show. There's plotholes, bad morals, and characters acting like idiots, but it's par for the course. I was far from a fan of these two episodes, but other than the ending of “Revolution”, I was nowhere near as angry I was with “Revelation” and “Confrontation”.

Surprisingly, I was more upset rewatching “Collusion” than I did “Revolution”. Yeah, “Revolution” was bad, but at least Chloe was supposed to be a bad example of how lead a city, unlike what Andre and Ms. Bustier were doing. Those characters both taught bad morals, intentional or not, and just like Ladybug and Cat Noir, were never called out for unintentionally leading to Chloe's rise to power. With Andre, we were supposed to just be expected to be okay with all the times he abused his power as mayor while cheering when he quit with no negative repercussions, and with Ms. Bustier, we were supposed to be okay with her attempting to stage a violent coup against Andre, the character the episode is already trying to make us sympathize with.

Between these two characters, along with Sabrina and Felix, the show really loves operating on the “There's Always a Bigger Fish” rule. It doesn't matter how many bad things you do, if someone else is pulling the strings, you won't get in trouble at all... unless you're Chloe, so, in that case, BURN IN HELL. Like I mentioned earlier, you can acknowledge someone only did bad things because they were pressured to while saying they should at least be held accountable for their actions in some way that doesn't involve kicking them out of the country.

The moral of when it's okay to use violence was pretty confusing, and not just because this is a superhero show where almost every problem is solved by fighting it. Ladybug tries to convince Miss Sans-Culotte that political conflicts shouldn't be solved with violence, but even if she didn't convince her to change her mind, Andre was already ready to resign as mayor, and Miss Sans-Culotte still angrily demanded he resign in a way that sounded like a violent threat. There's also the fact that despite saying that violence isn't always the answer, the conflict that was sort of resolved with no violence ended up making things worse as Chloe was able to seize power once Andre resigned.

Also, it's pretty funny how absolutely nobody ever tried to reason with Chloe after she became mayor, not even Ms. Bustier. In that case, violence was obviously the answer, but the show never really tells us what makes Miss Sans-Culotte better than Chloe. You can't teach an anti-violence moral in one episode and then lead into an episode where violence solves the problem instead of diplomacy. And I'm not one of those saints who believes that every conflict should be handled nonviolently. Sometimes, people won't listen to words, but will at least hear you out if you use your fists. I'd personally argue the conflict of “Revolution” would have worked if had this kind of lesson. Just have Ladybug and Cat Noir tried to solve things with Chloe diplomatically during the first act, only to realize that Chloe won't budge, so they have no choice but to take her out of power themselves. It'd make a hell of a lot more sense than having Marinette and Adrien do nothing while Chloe makes everyone's life miserable because the writers need to pad the runtime.

I already mentioned this, but for an episode that tries to show how awful Chloe is, she barely does anything on her own. She needs Lila to tell her to go along with Gabriel's plan, she needs Gabriel and Tomoe to pretend to give her an army of robots, and she needs Monarch to akumatize her to make the robots even more dangerous. If you need another character to do something to make Chloe a threat, why should we only see Chloe as the threat? These two episodes keep going back and forth on whether Chloe is the worst or not. When they're not showing her taking control of Paris on her own like should be doing, the writers take the time to remind the audience that Lila and Gabriel are pulling Chloe around by telling her what to do, all while they each muse about how this is all going according to keikaku. If you want to make Chloe a threat and have her live up to her reputation as a terrible human being, she should actually have agency and should be cunning enough to be a dangerous villain in her own right.

Unlike with “Confrontation”, which gave more focus to side characters for some reason, “Revolution” actually focused on the main characters and their conflict with Chloe, like we should have gotten with Lila. Yeah, Ladybug and Cat Noir wait far too long to stop her, but unlike with Lila last episode, they at least had a semblance of a reason for hesitating to beat up a civilian. Either way, it felt like an obstacle that Ladybug and Cat Noir actually overcame together instead of someone else helping them out at the last second. Yeah, the Miraculous boost was a glorified deus ex machina, but it was at least a thing established in the show since Season 3.

Even the stuff with Chloe actually felt like stuff she would do, unlike in Season 4, which tried to give her an interest in bananas and soccer for the sake of giving her screentime as a villain (Queen Banana, Penalteam). When Chloe had free reign of the city, she actually did stuff on her own that was clever, like the detention setup. We really needed more of this Chloe for the past two seasons if the writers wanted to make her work as a villain, yet they waited until the end of the fifth season to actually do something interesting, and that was after she was told what to do for most of the episode.

And then there's how the conflict was resolved. It's really hard to buy Ladybug and Cat Noir “growing up” and unlocking the full power of their Miraculous, because just like when it was first established in Season 3, it's such a vague term, and only leaves you asking more questions. Neither Marinette or Adrien really had a big moment of personal growth this episode. Yeah, Adrien wanted to tell Marinette about London, but he had been trying to do that since Chloe first took over as mayor. While it's a decent piece of character development after keeping it secret for the past few episodes, it doesn't really do a lot to justify Adrien “growing up”.

Then again, at least Adrien actually got a moment to show his growth compared to Marinette. All she did before she “grew up” was tell the citizens of Paris to keep fighting, but it was such a vague speech and doesn't really scream becoming an adult. If she was going to sacrifice her identity or do something dangerous in order to stop Chloe, that could have worked. Instead, what I can assume was her big moment came after she defeated Chloe, the call at the end, and even then, it was just her telling Chloe how much she sucks, something she's never been afraid to say since the show started. Once again, if you need to tell the audience your show has character development, you're not good at writing character development.

Overall, while these episodes were both really bad, I still think they're at least more tolerable than the previous two.

And with that, I am officially done with the poorly written Chloe episodes. Sure, I still have three more episodes until I finish Season 5, but least this means Astruc will hopefully stop using her in the show, or at least ranting about her on Twitter. Maybe I'll make a character analysis post about her or talk about her during the overview post, but for now...

[ficks-of-fancy2]

Miraculously bad

So I've been watching MLB from the beginning and I have some complaints. This is honestly a open discussion and I hope that others will voice their feeling in a productive manner. I won't talking about the blatantly obvious racism.

I have the least to say about the first season, but I honestly would have introduced some new heroes before the season's end. I would have ditched the romantic subplot or a at least the love square due to the annoyance of it all and Marinette's disturbing behavior towards Adrien. I don't mind the need for secrecy between Ladybug and Chat Noir up to a point, about season four is when it got to be a problem, that brought the story down. But my biggest problem from the first season is Lila Rossi from a critical standpoint her motivations beyond Adrien don't make sense for a mentally stable person. I get lieing for popularity but not for a boyfriend and it's completely asinine for people to believe her after her lies are uncovered, I for one wouldn't.

In season two we see the arrival of Rena Rouge, Carapace, and the most underutilized Queen Bee. Now don't misunderstand, I don't like Chloe Bourgeois' character because of the wasted potential of her character to change. I know Chloe is meant to be a foil to Marinette however their is a difference between foiling and being a outright antagonistic and I simply believe that Chloe's character deserves more, especially after we learn of Chloe's abusive relationship with her mother. Now on to Mayura who would have worked perfectly as a foil to Hawk Moth, a reluctant hero due to her abilities being similar but also stronger than Hawk Moth's (I.E. her empathic abilities). As we learn in the fifth season Nathalie is only working for Gabriel, so she can protect Adrien from him so it would have been a interesting plot point if she took a more supportive role on Ladybug's team.

Season three is what I refer to as the start of the problem that is; the what if episodes. They are meant to reaffirm the need for secrecy, but after Chat Blanc, they are pointless because she becomes the Guardian of the miracle box, meaning that she should know Adrien's identity. Aside from Oni-Chan and Animaestro, in addition to Miracle Queen, I don't have any problems with this season aside from already spoken thoughts.

Season four proved to be a turn for the worst, mostly because of the episodes; Gabriel Agreste, Ephemeral, and the two part finale of the season. Now I do have minor complaints about a few other episodes where characters so act out of character they are almost different people. Let's start with Gabriel Agreste and Felix. The episode has Marinette acting like a creep to protect her "secret" crush on Adrien. My problem is with Felix, whose goals are later revealed in season five to be freedom for Kagami and Adrien, who are implied to be Senimonsters. Felix managed to discover Shadow Moth's identity but sits on this information for a season. Felix could have easily been replaced by Nathalie or Felix's mother instead. Shadow Moth's Final Attack, Season fours' finale, my issue is twofold taking the form of Felix and Ephemeral. Felix due to his willing actions that resulted in Gabriel gaining almost every Miraculous, something that becomes a recurring issue with Marinette in a similar issue as Luz Noceta in the final episodes of The Owl House, a trait that is annoying because it isn't actively her fault. Marinette, because of the simple solution of transforming back that wouldn't have been a problem if the writers simply didn't bother with Ephemeral.

And Finally season five my biggest problem with MLB, Hawk Moth now Monarch had gotten every Miraculous sans, the ladybug, black cat, and peafowl. The entire season is one big stalemate until the finale. Gabriel has allied himself with Tomoe Tsurugi to create the alliance rings as a way to transfer the powers of the stolen Miraculous to his victims. Nathalie is in rare form for this season actively standing up for herself and Adrien. The entire season is spent foretelling Gabriel's demise and propping up Cerise, or Lila as she is known as of the time of me making this, as the next Hawk Moth. Honestly I have more issues with this season then all the others combined and every issue that I have previously mentioned is on full display in one form or another. On top of all of the other issues three new ones come to light, The first is a old one with a new name, Argos. Argos or Felix whatever you chose to call him refuses to inform Ladybug of Monarch's identity, due to his concern for Adrien's well being. I don't mind this but I still find it to be a problem of conflicting interests that to my knowledge is never resolved. My second issue is from Derision, namely the origin of Marinette's behavior towards Adrien and this goes hand and hand with the writer's refusal to improve and evolve Chloe's character so they simply beat the dead horse. My final issue is the drawn out conclusion of the love square that shouldn't have existed past the third season. It takes five whole seasons for this plot to reach its conclusion and that is bad writing in its purest form.

To end this on a lighter note, I just found out that the original butterfly hero and I share a character name, we are both Húdié and I can't tell if that is lazy or hilarious. (Húdié means butterfly in Chinese) Also because I have no control over my hyperfixations I'm working on a miraculous little project that hopefully doesn't drive me psycho.

[mcheang]

The stone among diamonds

Yeah, Lila has an overinflated ego if she thinks she’s going to be invited to an upper class party because she’s a model. Only those born in prominent families are invited and Mrs Rossi clearly wasn’t. She overestimated herself and got too pushy.

When Kagami told Lila about the diamond dance and the latter expressed surprise at not being invited, Kagami’s answer was blunt.

“Of course not. You may be a model for Gabriel, Lila, but this dance is for those with connections, not for every model. Adrien is coming because he’s Gabriel’s heir. My family is ancient Japanese nobility. Chloe’s father is the mayor. If you do want to come, you should ask your mother. She’s the ambassador right? She should be invited. I know a few political diplomats who were.”

Lila feigned a smile, knowing full well her mother’s job was nowhere near prestigious enough for an invitation. “She did receive it but she rejected it. She’s never been one for parties. And it was just one invite.”

Kagami: oh, then I’m not sure what you can do. You can ask Gabriel if you may attend in your mother’s place.

Lila: I’ll be sure to do that. Besides, as the face of the Gabriel brand, I’m sure I’ll merit my own invitation

Kagami: don’t hold your breath on that count. You also have to have a rich background.

Lila: are you saying I look poor?

Kagami: no, but my mother trained me to watch for those who have money

Lila is annoyed. She calls Gabriel to get her invitation but he ignores her. Ugh! One way or another she is getting to that party.

But wait, wasn’t Zoe going to the movies with Marinette? As the daughter of style queen, she is sure to have an invitation.

Sure enough, Zoe doesn’t mind giving her invitation to Lila, who says she lost her own and Gabriel is too busy to bother.

At the party, Lila is all for schmoozing with the guests. She would have preferred the adults but the party was clearly divided between adults and kids.

To Lila’s dismay, her own introduction as the face of Gabriel and the daughter of an ambassador wasn’t impressive enough for these people. It wasn’t until she spun her usual lies of knowing Jagged Stone and Prince Ali that she actually got anywhere. (And even then the snobs were not impressed with her charity work, just her connections)

Another guest overheard and walked over. “Excuse me, is it true you worked with Prince Ali? I’m a fan of his work. Might I know your name, please?”

Lila smirked. “Lila Rossi. I worked with Ali on multiple projects and parties.”

The stranger unmasked himself. “I am Prince Ali of Achu, and I have never met you before in my life.” He paged his chaperone.

Soraya walked over. “What is going on here?”

Ali gestured to Lila. “I believe we do have a party crasher.”

Another guest called for security in a loud voice, drawing attention from the rest of the room.

The security drones analysed Lila’s mask and announced it belonged to Zoe Lee.

Chloe pushed her way over and gaped. “Lilo, what are you doing here?” (This is not a typo. Chloe actually called Lila Lilo during Confrontation)

Lila gritted her teeth. “Your sister lent me her invitation when I lost mine. As for this lying accusation, I wasn’t referring to Prince Ali, but another one from Egypt.”

Except the guests she had been trying to impress called her out on her lies.

Guest: isn’t she the alliance Lila?

Lila exhaled in relief. Perhaps her fame could still save her.

Soraya scowled at Gabriel. “You have made a disappointing choice, Gabriel.”

Guest: what a wannabe. I am so changing my alliance avatar.

Seeing the crowd murmuring in front and the adults whispering behind, Gabriel addressed the situation at hand. “I am aware of Lila’s behavior, that was why I had planned to announce at my diamond dance that Kagami would be taking her place.” Tomoe subtly activated the screens showing the new changes, simultaneously having all alliance rings updated.

Lila’s jaw dropped. Her fame gone, just like that. She was tempted to expose Gabriel for hiring her to spy on his son but she doubt it would change much in the face of all these snobs.

Soraya glared at Lila. “Whatever other claims you have made about Prince Ali, we will find out. Prepare yourself for a lawsuit.”

Surrounded by hostile faces, Lila looked for friendly faces.

Chloe wasn’t going to stand up for her.

Kagami was shocked at Lila’s appearance and the revelation that she was a liar.

Felix already knew Lila was a spy and was fine with her current predicament.

Gabriel just fired her. “Escort the Miss wearing Zoe Lee’s mask out of my party.”

Lila was practically boxed in by 4 drones. Chloe snapped a photo because it was kind of funny

Meanwhile as Kagami protested having their avatars be in a romantic relationship, Felix revealed himself.

Cue Canon ending

Now, Rose received word from Ali asking what she knew about Lila. She was shocked that her friend was a liar and that Marinette was telling the truth. Did this mean that Marinette was indeed framed?

Rose calls Marinette to apologize and suggest that they tell Miss Bustier. However Marinette tells Rose that both teacher and principal know the truth. However Lila used the same reason Rose kept her illness a secret to keep them from telling the class.

Rose: this can’t be how it ends. Ali will expose Lila in public, it will be on the news, she can’t hide it then.

Indeed, Lila knew she couldn’t. So it was time to become Cerise once again and abandon Lila.

But Monarch has not seen the last of her. Neither has Prince Ali.

[gale-gentlepenguin]

Gale Reviews: ML Season 5 episode 23 Revolution

Spoilers below

-Chloe being puppet as the new dictator of Paris. Outlawing super heroes and monarch. So cringe

-ladybug and chat noir debating on what to do but think since Chloe isn’t akumatized they would look like villains if they did something. Ummm, she has a robot army and declared herself leader, I’m pretty sure you got a free pass to beat her ass

-Pffff! They are trusting adults. Yeah, cause THAT always worked for you guys.

-of course that Racist cop is fine with Chloe being in charge!

-meanwhile Plagg talking sense to Adrien

-he was going to tell her, but in her defense this stupid ass situation is kind of important

-It’s really sad that the reaction to Chloe being a dictator is really not surprising. I could go in depth but if I think about our current society I will just get annoyed.

-Chloe at least tried to have monarch arrested… before then immediately listening to him and getting powers BUT pretending she didn’t have an akuma.

-A political puppet that’s a hypocrite. What a twist. (Said no one)

-Queen mayor, at least Chloé gets some sort of outfit change.

-So the Resistance is doing a protest. How French. I hope they involve a guillotine.

-… if this were anymore on the nose it would be a face hugger.

-I will give Astruc one thing, he nailed what a typical politician is like. Corrupt, arrogant, being told what to say and do, and lies all the time. I could go on but I hate politics.

-chloé and evolution, and Chloe being the only one in class yet NOT paying attention. That’s actually kind of funny. Like why even go?

-How did they get a Statue like that built in such a short time?

-did Chloe just Legislate love?

-and she just arrested Marinette’s parents and captured her.

-Adrien still can’t communicate with Marinette cause of the situation.

-Adrien found out what Chloe did and is PISSED!

-Chloé knows about London.

-At least Adrien didn’t cave. But now he’s captured.

-Sure is Big brother up in this bitch.

-Plagg being like (want me to take a crack at the screens) Plagg is best boy

-looking at it, the jail/detention isn’t that hard to escape.

-wait did chat noir use cataclysm 2 times already? Well we can assume he detransformed and retransformed.

- Chloe yelling about threats to democracy, yet never knowing what the word meant.

-Ladybug and chat noir step in to tell her. Perfect.

-invincible prisons, oh damn.

-Gabriel and Tomoe out here waiting for the detransformation and taking back control.

-welp, I guess this makes Queen mayor the most effective akuma. She captured them both and now they will detransform. Unless someone shows up? Maybe Su han will finally be useful. I’m kidding. My bet is they get a power up

-ladybug coming in clutch with hero speeches

-Did he just say super underpants?!

-They just willed their transformation back! So I guess they are all grown up now?

-Monarch is shocked by the power of plot convinience.

-chat noir didn’t need to do that, he just wanted to show off and I don’t blame him.

-Was ladybug going to give Chloe a charm? I don’t think she wants one.

-And the mayor steps in to finally ground her.

-Lila took the robots.

-so the kids encourage Ms. Bustier to run

-Chloe is being taken by her mother to have her education Re-evaluated. And now Chloe is going to expose what she knows to Marinette as one last act of spite. Though for a brief moment we saw her pause on Sabrina, perhaps contemplating something. But for what reason, we may never know.

-meanwhile, Adrien is being forced to leave now by his father. He can’t say no because Amok.

-Nathalie is there, Nathalie do something!

-no Nathalie Kick Gabriel’s ass! Don’t just stand by!

-wait so Chloe never called her. Adrien got to tell her. Well at least that.

-Break my heart why don’t ya.

-they sold enough Alliance? Oh dear that can’t be good.

-G being a real G and letting Adrien go.

-FINALLY! A canon Adrinette kiss. Too bad it’s absolutely tragic

-G no! You have to seperate them now.

-Ah there goes my heart.

-Oh bonus scene.

-Marinette telling Chloe to F*** off was great.

-Lila or whoever she is has that suitcase and is likely going to mess with the plan Tomoe and Gabriel have

___________________________________________

Honestly this episode was cringe for most of it.

Chloé being dictator was jumping the shark, ladybug and chat noir can use their powers multiple times now which is about time but probably not useful now.

Lila has the pieces she needs and finally

ADRINETTE KISS!

That last part alone keeping this episode from being the worst of season 5

I give it a 6.5 out of 10

The 6.0 being awarded cause of the Adrien kiss

The additional .5 being Adrien and Marinette standing up to Chloe.

Though Andre got off easy