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immaturityofthomasastruc · 2 years

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Every Episode of Miraculous Ladybug Season 4 Ranked

Well, I've gone over what I liked about Season 4 as a whole, but how did I feel about the individual episodes? Eh...

With Season 3, the quality in episodes was mostly the same, with a majority of them either being related to the Love Square, or just being plain forgettable, with the occasional good one like “Silencer” or “Startrain”. With Season 4, it felt like there were episodes that started off strong but fell off towards the end, episodes that were unbelievably bad, episodes that were just boring because not much happened, or episodes that could honestly stand up with some of the greatest episodes from even the first two seasons with how good they were. It's kind of amazing how this season has the exact same team of writers (Thomas Astruc, Melanie Duval, Fred Lenoir, and Sebastien Thibaudeau), yet the quality fluctuated so much. How can you say you were the same group of writers behind okay to bad episodes like “Mr. Pigeon 72”, “Hack-San”, or “Kuro Neko”, yet also managed to give us great episodes like “Furious Fu”, or “Guiltrip”?

But of course, this list isn't going to talk about the good stuff immediately. First, I get to talk about the worst of the worst, then gradually work my way up to the actually good episodes, essentially reliving Season 4 all over again. Doesn't that sound great, and like a decision I don't regret at all?

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Yeah, think of each entry as sort of like a follow-up review to the respective episode to see if my thoughts have changed or if I have anything else to say. In addition, I'm ranking each episode on how well it holds up in the context of the season itself, not just on the basis of how good it is in comparison to good episodes like “The Collector” or “Silencer”. For now, let's just get this started with...

#26: Penalteam

When I claimed that this was the worst episode of the show, I got a couple of weird looks from my followers, especially after I utterly trashed “Queen Banana”, but even after rewatching the entire season to make sure my opinions on each episode hadn't changed, I still stand by my opinion that this episode is the absolute bottom of the barrel.

Say what you will about the episodes many consider to be the worst, like “Frozer” or “Chameleon”, but at the very least, it felt like there was some form of effort there to make the stories work. It wasn't a lot of effort, but even those episodes felt like the scripts were finished. This episode feels like the storyboard wasn't even finished by the time the animation process started. In general, describing this episode is a good way to explain how... mismanaged this season felt. Sure, the writers had multiple chances to introduce the last four temp heroes in earlier episodes, but instead, they thought it would be a good idea to just cram them all into the penultimate episode of the season that already has almost every other hero in it. Sure, the writers could have focused more on their celebrity guest star and gave him a reason to even be in this episode, but instead, they thought it would be a good idea to have him do nothing but commentate on this boring soccer match supposedly in order to appeal to French sports fans, while everyone else won't understand who this guy even was. Sure, the writers had a lot of options for who could be the Akuma for a sports-themed episode like the athletes in the school, including Kim, Alix, Kagami, Marc, that one kid from the tie-in comics, or even an entirely new character if they needed to, but instead, they thought it was a better idea to make Chloe the Akuma, even though she hates soccer.

I really need to emphasize how stupid of a decision it was to make Chloe the Akuma of this episode for no other reason than to justify her status as a villain. I've already gone over my problems with the way she was portrayed all season, but even in “Queen Banana”, the story was somewhat justified because it focused on her relationship with her sister, and the Akuma powers were related to the changes she made for the movie to boost her ego. To put it bluntly, it was a story that only could have worked with Chloe as the main antagonist. Here, the writers couldn't even keep her motivation consistent for the first act. One minute, she's too lazy to even care about soccer, yet the next minute, she's rambling on about how awesome she is, then she gets akumatized willingly in order to force all of Paris to stop playing soccer.

And then there's the way Penalteam acts that makes even less sense. Her plan is to hold a soccer game with Ladybug and Cat Noir to decide the fate of all soccer players in Paris. Here's something I never brought up in my initial review: How exactly was she supposed to enforce this new law? I get she's an Akuma, but outside of the dome she created, her powers were very limited, only being able to trap victims and potentially kill them with the prisons getting smaller with every goal being scored. But then halfway through the game, she reveals she's willing to cheat in order to win, so why doesn't she just crush the hostages she has right now? What's even the point of the game to supposedly prove she's the best and force everyone to stop playing soccer if she's willing to cheat to do so? Why can't she just try and red card all of the remaining heroes instead? Why even make the stakes of the episode about something so minor like not wanting to play soccer? Why the hell did any of these heroes go along with this game instead of focusing on finding the Akuma or just ganging up on Penalteam with their superior numbers? Do you see why I think this script makes no sense?

And yeah, the heroes are just as stupid in this episode. I've gotten used to Cat Noir being dead weight, but even as a joke, portraying him as this complete imbecile who doesn't know the basic rules of arguably the most popular sport in France is frustrating, especially since this is right before the finale, which goes back to trying to convince the audience to have hope that Cat Noir is Ladybug's only superhero ally... when she just had to save his incompetent ass after he got captured by Penalteam. Most of the other heroes didn't even use their powers this episode, until the very end, where writers decided to have them do what they should have done from the start and just bombard Penalteam with their powers. That is, the heroes who were actually allowed to use their powers in this episode. Viperion, Ryuko, Polymouse, and Pigella didn't get to use their powers, while only one of them got a single line of dialogue. There were just way too many heroes here, and even the ones who were lucky enough to use their powers barely got to do anything else, yet the writers didn't wait until for the finale to show off all fifteen temp heroes for some reason.

That's because the four new heroes needed to be shown off to promote the toys that don't exist, and their stupid powers. Miss Hound's power got retconned by the very next episode, Minotaurox's power was just to be invulnerable to every other power, Caprikid's power is essentially Lucky Charm on steroids, and Rooster Bold's power is essentially entering God Mode. Because the writers needed to have all four heroes make their big debuts, the other nine heroes essentially got sidelined in an episode supposedly meant to show off almost all of the allies Ladybug and Cat Noir have at their disposal. It doesn't even make sense for Ladybug to draft these four heroes because she already had enough heroes to match Penalteam! Hell, despite the episode being about teamwork, the climax is basically about bailing out all the teammates who got captured, yet by the end, they want to make it seem like every hero did their part to save the day. MOST OF THEM DIDN'T EVEN DO ANYTHING!

In fact, let's get into how this episode was resolved. Rather than find a clever way to outmaneuver Penalteam or win the game in spite of her cheating, the heroes literally annoy Penalteam into giving up by doing what anyone in a competently-written show would do from the start and use their superpowers to make it seem like they're cheating as well. Because that's a good lesson to teach the audience. “Remember, kids, if someone isn't playing fair, the best thing to do is to stoop to their level and also cheat until they decide to just quit”. Because being the bigger person doesn't matter because this is Chloe we're talking about, who isn't a person, according to the show whose main character outright said having her on a team is the same as a handicap.

The soccer match was just boring, the first act still had the same unfunny gags from all season like teasing Love Square, the celebrity guest star was pointless and added nothing to the story, and the plot just made no sense. It's basically Space Jam with absolutely none of the charm, and I still unironically consider this to be the worst episode, not just of Season 4, but of the entire show.

Not only that, but it makes the Kamen Rider Gaim soccer movie look good by comparison. Yes, that was a real sentence. I just hope there won't be anything to remind me of that series where the Riders wear fruit-shaped armor—oh wait...

#25: Queen Banana

I just... what else do you want me to say? It's “Queen Banana”, an episode featuring a character I've talked about countless times, and just talked about it in my last major post about this season. It's an episode designed to insult TV executives and Chloe fans while forgetting to actually do anything to built up Chloe's replacement, who is irrelevant until she gets the Bee Miraculous for some reason, and is somehow seen as a better hero even though she hasn't really done anything different from Queen Bee other than not betraying her teammates. Is there anything else I can really add that hasn't already been said?

I guess I can say it was a little better than “Penalteam” because Astruc's self-insert didn't get too much dialogue telling Chloe what a waste of a human being she is, but that's not saying much. That, and it felt like the story was actually structured better than “Penalteam”. The character motives felt somewhat consistent, and even Zoe's out of nowhere declaration of love for Chloe felt in-character. The weird thing was than even Chloe felt more in-character in this episode compared to later entries on this list, even if this episode was basically a rehash of “Horrificator”.

That being said, the episode was still a complete trainwreck, and was the nail in the coffin for any hope at a redemption arc or competent writing for Chloe as a character. If you want to see an anti-hero turned villain story done right, watch Kamen Rider Gaim. Ironically, said character, Kaito/Kamen Rider Baron, has banana-themed armor.

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#24: Strikeback

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think this season finale is actually worse than “Miracle Queen”.

Even with “Miracle Queen”, I was somewhat invested in the stakes regarding the titular Akuma's army of four superheroes and how Ladybug and Cat Noir would defeat them, but here, the actual threat by the villains was nonexistent. Strikeback, despite the awesome design, barely got to do anything cool, and Ladybug's plan to, as the late Gilbert Gottfried put it best, send those fuckers into the stratosphere, felt very... anti-climactic. It didn't feel like the heroes were slaying a group of titans or achieving their greatest victory thanks to the scale being downplayed.

I suppose this was due to the twist regarding Felix, but it honestly does a disservice to both him and Gabriel as villains. First, the fact that I can say that the best villain in the show in terms of personality, motives, and successful plans is a fourteen year old child created to be a walking insult to fans of one of the show's earlier drafts is incredibly sad. I don't know what his plan was before Ladybug gave him the Dog Miraculous. Then there's Gabriel, who once again gets his ass kicked by a bunch of superpowered teenagers, and suddenly gets fifteen Miraculous through no actions of his own. This doesn't make him a threat, and it doesn't make Felix a smart villain. It makes both of them idiots, because Gabriel's victory doesn't feel earned, and it makes no sense as to why Felix would make this deal in the first place when he could have told Ladybug about who Shadowmoth is.

“But IOTA! It's an unexpected plot twist, and therefore good writing!” Just like with what happened with Chloe, it doesn't matter if a plot twist is unexpected if it's only done for shock value, and nothing else. The writers were clearly banking on the drama of Ladybug “making a mistake” when absolutely nobody in her situation could have guessed that the person they recruited to help save the day was actually the evil nephew of the big bad who secretly planned to use his power to teleport any small object to their hand on her yo-yo that conveniently had every Miraculous inside of it. This is why the plot twist doesn't work. There are just so many plot contrivances in the last act of this episode just to deprive Ladybug of all of her spare Miraculous when Hawkmoth had the Miracle Box in his hands at the end of Season 3, and didn't think to grab any of the Miraculous inside when he had the chance. You had the chance to give the main villain all the spare Miraculous last season, so why do this song and dance again?

And then there's Adrien, who decides whining about how Ladybug doesn't trust him is perfect for when she's having A FUCKING PANIC ATTACK. The resolution for the whole schism between Ladybug and Cat Noir was easily the most insulting thing the show has ever done. Say what you will about Chloe, but at the very least, we're supposed to hate her after the betrayal. Here, we're supposed to be happy Cat Noir comforted Ladybug at the end, even though he talked shit behind her back all season, making this act seem very two-faced of him. Even putting aside everything else he's done in previous episodes, the context of this episode makes him out to be nothing more than a whiny brat who complains about Ladybug treating him unfairly without any evidence to show it, yet we're supposed to feel bad for him for some reason.

I jokingly compared Cat Noir to Bakugo from My Hero Academia due to thinking they're both pompous jackasses last year, because that was fresh in my mind at the time, but now I realize that Bakugo is actually a better hero than Cat Noir. As egotistical as he can be, Bakugo is still good at his job, excels in combat, still thinks things through more than Adrien, and actually shows more remorse for his actions than Adrien does, even blaming himself for inadvertently forcing All Might to retire when the #1 Hero burned out his powers while saving him from All for One's team. In addition, the show makes it clear Bakugo isn't that popular because of his abrasive behavior which was the result of being coddled with praise all his life, yet with Adrien, despite arguably being worse than Bakugo in terms of recklessness, we're always supposed to take his side, even in an episode where he does nothing but complain about how much his life sucks because Ladybug keeps secrets from him.

And again, Adrien is still rewarded for not liking the temp heroes because of Felix, and we don't even get a moment where he regrets his words and says something about this not being what he meant. Even though he ranted about how Ladybug is a big meanie who smells all season, he's now willing to comfort her and let her admit she was wrong about everything, because just like in the New York Special and “Kuro Neko”, he's pretty much only loyal to him as long as his ego is validated. It just astounds me that the show could have at least made a point about how Chloe is a worse person than Adrien because she was just as obsessed with Ladybug and took it to the logical extreme with the betrayal, but instead, this season ends with Adrien acting the same way Chloe did in Season 3, and rather than learning his lesson about what it means to be a hero, he got rewarded for his behavior while Ladybug was blamed for everything going wrong. Let's be honest here, in any other show, Adrien would be a villain, because this show has shown that he is not a superhero, and this episode is only one of several reasons why.

While I think the last act is the most rage-inducing moment of the show, I put this higher than “Penalteam” and “Queen Banana” because the first half was more boring than anything else. The last two entries were frustrating from start to finish, and had worse stories by comparison. Here, it at least felt like the episode was going somewhere interesting by virtue of being a season finale. It didn't go anywhere good, but it was something. The action was lame, the plot was contrived as hell, and Cat Noir continues to be an insufferable moron, yet is seen as an angel according to the writers. Pretty good way to describe most of this season, isn't it?

#23: Glaciator 2

What a surprise, the sequel to one of the worst episodes of Season 2 is one of the worst episodes of Season 4. Who could have seen that coming? The original “Glaciator” had a lot of problems, most of them revolving around Cat Noir feeling entitled to Ladybug's attention, and credit where credit is due, the episode tries to acknowledge this flaw of his... keyword being “tries”.

For once, Cat Noir actually gets called out for violating Ladybug's personal space and gets punished for his behavior... yet we're still supposed to feel bad for him instead of Ladybug. Okay, yes, in any other context, Ladybug throwing Cat Noir into a trash can is uncalled for, but A) Cat Noir was bothering Ladybug in the middle of a fight, and this was basically Ladybug reaching her breaking point with him, and B) Cat Noir was refusing to take no for an answer, or at least wait until after Glaciator was defeated. Instead of taking either of those factors into consideration, the episode makes it seem like Cat Noir is aware of how bad his behavior is, but he can't control himself because “He loves Ladybug too much”, making it seem like it's a heartwarming thing that he still pines for Ladybug when she's said she loves someone else.

Do I even need to explain how wrong this is?

And then the episode has the balls to make it seem like Adrien actually learned something from this wake-up call, only for him to go back because now, he wants to show her who is really is. When was this episode about Adrien learning to be himself? That wasn't even close to the reason why Ladybug blew up at Cat Noir in the first place. You can't even say something like it's a realistic depiction of someone struggling to get over their crush, because they treat it like we're supposed to support Adrien for relapsing when this episode only showed how he's pretty much learned nothing.

A real problem I have with this episode, and the show in general is that despite most of the drama revolving around the Love Square, we don't get to see any perspective on why Adrien loves Ladybug so much. Yes, we know from “Origins” that he was impressed with her skills while still having a sense of humor, but other than that episode, there's not a lot of Adrien talking about why his feelings for Ladybug outshine every other girl in Paris. This episode could have been a really interesting character study for Adrien to reassess why he loves Ladybug so much, and what he should do if there's really no chance with her. Instead, most of Adrien's scenes for the second act revolve around Marinette's subplot, which is just as bad.

Putting aside the fact that Marinette showing excitement at seeing an upset Adrien for her to comfort is something I'd expect to see Chloe do in Scarlet Lady, the actual plot with Marinette trying to practice her confession to Adrien is one of the most boring subplots in the season. I get the idea is to show Marinette and Cat Noir getting to know the other side of each other, but it just feels like padding that doesn't really advance the plot or characters. I'm going to talk more about this when I analyze the Love Square, but just like Adrien's feelings for Ladybug, we don't really get to see Marinette talk about why she loves Adrien so much, even as she practices her confession. It only serves to highlight how vaguely defined Marinette and Adrien's feelings for each other are, despite being the crux of this episode.

But then we have the big guy himself, Andre. I skimmed over this in my review, but I still find it hilarious that the writers are portraying Andre as this maniac who is obsessed with his ships and will attack anyone who dares to not follow the magic ice cream, and not realize that this is how the other characters react whenever the Love Square is involved. It's like they were trying to make Andre a caricture of shippers, but accidentally made him a caricture of their own writing instead. Putting that aside, it still doesn't save him from being even more insufferable than his debut episode. At least in the original “Glaciator”, you could kind of understand where Andre was coming from when he got akumatized because Marinette essentially said how meaningless something he puts a lot of pride in is to her, but here, she doesn't even talk to him. Andre literally sees Marinette walking with Cat Noir, assumes they're dating, and freaks the hell out, targeting her in particular. Dude, it's one girl! You've brought hundreds, if not thousands of couples together, and you're acting like one inaccurate fortune is proof you're losing your touch?

The car chase scene was still cool, but after the ending that undid Cat Noir respecting Ladybug's boundaries, it doesn't really do much to salvage this episode.

#22: Hack-San

Does anyone even know why the titular Sentimonster was called Hack-San? I mean, at least Kuro Neko was based off a maneki-neko, so the Japanese motif made sense, but this is just a flash drive. Are the writers really that desperate to sound cultured by referencing the Japanese language like this? Obviously, this is the least of the episode's problems, but it's just bothered me since I posted my initial review of it.

The story just makes no sense. Why the hell would Gabriel go through all this trouble to reuse Robostus, the one Akuma who actively tried to kill him, and didn't even get as close to getting Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculous in the first place? Why not use a Sentimonster with similar powers to enrage people enough to become Scarletmoth again? If the writers really wanted to use Robostus again, why did they change his powers so drastically? Like, he's basically another Pixelator, so why not bring him back instead of wasting time on this Sentimonster idea that's literally only used to bring back a single Akuma?

And that's not even getting into how they justify Alya getting the Ladybug Miraculous. I already talked about how Astruc played dumb when asked why Marinette couldn't use Kaalki when she's used the Horse Miraculous several times this season, but it's kind of strange that out of all the times Marinette has come up with excuses to avoid getting in trouble (Troublemaker being an obvious example), only now does it fail. It's a minor nitpick, but it just bothers me that the one time her excuses don't work is for an episode like this, because it really goes out of its way to set up this kind of conflict when all they had to do was make Marinette too sick or injured to be Ladybug for a few days.

But that's nothing compared to what Cat Noir is like in this episode. Anyone who says Cat Noir is a responsible hero has clearly never seen this episode. This is arguably his worst outing this season, because he's even more of a jerk than usual.

It's one thing for Cat Noir to be distrustful of Scarabella without getting any explanation, but it's another thing for him to immediately assume murder is the only option, and even after learning the truth, continuing to throw a hissy fit because he doesn't like the temp Ladybug while never telling the real Ladybug what he did.

The thing was that the way they set up Scarabella, as contrived as it was, it felt like the lesson would be for Cat Noir to not judge Scarabella or at the very least, learn to trust her. You know, “Don't judge a book by its cover, don't make your mind up too soon”, that kind of stuff. Unfortunately, Cat Noir judged Scarabella by her cover from the start, made his mind up way too soon, yet it seems like the episode wants us to take his side more than Scarabella's. Putting aside the fact that the writers ignored a couple of easy options for Marinette and Alya to explain the situation to Cat Noir, the episode wants us to believe that it's more unfair for Cat Noir, even though the opening made it clear that there was no other option.

This episode, like a lot of the other Angstdrien Depreste/Cat Dour episodes, wants us to believe that Marinette is deliberately keeping Cat Noir locked out of the loop for selfish reasons, when earlier scenes show the circumstances that lead to Cat Noir being kept out being related to events beyond either his or Ladybug's control. This episode pretty much opened up with Marinette having no excuses to get out of leaving Paris, so she had no choice but to trust Alya with the Ladybug Miraculous for the time being. It's easy to see how unfair it is for Cat Noir, but even though we have the context as to why this is happening, we're supposed to be okay with Cat Noir being an asshole to Scarabella for doing nothing wrong. And yet, he gets to comfort her when she gets overwhelmed by the battle, because the writers think they can have him be a whiny jackass and a shoulder to cry on at the same time.

The episode had some decent scenes of Alya doubting herself and struggling to find her own identity as Ladybug's temporary replacement, but Cat Noir was still an asshole, the action wasn't that interesting, and I feel like Marinette saving the day to show she's more used to figuring out the Lucke Charms could have been pulled off better. It's still better than the last few entries on the list, but that's really not saying much. And of course, this isn't even the last episode where Cat Noir whines about not getting special treatment.

#21: Kuro Neko

If anyone reading this is struggling with any story they're working on, just know you're probably doing a better job with your characters than episodes like this.

This is pretty much what most of the season has been building up to, the schism in Ladybug and Cat Noir's partnership, and boy, is it disappointing. The writers pretty much went out of their way to give Cat Noir as little ground to stand on as possible while saying we're supposed to feel bad for him, even though before he willingly gave up his Miraculous, he was intentionally not going to fights out of the belief that he wasn't needed, which only makes him seem even more irresponsible than usual.

I'm not sure if this is an accurate comparison, but remember when Peter Parker quit being a superhero in Spider-Man 2? Remember how it was visualized through Peter talking to Uncle Ben, and Peter tearfully tells him that his desire to have a normal life was stronger than Uncle Ben's death motivating him to use his powers for good? Remember how it was framed as an understandable, but still selfish act, and the satisfaction of seeing him become Spider-Man again after realizing how much he's needed? Imagine if absolutely none of what made that sequence great was condensed into the first act, and Peter needed someone else to beg him to be Spider-Man again. That's pretty much how Adrien acts in this episode.

It'd be one thing if Adrien giving up his Miraculous was framed as a reckless thing, but the episode goes out of its way to once again blame Ladybug for something she had no part in causing. All she did was rely on other heroes more when Cat Noir wasn't available, because, in case you forgot, HE DIDN'T SHOW UP TO FIGHT AKUMAS BECAUSE HE CHOSE NOT TO. It's almost impossible to take his side in the first act here, and he doesn't even seem to regret it or feel remorse like he did in the New York Special. Instead, Plagg has to motivate him to get off his ass because of his plan to trick Ladybug, which I'm still mixed on due to the intentions.

But when we see how competent Adrien is as Catwalker, it only raises more questions because it shows how smart Adrien can be in combat, but essentially chooses not to. The reason is when he does, Ladybug can't stop simping over him. It's supposedly meant to mirror the episode's earlier claim that Cat Noir quit because Ladybug “broke his heart” for the unforgivable crime of working with other heroes, but even Cat Noir wasn't this stupid around Ladybug, who can't do anything because Catwalker is so attractive. Because, it's not like Cat Noir can use his brain more in combat without flirting with Ladybug, right?

In general, this episode does everything in its power to make sure Marinette literally has no other choice but to rely on Cat Noir. Alya and Su-Han, her two confidants who could have made this episode a lot easier, are nowhere to be seen, and while Adrien's depression is played completely straight, Marinette scrambling to find a new partner while essentially having a mental breakdown is played entirely for laughs. With the way the episode is written, it's saying that it's bad for Marinette to get help from other heroes, it's bad for her to get help from another hero who's as smart as her, so she has no choice but to have Cat Noir as her only superhero ally, which was basically confirmed in the finale. Because God forbid Ladybug have more than one ally who doesn't get beat up or brainwashed every other episode, right?

I will say the fight with Kuro Neko was more interesting than the action in the last few entries, thanks to the mystery about whether its an Akuma or Sentimonster, and I liked the idea to give both sides points in their argument (any episode where Cat Noir shows actual remorse gets a plus for me), but the episode was still biased toward Ladybug, saying she's a terrible superhero, she ignores Cat Noir because she hates him with a burning passion, and she cheats on her taxes. This episode arguably had a lot of potential to be good, but the characterization really needed improvement to show that neither side was right or wrong. Instead, the episode rewards Angstdrien for being an entitled jackass who demands he get praise for doing absolutely nothing.

#20: Qilin

You know, after rewatching this episode, I kind of feel bad for Astruc here. He caught in the crossfire from a very dangerous protest with his infant daughter a few years ago, put a lot of time and effort to convert that experience into an episode that audiences could relate to... and it still got censored in his home country of France, who failed to understand that scenes depicting racism are meant to make kids uncomfortable.

I still don't think the episode is good though, not by a long shot. It's a very sanitized take on the police brutality debate, and doesn't even address the concept of racism, just making it about some asshole who can't wait a few minutes with this stranger for her daughter to get back. The only reason the episode's plot got as far as it did was because they dumbed down Roger, someone who got fired after refusing to arrest someone without a proper investigation (Rogercop), and made him a government drone who knew Sabine had a daughter. Because it's not like they could have created a different police officer to lead the charge in the episode, right? Then again, considering how this is easily the worst animated episode of the season, I'm almost afraid to see what said police officer would look like.

The actual Akuma of the episode really didn't help things, as while she wasn't too violent, it was hard to sympathize with Qilin when she attacked cops left and right and pretty much said they deserved to die for unfairly arresting her... even though she's just as guilty of using excessive force. If she only fought in self defense and stayed in one place while the police kept getting reinforcements, that would make sense, as it would have highlighted how the cops were overblowing the threat she posed. Instead, it's very hard to root for her supposedly getting her revenge on the cops because only five of the police officers know what's going on, while the others see an Akuma attacking them all. The writers were clearly trying to go for an argument where both sides have a point, but it's undermined by the rest of the episode blatantly saying we're supposed to side with Sabine for attacking these cops.

The cops themselves don't help either. I've already talked about what happened with Roger and the asshole ticket taker, but the rest of the episode goes with all of the standard bad cop jokes we've all seen in much better shows. The cops are trigger-happy, they'll try and arrest anyone on a whim, never take responsibility for their actions, and are completely incompetent despite their massive arsenal. The thing is that there's actually some clever commentary and good visuals that help the episode's theme of police demonizing the people they arrest while using way too much force on one person, but most of that gets undermined by the whole “the corrupt cops and unfairly accused are just as stubborn” crap they were trying to pull.

But then there's the way the episode chooses to deliver its message by having Marinette take responsibility for the incident that she kind of had a part in causing by virtue of borrowing Sabine's purse. The fact that the episode about police brutality ends with the biracial girl taking the blame for an incident where her mother was unfairly arrested and humiliated in public while the government officials who kept escalating the situation got off scot-free is insensitive at best, and insulting at worst. I wasn't really enraged like I was with the way the season ended in “Strikeback”, more dumbfounded at the idea that this team of paid writers thought this was a good moral to teach in the wake of George Floyd's death. What, did the ending where Ladybug stopped the conflict by handing Roger a can of Pepsi not do well with test audiences?

Like it or not, the death of George Floyd was a major event that really made us rethink how we view the police and how hard it is to hold someone accountable for their crimes when they enforce the law itself. While I do appreciate the showrunners attempting to do an episode to teach kids about police brutality, it still doesn't excuse it from being handled poorly for the most part and doing nothing to really educate kids about the concept of racism and police brutality.

As for good things, I guess once you take away the terrible police brutality lesson, the episode isn't as frustrating as the earlier entries on this list, and I do like how Cat Noir got to be somewhat useful today. I also thought the way Ladybug peacefully resolved the situation by unlocking Sabine's handcuffs had potential, but it needed a lot of fine-tuning like the rest of this episode. The idea of seeing the Akuma victim's daily life beforehand was an interesting take, but I think the episode could have worked more if it focused more on Marinette's bond with her mother as opposed to the story the writers went instead. As the episode stands, well, like I said, it oversimplifies the police brutality debate to a dangerous degree without even mentioning racism, and isn't nearly as groundbreaking as some of the writers want us to believe.

Before I move onto the next entry, I'd want to thank some of my followers of color for speaking up about this episode and providing a new perspective on it by relating their own stories of facing discrimination in comparison to the “discrimination” Sabine faced here. I really appreciate your honesty here, and it helped me understand how inaccurate this episode’s writing was.

#19: Lies

This episode does not do a good job at setting the stage for Adrien's “arc” for the season. Once again, Adrien does nothing but slack off as Cat Noir, not really putting a lot of effort into his relationship with Kagami, and once again recklessly sacrificing himself while laughing it off and saying Ladybug looks cute when she's worried, because this show is written by people who don't know how to flirt.

And while I like the idea of Kagami's stubbornness being a key factor for their breakup, Adrien doesn't get nearly as much blame for said breakup as Kagami does. Kagami forces herself onto Adrien, demands he comply to her perceived image of him, and runs off crying as a result of Adrien lying to her, while all the times Adrien missed their dates were because he had to do stuff as Cat Noir, but it doesn't work because earlier in the episode, we see how Adrien doesn't take being a superhero seriously. With Marinette in “Truth”, it worked because you could see how upsetting it was for both her and Luka whenever she had to leave to stop an Akuma or Sentimonster as Ladybug, but with Adrien, it's hard to see him as someone who knows saving the day is more important than his social life when earlier in the episode, he tried to get someone akumatized so he would have an excuse to see Ladybug again. Because how dare she have a life of her own outside of being a superhero, am I right? Compared to Marinette, Adrien didn't even seem that upset to be dumped by Kagami, seeing how he was flirting with Ladybug while he was still dating her.

And don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Kagami shouldn't get any slack here, as she has her own problems that contributed to the breakup. The problem is how the episode chooses to ignore her blatantly violating Adrien's personal space while at the same time, making it seem like she's the one overreacting to Adrien for lying to her due to being Cat Noir, as if that was the problem she had instead of her preconceived image of Adrien not being the one she is dating. You know, an lesson that someone like Marinette could benefit from? What was even the point of Kagami forcing Adrien to model for her if the drawing didn't even factor into their breakup? And also, writers, if you're trying to make Adrienette endgame, maybe don't make the charm Marinette gave to Adrien the powder keg that causes Adrien and Kagami's relationship to go up in flames.

I think the idea of the episode taking place around the same time as “Truth” was an interesting idea, but the continuity still gets screwed up at times, like how Shadowmoth sent out two Akumas in one day. I also thought the hands-off they endaged Lies was somewhat clever, in addition to using Fang as part of their plan. Other than that, it's a pretty mediocre episode.

#18: Ephemeral

Fun fact: When I rewatched “Ephemeral” for the sake of this post it reminded me of this episode of Ultraman Cosmos where the monster of the week was called Ephemera (this giant bug creature whose lifespan is only a day), and so I watched that episode afterwards. I found it far more entertaining than pretty much everything seen in “Ephemeral”.

While most shows use the one-hundredth episode as a way to celebrate its long run in some way, Miraculous Ladybug uses its one-hundredth to celebrate how stagnant the plot has become by teasing us with a reveal for the first time in two seasons, only to undo it via reset button. At least when The Big Bang Theory used its one-hundredth episode all the daydream of a single character, it made sense because the point was to show how he was too paranoid about things going wrong with how complicated things are with the girl he wanted to ask out, and gave him the kick in the pants he needed to go through with the date, and actually advanced the plot in the process. Here, it's pretty much stuff we already know.

We already know things could go horribly wrong if Marinette and Adrien figure out each other's identities before the writers run out of ways to prolong the Love Square, so what's the point of doing another episode where the same thing happens, only the circumstances change? Yeah, the world still ends, but that's because of the dumb new rule regarding the with that the writers made up to try and raise the stakes.

I will give this episode credit, as it manages to show the pros and cons of an identity reveal, but man, did it rush through things going wrong. I hated “Cat Blanc”, but the rushed pacing was pulled off far better because we were only seeing snippets of that timeline going horribly wrong along with Bunnix, who was skipping a lot of parts to find out what went wrong. Here, they decide to have Gabriel find out Adrien is Cat Noir simply because he used the term “My lady”. He literally heard him say it once, and decided to take a gamble by revealing his identity as Shadowmoth to him, in addition to psychologically tormenting him while the writers still try to make us feel bad for him. It's times like this where I'm really glad The Owl House isn't pulling this crap with Emperor Belos.

There's not much else I can really say. It's a cheap excuse for a “What if?” episode that is pretty much “Cat Blanc 2”.

#17: Risk

In Miraculous Ladybug's long standing tradition of its season finales having better first halves than the second, “Risk” is leagues better than “Strikeback”, if only forgettable it is.

Of course, despite having a lot of confidence as Cat Noir, Adrien is helpless to stand up to his father, even while under the influence of an Akuma who forces its victims to take more risks, so everyone has to rally around him and fight his own battles for him. Because it's always good writing when one of your two main characters is constantly coddled with affection by others, right? The fact that Felix and Adrien once again switched places was boring, Marinette's subplot amounted to nothing, Lila had no reason to be there, and that damn frog kid wouldn't shut up. I really can't say a lot here, because other than thinking it's better than “Strikeback”, my opinion hasn't changed a bit.

Look, this is a really boring episode to talk about, and rewatching it is hard because most of the plotlines introduced went absolutely nowhere, as the second half focused more on Felix than either of the main characters. The only reason why I think it's better than “Strikeback” is because it's nowhere as infuriating as that or the earlier entries on the list. So yeah, while it's not incredibly bad, it's easily one of the most forgettable episodes in the entire show, and that's saying something.

#16: Simpleman

The only reason why this episode is higher than “Risk” is because I like the Akuma design a lot more. That's it.

Again, hardly anything happens in this episode. The lesson on keeping things simple is as consistent as the forecast in New England, the Marinette and Adrien subplot was stupid, Rolland's motivation for being akumatized made no sense, and we're pretty much forced to follow these kids around while they help Ladybug and Cat Noir save the day. I seriously don't get why shows like this think kids want to see other kids in cartoons starring teenagers or older people. No kid wants to pretend to be Manon when they're playing. They want to pretend to be Ladybug and Cat Noir, the actual superheroes. These kids do nothing but eat up screentime that should be going to the superheroes the audience actually wants to see.

I think the worst part of the episode was that it contradicted its own moral for the sake of making yet another “Marinette stutters around Adrien” gag. Fun fact about myself: I actually have a stutter when I talk that I'm looking into getting help for, which is why I take these unfunny jokes about mocking Marinette stuttering so seriously.

Then there's the metatextual stuff Astruc said the episode was supposed to have, as if it was really this deep masterpiece of a story. The fact that Astruc thinks that it's a super compelling story because it calls out critics of the show while acting like kids are great because they don't ask questions about the writing is arguably one of the more perplexing things I've ever heard him say. Like, this dude will literally use any excuse to talk about how deep his show is when this episode is about as deep as a kiddie pool.

#15: Sole Crusher

I can already imagine this is what you're thinking as you realize how high this episode is on the list.

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I swear I can explain. Yes, this was the episode that introduced Zoe, and it was really where the writers dropped all the pretenses and tried to make us hate Chloe more than the main villain, but I think the episode had a few good points, like a good Akuma design, and... uh... competent pacing?

It does a decent job establishing Zoe as a character, despite her nonexistent personality, and the Akuma fight wasn't terrible. Like, this episode is bad, but compared to “Queen Banana”, it's harmless. Other than that, there's really not much I can say here.

#14: Mr. Pigeon 72

It's time to talk about “Fanservice: The Episode”, and by that, I mean “Mr. Pigeon 72”.

Yeah, this was still a pretty rough episode to get through, mainly because once again, the writers think Marinette stammering and tripping around Adrien is the funniest stuff they've ever come up with. In addition, the episode thinks it's perfectly okay for Marinette to swoop in and ask Adrien out right after his breakup with Kagami while laughing at the idea of Marinette wanting to comfort Kagami in the first place. Like, Jesus, writers, you really want to set up the Love Square again this quickly, don't you?

I still stand by my theory that some of the stuff in this episode was included as a way to lure back Love Square shippers by making them think there was going to be progression because of that new umbrella scene, when in reality, nothing changed between the two this season. Just like with “Ephemeral”, I don't see the point in redoing something we've already seen, especially if they don't have a Season 1 budget. It's a blatant excuse at fanservice that just doesn't work.

Putting the poor story aside, I still think the episode had some decent moments, like the action and use of Rena Rouge's illusions, as well as the occasional funny joke. Other than that, it's a very bland episode that fails miserably to get back the investment of Love Square shippers who jumped ship after Season 3. It's bad, but not as bad as some of the worst this season has to offer.

#13: Dearest Family

Look, this episode isn't great. I think the Tikki plotline is stupid, and the Megakuma idea is pointless, but I still think it had some good visuals and animation. The giant galette plummeting towards Earth looked pretty menacing, and as underwhelming as it was for the story, Cat Noir destroying it looked cool enough.

That being said, the Akuma team was still pretty weak, as not much was done to show off their powers. Weredad only got to use his vines once, Befana only used a couple of fairy minions, while Bakerix and Qilin didn't even get to do anything cool. The infighting was a nice idea, but I think it was executed better in “Crocoduel”. The Tikki plotline was still dumb, because even though the season wants to act like Marinette doesn't trust anyone when this plot literally happened because Marinette decided to trust Tikki over the other Kwamis, and once again, almost inadvertently caused the end of the world because of it.

I know I might sound like I'm being nitpicky here, but compared to some of the other episodes here, this one isn't really bad, just mediocre. It has a few good moments, but it's honestly nothing special, and even the idea of the Megakuma supposedly being plot-relevant isn't worth the rewatch.

#12: Gabriel Agreste

Look, writers, I get that Marinette's the main character, but of all the ways to get her involved in the story, you choose one of the most pointless subplots in the show's history?

It doesn't even make sense that Marinette has to go undercover when it was Nathaniel and Marc's drawings that Chloe snapped some pictures of, so why did she have to clean up their mess and take blame for it while Nathaniel and Marc faced no consequences and made a comic book making fun of Marinette for having to go through this whole ordeal? The party itself was cryptic for no real reason. I know I'm not part of the 1%, but what's the point of leaving your phone with a glorified Roomba and dancing while wearing masks? Is that a rich person thing I'm not aware of? And of course, the only reason this plot went on for so long was because the writers forgot what social media is, because Chloe goes out of her way to show Gabriel a picture when she could have just texted him or posted it on social media for everyone to see. This episode came out early into the 2020's, so you can't say Chloe, the girl who posts on social media constantly, was too stupid to think of this.

What salvages the episode is the subplot with Felix and Gabriel. It's pretty interesting to see a majority of the action revolve around Felix trying to outsmart his evil uncle, while Gabriel tries to throw Felix off his track. If Chloe didn't get so much screentime across this season, I think Felix could have been a more compelling character.

In general, I think the episode could have been a lot better if there was much more focus on the conflict between Felix and Gabriel instead of all this Unfunny Marinette Slapstick set in this Squid Game-themed masquerade ball. Also, really subtle with the masks, writers. It's almost like it's a reference to Gabriel being a supervillain.

#11: Truth

It's the opening episode of Season 4, and what do I think of it? Uh... It wasn’t terrible?

I think the episode does a good enough job showing the tragedy of Luka and Marinette's breakup, and the way Truth's powers worked was interesting enough, as was the use of an Akuma and a Sentimonster to establish Shadowmoth's new powers. Generally, this is a pretty decent way to set up the tone of the season, with major reveals and plot twists, not to mention how it set up Gabriel being more dangerous as Shadowmoth, even if he ended up being more pathetic as the season went on.

On the other hand, you can really tell the writers wanted to rush through Luka and Marinette's relationship so they could go back to the same routine of teasing the Love Square. I still think there was some kind of change behind the scenes, because there's no way these writers would spend two seasons building up a relationship that gets undone in a single episode. As critical as I am about what happened to Chloe, her betrayal at least impacted the story and arguably caused a lot of the stuff in this very season to happen. Here, the Lukanette breakup barely amounted to anything, and Luka was essentially pushed to the sidelines, becoming yet another Love Square shipper thanks to knowing both Ladybug and Cat Noir's identities.

The writers trying to blame Marinette for still loving Adrien didn't really work, because 1) Adrien was barely present in the episode outside of his scenes as Cat Noir, so it's hard to really see how Marinette views him in an episode where everyone says she still loves Adrien, and 2) the episode itself doesn't care enough to focus on this aspect of Marinette's character because they thought the bombshell of who Luka's father is (something that hadn't been mentioned once outside of some mild foreshadowing in “Desperada”) was far more important. Making the second half of the episode revolve around this is a disservice to Marinette, Luka, and Adrien, because even though the three are the focus of the conflict, all Jagged Stone does is waste time that should have been spent on Luka realizing Marinette will never love him as much as she loves Adrien.

I still think the episode is decent, but the writers really needed to save the Jagged Stone stuff for another episode and focus on breaking up the relationship they themselves spent so much time on for some reason.

#10: Sentibubbler

This is an episode with some really high points that unfortunately stumbled towards the finish line.

First off, I love the premise of Shadowmoth himself heading into the field to coax Alya into betraying Ladybug. Yeah, you could argue it's a repeat of what he did in “Miracle Queen” with a more direct hostage situation, but there's still a lot of tension and high stakes here. I also love the battle of wits Alya and Shadowmoth get into thanks to Alya secretly having the Fox Miraculous, leading to some much more creative illusions, as well as Alya having to take charge with Marinette being held captive. The first half of this episode genuinely has some great drama and a compelling story.

Unfortunately, towards the end, the episode starts to falter, which is why it isn't higher. I feel like I've already gone into how unheroic Cat Noir smashing that chimney and defying Rena Rouge's orders out of anger is, but the way the conflict is ultimately resolved is very underwhelming. It was pretty obvious that the only reason why Pegabug couldn't steal Shadowmoth's Miraculous while she had the chance was to keep the season's plot going, as was why Shadowmoth placed Sentibubbler's Amok in a coffee cup of all things instead of in his cane or somewhere else. There was also the fact that Ladybug's Lucky Charm didn't even factor into her resolving the conflict, just to trap the Cesaire family's pet tarantula, which also didn't play a big part in the climax despite being set up to do so earlier.

So yeah, while the episode had a strong enough start to crack the top ten, it unfortunately couldn't get any higher due to how quickly things fell apart towards the end.

#9: Rocketear

While it's still very flawed, this episode honestly holds up surprisingly well.

I like how it decides to give more focus on Alya and Nino, two characters who really needed more focus lately. I also think it was nice to show some actual conflict in their relationship, as it does more to make them seem like actual characters compared to them just being the same character in Season 3. It's pretty interesting to see Alya be the one to struggle with balancing her social life and her new support role as Rena Furtive. You can see she generally loves Nino, and having to keep secrets from him really hurts her. It's some pretty good stuff.

This is also easily the best Adrien has been the whole season. Not only does he take fault for supposedly charming his best friend's girlfriend, he talks to her to clear things up, and when he learns she and his best friend know each other's secret identities, his reactions are genuinely believable, as he sees a double standard he's hurt by. Why couldn't we get more of this Adrien for this season? He's far more tolerable than he was in “Strikeback” or “Glaciator 2”. Did the writers just not realize they had lightning in a bottle here?

Other than that, the episode still has flaws, mainly Nino's controlling behavior and refusal to let Alya have a life of her own. It really doesn't do much to help his character, much less feel bad for him here. Then again, guys acting like assholes to the girls and getting off scot-free seems to be a theme for this show. There's also Nino's new Akuma form, Rocketear, which I already went over and explained why it was so underwhelming. The ending with Alya telling Nino her identity as Rena Furtive was something that could have led to some interesting drama, but ended up being pointless by the end.

But honestly, it's not as bad as I thought it was when I first reviewed it. It could still be better, but it's not completely terrible.

#8: Wishmaker

Likewise, this episode does have some pretty good moments, and the story is actually pretty interesting.

Seeing both Marinette and Adrien worry about their futures while considering everything they're going through does make for some compelling drama. I'm sure this is something viewers of all ages can relate to, as we've all been here before. I also like the lesson behind Andre quitting his office job to pursue a career in something he's more passionate about, selling ice cream to others. Yeah, it doesn't really make up for both Glaciator episodes, but it's still a nice backstory that teaches viewers that sometimes, people will find a profession they like later in life. Even though it's obvious this is to show they're just friends now, I still like how Luka and Marinette interacted this episode while Luka talked about his dream of making instruments. Another thing I liked was the art shift showing drawings of the dreams people like Andre and the victims of Wishmaker had. It was a decent visual, and I thought it was a nice touch.

Of course, the episode still has its fair share of problems, mainly with how Alec is portrayed. While it's not bad on its own, the fact that Alec got to have a very quick change of heart thanks to Luka and Andre while a majority of Chloe's appearances show how irredeemable she is is frustrating to say the least. Yes, what Chloe did was worse, but it's strange that the writers act like the grown man who likes to humiliate people on TV is a better person than the girl who still has a lot of room to develop as a person. Alec also becoming what's heavily implied to be a drag queen was an ending that came out of nowhere, and it only makes me wonder if this was to appeal to make it seem the show is woke or something like that.

There's also the whole thing with Viperion finding out Ladybug and Cat Noir's identities only really amounting to him having a reason to ship the Love Square. With Ladybug, it was understandable, but it's really weird that the show never called out Cat Noir for letting himself get hit by Wishmaker on purpose. Don't get me wrong, the tragic image of Adrien's dream to just be the ideal child for his parents isn't a bad visual, but it's just how we got it that bothers me. Maybe if he sacrificed himself as usual or if there was more thought put into how reckless this action was, it could have worked, but as it stands, it still really sours the episode for me. It's far from the worst thing he's done this season, but it's still not a good moment for him.

So yeah, while it's a sort of funeral for Lukanette, I still think this was an above average, if very flawed, episode.

#7: Psycomedian

A celebrity guest star episode that isn't blatantly worshiping the guest in question? Say it isn't so!

While I don't think a lot of his jokes are funny, I still thought Franck Dubosc gave a good performance as Harry Clown. It was a pretty grounded take on the struggles some celebrities have to go through whenever they try to break out of the niche they've made a name for themselves in. Sure, it's not “Beware the Gray Ghost” levels of heartbreaking, but it's still some pretty compelling stuff, even if most of the mockery Harry's planned movie got is eerily similar to some of the things Astruc himself said about Pixar's lineup. Even the ending where Ladybug and Cat Noir just told Harry that Bob Roth wasn't the only manager in Paris was a pretty funny, yet optimistic way to end things on.

Another thing that puts this episode above the others is that for the most part, the writers get all the cringe out of the way. After Alya “reassures” Marinette that her flaws are good, and Marinette's disastrous prop comedy performance that wasn't nearly as bad as what she did in “The Puppeteer 2”, things mostly pick up from there. The twist of a relatively simple Akuma to beat being made harder by Ladybug's mood change was a nice change of pace, as was Cat Noir actually stepping up and taking the lead for once. Even some of the emotional beats like Marinette crying were taken very seriously, as tonally jarring as they could be at times.

Granted, my biggest problem with the episode that prevents me from putting it any higher is the whole idea that Marinette's erratic behavior being the only thing to really make Adrien laugh is nowhere near as heartwarming as the writers want it to be. They're essentially saying Adrien only finds Marinette funny/interesting when she's making a fool of herself in public. Sure, it's a decent attempt to show Adrien cares for Marinette, but it really could have been done in a better way.

Other than that, it's a surprisingly good episode, even if nobody ever made a “What’s black and white, and red all over?” gag with Psycomedian’s design.

#6: Crocoduel

When you take away the fact that the reveal of Jagged Stone being Luka and Juleka's father could have easily been established here instead of in “Truth”, this is actually a pretty good episode.

Like I mentioned, I have some problems with the whole thing about Jagged being a deadbeat dad, but I think he was handled pretty well here, genuinely wanting to actually connect with his children after years of neglect. I also think the idea of the argument between him and Anarka over their old record starting out small but gradually becoming Akumas as a result of the rising tensions was well done for the most part, even if the writers skipped out on actually acknowledging how Jagged missed out on his children's lives, much less portray Luka and Juleka as having trouble connecting with him. In addition, while I thought it could have been done better, the minor subplot with Marinette and Luka struggling to adjust to becoming friends was adequate enough.

The action with the titular Crocoduel was also pretty fun, as it really showed how much chaos their fight was causing and how Ladybug and Cat Noir couldn't do much to break it up. And then there's the stuff with Purple Tigress. While I have some problems with the poor explanation of her power, I can't lie when I say that seeing her using Clout to punch both villains into the sky while yelling at them to stop fighting and talk didn't put a huge grin on my face.

Of course, outside of the writers deliberately ignoring the space power-ups that allowed Ladybug and Cat Noir to fly, this episode can't really be ranked any higher because a lot of the ideas for the story here, while interesting, aren't explored as much as they really could have been. But hey, just missing the top five is still pretty rock and roll if you ask me.

#5: Gang of Secrets

I said before that this episode was okay in my initial review, but my opinion has sort of changed since then.

Like with “Psycomedian”, it feels like the writers but the bullet and saved the cringe like Cat Noir's annoying flirting and Alya violating Marinette's privacy for just the first act, because afterwards, things mostly pick up from there. The titular Team of Secrets is a pretty effective unit overall, even if we didn't get to see all of them do anything cool, like that army of brainwashed Reflekta clones that just disappeared offscreen. The action also holds up surprisingly well, and compared to later instances this season, the scene where Alya breaks free of Shadowmoth's control is a pretty powerful moment. The actual reveal of Marinette's identity is also very well shot. There's no big visual or drawn out conversation. It just focuses on the expressions of both girls, and their reactions to this huge shift in the status quo.

So while it just made the top five, I still think this episode was a lot better than I gave it credit for initially.

#4: Mega Leech

While the episode is a very simplified take on climate change, I still think it does a pretty good job with what it sets out to do.

The whole plot with the Oxygen Project being backed by Mayor Bourgeois in an attempt to look good is actually some pretty good commentary on politicians either pretending to care about certain issues to boost approval ratings or generally having no idea how to deal with situations like climate change. Getting a superstar like Adrien to promote the bottled air while Adrien himself didn't know the true context was also a nice touch.

The actual Akuma fight was also a nice scenario, as it mixed up Malediktator's mind control powers in a fresh way thanks to the use of Mega Leech. Granted, it's a little specific that all the clones were tiny in an obvious attempt to warrant the use of the Mouse Miraculous, but it's still pretty nice. The fact that the team has to divide and conquer to stop the Malediktator clones and Mega Leech is a great way to shake up the standard Akuma formula. I especially liked the way Ladybug and the other temp heroes rounded up all of the Akumas and Amoks in one space for Ladybug to purify.

Most of the problems I really had with the episode were really just nitpicks and minor gripes in my opinion. Aside from the obvious unfunny gag with Marinette fawning over Adrien and the obvious plot twist of Cat Noir once again being brainwashed to add drama to the plot, I didn't like the episode saying Marinette isn't as good as Mylene because she didn't remember the protest she had planned... when Marinette spends most of her time saving the city. That's like saying Superman is a terrible hero because he doesn't help out at his local soup kitchen. I also really didn't get why Marinette didn't just unify the Ladybug and Mouse Miraculous together to get the job done when “Kwamibuster” showed she was more than capable of doing it. It's not as bad as forgetting about the space power-up in “Crocoduel”, but it still bothers me.

But then again, for an environmental episode, it not only does a good job at teaching a lesson, but it manages to be pretty entertaining as a regular episode as well.

#3: Guiltrip

Again, I still can't believe the writers haven't realized that the episodes that aren't dominated by the Love Square are some of the better written ones than the ones that over rely on it.

Forgetting the blatant Adrienette tease, this was still a great focus episode for Rose and the other kids in the class. It discusses the idea of how to treat people with disabilities and diseases. Granted, the episode doesn't clarify what kind of illness Rose has, but it shows how while it does make Rose different, it's no excuse to panic over her like she's this precious glass sculpture. She's just as capable of taking care of herself, even if her illness gets her down occasionally. While I would have preferred if Rose's illness was actually defined, I still like how the vague illness can easily be interpreted as a stand-in for any disease or disability, physical or mental. It's done in a way that makes it so more people can relate to Rose's position of constantly being coddled for when she doesn't really need it, highlighted best when we see Juleka's greatest desire at the moment is for the class to just have a normal day with Rose.

The actual Akuma action is a really cool twist on the formula we've come to expect. The writers seemed to realize how often they've used Reflekta, so she's mostly sidelined in favor of Guiltrip itself, which is less of a monster and more of a pocket dimension, leading to some pretty eerie visuals as a result. I especially like how the conflict is more about trying not to give into despair instead of just fighting a bunch of Reflekta clones like the past few times. Even if I hated the way Cat Noir had to be reassured by Ladybug, it made more sense here because the episode was all about staying positive about things. And of course, Pigella is a pretty great temp hero, and her saving the day felt more warranted compared to earlier temp hero episodes before this season.

Even the cringey moments like Marinette simping over Adrien as usual and the aforementioned boosting Cat Noir's ego scene were very brief, and didn't really derail the plot that much. It's almost like not relying on the same old gags means more focus on telling a good story. But of course, since the episode's all about being positive, I can positively say this episode deserves the #3 spot.

#2: Furious Fu

Ah yes, the very first episode of this season I reviewed, and in my opinion, the episode that should have been used to kick off the season instead of the “Truth”/“Lies” duology we got instead.

This episode's plot is a pretty interesting conflict revolving around Marinette's struggle to adjust to her new role as Guardian, and it's done far better than “Truth”. The idea of Su-Han being a very no-nonsense character in comparison to the more soft-spoken Master Fu does make for a good conflict, as you can see the point he's trying to make here. Marinette was literally made Guardian as a last resort, isn't the normal age most people get their Miraculous, and doesn't know the identity of the dude with the power of mass destruction on his finger.

At the same time, you can see where Su-Han is wrong, as he doesn't know about all the good Marinette has done as Ladybug, isn't able to stop Akumas by himself, and could care even less about erasing Marinette's memory and taking back her and Adrien's Miraculous by force. It's a great conflict of ideals.

The action is also really great, as is Furious Fu himself. Sure, he doesn't have the best personality, but I love how he's basically there to screw up the conflict between Ladybug, Cat Noir, and Su-Han. And of course, unlike in “Penalteam”, the brief soccer game was actually fun to watch.

The only problems I had with the episode were how annoying the Kwamis were initially, and still portraying Fu as someone who made a huge sacrifice, but those are very minor in comparison to how great this episode was. But of course, there's only one episode this season that I thought was better...

#1: Optigami

Yeah, if you read my initial review of this episode, you already know this episode was my favorite this season. Not only that, but it's become one of my favorite episodes of the entire series.

I love the plan Gabriel and Nathalie come up with here, as it exploits the temp hero formula that had become common since Season 2. Because most of the exposed temp heroes are being targeted, the stakes feel far more serious compared to your average episode. It's even harder because both Marinette and Adrien aren't able to head into action, meaning the threat is even higher without Ladybug or Cat Noir to at least hold off Style Queen. This is why it's also really cool to see Alya take charge and prove herself worthy of being Marinette's confidant, while still making a mistake that almost costs them the Turtle Miraculous. It shows she has good intentions, but can be just as impulsive as Marinette, and like Marinette, has to learn from her mistakes. Granted, it doesn't stick, but in the context of the episode, it's a good moral.

There's really not much else I can say, as the only problem I have is with the beginning with the standard cringey Marinette simping for Adrien scenes, but those thankfully go away once the action kicks in. Even the cliche evil doppelganger plotpoint is done in an interesting way that makes said evil doppelganger, Sentinino, much more interesting than Copycat, Antibug, or Volpina.

It's just a really good episode, folks, and easily deserves the #1 spot on this list.

And with that, I'm finally done with this season. Just so you know, I probably won't do another one of these rankings when Season 5 ends. I broke the thirty-three page mark with this, and I'm tired as hell.

#immaturity of thomas astruc #iota #miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug salt #ml salt #miraculous ladybug sugar #ml sugar

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aliensunflower-fics · 11 months

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Dating ‘Prince Charming’ Part 2/3

[ Lila is finally starting to learn what its really like to be Adrien Agreste's girlfriend and finding out its not everything she hoped it would be. But while the liar struggles Marinette works toward her goals and meets someone new. ]

[ Prefer AO3? Link HERE! | Part 1 HERE! | Part 3 Coming Soon | Masterlist Link HERE! ]

Chloe made her grand return 3 weeks after Lila and Adrien’s big dating announcement. The bossy blonde had been away in New York with her mother and it was only in retrospect that Marinette briefly wondered if the entire timing of her and Adriens break up and Lila and Adriens announcement had been planned. After all Chloe had not taken well to Marinette dating Adrien and the class president was positive she would not take the news that Lila had swooped in right after their big breakup any better.

As it turns out Marinette had been right at least about Chloe not taking the news well. She’d walked into class early (for her) only to be met with chaos as Chloe and Lila stood opposed and yelling filled the classroom. Despite the fact that Marinette KNEW Chloe would hate whoever dated Adrien the sight was still enough to leave her mildly stunned after all Lila and Chloe had been tag team harassing Marinette since the second she and Adrien had started dating so to see the once allies now locked in a vicious match each using their unique brand of awful against each other… Well it was something.

Luckily Marinette knew she would not have to lift a finger to fix things. Because this? This was Adrien’s problem. And Marinette had no intention of helping or playing mediator. After all Adrien had let Lila and Chloe stomp all over their relationship when they’d still been dating, heck he’d even asked Marinette to simply deal with it so now he could deal with it and Marinette severely doubted that Lila would be even half as accepting or accommodating as she had been.

So while the two wannabe queens duked it out Lila with fake tears and Chloe with vicious mockery Marinette simply glided past the drama and up to her seat where she pulled out her sketchbook and started adding the finishing touches to a sketch of a brand new rock and roll suit for Uncle Jagged. Now that she wasn’t chasing after Adrien 24/7 and making him gifts and worrying about him or Lila or Chloe not to mention trying to keep up with her school work and grades all while also being Ladybug well Marinette had time on her hands and she’d been using it to study, track down Hawkmoth with Alya’s help, spend time with friends but most of all she’d been using that time on her career.

As she wrote in what materials she would need to get a certain sheen effect on the outfit, Marinette noticed the green eyes looking up at her desperately from the front of the class. Marinette glanced up noting how Adrien seemed to be trying to plead with her to help as he tried to reign in his dramatic new girlfriend and attack dog childhood friend; she only cocked her head to the side, smiled and offered him a little wave before continuing with her work. Yeah no way was she willingly throwing herself into THAT.

Sure enough before class could start Adrien managed to drag Lila out of the room and into the hallway no doubt to give her the same speech he had given Marinette when THEY were dating Lila bursting back into the classroom a few minutes later looking like she’d just swallowed a whole lemon only confirmed Marinette’s suspicions.

What Marinette had not expected was Lila openly complaining about ADRIEN at lunch, hours after the incidents of that morning. Marinette ate her steamed bun as she watched with mild surprise as the Italian wailed and threw a veritable tantrum as she told the girls all about how Adrien had put Chloe first and had asked Lila to simply deal with it. It was so painfully ironic that Marinette struggled not to roll her eyes. Honestly after the breakup Marinette had for a brief time contemplated revenge because truthfully. She was hurt and mad but Tikki had talked her out of it claiming that karma would have its way Marinette hadn’t believed the little god at the time too lost in her grief and her ice cream but now? Well now Marinette was starting to understand what Tikki meant. Because Lila wanted to be Adrien Agreste’s girlfriend no matter what it took, and she was only now starting to see what that really meant.

Sure enough in the weeks that followed Lila and Chloe kept each other busy allowing Marinette to for the first time in years relax at school. Of course Lila tried to redirect Chloe’s hatred back at Marinette by telling the blonde about how it had been Marinette who initiated the break up. But Marinette had easily overcome Chloe’s rage with honesty after all she had only broken up with Adrien because she knew they were incompatible and that Adrien would be happier with someone else, something Chloe agreed with though the way in which the blonde agreed made Marinette’s eye twitch just a little.

And then of course there was Adrien who was still trying to get Marinette to step in and help him handle his childhood friend and girlfriend but Marinette had been able to dodge him for weeks until they were having a class meetup at the park. Chloe was not attending due to wanting to avoid the ‘peasants’ as she so called them and Lila claimed she would be late due to an important meeting with some famous person. Honestly Marinette had not even bothered to pay attention. Adrien had noted the lack of ‘problem people’ and had decided to make a bold move calling Marinette out as they all hung out together to ‘talk to her in private’ yeah like THAT was going to happen.

Marinette knew Adrien’s modus operandi very well. He’d call you out, ask to talk to you privately and then lay on the guilt trip. No way was she doing that anymore she’d endured enough of them while they were dating to last a lifetime.

“Actually I would prefer not to talk to you alone, Adrien. You're publicly dating someone and we never know when your fans or the paparazzi might be around. Besides anything you can say to me in private you can say in front of OUR friends.”

Adrien looked like a kicked puppy at her words. But as their classmates quickly took her side and insisted he tell Marinette whatever he needed with them around the blonde was backed into a corner.

“Well the thing is… I was wondering if you could help? With the whole Lila, Chloe situation?”

Marinette wasn’t even given a chance to respond. The second the words left Adrien’s mouth the entire class bristled, many giving Adrien looks of confusion and shock as if he’d just spoken pure nonsense and honestly in a way he had. Nathaniel however was the one who said it best.

“Wait I’m sorry are you seriously asking Marinette to mediate between her long time bully and the girl you started dating not even an hour after your break up with her? Are you serious?!”

“W-Well I just thought-”

“Thought what Agreste? That Marinette should put herself in the worlds worst situation completely ignoring her own feelings just to make your life easier?”

Oof Kim going straight for the throat.

“B-But shes the class president!”

“So?! That doesn’t make her a genie! She can't just clap her hands and fix everything nor should she have to!”

Marinette had never heard Rose sound so upset in her life, which is when the young fashion designer knew it was her turn to say her piece and get things back under control.

“Adrien.” She ignored the hopeful look he shot her. “Not only do I not want to get involved but I don’t think it would help. Chloe doesn’t like me and Lila’s ‘disease’-” she said the word with barely concealed sarcasm “acts up when I’m around. So I’m sorry but no I will not help you with this.”

“But I’m sure if you just-”

The look the class shot him was enough to end the conversation and Marinette let out a relieved sigh as her heart filled with warmth she really loved her friends.

A month after the conversation in the park Lila Rossi got her second harsh wake up call to the ‘true joys’ of being Adrien Agreste’s girlfriend and it was a two for one deal.

Lila had seemingly been under the assumption that once she was dating Adrien her own popularity would rise to meet his but she was starting to learn that wasn’t the case. Adrien still got plenty more photo-shoots then she did and most were still solo and since they were fast approaching the spring fashion season Adrien was plenty busy with more and more shoots while Lila was left waiting for her turn in the spotlight.

Perhaps it was the frustration at not immediately sky rocketing her way up in fame or maybe it was the snide comments from Adrien Fangirls talking about the lack of couples shoots but Lila seemingly came up with the brilliant plan to force the spotlight onto herself by demanding, manipulating and forcing Adrien to take her on big flashy fancy dates where the paparazzi always conveniently found them Marinette had no doubt Lila was the one tipping them off but she kept her mouth shut. It wasn’t her problem.

However while Lila was enjoying her tabloid paparazzi fueled fame the class and more surprisingly Gabriel Agreste himself were beginning to notice the way it was wearing Adrien down. Between his photo-shoots and busy schedule all of Adrien’s precious free time was being filled up by Lila and her many needy antics and it was starting to show in the way Adrien carried himself and how exhausted he seemed.

Nino was the one who led the charge just as he had when Lila manipulated the class into thinking her ‘clingy’ but where Marinette had gotten some hurtful but well meaning lectures about her Adrien obsession which in retrospect DID help her realize her love was unhealthy. Lila was not given such a kind well meaning speech instead Nino got mad, something he rarely let himself become.

As it turns out Lila had worn Adrien down to the point where the blonde was too exhausted to function and he’d nearly passed out while standing and talking to Nino and that mixed with the fact that it had previously been Lila who painted the faux picture of Marinette as the clingy evil girlfriend isolating the boy from his friends was enough for Nino to harshly call her out. The liar did do her best to wriggle out of the situation trying to claim she only wanted ‘some’ private time with her oh so busy boyfriend but Nino was not having it and the class was too happy to back him up.

The more Lila tried to defend and excuse her actions the angrier Nino got and much to the liars annoyance the young musician had proof and plenty of it. Between his text correspondence with Adrien that revealed the model was constantly being forced to cancel relaxing friend days to take Lila out on flashy dates that always ended with paparazzi and fans swarming the location and forcing Adrien into high stress situations, and an extremely detailed schedule planner that Nino had made to keep track of his best buds work life balance (potential evidence to blackmail Gabriel Agreste if he ever threatened to pull Adrien out of school again apparently). The facts didn’t lie and they were showing that Lila was the real ‘clingy’ girlfriend.

Things eventually got so heated between Nino and Lila arguing that an akuma appeared to try and take advantage of the situation. Luckily for everyone Ladybug had been patrolling and stopped the naughty little butterfly from making things worse. In the end Lila was forced to grit her teeth and apologize to her darling boyfriend. Though perhaps what upset her more was the way the class proceeded to apologize to Marinette after the fact for ever accusing her of being clingy and taking up too much of Adrien’s free time.

However Lila still thought she had one last ace up her sleeve, and so after the class luncheon ended the liar proceeded to contact Gabriel hoping to get her new boyfriends dad to reign him in and do her bidding. Unluckily for Lila however Gabriel had been paying attention to the situation and that fact that it had ALMOST led to an akuma made him look even closer into things.

And he was not happy with what he found. The paparazzi pictures and articles that resulted from Lila and Adrien’s flashy dates had started positively enough with headlines and puff pieces about how cute the couple looked together, how it was nice to see the young Agreste in more casual settings with his girlfriend. But as the dates became more and more frequent and Lila’s constant demands and needs grew the articles slowly began to change soon they were discussing the concerning amount of money Adrien must be spending on his girlfriend, how exhausted and stressed the young Agreste heir looked under his strained smiles and was he eating and sleeping enough?

The akuma he’d sent had only further confirmed Gabriel’s negative feelings toward Lila though it did make him re-evaluate the young Lahiffe boy. Gabriel had originally thought the wannabe musician might just be interested in Adrien for money but seeing the lengths he went to defend his friend had the designer impressed and even a little grateful. So when Lila phoned to try and throw the boy under the bus and get Gabriel to side with her, well she had another thing coming.

Marinette heard later from Alya and the rest of the girls that Lila was ‘devastated’ how she’d wailed sobbed and thrown the tantrum of the century as she ranted and raved about Gabriel putting a 1 date a month maximum limit on Adrien and Lila. The two lovebirds could still hang out of course but it would be in the company of the rest of the class or other friends, or if they really wanted some privacy it would be strictly at the Agreste mansion for studying. Lila had told the girls that it was unfair and unjust that Gabriel was trying to get in the way of their love! Alya had relayed to Marinette that while the girls agreed that 1 date a month was a bit rough they all thought Lila’s tantrum was a bit childish especially when they all remembered how Marinette had rarely if ever got to enjoy 1 private date a month with Adrien and never in public.

Of course just because Lila had been told ‘no’ didn’t mean the liar was going to listen. And so she began trying to find ways to manipulate Adrien into ‘accidental’ dates, bugging the blonde to take her out instead of settling for lunch at school or trying to conveniently separate the two of them from the rest of the group during weekend and after school hang outs. But each time Lila tried Nino thwarted her eventually the Italian had gotten so angry at his meddling that she phoned Gabriel again this time to try and get the musician removed or banned or ANYTHING so that he’d back off, so when she instead learned that Nino had been asked by Gabriel to keep an eye out on for his son and that Adrien knew about it well the liar was furious.

Marinette learned later this time from Rose and Juleka that the Italian had tried to go on another tantrum tirade only to be stopped by Alya who would not tolerate anyone badmouthing her lovely boyfriend. Needless to say, Marinette was quick to notice the following Monday how Lila pouted and avoided the Ladyblogger like the plague. Luckily Marinette made sure Alya didn’t dwell on it too much by inviting the girl over to help her brainstorm some new ideas.

Because while Lila was focusing on leeching the fame and fortune off her boyfriend and being met with endless failures and a very hostile guard dog called Chloe. Marinette had been THRIVING. The suit she’d designed for Jagged had gone viral online and soon Jagged was passing on her contact information to a small selection of celebrities Marinette felt comfortable designing for. The fact that her identity was a secret and she had a very exclusive client list had only caused MDC to soar even higher in popularity with the public making it clear that they too wanted access to MDC fashion. And so Marinette had done her research and with the help of Uncle Jagged and Aunt Penny she’d set up an online store where she would sell ready made clothes.

Of course just because Marinette was seeing success didn’t mean she had forgotten about her friends. In fact the entire class minus Lila, Adrien and Chloe knew very well the true identity of the elusive MDC and that was because while Marinette was taking big steps toward her dreams she was helping her friends do just the same.

After all it didn’t take long for the internet to learn that the mysterious MDC designed Kitty Sections outfits causing the band to have a surge of free publicity that led to many people discovering their music and falling in love with the band.

Then there was Nathanial, Marc and Alya who Marinette or should she say MDC collaborated with while designing her ‘hero hoodie’ fashion collection all of them saw a boost in views with Marc and Nathanial’s comic picking up new readers though it was there brand new all original idea that had really flown off the shelves earning them an online cult following. Alya meanwhile got her blog spotted by Lois Lane herself who was impressed with the young future journalist and contacted Alya for a summer internship the scream Alya had made almost gave Marinette a heart attack.

And it didn’t end there. When Nino made a short film with Mylene and Kim of all people as his lead actors and uploaded it for free to YouTube MDC who was well known for supporting smaller creatives and signal boosting them on her social media was more than happy to make a tweet linking to the short film. Nino’s short film had been impactful and powerful despite being a comedy satire on Hawkmoth and it had quickly blown up earning Nino a summer internship at a film studio and Mylene and Kim several job offers. Kim had never been particularly interested in acting but after seeing the outpouring of love and support not to mention with the encouragement he got from his lovely girlfriend Ondine he decided to accept a few offers surprising everyone as he developed a new passion that he and Mylene bonded over.

Max, and Alix were also boosted in a similar way to Nino, Kim and Mylene when MDC retweeted some of their creative endeavors. Alix a video where she had used spray paint to recreate a few classical paintings though that had only acted as a signal boost that allowed the skater to be noticed for her real passion Extreme Sports! When a very exclusive extreme sports training summer camp contacted Alix about her attending she’d squealed almost as loud as Alya had. Max meanwhile had his demo for his work in progress video games retweeted by MDC and saw a huge surge in interest and a few interested investors and publishers even arrived with offers, though before he could agree to anything his popularity ballooned even further when a video of him showing off Markov surfaced. He had later joked to Marinette that while he appreciated the support he wasn’t sure how he felt about suddenly gaining a ‘nerd cult’ as Kim called it.

Of course all of Marinette’s friends knew she was largely responsible for their sudden surge of fame and good fortune and many of them tried to dismiss their own talents and give all the credit to Marinette. But the young designer simply threw it back at them. Yes she had signal boosted them and given them a helping hand but at the end of the day the only reason they had gotten so popular and stayed so popular after the brief burst from her influence passed and the internet moved on to the next big thing was because they were talented and amazing without Marinette.

The only problem with the classes' new found fame. Was that sooner or later Lila was bound to take notice. And take notice she did when Mylene appeared as an extra in one of Lila’s favorite daytime soaps. The liar had been so focused on Adrien and trying to leech her fame off him while beating Chloe back with a stick that she had somehow missed all the major developments. And she was livid.

She was supposed to be the most popular girl in school! She was meant to be the star, the one people admired and aspired to be like! The one they envied but loved too much to truly hate! And when she’d finally gotten Marinette and Adrien to break up she thought for sure that all her dreams would come true. But somehow while she’d been busy trying to reign in the pesky little blonde her classmates had all gone and gotten famous without her. Most of them wouldn’t even BE in Paris in the fast approaching summer since many of them either had internships, specialized camps, acting gigs, or in Kitty Sections case a whole music tour with Jagged Stone that for some reason Marinette was also a part of?!?

None of it made any sense and when Lila had gone looking for how exactly everything had happened she kept finding herself looking at MDC’s social media. The elusive and private designer was apparently a super sucker or something as every week they would highlight some small time random creator. Honestly it disgusted Lila who just handed out fame like that? Fame and popularity was meant to be exclusive! Earned! Something for only the most beautiful and talented of society. Not for chubby little idiots like Mylene or nerdy freaks like Max.

Of course Lila was nothing if not an opportunist. Sure in her opinion none of her talentless, average, classmates actually deserved their new found fame and popularity but the good thing was they were also a bunch of gullible idiots. And if she played her cards right they would surely carry her to the top. She already had the perfect lie, she would simply claim to be best friends with MDC and tell the class that she had been the one to recommend that the designer boost her classmates.

It was perfect. Genius really.

So then why did it fail immediately?

Lila stood in front of the class, her face frozen in shock as she was stared down by 10 pairs of angry glares. She had expected overwhelming thank you’s and the class bowing at her feet but the second the lie slipped out of her mouth the class instead turned on the liar like a close knit pack of wolves smelling a sheep. Honestly Lila could not understand where she’d gone wrong, and even if she had said something that was an obvious lie wouldn’t the class just normally brush it off as her disease? So why is it that they were acting this way?

It was Alya who broke the silence first.

“You want to run that by us again? Lila.”

The Italian girl swallowed the lump in her throat and ignored the obvious warning sign that was Alya’s sharp tone. Forcing a charming smile Lila brought out her sweetest voice determined that she could salvage whatever THIS was.

“I was just saying that I’m so happy for all of you! I didn’t want to say anything at the time BUT me and MDC are such good friends! So when he-”

“He?” Alix snorted and rolled her eyes. “Yeah that about confirms it.”

The entire class seemed to agree with Alix as they all shook their heads and shot Lila disappointed and annoyed looks before returning to their own conversations and or hobbies freezing her out. Ignoring her.

Oh that? That pissed Lila off like nothing else. Her cheeks grew hot as she stomped her foot angrily, regaining their attention.

“You guys think I’m telling lies again! You all promised that you wouldn’t judge me for my disease but you are!” For added effect she started to sniffle and sob expecting the class to do what they always did and feel guilty about their treatment of her and rush to comfort her.

Instead she was met with even harsher glares.

“Uhh yeah no duh we think you're lying because you ARE. We” Alix gestured to the people currently in class. “Have all met MDC and SHE not ‘he’ is a wonderful person who helped boost our careers because she thinks we're all super cool and talented not because you asked her too.”

Lila felt her face screw up like she’d just sucked a lemon but she quickly worked it to her advantage as she began to loudly sob.

“T-That’s not fair! You know I can't help my disease!”

“Uhh yeah no. I’m stopping you there.” Alya stood up looking down from her perch at Lila with her hands on her hips commanding the room, Lois had been training her well. “We can accept that MAYBE your lying disease makes you claim things when your nervous or scared like how you always accuse Marinette of stuff, and we can MAYBE believe that your disease makes you mix up names and words so you end up giving the wrong information out about charities and celebrities and yes MAYBE we can believe that you sometimes make false claims about yourself when your stressed out like that time with Clara Nightingale stealing your dance moves. Whatever! But Lila that right there? You were not having an ‘oops I lied’ moment you were actively trying to deceive us to make the false claim that YOU are the reason MDC noticed us when we know the truth. And when I gave you a chance to correct yourself you tried to double down. That was intentional. That was malicious.”

Lila felt her mouth fall open, her eyes blinking in shock. Too late she tried to recover. Tried to explain away the situation and make herself out to be innocent. But the class was done with her and they made it clear in how they iced her out. Eventually she had no choice but to suck it up and sit down at her seat. Not long later Marinette rushed into class followed by Chloe who was latched onto Adrien with Sabrina in tow.

Soon enough the school year came to an end and Lila watched bitterly through the all seeing eyes of the internet as her classmates left for their internships, job opportunities, highly specialized summer camps, and more. Meanwhile she was stuck at home. Oh sure she got to go on a few out of country photo-shoots with Adrien but her fame was still nothing compared to her boyfriends, and it was quickly becoming less than nothing as her classmates rose in influence and popularity. Come the new school year Lila would need to find some way to force the class back under her heel.

Marinette was having the best summer of her life! Jagged had taken Kitty Section on tour with him and insisted on Marinette coming with them as their designer. Marinette hadn’t been sure at first worried about the Hawkmoth situation and her own career. But in the end Tikki and her parents had convinced her. Her parents loved the idea of Marinette leaving Paris and going to see the world with her friends for a bit, and Tikki had reminded Marinette that she had the Horse Miraculous and could come home anytime, besides Hawkmoth had been getting lazier and lazier with both his akumas and the amount of them. So in the end Marinette agreed and it had been the BEST decision of her life.

They visited England before eventually traveling overseas to America. The sights and sounds and new foods were filling Marinette with inspiration and she’d never been so busy sketching. Then of course there was the great company. Uncle Jagged and Aunt Penny were wonderful and quickly ‘adopted’ all of Kitty Section + Marinette. They'd act like doting parents one second and then the next they’d be ordering way too much pizza for the teens to share.

Of course everyone missed their friends and family but video call existed and it was only for the summer anyway. Ivan was the one who was probably the worst off pouting over his beloved Mylene but the group was able to cheer him up encouraging him to write a song for his girlfriend, the piece he wrote became a new hit single the second they performed it on stage and Mylene had loved it.

The group stopped by Florida first where Jagged took them all to Disney World and then Universal Park, pictures of the rocker wearing mickey mouse ears and a hufflepuff scarf of all things while being followed by a gaggle of teenagers had soon gone viral, after that it was off to New York, and then Metropolis where they spent a bit of time so Alya could see them and hang out. Her internship with Lois Lane was going well but she’d still been relieved to see her friends and get some down time to just chill. After that they went to Gotham, which was Jagged’s home town. Now most parents might veto a place as dangerous as Gotham but seeing as how Paris was under siege by an emotional butterfly themed terrorist and they were from a class particularly used to dealing with deadly akumas on a regular basis well they were able to convince their parents to let it happen. And to Marinette’s surprise Gotham turned out to be her favorite place of the whole trip.

Sure the city was gloomy but the gothic architecture somehow inspired Marinette, and while the people were not outwardly all smiles and sunshine they were kind in their own way. But the thing Marinette ended up loving most about Gotham was its beautiful parks and famous greenhouses. Thanks to the influence of Poison Ivy and Bruce Wayne the city of Gotham had become the greenest city in all of America and it was a never ending source of inspiration for the young designer. Not to mention it was thanks to all the inspiring greenery that Marinette had met HIM.

She’d been walking through one of Gotham’s older parks admiring the beautiful blooming wisterias that had been shaped into a long hallway arch when she got bowled over by a massive terrifying but very friendly dog. Marinette had been terrified at first until she noticed the fast wagging tail and happy smile on the dog's face. Tikki had warned her that one side effect of holding the Ladybug miraculous would be extra friendly animals a rather ‘tame’ side effect compared to the super strength, increased speed, and occasional urge to hibernate when cold but still the designer had never expected to be attacked with friendly happy dog kisses, not like THIS anyway. As she squirmed and laughed she tried to gently push the dog off. That was when the dogs owner had come to her rescue. Yanking his dog off of her while admonishing it Marinette was finally able to sit up and begin wiping the dog drool off her cheek with a laugh.

“Don’t scold the cutie too much I’m okay I swear he didn’t hurt me.”

“Even if he didn’t hurt you he’s been trained better than that. I’m very sorry, please allow me to help you.”

The boy’s voice was cool, firmly polite and matter of fact leaving no room for argument. To an untrained ear he might even sound annoyed or angry but Marinette could tell that wasn’t the case. As Marinette accepted the hand the boy offered and let herself be pulled up she suddenly came face to face with the most beautiful pair of green eyes she’d ever seen.

Where Adrien’s eyes were bright like a blinding peridot green, these eyes were soft and warm like the green of a pine tree and Marinette could feel herself melt into them. It didn’t help that the rest of the boy's face was also incredibly handsome. The designer quickly shook herself out of her thoughts and glanced away not wanting to stare. Instead she directed her attention to her assailant, the dog was sitting now staring up at her with its tail still wagging wildly. Marinette smiled and reached her hand down letting the dog sniff her before she gave him some soft pets.

“Such a softy for a big guy. What's his name?”

“Titus. And I apologize again. He really is trained better than that. I don’t know what came over him.”

Marinette felt a little bad but she couldn’t exactly say that she was the chosen champion of a god and a side effect of that was very friendly animals so instead she shot the boy a smile.

“Don’t worry I just seem to have that effect on animals. Back home the pigeons and crows have started fighting for dominance of my roof and balcony because they both want my attention.”

The boy gave her a stunned look before he made a sound that Marinette believed might be a covered up laugh. She smiled even brighter and offered the boy her hand to shake.

“By the way my name is Marinette. And it's a pleasure to meet you.”

The boy looked at her hand for a moment before he eventually grabbed it and shook it awkwardly.

“Damian… It's nice to meet you too. Though I can tell by that introduction that you're not from here.”

Marinette snorted at that.

“Really the introduction was what gave it away but not my accent?”

The boy seemed to blush a little at that before he coughed awkwardly. Marinette took pity on him and giggled.

“You are correct in your deduction mr.detective. I’m visiting from Paris, France with some friends and my uncle.”

If Marinette hadn’t been too embarrassed to look him in the eyes she may have noticed the spark of curiosity when she mentioned Paris. And had she known who Damian truly was at the time she would have known that his curiosity came from the fact that Batman and the other supers had recently learned about the situation in Paris thanks to Lois Lane taking on a new intern who ran the Ladyblog. Mayor Bourgeois had been doing a good job hiding the situation but he’d overlooked the civilian journalist.

“Hm. We don’t get many tourists. What brought you all the way out here. If I may ask.”

Naturally without much thought the pair began to walk through the park together as their conversation flowed. Marinette avoided using Jagged's name not wanting her new very handsome friend to take an interest in her solely for her connections. Instead she told him that Gotham was her uncles hometown and that this was the last stop on what had already been a pretty busy summer vacation. That turned into her telling him a bit about her family in general which got him talking about his family, he complained about his adopted siblings of which there seemed to be many but Marinette could tell he loved them.

Talking about family made him admit he’d come to the park to get away from them for a little while which got Marinette talking about the park and all the beautiful nature in Gotham which got the two of them talking about the best parks in Gotham and then Marinette brought up her sketches and suddenly they were talking about art and other hobbies. Before they had even realized it they were sitting at a bench together hidden away in the trees and wisterias chatting away. Marinette didn’t know why but something about Damian made her feel comfortable. Maybe it was the way he gave her his full undivided attention, maybe it was the way he made sure not to invade her space without consent or how he didn’t interrupt her when she spoke. Either way she felt safe, felt warm, almost like she was home. And judging by the way he seemed to relax the longer they spoke, his stiff body unwinding and his gaze softening, she thought maybe he felt just as comfortable with her as she was with him.

Honestly Marinette could have sat there chatting with Damian all day in fact it had already been several hours when the pair were finally interrupted. Both of their phones began to ring, Marinette’s with the tell-tale alarm of an akuma attack in Paris and Damian’s with an emergency as the Riddler had broken out of Arkham. The teenagers regretfully had to go both citing emergencies before they departed. It wasn’t until later that they realized they had forgotten to exchange phone numbers.

The akuma back in Paris had turned out to be Lila Rossi, it seems that Adrien’s fangirls had never truly warmed up to the liar and they had been trying to dig up dirt on the girl for months before finally finding there evidence. Alya may have privated the videos of Lila’s lies after finding out about the ‘lying disease’ but apparently someone had copied and saved them beforehand. And those videos had finally made their way out into the public. Luckily no one criticized Alya seeing as how she’d already had the common sense to remove the videos from her blog it helped that Alya also made a post explaining the situation in more detail which led to the general public agreeing that it had not been Alya’s fault when she had a teacher and a principle telling her to believe in a fake ‘lying disease’ clearly it was the adults at fault here not the young girl who had believed in them.

Needless to say the public ripped Lila to shreds for being a serial liar with more of her lies coming to light each day now that she had been exposed. And obviously the Italian had not taken it well and gotten akumatized.

Marinette knew that she should be happy that Lila had been exposed. Her classmates certainly were, but instead Marinette could not help but mope. Damian had been SO kind she really had wanted to get to know him better. The fact she’d completely missed out on getting his number gnawed at her. Little did she know that Damian was across the city thinking the same thing as he sat on a Gargoyle statue.

But fate likes to play funny games. A few days later Jagged got a call from Bruce Wayne, a few of his sons namely Tim, Jason and Dick had heard about Jagged being in town and tjat the rocker had brought MDC the famous designer with him. Apparently they were huge fans and had bugged, pleaded, whined, and eventually threatened a hunger strike until Bruce would ask Jagged to pretty please introduce them. So Jagged got the go ahead from Marinette and the gaggle of teenagers plus Jagged and Penny piled into a big van and drove over to the Wayne mansion.

Seeing it from the outside, Marinette felt only intimidation and dread. It was so huge and they were so rich. What if they were unimpressed when they found out MDC was just some teenage girl? Letting Jagged guide her and her friends push her forward Marinette nervously knocked on the door and let herself be led inside by the kind old man who introduced himself as Alfred.

Walking through the halls in wonder Marinette slowly felt her fingers twitch with the urge to design. But she suppressed it and focused not wanting to be rude. As the group turned a corner into a large sitting room Marinette’s blue eyes somehow found a pair of familiar green. She gasped, he blinked wide eyed.

“Marinette?” - “Damian?”

They blinked again, shocked. Marinette eventually snorted and laughed. Damian found himself smiling as he approached the small girl. And everyone else? Well they were just confused. Except for Damian’s family they were confused and freaked out.

“Is the demon spawn, smiling Dicky bird? Or am I hallucinating?”

“No I see it too Jason. He looks genuinely happy.”

“So it's official.” Tim added “we're all hallucinating.”

After some introductions and explanations things settled down with Marinette happy to take the Wayne’s on as clients. And the Wayne’s in turn being suitably impressed and amazed by the young girls accomplishments though the part they found most amazing was how she interacted with not only them but Damian. She was genuine and kind, no fake smiles or hidden double meanings, nor did she let their money and fame impress or blind her in any way. Jason soon declared her a little sister and Jagged preened and puffed as he gloated about not only Marinette but Kitty Section as well.

The rest of the summer spent in Gotham was tons of fun with Jason teaching Juleka and Marinette how to shoot guns and ride motorcycles, Rose and Marinette learning some of Dick’s gymnastics moves, Ivan meanwhile got along well with the quiet Cass and level headed Duke. Eventually Stephanie and Bab’s returned home as well and they also took to the french teens with ease they organized girl nights where they taught the girls how to break and enter something Marinette had a natural affinity for go figure. The most surprising development however was Luka. The slightly older boy had seemingly set his sights on the awkward coffee addicted Tim and had spent the remainder of the summer wooing him.

But while Luka was wooing Tim there was one other couple slowly forming. Everyone had seen the spark between Damian and Marinette and soon enough everyone was shipping it. The pair were often ‘conveniently’ left alone or were sent on errands that somehow conveniently became accidental dates. Marinette had been guarding her heart after Adrien had shattered it but Damian made her want to take the risk and fall in love. He was charming, polite, kind, sarcastic, and as she’d learned after telling him about the entire Paris situation akuma’s and all he was protective but without going so far as to undermine Marinette’s strength. He trusted her to be fast and smart and strong enough to defend herself (especially after they did a bit of fight training for fun and she laid him flat on the ground) but he did worry and care about her.

But still there was something holding back both teens. Something that shattered near the end of the vacation. Marinette had been caught by a villain. Poison Ivy to be exact. The plant villainess had taken note of the new frequent visitor to her greenhouse but what had really gotten her attention was how the plant life reacted to her. And furthermore how the plant life SPOKE about her. Ivy’s curiosity eventually grew too large and so she snatched up the young designer and brought her home. Luckily Marinette wasn’t particularly scared of Ivy or Harley, sure she didn’t like being knocked out but she felt no real fear, in the end Ivy, Harley and Marinette ended up having an unprompted girls day complete with junk food, ranting, bad American tv and more. Ivy eventually figured that Marinette was some kind of Meta one who had a strong influence over plant and animal life and that was enough for her to adopt the small half Asian girl and inject her with her special blend the same one she’d given to Harley to keep her safe in a town full of crazies.

But while Marinette was perfectly fine hanging out with 2 of the 3 sirens Damian had not taken it so well. He had scoured the city trying to find the sirens newest abode all while he gnawed his lip until it bled. Maybe it was the stress that made him slip up or maybe it was just Marinette being too smart for her own good. But when the young Robin came bursting in through a window yelling Marinette’s name something had immediately clicked and she knew who he was. After she’d calmed the situation down and made sure no one fought anyone else, Marinette thanked Ivy and Harley for the nice day and let Robin carry her away. After talking with Tikki and deciding to be reckless and selfish for once in her life Marinette confronted Damian the next day, revealing her own identity in the process. There was some freaking out and a LOT of talking with Tikki and the rest of the bat clan but in the end it seemed to work out for the best. Ladybug was certainly happy to accept the help anyway even if Chat Noir wasn’t going to be.

A week later Damian finally asked Marinette out. Two days after that they shared their first kiss on the ferris wheel. And come the end of summer Marinette, Kitty Section and surprise guests Damian and Tim Wayne were all boarding a flight back to Paris.

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