...are you being sarcastic?

I mean with the salt that show gets it's feels very appropriate.

ooh that's a good one, thank you!! (ask game: instead of salt or hot takes, you must talk about something you like about it)

the thing that one must understand about miraculous is that you have to accept the chaos. it's an insane rollercoaster ride that will throw the most bonkers scenarios at you constantly without room to breathe, and if you can accept and embrace that chaos, you can understand this show's charm. i've been watching it for eleven years at this point and i don't plan to stop.

one thing i really appreciate is how the show has grown over the seasons. s1 was a very formulaic "villain of the week" show that hooks you in with fun fight scenes and introducing you to the love square. s2 and s3 started giving us lore about the wider universe. s4 onwards leans in strongly on the plot side. i feel like it works very well! you get attached to the characters, and then you see them suffer in all sorts of horrific and traumatic ways. and then you get an episode where marinette pretends to be a clown.

actually you know what, that's one of my absolute favourite things about miraculous. they will swing between "chat blanc" and "mr pigeon" with reckless abandon and you just have to deal with it. marinette's anxiety is leading her into desperation and paranoia... and she also steals phones and is visibly a weirdo. adrien's whole life is being torn apart and he makes cat puns regularly. this show is the PERFECT mix of angst and crack, sometimes both at the same time, and that's what i mean about it being a rollercoaster ride! it wouldn't be miraculous without it!

Me: Okay.

Mother's Younger Brother: He was also a young man in search of something to believe in.

Me: Oh dear. Oh no.

Hhheeeeuyyyyyy tateh

Mother, Father, Younger Brother, are all archetypes. Silhouettes. They have rich stories and nuance and, at the same time, they are stand-ins for a white audience. It’s both centering in that their story is (while not the driving force of the plot) the running lens that the story returns to.

Tateh has a different name thrust on him that he can’t pronounce. He later takes on a different name, the Baron Ashkenazy, to lend himself more prestige. But in his heart and soul he continues to be Tateh. Papa. To his Little Girl. (Who also continues to have no name, who moved from set to set and time to time, who is harmed and benefits from Tateh’s attempts to give her Everything). Everything he does is because of wanting to protect and care for his daughter. (And contrasts to the character of Father who is Father in name only and certainly isn’t any good at being a Father.)

Sarah and Coalhouse Walker Jr. being named is an interesting contrast. It strips them of being archetypes in the ways that Mother, Father, and even Tateh provide. It turns them into fully-fledged humans with history and context. There was a Coalhouse Walker Sr. What is Sarah’s last name? We are told her family is from the south.

At the same time, being named strips them of being Father and Mother roles. They are humanized, and yet, they also are not given the benefit of being seen as silhouettes, as places for the audience to comfortably rest. Their story starts with pain and ends with pain. You rejoice in their love but know that their joy cannot last in this world. They are characters in history, either a lesson to learn from or a story of resilience to pass down. But they don’t really get to be the Mother and Tateh who raises the next generation, who the audience sees as their own grandparents and great-grandparents, comfortable and wisened.

Like Houdini and Nesbitt and Goldman, Coalhouse and Sarah are named. They are the driving force of the plot. But they aren’t the storytellers. They are the story.