6. Expansion based on Dirtifiers [+ more S6 crumbs]
The recently aired Season 6 episode 18 "The Dirtifiers" has added new points towards my Analysis that can be connected to Feligami moments in past episodes.
[Warning: For full context make sure to read the original Analysis. This follow-up post will also contain spoilers to the Dirtifiers + mentions of abuse]
The addition I will like to expand my analysis on is the contrast in how Kagami and Felix experienced love growing up, specifically from their mothers.
Because of Kagamis lack of a father figure, it would be difficult to compare her situation with Felix' and Colts. But this exact lack of a second parent in Kagamis life is also what caused many of her issues to develop.
During the sleepover at the beginning of Dirtifiers, Kagami shows clear discomfort in seeing her friends getting along with her parents.
She thinks it's weird Marinettes parents show so much engagement in things Marinette is interested in, she tenses up when Tom mentions how much they love their daughter, she is confused why the Cesaires get another baby, because her brain cannot comprehend the fact someone wants to have and love their kids.
After the sleepover she returns home to her mother, to the usual cold and unaffectionate behaviour towards her. Back to no engagement from her mother about things that are not 'deemed her interest', back to controlling things over her life down to how many friends she can see in a week.
Back to no 'I love you's and no physical affection, no warm smiles and no breakfast together.
Back to a mother who's "love" isn't even conditional, seeing as she takes pride in Kagami's achievements, not even in Kagami achieving said things.
'I love it when you make me proud' should not be the answer to your daughter asking you if you love her, but that is part of Kagamis home life.
Kagami simply never knew how the life with a truly affectionate parent looks like.
In comparison to that, Felix on one hand experienced 14 years of his life in fight or flight mode.
His father, Colt, was a cruel and controlling man, never showing him any love, the boy had to quickly learn that his father will never show him the love he needed.
On the other hand though, even though she was going through the same abuse herself, his mother, Amelie, was, and still is, the exact opposite to her husband.
Throughout the show we can see how good Amelie's and Felix' relationship is.
Amelie is consistently shown to be a very affectionate mother, being one of the only people he trusts to show his vulnerable sides to. She was the escape from Colts cruelty, the sole source of warmth in his otherwise cold world.
So how does this tie Feligami together?
Because of these differences, their relationship is emotionally nuanced. They fill the gaps the other one has open.
Kagami understands how it is to grow up with a controlling parent, how it is to live at risk of getting your autonomy stripped in seconds, while Felix understands the necessity of affection while in a domestic abuse situation, that even when you feel like the entire world is against you, that there is someone who will give you the love you deserve.
All of this ties together beautifully into the importance of physical affection, and how intimate the show portrays it between the two.
For this I will bring out three episodes as examples: Yaksi Gozen [S6EP13], Sleeping Syren [S6EP6] and the Tokyo Special.
During Yaksi Gozen, as Felix arrives in Paris via the Startrain, the two run up and embrace each other. It is a very brief hug, but already so important.
For us it might seem like a tiny gesture, but it is something Kagami has been longing for her entire life. To be treated like a normal girl, to be appreciated and loved by somebody in her life.
Felix, meanwhile, after having a rough time finding himself after finally gaining his full autonomy, can now spend it with somebody who understands his fears and not get this relationship ripped away from him by Colt.
Another example showing how important physical and verbal affection is in their relationship are their iconic space-dates, as seen in Sleeping Syren and Miraculous : Tokyo.
In Sleeping Syren, as the girls discuss their relationships, highlighting the diversity of dynamics in the couples, Kagami thinks back to a meetup with Felix, flashing the audience a drawing of her and Felix, in their astro forms, holding hands and sharing a tender kiss.
Similarly, in the opening sequence of the Tokyo special, they can be found in a very similar scenery.
They hold each other in a close embrace, then breaking away just to still hold hands. Felix says how much he loves her, how difficult the distance is for him. Kagami, at this point in the special, still has a hard time showing off her vulnerable sides (due to coming from an environment where it wasn't healthy to open up about feelings) and flies away swiftly as their meetup came to an end.
At the end of the special, she finally has the courage to open up to his words from the beginning, expressing her agreement with his yearning to see each other more and trying to find ways to meet up more often.
The two brief scenes display how much importance physical contact has to them.
The fact the two love and need each other so much they manage to find even five minutes in their days just to fly over the English channel and see each other, feel each other, be with each other.
Even the five minutes of holding each other close, a short exchange of 'I love you's, being with their other half is crucial to their emotional grounding - even after having went through so much in their teenage lives, after being hurt and abused by people who should love them unconditionally, there is still someone out there who loves them even with a sea keeping them apart.
Even if it were easier to love someone close-by, the two endure the long distance, through their short weekly meetups in astro forms, the video calls.
Knowing one day, this distance will be but a memory to reminisce about while nothing in this world will keep them apart anymore.
Aand that's it for part 2 :) I really hope I will be around again to post a part 3 soon, aka I hope we see our cuties once more soon enough ππ
