A lot of people don't even seem to care that Chloé didn't get a redemption arc tbh- according to Astruc himself, he's mad that everyone didn't simply hate her.
Like he was so upset about that he went on a rant about how she's never been abused in her life and deserves everything she gets because everyone including her parents would've had better lives without her. And he said he created Ray, Nelson, and Loïc with "absolutely no redeeming qualities" so "there won't be another Chloé situation". And was bragging on Twitter today about how he insisted on bringing her back for Queen of the Dreadzone specifically to ragebait people and remind them that she sucks. All over a fictional 14 year old girl. Very mature of a grown ass man.
Probably because her stans are insufferable and entitled.
Listen, do I give total weight and observance to everything Thomas says? No. Because as a creator, I do fundamentally understand that once a work is put out into the world, it ceases to be mine, and people will interpret it any number of ways. I do think that Thomas fundamentally misunderstands fandom, and I am not saying that he doesn't act childish at times. However, ML fans (particularly on Twitter) are also kind of a nightmare, and he gets harassed on the daily.
As someone who has been in the fandom a long time, he has always openly disliked Chloe ever since s1. She was always supposed to be an antagonist, and truthfully, I don't think he ever intended to redeem her. I honestly think the only reason they gave her a Miraculous at all in s2 was to sell dolls and because Zag liked her. And after years of people bitching and moaning about a redemption arc that is never going to happen, yeah, I can see him being tired. Because how many times does he have to say it isn't happening before people finally understand that and leave it alone?
The whole "she's a 14 year old girl" argument kind of falls apart when you step back and realize that everyone in the main cast is 14. Both protagonists and all of their friends for the most part are 14. If Chloe was the only 14 year old and he acted that way, then there would be an issue, but she isn't. And the show is giving plenty of spotlight to 14 year olds in abusive situations. Kagami whose only parent limits the amount of social interaction she can have, who on screen has said she only loves Kagami when Kagami makes her proud. Adrien whose father wouldn't let him out of the house, who constantly controlled and neglected him, who tried to force him to break up with the person that he loved, who tried to bribe his girlfriend with fame and fortune to break up with him, and who literally locked him in a padded room in another country to get him away from her. That's actual abuse.
This season has really highlighted the complex situations a lot of the classmates are in that may very well reflect real life children's lives. Nino with his parents who argue all the time and eventually get divorced. Nathaniel's parents who struggle to accept him for who he is. Ivan's dad who is a criminal. Max's single mother doing her best to raise a child with a developmental disorder while still pursuing her passion. Juleka's mother who raised two children by herself because their dad was who the fuck knows where doing who the fuck knows what.
Meanwhile, Chloe was spoiled her whole life and given everything she wanted and never given consequences for her actions. Her daddy bailed her out of every mess she got into. "bUt hEr mOm" Wasn't around. Just like Juleka's dad wasn't around. Just like Max's dad wasn't around. Chloe had servants and money. She could do whatever the fuck she wanted to whoever the fuck she wanted. And the truth of the matter is that she likes being mean for the sake of being mean. It makes her feel good to hurt other people. That's what this episode was pointing out because people just don't get it. Just because the fandom invented a version of Chloe that has the potential to be redeemed doesn't mean that canon!Chloe is that person. Clearly she isn't. And given that they seem to be giving more focus to stories that young children can relate to and characters that they can see themselves in, I don't really think that their target is to make spoiled rich white girls feel seen. Her redemption wasn't botched. It was never intended. There's a difference. It's not "bad writing" to let a mean character stay mean, especially because a lot of the time a person's childhood bully doesn't get redeemed. They don't say sorry and make amends. The best you can hope for is that one day they move on and leave you alone. I'm not saying ML's writing is always air tight, but it has gotten better over the years. People need to learn the difference between "I didn't personally like this decision/would have done something else because that's my taste" and "This is objectively bad." Just because you may not personally agree with it doesn't make it bad writing.
Perhaps if people would shut the fuck up about Chloe and stop whining at the creator about her, then he would also stop talking about her and writing episodes to drive the point home that she isn't redeemable. Write fanfic, make fanart, make what if posts to your heart's content about her. But stop acting like she's the unsung tragic hero of this story. She isn't. She never was. She never will be.
