#bakerix

First and foremost, look at the rusted old car in front of Marinette's granddad's house.

That is a classic Citroën 2CV! One of the most classic cars in all of France!

The 2CV is more or less the French equivalent of the VW Beetle. This car, designed before the Second World War and put into production shortly after it ended, was meant to be a cheap reliable workhorse in particular for French farmers. Its design was in a lot of ways more clever than the Beetle, and it ended up being produced until 1990, in the end becoming sort of a lifestyle vehicle. It is pronounced as "Deux Chevaux" (two horses), which refers to the French tax classification system of its time. With originally 9 horsepower, later upgraded all the way to 29, it was never a fast car, but it had a lot of fans. German speakers know it as "Ente" (duck), which was eventually also used by Citroën marketing, but it doesn't seem to have been an international nickname.

Roland Dupain must have bought this one a long time ago, even though it's only rust now. He actually has a picture of it in his home!

I like that detail. (By the way, it's absolutely insane how much better the animation got between season 1 and season 3. Not always, not consistently, but Bakerix is a great example that has some truly beautiful images in it.)

The other note I found is that in Bakerix, they visit the Gare du Nord, and the London-bound platforms are actually closed off with barriers.

The real-life context is that from Paris's Gare du Nord railway station, you have trains to parts of France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and also the UK. Because the British are… like that, you cannot just board a train to the UK. You first need to go through passport controls, and then you get let onto special platforms where only UK-bound passengers are allowed. It's annoying and silly, but it doesn't seem like it'll change anytime soon. In some episodes of the show, they omit these glass barriers, they're notably crucial for some of Marinette's last-minute train decisions, but in Bakerix, they exist.

Does that mean that Adrienette/LadyNoir/Laadrien/Marinoir in any way shape or form is doomed? Plus, it unfolded in a very similar way to Chat Blanc, which really must mean something, shouldn't it? AGHHH my heart. I loved that they were together, but it felt so... wrong.

I'm going to have to think aboit this for a while

Also Qilin as an episode is really interesting (Ive only read the wiki page, because it's out of order on my 'streaming service', so it shows up as one of the last S4 episodes)

She looks too adorable in this episode

Especially the first pic omg♡♡

How will Nathaniel react to Rolland’s racism also?

I have been waiting for this!

Nooroo: Nathaniel! Why’d you akumatize him? He seems awful!

Nathaniel: It’s quite simple, Nooroo. I want Scarlet Beetle and Ikati Black to kick his racist old ass.

Nooroo: Ooh… Valid

—

Bakerix: *Says something racist*

Scarlet Beetle: …

Ikati Black: …

Parisians: …

Monarch: …

Scarlet Beetle: Did this old-as-dirt motherfucker just call me-

Ikati Black: Okay, fuck his age. I’m gonna put this bitch in the ground.

—

Mendeleiv’s class annoying Bakerix just by being themselves

Simon: I’m an Irish Catholic demiboy dating a Cuban female-presenting nonbinary bodybuilder who can bench press me while I am constantly on my phone!

Marc: I’m a gay as fuck teenager boy with the looks models kill for! Also, I wear makeup!

Ismael: And it is I! A transgender Pakistani boy in a platonic relationship with my friend who is a Lesbian!

Reshma: But get this! I am Demiromantic! And here to explain is our gender-nonconforming friend who is an actor!

Jean: Today’s song is about the AroAce spectrum while my good friend Cosette annoys you with facts about the first black President of the United States! Well~

Cosette: *Random Obama facts*

—

After Bakerix calls Aya and a few of her customers a degrading name (Because he a fucking racist. Let’s all say it), Monarch appears in his hologram form and revokes the Akuma right in front of them all

Rolland: Who do you think you are?!

Part 4

An unsolicited recitation of the Lord’s Prayer could be misinterpreted.

They do, but give them a minute.

Comparing a friend or acquaintance to Ellen DeGeneres at one of their most vulnerable moments is about the cruelest thing you could do.

Second is after Dear Family, when he realizes Sabine had also been akumatized. He talks with her about why, what happened, and her being victimized by the racist bus driver and Roger. He apologizes again for how he used to be, he's so ashamed, he would do anything for Sabine and Marinette, horrified Marinette also saw this happen, and they have a heart to heart. "Do you think ladybug has to deal with this merde, too, Sabine?" "She reminds me so much of Marinette, i hope she's never had to, " etc.

If we should look upon the whole SentiAdrien thing as a show's way of talking about abuse without actually touching the subject openly.

They kinda did it with racism in ep Bakerix and only used allegories, a.k.a. the 'rice that was added to the dough' - and as much as I've seen, Astruc confirmed that the episode was about racism.

So if grandpa Rolland disowned his son because he married an Asian woman and seen it as betrayal and something anti-French (or whatever the "that's not how it's done" is supposed to mean) - then being unable to stand up to your father, constantly getting shut down by him and ordered around without you having a say in whether you want to do what he wants or not is pretty much a same kind of allegory but for abuse.