#episode:ladybug

But enough was enough, and even though Adrien had asked her to be the bigger person, what Lila did was more than a simple lie, and had actually helped Hawk Moth go scarlet again.

Ladybug stopped in her tracks. Could it have been a coincidence? It seemed too contrived for Lila open the doors just as the red butterflies appeared, and everyone got akumatized. Including herself. She didn’t remember much of the time, but Tikki had assured her that she had tried to take off the earring before the akumatization happened, and then the butterflies were gone as fast as they had appeared. Lila had to be stopped, even if that meant having to face her as an akuma yet again. Even if that meant that Adrien would be mad at her for not playing the High Road like he wanted.

She looked into the Cesaire family apartment and saw that the lights were still on. Good. No going back.

With grace, she landed in the balcony, and knocked on the window. The Alya’s mother was the one to look through the curtain. She immediately opened for her.

“Oh my goodness! Ladybug, is everything alright? You need help for something?”

The rest of the family approached the balcony as quickly as they could to help Paris’ hero. Ladybug smiled. “Don’t worry Mrs. Cesaire, everything is okay” she looked directly at Alya. “However… I was informed of what happened today at school”

Marlena and her husband nodded. Alya had told them all about Marinette being expelled, and about the mass akumatization that almost happened.

“If it’s not much of a bother, I would like your permission to do a live interview with Alya about what happened today, so we can prevent it from happening again”

“Yes, yes, of course you can” answered Marlena. Alya felt a little weird that Ladybug hadn’t asked her directly, but guessed that since her mom was there, and it was already late, she asked her to avoid giving Alya any trouble.

They prepared everything in their living room, with Alya giving instructions to her mom about how to start the recording. Since Ladybug had asked a live interview, she was streaming directly to the Ladyblog, and she had already posted the notice that she was giving said interview.

“3… 2…1… Hello everyone, good night, I’m Alya from the Ladyblog and we have an exclusive interview with Ladybug herself!”

“Hey everyone!” Ladybug waved with a smile on her face, before adopting a more serious tone. “Before we start to really talk, I want to ask everyone seeing this interview, to take a really deep breath, and try to remain calm. What we’re going to discuss might have affected yourself, or someone you know. Please remain calm, everything has a solution, and the motive of this talk is to prevent something like what happened today from happening again.”

“Ladybug here wants to talk about what happened today at my school. It was scary, as most of you already know, a repeat of Heroes Day almost happened! My friend Marinette was almost akumatized and… well, we don’t know exactly what happened but…”

“She was framed” said Ladybug point blank. Alya understood that it was Ladybug’s turn to talk now. “From what I have been told, Marinette was framed to provoke her akumatization, along with everyone else’s. Like Alya said, a repeat of Heroes Day”

“Yeah, apparently a classmate of mine has a condition that makes her lie. She doesn’t control it, so it wasn’t deliberate!”

Ladybug stared at Alya for a few seconds. She sighed, as she already knew Alya would try to defend her friend. “Lila Rossi deliberately and maliciously framed Marinette Dupain-Cheng to provoke her akumatization and everyone else.”

“What? No, no, Ladybug, maybe Lila hasn’t told you, but she has a condition that…”

“That makes her steal answer sheets and then shoves them in other student’s backpack and then accuses them of cheating? And that same condition makes her hide her own property in other student’s locker only to accuse them of stealing?” Alya was speechless. “That was a premeditated and planned attack. That was not something that she just said because she has no control”

Alya was trying to find something to defend Lila, but coming with nothing. Yeah, her ‘condition’ would account for the lying, but hiding the things in Marinette property doesn’t really cover it, does it?

“I guess accusing Marinette of pushing her down the stairs could be blamed on her supposed condition, even though she was perfectly fine afterwards… and the school didn’t even call her mother, did they?”

Alya shook her head. “No… she’s a very busy woman…”

“So busy she wouldn’t go to check her daughter falling from one story long stairs?” Alya remained speechless. She tried to look at her own mom, but she was as shocked as her. Marlena only knew Lila for the wonderful things that Alya had said about her, but what Ladybug was saying didn’t seem to align with what she had been told.

“But… she’s your best friend, why would she want to frame Marinette?”

Ladybug sighed again. “Lila is not my best friend. Lila is not even my friend. She’s vaguely an acquaintance. And as far as I know… Marinette has been trying to prove to you and the whole class that she was lying, wasn’t she?”

Alya felt as if she had been slapped in the face, hard. Ladybug was right. Marinette had been trying to tell them the truth about Lila… it made sense that Lila would try to get rid of her.

“But she… why would… she…”

“Tell me ONE proof. ANY proof of anything that she had said. The Jagged stone song, the many directors and actors she claim to know… any proof of her telling the truth.”

Alya stammered. “She… she… she had that photo shot with Adrien Agreste today!”

“She claimed to have done photo shots before?”

“Well yes, lots of fashion moguls want her as the face of their brand!”

“Is there any proof of that?”

Alya had to shut up again. No, she had not seen anything before today.

“Alya, please take down the interviews of that Lila girl. They are full of lies and empty promises. Students of Francoise Dupont, if that girl has promised you something, don’t count on it. Never put someone on a pedestal, we are all human and fallible.”

“Why… why didn’t you tell me sooner that Lila was not your friend?”

“Marinette wanted to be the one to tell you. After all, she’s your friend, and that’s what friends do.” Another slap to the face. “But after today, I had to make sure everyone knew the truth. Someone once told me that all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing. And I had done nothing for too long. If I had talked sooner, maybe this would have been prevented, maybe not.”

Ladybug made a signal to Marlena to cut the interview, and she did. They were still in shock for the revelations that Ladybug had told them

“Lila…”

“She will have to face whatever consequences her actions have incurred” said Ladybug matter of factly.

“I owe Marinette a huge apology”

Hey cats and bugs, I'm back to talk about another very important, very overlooked moment by the fandom. (Which lowkey turned into another theory) But before I get to it, I need to bring us back to Oblivio to remind you about why  it's important. So in Oblivio we all remember how we got that Kiss™. And thanks to our great reporter Alya, all of Paris also got that kiss. Someone very important who got the kiss as well? Hawkmoth.

After the battle was all said and done, the kiss, the miraculous ladybug cleanse, etc. We come back to Hawkmoth in his lair like always. And for his post-loss rant™ he says this, "I won't soon forget this Ladybug and Chat Noir. The love you both secretly have for each other will be your downfall."

Now back when this episode first aired. I only saw a handful of fans mentioning how worried they were about this. At the prospect of Hawkmoth knowing they love each other and using it against them. Like heck check out this endcard piece.

So it kind of became a matter of when he would use it against them. Now let's acknowledge how prominent of a role Mayura has been this season. I think it is safe to say she also now holds this knowledge of Ladynoir. So we get back to the episode Ladybug. In which Mayura creates Sentibug and uses her to flirt with/seduce Chat Noir into giving in to her, so she can steal the ring. Because she's aware that they secretly love each other right? Fool proof plan.

Except our favourite fool drops an unexpected bomb on it. Because after Sentibug professes to Chat, Chat responds confusedly with, "But, I thought you said you love somebody else?" And cue the scene cutting back to show Mayura getting shocked by this.

This. This is what's important and was very overlooked.

Because this just changed the game. Mayura now knows the truth.

A) She knows that they aren't secretly in love. B) She knows that Chat loves her, but it isn't reciprocated. C) She knows that Ladybug is in love with somebody else! (Which Ladybug reiterates herself moments later after showing up, "She's manipulating you! You know I'm already in love with someone else!")

Also important is what happens after Mayura hears Chat say this. She instantly collects herself and changes the approach. Getting Sentibug to then say,

"It's-It's over. After all this time, I've realized you're always here for me. Even when I keep rejecting you, your feelings for me haven't changed. And mine? Are growing stronger everyday. I can't keep pretending anymore."

This gets him. (I have a theory regarding Chat Blanc that could play into this, but I think I'm going to make a whole other post for that theory, so stay tuned)

So now Mayura knows all of what I've listed above. But then she also learns that Chat is gullible enough to fall for her scheme. She now realizes just how desperately in love with Ladybug he truly is.

Info that she'll no doubtedly share with Hawkmoth.

So not only does Chat have to be extra careful with his lady. But Ladybug herself also has to be careful in the future. Because what's the point of keeping the secret identities? To protect their loved ones.

So she needs to be sure that she watches out too, because who has she shown affection for while behind her mask? The same boy she shows affection for without it. Adrien Agreste. 

This should all be concerning because this is the last episode before the season finale. So we all know some poopy is going to hit the ceiling here. Not to mention that the finale is centered around love. Heck the first episode of the two parter is literally called Loveater.

So I think this should all give reasons for being nervous about the Love Square™ in the finale. Especially with the synopsis we've been given, which I'm going to leave under a cut here. Because I'm aware some people consider it a spoiler. So reading beyond here is at your discretion. Bug out!

I love how the almighty Scarlet Moth suddenly feels powerless. 

That’s the feeling I get when they set the camera to be this far from them. We cannot go and help Nathalie as she collapses on the ground. Only Gabriel can and he is all alone to help her. They are all little in the frame.