#miracublog

We'll continue the Miraculous liveblog if Adrien turns out to not be a Sentimonster. Otherwise we're done watching the show.

Okay, this is another case of: "I thought I'd made a post about that but I guess not."

Basically, my bro and I decided to put the Miraculous Ladybug liveblog on hiatus until the Sentimonster matter is definitely resolved. Because, here's the thing: if I watch season four and then season five drops SentiAdrien as canon, I will start to resent the show. As long as I don't actually watch season four, I can pretend the show just got cut short while it was still awesome and the finale was when Ladybug became the Guardian if worse comes to worst.

From what I've seen from clips and analysis, season four is not as fun for me and my bro as seasons 1-3 were. When we started to watch the show we thought we knew what we were getting. We wanted dumb fun superhero action and we love Adrien. Season four still has some of that, but that's clearly not what the show wants to put actual weight on anymore and Adrien is getting shafted from a narrative perspective. Surprise Magical Slavery with Adrien as the slave would just be too much at this point.

There's maybe a handful of episodes from season four we'd actually really want to watch and none of them are plot-important episodes. If we sunk more time and effort into liveblogging this show instead of something we actively enjoy like He-Man, and then SentiAdrien dropped, we would consider that time wasted. We'll probably get back to Miraculous if the matter of the Rings is resolved to our satisfaction, but we won't even consider that until we get a definitive answer. I already dreaded every time a new episode dropped during the second half of season four's initial run through the fandom and I knew I had to see more speculation on something that could ruin the show for me. I don't want to try commentating on the episodes while this Sword of Damocles hangs over my head.

“Cat Noir is so useless, Ladybug doesn’t need him!” the fandom lies while Ladybug literally serves as a distraction so that Cat Noir can focus on the most dangerous combatant

The previous experience should lower the learning curve. The fact that he’s pretty good at hand to hand also means he doesn’t need to Second Chance on every hit

This time he's the right man for the right job. Cat Noir’s raw power directed with the clarity provided by Second Chance

This episode is simultaneously the best argument for Chloé having good in her as it is for her never going to change her ways, at least so far. Through the entire episode she was nothing but a nuisance, actually sabotaging the group’s survival with her petty and spiteful behavior, and she couldn’t stop her spite towards Marinette long enough to not ruin her present for one of the few people she actually cares about. That opening shows that Chloé ranks messing with Marinette higher than Bustier’s happiness. Because the inciting conflict wasn’t even about Chloé’s feelings towards Bustier, it was about Chloé’s feelings towards Marinette, and how Chloé is the most important person in the world in her own mind, like I said in Despair Bear.

The goodness of Chloé is also a bit debatable in the episode. She once again was heroic in a single moment when she wasn’t thinking, but this time she didn’t ruin it until way after it was all over in the classroom, trying to prop herself up. She also genuinely apologised and acknowledged her fault, however, she only did this to the person she knew would immediately forgive her 100%. Back with her classmates, who she’s hurt even more, she once again denied any responsibility for anything. Your apologies and acknowledgement of fault can’t be conditional or you’ll never really have a reason to change your behavior, so Chloé lack of apology in the last scene meant she isn’t going to change despite any softer moments she might have had.

I often find teacher episodes very interesting because of the different ways writers can approach the job. The perspective on Ms Bustier does showcase the reality of a teacher’s job as I’ve experienced it. Being a teacher doesn’t just mean making kids learn the course material; it also means maintaining order in the classroom and protecting the students from each other and themselves. It’s also about not picking favorites. This makes Chloé such a challenge for a teacher who cares about her job. We’ve seen that any disciplinary action on Chloé doesn’t work, but ethically and legally she also can’t allow Chloé to simply get hers from the classmates she instigates, because that would mean allowing a student to be ostracised and maybe even bullied just because she’s difficult (aka, negative favoritism).

As for Bustier and Marinette, while I feel she miscommunicated with Marinette by implying Marinette should put a personal stake in Chloé possible self improvement, I understand what Bustier was trying to do. You don’t tell a student that they have the power to utterly destroy the school career of the girl they hate; you try to guide them towards other kinds of behavior and hope that they’ll act responsibly. Because Marinette needs to be responsible: she holds a lot of social power in her class and the rest of the kids will follow her lead in most things. Marinette is not only powerful and a leader as Ladybug, she’s also all that as Marinette. The conversation does give more insight on Bustier, though, since she might also be a bit too personally invested in the idea of Chloé becoming a better person, which would explain why she at times goes soft on her.

Hey, wasn't Marinette supposed to be special for being able to wear so many Miraculous at once? Chloe isn't even winded, so does that make her more special?

I guess she truly is Miracle Queen

Wow. This is the final boss of the season?

He really was just looking for the perfect plan. Ah. Another parallel to Marinette

He knows she needs to be calm, but she isn’t listening to him trying to soothe her because she’s spiralling, hence why she isn’t hugging him back

"I feel so heartbroken because I couldn't rekindle an old flame...oh is that my BFF Marinette?"

"*sigh* Sad solo"

And what's Luka? A man overboard?

Same, Alya. Same

She forgot Luka existed, didn't she?

I have no fucking words

"Who are you again?"

"I gave you a heartfelt love confession"

You know, for all Marinette agonized in the bathroom about how Lila was evil enough to be a supervillain, she sure didn’t take her threat at the end of the episode too seriously. Almost like Hawk Moth was right, and her blowing her top during the first half of the episode was completely uncalled for, considering what Lila had actually done to her. Lila didn’t do anything to Marinette in this episode before Marinette started stalking her in order to try to expose all of her slip-ups, even staging one. Even when Lila threatened to ruin Marinette’s reputation, the only reason Marinette believed she could do it was because she had been turning her classmates against herself with her own actions. Maybe she realized that offscreen, and that’s why she was able to brush Lila off at the end of the episode. The mood of the class is much better in the final scene, because Marinette decided to ignore Lila instead of letting her telling fibs ruin her day. Of course, the fact that Adrien seems to be actively avoiding her now also helps her feel like she’s the victor.

But, man, the irony of Marinette deciding to brush her off in the end. During the first half of the episode, Marinette is convinced that Lila is the devil itself for really petty reasons, but by the end of the episode, when Lila actually is actively out to get Marinette, Marinette isn’t taking her seriously anymore. To Marinette, Lila is just a Chloé who hasn’t yet lost her foothold, but she will eventually. And here’s the irony: Lila is actually dangerous, and Marinette has no idea.