#uncle wang

All the Miraculous holders are responsible for maintaining their secret identities, such that most of them don’t even know who each other is under the mask. But Ladybug is under even more pressure, which explains why she feels justified in setting forth these onerous protocols. Listen closely, and you can hear multiple brains snapping like twigs as they scroll through the doc. Even Kagami thinks these rules are excessive. Kagami. But at least, as we see later, Marinette isn’t asking anyone to do something she doesn’t do herself.

Marinette’s brilliant and a whiz at engineering secret compartments, but the fingerprint-activated snowglobe seems a bit much. I suspect Ladybug had Pegasus commission that device since it involves sophisticated electronics. Speaking of Max, his accommodations for Kaalki may have inspired the nook Marinette created for Tikki.

Note the strategic placement of objects in Marinette’s room, including what appears to be a fake journal to distract intruders from the real ones she's got stashed. Good security involves a combination of high-tech and low-tech procedures. In another life, Marinette might have become a top DGSE operative. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directorate_General_for_External_Security

That fraisier cake Marinette is attempting for Sabine’s birthday surprise is no joke. It uses every trick in the cookbook and then some. Then again, for someone who can pull 2782 safety protocols for the Miraculous out of her derriere and has an experienced baker on hand to provide technical support, perhaps it’s not so much of a much.

The special breakfast and the picnic featuring the gourmet cake? (shakes head) She goes too hard and does too much… then again, if you remember “Qilin”, you’ll observe Marinette takes after the birthday girl. BTW, the mention of the Champ de Mars unlocks a new location within the city of Paris, if only by phone.

Bonus points to you if Uncle Wang’s sudden appearance reminded you of Lila’s visit to Shanghai as shown in “Queen of the Dreadzone”. We knew Lila was collecting intel on Marinette, but it wasn’t certain what for and few people could have guessed how she’d use it. In retrospect, the golden ladybug earrings were an obvious Trojan horse… but Lila may have been counting on Marinette to suspect a trap, throwing her just enough off her game to make a mistake.

I confess that when Marinette suggested her beloved Uncle Wang might be the Butterfly, I wanted to reach through the screen and slap her. It’s a particularly unhinged conclusion that momentarily distracts her from more probable scenarios. That includes the akumatization theory; recall that Chloe’s transformation into Queen Mayor was marked solely by a new coat and her mayoral sash.

ICYMI: when Uncle Wang turned into Kung Food, the akuma was in his hat. That makes it the most likely vessel for a hidden akuma. Whapping up a new hat and giving it to Uncle Wang as a present encourages him to remove the possessed object, undoing the theoretical akuma’s influence. Not removing the hat would have been an immediate tell. Marinette didn’t count on Uncle Wang catching a butterfly the old-fashioned way.

Basically, “Secret Protocol” is shorthand for “give Tikki the earrings and let Scarabella do the heavy lifting”. The particulars of what to do next are Alya’s choice since she’s temporarily assumed the position of Guardian. Depending on the scenario, Alya might summon entirely different Miraculers as backup. However, given Chat Noir’s position as second-in-command and Carapace’s role as Rena Rouge’s most frequent partner besides Ladybug, these two are more likely to receive call-ups than others.

New power unlocked: Rena Rouge’s flute doubles as a telescope, which proves helpful since her power usually requires her to operate from a remote location.

Marinette’s been in the soup before, but it’s never made Chat Noir crash out this way. Then again, all those times happened back when Marinette was just a “really good friend”.

As Marinette learned from her dearly departed grandfather, sometimes a mouse infestation at your bakery is not necessarily a bad thing. Meanwhile, Minotaurox’s potential as a human, or rather bovine shield, was long overdue for deployment.

So it’s all just been a big misunderstanding complicated by a few irritating coincidences, and we can all take confidence that the Secret Protocol will succeed if it’s ever needed. Sigh. We all knew it wasn’t going to be that easy, if only because it’s the next-to-last episode of the season.

Marinette is wearing the hell out of that qipao (also called a cheongsam, depending on where you are in China). Too bad it ends up used for high drama rather than high fashion. Fei is calling from Shanghai, but the call is really coming from inside the house.

That nagging feeling that even though there's nothing there... something is here.

To pull off this prank, Lila needed to know every last one of Uncle Wang’s personality quirks and even some of the family history. This probably required getting so close to Uncle Wang and Fei that they practically consider her family. Marinette has finally met someone just as prepped, put-together, and paranoid as she is. But what was the endgame? Surely Lila’s not going this far simply to rattle Marinette’s cage. It can only be the first step in a plot to destroy her utterly, likely to be unveiled (if not unraveled) in “Nemesis”.

Note: I already knew both big twists were going to happen before I watched the ep (since I saw too many spoilers & theories in the last few days), so it didn't have the same impact it would've if I hadn't known, but it was still crazy and it still gave me chills by the end! Anyway, here's some screenshots from the episode along with my lil comments, theories & observations!

Scarabella and Renabug!!!! She's so pretty!❤️ The skill it takes to control an illusion of your friend dodging attacks from an angry villain while hiding far away on another rooftop doing parkours... She's so good!! 🦊

WILD MAD NOIR RESCUES MARINETTE!!! My favorite part was when he lost the staff and he was fighting without it by dodging the sword attacks, pure peak! I've been watching this fight in loop in the past 3 days! Also, did you notice that he was fully locked-in on defeating the akuma by hitting his weak spots, but he still couldn't help looking back at Marinette all the time? 🥺

Marinette is now offically a kitten, look at her! Grabbed from the scruff like a cat! 🐱😂

AAAAAARRRH I can't wait to see how they react/act now her parents know! Their precious little clumsy girl turns out to be the Superhero who saves their beloved City every single day... And constantly risks her life with supervillains while she's at it!! ❤️‍🩹

I was almost certain this was gonna happen (judging by that one shot in the trailer), but my hand was still shaking when it happened, it was written and shot so well, with the creepy lighting, music & horrified face expressions when they realized the Butterfly Holder was in their house!! (Gurl why did u reveal in that room tho, Lila was there 2 seconds ago and she's been putting cameras everywhere all the time😭)

The creepiest scene of the episode for me probably was when the snowglobe started playing the lullaby, it was so tense, felt like we were in a horror movie all of a sudden!

Wishes for "Nemesis": I HOPE SHE'S STILL WEARING THIS IN SOME SCENES, CUZ SHE LOOKS STUNNINNNNNNGGGGGGG!!! And she designed & sewed it herself, you can tell by her signature flower patterns all over the QiPao! She probably won't be wearing Uncle Lila's earrings anymore, but it's fine, she's Radiant, Carefree, Dreamy!✨️

[Temporary "Read More" For SPOILERS!! There's brief mentions & theories for Nemesis too]

Of course she would be paranoid after the London Special, especially with the earrings

But would it be paranoid if she was right?

On the one hand, Kim is funny, but on the other, they dumb him down too much

Preparing clothes for your daughter to fall on🤣🤣

The animation so good, it made me panic with her:)

Aww crap

Call me paranoid (lol) but I just kept thinking there was some kind of hidden micro inside her room, and she should stop talking to Tikki:))

Alya's fan eating good this episode huh:)

"Cats always do their own things."

"That's what happened when you don't listen."

So she's not dealing with 1 Marinette or 2 Ninos, she's dealing with 3 Adriens lol

Trying to figure out if Uncle Wang is the new Butterfly Miraculous holder or not, leading the Miraculers, controlling the illusion so that nothing touches it, making sure she is not seen

Multitasking at its finest🤣🤣

Look at this cute moment, aww

Keeping distance like it was Covid🤣😋

I've been delayed this long enough to see people question (some even criticised) Tom and Sabine for letting Marinette go alone

Like they not, they were in the state of shock after finding a stranger pretended to be their family (even Marinette is a superhero and she was still shaken), of course they wouldn't know what to do

BESIDE, they still followed Marinette anyway

"Mom, dad. We have something to tell you."

"We?"

"Tikki, show yourself."

What did I do when I'm nervous, and excited, and shocked, and-?

Laughed like a crazy person!

Theory for the pizza box Lucky Charm

Lucky Charm only shows the things that the user knows, and then it up to them to connect the dots

Alya hasn't experience Optigami yet, so she wouldn't know that the Lucky Charm doesn't simply show a way to defeat a villain, it's many things more

Anyway, Alya knows that her, Nino and Adrien brought cookies to the surprise party; and she was at the party location already so she could know who brought pizza OR when she returned to the party, she could see who brought it

I'm back with chapter seven of my lil' Sabinefic written as part of the @mlbigbang! The story is from Sabine's POV as she tries to figure out what has been traumatizing her little girl (who, by the way, will not tell her anything).

Synopsis

Marinette runs away during an akuma attack, Sabine worries she and Marinette are on a path to destruction, and memories of a family dinner with Uncle and her own mother.

Extract

“Akumas aren’t the only dangerous thing out there!” Sabine began enumerating with her fingers. “First you disappear, then you never text, you sneak back into the house to avoid a scolding, then your school calls to tell me you’ve been playing hooky! What has gotten into you? Are you trying to ruin your life? Do you want to get hurt? I’m sick of this, Marinette! You’re grounded until further notice!”

Her daughter gaped at her. They had never grounded Marinette for anything before. She was a model child, obedient in all the important ways, but without the cloying pantomime of obsequiousness that marked children as annoying. She was going to do great things one day.

But today, she was going to be shuffled back under Sabine’s wing and chained there until something changed.

--

Thank you so much to @uptoolateart and @raspberrycatapult for all your help.