In Which I Watch Miraculous Ladybug
Ridiculously Average Guy
I'm you, but stronger
- Location
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Don't mind me.
My sides, this next episode is fucking memeworthy.
Dick Tater
- Location
- Earth
So I had a massive fridge humor moment about last episode.
Early on I mention Gabriel makes nice with Audrey about her getting put in the second row.
Specifically, he says the person responsible for it has been fired. Now he says it without the slightest hint of irony or amusement, so I just read it as an empty platitude and him saying whatever lie it took to placate her.
But he was the one who had her put in the second row. Specifically so he could akumatize her. Using Nooroo's power. Gabriel has decided to stop being Hawkmoth and thus dissolved his partnership with Nooroo. So Gabriel actually did end the job responsible for Audrey getting stuck in the second row.
Secretly the most hilarious motherfucker?
Season 2 Episode 22: Malediktator
… today's enemy is Hitler, most famous of all male dictators?
This episode is the trial of Chloe Bourgeois for her recent bout of domestic terroism, interrupted by the court stenographer being terrible at their job. They akumatize with the ability to force everyone to write down what they say for a change. But they have a thick accent, making them bad at giving dictation. A mal dictor if you will.
It's an evil potato shaped like a schlong.
Either way, I'm sure they will be more likeable and enjoyable than last episodes villain.
Speaking of which, we open directly onto said villain.
I am entirely too young for this Vietnam flashback.
Why in the ever lucking world would Ladybug let Chloe get her hands on the Bee Miraculous again?
And then let her go on Tv to talk about it?
And agree to sit down with an interview with her!?
Heyyy, wait a second
As much as I hate her and everything she does to the storylines she gets involved in, you gotta admit her cosplay game is on point.
Her special effects ranking is Stronk.
Her outfits are, how do you say, on Fleek?
So I just want to point out that in-universe there are going to be multiple people that believe that that's actually Ladybug.
Because in-universe Chloe was able to walk up to Jagged Stone and a couple of professional news people and hijack an interview by claiming to be the real Ladybug and nobody noticed anything was wrong until Delphma accidentally called her by name. And Jagged Stone was living in the hotel by then, so he's definitely met Ladybug in person at least once.
Kwami disguise magic Stronk. Chloe cosplay also stronk. Chloe cosplaying as a kwami holder strongest there is!
Sorry Hulk, maybe you'll figure out a new catchphrase eventually.
Except no, everybody in Marinette's class knows that Marinette would never agree to do an interview for a school project for Chloe, so they aren't fooled into thinking that's the real Ladybug for an instant.
Given what we've seen on screen, in the actual episodes, it's really hard to think of a more reasonable explanation than that. Because again, Jagged Stone interview= totally fooled. Talking to Marinette's class= Super obvious it's just her in costume.
I mean, at the very least the class knows Ladybug better than any other group of people in the entirety of Paris/the world*.
*actually also just Paris, every time someone references a foreign sounding place like China or whatever it's actually just a nickname for one of the suburban neighborhoods.
Chloe gets laughed out of the room and it's everything I ever wanted. Everyone knows she got superpowers and no one is impressed. Everyone is very clear that the subway thing was her fault. Marinette is either more tired than normal or just extremely done with the situation because she accidentally lets slip some quality zingers at the bourgeois. It's a really cathartic scene.
Also, Alya can just casually stream a video from her personal phone onto the classroom projector. I feel like that's not a thing students are normally supposed to be able to do, right?
Anyway, I need that catharsis for the next scene where Chloe and her mother interrupt a wedding ceremony being performed by the mayor. Oh great. She is actually sticking around for a while. Of all the random characters to be introduced and then be kept around for multiple episodes you had to go with Audrey fucking Bourgeois. Couldn't be an interesting villain, like Lilaluleloly. Or a cool person providing a great opportunity for changing the dynamic like Kagami. Or an excuse to give Juleka and/or Rose more screen time like Luka. Or Mark, who reminds me of a Marinette before her superpower induced self esteem growth.
But more importantly than that, Mayor Bourgeois is allowed to officiate weddings? I mean, I looked it up and apparently that's a thing Mayors are allowed to do? But it just seems kinda weird that officiating weddings is part of the rights and responsibilities you get for being elected mayor. And also that anyone would want this philsbury doughboy moron of a Mayor to be involved in their ceremony. Twenty years later you're going through your wedding photos and he's just There. Ruins the hold nostalgia trip to have this sentient potato right in the middle, remind you that he exists.
This entire family just needs to leave Paris*.
*And all the suburban neighborhoods.
Oh shit they're actually packing holy shit I hadn't seen the rest of this scene when I wrote that this is amazing!
Annnnnd yup. His wife's plan to move to the other side of the planet with his daughter coupled with said daughter berating him for not having the power to arbitrarily force a school to close forever is enough for Hawkmoth to get all up in that family drama. I'd say I can imagine him sympathizing with losing your wife, but he's had his in the basement this entire time.
Chloe drops by the school (by way of helicopter. I reluctantly give her points for style) and announces she's leaving forever to go to New York. The class reacts basically exactly how you'd expect them to react to that news.
Ding dong the witch is … immigrating?
It's really great to see Juleka this happy.
Also shoutout to the Max/Kim and Rose/Juleka bits in the celebrations.
Also also quizzical eyebrow at the Mylene/Alix bit.
Sadly, Malediktator forces the helicopter to land before it can reach the airport. We get our first good look at today's akuma.
UM.
You, uh, you wanna take another swing at character design there buddy? N-no? O-okay then.
And then even akumatized all Mayor Diktator wants to do is still spoil the crap out of Chloe.
Oh and also he mind controls the mother into being in love with him again.
I can't believe that showed a woman kissing something shaped like that all over in a children's tv show. What the hell where the censors on when this episode hit their desk?
If I have to see this, so do you.
Back to the school.
Adrien is sad about Chloe leaving and that makes Marinette sad. I didn't mention it earlier because I was hoping it wouldn't be relevant but after the party gif Adrien comes up and talks with Marinette about Chloe. Marinette is very open about her hatred of Chloe which is perfectly in character, but then she bizarrely referred to Chloe as "useless" which is just kinda came out of fucking nowhere as a descriptor. Especially from Marinette. Especially about Chloe. It's not like Chloe tries hard to be good or friendly or helpful but fails because she isn't skilled or anything like that. Chloe is an actively hateful person who delights in tearing others down. She isn't "useless" she's "harmful". And like Marinette judges people on how useful they are. Such utter bullshit.
(Edit: I later came to the conclusion that this is a poor translation issue, with the preferred word being "worthless" rather than "useless". Which has notably different connotations, at least to me.)
But after Bad potato lord drops an area of effect mind control bomb to make all the partiers destroy the school -conveniently missing only Marinette, Adrein, and Alya- and Marinette runs to hide, she has a line about how this is her fault.
(After Tikki has a great line pointing out that Chloe is responsible for oh so many victims and managed to snag one more before leaving Paris forever. Also, nobody knows this, but after the Queen Bee incident convinced Gabriel to get back in the game, technically every single akuma after this point is her fault. I mean, actually they're all Gabriel's fault. But if this show has taught its audience anything it's that rich people never have to take responsibility for their actions.)
So they're seriously going to have a sub-plot about Marinette feeling bad for how she treated Chloe and end of welcoming her back into the class. I have neither the time, the energy, nor the lifespan to list out all the ways Chloe has treated her just as badly or worse. Not to mention she won't change her behavior after this so there's no fucking point in giving her yet another chance to not be terrible. Just cut that toxic pile of garbage out of your lives and everyone will be happier for it Marinette.
But no, the writers are going to bend over backwards to give more undeserved forgiveness to their favorite character. It's getting really tiresome, tbh.
--
Anyway, Ladybug and Chat Noir are on the scene in less than a minute!
Gorilla Fate is turning, rebel one, action!
This episode is further proof that being Akumatized gives you martial arts knowledge. Because there is no conceivable way that baseline bourgeois is enough of a fighter to hold off Ladybug and Chat Noir face to face. All he's got is his fists against their yo-yo and staff and he's doing just fine. And he casually yanks a bench off the ground and uses it as an improvised weapon for a second, so check off super strength as well.
Also Chat Noir makes a back flip that covers more that a story of height when the pair retreat to the roof, so this episode is clearly on the higher end of the "how powerful are the Miraculous" scale. Which is good, since those episodes are fun to watch and present a more interesting world to play around in.
Because casual superhuman feats that aren't the central focus of the shot and don't take up like thirty seconds of screen time are something we honestly just don't get enough of in media. Shit like superman picking up his couch in order to vacuum under it and that sort of stuff really helps sell the idea of how strong the character is and makes the world more immersive than if the strength only shows up in direct contests against other characters or when it's dramatically necessary.
Speaking of casual super stuff, Ladybug's tossing out the Lucky Charm and we're not even ten minutes into the episode. Hell, check this timeline:
8 Minutes 8 seconds - Marinette becomes aware of Malediktator's existence.
9m6s- Ladybug arrives on scene to fight Malediktator.
9m35s- Ladybug starts lucky charm.
That's less than… hold on, I need something to count this out on,
Oooh an abacus. How lucky!
29 seconds of combat before Ladybug pulls out her ultimate attack. Less than a minute and a half since she became aware of the problem and Ladybug is about to solve it.
I submit this as further proof that there's a hell of a lot more akuma's than we actually get episodes about. We're getting the absolute cream of the crop when it comes to akuma. Or ones that happen to coincide with important events in Marinette's civilian life.
When he sees that they're trying to set a new speed run record for this Akuma, Chat Noir charges in fulfill his distraction duties.
Malediktator brainwashes him into being an actual cat.
And suddenly this episode is a cliché fanfiction plot. Didn't see that coming.
Another thing I didn't see coming? Hawkmoth tells Malediktator to go ahead and take Chat's miraculous right away instead of just keeping him trapped or brainwashed until he can get Ladybug's as well and score the full set.
I guess he's finally decided to get serious about making progress on his not quite dead wife after nearly giving up on helping his not quite dead wife.
But Chat the cat doesn't like this giant penis man so just swipes angrily at him and doesn't let him get close to his paws. Oddly, Malediktator doesn't just brainwash Chat Noir into handing over the ring willingly. I mean, his wife wants to keep the cat, but that doesn't preclude making Chat like him.
--
Anyway the abacus was a clue for Marinette to go to Master Fu and recruit a new classmate into her secret cabal. Hmmm. Non-Christian deities, dealing with dark magic, violence, drinking strange substances given to you by an untrustworthy old man, rampant homosexuality. Marinette is the stereotypical "bad company" parents don't want their kids falling in with.
So who wins the Kwami roulette today? For that matter, which Kwami wins the get out of the nearly empty void universe inside the box roulette today?
Why are you looking at the Bee Comb Marinette?
Why are you picking up the Bee Comb Marinette?
Why are you assuring Master Fu that giving the Bee Comb back to Chloe Bourgeois is a good idea Marinette?
Marinette what the fuck?
Marinette, no.
--
So there's a scene in Chloe's room where Malediktator is looking for Chloe so they can be a happy family together.
It manages to actually be pretty creepy because Malediktator is dropping some great abusive parent quotes. All, "my patience has limits" and "you don't want to upset me, do you?" All while she's cowering in what's normally her private sanctum. She manages to slip away, but it still manages to one of the most emotionally uncomfortable scenes in the entire show.
--
Ladybug finds Chloe by tracking down where Chloe filmed the video she was showing the class at the start of the episode. Which apparently she also posted to youtube. Or whatever the Kwamiverse version of it is.
Chloe: Help me Ladybug Kenobi, you're my only hope.
Ladybug: Urrgh, fine. But first you need to help me. Help me, help you. Now tell me Malediktator's backstory.
Chloe: So there's this absolute bitch Marinette-
Ladybug: O rly?
Chloe: Well, okay, so that utterly unlikeable loser wasn't actually involved. Daddy just got super angry for no reason at all whatsoever.
Ladybug: O rly?
Chloe: Yes! Well, he got mad because he's useless and couldn't do what I asked him to.
Ladybug: *sighs* we're going to be here for a while, aren't we? Now then, O Rly?
Chloe: It, it was me. This is my fault.
Ladybug: *letting her internal dialogue leak again* Congratulations on this rare moment of self-awareness.
Chloe: *speaking over Ladybug* I hurt daddy's feelings because I want to leave Paris forever because I've completely fucked up my life. I have no friends, nobody likes me, hell nobody even tolerates me anymore and it's all my fault because I'm worthless and unlovable and just all around a terrible person. and I hate it but I can't stop because I don't know how to be anything different so maybe if I go somewhere new I can make myself be somebody else. Somebody I don't hate.
Ladybug: 0_o Jeez that went from zero to sixty fast. Listen, you should do what I did.
Chloe: Naturally be the most beautiful and graceful and wonderful person I've ever met, who makes me feel and think things I've never experienced before in my entire life?
Ladybug: uhhhh, No. You should put on magical jewelry and punch bad guys until you feel better about yourself.
Chloe: I am 500% down for everything you just said. But wouldn't it be wildly irresponsible for you to give me superpowers again after I committed domestic terrorism and risked the lives of hundreds of people to satisfy my own egotism?
Ladybug: okay, so can we aim for like a happy medium with the self-awareness? You're starting to freak me out a little bit.
Chloe: eh, it'll all be retconned in the last two minutes anyway.
Ladybug: True, true. Now make a contract with me and become a QB!
And then Chloe was a magical girl.
--
Queen Bee runs across the rooftops with Ladybug and it is everything she ever dreamed of. Except for the part where she almost runs face first into a chimney while in the middle of reassuring Ladybug that she's been practicing for superheroism since forever.
Given my recent revelations re: Gabriel Agreste is the single funniest person on the planet but his humor is so dry that no one is aware of it. Plus her ridiculously good cosplay skills. Chloe Bourgeois: secretly a gigantic nerd?
I mean, Adrien is a secret weeb. So his (ex) best friend Chloe being just as much of a dork, but for the other side of the planet would be a fitting characteristic. Also it provides another Alya/Chloe parallel and those are always fun to play with.
--
Elsewhere, Penismandickjoke is really leaning in to the whole supervillain thing.
Honestly? I'm just glad Chat Noir isn't in his lap.
By the way, that throne with the lounging brainwashed wife and the brainwashed police guards? Yeah, it's on the top of the roof of city hall.
Just out there flapping in the breeze, where everyone can see it.
But hey, at least he's decided to get himself some protection. Not sure why the police thought they could get that close without catching something. But you gotta admit, going after him like that they were basically asking for it. Additional metaphors.
Ladybug andChat Noir Queen Bee stealthily approach this dicktorial throne.
Ladybug: *quietly* Okay, here's the plan for sneaking up and stealing his sash.
Queen Bee: *loudly* I'm over here Daddy! Give me the sash and stop being evil this instant!
Ladybug: The hell, Queen Bee?
Queen Bee: Impulse control is yet another of my weak points. Coupled with my lack of internalized self worth leading to easy embarrassment this quickly translates to aggressive outbursts at my social peers in an attempt to maintain status even when intellectually I know it's a bad idea.
Audrey: Aww, our little honeybumpkins all grown up and understanding herself. How wonderful, darling.
Queen Bee: Ahhh, Maternal affection! It burns us Pollen, it burns us.
Ladybug: Huh, usually the hallucinations only get this weird after a full 72 hours without sleep, and I haven't even hit 48 yet.
Keevin the anthropomorphic Zebra Kwami: No that actually happened my dear. I saw it with my own eyes, I did.
And then [Marceline Rule]. But the swat team [Marceline rule] is too thick and thus the pair of [Marceline rule] are denied access to his juicy filling. Eventually Mayor Ligma gets tired of their futile fumbling and decides to just go ahead and drop the most massive load he can manage in order to bring about the climax of this encounter.
Ladybug decides she's going to try and get lucky again, in hopes that it'll give Queen Bee a chance to penetrate the policemen.
… that's a big ass gun.
Pictured: A big ass gun.
You remember this fancomic?
The writers saw that comic were like, "get on our level, scrub."
For a second I was worried that Marinette had somehow been replaced by a doppelganger, but she just pulls off the laser sight and throws the rest of the BFG away.
This picture fails to fully convey the size of this thing, btw. When she catches it the thing is larger than she is. Multiple times larger.
This is a really really fun gag. Especailly since Queen Bee is super excited about what a useful lucky charm this will be. And I just remember her ludicrous sword thing and laugh. Even when she's making uncreative dumb big weapons Marinette still surpasses Chloe in every way. (Which in addition to being funny also furthers the running theme of Chloe as a failed/lesser version of Marinette)
Anyway, Ladybug uses the laser pointer to drag Chat Noir around the map. And since the police can only shield in one direction he takes them out with ease. (Chat Noir versus cops continues to be the funniest feud in Paris.) Malediktator is to busy holding up his hands for his mind control spirit bomb to use his power on either the cat or the pigs. This leaves an opening for his daughter to shove her gigantic. Throbbing. Knifehand stinger thing directly into his chest, thus leaving him paralyzed.
Queen Bee quickly rips off the sash and throws it to Ladybug. Chloe! You finally did something right!
Nothing out of the ordinary happens during the de-akumatization.
Luckily, the brainwashing deletes memories after it's undone, so Chloe doesn't have to watch her mother murder her father. Yet.
Chloe willingly hands over the bee miraculous, without bothering to go anywhere private first. Her detransformation phrase is "buzz off" which leads to her agreement to return it to Ladybug being unintentionally hilarious.
--
The next day Chloe is apparently trying to stick with this "personal responsibility" thing.
Marinette shows up to invite her to a party the school is throwing.
No, not the one about how Chloe Bourgeois is leaving Paris forever. The one in honor of Queen Bee, the girl who gave minor contributions to saving the city that could just have easily be accomplished by Rena Rouge or Carapace.
Alya is salty about Rena Rogue and Carapace not getting parties. She expresses this salt to Marinette. Marinette points out that superheroes with secret identities don't get parties thrown for them. Adrien is standing right next to Marinette and Alya as they have this conversation. The dramatic irony is so overwrought that Hawkmoth tries to make an Akuma out of it.
The episode ends with Chloe taking selfies. It's nice to see she tags Pollen in the photos, but I'm pretty sure the kwami box doesn't get wifi, so it's a bit of a pointless gesture.
Final Thoughts:
Magical side: it was more about Queen Bee and getting Chloe the Kwami than it was about fighting the akuma.
Mundane side: Why is Chloe not in jail? The rest of the episode was engaging enough, but every time she was on screen that was the only think I could thing.
I am super salt about how Chloe gets three episodes devoted to her getting a superhero identity while Alya and Carapace only get one. I'm just super annoyed how much more time and attention Chloe gets than any other side character. And this has been a frequent and recurring issue since she showed up in season one.
I can only hope that the next episode: Frozer will be less Chloe centric than the last three.
Speaking of previous episodes, is Hawkmoth just totally over his decision to give up? Like, if his "ultimate akuma" failed, and his akumafied Kwami holder went down like a bitch, then why is his confidence back up? Sure, Ladybug lost a kwami stone for all of five minutes, but she's turned right around and made that mistake into yet another ally to her cause. Meanwhile, Gabriel remains forever alone. (Except for Nathalie and popsicle wife.)
Early on I mention Gabriel makes nice with Audrey about her getting put in the second row.
Specifically, he says the person responsible for it has been fired. Now he says it without the slightest hint of irony or amusement, so I just read it as an empty platitude and him saying whatever lie it took to placate her.
But he was the one who had her put in the second row. Specifically so he could akumatize her. Using Nooroo's power. Gabriel has decided to stop being Hawkmoth and thus dissolved his partnership with Nooroo. So Gabriel actually did end the job responsible for Audrey getting stuck in the second row.
Secretly the most hilarious motherfucker?
Season 2 Episode 22: Malediktator
… today's enemy is Hitler, most famous of all male dictators?
This episode is the trial of Chloe Bourgeois for her recent bout of domestic terroism, interrupted by the court stenographer being terrible at their job. They akumatize with the ability to force everyone to write down what they say for a change. But they have a thick accent, making them bad at giving dictation. A mal dictor if you will.
It's an evil potato shaped like a schlong.
Either way, I'm sure they will be more likeable and enjoyable than last episodes villain.
Speaking of which, we open directly onto said villain.
I am entirely too young for this Vietnam flashback.
Why in the ever lucking world would Ladybug let Chloe get her hands on the Bee Miraculous again?
And then let her go on Tv to talk about it?
And agree to sit down with an interview with her!?
Heyyy, wait a second
As much as I hate her and everything she does to the storylines she gets involved in, you gotta admit her cosplay game is on point.
Her special effects ranking is Stronk.
Her outfits are, how do you say, on Fleek?
So I just want to point out that in-universe there are going to be multiple people that believe that that's actually Ladybug.
Because in-universe Chloe was able to walk up to Jagged Stone and a couple of professional news people and hijack an interview by claiming to be the real Ladybug and nobody noticed anything was wrong until Delphma accidentally called her by name. And Jagged Stone was living in the hotel by then, so he's definitely met Ladybug in person at least once.
Kwami disguise magic Stronk. Chloe cosplay also stronk. Chloe cosplaying as a kwami holder strongest there is!
Sorry Hulk, maybe you'll figure out a new catchphrase eventually.
Except no, everybody in Marinette's class knows that Marinette would never agree to do an interview for a school project for Chloe, so they aren't fooled into thinking that's the real Ladybug for an instant.
Given what we've seen on screen, in the actual episodes, it's really hard to think of a more reasonable explanation than that. Because again, Jagged Stone interview= totally fooled. Talking to Marinette's class= Super obvious it's just her in costume.
I mean, at the very least the class knows Ladybug better than any other group of people in the entirety of Paris/the world*.
*actually also just Paris, every time someone references a foreign sounding place like China or whatever it's actually just a nickname for one of the suburban neighborhoods.
Chloe gets laughed out of the room and it's everything I ever wanted. Everyone knows she got superpowers and no one is impressed. Everyone is very clear that the subway thing was her fault. Marinette is either more tired than normal or just extremely done with the situation because she accidentally lets slip some quality zingers at the bourgeois. It's a really cathartic scene.
Also, Alya can just casually stream a video from her personal phone onto the classroom projector. I feel like that's not a thing students are normally supposed to be able to do, right?
Anyway, I need that catharsis for the next scene where Chloe and her mother interrupt a wedding ceremony being performed by the mayor. Oh great. She is actually sticking around for a while. Of all the random characters to be introduced and then be kept around for multiple episodes you had to go with Audrey fucking Bourgeois. Couldn't be an interesting villain, like Lilaluleloly. Or a cool person providing a great opportunity for changing the dynamic like Kagami. Or an excuse to give Juleka and/or Rose more screen time like Luka. Or Mark, who reminds me of a Marinette before her superpower induced self esteem growth.
But more importantly than that, Mayor Bourgeois is allowed to officiate weddings? I mean, I looked it up and apparently that's a thing Mayors are allowed to do? But it just seems kinda weird that officiating weddings is part of the rights and responsibilities you get for being elected mayor. And also that anyone would want this philsbury doughboy moron of a Mayor to be involved in their ceremony. Twenty years later you're going through your wedding photos and he's just There. Ruins the hold nostalgia trip to have this sentient potato right in the middle, remind you that he exists.
This entire family just needs to leave Paris*.
*And all the suburban neighborhoods.
Oh shit they're actually packing holy shit I hadn't seen the rest of this scene when I wrote that this is amazing!
Annnnnd yup. His wife's plan to move to the other side of the planet with his daughter coupled with said daughter berating him for not having the power to arbitrarily force a school to close forever is enough for Hawkmoth to get all up in that family drama. I'd say I can imagine him sympathizing with losing your wife, but he's had his in the basement this entire time.
Chloe drops by the school (by way of helicopter. I reluctantly give her points for style) and announces she's leaving forever to go to New York. The class reacts basically exactly how you'd expect them to react to that news.
Ding dong the witch is … immigrating?
It's really great to see Juleka this happy.
Also shoutout to the Max/Kim and Rose/Juleka bits in the celebrations.
Also also quizzical eyebrow at the Mylene/Alix bit.
Sadly, Malediktator forces the helicopter to land before it can reach the airport. We get our first good look at today's akuma.
UM.
You, uh, you wanna take another swing at character design there buddy? N-no? O-okay then.
And then even akumatized all Mayor Diktator wants to do is still spoil the crap out of Chloe.
Oh and also he mind controls the mother into being in love with him again.
I can't believe that showed a woman kissing something shaped like that all over in a children's tv show. What the hell where the censors on when this episode hit their desk?
If I have to see this, so do you.
Back to the school.
Adrien is sad about Chloe leaving and that makes Marinette sad. I didn't mention it earlier because I was hoping it wouldn't be relevant but after the party gif Adrien comes up and talks with Marinette about Chloe. Marinette is very open about her hatred of Chloe which is perfectly in character, but then she bizarrely referred to Chloe as "useless" which is just kinda came out of fucking nowhere as a descriptor. Especially from Marinette. Especially about Chloe. It's not like Chloe tries hard to be good or friendly or helpful but fails because she isn't skilled or anything like that. Chloe is an actively hateful person who delights in tearing others down. She isn't "useless" she's "harmful". And like Marinette judges people on how useful they are. Such utter bullshit.
(Edit: I later came to the conclusion that this is a poor translation issue, with the preferred word being "worthless" rather than "useless". Which has notably different connotations, at least to me.)
But after Bad potato lord drops an area of effect mind control bomb to make all the partiers destroy the school -conveniently missing only Marinette, Adrein, and Alya- and Marinette runs to hide, she has a line about how this is her fault.
(After Tikki has a great line pointing out that Chloe is responsible for oh so many victims and managed to snag one more before leaving Paris forever. Also, nobody knows this, but after the Queen Bee incident convinced Gabriel to get back in the game, technically every single akuma after this point is her fault. I mean, actually they're all Gabriel's fault. But if this show has taught its audience anything it's that rich people never have to take responsibility for their actions.)
So they're seriously going to have a sub-plot about Marinette feeling bad for how she treated Chloe and end of welcoming her back into the class. I have neither the time, the energy, nor the lifespan to list out all the ways Chloe has treated her just as badly or worse. Not to mention she won't change her behavior after this so there's no fucking point in giving her yet another chance to not be terrible. Just cut that toxic pile of garbage out of your lives and everyone will be happier for it Marinette.
But no, the writers are going to bend over backwards to give more undeserved forgiveness to their favorite character. It's getting really tiresome, tbh.
--
Anyway, Ladybug and Chat Noir are on the scene in less than a minute!
Gorilla Fate is turning, rebel one, action!
This episode is further proof that being Akumatized gives you martial arts knowledge. Because there is no conceivable way that baseline bourgeois is enough of a fighter to hold off Ladybug and Chat Noir face to face. All he's got is his fists against their yo-yo and staff and he's doing just fine. And he casually yanks a bench off the ground and uses it as an improvised weapon for a second, so check off super strength as well.
Also Chat Noir makes a back flip that covers more that a story of height when the pair retreat to the roof, so this episode is clearly on the higher end of the "how powerful are the Miraculous" scale. Which is good, since those episodes are fun to watch and present a more interesting world to play around in.
Because casual superhuman feats that aren't the central focus of the shot and don't take up like thirty seconds of screen time are something we honestly just don't get enough of in media. Shit like superman picking up his couch in order to vacuum under it and that sort of stuff really helps sell the idea of how strong the character is and makes the world more immersive than if the strength only shows up in direct contests against other characters or when it's dramatically necessary.
Speaking of casual super stuff, Ladybug's tossing out the Lucky Charm and we're not even ten minutes into the episode. Hell, check this timeline:
8 Minutes 8 seconds - Marinette becomes aware of Malediktator's existence.
9m6s- Ladybug arrives on scene to fight Malediktator.
9m35s- Ladybug starts lucky charm.
That's less than… hold on, I need something to count this out on,
Oooh an abacus. How lucky!
29 seconds of combat before Ladybug pulls out her ultimate attack. Less than a minute and a half since she became aware of the problem and Ladybug is about to solve it.
I submit this as further proof that there's a hell of a lot more akuma's than we actually get episodes about. We're getting the absolute cream of the crop when it comes to akuma. Or ones that happen to coincide with important events in Marinette's civilian life.
When he sees that they're trying to set a new speed run record for this Akuma, Chat Noir charges in fulfill his distraction duties.
Malediktator brainwashes him into being an actual cat.
And suddenly this episode is a cliché fanfiction plot. Didn't see that coming.
Another thing I didn't see coming? Hawkmoth tells Malediktator to go ahead and take Chat's miraculous right away instead of just keeping him trapped or brainwashed until he can get Ladybug's as well and score the full set.
I guess he's finally decided to get serious about making progress on his not quite dead wife after nearly giving up on helping his not quite dead wife.
But Chat the cat doesn't like this giant penis man so just swipes angrily at him and doesn't let him get close to his paws. Oddly, Malediktator doesn't just brainwash Chat Noir into handing over the ring willingly. I mean, his wife wants to keep the cat, but that doesn't preclude making Chat like him.
--
Anyway the abacus was a clue for Marinette to go to Master Fu and recruit a new classmate into her secret cabal. Hmmm. Non-Christian deities, dealing with dark magic, violence, drinking strange substances given to you by an untrustworthy old man, rampant homosexuality. Marinette is the stereotypical "bad company" parents don't want their kids falling in with.
So who wins the Kwami roulette today? For that matter, which Kwami wins the get out of the nearly empty void universe inside the box roulette today?
Why are you looking at the Bee Comb Marinette?
Why are you picking up the Bee Comb Marinette?
Why are you assuring Master Fu that giving the Bee Comb back to Chloe Bourgeois is a good idea Marinette?
Marinette what the fuck?
Marinette, no.
--
So there's a scene in Chloe's room where Malediktator is looking for Chloe so they can be a happy family together.
It manages to actually be pretty creepy because Malediktator is dropping some great abusive parent quotes. All, "my patience has limits" and "you don't want to upset me, do you?" All while she's cowering in what's normally her private sanctum. She manages to slip away, but it still manages to one of the most emotionally uncomfortable scenes in the entire show.
--
Ladybug finds Chloe by tracking down where Chloe filmed the video she was showing the class at the start of the episode. Which apparently she also posted to youtube. Or whatever the Kwamiverse version of it is.
Chloe: Help me Ladybug Kenobi, you're my only hope.
Ladybug: Urrgh, fine. But first you need to help me. Help me, help you. Now tell me Malediktator's backstory.
Chloe: So there's this absolute bitch Marinette-
Ladybug: O rly?
Chloe: Well, okay, so that utterly unlikeable loser wasn't actually involved. Daddy just got super angry for no reason at all whatsoever.
Ladybug: O rly?
Chloe: Yes! Well, he got mad because he's useless and couldn't do what I asked him to.
Ladybug: *sighs* we're going to be here for a while, aren't we? Now then, O Rly?
Chloe: It, it was me. This is my fault.
Ladybug: *letting her internal dialogue leak again* Congratulations on this rare moment of self-awareness.
Chloe: *speaking over Ladybug* I hurt daddy's feelings because I want to leave Paris forever because I've completely fucked up my life. I have no friends, nobody likes me, hell nobody even tolerates me anymore and it's all my fault because I'm worthless and unlovable and just all around a terrible person. and I hate it but I can't stop because I don't know how to be anything different so maybe if I go somewhere new I can make myself be somebody else. Somebody I don't hate.
Ladybug: 0_o Jeez that went from zero to sixty fast. Listen, you should do what I did.
Chloe: Naturally be the most beautiful and graceful and wonderful person I've ever met, who makes me feel and think things I've never experienced before in my entire life?
Ladybug: uhhhh, No. You should put on magical jewelry and punch bad guys until you feel better about yourself.
Chloe: I am 500% down for everything you just said. But wouldn't it be wildly irresponsible for you to give me superpowers again after I committed domestic terrorism and risked the lives of hundreds of people to satisfy my own egotism?
Ladybug: okay, so can we aim for like a happy medium with the self-awareness? You're starting to freak me out a little bit.
Chloe: eh, it'll all be retconned in the last two minutes anyway.
Ladybug: True, true. Now make a contract with me and become a QB!
And then Chloe was a magical girl.
--
Queen Bee runs across the rooftops with Ladybug and it is everything she ever dreamed of. Except for the part where she almost runs face first into a chimney while in the middle of reassuring Ladybug that she's been practicing for superheroism since forever.
Given my recent revelations re: Gabriel Agreste is the single funniest person on the planet but his humor is so dry that no one is aware of it. Plus her ridiculously good cosplay skills. Chloe Bourgeois: secretly a gigantic nerd?
I mean, Adrien is a secret weeb. So his (ex) best friend Chloe being just as much of a dork, but for the other side of the planet would be a fitting characteristic. Also it provides another Alya/Chloe parallel and those are always fun to play with.
--
Elsewhere, Penismandickjoke is really leaning in to the whole supervillain thing.
Honestly? I'm just glad Chat Noir isn't in his lap.
By the way, that throne with the lounging brainwashed wife and the brainwashed police guards? Yeah, it's on the top of the roof of city hall.
Just out there flapping in the breeze, where everyone can see it.
But hey, at least he's decided to get himself some protection. Not sure why the police thought they could get that close without catching something. But you gotta admit, going after him like that they were basically asking for it. Additional metaphors.
Ladybug and
Ladybug: *quietly* Okay, here's the plan for sneaking up and stealing his sash.
Queen Bee: *loudly* I'm over here Daddy! Give me the sash and stop being evil this instant!
Ladybug: The hell, Queen Bee?
Queen Bee: Impulse control is yet another of my weak points. Coupled with my lack of internalized self worth leading to easy embarrassment this quickly translates to aggressive outbursts at my social peers in an attempt to maintain status even when intellectually I know it's a bad idea.
Audrey: Aww, our little honeybumpkins all grown up and understanding herself. How wonderful, darling.
Queen Bee: Ahhh, Maternal affection! It burns us Pollen, it burns us.
Ladybug: Huh, usually the hallucinations only get this weird after a full 72 hours without sleep, and I haven't even hit 48 yet.
Keevin the anthropomorphic Zebra Kwami: No that actually happened my dear. I saw it with my own eyes, I did.
And then [Marceline Rule]. But the swat team [Marceline rule] is too thick and thus the pair of [Marceline rule] are denied access to his juicy filling. Eventually Mayor Ligma gets tired of their futile fumbling and decides to just go ahead and drop the most massive load he can manage in order to bring about the climax of this encounter.
Ladybug decides she's going to try and get lucky again, in hopes that it'll give Queen Bee a chance to penetrate the policemen.
… that's a big ass gun.
Pictured: A big ass gun.
You remember this fancomic?
The writers saw that comic were like, "get on our level, scrub."
For a second I was worried that Marinette had somehow been replaced by a doppelganger, but she just pulls off the laser sight and throws the rest of the BFG away.
This picture fails to fully convey the size of this thing, btw. When she catches it the thing is larger than she is. Multiple times larger.
This is a really really fun gag. Especailly since Queen Bee is super excited about what a useful lucky charm this will be. And I just remember her ludicrous sword thing and laugh. Even when she's making uncreative dumb big weapons Marinette still surpasses Chloe in every way. (Which in addition to being funny also furthers the running theme of Chloe as a failed/lesser version of Marinette)
Anyway, Ladybug uses the laser pointer to drag Chat Noir around the map. And since the police can only shield in one direction he takes them out with ease. (Chat Noir versus cops continues to be the funniest feud in Paris.) Malediktator is to busy holding up his hands for his mind control spirit bomb to use his power on either the cat or the pigs. This leaves an opening for his daughter to shove her gigantic. Throbbing. Knifehand stinger thing directly into his chest, thus leaving him paralyzed.
Queen Bee quickly rips off the sash and throws it to Ladybug. Chloe! You finally did something right!
Nothing out of the ordinary happens during the de-akumatization.
Luckily, the brainwashing deletes memories after it's undone, so Chloe doesn't have to watch her mother murder her father. Yet.
Chloe willingly hands over the bee miraculous, without bothering to go anywhere private first. Her detransformation phrase is "buzz off" which leads to her agreement to return it to Ladybug being unintentionally hilarious.
--
The next day Chloe is apparently trying to stick with this "personal responsibility" thing.
Marinette shows up to invite her to a party the school is throwing.
No, not the one about how Chloe Bourgeois is leaving Paris forever. The one in honor of Queen Bee, the girl who gave minor contributions to saving the city that could just have easily be accomplished by Rena Rouge or Carapace.
Alya is salty about Rena Rogue and Carapace not getting parties. She expresses this salt to Marinette. Marinette points out that superheroes with secret identities don't get parties thrown for them. Adrien is standing right next to Marinette and Alya as they have this conversation. The dramatic irony is so overwrought that Hawkmoth tries to make an Akuma out of it.
The episode ends with Chloe taking selfies. It's nice to see she tags Pollen in the photos, but I'm pretty sure the kwami box doesn't get wifi, so it's a bit of a pointless gesture.
Final Thoughts:
Magical side: it was more about Queen Bee and getting Chloe the Kwami than it was about fighting the akuma.
Mundane side: Why is Chloe not in jail? The rest of the episode was engaging enough, but every time she was on screen that was the only think I could thing.
I am super salt about how Chloe gets three episodes devoted to her getting a superhero identity while Alya and Carapace only get one. I'm just super annoyed how much more time and attention Chloe gets than any other side character. And this has been a frequent and recurring issue since she showed up in season one.
I can only hope that the next episode: Frozer will be less Chloe centric than the last three.
Speaking of previous episodes, is Hawkmoth just totally over his decision to give up? Like, if his "ultimate akuma" failed, and his akumafied Kwami holder went down like a bitch, then why is his confidence back up? Sure, Ladybug lost a kwami stone for all of five minutes, but she's turned right around and made that mistake into yet another ally to her cause. Meanwhile, Gabriel remains forever alone. (Except for Nathalie and popsicle wife.)
Krazyfan1
Worrying for the future.
- Location
- Australia
Don't worry, shes only mentioned in that one...
SolipsistSerpent
Endlessly Devouring
Thank god. The Audience sure needed it. It'd be better if we hadn't gotten to the point where we needed to see a highschool girl mocked to her face, but that's where the writers have left us.
I'm not sure why you think it's weird that Mayors can officiate weddings but not that judges can. Or did you not know that either?
Wow. Maybe this whole mess was just Chloe's big send up. I can forgive a lot for that. They'd need her to do something bigger than normal to justify her feeling the need to leave, after all. The fact that everyone is literally partying over this is amazing.
Oh, right. They were sort of friends in the first few episodes. Suddenly my limited first hand experience of the show is relevant again!
I agree that 'worthless' and 'useless', while they look similar, have different English connotations.
No, show. Don't you dare. I was ready to forgive you... some of your problems... over this.
Probably the exact levels of strength and martial arts depend on the Akuma.
I thought that was already pretty much established by dialogue?
Maybe he can only plant one suggestion at a time? Admittedly, that would mean his wife is currently only brainwashed into liking him and otherwise wants to keep a brainwashed teenage boy as a pet on her own, which... Actually, isn't out of character for her.
I... What...? She had it. She already got a chance to have super-powers and she used them to stage a train accident. What has she done since that convinced you she'd do differently in the future?
Huh. That sounds well done, but well-done in a way that clashes a bit with the usual tone.
I am really curious about how accurately that conversation reflected the show's version of Chloe getting the Miraculous. It almost makes me want to watch... Not the whole episode. That bit, anyway.
Chloe being a secret nerd does line up with what we've seen. Maybe it's one of the things she bonded with Adrian over? Besides being rich and having a basically absent mother.
It sounds like her being a super-hero was, while a bad decision, more fun than I would have expected, with her running into chimneys and gushing over the parts of the Lucky Charm that don't matter and so on.
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Krazyfan1
Worrying for the future.
- Location
- Australia
Adrien was sad that she was leaving.
therefore she must make him not sad.
Also apparently "Reverser took place between Queen wasp and Malediktator. The production notes shows it. So Chloe is truly starting to change for real "
SolipsistSerpent
Endlessly Devouring
Well, if they wanted you to take it that way they should have released the episodes in Chronological Order. Because there were a lot of episodes between that and these.
Word of God doesn't fix it.
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- Pronouns
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Its fairly common for the broadcast order to differ from the intended order, like with most versions of season one. Honestly, except for episodes that directly reference or set up events in other episodes the Ladybug timeline can be considered majorly up in the air.
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SolipsistSerpent
Endlessly Devouring
Ladybug is particularly egregious with its episodes being set in non-chronological order and you know it, though that's not necessarily because they're being aired out of the intended order.
Reverser was moved to episode 19, which is only 3 episodes out of place, but the fact it's supposed to be part of a character arc makes a big difference and the rate of the episode release means it was released 3 months before it was supposed to happen, which is a decent distance chronologically. It's not like the episodes were released daily or weekly.
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Just because two people want to get married, doesn't mean they want to bring religion into it. Weddings at city hall, with a government official rather than a priest, are extremely common.
...Granted, I doubt the mayor of a city with several million citizens can afford the time to handle a significant portion of weddings. And Mayor Bourgeois is the worst man possible for the job except the guy who ran against him, so it seems unlikely anyone would want him rather than some other employee of city hall...
OK, I freaking love every single bit of this. I mean, even Tikki, saintly figure of wisdom is she, is happy about Chloe leaving.Chloe drops by the school (by way of helicopter. I reluctantly give her points for style) and announces she's leaving forever to go to New York. The class reacts basically exactly how you'd expect them to react to that news.
Ding dong the witch is … immigrating?
It's really great to see Juleka this happy.
Also shoutout to the Max/Kim and Rose/Juleka bits in the celebrations.
Also also quizzical eyebrow at the Mylene/Alix bit.
Well, Napoleon gotta Napoleon.
UM.
You, uh, you wanna take another swing at character design there buddy? N-no? O-okay then.
oO
*sighs*
It's... Well. It's normal for Adrien to be upset about his old friend leaving.
But it does bother me how little Adrien seems to care, or even be aware, of the degree to which Chloe hurts everyone but him. I mean, it's very believable, but it bothers me.
OK, speaking here as someone who loves redemption stories and is very much in favor of forgiveness, both in real life and in fiction?
This show does a terrible job with Chloe. The writers really want to write a slow story of redemption and forgiveness with Chloe, which is fine... but the problem is, in the process, they keep treating the suffering of her victims as ultimately unimportant.
Don't forget "non-white". (OK, less obvious with Marinette than with some, but still.)
*snorts at that last line*
But, seriously. As terrible as the Chloe arc has been, I'm thankful to at least see some goddamn progress with it. The sooner Chloe becomes an even remotely halfway semi-decent mammal, the lesser our suffering.
I'm surprised you're interpreting the presence of his wife down there as "not really dead". I interpreted it as "keeping her corpse in cryogenic storage".
Krazyfan1
Worrying for the future.
- Location
- Australia
Cant remember who said it, but "Characters shouldnt just have redemptions and forgiveness given to them, write them with redemption in mind from the beginning"
or something like that...
Ridiculously Average Guy
I'm you, but stronger
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They appear to have that, they just keep fucking up the execution.
Chloe's isn't nearing Zuko in terms of redemption arc, sadly.
SolipsistSerpent
Endlessly Devouring
It is a little like this:
But, I can agree the Chloe Redemption thing would be less toturous if they would just finish it. For one thing it would decrease the amount of horrible things she does. They really should have done it last season. Or made the Akuma be caused by a lot more people. Because, as is, she's responsible for, what, two-thirds of them? I guess it's lazy writing that it was always her but the outcome is that she's objectively horrible.
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Judges tell people how they're going to spend the rest/next several years of their life all the time, so yeah obviously they can marry people. Mayors are more for speeches and statue unveilings and hosting important guests and signing papers than they are for Direct Legal activity. ... It occurs to me that I do not actually have a very firm grasp on the rights and responsibilities of a Mayoral position.
I am however quite confident that Mayor Bourgeois is failing to properly uphold them.
Yeah, and also Jean Duparc was shown immediately post akumatization at the start of Princess Fragrance. This is just further proof for anyone that still tries to argue against it, and honestly serves more as emphasis for the the next two sentences of the quote, implying that all other factors to the contrary Malediktator should be considered a noteworthy threat simply by dint of getting screen time. Or not, and he's only relevant because it was the proper birth of Queen Bee and the vague gesture in the direction of redemption for Marinette's long term childhood bully.
however quite confident that Mayor Bourgeois is failing to properly uphold them.
I went looking for a clip of the second part of this quote, and the best I found without just linking the full episode conveniently had the first part as well.
and
For a terrifying second I thought we were going to have to move this entire thread over to Questionable Questing. (Ahh, America, where cannibalism is more acceptable than sex.)
Which I'd be okay with, but feel like I'd lose out on a lot of the incidental clicks and casual readers if I did.
I don't see how Reverser taking place after Queen's Battle is supposed to improve Chloe's redemtion arc. All she did there was burst into art class and try and show a collage of herself before insulting everyone and getting laughed out. Was there something about her I missed in that episode? I'm fully willing to admit I was a little distracted by ALIX OWNING THE FUCKING LOUVRE.
It's fine, Mr. President. They're fine.
While I'm fully familiar with the idea of civil ceremonies, I was under the impression they contained a lot less... ceremony. The Mayor was doing the full priestly "I now announce you" and everything.
And we promise it's not just because the less humans there are in Marinette's life the less competition there is for her cookies. We promise.
I can't help but feel there are multiple ways to wear that hat that result in looking less like a penis.
And she's very affection Stepford wifish throughout the rest of the episode too. Yeah. There's definitely NSFW fanart of this floating around somewhere.
And even in the end of this episode she gets in a cruel dig and Delphma's parent being less rich than her's. They can barely hold tone through one episode let across the entire series. This seems like another example of the several different things they want to do with this series working at cross purposes again. And yeah, Chloe doesn't actually seem to have much sorrow over her life choices outside of a particularly low moment like today's episode. I mean c'mon, we've all had days where we felt like Chloe did during her little confession to Ladybug, and how many of us actually made major life changes after the current stressors were ameliorated or adapted to? I mean, really?
If we get a nice or even non-terrible Chloe in later episodes then I'm all for it. I just don't expect the writers to pull it off.
Speaking of shallow writing, there were some noticable dialogue tics in this episode.
Firstly, Chloe's only discriptor for things she doesn't like is a heavily pronounced "Ridiculous. Utterly Ridiculous." It keeps coming up like it's her catch phrase, but it's not something I remember noticing much outside of this episode, so it became a little jarring to listen to.
Secondly, characters kept referring to members of the Bourgeois family with their real names, and then quickly correcting themselves to their cape names. Now it almost makes sense to do it for asking what made Maled- Mayor Bourgeois upset, since they are (roughly speaking) different people and the Mayor was the one who had to be upset for Malediktator to be born. But outside of that context and for anything to do with Queen Bee it doesn't make any sense. It's like they're trying to respect the unwritten rules of superhero life but are really bad at it.
Idea: In the wake of Queen Wasp, Mayor Bourgeois quickly enacts or massively overpowers legislature recognizing transformed indiviuals as legally distinct from their civilian selves, thus making impossible to prosecute any Kwami empowered individual for actions taken while in costume. (which also protects Ladybug for destruction of property and negligent manslaughter the next time she blows up the Eiffel Tower). This would make anyone speaking in a professional position, such as a teacher, legally unable to acknowledge that Queen Bee and Chloe Bourgeois are the same person.
Right! Half-Chinese. Don't know how I managed to forget that in an episode full of Chloe yelling "Dupain-Cheng"
Actually depending on how in touch Marinette is with her heritage* it could explain her deep deference to Master Fu. What with the importance of Ancestor worship, respect for elders, and Filial Piety** in Chinese culture.
*Probably not much since she can't even say hello in Mandarin.
**As the person who gave her the Miraculous and the oldest living Kwami holder he's kinda Ladybug's dad? I guess?
*snorts at that last line*
But, seriously. As terrible as the Chloe arc has been, I'm thankful to at least see some goddamn progress with it. The sooner Chloe becomes an even remotely halfway semi-decent mammal, the lesser our suffering.
My brain went immediately to Nora Fries from Batman: the Animated Series. Who was almost, but not quite dead. But mostly dead is still partially alive and all that.
And it's a futuristic whitish tube with a glass door that lets you view the inhabitant. Every time I've encountered that in recent media it's meant "suspended animation" not "yeah she dead, but rot is a bitch to necromancy around."
Also she's always been referred to as "missing" or "disappeared" not "dead." Which is possibly a function of being children's tv. But if that's the case, then I figure they wouldn't show an actual factual dead body on the show either.
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This is not the Lord of Fandom's greatest post in the world. This is just a tribute.
And now, the thrilling sequel, Rex's Response to Fandom Lord's Response to Rex's Response to Miraculous Ladybug's Response to everyone telling them that Chloe is a terrible terrible character and also person which are separate but equally relevant categories to consider for responding to a character.
... I can't find a good clip or image of her yelling at Goblin Slayer not to use fire. Or poison. Or explosions. Which is kinda surprising, because it comes up a lot.
Remember Malediktor, Chat Noir is your slave who is a catboy, not your catboy slave. (This line is funny to at least three people on this thread including me.)
It's official, every Akuma caused by Chloe from this point onwards is Tikki's fault. And since per Queen's Battle all akuma's made by Gabriel Agreste are Chloe's fault, all akuma are now Tikki's fault.
(And Master Fu was the one who let Tikki out of the box, making everything Tikki does his fault. Come to think of it, this also applies to Nooroo and his miraculous. In conclusion: Blame Master Fuckup for everything that goes wrong in the entire series. It's the only logical conclusion.
Edit: There we go!Nested quotes are hard.
Fandom Lord said:
And now, the thrilling sequel, Rex's Response to Fandom Lord's Response to Rex's Response to Miraculous Ladybug's Response to everyone telling them that Chloe is a terrible terrible character and also person which are separate but equally relevant categories to consider for responding to a character.
This seems like a good opportunity to point out that in the party gif Owl Principle and at least one other adult are celebrating just as hard as the children.Fandom Lord said:
Fire Captain would get along well with Goblin Slayer. Right until Goblin Slayer tried to use Fire to Slay Goblins. Then they would have problems. Instead, Fire Captain's favorite character would then become Elf Archer.Fandom Lord said:
... I can't find a good clip or image of her yelling at Goblin Slayer not to use fire. Or poison. Or explosions. Which is kinda surprising, because it comes up a lot.
Dat's racist.Fandom Lord said:
Remember Malediktor, Chat Noir is your slave who is a catboy, not your catboy slave. (This line is funny to at least three people on this thread including me.)
Fandom Lord said:
It's official, every Akuma caused by Chloe from this point onwards is Tikki's fault. And since per Queen's Battle all akuma's made by Gabriel Agreste are Chloe's fault, all akuma are now Tikki's fault.
(And Master Fu was the one who let Tikki out of the box, making everything Tikki does his fault. Come to think of it, this also applies to Nooroo and his miraculous. In conclusion: Blame Master Fuckup for everything that goes wrong in the entire series. It's the only logical conclusion.
Edit: There we go!
Nested quotes are hard.
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SolipsistSerpent
Endlessly Devouring
Huh. I know you joke about it but Chloe really is all over Ladybug when she shows up. Hands clasped, face in her face, there probably is some kind of celebrity crush going on.
Also "I have no friends", says Chloe, which indicates what she thinks of... Delphma (I cannot remember her real name thanks to your reviews). Admittedly, they've had a few spats before, maybe they're on the outs right now.
I like Marinette's line "You can fix your own messes" because, let's face it, they're nearly all Chloe's messes.
It COULD be saying Napoleon is a bit of a dickhead?
It's another of those imitating-her-mother things. They say it in sync a few times, starting with the earlier parts of the Queen Bs trilogy.
Also, her efficiency as an Akuma aside, I'm personally very entertained by the fact that Mama Boujee is canonically the biggest bitch Hawk Moth has ever had the chance to Akumatize. She's not just the meanest person in his poorly defined but roughly Paris sized range, she's the meanest person that has been in that range in his entire supervillain career. In Paris. That's at least a year of asshole tourists, politicians from every country, and general French fuckery. One character with consistent characterization, at least.
I really loved the Mayor at the beginning of the episode. You can really see the exact moment where he realizes there are two of them now.
Glaciator 2: Ice Harder
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- Earth
Season 2, Episode 23: Frozer
This episode (and depending on reception) all subsequent episodes will be cross posted on a fully Miraculous Ladybug themed forum. Check it out.
"Honey, where is my super suit?" And then Frozone was an Akuma.
Someone has insulted Andre's ice-cream again, and since Hawkmoth can apparently hit the same person twice, Gabriel just says screw it and gives Glaciator another shot.
Episode title actually a typo. Opponent's true name is Fonzer, and his civilian form is obsessed with the American sitcom Happy Days. Expect many sharks to be jumped in this episode.
--
This episode opens in the middle of one of the sillier scenarios this show has given us. Not quite as silly as space garbage, but it's pretty up there.
Apparently, a man decided to set up a hang glider-based deliver service despite the fact that he doesn't know how to operate a hang glider. Setting aside all of the many many logistical and bureaucratic issues presented by such a business, how does he even get this far into the process without having any experience actually hang gliding? I mean, fake it till you make it is an important business skill, but there are limits. Very serious, mortality-based limits.
Fortunately, Ladybug and Chat Noir happened to be in the area to save this strange, sad little man and his bouquet which was not so much flying, as falling with style.
P.S. check out Ladybug's face as she saves this dude.
Lol this bitch.
I could be sleeping right now, but instead I gotta save your dumb ass
Mmmh yup, this is my life now.
Why so stupid?
It's pretty great how annoyedly judgmental she is in this shot.
The pair land on the roof and send Glideman McDumbo on his way, Chat Noir returns his bouquet but swipes one of the flowers. Like a thieving thief. No wonder he hates cops so much.
On the other hand, it's not like they're getting paid for all this life saving* so it's not like anyone can complain about them picking up a few free party favors along the way, right?
*Assuming Master Fu hasn't shared any of that sweet sweet merchandising revenue from that entirely canon in-universe Miraculous Ladybug anime.
And then he drops into proposition pose and offers Ladybug his larcenous loot. Ladybug refuses on the grounds that she would never steal anything ever at all for any reason. And also Chat Noir is about to detransform so he should go somewhere where no one can see him. Like behind a bench in the middle of a park.
Chat Noir shrugs her off, lets the ring run out and turns back into Adrien.
Oh, so this is clearly a dream sequence. And then things get all Inceptiony as Adrien has a dream sequence inside his dream sequence.
This seems… familiar
Compulsive stealing and art shifting fantasy sequences. These two really are meant for each other.
Adrien's ideal life: vegetarian island hobos with a pet hamster.
And then Ladybug interrupts Chat Noir's dream sequence and she is not at all happy about the flower thing.
Ladybug: I told you back on that sweet rooftop scene after Glaciator that I'm in love with someone else.
Ladybug: and after that you were super happy that we were friendly friendship friends that were platonically friendly with each other?
Chat Noir: Yeah, that sounds in character for me. But putting that aside: if that guy you liked was, uh, how'd Alya put it? Taken care of. Then would I have a shot at the Ladybutt?
Ladybug: *looks around the area* uhhhh, I can't imagine him not being around. *swings off to get some sleep*
Shot zooms out to show an absolutely silly amount of Adrien advertisements.
~All by myself~
Miraculous Ladybug is a very subtle show.
Chat Noir is very sad.
He sadly goes back to his school and sadly dons his fencing outfit and is sadly scolded by his gym teacher for being late and sadly- RED JUMPSUIT!
RED FENCING JUMPSUIT LOOKS FEMALE NOT A DRILL!!
IS IT?
IT IS!
RENA ROUGE! I mean, KAGAMI!
I've already forgiven everything else this episode is going to do. And it's probably necessary. Because I fell like a lot of the times when this show does really really nice things for me within the first five minutes it then turns around and slaps me across the face with something really bad before the episode is over.
But honestly? It'll have to be pretty bad to counterbalance finally getting more Kagami. (Now bring Lila in as a background shot. C'mon, just establish she's survived the top of the Eiffel Tower.)
After she absolutely trounces him on the mats, Kagami meets Adrien in the locker room to ask why he sucks so much. But, like, in a nice way. She also gets a casual outfit.
Very bishoujo manga butch love interest without going too far masculine.
I wonder if this was the uniform from her previous school and Kagami hasn't adapted to the wear what ever the hell you want culture of Dupont high school. Or if this is just Kagami's personal fashion choice. Either way I'm digging the look.
Adrien sadly confesses that the writers have regressed his character arc again because they don't know how to advance the love square without an identity reveal.
Kagami says that maybe instead of figuring out a new way to approach the problem, maybe the writers can just add more complications to it? Like making Rena Rouge and Carapace regular features of their superhero adventures or something. All couched in fencing metaphors, of course.
Adrien hands Kagami the rose as a friendly way to say thanks for her great advice. Which, btw, he understood as "maybe you haven't asked Ladybug to date you in just the right way yet." Adrien no.
And then Plagg says that he always approaches his love interests (cheese) by telling them that he wants to eat them. Plagg No!
Praise be unto all the Kwami except Plagg, Adrien is not dumb enough to take Plagg's advice. Instead he'll ask the other people in his life.
Except that leaves Gorilla, Nathalie, and his dad. Gorilla might actually give good advice if Adrien was brave enough to ask, but Nathalie and Gabriel's response to not having a loved one in their life is to embark on a mad supervillainous quest for the power to rewrite reality, so it's probably for the best that Adrien chickens out on those fronts as well.
The next day at school, Adrien looks around at all the couples.
Mark and Nathaniel crouched over Mark's notebook of Ladybug fanfic
as IVAN and Mylene run past hand and hand in the fore ground.
Alya and Nino sitting together on a bench laughing at phone memes together.
Juleka and Rose standing unnecessarily close to share a pair of headphones.
The framing here is pretty blatant that Mark/Nathan and Juleka/Rose get just as much attention as Alya/Nino and Ivan/Mylene. Now if only the show would be brave enough to actually use their words to confirm it, instead of just showing it. (With just enough deniability that they can claim friendship if they need to.) C'mon, ML, it's 20gayteen. We've had an onscreen lesbian wedding and Bubbline is canon. Get on their level.
And then Marinette runs face first into Adrien's back. Definitely for reals on accident and not because she wanted to check if he changed his shampoo recently or anything like that.
Adrien asks Marinette for advice on his love life.
Alas, I am struck dead. The sharpness of this irony is like unto a stake upon mine dead heart, and I shall not live to see the morrow. Especially when Adrien talks about the girl he's now growing interested in using language that all applies to Marinette and then he says it's Kagami.
Beautiful.
I promise I'm not going to screen shot every moment Kagami is on screen, but a clean version of this shot would be so deliciously meme worthy.
It looks like the cover of her new rap album.
This picture looks like the John Cena meme sounds.
This is an exact visual representation of my thoughts when I saw Kagami's face in this episode.
Okay, back to the show.
I gotta admit, I'm disappointed in the decision to have Adrien consider a romance with Kagami. But that's probably because I got way to invested in my "Adrien and Kagami become entirely platonic friends who everyone thinks are dating, meanwhile Kagami is drowning in her unresolved lust for Marinette. Also Marinette thinks Kagami is a great friend and doesn't consider her a rival for Adrien at all."
I just would have really loved that dynamic okay. And it does add an additional wrinkle to the love square without reducing Kagami to being off-brand Ladybug. Which let's be honest is exactly what's going on here right now.
Okay, back to the show.
Marinette accidentally calls Kagami the ice queen (booo) while shocked by Adrien's reveal. She covers up her slip by suggesting Adrien take Kagami to the ice rink. Like Nino and Alya and Marinette and offscreen Adrien did on their second four way date after their fireworks date got interrupted by Anansi. Adrien's argues that he's too shy to invite her on his own and Marinette offers to make it a threesome. Er, to go with Kagami and Adrien on their date. Er, as a Friend.
--
Next scene, Marinette consulting with her female classmates (Not you Chloe) about what the fuck did she just do.
Alya: Okay, well this would be disastrous for my plans. Girls, ideas?
Alix: You already have plans with your girlfriend.
Rose: You got lost staring into your girlfriend's eyes. Happens to me all the time.
Juleka: *is too busy staring into Rose's eyes to be helpful*
Mylene: You should try doing schoolwork at some point. Ooh! That could be your excuse!
Alya: Just fail to show up and blame it on an Akuma, not like that'd be the least bit OOC.
Marinette: Actually, I think I want to do them. This. Do this with them. For Adrien's sake. Because he's my friend.
And at this point all of Marinette's classmates reveal they ship Adrinette harder than Marinette ships it.
Marinette ducks out of the conversation to find the other returning one-off character for this episode, Luka.
Oh hey. So anyway, Kagami is great. In this essay I will
I'm less ridiculously excited to see you Luka, but it's still nice.
Also, I did not realize he was that goddamn tall. Like, wow.
And then Marinette invites Luka to go ice skating with her and Kagami and Adrien.
Sure, sounds good to me.
--
The next day, Adrien tries to sneak out of his house but gets caught by Gabriel. Adrien claims he was going to a one on one practice session with Kagami. Wow Adrien, I'm telling Marinette. But in any case the lie works and instead of stopping him from leaving Gabriel has Gorilla give Adrien a ride. Adrien nervously asks Gorilla to drive him to the ice rink instead of anywhere appropriate for fencing. Gorilla silently complies.
I included the above information so my statement that Gorilla is good people and should become Adrien's guardian after Hawkmoth gets his ass thrown in jail didn't come completely out of nowhere.
Gorilla is good people and should become Adrien's legal guardian after Hawkmoth gets his ass thrown in jail.
--
At the ice rink, we meet our Akuma for the day and it's all Chloe's fault. Again.
The Mayor wants to shut the ice rink down and convert it into an indoor gym. Which if his statement that the ice rink has literally zero new members/students for the entire year, sounds like an entirely reasonable choice. But then the Mayor lets slip that he's only doing this because Chloe wants him to and his credibility goes straight down the shitter again.
You'd really think he'd have delegated the task of ruining the livelihood of someone deeply dedicated to their job to someone else. Because this is a situation absolutely ripe for Akumatization.
The arrival of our foursome (Nino and Alya today played by Kagami and Luka) delays this result momentarily, but lets not kid ourselves. Its going to all go wrong shortly.
--
Okay that's actually pretty darn cute.
The group is getting ready to go out on the ice. Adrien sneaks over to ask Marinette for romantic advice. Marinette gives the best advice she can manage and then accidentally uses Luka as a living model of what Adrien should do.
It's super effective. On Marinette.
Adrien goes over to Kagami. And without meaning to, recreates part of the demonstration. With him in Marinette's role. Complete with Kagami taking his hand and leading him out onto the ice.
Our heroes really are cut from the same cloth. Unfortunately that cloth is socially awkward hopeless romantic dork lords of flail.
Which tbh, is a large part of why I poly ship so hard in this fandom. Because I somehow got sucked into investing in their romance, but never once got the impression that they'd actually manage to form a functional relationship if left to their own devices. So add a stabilizing factor, like, say, someone with basic social competence and suddenly you're golden. And also I'm just blatantly partial to polyships over any other form.
--
So the four set to skating.
Kagami seems almost angry that the other two have come along. I'd understand it if it was just Marinette (and we were being heteronormative about things), but with Luka in addition it seems to make the guyxgirl paring more explicit which would better convey the intention that this be a date without forcing her to be alone with the person making the advances should she choose to reject them.
Anyway, Ice Rink dude tries to get them to sign up for figure skating classes, but they all reject for their own reasons.
Luka: Dude I'm trying to score right now. Also I music is my passion.
Kagami: [actual quote] I only practice noble arts, like archery and fencing.
Marinette: *Ladybug flashbacks* I need sleep, not social activities.
Adrien: *Absurd number of extracurricular flashbacks* *highly successful modeling career flashbacks* *Chat Noir flashbacks* *Barely repressed hysterical laughter* Uh, maybe. Yeah.
Kagami: No. He will do fencing with me.
Marinette gets distracted watching Adrien and Kagami and skates straight into a wall. Adrien and Luka both quickly offer their hand to help her up.
It's another meme worthy image.
Marinette has two hands.
Before Marinette can pick a route, Ice Rink guy comes up to make his sales pitch again.
Mayor "Apparently I want Akumas" pulls the paper out of his hands, tells him the ice rink is being shutdown and says, and I'm quoting here "you can't force them now can you?"
Wow. Just, wow. I couldn't think of a more blatant set up for an Akumatization possible. I mean, wow. Forcing people to do things is like the single most popular power for Akuma to have and the Mayor just set up some dramatic irony for him getting the power to make people ice skate at the same time he told ice rink guy he was fired.
Wow.
But there's no need for Marinette or Adrien to worry about that, they're doing romance stuff.
So back to Marinette and the game of palms. Playerthree four has entered the game.
Huh.
"I never hesitate"
And then they kiss.
It was entirely necessary for their faces to get that close to each other. Yup. Yup.
Listen writers, if you want me to buy Kagami as a romantic rival for Adrien you have to give her less scenes with overwhelming lesbian energy, okay?
Heh. Guys, guys. It's Yuri on Ice.
Anyway, Marinette is emotionally overwhelmed and … confused, and so excuses herself to the bathroom for a moment.
And then Adrien totally bails on Kagami to go check on Marinette.
--
And then Hawkmoth does his thing.
Frozer… sigh. Frozer lets it go.
And freezes over the entire ice rink, turning it into his personal ice castle where he can be alone and free. Even before the super powers the cold never bothered him anyway.
Okay, I think I've gotten it all out and if another opportunity to reference frozen comes up I should be able to let it go.
D'oh!
Anyway, Marinette transforms into Ladybug. But not just any Ladybug. This is Advanced Ladybug.
By way of Master Fu's magic macaroons we haven't talked about in NINE episodes. That's more than half the current season. They showed up in one episode and then were never mentioned again. You can't just introduce things in one episode, drop them entirely for most of a season and expect people to still remember and be interested in them the next time you feel like they'd be useful.
Yes, I know Kagami only showed up once EIGHTEEN episodes ago and I still remembered and was interested in her. No, that's not a fucking excuse for this BS.
It's bad writing.
Anyway, Ladybug jumps straight to her second stage Ice themed transformation without doing the slightest bit of recon or information gathering about her enemy.
She has an Ice Crown.
Ladybug's ice is nice. Though utterly impractical for any situation outside of ice based combat. Which is par for the course given our other example of second stage Kwami are basically mermaids.
And then Chat Noir has the exact same response as Ladybug, using ice themed cheese.
Plagg gets an ice themed crown.
Chat Noir gets… buff?
Okay, that picture leaves us with an unfortunate icicle placement, but it's just a design on the Outside of his thighs. Don't worry about it.
Instead, worry that Frozer is the result of someone turning Frozone into a Junkrat skin.
He looks like an Adam West villain.
And dear Kwami in box, what is going on with his voice?
He sounds like a stereotypical fat kid with vague hints of mental disabilities from those kids movies made before people realized that maybe everything about that stereotype was actually pretty offensive.
--
Chat Noir is being bitchy at Ladybug about her not returning his love.
Sigh.
The previous sigh should be translated as whatever string of curses best conveys a sense of resigned frustration to the reader.
Because I am extremely frustrated with this character choice, but also not at all surprised and I don't expect Chat Noir to have to eat crow about it at any point later in this episode.
Because this is the exact same shit he pulled in Glaciator. And we were supposed to move past it after Ladybug agreed that while she didn't return your romantic interests she was still your friendly friendship friends that were platonically friendly bestest buddies forever.
Right? Like, I didn't imagine that episode did I? Or all the parts where Kagami wasn't Riposte from that episode while I'm at it? Because she feels like a very different character now than she did then.
Like, I get that you're hurting because you've finally decided to give up on her, but there's no call for you to be this bitchy at Ladybug Chat. Especially because you're in the goddamn middle of your rebound date.
Like, it's been less than 24 hours since she turned you down and you're already pursuing romance with another girl.
And then you're going to be all rude and curt at her when the two of you are trying to fight a dangerous enemy.
Real mature hero.
--
Okay, focusing on the positive things.
Ladybug has a little fur lined collar and it looks great. Even though it opens up much lower than her normal outfit, meaning that her cold weather gear actually has more exposed skin than her regular gear. But that's not important because magic outfits don't have to obey the laws of physics. So just enjoy that regal fluff while you've got it Marinette. And the crown. Oh gods I just got that.
Ladybug is now dressed as an Ice Queen. Marinette called the person Adrien was attracted to earlier an ice queen. It has been confirmed that the Holder's consciousness has a strong influence over how their superhero outfits manifest. Ladybug semi-consciously made the decision to dress as an Ice Queen because that's what she thinks Adrien is into. And neither of them will ever ever in their entire lives put this together. That's actually pretty funny.
Another positive thing? Ice Skating parkour is an amazing concept and the animators do it justice. Because Paris is Just Ice.
Is Frozer the real hero of this episode? Because he has truly brought Paris just ice.
--
Ladybug is busy thinking of what bait she could use in a Frozer trap.
The answer is Ladybug makes great bait, but she hasn't realized that.
Luckily Chat Noir was there to get her out of the way at the last second. Shit like this is why you should never split the party. If he was delayed for any reason, Hawkmoth might have won right there.
Chase sequence.
Tony Hawk's Ice Skater sudden death mode. Complete with the ability to throw giant icicles at people by kicking at them.
It's a solid power, made slightly less so by the unstable footing of everything being ice. And also he already has two sharp blades on his feet so it's not like his lower half needed to be any more deadly.
--
Her brush with death has snapped Chat Noir out of his Antibug funk and the two are back in Akuma stomping mode.
There are many fights brute force can win. For everything else, there's Lucky Charm.
Today's deus ex machina is a big bag of my emotions.
--
Prep montage.
Ladybug lures Frozer into chasing her through a pretty banger obstacle course. It's pretty clear where most of this episode's budget went.
The final step of the obstacle course is the trap.
A defrosted ladder has been turned into a ramp near a large outcropping of ice. Chat Noir hangs on the underside of the ladder like some sort of man dressed like a bat.
Ladybug slides down the ladder, hooks one of the rungs with her yo-yo, swings around the out cropping of ice, and uses it as a pully to yank the ladder into the air.
Frozer jumps after her, avoiding the dangers of the moving terrain, but failing to account for the random cat slashing at his skates. With cataclysm. Thus destroying his akuma object and ending the fight.
… that seemed really short and easy. Did that seem really short to anyone else?
R.I.P. Frozer, 13:16-17:45. Just under four and a half minutes from akumatization to butterfly expulsion. Included all the parts where he wasn't on screen.
And this fight took place in very close to real time. That's hilarious. This is the sort of scenario that should make Hawkmoth consider packing it in and giving up, not his nonsense about Style Queen being the ultimate akuma.
Anyway, Hawkmoth cries alone in his observatory, because he's an ice ice baby.
--
Cut to Adrien taking a selfie with human ice rink guy. And then posting it on social media.
Adrien: If hundreds of horny people are going to stalk every non-superhero aspect of my life, I may as well use it for good.
Kagami: It sounds weird when you put it like that.
Adrien: Speaking of weirdness, this was kinda weird. I've decided to just keep going after Ladybug, because that's a healthy image of romance to sell to children.
Kagami: Riiiiiight. So when you realize you're going after the wrong target *meaningful look towards Marinette* I'll be there. Because I've always wanted to be the maid of honor at someone's wedding.
Alya, across town: *cocks gun* Guess who else in this city won't hesitate bitch?
Kagami, who has acutely honed survival skills: I mean, best man at someone's wedding*
Nino, across town: *hands Alya a gun* My girlfriend won't hesitate.
Alya: bitch.
Nino: I'm just not comfortable with that sort of language.
Alya: No, I was referring to you that time.
Nino: Aww, babe that's so sweet.
Nino and Alya: *kiss a lot*
*Going by the original purpose of the best man, that is, to sword fight with anyone that did try and stop the wedding. Kagami would absolutely be the best choice in Adrien's social circle. Excluding Kwami Holders.
--
Was that a kiss on the lips? Did Marinette just kiss Luka on the lips?
I mean, probably not, just on the side of the cheek. But it's kinda hard to tell.
Either way it doesn't matter much, since it's very much a "goodbye as a romantic interest" kiss after Luka quietly convinces Marinette to go talk to Adrien since she's so clearly interested in him.
Petition to make Good Guy Luka the new Good Guy Greg.
--
Marinette chases after Gorilla's car, screaming Adrien's name.
Unlike every other time this sort of thing happens, Gorilla actually pulls over.
Marinette catches her breathe for a moment as Adrien gets out of the car. Even for a superhero, running down a car is a big feat.
And then Marinette screws up her courage and tells Adrien she loves him even if he loves Kagami then she doesn't really see that as a problem, but if Adrien says he loves her back then they can get a house and a pet like a cat no nevermind that would be weird or maybe a dog no still a bit weird or a hamster and really aren't hamsters the perfect pet?
Huh, deja-vu.
Yeah, that's a dream sequence right there.
What she actually says is they should go back to the ice rink sometime. But not like by themselves. They should also invite Alya and Nino. And Mark and Nathan. And Juleka and Rose. And IVAN and Mylene. And maybe Luka and Kagami? That could work out okay. Yes.
Adrien thinks this group outing thing is a great idea and would love to do it with Marinette.
--
The final scene is hordes of Adrien's fanpeople swarming Ice Rink guy to join his classes.
Happy End!
Final Thoughts:
Mundane Side: I disagree with several of the romance related choices the writers made in this episode.
Magical Side: I disapprove of several of the things they did with Chat Noir in this episode. Also Frozer went down super easily and there was barely a magical side and also the Kwami upgrade potions were just sort of thrown back in there randomly.
I really feel like the "Eat potions to gain new powers" plot mechanic and the "gain new allies by giving my classmates kwami" should have been separated into different seasons, instead of awkwardly crammed together.
So we're all agreed that this episode took place chronologically before Anansi right? And that this means that Adrien was definitely with them at the ice rink after that even though he isn't actually in the end card yeah? Yeah.
Okay, so this was a very ship focused episode, so I guess I should go ahead and break down the ships presented in it.
Ladybug/Chat Noir: Dude she's just not that into you. Prime Adrien angst because she's in love with someone else (that's you.) LadyNoir has always been my least favorite of the love square and this episode did absolutely nothing to change that. He got over it quickly, but his now repeated pattern of wanting more from Ladybug than she has very clearly stated she is willing to give him and then getting bitchy about it does not say good things about Adrien. It's a clear problem that he needs to work on for the sake of all his future relationships.
Also, his decision to continue pursuing Ladybug despite her stated disinterest is not in anyway actually romantic. It's just rude dude and you're getting pretty close to crossing some lines that'll ruin your friendship.
Marinette/Adrien: I mostly said everything I needed to say earlier in this episode. Clearly very similar people who are obviously meant for each other. In no way competent enough to actually engage in a reasonably functional relationship without outside assistance. Adorable.
Marinette gets all the points that Adrien lost in this episode for her (at times active) support of Adrien/Kagami. Best response to main character's love interest dating someone else since Brooklynn 99. (S2 Ep21: "I can't go around telling guys not to ask Amy out because I like her and I'm too dumb to do anything about it." I couldn't find a good video or a good gif of this to link to. Sorry.)
Edit: Found one!
It is encouraging to see overlap between their long-term plans for the future.
Adrien/Kagami: Clear rebound romance for Adrien with no true investment or staying power on his part. I'll talk about Kagami's half in the bit after this where I talk about how different Kagami seems in this episode from her appearance in Riposte. But suffice to say I continue to hardship them being platonic bros and am not at all into this Kagami as Adrien's replacement Ladybug BS.
Luka/Marinette: Luka is a nice, mature, emotionally stable, normal guy that clearly respects Marinette and her emotional needs. This btw, continues my belief that he's Juleka's older brother by at least a couple of years. But Marinette doesn't need a nice normal guy as her romance, because she's not even close to a normal girl anymore. As previously discussed, Marinette is spiraling ever deeper into a world of violence, (magic) drugs, and witchcraft. She doesn't actually have anything in common with Luka.
I think in a world without the Miraculous, Luka would have been a very healthy first/long term relationship for Marinette. But I don't think it would end in marriage. I just don't see the spark of true romance between them, especially from Luka to Marinette.
All this is rather academic, since Luka himself decided to sink the ship in favor of being a Adrinette shipper.
Kagami/Luka: Highly driven overachiever meets laidback self-secure musician. A classic romcom in the making. I could see Luka being good for Kagami. I'd have to be presented with some convincing circumstances to see Kagami going after Luka.
Kagami/Marinette: Yassssss. Kagami has that powerful lesbian aura and Marinette is extremely bisexual. Plus pictures of Ladybug and Kagami would blow Adrien's head clean off. As presented in Riposte Kagami was very similar to a genderswapped Adrien and seemed very impressed with Ladybug and interested in meeting with Marinette. This episode made them seem to have a rather bad relationship, but this episode was pretty badly written if we're being honest. And even then the most convincing romantic moments with Kagami in the whole thing was when she was doing the move on Adrien that we just saw works super well on Marinette, and the bit where Marinette was given two hands to pick from (as her romantic interest) and Kagami cut between them to grab Marinette's hand, remove all distance between their faces, and whisper encouragements in her ear.
It's a good ship, and there is so very little that will convince me that Kagami is actually into Adrien.
Luka/Adrien: Oh my gosh this would be a great ship. I hadn't actually considered it before, but yeah. Adrien needs that sweet sweet emotional validation that Luka slings at everyone he talks to and my goodness could Adrien use such an openly affectionate and supportive person in his life. Writers, if you're too cowardly to give us shipping with these two, at least make these two friends. Writers pls.
Adrien deserves good things 2kalways.
Nathan/Mark: Yes good canon.
IVAN/Mylene: continue to be the cutest, most adorable ship out there.
Alya/Nino: That sure is a thing that happens.
Rose/Juleka: That is so very much a thing that happens. Every night and twice on Sundays. At least. My first and hardest Ladybug ship. If they ain't canon I ain't watching.
Adrien/Marinette/Alya/Nino: True endgame ship. And now they can all be superheroes together to. Best kickass family.
--
Okay, so Kagami's characterization in this episode feels really different from her characterization in Riposte.
Is what I was going to say. I had a couple of key points for an essay all planned out.
But then I rewatched Riposte, and rewatched Frozer, both skipping only to the parts with Kagami in them.
And absent the annoyance at Adrien, and Marinette's rather biased view of her, Kagami doesn't come off nearly as rude at the ice rink as she did in my first watch through.
You know what she came across as? Really insecure about her friend's attention. Like, so much of her focus on this episode was on getting Adrien to pay attention to her and her alone. But not by tearing others down, but rather by building herself up.
"You don't need Marinette's help, I can help you. Watch this!"
"Don't waste time with this guy Adrien, remember that thing we both love doing?"
"Okay, she doesn't have any injuries, lets get back to us."
And then she 'loses' when he goes to check on Marinette anyway. And Kagami is clearly not used to losing. Nor was she raised to be well equipped for it. As seen in Riposte, when Kagami loses she gets depressed and seeks to remove herself from the situation of the loss.
In Riposte it was Dupont and the fencing match, in this is was in the competition for dating Adrien.
I imagine for awhile after this she's rather cold to him, but he eventually gets her to chill and they resume their platonic fencing partnership.
I don't think she'd seek out Marinette for friendship, but if Marinette made the overtures I imagine it'd turn out well.
Since Kagami is a very lonely person. She really is a lot like Adrien. Except that her distant parental figure's small gestures of approval are tied to athletic/competitive excellence, while Adrien's is tied most tightly to his image as a model. So Kagami always strives to win whatever challenge is presented to her, while Adrien always tries to maintain a good face.
But both really just want friends. And possibly also cookies. Just get these two neglected goobers some warm food with friends. Plz.
See you in eight days for episode 24: Catalyst.
This episode (and depending on reception) all subsequent episodes will be cross posted on a fully Miraculous Ladybug themed forum. Check it out.
"Honey, where is my super suit?" And then Frozone was an Akuma.
Someone has insulted Andre's ice-cream again, and since Hawkmoth can apparently hit the same person twice, Gabriel just says screw it and gives Glaciator another shot.
Episode title actually a typo. Opponent's true name is Fonzer, and his civilian form is obsessed with the American sitcom Happy Days. Expect many sharks to be jumped in this episode.
--
This episode opens in the middle of one of the sillier scenarios this show has given us. Not quite as silly as space garbage, but it's pretty up there.
Apparently, a man decided to set up a hang glider-based deliver service despite the fact that he doesn't know how to operate a hang glider. Setting aside all of the many many logistical and bureaucratic issues presented by such a business, how does he even get this far into the process without having any experience actually hang gliding? I mean, fake it till you make it is an important business skill, but there are limits. Very serious, mortality-based limits.
Fortunately, Ladybug and Chat Noir happened to be in the area to save this strange, sad little man and his bouquet which was not so much flying, as falling with style.
P.S. check out Ladybug's face as she saves this dude.
Lol this bitch.
I could be sleeping right now, but instead I gotta save your dumb ass
Mmmh yup, this is my life now.
Why so stupid?
It's pretty great how annoyedly judgmental she is in this shot.
The pair land on the roof and send Glideman McDumbo on his way, Chat Noir returns his bouquet but swipes one of the flowers. Like a thieving thief. No wonder he hates cops so much.
On the other hand, it's not like they're getting paid for all this life saving* so it's not like anyone can complain about them picking up a few free party favors along the way, right?
*Assuming Master Fu hasn't shared any of that sweet sweet merchandising revenue from that entirely canon in-universe Miraculous Ladybug anime.
And then he drops into proposition pose and offers Ladybug his larcenous loot. Ladybug refuses on the grounds that she would never steal anything ever at all for any reason. And also Chat Noir is about to detransform so he should go somewhere where no one can see him. Like behind a bench in the middle of a park.
Chat Noir shrugs her off, lets the ring run out and turns back into Adrien.
Oh, so this is clearly a dream sequence. And then things get all Inceptiony as Adrien has a dream sequence inside his dream sequence.
This seems… familiar
Compulsive stealing and art shifting fantasy sequences. These two really are meant for each other.
Adrien's ideal life: vegetarian island hobos with a pet hamster.
And then Ladybug interrupts Chat Noir's dream sequence and she is not at all happy about the flower thing.
Ladybug: I told you back on that sweet rooftop scene after Glaciator that I'm in love with someone else.
flashback said:
Ladybug: and after that you were super happy that we were friendly friendship friends that were platonically friendly with each other?
Chat Noir: Yeah, that sounds in character for me. But putting that aside: if that guy you liked was, uh, how'd Alya put it? Taken care of. Then would I have a shot at the Ladybutt?
Ladybug: *looks around the area* uhhhh, I can't imagine him not being around. *swings off to get some sleep*
Shot zooms out to show an absolutely silly amount of Adrien advertisements.
~All by myself~
Miraculous Ladybug is a very subtle show.
Chat Noir is very sad.
He sadly goes back to his school and sadly dons his fencing outfit and is sadly scolded by his gym teacher for being late and sadly- RED JUMPSUIT!
RED FENCING JUMPSUIT LOOKS FEMALE NOT A DRILL!!
IS IT?
IT IS!
I've already forgiven everything else this episode is going to do. And it's probably necessary. Because I fell like a lot of the times when this show does really really nice things for me within the first five minutes it then turns around and slaps me across the face with something really bad before the episode is over.
But honestly? It'll have to be pretty bad to counterbalance finally getting more Kagami. (Now bring Lila in as a background shot. C'mon, just establish she's survived the top of the Eiffel Tower.)
After she absolutely trounces him on the mats, Kagami meets Adrien in the locker room to ask why he sucks so much. But, like, in a nice way. She also gets a casual outfit.
Very bishoujo manga butch love interest without going too far masculine.
I wonder if this was the uniform from her previous school and Kagami hasn't adapted to the wear what ever the hell you want culture of Dupont high school. Or if this is just Kagami's personal fashion choice. Either way I'm digging the look.
Adrien sadly confesses that the writers have regressed his character arc again because they don't know how to advance the love square without an identity reveal.
Kagami says that maybe instead of figuring out a new way to approach the problem, maybe the writers can just add more complications to it? Like making Rena Rouge and Carapace regular features of their superhero adventures or something. All couched in fencing metaphors, of course.
Adrien hands Kagami the rose as a friendly way to say thanks for her great advice. Which, btw, he understood as "maybe you haven't asked Ladybug to date you in just the right way yet." Adrien no.
And then Plagg says that he always approaches his love interests (cheese) by telling them that he wants to eat them. Plagg No!
Praise be unto all the Kwami except Plagg, Adrien is not dumb enough to take Plagg's advice. Instead he'll ask the other people in his life.
Except that leaves Gorilla, Nathalie, and his dad. Gorilla might actually give good advice if Adrien was brave enough to ask, but Nathalie and Gabriel's response to not having a loved one in their life is to embark on a mad supervillainous quest for the power to rewrite reality, so it's probably for the best that Adrien chickens out on those fronts as well.
The next day at school, Adrien looks around at all the couples.
Mark and Nathaniel crouched over Mark's notebook of Ladybug fanfic
as IVAN and Mylene run past hand and hand in the fore ground.
Alya and Nino sitting together on a bench laughing at phone memes together.
Juleka and Rose standing unnecessarily close to share a pair of headphones.
The framing here is pretty blatant that Mark/Nathan and Juleka/Rose get just as much attention as Alya/Nino and Ivan/Mylene. Now if only the show would be brave enough to actually use their words to confirm it, instead of just showing it. (With just enough deniability that they can claim friendship if they need to.) C'mon, ML, it's 20gayteen. We've had an onscreen lesbian wedding and Bubbline is canon. Get on their level.
And then Marinette runs face first into Adrien's back. Definitely for reals on accident and not because she wanted to check if he changed his shampoo recently or anything like that.
Adrien asks Marinette for advice on his love life.
Alas, I am struck dead. The sharpness of this irony is like unto a stake upon mine dead heart, and I shall not live to see the morrow. Especially when Adrien talks about the girl he's now growing interested in using language that all applies to Marinette and then he says it's Kagami.
Beautiful.
I promise I'm not going to screen shot every moment Kagami is on screen, but a clean version of this shot would be so deliciously meme worthy.
It looks like the cover of her new rap album.
This picture looks like the John Cena meme sounds.
This is an exact visual representation of my thoughts when I saw Kagami's face in this episode.
Okay, back to the show.
I gotta admit, I'm disappointed in the decision to have Adrien consider a romance with Kagami. But that's probably because I got way to invested in my "Adrien and Kagami become entirely platonic friends who everyone thinks are dating, meanwhile Kagami is drowning in her unresolved lust for Marinette. Also Marinette thinks Kagami is a great friend and doesn't consider her a rival for Adrien at all."
I just would have really loved that dynamic okay. And it does add an additional wrinkle to the love square without reducing Kagami to being off-brand Ladybug. Which let's be honest is exactly what's going on here right now.
Okay, back to the show.
Marinette accidentally calls Kagami the ice queen (booo) while shocked by Adrien's reveal. She covers up her slip by suggesting Adrien take Kagami to the ice rink. Like Nino and Alya and Marinette and offscreen Adrien did on their second four way date after their fireworks date got interrupted by Anansi. Adrien's argues that he's too shy to invite her on his own and Marinette offers to make it a threesome. Er, to go with Kagami and Adrien on their date. Er, as a Friend.
--
Next scene, Marinette consulting with her female classmates (Not you Chloe) about what the fuck did she just do.
Alya: Okay, well this would be disastrous for my plans. Girls, ideas?
Alix: You already have plans with your girlfriend.
Rose: You got lost staring into your girlfriend's eyes. Happens to me all the time.
Juleka: *is too busy staring into Rose's eyes to be helpful*
Mylene: You should try doing schoolwork at some point. Ooh! That could be your excuse!
Alya: Just fail to show up and blame it on an Akuma, not like that'd be the least bit OOC.
Marinette: Actually, I think I want to do them. This. Do this with them. For Adrien's sake. Because he's my friend.
And at this point all of Marinette's classmates reveal they ship Adrinette harder than Marinette ships it.
Marinette ducks out of the conversation to find the other returning one-off character for this episode, Luka.
Oh hey. So anyway, Kagami is great. In this essay I will
I'm less ridiculously excited to see you Luka, but it's still nice.
Also, I did not realize he was that goddamn tall. Like, wow.
And then Marinette invites Luka to go ice skating with her and Kagami and Adrien.
Sure, sounds good to me.
--
The next day, Adrien tries to sneak out of his house but gets caught by Gabriel. Adrien claims he was going to a one on one practice session with Kagami. Wow Adrien, I'm telling Marinette. But in any case the lie works and instead of stopping him from leaving Gabriel has Gorilla give Adrien a ride. Adrien nervously asks Gorilla to drive him to the ice rink instead of anywhere appropriate for fencing. Gorilla silently complies.
I included the above information so my statement that Gorilla is good people and should become Adrien's guardian after Hawkmoth gets his ass thrown in jail didn't come completely out of nowhere.
Gorilla is good people and should become Adrien's legal guardian after Hawkmoth gets his ass thrown in jail.
--
At the ice rink, we meet our Akuma for the day and it's all Chloe's fault. Again.
The Mayor wants to shut the ice rink down and convert it into an indoor gym. Which if his statement that the ice rink has literally zero new members/students for the entire year, sounds like an entirely reasonable choice. But then the Mayor lets slip that he's only doing this because Chloe wants him to and his credibility goes straight down the shitter again.
You'd really think he'd have delegated the task of ruining the livelihood of someone deeply dedicated to their job to someone else. Because this is a situation absolutely ripe for Akumatization.
The arrival of our foursome (Nino and Alya today played by Kagami and Luka) delays this result momentarily, but lets not kid ourselves. Its going to all go wrong shortly.
--
Okay that's actually pretty darn cute.
The group is getting ready to go out on the ice. Adrien sneaks over to ask Marinette for romantic advice. Marinette gives the best advice she can manage and then accidentally uses Luka as a living model of what Adrien should do.
It's super effective. On Marinette.
Adrien goes over to Kagami. And without meaning to, recreates part of the demonstration. With him in Marinette's role. Complete with Kagami taking his hand and leading him out onto the ice.
Our heroes really are cut from the same cloth. Unfortunately that cloth is socially awkward hopeless romantic dork lords of flail.
Which tbh, is a large part of why I poly ship so hard in this fandom. Because I somehow got sucked into investing in their romance, but never once got the impression that they'd actually manage to form a functional relationship if left to their own devices. So add a stabilizing factor, like, say, someone with basic social competence and suddenly you're golden. And also I'm just blatantly partial to polyships over any other form.
--
So the four set to skating.
Kagami seems almost angry that the other two have come along. I'd understand it if it was just Marinette (and we were being heteronormative about things), but with Luka in addition it seems to make the guyxgirl paring more explicit which would better convey the intention that this be a date without forcing her to be alone with the person making the advances should she choose to reject them.
Anyway, Ice Rink dude tries to get them to sign up for figure skating classes, but they all reject for their own reasons.
Luka: Dude I'm trying to score right now. Also I music is my passion.
Kagami: [actual quote] I only practice noble arts, like archery and fencing.
Marinette: *Ladybug flashbacks* I need sleep, not social activities.
Adrien: *Absurd number of extracurricular flashbacks* *highly successful modeling career flashbacks* *Chat Noir flashbacks* *Barely repressed hysterical laughter* Uh, maybe. Yeah.
Kagami: No. He will do fencing with me.
Marinette gets distracted watching Adrien and Kagami and skates straight into a wall. Adrien and Luka both quickly offer their hand to help her up.
It's another meme worthy image.
Marinette has two hands.
Before Marinette can pick a route, Ice Rink guy comes up to make his sales pitch again.
Mayor "Apparently I want Akumas" pulls the paper out of his hands, tells him the ice rink is being shutdown and says, and I'm quoting here "you can't force them now can you?"
Wow. Just, wow. I couldn't think of a more blatant set up for an Akumatization possible. I mean, wow. Forcing people to do things is like the single most popular power for Akuma to have and the Mayor just set up some dramatic irony for him getting the power to make people ice skate at the same time he told ice rink guy he was fired.
Wow.
But there's no need for Marinette or Adrien to worry about that, they're doing romance stuff.
So back to Marinette and the game of palms. Player
Huh.
"I never hesitate"
And then they kiss.
It was entirely necessary for their faces to get that close to each other. Yup. Yup.
Listen writers, if you want me to buy Kagami as a romantic rival for Adrien you have to give her less scenes with overwhelming lesbian energy, okay?
Heh. Guys, guys. It's Yuri on Ice.
Anyway, Marinette is emotionally overwhelmed and … confused, and so excuses herself to the bathroom for a moment.
And then Adrien totally bails on Kagami to go check on Marinette.
--
And then Hawkmoth does his thing.
Frozer… sigh. Frozer lets it go.
And freezes over the entire ice rink, turning it into his personal ice castle where he can be alone and free. Even before the super powers the cold never bothered him anyway.
Okay, I think I've gotten it all out and if another opportunity to reference frozen comes up I should be able to let it go.
D'oh!
Anyway, Marinette transforms into Ladybug. But not just any Ladybug. This is Advanced Ladybug.
By way of Master Fu's magic macaroons we haven't talked about in NINE episodes. That's more than half the current season. They showed up in one episode and then were never mentioned again. You can't just introduce things in one episode, drop them entirely for most of a season and expect people to still remember and be interested in them the next time you feel like they'd be useful.
Yes, I know Kagami only showed up once EIGHTEEN episodes ago and I still remembered and was interested in her. No, that's not a fucking excuse for this BS.
It's bad writing.
Anyway, Ladybug jumps straight to her second stage Ice themed transformation without doing the slightest bit of recon or information gathering about her enemy.
She has an Ice Crown.
Ladybug's ice is nice. Though utterly impractical for any situation outside of ice based combat. Which is par for the course given our other example of second stage Kwami are basically mermaids.
And then Chat Noir has the exact same response as Ladybug, using ice themed cheese.
Plagg gets an ice themed crown.
Chat Noir gets… buff?
Okay, that picture leaves us with an unfortunate icicle placement, but it's just a design on the Outside of his thighs. Don't worry about it.
Instead, worry that Frozer is the result of someone turning Frozone into a Junkrat skin.
He looks like an Adam West villain.
And dear Kwami in box, what is going on with his voice?
He sounds like a stereotypical fat kid with vague hints of mental disabilities from those kids movies made before people realized that maybe everything about that stereotype was actually pretty offensive.
--
Chat Noir is being bitchy at Ladybug about her not returning his love.
Sigh.
The previous sigh should be translated as whatever string of curses best conveys a sense of resigned frustration to the reader.
Because I am extremely frustrated with this character choice, but also not at all surprised and I don't expect Chat Noir to have to eat crow about it at any point later in this episode.
Because this is the exact same shit he pulled in Glaciator. And we were supposed to move past it after Ladybug agreed that while she didn't return your romantic interests she was still your friendly friendship friends that were platonically friendly bestest buddies forever.
Right? Like, I didn't imagine that episode did I? Or all the parts where Kagami wasn't Riposte from that episode while I'm at it? Because she feels like a very different character now than she did then.
Like, I get that you're hurting because you've finally decided to give up on her, but there's no call for you to be this bitchy at Ladybug Chat. Especially because you're in the goddamn middle of your rebound date.
Like, it's been less than 24 hours since she turned you down and you're already pursuing romance with another girl.
And then you're going to be all rude and curt at her when the two of you are trying to fight a dangerous enemy.
Real mature hero.
--
Okay, focusing on the positive things.
Ladybug has a little fur lined collar and it looks great. Even though it opens up much lower than her normal outfit, meaning that her cold weather gear actually has more exposed skin than her regular gear. But that's not important because magic outfits don't have to obey the laws of physics. So just enjoy that regal fluff while you've got it Marinette. And the crown. Oh gods I just got that.
Ladybug is now dressed as an Ice Queen. Marinette called the person Adrien was attracted to earlier an ice queen. It has been confirmed that the Holder's consciousness has a strong influence over how their superhero outfits manifest. Ladybug semi-consciously made the decision to dress as an Ice Queen because that's what she thinks Adrien is into. And neither of them will ever ever in their entire lives put this together. That's actually pretty funny.
Another positive thing? Ice Skating parkour is an amazing concept and the animators do it justice. Because Paris is Just Ice.
Is Frozer the real hero of this episode? Because he has truly brought Paris just ice.
--
Ladybug is busy thinking of what bait she could use in a Frozer trap.
The answer is Ladybug makes great bait, but she hasn't realized that.
Luckily Chat Noir was there to get her out of the way at the last second. Shit like this is why you should never split the party. If he was delayed for any reason, Hawkmoth might have won right there.
Chase sequence.
Tony Hawk's Ice Skater sudden death mode. Complete with the ability to throw giant icicles at people by kicking at them.
It's a solid power, made slightly less so by the unstable footing of everything being ice. And also he already has two sharp blades on his feet so it's not like his lower half needed to be any more deadly.
--
Her brush with death has snapped Chat Noir out of his Antibug funk and the two are back in Akuma stomping mode.
There are many fights brute force can win. For everything else, there's Lucky Charm.
Today's deus ex machina is a big bag of my emotions.
--
Prep montage.
Ladybug lures Frozer into chasing her through a pretty banger obstacle course. It's pretty clear where most of this episode's budget went.
The final step of the obstacle course is the trap.
A defrosted ladder has been turned into a ramp near a large outcropping of ice. Chat Noir hangs on the underside of the ladder like some sort of man dressed like a bat.
Ladybug slides down the ladder, hooks one of the rungs with her yo-yo, swings around the out cropping of ice, and uses it as a pully to yank the ladder into the air.
Frozer jumps after her, avoiding the dangers of the moving terrain, but failing to account for the random cat slashing at his skates. With cataclysm. Thus destroying his akuma object and ending the fight.
… that seemed really short and easy. Did that seem really short to anyone else?
R.I.P. Frozer, 13:16-17:45. Just under four and a half minutes from akumatization to butterfly expulsion. Included all the parts where he wasn't on screen.
And this fight took place in very close to real time. That's hilarious. This is the sort of scenario that should make Hawkmoth consider packing it in and giving up, not his nonsense about Style Queen being the ultimate akuma.
Anyway, Hawkmoth cries alone in his observatory, because he's an ice ice baby.
--
Cut to Adrien taking a selfie with human ice rink guy. And then posting it on social media.
Adrien: If hundreds of horny people are going to stalk every non-superhero aspect of my life, I may as well use it for good.
Kagami: It sounds weird when you put it like that.
Adrien: Speaking of weirdness, this was kinda weird. I've decided to just keep going after Ladybug, because that's a healthy image of romance to sell to children.
Kagami: Riiiiiight. So when you realize you're going after the wrong target *meaningful look towards Marinette* I'll be there. Because I've always wanted to be the maid of honor at someone's wedding.
Alya, across town: *cocks gun* Guess who else in this city won't hesitate bitch?
Kagami, who has acutely honed survival skills: I mean, best man at someone's wedding*
Nino, across town: *hands Alya a gun* My girlfriend won't hesitate.
Alya: bitch.
Nino: I'm just not comfortable with that sort of language.
Alya: No, I was referring to you that time.
Nino: Aww, babe that's so sweet.
Nino and Alya: *kiss a lot*
*Going by the original purpose of the best man, that is, to sword fight with anyone that did try and stop the wedding. Kagami would absolutely be the best choice in Adrien's social circle. Excluding Kwami Holders.
--
Was that a kiss on the lips? Did Marinette just kiss Luka on the lips?
I mean, probably not, just on the side of the cheek. But it's kinda hard to tell.
Either way it doesn't matter much, since it's very much a "goodbye as a romantic interest" kiss after Luka quietly convinces Marinette to go talk to Adrien since she's so clearly interested in him.
Petition to make Good Guy Luka the new Good Guy Greg.
--
Marinette chases after Gorilla's car, screaming Adrien's name.
Unlike every other time this sort of thing happens, Gorilla actually pulls over.
Marinette catches her breathe for a moment as Adrien gets out of the car. Even for a superhero, running down a car is a big feat.
And then Marinette screws up her courage and tells Adrien she loves him even if he loves Kagami then she doesn't really see that as a problem, but if Adrien says he loves her back then they can get a house and a pet like a cat no nevermind that would be weird or maybe a dog no still a bit weird or a hamster and really aren't hamsters the perfect pet?
Huh, deja-vu.
Yeah, that's a dream sequence right there.
What she actually says is they should go back to the ice rink sometime. But not like by themselves. They should also invite Alya and Nino. And Mark and Nathan. And Juleka and Rose. And IVAN and Mylene. And maybe Luka and Kagami? That could work out okay. Yes.
Adrien thinks this group outing thing is a great idea and would love to do it with Marinette.
--
The final scene is hordes of Adrien's fanpeople swarming Ice Rink guy to join his classes.
Happy End!
Final Thoughts:
Mundane Side: I disagree with several of the romance related choices the writers made in this episode.
Magical Side: I disapprove of several of the things they did with Chat Noir in this episode. Also Frozer went down super easily and there was barely a magical side and also the Kwami upgrade potions were just sort of thrown back in there randomly.
I really feel like the "Eat potions to gain new powers" plot mechanic and the "gain new allies by giving my classmates kwami" should have been separated into different seasons, instead of awkwardly crammed together.
So we're all agreed that this episode took place chronologically before Anansi right? And that this means that Adrien was definitely with them at the ice rink after that even though he isn't actually in the end card yeah? Yeah.
Okay, so this was a very ship focused episode, so I guess I should go ahead and break down the ships presented in it.
Ladybug/Chat Noir: Dude she's just not that into you. Prime Adrien angst because she's in love with someone else (that's you.) LadyNoir has always been my least favorite of the love square and this episode did absolutely nothing to change that. He got over it quickly, but his now repeated pattern of wanting more from Ladybug than she has very clearly stated she is willing to give him and then getting bitchy about it does not say good things about Adrien. It's a clear problem that he needs to work on for the sake of all his future relationships.
Also, his decision to continue pursuing Ladybug despite her stated disinterest is not in anyway actually romantic. It's just rude dude and you're getting pretty close to crossing some lines that'll ruin your friendship.
Marinette/Adrien: I mostly said everything I needed to say earlier in this episode. Clearly very similar people who are obviously meant for each other. In no way competent enough to actually engage in a reasonably functional relationship without outside assistance. Adorable.
Marinette gets all the points that Adrien lost in this episode for her (at times active) support of Adrien/Kagami. Best response to main character's love interest dating someone else since Brooklynn 99. (S2 Ep21: "I can't go around telling guys not to ask Amy out because I like her and I'm too dumb to do anything about it." I couldn't find a good video or a good gif of this to link to. Sorry.)
Edit: Found one!
It is encouraging to see overlap between their long-term plans for the future.
Adrien/Kagami: Clear rebound romance for Adrien with no true investment or staying power on his part. I'll talk about Kagami's half in the bit after this where I talk about how different Kagami seems in this episode from her appearance in Riposte. But suffice to say I continue to hardship them being platonic bros and am not at all into this Kagami as Adrien's replacement Ladybug BS.
Luka/Marinette: Luka is a nice, mature, emotionally stable, normal guy that clearly respects Marinette and her emotional needs. This btw, continues my belief that he's Juleka's older brother by at least a couple of years. But Marinette doesn't need a nice normal guy as her romance, because she's not even close to a normal girl anymore. As previously discussed, Marinette is spiraling ever deeper into a world of violence, (magic) drugs, and witchcraft. She doesn't actually have anything in common with Luka.
I think in a world without the Miraculous, Luka would have been a very healthy first/long term relationship for Marinette. But I don't think it would end in marriage. I just don't see the spark of true romance between them, especially from Luka to Marinette.
All this is rather academic, since Luka himself decided to sink the ship in favor of being a Adrinette shipper.
Kagami/Luka: Highly driven overachiever meets laidback self-secure musician. A classic romcom in the making. I could see Luka being good for Kagami. I'd have to be presented with some convincing circumstances to see Kagami going after Luka.
Kagami/Marinette: Yassssss. Kagami has that powerful lesbian aura and Marinette is extremely bisexual. Plus pictures of Ladybug and Kagami would blow Adrien's head clean off. As presented in Riposte Kagami was very similar to a genderswapped Adrien and seemed very impressed with Ladybug and interested in meeting with Marinette. This episode made them seem to have a rather bad relationship, but this episode was pretty badly written if we're being honest. And even then the most convincing romantic moments with Kagami in the whole thing was when she was doing the move on Adrien that we just saw works super well on Marinette, and the bit where Marinette was given two hands to pick from (as her romantic interest) and Kagami cut between them to grab Marinette's hand, remove all distance between their faces, and whisper encouragements in her ear.
It's a good ship, and there is so very little that will convince me that Kagami is actually into Adrien.
Luka/Adrien: Oh my gosh this would be a great ship. I hadn't actually considered it before, but yeah. Adrien needs that sweet sweet emotional validation that Luka slings at everyone he talks to and my goodness could Adrien use such an openly affectionate and supportive person in his life. Writers, if you're too cowardly to give us shipping with these two, at least make these two friends. Writers pls.
Adrien deserves good things 2kalways.
Nathan/Mark: Yes good canon.
IVAN/Mylene: continue to be the cutest, most adorable ship out there.
Alya/Nino: That sure is a thing that happens.
Rose/Juleka: That is so very much a thing that happens. Every night and twice on Sundays. At least. My first and hardest Ladybug ship. If they ain't canon I ain't watching.
Adrien/Marinette/Alya/Nino: True endgame ship. And now they can all be superheroes together to. Best kickass family.
--
Okay, so Kagami's characterization in this episode feels really different from her characterization in Riposte.
Is what I was going to say. I had a couple of key points for an essay all planned out.
But then I rewatched Riposte, and rewatched Frozer, both skipping only to the parts with Kagami in them.
And absent the annoyance at Adrien, and Marinette's rather biased view of her, Kagami doesn't come off nearly as rude at the ice rink as she did in my first watch through.
You know what she came across as? Really insecure about her friend's attention. Like, so much of her focus on this episode was on getting Adrien to pay attention to her and her alone. But not by tearing others down, but rather by building herself up.
"You don't need Marinette's help, I can help you. Watch this!"
"Don't waste time with this guy Adrien, remember that thing we both love doing?"
"Okay, she doesn't have any injuries, lets get back to us."
And then she 'loses' when he goes to check on Marinette anyway. And Kagami is clearly not used to losing. Nor was she raised to be well equipped for it. As seen in Riposte, when Kagami loses she gets depressed and seeks to remove herself from the situation of the loss.
In Riposte it was Dupont and the fencing match, in this is was in the competition for dating Adrien.
I imagine for awhile after this she's rather cold to him, but he eventually gets her to chill and they resume their platonic fencing partnership.
I don't think she'd seek out Marinette for friendship, but if Marinette made the overtures I imagine it'd turn out well.
Since Kagami is a very lonely person. She really is a lot like Adrien. Except that her distant parental figure's small gestures of approval are tied to athletic/competitive excellence, while Adrien's is tied most tightly to his image as a model. So Kagami always strives to win whatever challenge is presented to her, while Adrien always tries to maintain a good face.
But both really just want friends. And possibly also cookies. Just get these two neglected goobers some warm food with friends. Plz.
See you in eight days for episode 24: Catalyst.
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