#emilie agreste salt

[clock-06]

Can we talk about Marinette’s actions relating to the amoks in contrast to Gabriel and Emilie’s?

In the 16 years of his life, Adrien has never had true control over his actions and decisions. Nothing has ever truly been “Adrien” because everything is coded into his being by people who ‘loved’ him. Who controlled him for the sake of “what’s best for him” out of their own selfish desires.

And then, Gabriel dies, and passes ownership of the amoks to Marinette. A girl who has shown at almost every turn that she will do the selfish or jealous thing when it comes to Adrien. Who has only truly learned what the power of these objects means in the past few months. Who knows, without whatever he has been ordered to do, Adrien may not be the same person she’s fallen for, that he may not love her anymore. And despite this, despite her history of being absolutely obsessed with him, and the fact that if she had gotten this opportunity earlier in their relationship she would’ve likely taken some advantage of it, she gives them to Adrien to keep.

Marinette. Obsessed, jealous, selfish, lovesick Marinette. And yet she is the first and only person in his life to understand the power she holds over him and makes the choice to not only willingly relinquish it, but give Adrien the reins and release him from the bridle that has acted as a muzzle for his entire existence. She sacrifices the opportunity to have the perfect life that she’s dreamt of for years now, understanding that it doesn’t matter what she wants. It can’t matter. Because for him, it’s only ever mattered what other people wanted for, from, and of him. She may lose everything she’s improved and worked for, but she finally understands that it doesn’t matter, because his freedom is worth infinitely more than her happiness. Her only real order to him is to keep the rings safe. She wants him to stay alive and be stable for his freedom, and enjoy it in its entirety.

Emilie and Gabriel both made the choice to use the amoks to morph Adrien into the obedient child they wanted. Gabriel does initially hesitate with this decision, but the moment Adrien starts actually experiencing external joy and finding any amount of freedom, Gabriel pulls the reins back and returns Adrien to his powerful grasp. Adrien cannot be allowed to date anyone Gabriel doesn’t see fit. It doesn’t matter what Adrien wants, because Gabriel can change that. It would only take one order to erase Marinette from Adrien’s life. But he wants to deter her naturally, because bringing Adrien back into isolation so suddenly would create an uproar from both his classmates and the general public at this point.

And Emilie, “the good parent” still didn’t let Adrien go to school, still made him model at such a young age, is also guilty when it comes to his lack of presents for his birthday or holidays, and is seen as consistently happy with this result. There’s no mention of Emilie ever being upset at or about Adrien’s circumstances. She’s an “angel” actually playing devil’s advocate with a smile, teeth hiding her forked silver tongue.

How is it, that the ones who created him, and brought him into existence, care less about his individual wellbeing than a girl who could very easily slot in with the rest of his creepy and obsessed fan base. How tragic is it to know that his creators care less for him than someone who fell for him as the object they forced him into the mold of.

[m3nt4llyr4v3d]

Can I just say this series has a weird way of dealing with bad/absentee parents?

Jagged left his family, that’s resolved in one episode, Juleka seems like she’s going to have issues with this whole thing- oh- wait never mind that’s resolved now

Audrey is still treated as a terrible person, but the show can’t make up its mind as to whether or not she’s abusive to her daughters or not (more like it’ll kiiiiiiiind of acknowledge it with Zoe, straight up won’t with Chloe)

The show is somehow convinced that Andre is a good father, despite the fact literally in the early seasons it shows that he doesn’t discipline his child at all and literally abuses his power to bend to their will (I do not give a single fuck about how Chloe treats him, he literally taught her to act like this, he enforced this behavior, it is always the parent’s job to discipline their child, I do not understand how some people are genuinely pinning the way Chloe acts fully on her and excusing Andre, the adult)

Gabriel… okay, the show kind of acknowledges his horrible treatment of Adrien… sometimes, it just flip flips on whether or not it will or whether or not it’s out of love (which isn’t any better, show)

Emilie… given the context clues (which I’m not sure if it’s truly context clues or just inferring based off random info in the show) isn’t a good parent either, but there’s absolutely no way she’s going to be talked about at all except when Lila reveals all the secrets

[geekgirles]

You know, in hindsight, Gabriel caring more about his dead wife than his son has always been fairly obvious. And I'm not even talking about all the horrible actions he's committed against him in and out of costume. I mean the fact that their house is littered with pictures and artistic pieces portraying Emilie in a candid light, while all Gabriel has of Adrien except for the family photo (where Adrien looks dead inside) or that one drawing from The Collector are modelling pictures. If that doesn't say he's always seen his son as nothing but property or merchandise for his brand...

[wisteriasymphony]

"Oh, those supple lips, that smooth skin! His face, it's a perfect replica!" she cooed, tracing a finger over her child's cheek like it was the edge of a mirror. "Perhaps I've changed my mind, Gabriel. I must name him Emilie."

"You must give him right to be his own person, mon coeur."

Gabriel stood far from his wife and their creation, looming with hands behind his back. It was the child's golden hair that had caught his eye—with the purity of unimaginable riches. Emilie's own hair, now fading to flaxen, curled around the child's face as she bent down to examine his eyes, prying them open with her fingers.

"Perhaps just this once," she smiled. "But he'll always be 'Emilie' to me."

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

IOTA Reviews: Representation

Oh, so NOW child abuse is bad. Could have fooled me last episode!

Let's get into the twenty-fifth episode of Miraculous Ladybug's fifth season: Representation

We start off with an English news report recapping the ending of “Revolution”, stating that Ms. Bustier is going to run for mayor, conveniently ignoring her attempted coup in “Collusion”. We also see that Gabriel and Tomoe are still uncomfortably focused on making Adrien and Kagami appear to be a couple in public, much to their dismay. While Kagami is visited by Argos (who once again sneaks up on her, like he usually does), Adrien realizes he can transform into his space form and see Marinette whenever he wants and transforms into Cat Noir, planning to reveal his identity to Marinette. Hey, did he even tell Ladybug about his sudden departure? Because it didn't go well the last time he left Paris without telling her (New York Special).

We then cut to Marinette right after the events of “Revolution”, going to the end of the year dance... even though when we saw Adrien and Kagami in London, the sun was still setting, and France's time zone is only about an hour later, meaning Adrien and Kagami must have flown there at ludicrous speed.

Meanwile, Argos and Kagami somehow got from London to Paris offscreen, and watch Marinette from afar, with Kagami revealing she knows she's Ladybug. They decide to tell Marinette that Felix knows who Monarch is in order to ensure his downfall. Nah, I'm just kidding. Here's the real reason they're coming to Marinette for help.

Kagami: My mother and Gabriel Agreste will never allow us to love each other freely. Only Ladybug can help us.

Yep, rather than prioritize the fact that Gabriel is endangering the citizens of Paris on a daily basis, Kagami is seriously more concerned about her relationship with her boyfriend being tampered with. This is like saying Lex Luthor is evil because he cheats on his taxes. Argos transforms back into Felix, and... oh, for the love of God... he disguises himself as Adrien in order to get closer to Marinette. You can't keep portraying Felix as this master of disguise if he only has ONE disguise!

Marinette sees “Adrien” and assumes he came back from London from her, assuming her boyfriend is much more active that the writers actually believe he is, so she tries to follow him while avoiding the guests at the party. Meanwhile, Gabriel and Tomoe learn their children are gone, so he goes to talk with Nathalie and—why the hell is she like that?

Seriously, this has never been established as something that happens when someone uses the broken Peacock Miraculous. Why didn't this happen to Emilie? She looks pretty healthy in her little coffin, and I doubt Gabriel is an embalmer.

Anyway, after Nathalie once again reminds us that she hates Gabriel, but not enough to call the cops on him, Gabriel transforms into Monarch and immediately detransforms back in order to akumatize himself into Nightormentor.

Nightormentor is a pretty average recolor of the Collector's design, which kind of makes sense, considering that Gabriel himself intended the Akuma for himself. The star pattern is okay, but there's not much I can really say. As for his powers, he's just another Sandboy, being able to force people to hallucinate their worse nightmares, only instead of a pillow, his weapon is a staff created from a pen containing the Akuma, with the Horse Miraculous' Voyage to boot. Why he didn't just give himself the same powers he gave Truth when he's trying to find Adrien is anyone's guess.

Cat Noir arrives at the Eiffel Tower to talk with Marinette, just as Nightormentor appears. The two fight, and after a few civilians get caught in the crossfire, Nightormentor escapes through Voyage. As Cat Noir heads to the Dupain-Cheng bakery at the advising of Max, Alya and Nino decide that the totally not useless Resistance should get involved.

While Marinette gives chase, Felix leads her into the school's art classroom, where he transforms into Argos and creates a Sentimonster using Kagami's ring. Felix and Kagami use the Sentimonster's power to do... uh... whatever the hell this is.

Yeah, this is basically a flashback, but the animators probably blew their budget needed for the new models on Ms. Bustier's baby bump, so we're getting this instead, thanks to the Sentimonster Argos created. There are several scenes of Cat Noir and Nightormentor interspersed, but like what I did with Marinette's flashback in “Derision”, I'll give you the summary before I talk about my problems with this.

When Adrien's mother and aunt, Emilie and Amelie, were born, Emilie (who was born seven seconds early) was trusted with the family heirlooms, the two rings we first saw all the way back in “Felix”. Even though this meant she would inherit the family name, Emilie didn't really like doing... whatever the Graham de Vanily family wanted her to do, but Amelie did. Eventually, while studying abroad, Emilie met Gabriel, and the two fell in love. Before marrying Gabriel, Emilie gave up her role as the sole inheritor of the Graham de Vanily family's vague legacy, while Amelie married a man named Colt to please her parents. Both couples wanted children, but it's heavily implied that Emilie and Amelie were infertile, so their wishes weren't able to come true. Emilie finally managed to get a bun in the oven thanks to the Peacock Miraculous, but this made Colt jealous that he couldn't have a child. Out of the goodness of her heart, Emilie asked Gabriel to give the Peacock Miraculous to Colt, in exchange for letting the Gorilla guard Adrien in the future. Using his own jealousy as a source of power, Colt got Amelie pregnant, though at the cost of his health. Colt figured this was the price he had to pay for using “sorcery”, and used this as an excuse to treat Felix like a monster and ordered him around using the ring containing his Amok. Felix himself was unaware that he wasn't human until Colt accidentally broke the ring (which wasn't one of the two wedding rings used to control Adrien and was an entirely different ring containing Felix's Amok), which he stole as soon as Colt died. This is meant to explain why Felix decided to steal back the Peacock Miraculous, in order to save his life. Felix later met Kagami, and the two explain that they need “Someone like Ladybug” to help them.

Now if your only information about this episode is through my summary, it seems simple enough. For everyone else who actually saw this sequence in the episode itself, I'm guessing your thoughts were about the same as mine.

Let's go over every problem I have with this scene, starting with...

#1: The Way Kagami and Felix Explain This

Let me just ask something: Why can't Felix just talk to Marinette about what he knows since he now knows she's Ladybug instead of telling her everything through this weird play? You can still tell Marinette all of this without your two-man show. In fact, why did Felix have to wait until he knew Marinette was Ladybug instead of just talking to her the next time he saw her? Yeah, you could argue it's easier this way, but like I've been saying since Season 4, Felix has had no excuse to wait this long to tell Ladybug about the fact that he knows who her greatest enemy is.

And why the hell is it presented this way? Why does Felix have to recontextualize the story of his family's history in the form of a play? Why turn it into a stereotypical fairy tale that leaves out the names of all the important people, like Emilie, Amelie, Colt (whose name I only learned through the transcript of this episode), and Gabriel? If it was like a hidden message Felix and Kagami wanted to convey to Marinette, that would make sense, but why do they have to be so cryptic when they're only putting this show on for one person? You could easily avoid a good chunk of the questions this raises if this was a show Felix and Kagami put on for the public that Marinette was able to learn the information from. Yeah, it still wouldn't explain why Felix can't just tell Marinette about who Gabriel really is, but at least it's something.

The way it all happens kind of reminds me of this scene from this old Halloween special I saw a lot as a kid, Scary Godmother: Halloween Spooktacular. In that scene, some of the kids act out a scene of this little girl's parents entrusting her with a flashlight to explain why she carries it around, in order to scare off any monsters she runs into, using the graveyard they were in as a makeshift set. This scene works a lot more because it's done in more of a tongue-in-cheek way, with some of the kids breaking character to boost their own egos (for example, the kid playing the mom comments about how responsible she is), and how one kid in particular gradually gets fed up with the whole thing. The scene does its job at delivering exposition in a way that isn't meant to be taken too seriously, and it's clear this is being done by some kids goofing around in-universe.

With this episode, it's clear that the writers want the audience to take this whole backstory seriously in spite of how absurd it all is. Seriously look at this.

We are seriously expected to take this backstory seriously when it looks like some theater major's midterm project. The animators want it to look artsy and unique for the sake of making it look artsy and unique. Why does it look like a play these two put together themselves if they're supposedly using a Sentimonster's power to do it? If the unnamed Sentimonster's powers is how Marinette is seeing all this, why can't it actually be seen as a flashback? Was it always intended to be a handmade play that was changed to the product of a Sentimonster at the last minute?

I get that the animators probably wanted kids to pick up on the visuals of the play, but even then, it makes it hard to really stomach the serious themes this backstory brings up, like infertility and child abuse, with the way they're presented. Not only do Felix and Kagami all play the characters using these white jumpsuits and masks, they also do all the voices, meaning that the only “dialogue” we hear from Colt is delivered by Kagami putting on a deeper voice. Let me repeat that: the only times we hear Colt, the abusive parent and all around garbage human being, talk, it's done by a teenage girl trying to make her voice sound deeper.

But hey, maybe the goofy voice will be overshadowed by the nuanced depiction of child abuse, right? Right?

#2: The Portrayal of Colt and the Double Standards Regarding His Treatment of Felix

I have never seen a single show struggle this much to convey a lesson as simple as “Child abuse is bad”.

When it comes to the parents in this show, terrible parents like Gabriel, Audrey, and Tomoe are almost never held accountable for the way they treated their children. If the writers aren't claiming they really love their children deep down, they're either downplaying how cruel they are at best or playing their behavior for laughs at worst. But here we are, the penultimate episode of the fifth season, and we finally have a parent who is unambiguously treated as a terrible human being with no redeeming qualities... and I still have problems with this.

This flashback really goes out of its way to let the audience that Colt was a real piece of scum in life. He only wanted a child out of jealousy, used his Amok to force Felix to do whatever he wanted, was heavily implied to have physically beat him at times, and blamed him for his poor health on his deathbed when he was the one who wanted to use the Peacock in the first place. Now that I think about it, why did Colt even use the Peacock to create Felix instead of Emelie? Was the episode so determined to paint Colt as a bastard that he wanted to be the one to create Felix himself?

The point I'm trying to make is that the show doesn't really explain why Colt was like this. Why was he such an angry man who treated his only child like crap? I don't know, because all the show's telling me is that he was just a dick. He honestly feels more like a caricature than anything else. He's only as terrible of a person he is in order to make the audience sympathize with Felix. I'm not saying that what Felix went through was okay, but it has the same energy as scenes of Gabriel talking to Emilie's body. It's mostly there to make the audience sympathize with an antagonistic character in spite of all the things they've done.

What's really weird is that even though the whole point of this play is so Felix can tell Marinette Gabriel is Monarch, so what does Colt have to do with this? I'm not saying he's not worth mentioning, but it makes no sense for Felix to tell Marinette about his abusive father before he tells her about Gabriel. It feels more like Felix wants to find a way to excuse his actions before telling Marinette about Gabriel being Monarch. And remember when “Derision” made a big deal about Chloe's terrible parents not excusing her actions? Funny how that conveniently doesn't apply to Felix in this episode.

In fact, let's talk about the elephant in the room: The fact that this episode aired right after “Revolution”, an episode that literally said a character living under an abusive and controlling parent was a fitting punishment for her. HOW THE HELL IS THIS ANY DIFFERENT FROM THAT? If anything, this episode really shows the double standards this show has about child abuse, how the only way your situation can be taken seriously is if you're a “good victim”. Chloe's a “bad victim”, so she doesn't get any sympathy when her mother outright says she's going to take control of her life, yet when Colt actually takes control of Felix's life, we're supposed to sympathize with him now. Why am I supposed to feel bad for Felix now when you just told me I shouldn't feel bad for someone in a similar situation last episode?

In fact, one theory I have about this backstory is that it was intended to kill two birds with one stone, no pun intended. I believe that this episode wasn't just written to give us more insight into who Felix is as a character, but also to show the audience what “real” child abuse is like. As far as the show is concerned with Gabriel, Audrey, and Tomoe? They're not actually abusive parents, Colt is, so you should condemn his actions, and not those three. It's blatant double standards, which is nothing new for this show.

#3: The Way Amelie Just... Lets This All Happen

In my “Derision” review, I discussed how strange it was that so many people in Marinette's life did nothing to help her against Chloe, and the same thing applies here with Amelie.

This episode never really explains where Amelie was when Colt was abusing Felix, much less if she was even aware of it. At least with Marinette's parents, they didn't know because most of Marinette's suffering was at school. Amelie lives with Felix and Colt, so what's her excuse? She seriously didn't overhear Colt yelling at Felix or notice the orders Colt gave Felix? Was she just that ignorant to her child's suffering? Remember, this is supposed to be Felix's good parent.

In fact, does Amelie even know Felix is a Sentimonster? Yeah, “Emotion” established that Amelie knows Felix is Argos, but this episode doesn't really make it clear if she knows Felix is a Sentimonster or not. If it was clear Amelie knew nothing about what Felix really was, it would arguably make things easier to stomach, as she wouldn't know the power Colt had over him.

Instead, even though she's Felix's mother, the show doesn't really explain what she actually did when Colt was making Felix's life a living hell, especially since the flashback says that Amelie was forced to marry Colt, so you can't even say she was blinded by love here. Hell, I'm not even sure if Amelie knew the cause of Colt's untimely passing.

#4:This Doesn’t Really Do Much to Explain Felix’s Actions

Now before you say I'm being insensitive, let me make one thing clear: My issue isn't with the fact that this was done to get the audience to sympathize with Felix. The problem I have is that the backstory doesn't do enough to explain why Felix did the things he did.

Okay, Felix wants the Peacock Miraculous. Understandable, he doesn't want to die, so he has to do morally questionable things to preserve his life like betraying the only person capable of stopping the man who can kill him. What's less understandable is his plan to get the Peacock Miraculous from Gabriel. You'll notice that the backstory didn't mention Felix's first appearance, where he only stole the rings belonging to Amelie's family, and he didn't even think to look for the Peacock. Instead, it cuts from Felix realizing he's a Sentimonster to him striking a deal with Gabriel, not even mentioning that he gave Gabriel back one of the rings as part of the deal, which still makes no sense.

If Felix's goal from the start was to get the Peacock Miraculous, why did he bother stealing all of Marinette's Miraculous as a bargaining chip for the deal instead of the family ring? In fact, why did Felix even steal the ring and wait an entire season to trade it back to Gabriel for the Peacock a season later? And for someone who claims to care about Adrien, he really didn't see anything wrong with giving Gabriel one of the two rings capable of overriding his free will.

As a matter of fact, why the hell is Felix even so hostile towards Adrien? Why did he go out of his way to smear his reputation in his debut episode if all he wanted to do was make a bargain with Hawkmoth? In “Risk”, he mocked Adrien for how he talked, while Adrien himself was aware of how he made him look bad in front of his friends, and that's not even getting into how he made himself look like Adrien as part of his plan to betray Ladybug, which would have screwed him even more if Adrien wasn't already Cat Noir. For someone who claims he wants to protect him from Gabriel, Felix really doesn't care about his cousin all that much.

In fact, why does Felix even hate Gabriel at all? The show hinted that the two had a history, yet during the backstory, which I need to remind you, was told from Felix's perspective on the events, has a surprisingly generous portrayal of Gabriel. Did Felix know Gabriel was Hawkmoth/Shadowmoth/Monarch during his first appearance? Does Felix blame Gabriel for how Colt treated him growing up? Does Felix hate Gabriel for how he treats Adrien? Did Gabriel intend to get Colt sick in the first place? Seriously, what is Felix's deal with Gabriel?!

How does a flashback organized by Felix himself do nothing to really explain why he did the things he did?

#5: The Fact That There Are STILL Several Unanswered Questions Here

For something meant to fill the audience in on several important topics, there are still so many questions about the history of the Agreste and Graham de Vanily families.

Other than the vague backstory about them being rich, we still know nothing about Emilie and Amelie other than them being rich and possibly infertile. We don't know if Amelie ever loved Colt, if she knew he was abusing Felix, or if she even knew if he used the Peacock to play god.

On a related note, why did Emilie and Gabriel decide to use the Peacock Miraculous to create a son instead of adopting? Scratch that, why did she specifically create a Sentimonster to give birth to like a normal baby? Was there some kind of Macbeth-esque guideline that Emilie had to give birth to a child in order for said child to get the inheritance? Did she use the ring to control Adrien like Gabriel does now? Seriously, this is the character the show's conflict is all based around, and we still know nothing about her other than the fact that she was nice.

This flashback just makes no sense, and is such a stupid and confusing way to deliver exposition.

Anyway, during all this, Cat Noir and Nightormentor are fighting, and for the third time this season, Cat Noir attempts to Cataclysm him someone, even when he had Nightormentor pinned down. Nightormentor breaks free and hits Cat Noir with his magic dust, causing him to hallucinate... Cat Blanc?

Yeah, the script calls this form “Anticat”, but given how it looks like a reused Cat Blanc model coupled with the petrified people of Paris, this is clearly meant to bring Cat Blanc to mind. The problem is that NEITHER CAT NOIR OR NIGHTORMENTOR KNOW ABOUT THAT. Why would you remind audiences about an Akuma that technically never existed?

Better yet, is this what Cat Noir trying to his Cataclysm on people this past season (Destruction, Jubilation, Derision) has been building up to? The fear that he'll lose control? You could have fooled me, as he never really showed that much remorse for almost hurting people other than Monarch. Yeah, you could argue that because Nightormentor based his hallucinations off his victims' worst fears, but again, this fear had little to no buildup this season because Cat Noir never felt any guilt for Cataclysming Monarch after “Destruction”, and whenever tried to use his Cataclysm on other people, Cat Noir never really realized the weight of his actions. If you want to make a character arc about Cat Noir worrying about hurting people with his powers, go more into the guilt he feels for hurting Monarch and using that guilt to affect his actions. Don't just use some “Cat Blanc” nostalgia bait to convince the audience that there's been a character arc.

Nightormentor takes advantage of Cat Noir's emotional state to get his Miraculous, only for the Resistance to save Cat Noir by... throwing stuff at him. And this is how they defeat him. While Nino, Alya, Ivan, and Zoe distract Nightormentor, Kim and Max help Cat Noir focus, Cat Noir Cataclysms Nightormentor's baton.

Zoe traps the Akuma in a jar, Cat Noir doesn't take it, he heads off to detransform and confess to Marinette, only for the hallucination to still affect him since Ladybug didn't use Miraculous Ladybug to fix the damage, and even though he knows it's just a hallucination, he still uses it as a reason to not reveal his identity to Marinette, even after Ladybug de-evilizes the Akuma herself.

The episode ends with Gabriel and Tomoe locking Adrien and Kagami in these white rooms while under heavy surveillance to ensure they won't escape, vowing to start “Operation: Perfect Alliance”. Because these two like using the word “perfect” more than they like subjecting their children to what one of my anons referred to as “white torture”.

Because that's a good way to keep your children under control: psychological torment.

Other than the stuff with Felix and Kagami, this episode was pretty dull.

There's just not much I can really say here. The plot was barebones, all Marinette did was listen to Felix and Kagami's story so the writers didn't have to involve any of them in the main conflict, and even Cat Noir confronting his akumatized father doesn't have a lot of weight to it because towards the end, it focuses more on Adrien's nightmare instead of his relationship with his father.

This episode is nothing more than a prologue for the final battle. It's only here to establish Adrien and Kagami's presence in London, Marinette learning Gabriel is Monarch, and even more setup for Gabriel and Tomoe's final plan. And trust me, the buildup will be far from worth it.

THE BIGGEST IDIOT OF THE EPISODE IS... FELIX

It's amazing. The only time this season Felix goes out of his way to actually help Ladybug, and he still screws it up. He abducted Kagami from her hotel in London without thinking of Tomoe hunting him down again when that was the entire plot of “Pretension”, only decided to tell Marinette he knows who Monarch is because he's getting in the way of his relationship with his girlfriend, did so in an unnecessarily convoluted way, and even though he made a big deal about not wanting to use Sentimonsters in his last appearance, he still used one to tell Marinette his life story instead of just saying “My uncle is Monarch”.

And if you think Felix will get a chance to truly redeem himself in the finale, think again, bucko. Other than a brief cameo, this is the last thing he'll do this season. Aren't you glad the writers made this character prominent for seven episodes over three seasons and did nothing else with him?

[sophieabigail2021]

That's ironic considering you didn't let your son go to school or make friends his entire life, and don't even get me started on her husband Jesus Christ

[carpetbug]

and if i posted an eminath(???) snippet what then. huh. huh tough guy.

Nathalie wasn’t sure if she ever truly thought they’d succeed. The blue and green jewel fastened between the front of Emilie’s dress proved otherwise. A dress worn in celebration.

A drinking game. Never have I ever. Flip cup. Matchbox. Kings cup. Beer pong. If Emilie got drunk enough there was even a chance she’d attempt a keg stand.

They settled for Quarters. A rather simple game, considering the two higher class people she’s playing with, but they couldn’t agree and Nathalie was the deciding factor.

Clink!

“Ha! Lick it up, Gabi!” Emilie laughed, loud and authentic, wholly and rather ridiculously herself. With an amused finger pointed straight in her fiancés face, she looked at home in the moment. This was her domain.

It helped that she had already taken a few shots prior.

Gabriel grumbled, mouth pulled into a serious frown, one that was only becoming more and more prominent with each passing day. The shot glass met his lips for a passing moment, and the alcohol was gone. Quick and painless. He set the glass back down in the center of the coffee table they were sat around, silently pressing his eyebrows together in mild disdain. The quarter resting between his thumb and pointer.

“Humph,” Emilie puffed out a breath, bored with Gabriel’s reaction. “He’s no fun to play drinking games with.”

“And you’re assuming you are?” Nathalie retorted in a mild voice, smirk barely restrained.

“Nathalie!” Emilie gasped in half hearted surprise, playfully batting a hand at the other woman’s arm. “I’m a hoot and you know it.”

Her only response was, “I believe it’s your turn, Gabriel.”

Emilie gave her a gentle shove with an accompanying tipsy giggle.

The quarter almost leapt from his fingertips, floating in the air like a butterfly before landing perfectly in the glass.

“Nathalie.” Gabriel decided, not bothering to cast a glance in her direction as he passed the next shot her way. Then he stood, wordlessly, and bent over to place a kiss on the top of Emilie’s head.

The two women watched him silently stalk away into the recesses of their home, stumbling only slightly from intoxication. Off to bed, supposedly.

“Goodnight, Love.” His fiancée called after him, earning an acknowledging wave in turn. Emilie cocked her head to the side and jutted out her bottom lip in an adoring pout before saying, “He’s never been able to hold his liquor very well. You should have seen our Gabi in his college years, oh!— He was such a lightweight!

“A giant, clumsy, babbling, shit-faced man, and the next morning— oh, Nathalie, this was truly the best part— he’d come to me, hungover and aching, and tell me how much he needed me.”

Emilie let out a content sigh at the memory, bringing a hand to her chest and resting it over her heart in a show of love. “It was beautiful.”

“That man is going to be the death of you.” Nathalie groaned, throwing back the final shot deemed hers and ignoring the bitter way it tasted like being stuck between the two lovers.

“Mm.” Emilie hummed in response, tracing a finger over the brooch nestled between her breasts. “So be it.”

[theerurishipper]

Anyway, I had a discussion a while back about how Adrien wasn't abused before Emilie's death and I gotta say I disagree, but I'm feeling too lazy to write a whole post about it so here are some bullet points.

Adrien has no friends except for Chloe. I wonder why the boy who is so desperate for emotional connections and friendships would not want to or try to make friends for 13 years except for one girl who is conveniently the daughter of the mayor of Paris unless his parents didn't let him.

Gabriel canonically only gave Adrien a stupid pen for three years (i.e. during the time Emilie was alive) and doesn't that paint a picture of a loving and attentive father. Adrien has also never had a birthday party before.

Adrien's lack of awareness of social cues doesn't make it seem like he is someone who was allowed to socialize like children normally are, and speaks to a lifelong isolation as opposed to it just starting after Emilie died.

Adrien doesn't act like someone who is used to unconditional love and had it stripped away from him. Never does he express confusion over his father's sudden turn from being loving to coldness, not once does he indicate that his father used to act way differently. And yes, Emilie being nice and loving is something that can coexist with her being a bad parent who at best simply allowed Gabriel to isolate Adrien from the world and at worst actively contributed. Adrien only ever mentions that she was nice, not that she ever disagreed with his father on how to raise him.

Please do correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think a child who is used to being assured of his own worth and loved so unconditionally for 13 years would so completely internalize the contradictory idea that he has to earn love by being whatever the other person wants him to be in the span of less than a year without any trouble and with no doubts or confusion at all as to why everything is so different from before. The practiced way he wears his masks around others without once suggesting that it was different before at some point indicates that this has been the norm for him. And not once does he seem to expect anything different from anyone as opposed to just Gabriel. You would expect that someone who is used to being unconditionally loved would just expect that and view his father as an exception to the rule, but that's not the case.

To continue from the previous point, Adrien doesn't react to being shown unconditional love like someone who has experienced the feeling before would. Not once does he bemoan the loss of his supposed better treatment prior to Emilie's death. He acts genuinely surprised and shocked when Gabriel is nice to him, like he's never experienced it before. The way he clings to Ladybug's unconditional support like it's the best thing he's ever had doesn't speak of someone who was raised with unconditional love in abundance. He genuinely does not know how to not put up a front all the time in front of everyone because he believes that is what everyone expects of him, which is something that he probably shouldn't think if he spent 13 years of his life being loved and supported unconditionally and being able to be himself.

As evidence for this being a lifelong thing and not just something that started after Emilie died, consider the fact that Adrien's childhood dream is to be whatever his parents wanted him to be. Idk about y'all but the fact that this child had no dreams and desires of his own except to be his parents' little doll says a lot about how he was raised, and only proves that he's never really seen himself as someone who gets to have his own desires outside of pleasing his parents and having to earn their love even as a child, proving my point that this isn't something that started less than a year ago.

No, but Wishmaker really did shit all over the "Adrien's life only became bad after Emilie's death" argument huh. I sincerely question why anyone thinks that Emilie wasn't abusive after watching that episode.

And idk, the fact that he was constantly mind-controlled by his parents his whole life should be enough to understand that they are abusive pieces of shit.

My impression is that it got worse after Emilie died but was pretty bad before already (I mean, I thought it couldn't get much worse than mind-control, but Gabriel the asshat managed to make it happen). But honestly, the show has such an inconsistent tone with their portrayal of Emilie. They seem to want her to be seen as a good and loving and perfect mother, but then there are so many unfortunate implications regarding her treatment of Adrien that they just... do not acknowledge.

[eddo-tensei]

The Power of Love according to Season 5 of Miraculous

Something disturbing dawned on me concerning...a lot of the development in Season 5 and it comes down to one thing: Love.

At first, Andre and Felix getting redeemed while Chloe gets sent off to the worst fate the show would allow didn't make a lot of sense. The only thing I could get from the writers was just that "Chloe bad, so everyone else good." It was stupid, but it wasn't insidious. At least, not that insidious at first. And then the finale with Gabriel happened and while it took me a while to process my frustrations with this, something finally clicked. Not only concerning that, but some of the other developments I've seen.

Felix getting another chance to the point of JOINING the heroes in the new universe seemed like nonsense until you look at what happened before that. He was someone who Astruc went out of his way to bury in the narrative and was exclusively causing trouble for everyone up to and including GENOCIDE...until he showed his love to Kagami. Suddenly, his actions are seen as righteous and his backstory of being abused by his father was justification for his actions. You see, he loved Kagami and he also apparently loved Adrien too because they were "the same."

Andre was basically just some corrupt politician who was also a pathetic snob. Then when Zoe came in, we suddenly get all of these humanizing bits about how Chloe totally mistreated him (because apparently, not having the guts to say no to your daughter is mistreatment) and when he divorced Audrey, he gets Zoe because he's someone he could be happy with. A true familial love unlike the one he had with Chloe.

Chloe, meanwhile, doesn't love anyone as far as the writers are concerned. Any genuine connection she might have in either the platonic, familial, or the romantic sense, whether it'd be to Adrien, Sabrina, Zoe or Ladybug, are shown to be either fake or so utterly shallow, it doesn't count as "love." With that, everything she does is absolutely reprehensible and doesn't deserve a shred of forgiveness even if it's clear she's a neglected child who needed help. BUT, because she "doesn't love anyone", she doesn't get redemption and deserves to be sent away with a parent who doesn't love her either. Same with Lila, she doesn't love anyone at all and in fact, just jumps from family to family purely to keep up her manipulations.

Finally, we have Gabriel, who had done nothing but sheltered, belittled, and outright ABUSED Adrien as well as commit a multitude of horrid crimes throughout the series. His actions constantly escalated in awfulness throughout the series, even showing that he doesn't care if he destroys the universe to get what he wants. Yet there was always this trait he possessed. His love for Emilie and that ended up coming to the forefront in the finale. Marinette, who had Gabriel dead to rights, decided at the last moment to try and appeal to his humanity because she knows he loved Emilie and in her mind, that love is enough grounds for her to offer him one chance to step up and help. Then when Gabriel opts to betray Marinette and starts the wish, he tells her at the last moment to try and help Adrien remember all of the times he "tried to be a good father," which is apparently an indicator that he actually LOVED Adrien too. THAT ended up being why Marinette decided to lie about Gabriel by saying he died fighting Monarch and went as far as to try and tell Adrien to remember him as a good man. All because she knew Gabriel "loved" him.

This tells me something distressing. Now, the concept of "Love Redeems" is something I'm not at all against and is in fact common in a lot of stories I like. However, it's what Miraculous does with this concept in Season 5 that angers me. The message of Miraculous ends up giving in its grand finale for the Agreste arc isn't that love can help people find the way to kindness. It's that anything you do can be justified as long as you do it for "love." It doesn't matter if you purposely get a cab driver in trouble, attempt to sabotage a date that your crush is in, put together a project that tries to commercialize air, betray someone to help a terrorist, commit genocide, cause untold amounts of damage to your town and beyond, or even destroy the universe! As long as you love someone, everything you do can be justified. Except when we decide that you don't love ANYONE, then we'll do everything in our power to show that all of your connections don't count as love so you can have the worst punishment we could possibly muster. Regardless of intent, that's how the writers ended up describing the Power of Love in Season Five of Miraculous and that's wretched to me.

[msweebyness]

Tell me, what do you think of people who aren't convinced Emilie was a good mom because Adrien didn't go to public school while she was around?

I think they’re right and totally justified in believing so. It wasn’t just the school thing, Adrien was basically isolated from the world, he almost never got to go outside and only had one friend that his parents chose for him. I can’t think of much to justify that. Emilie went along with it, as far as we know. So, yeah, she’s not the amazing mom the show pushes her to be. She’s not awful, but not all that great. Canon-wise, I’m not too big a fan.

@artzychic27 @imsparky2002

[m3nt4llyr4v3d]

Okay now I’m convinced

I wished Emily sucked in canon

I mean, the way the show writes her definitely has implications that she did, no question about it, but it’s continuously telling the audience that she was the perfect, kindly, fridged- I mean saintly mom to ever exist

Even though perfect, kindly, saintly people wouldn’t immediately jump to playing God and creating a perfect designer puppet baby that bends to your every whim instead of… adoption. Also the fact that Adrien only had one friend, never went to school, and apparently hasn’t gotten an actual birthday present in several years despite Emilie being “missing” for only one

I just wish we literally got any actual insight into her character (beyond a vague fever dream play) and her relationship with Adrien (seriously she left messages for Gabe and Nathalie but not Adrien???)

And AU’s and canon divergence fics take the implications of her behavior and write them so well imo (like Scarlet Lady) that it got me wishing that’s what the writers actually intended 😞

[angelshizuka]

I think my main problem with Gabriel in the show is that at it’s core he keeps proving over and over again he loves Emilie more than he loves Adrien.

He attempted to akumatize Adrien (the only reason he couldn’t is because Adrien suddenly felt better) and the show gave us two examples that if Gabriel ever found out Cat Noir is actually his son, he wouldn’t hesitate for even a single second to use Adrien as a tool to get his wife back.

Thanks to the s5 finale not having a Cat Noir and Hawk Moth showdown at all (which is like the literal lowest barest of minimums you’d expect from an arc like this, yet they failed at even that) those “what if“ scenarios are officially the only ones we have, and both of them prove Gabriel’s an awful father.

Even with his “sacrifice“ he didn’t give a shit how it could possibly affect Adrien. At the end of the day Gabriel left his son without a father (and possibly without a mother, it’s still vague wheter the woman is Emilie or Amelie, because apperently even Asstruck can’t make up his mind) and his death wish was to make his son live in a lie of what a “good father“ he was (footage not found).

Side note: I mean death wish as a general thing where people make a final wish on their death beds, we still have no idea what his exact wish for Gimmi was.

That’s probably what moved me so much with movie Gabriel. There it’s a lot more obvious his love for Emilie and Adrien are equal, because the literal second he realized he’d been beating the living hell out of his own son, he stops. He also wants his wife back as much as show Gabriel, but the key difference is in the movie he refuses to do it at the cost of his son.

Obviously the cliffhanger ending scene leaves a lot of unanswered questions, but at least judging on this movie alone, he’s miles better than what they did with his character in the show.

And especially with show Adrien canonically being a sentimonster now and Emilie using the peacock miraculous to create him is what caused her “death“ in the first place, kinda makes me wonder if Gabirel unconsciously hates Adrien because of this, wheter he realizes it or not.

[chronicallylatetotheparty]

Unfriendly reminder that this is textually a slave owner with her mind control victim. 🙃

[wisteriasymphony]

"—No no no! You are not putting a price on my son! You are not putting a price on me!"

"Emilie, if you would just curb your emotions for a single second!"

Adrien would never hear anyone in his life scream like this ever again, the cry of a banshee echoing through the halls. He would always remember the lightning to its thunder—the broken furniture, the grabbed arms and slapped faces, how his mother would come to his room for comfort once night fell. Suffocating in her arms. Her screaming took away his breath in much the same way.

"My son, that is my son! You are not his mother, I am his mother! It is I, alone, who will decide what becomes of his life! Nobody else but me!"

"Emilie Genevieve Mary Graham de Vanily, as head of this household it is my God given right to do with this family—"

Her screaming began before his father was even halfway done with his sentence.

"My son! My son!"

Adrien kept his knees tucked in his chest. His hiding space in the back of his closet was his best-kept secret, not a single gasp giving his spot away. His parents were maybe.... eight, nine rooms down the hall, based on how clearly he could hear them shouting. Eight or nine was lucky. Four or less and it would be unbearable to sit through.

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

I wonder if Gabriel’s obsession with Emilie was meant to be perceived as creepy. While his desire to bring back his deceased wife is quite understandable, his willingness to destroy the world for taking Emilie away from him is… odd. However, considering that the main couple of the show, Marinette and Adrien, are portrayed in a stalker-victim dynamic, I’m not entirely certain

That's the weird thing. The show sets Gabriel up as sort of a foil to Marinette, being just as obsessed with the person he loves, but then Season 5 just abandons that idea and makes their dynamic over how they both love Adrien. And by love, I mean arguing over who knows what's best for him. Because love is treating someone like your pet, right?

But hey, maybe Gabriel's determination to save Emilie would be easier to understand if we actually knew anything about her beyond her "being nice".

[sophieabigail2021]

Gabriel, Emilie and Nathalie are the holy trinity of "Adrien deserves a better parental figure than these trashbags"