#ml passion spoilers

[trainsinanime]

One thing that really pops up if you binge the second half of season 5 in one go is that Kagami really just had the same plot twice. Lila gives her a checklist to prove Marinette is a bad friend; Kagami follows that checklist, comes to the conclusion that Lila wanted; some fights, and eventually Kagami recognises her error.

They were still good episodes, mind you! I think the OT3 one had the better ending, but the cloud monster one was so beautiful: Kagami, ethereal, not touching, not really seeing, hanging out in the city that she doesn't fit in, and eventually going up in smoke entirely - that's some tragic poetry right there.

So, good episodes, no doubt about it, but if Kagami gets the same plot one more time, then she better gets to kiss Adrien and Marinette as a result, or else I'll riot.

[its-us-against-the-world]

tikki remains so correct and yet so mean about how marinette acts while in love

[buggachat]

nathalie and adrien drive me insane. she's his father's employee. she's kind of like his stepmother. she is not married to either of his parents. they have no legal familial relation at all. she's the closest thing to a parental figure he has. they love each other. they know nothing about each other. she has emotionally adopted him. she likely never wanted kids. one time all of his ribs were broken and she roundhouse kicked him in the chest. she was the only one in the house worried for him when he felt too bad to go to school.

[fortuna-et-cataclysmos]

Season 5 and the symbolism of pancakes

Guys, I swear I have a life outside of speculating the meaning behind pancakes in Miraculous...

But seriously, they're important. They symbolise the future (as made explicit in Pretention).

[Small note: they look like pancakes, they're called "pancakes" in the French dub, I don't know if they taste like pancakes, but I do know that they are not "French toasts" as the English dub claims. So I'll stick to "pancakes"]

Illusion

So we are introduced to the pancakes in Illusion, where for the first time Adrien sees his father in the kitchen, preparing breakfast.

Seems benign enough. Gabriel is even considered enough to ask Adrien how he likes his pancakes. He likes them "well-toasted."

Illusion is an episode where Gabriel fakes having changed, and him giving Adrien a choice is in line what that change. Of course, he still manipulates him into making him think that he has the freedom to not be the face of the Alliance, by basically threatening to withhold his newly expressed fatherly love if Adrien refuses to agree with him (more on that in this post). Pancakes are just a device for Gabriel to add to his illusion of good parent, and the illusion that Adrien has a choice.

Passion

Adrien and Gabriel are in the kitchen. Adrien is looking at his extremely decorated pancakes.

As we learn from Nathalie a second later, he likes his pancakes plain. She tells him to not eat them "to please his father", while Gabriel seemingly naively points out that if Adrien didn't want bananas, he could have told him.

Sure he could tell him, except that the last time Adrien asked for something from Gabriel -to not be the face of Alliance-, he emotionally manipulated him to withdraw his request, and even made him wear the said Alliance.

The bananas and the fancy toppings are basically a metaphor for the fancy model life Gabriel wants to give Adrien, while Adrien really doesn't want any of it. And just as many people like toppings on their pancakes, they also would like to have a life of fame, hence think Adrien is lucky (as seen in the S4 Finale). Meanwhile, Adrien doesn't want any of it, he likes his pancakes and and his life plain and simple, "au naturel".

Nonetheless, Adrien still continues eating his father's pancakes, saying that he doesn't mind, that he likes them.

Pretension

This is where the pancake business gets serious.

First, we learn that indeed, Gabriel's pancakes taste bad. Plagg cheers for being saved from eating another serving of Gabriel's pancakes. This is bordering to over analysis but, given that Plagg couldn't eat them while Gabriel is in the kitchen, I assume that's Adrien's opinion which he must have confessed to Plagg at a more appropriate time. And still, Adrien keeps eating his father's pancakes.

Later in the episode, the pancake/future metaphor is expressed very clearly by Gabriel. He tells Marinette that she can have her pancake and life however she wants it, but the one thing she can't do is to share it with Adrien.

He says very clearly:

You think that you have a choice, but all you have is the illusion of a choice. And I decide which choices you get.

And where do we get this exact claim in practice? In the episode Illusion, where Gabriel manipulates Adrien into thinking that he has a say over his future, while Gabriel is the one making all the choices that matter.

And he gives two "choices" to Marinette:

To eat the pancake, receive Gabriel's backing and be a famous designer

To refuse the pancake and have nothing

Once more, the way he frames it, Gabriel gives the illusion that Marinette has a choice, while neither of the two choices includes being with Adrien. So he basically leaves her with no choice but to break up with him.

Now comes the breaking point. Marinette fully understands that the pancakes are a metaphor for her and Adrien's future, and she continues the same metaphor to get her message across to Gabriel (talk about power move).

First, she refuses to eat them. She has "lost her appetite."

This refusal is in contrast with Adrien who kept eating them even though he didn't like them. Unlike him, Marinette "doesn't even need to try them to know that they are bad."

Normally, this is to be understood as her making the choice no 2: refuse the pancake and have nothing.

As such, she is escorted out the kitchen. The scene composition clearly shows that she is stuck between Gabriel on the one side, and the Gorilla on the other.

Because, she refused the pancake. Per Gabriel's rules, she is supposed to have nothing.

But Marinette defies that. Not only she runs upstairs to hug and tell Adrien that she'll never abandon him, but she also gets back downstairs without needing to be restrained by the Gorilla, hence protecting her composture.

Look at how she goes down the stairs, having not only the physical but also the moral high-ground:

She looks so intimidating that in the next frame, even the Gorilla steps aside to let her pass. Both Gorilla and Gabriel are surprised by her move, if you zoom in you can see it in their faces. Gabriel did not expect her to do something outside the two "choices" he had given her.

And then comes the death blow, where Marinette tells Gabriel:

You know what's your pancakes problem? They have too much flour and not enough butter. You use an outdated recipe, no one likes them like that anymore.

Yup. She calls Gabriel's entire fashion, but also life practices, outdated with one simple metaphor. My girl slays.

At the end of Pretention, during dinner (no pancakes here sorry), we see that a parallelling breakthrough happens in Adrien's front.

Gabriel tells Adrien that he can spend as much as time as he wants with Marinette, for he will be in London next year. Again, Gabriel is creating the illusion that he is free to date Marinette, except that, as Adrien now realises, he is not. Adrien gets visibly furious at his father for the first time.

He does quickly calm down, but what is his reaction? He says that he has "lost his appetite," just like Marinette did. The boy who kept eating badly made pancakes with the toppings he didn't like finally refuses to eat the illusions his father is feeding him.

This, coupled with Adrien's terror at going to his room at the beginning of the episode, leaving Marinette alone despite himself, become a turning point for him: he finally acknowledges that he isn't free, and that his father keeps forcing his decisions onto him. Maybe also getting one step closer to discovering/accepting that he is a sentibeing.

All this story, told through pancakes.

[familyagrestefanblog]

Damn, why did it take me so long to REALLY realize this? In "Illusion" there is this whole thing with Gabriel 'allowing' Adrien to call him Papa/ Dad because he suddenly decided that he actually wants a son and a bond with him.

An interesting aspect of the dynamic is lost in the English dub though, cause in the french original Gabriel may be 'allowing' Adrien to call him "Papa" but Gabriel is still perfectly fine with Adrien keeping on using the formal vous/ you with him while Gabriel as his parent has always used the informal you with Adrien from the get-go.

The fact that Gabriel - who grew up middle class - does not offer Adrien to finally adresse him informally so they can talk to each other on the same level of 'respect' really says alot and shows very well that his whole fatherly intention has a serious limit.

But that's not where this ends. Cause at the end of "Passion", when Nathalie and Adrien finally started being mother and son, Nathalie actually immediately drops the formal vous with Adrien - yes, she has always addressed him formally too - and I'm pretty sure Adrien is now addressing her informally as well.

Plus, remember that in the very same episode Nathalie straight up refused to drop the formalities in her dynamic with Gabriel.

That is such an amazing linguistic method of story telling for the Agreste family in the french original, and it's unfortunate that the english language just doesn't have that option in general. In cases like this alot gets lost in dubbing.

[wield-the-mighty-pen]

October/November is honestly such a great time for miraculers

[ijustliketoreadstuff]

It wasn't about the miraculous.

Near the end of "Strike Back" when Cat Noir promised he and Ladybug would take back all the miraculous Monarch took from the miracle box, we knew it was only a matter of time before our two heroes would get their chance.

However, simply taking them all back would be no easy fit as Monarch had become unpredictable. They didn't know which miraculous he would use, what he would do next, let alone know the kind of boundaries he was willing to break now that he had so much power on his side. 

But out of all the moments Ladybug and Cat Noir came close to retrieving the miraculous(more on this later), there was one moment in particular which raised question, I am of course talking about the moment in "Intuition", when Cat Noir succeeded in grabbing Monarch's hand through the portal, and yet despite knowing the miraculous were in his reach, he did not take them, instead, he chose to activate the power of second chance.

Cat Noir could have taken the miraculous, but he didn't, not because he couldn't, but because in a moment of weakness, Cat Noir realized he could obtain something he couldn't before, revenge. This one moment when Cat Noir finally got a hold of Monarch, was not about the miraculous, it was about Nathalie.

Cat Noir has always felt a great deal of disappointment in knowing Monarch would target innocent people for his plans, but during the events of "Passion", a line was crossed. After losing his mother, Adrien had developed a new bond with Nathalie, viewing her as his new mother figure, but to see her grow just as sickly as he remembered his mother being, left him fearful of her potentially facing the same fate as his mom.

The fear of something potentially happening to Nathalie continued to plague Adrien's mind, so much that Marinette noticed immediately when he arrived to school.

And so, when he found out Monarch akumatized Nathalie in her sickly state, he wasn't just upset, he was furious. Granted, Nathalie was akumatized of her own free will, but Cat Noir does not know this. And although we have seen Nathalie be akumatized in private, as Catalyst, it wasn't until "Passion" that Ladybug and Cat Noir finally faced her as Safari, making the moment all the more impactful and tragic for Adrien as he was left no other choice but to fight Nathalie in order to save her, and just as tragic for Nathalie as Adrien remains unaware that she only agreed to be akumatized so she could save him from an orphaned life.

After Nathalie was de-akumatized, Cat Noir could no longer view Monarchs actions as the actions of a villain, he saw him as a monster for targeting someone like Nathalie. He already lost his mom, he couldn't bare losing Nathalie to, let alone disregard anyone who would dare endanger her.

(Adrien develops a new hatred for Monarch after he akumatized a sickly Nathalie, vowing to make Monarch pay for what he had done.)

As a result, in “Intuition”, when Cat Noir finally came face to face with Monarch all the way out in space and saw the snake miraculous before his very eyes, he thought about what Monarch did to Nathalie back in "Passion", but most of all, he thought about just what the power of the snake miraculous was subjecting Monarch to. Monarch may have the majority of the miraculous, but Cat Noir knew that if he was using the power of second chance for his own self interest, then this could only mean he had now trapped himself in a cycle of failure, one Cat Noir knew all too well when he tried to use the snake miraculous for his own self interest back in "Desperada".

In "Desperada", despite Plagg's warning, Adrien attempted to use the power of the snake miraculous so he could impress Ladybug as Aspik. This of course ended terribly as all his plans ended in Ladybug being captured by Desperada, every single time. Monarch explained that when the second chance is activated, time rewinds for everyone, except the holder of the snake miraculous, the holder remembers everything that happened from all those repeated moments, and that is exactly what happened to Adrien during his time as Aspik.

(Monarch continued to use the power of second chance, believing things can work in his favor by giving himself more time)

(Aspik continued to use the power of second chance, believing things can work in his favor by giving himself more time)

Adrien remembered every moment he saw Ladybug be captured by Desperada, he remembered the unbearable frustration of watching his plans fall apart no matter how many things he tried to change, he remembered the unyielding dependence he had on the snake miraculous to continue giving himself a second chance, to try again and somehow get things to go the way he wanted, simply because he had the power to do so. But most of all, Adrien understood the crushing sense of failure he faced all 25,913 times he used the power of second chance.

(After months of failed attempts, Adrien stops using the power of second chance, devastated as he realizes he cannot save Ladybug, no matter what he does differently)

When Cat Noir saw Monarch using the power of second chance, he wanted him to experience that same crushing failure again and again, all so he could finally make Monarch pay for what he did to Nathalie.

(After nothing but failed attempts, Monarch stops using the power of second chance, his body no longer able to withstand the strain of the cataclysm spreading through his body, even more than it has before)

Unfortunately, Cat Noir is unaware of the fact that his cataclysm is currently killing his father, worst of all, he doesn't know that the power of second chance was speeding up the effects of the cataclysm, inching Gabriel closer and closer to his demise. In other words, Adrien has no idea that his attempts at revenge, had also unintentionally aided in shortening the time his father had left to live.

[asukiess]

Emilie hugging Adrien with the amok in her fingers ….

yes, and?

though this ask did just remind me that she probably felt his sadness all the time about gabriel's absence. I bet she'd use the last of her strength to scoop him up and make him laugh and nuzzle into his cheek and tell him jokes. I bet it hurt to know that he'd smile at her, and she'd briefly feel him happy before she knew he was sad again, even though he kept a smile painted on.

[pythagoras180]

[ladykyriaa]

PASSION SPOILERS

Been having strong BugNoire brain rot lately. I especially love LadyNoire going absolutely feral for Mr. Bug LOL

[wisteriasymphony]

[awakefor48hours]

I love this about them

[whywhyok]

Quick question....

If this is when they found the peacock miraculous

And this is when Gabriel gave Emilie the miraculous to make a sentimonster for the first time with (happens after they found it)

Why does Gabriel look so much older in the before??

Lol he looks like at least ten years younger in the bottom one. Are we just gonna say that the glasses age him like crazy? I guess maybe it just be like that sometimes. Here are some other pictures of him from the past.

Why does his age keep changing, lol.

And here's a picture of Gabriel from when Adrien is a teen.

I guess he just went gray early so in between dyes he starts to drastically look older. At the beginning of the series he looks blonde too. But then starts to look more gray as time goes on, prob got sick of dyeing it, especially since he's in his house all the time and gotta be akuma ready 🤣.

(some pics of Gabriel with blonde hair and gray eyebrows.)

[nerdyenby]

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Tikki is an absolute menace. We — like Marinette — assumed her to be altruistic and innocent and took that assumption further than it reasonably holds (this is addressed in Dearest Family).

Tikki is an absolute sass master in season 5, and I think it’s worth noting that Joan (a previous holder) teases Tikki by calling her a “vile little gargoyle.” She also describes Tikki as greedy, which could easily be interpreted as being ironic if you ignore prior characterization (again, primarily in Dearest Family).

I don’t know, there’s just something about the embodiment of creation tends toward her own self interest despite being perceived as benevolent, and how her counterpart is self-sacrificial to the point of destroying himself despite destruction traditionally being associating with evil and selfishness that gets to me

[aalissy]

Injury

Andddd here’s today’s chapter! I think this is my new favorite for Marichat May this year :). I loveeeee writing identity reveals. I hope you like it just as much as I do <3. Lemme know what you think!

AO3

Marinette winced when she sat down at her desk, grabbing her leg as a twinge of pain raced through it. She had stumbled last night towards the end of their patrol, somehow managing to twist her leg as a result. 

Chat had watched it happen, racing over to help her up before asking if she was alright. She had waved it off at the time, not feeling the pain in her suit but later, when she had detransformed, her leg was definitely sore.

It was absolutely ridiculous. She thought that she was over her usual Marinette clumsiness whenever she was transformed. Obviously, that wasn’t true. Luckily, it had happened on a Friday so she had the whole weekend to hopefully rest and get her leg back to normal.

With a disappointed sigh, Marinette rubbed the injury, willing it to get better soon because she had things to do. Flexing her toes, she felt the same stab of pain. Grumbling, she sat back up, deciding that she could at least focus on her schoolwork while she was waiting. 

Invested in her history assignment as she was, Marinette almost missed the sudden sharp knock on her balcony’s trapdoor. It was only when it happened the second time that she recognized it. 

Shoving her homework aside, she grinned up at the noise. “Come in!”

Chat’s smiling face instantly greeted her. All at once, she felt her sour mood disappear. Trust Chat to be able to cheer her up with only his face.

“Hello, purrincess,” he purred before landing on her bed. He bowed at her, his eyes gleaming. “How are you doing this lovely evening?”

“Better now that you’re here,” Marinette responded, all thoughts of her leg gone. Her feelings for her partner had slowly begun to change. Growing and shaping until she realized that she was completely and utterly in love with him. She had been working up the courage to tell him as Ladybug but every time he seemed to side-step her confessions.

Was she seeing things or did his face look slightly pinker now? With a satisfied hum, Marinette asked, “How are you?”

“Better now that I’m here, too.” 

Her own cheeks flushed at his words as she glanced down. Did he know how sweet he was? 

Focused on her desk as she was, she missed him coming to stand beside her. He craned his neck, looking over at the history homework she had shoved to the side in favor of talking to the boy she was head over heels for. 

“What are you working on?”

Marinette shook her head, glancing at the sheet of paper she had started. She could finish it tomorrow. “Just some homework.”

“Oh, are you busy?�� Chat gave her a sheepish grin, looking uncharacteristically nervous all of a sudden. “I can come back later if you’d like?”

She didn’t want him to go! Not when he just got here.

“No!” she practically shouted. Her face turned even darker as she shifted in her seat. “I-I mean you don’t have to. I was just about finished anyway.”

His face quickly lit up and Marinette was suddenly glad that she had put off her homework for tomorrow. It was all worth it if he was happy!

“That’s purrfect!” Chat beamed. “You know, it’s pawsitively lovely outside right now. Would you like to spend it with me on your balcony?”

A moonlit night with the boy of her dreams. Yes, please. Marinette eagerly nodded her head. 

Standing up, she had completely forgotten about her twisted leg. It was only when she almost fell back down that she was reminded that she was supposed to be resting. Marinette quickly tried to hide her grimace, hoping that Chat had missed her little stumble. 

He hadn’t.

Instantly, his arms were around her as he lowered her back down to her chair. He peered at her, his gaze filled with concern. “Marinette, what’s wrong? Are you okay? What happened? Did you hurt your leg?”

Nodding her head in agreement, she opened her mouth to say that she had twisted it last night when she realized why she probably shouldn’t say that. Nibbling her lower lip, her eyes darted away from him. “Pfft, no! Why would you think that? I-I just stumbled a little bit. That was all.”

Wincing, Marinette’s palm itched to slap her forehead. She was still a terrible liar. Chat was going to figure out her identity for sure with that one.

He frowned, nudging her back down to her seat when she made to stand again. Slowly, he put his hands on her injured leg, rubbing it up and down gently. Tingles rushed up where he touched her and her heart began to race in her chest.

“It doesn’t feel broken,” Chat murmured. 

With great reluctance, Marinette managed to pull her leg away from him. “That’s because I’m fine. It was just a stumble. Now come on! Let’s go enjoy the night like you said.”

She stood up again, ignoring how Chat’s frown deepened. This time she was prepared for the ache and managed not to fall back down. “See! I’m fine!”

He straightened from his crouch, shaking his head at her. “That was not just a stumble, Marinette. You’re hurt.”

Ugh. Why did he have to be so wonderful all of the time? 

“You’re sweet, Chaton, but I promise my leg is okay.” Marinette took a few steps over to her bed, dreading the climb up her ladder. It was hard enough going down after waking up this morning.

Glancing over her shoulder, she paused. Chat was standing motionless exactly where she had left him. The furrow between his brows was even deeper than it had been before. 

“Aren’t you coming?” she asked, gesturing her head to her balcony.

He slowly shook his head, a strange gleam in his eyes. “You sound like Ladybug.”

Instantly, Marinette stiffened. This was it. He had figured her out. With a nervous laugh, she waved her hand. “L-Ladybug? What do you mean? We couldn’t be further from each other.”

“She hurt her leg last night while we were on patrol. I asked if she was alright but she waved me off like you’re doing now.”

Her eyes widened and she turned around, shuffling another few steps closer to her bedside. 

Don’t react, don’t react, she thought to herself desperately. 

“I-I’m sure Ladybug can take care of herself.” 

Marinette had just managed to reach her ladder when Chat called out her name softly. More softly than she had ever heard him say it before. Slowly, she turned back around, her heart pounding as terror gripped her.

He approached her cautiously like he was afraid that she was going to panic and bolt at any second. Honestly, she probably would have if her leg wasn’t still aching.

“How did you hurt your leg?” he asked. 

“I, um, fell out of bed this morning! Yes, I fell out of bed and that’s why it hurts.” Marinette snapped her fingers, happy that she had come up with a semi-convincing lie.

Chat looked anything but convinced. Instead, he took another hesitant step toward her. “Are you sure? You didn’t hurt it last night? You didn’t stumble landing on a building during patrol?”

“N-no,” she stuttered, teeth digging into her lower lip as she gazed down at the floor. 

“Because... if you did... it would understand why I’ve begun to feel differently about you.”

A soft chuckle left his lips even as Marinette’s head whipped back up to look at him. Feel differently? What was he saying? He didn’t love Ladybug anymore?

“What do you mean?” she eventually asked, feeling a lump form in her throat.

“Well,” Chat took her hand squeezing it gently. “I’ve started to realize my feelings for Ladybug weren’t as strong as they once were. I had actually begun to realize that I’m in love with you, Marinette. Which would make sense if you and Ladybug were one and the same.”

She felt dizzy. Heady with the knowledge that Chat was in love with her. With both sides of her! 

“I... you... what... huh?!” 

Could she even form words at this point? It didn’t feel like she could. 

His forehead leaned against hers and her eyes fluttered shut at the contact. “Please, Marinette. Please tell me I’m not wrong.”

With her heart roaring in her eyes, she whispered, “You’re not wrong.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Chat’s lips were on hers. It was wonderful. A perfect, beautiful kiss that both of them would remember. Her hands dove into his hair as his wrapped around her waist, tugging her closer to him. 

They could deal with the consequences later. Right now, Marinette just wanted him as close as possible. The pain in her leg was forgotten, and she deepened their kiss, wishing that they could remain like this for the rest of their lives.

[familyagrestefanblog]

Wait hold up, I just realized something about "Passion"

Akuma victims do not remember what they said or what they have been told once they are deakumatized, and by nature of their akumatization they also tend to say things they either don't truly mean like that or normally know better than to voice (this can be because of various reasons).

But this means that Nathalie has no memory anymore of letting Gabriel know that she deep down fully intends on backstabbing him and make the wish herself:

Safari only said this because as akuma her impuls-control is much lower and Nathalie most likely REALLY would like to tell this to Gabriel's face as herself

BUT she isn't doing it under normal circumstances because she knows better.

Ever since "Passion" Gabriel is fully aware that Nathalie is planning on betraying him for good and to the greatest extend. HE knows but she has no idea that she already put all her cards on the table. Which also puts Gabriel immediately storming into her room once she got deakumatized into new perspective after having been completely uncommunicative ever since Safari made that threat:

That... explains alot about the ongoing subtext development I noticed between Gabriel and Nathalie from this episode onwards. Holy shit, I need to take another look at this O.o