#mlb adoration

[bklily]

Am I understanding the end of this episode properly

[ijustliketoreadstuff]

Gabriel does not like whats changing

The more we kept getting references to feathers and rings being close to Adrien and those in his family, who knew of the peacock miraculous, the more it became obvious that he was a sentimonster brought to life with the help of the peacock miraculous.

(Moments from "Miraculer" and "Gorizilla" subtly showing two rings and feathers being constantly close to the Agreste family and Nathalie)

And per the power of the peacock miraculous, Adrien's amok was attached to something, specifically two rings, the very ones his parents wore, a terrifying thing to learn because it meant that anyone who was in possession of Gabriel and Emelie's rings, could gain full control of Adrien and make him say and do whatever it is they wanted, which is what Gabriel has been doing a lot, each time worse than the last as he becomes more and more willing to ruin the happiness his son has built on his own.

(In "Adoration, Gabriel attempted to stop a moment that would've solidified Adrien and Marinette's relationship even further, by using one of the rings in his possession to take control of Adrien and stop him from kissing Marinette, forcing him to tell Marinette to leave. )

We don't know for how long Gabriel has been controlling Adrien throughout his life, but it doesn't seem like it was always this way, at least not when Adrien upheld his title as the "perfect son" to the Agreste family, but when he did, he would almost always start his command with the same words, "Adrien, I am your father...". Gabriel had his little moments in the past where he showed just how much he cherished his son, how worried he was over Adrien's safety if he was ever too close to danger, but the longer he let his obsession over defeating the heroes consume him, the more he lost sight of his moral boundaries, seeing no wrong in controlling Adrien through the ring during times he believed Adrien was showing defiance or was just plain not being the seemingly perfect well mannered son who took his parents word. 

("Megaleech" was one of many times when Gabriel had been shown clearly reaching for his ring to take control of Adrien. )

(In "Protection," Gabriel aimed to end the relationship between Marinette and Adrien, at first by trying to convince Adrien he shouldn't settle for dating Marinette, believing his own son deserved to be with someone who was considered to be as perfect as he was, like Kagami. When Adrien rejected Gabriel's advice to break up with Marinette, Gabriel used the ring to command Adrien to stop seeing Marinette, an order that was later removed, thanks to Nathalie, who was in possession of Emelie's ring.)

Unlike in previous seasons, Gabriel is shown to be more willing to use his ring to take control of Adrien during the most important moments of his life, because unlike before, too many things were changing.

Gabriel has always had this picture perfect image in his mind over what his family will be like once Emelie was brought back, and it for one would be exactly as he remembered and expected it to be. But now, everything Gabriel was hoping for his family and their future, is all gradually crashing down, and while he for one wants to believe it is the fault of Ladybug for preventing him from obtaining the miraculous that will restore his family, he also wants to believe it is the "bad influence" of Marinette, and others whom he views as imperfect, that's corrupting Adrien and ruining the perfect future that was made for him, but its not. Things are changing, because the people who are the closest to him are changing. Adrien is changing.

The fact of the matter is, the Agreste family could never go back to the way Gabriel remembered. Emelie had been gone for more than a year now, and while he still clings to the past, Adrien has tried the best he can to move on with his life, by learning to live it.

Adrien has made efforts to learn to live his life by gaining new experiences, meeting new people, building new friendships, forming his own independence by developing his own views and opinions, and has made his share of mistakes while simultaneously learning from them.

Adrien will always keep his mother's memory in his heart just like Gabriel said he should back in "Felix", but now that Gabriel is watching Adrien step farther and farther away from the son he remembers spent his days in the mansion, close to him and Emelie, it upsets him.

Gabriel has said before in "Passion" that everything he is doing is for Adrien's happiness, but his idea of what Adrien's happiness should be, does not align with what is making Adrien happy now. Adrien was most certainly not meant to find happiness without his mother in his life, he wasn't supposed to question his fathers judgment over what was truly right and wrong, and he was definitely not meant to find true love in a baker girl like Marinette. Gabriel has talked to Adrien about everything in his life that is falling a stray from the path that he believed was best for him, or rather, set for him, but for the majority of those times, Adrien chose to politely disagree with his father and stood up for what he wanted in life.

Adrien didn't want to start a relationship with Kagami again out of his fathers insistence, because they both realized on their own that they were not meant to be. Adrien didn't want to cast Marinette aside because having her in his life gave him that sense of love and happiness he never thought he could have. Marinette wasn't Gabriel's idea of perfect, but Adrien knew she was perfect for him. Gabriel and Adrien's relationship has always been a distant one, and although it was obvious to everyone else that their relationship was strained, Gabriel remained blind to the unhappiness Adrien was constantly facing over his lack of understanding and attention.

In season 5, after Gabriel realized he was dying from the power of Cat Noir's cataclysm, for a few brief moments, he became the understanding father Adrien always hoped for, and even though he never intended it, it was his willingness to allow Adrien the freedom to experience time away from the mansion, with friends, that gave him the chance to properly spend time with Marinette and start a relationship with her.

Gabriel had an agreement with Tomoe to wed Adrien to Kagami, and he made a promise to Emelie that he would bring her back and restore their family, restore their happiness, but that can’t happen if Adrien is making decisions that go against it all. Rather than accept that his son was living his own life, away from the one he wants to think is best for Adrien, he instead found it easier to use the ring that Adrien was bound to, and order him to do as his father told him.

Gabriel has had the advantage of taking control of Adrien at any given point in time, but the one time Gabriel realized he couldn't, was back in "Risk," when Felix took Adrien's place without him knowing. Felix, disguised as Adrien, talked back for Adrien about not wanting to go on the modeling trip, a trip that would last months. Gabriel had angrily disapproved of Adrien's(Felix) defiance and did not hesitate to reach for the ring that would allow him to put a stop to it, but for the first time in likely his entire life, Gabriel had to face Adrien without that sense of control over him conveniently within reach, and it must have been terrifying, because what he saw in Adrien's(Felix) eyes, was something he never thought he would have to actually experience facing alone, but is now forced to face regardless of possessing a means to control him, and that something, was Adrien's free will.

[deimalor]

Adrien....NO

[kaalki-cinnamon]

One glance was enough to describe her emotions

Okay, Zoe's declaration of love moment is one of my favorites of the episode

[uptoolateart]

I'm glad to see the Gorilla gets invited to their twisted family meals.

[ayana-banafrit]

Like…

HOW IS SHE EXPELLED??!!!

This is not on the school grounds and is barely school related!

And they fell for it AGAIN!!! How stupid can these people get!!!

But when it’s revealed to them that Chloe did it there are no consequences for her. No expulsion, not even threats of expulsion or suspension, just A GLARE!!!

[ninadove]

Adoration is gay as in happy.

Emotion is queer as in fuck you.

[rainbow-arrow]

can't believe this show thought 'know what this show needs? someone else in love with marinette dupain-cheng'

[piratedllama]

alright so we are officially 2/2 on black cat holders being in love with marinette and i am here for it

[atlasisntdead]

I like how I immediately knew from the beginning of Adoration that Marinette was the one Zoe was in love with. I just have a feeling for this stuff everytime.

[unikittythings]

MLB season 5 Adoration:

Zoe do you have a crush on Marinette?

Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girlboss! You go Zoe

It's you girl! She's crushing on you!

You guys are terrible friends for not standing up for Marinette

Zoe, no

That was really sweet 😭. Oh Zoe

😨 The sentimonster theory 😨

You suck Gabe

Confrontation:

Oh the existential crisis

Omg Ivan 😆, he's so precious, sweet and thoughtful

Wow Lila, couldn't you think of a more believable lie

I absolutely hate both of them🤬

I just hope Marinette made copies of the real forms

So that's why Juleka is in this class🤔

I'm so serious, HOW. THE. FUCK. DOES. NOONE. SEE. THROUGH. LILA'S. RIDICULOUS. LIES!!!

About. Damn. Time!!

Finally the charms have some use

OMG, the wig scene

Collision:

They are a cute couple, not going to lie

When will the pancakes stop? When will they stop!?

I'M dOiNg tHiS fOr YoUr HaPpInEsS

Lila's going to snatch the Butterfly Miraculous when the time comes isn't she? 🤦‍♀️😤

They really should vote for a new mayor, because this is utterly ridiculous

Ms Bustier let's go

Is she in a relationship with a woman?😳 Good for her 👏

I feel like this show is slowly feeding us the dangers of AI

There is so much wrong with police robots

But who's going to be the next mayor? This is going to be bad isn't it?

A 14 year old can't be mayor. Wtf is wrong with their political system 😑

[ijustliketoreadstuff]

Zoe learned to overcome her fears of rejection.

It is no surprise that Zoe has lived one chaotic life, living practically every day in New York pretending to be someone she was not to obtain the approval of those around her. Zoe was good at acting, even considering a career as a professional actress, but what she hated was living out every day of her actual life playing a part she did not want, just so she could please all the wrong people. No matter how much she wanted, Zoe could not escape this way of life so easily, not even after she moved to Paris, as her fears of being rejected by her family wound up pulling her right back into the life she was so desperate to leave behind in New York.

Back in "Sole crusher", Andre told Zoe that if she ever truly wanted to be accepted into the Bourgeois family, then she too would need to give up her dreams, along with everything else in her life that made her who she was, and leave it all in that little cellar on the roof where no one could find it, just as he had done with his own life many years ago.

By placing her shoes into the little cellar and putting on the diamond heels Chloe loaned her, Zoe really was ready to abandon who she was and accept that she would always be fated to live a lonely life hidden behind the persona her family approved of. Back then, Zoe had hoped that moving to Paris would give her the opportunity to finally be free to be herself, but who she was was someone her own family did not want around, and if the real her wasn’t good enough for her family, then how could she be sure she was good enough for anyone else, much less Marinette and the friends she spoke of at Anarka's boat.

The idea of learning to just be herself and speak her mind to others is easy enough to consider, but it was the fear of being rejected by others that was far more terrifying to think about whenever Zoe did face someone. When Zoe went to Anarka's boat to introduce her true self, not the cruel girl she pretended to be on her first day at school when she attempted to please Chloe, we see her frowning face before finally deciding to walk to the boat and meet everyone, she was nervous, and for good reason.

Showing her true self to others was not only difficult, it was a moment of extreme vulnerability. We are used to seeing the other characters be themselves around the people that love and support them, because we know they will and have been accepted by the others, but for someone outside of that social circle, like Zoe, the struggle to be herself around unfamiliar people is a risk, she didn't know how they would react to meeting the real her, and considering she wound up being relentlessly bullied by the people she once considered her friends the last time she decided to show that sense of vulnerability in New York, it was only natural she feared the worst at Anarka's boat. If things didn't work out at Anarka's boat, Zoe would have no one to blame but herself for being incapable of knowing how to avoid such rejection all over again, and for a moment, that really was all she expected as she told everyone she would not blame them for not wanting to befriend her even after hearing her clear up any misunderstandings over her previous actions. The one person that ultimately did push her to go through with meeting everyone, was Marinette.

(Moments like in "Sole Crusher" and "Queen Banana", Marinette has always done her best to reach out to Zoe and help her when she was being treated unfairly.)

With Marinette's help, Zoe found a group of friends that loved and accepted her for who she is, but in order to keep that part of her life, she still had to do whatever she could to avoid trouble within her family now that she proved to Chloe she could not earn her place with them, after choosing to befriend Marinette. Andre came up with excuses to buy Zoe more time in Paris, but even then, Chloe was quick to threaten to turn to Audrey to send Zoe back to New York, if Zoe did not abide by her demands.

(To stay in Paris, Zoe was willing to comply by Chloe's demands, no matter how unfair they were, be it cleaning every one of Chloe's shoes or remaining confined to certain parts of the hotel. )

However, such threats to send her back to New York was all Chloe had to ensure Zoe did not step out of the line she set for her, but after finding the courage to stand up to Chloe in "Deflagration", to stop her from mistreating Marinette, Zoe did eventually come to understand that her family only had as much power over her as she was willing to permit them, and this she alone had the capability to revoke at any moment, it all depended on whether or not she was willing to find the strength to stand up and do something, rather than remain in fear and do nothing, something Marinette learned for herself back in "Origins" when she finally took a chance to stand up for herself to stop Chloe from continuing to torment her.

(In "Deflagration", Zoe finds the strength to stand up to Chloe so she could help Marinette, realizing that she too had the courage to stand up for herself and stand up for others in the same way Marinette did for her time and time again.)

Marinette and Plagg were right, regardless of who her family was and what their views were of her, she did not deserve to be mistreated by them. While Chloe and Audrey had a great sense of pride earning and upholding their names as a Bourgeois, Zoe could not care any less the more she understood her own self worth was not dependent on fulfilling her family’s expectations, their approval did not define her. So, rather than continue to withstand her family's insults and do everything she could to please them so they would refrain from sending her back to New York, Zoe did exactly what Plagg said she should do, and what Marinette showed her she could do for herself, to call the shots and not let others step all over her, and over time, that's exactly what she did.

In "Adoration" we see that Zoe never forgot that moment in Deflagration when she cast aside her fears of displeasing Chloe to stand up to her. Rather than use what she knew about her family to please them, she used what she knew to make their threats empty and useless.

Chloe always felt she was entitled to command everyone in her fathers hotel, including Andre himself, but Zoe removed that sense of control by befriending and connecting with the hotel staff as well as Andre, who were all soon quick to do whatever they could to help Zoe if and when Chloe lost her temper, allowing Zoe to use Chloe's temper against her to make matters more annoying for their mother. Audrey in particular favored Chloe and saw no wrong in Chloe tormenting Zoe, so of course Audrey sided with Chloe over the matters of sending Zoe back to New York.

To stop Audrey from ever carrying out Chloe's threats, Zoe had Chloe complain to their mother over every little thing, such as ownership of the hotel stairs, annoying their mother enough to force her to find solace away from them and ignore their constant bickering, even considering sending Chloe to New York along with Zoe if they didn't stop. 

Zoe didn’t just change things, she took back the power her family had over her, and the one thing that helped her accomplish this, was learning to change her entire perspective about herself.

Zoe learned to love herself the more she acknowledged her own accomplishments and capabilities, oftentimes through helping other people. And the love she had for those who were willing to love and accept her for who she is, especially Marinette(more here), helped her take a chance to put her foot down and build enough confidence to learn it was ok to say no to things, any rejection that came with it was just something she learned to accept came normally in life and was better to learn from it to better her own life, rather than fear it forever

At the start of "Adoration", Zoe was honest when she said it was thanks to Marinette that she was able to accomplish so much for herself. To have someone who was willing to reach out to her and show her a little love and compassion in her times of need, was more than enough to help her gradually seek out and build other supportive relationships that made her feel reassured it was ok to be herself. Zoe might not have had the loving and accepting life with her family that she'd hoped, but with every little change she made, she learned to overcome her fears of rejection and found a new family for herself in the friends who appreciated having the real her in their lives.

[westywallowing]

wondering why he jumped out of the way,,

(a prelude for a new au I'm making :))

[kaalki-cinnamon]

Same vibes...

[bklily]

Congrats on the gay, join the club

(if you're wondering where Alya is, she went to buy more juice)

[ayana-banafrit]

Wait…

Wait they’re in 9th grade??!!!

But Socqueline JUST started high school and she’s a year above them!!

How are they in the 9th grade?

Did someone mess up while it was being translated?