#where lila having to deal with her feelings was a major plot point and it just so happened that one of those feelings was her demiromantic

[marshmellowtea]

lila/tanya is. first of all a severely underrated ship but second of all perpetually funny to me because i always picture it in one of two ways, those ways being "seriously angsty enemies to lovers that may or may not also involve william in some way" or "lila has an existential gay crisis because she's never had a crush on anyone before and it's on the ONE girl she's decided to have a (probably one-sided tbh) rivalry with and that's terrible. for her at least. everyone else thinks it's kinda funny"

[ilikekidsshows]

In retrospect do you think there were any major red flags in writing up to the S3 finale of ML that foreshadowed its downfall in future seasons or do you think it all started in what you call the retool era (S4&5).

I’d say we’re dealing with a lot of “recurring issues” and some actual red flags. As I’ve stated repeatedly, the New York Special basically has the same Ladynoir break up and get back together plot as season four, and it was bad in the New York Special and absolutely horrid in season four. Also, the show’s worst episodes, ‘Reflekdoll’ and ‘Kwamibuster’ reflect a lot of the writers’ more asinine writing decisions in the future. The New York Special and some season three episodes are, therefore, definitive red flags.

But yeah, the earlier seasons had some warning signs too. Adrien/Cat Noir is presented first and foremost as a lust object of Marinette’s. We don’t see Marinette appreciating Adrien as a person until ‘Origins’; before that point she’s only literally staring slack-jawed and drooling at Adrien’s photoshoots and ads. Marinette is also destructively jealous of Adrien from the point Lila is introduced, and she only escalates with the introduction of Kagami. Marinette’s objectification of Adrien has been in the show since its inception, considering that the original Adrien, thePV Félix, is presented in promotional materials as sullen, rude and unpleasant, meaning Marinette’s infatuation was most likely purely based on his looks. So, like, the sexism of heterosexual romance but the genders are just reversed is part of the show’s DNA.

Another important thing to note about the series is that our only Adrien-focused episodes, that focus on Adrien having some kind of a development arc with his feelings where he gets to be proactive about them instead of the show just showing the audience “oh, he’s upset now” or “oh, he’s happy now” and don’t still give Marinette a lion’s share of the focus and emotional weight, are ‘Copycat’ and ‘Santa Claws’, maybe arguably ‘Gorizilla’, though I suspect the Marinette trying to score a date segment takes up far more time than the important reveal of Adrien’s family problems. The writers have always prioritized Marinette’s feelings over Adrien’s.

Adrien’s contributions on the superhero side of things have also been getting downplayed since the start. He’s the more likely target of slapstick, with the show pilot ‘Stormy Weather’ having him get treated like a ping pong ball. He’s the one getting brainwashed or taken out by the Akumas frequently. And he’s the one the heroes’ shared mentor ignores completely. In ‘Syren’, Fu had to be strongarmed into meeting Adrien once, and then he never made an effort again. This is also the episode where the idea that Adrien shouldn’t complain about being treated as less than and should just patiently wait for whatever scraps he gets as a member of a team is first introduced. However, this episode was easily overlooked at the time, because the episode, in the end, had Fu meeting with Adrien, seemingly setting up Adrien being treated more equally, a promise that was never followed up on.

Now, though, I’d like to say why these things went unnoticed as red flags and just being some recurring issues. The thing about Adrien’s objectification was this: the people watching thought it was a joke and a sign of Marinette’s immaturity. It was presented humorously, and Marinette started being less creepy at Adrien once she became more able to talk to him. This, coupled with other lessons Marinette had about clear communication with her loved ones, like ‘Weredad’ and ‘Befana’, made people believe Marinette was going to have a character arc to grow into a more mature person who’s able to treat Adrien like a human being. This is another promise the writers never followed up on when they then retconned Adrien into a RealDoll and made him Marinette’s therapist to make sure Marinette never has to treat Adrien normally.

As for the lack of Adrien focus, the reason it went unnoticed was actually the lesser focus on other heroes, and the deeper emphasis on the superhero action than in S4-5. There were less heroes and more time spent on Akuma fights, which meant more screen time for Adrien as Cat Noir at least. When Cat Noir is the primary character Ladybug can interact with, he gets to give plenty of input on things and when he’s Ladybug’s only backup, he gets to do more things in battles. And then we add to that the bigger time the earlier seasons spent on Akuma fights, we get more of both of those things. It’s simple math. So, while Adrien didn’t get to contribute decisively a lot, he did get to contribute. Also, they had this thing where Adrien’s eclectic studies would be used to have Cat Noir give Ladybug highly specific but useful information.

Basically, yeah, there were some red flags and other lesser but still worrying stuff too.

[alexfierroaf]

Yea, I’m convinced that the Miraculous season finale was unsatisfying on purpose.

The “happy ending” scene at the end had this surrealist lighting and slightly off-putting music in the background. It gives off major false utopia vibes. It actually makes me feel relieved, because there were two things I was worried about for this finale but the way they wrote it resolves those issues a bit.

First, I was worried that they were going to try to wrap up everything perfectly within the span of this two episode special. There was no way they were going to be able to give all the different plot points and character arcs the closure they needed within that time frame. by leaving us with an open ending, It gives itself room to properly develop and deal with the fallout from this mess slowly over time.

And then, arguably the bigger issue, was Miraculous’ future after season 5. I kept thinking to myself, what are they going to have to do to keep Miraculous interesting after this? Sure we’ve got Lila, or Cerise, or whatever her name is, but everything we’ve been following this series for since the beginning was about to be resolved. Monarch gone. The Agreste arc over. Adrienette canon. What is Miraculous’ sense of identity after this? Do they hit the reset button and retell the story Disney sequel style? Do they force a breakup between Adrienette to keep the romance plot alive? What’s the point of this still VERY fresh reveal of senti-Adrien if Gabriel and his influence is nothing but a distant memory?

But because of the way things went down, none of those things we thought would be resolved actually are. Monarch fucking won. He got what he wanted, and now everyone is living in a world of his image. He’s remembered as a goddamn hero, which is fucking infuriating! And Adrien doesn’t know! Doesn’t know that his dad was a supervillain and terrorist, doesn’t know that he’s a sentimonster, doesn’t fully accept that he’s been abused. And Marinette is keeping all that from him! Probably because she doesn’t want to inflict unnecessary pain on him, but when he finds out he’s going to be an absolute MESS.

Which means the Agreste plot, the family drama, the relationship antics that we’ve been following for all these years will continue as a throughline in the show. It means that there are natural reasons to continue existing conflicts and keep the show running without it feeling contrived. Because none of this is ok, and it’s going to take a lot of time to resolve. A lot of pain, a lot of drama, and a lot of conflict. I wouldn’t be surprised if Adrien and Marinette have major relationship problems over the secrets that she’s keeping from him. The Ladynoir angst from season 4 is back at full force. And you KNOW Cerise is going to zero in on that shit like a moth to a flame. Before this I was fearing a ultra-contrived break up to keep the audience invested in their story, but now I would be totally satisfied with a temporary break up as Marinette’s secrets become too much to keep hidden.

So yea, I was angry at the season 5 finale. The Gabriel statue made me gag. And I REALLY wanted to see Adrien stick it to his father. But then again, he did in his own way. He pulled one over his father by tricking him into muting his mics, which gave him a chance to strategize with Plagg. He’s the one who decided to play the long game and wait patiently while Plagg found a new holder to defeat Monarch with -- as opposed to rushing in with brute force, which shows significant character growth for him, by the way. I’m proud of him. And I can’t wait to see where his arc goes from here as he continues to explore his own agency and his relationships with people around him.

As for Marinette, I was very satisfied with her face-off against Monarch/Gabriel. The moment he realized his archnemesis was her was priceless. And that piano? God. That was glorious. She was a total badass. And she demonstrated her growth, too. She acted with a lot more maturity than we’ve seen at other points in her story by putting aside her personal vendetta towards Gabriel and Monarch to focus on creating a peaceful solution -- even if it did come back to bite her in the ass hard.

So the manipulator won. Fitting, because I feel kind of manipulated too. I would’ve never guessed in a million years that Gabriel would actually be able to make his wish in the permanent timeline, or that Miraculous would go down such an unsettling and unsatisfying route (at least in the short term). I’ve gotta respect them for that. All these years we thought we knew how this conflict was going to resolve -- all those dramatic reveals in the Agreste basement, the final battle between Adrien and his piece of shit dad, Adrien breaking out of his control in one decisive and cathartic swoop. Instead, we got something much more sinister, something much more insidious. Whatever is lurking around the corner is bound to have MAJOR repercussions going forward.

So I’m content to wait and see what happens next. There’s no point in complaining about how a story went when it isn’t even resolved yet. Was it perfect? Nope. Will it be done perfectly in the future? Also no. And that’s ok. Because it never will be perfect, and what we saw here made sense. It was impactful. It creates new opportunities for the characters and their story arcs that didn’t exist before this finale. We are in a new era of Miraculous, and I will be waiting on the edge of my seat to find out what the hell this beautifully unpredictable series is going to evolve into next.

[they-breasted-boobily]

Ways the plot of tua s4 could have been improved while including a lot of the same storyline:

It goes without saying that a 6 episode season was too rushed for even the shitty plot we got given, but I'll mention that these ideas would have worked better for an 8-10 episode season. Or maybe you could use them for fics or comics- I'd love to see them!

1. The careers and new lives of non-powered umbrellas: While Lila, Klaus, and Viktor had decent set-ups, the others seemed out of place. Diego's personality and desire to be a hero would have been better suited to a mall cop or traffic cop, where he feels undervalued and underutilised, rather than just beaten down as a delivery driver for jokes about peeing in a bottle. Luther only mentioned Sloane a couple of times in the entire series- with more than 6 episodes, it could have been possible to give flashbacks of him trying to get back to her, but her not recognising him and not being romantically interested. Not sure what changes could be made to his job or housing though. Allison's setup was mostly fine, but we really should have been given an explanation for why Raymond left- maybe lean into the horror of being taken from your time and timeline raising a daughter you suddenly have? Five would not work for the CIA except as a double-agent, either that or he would be retired as a fishing supplies store owner. Ben is his own whole point later in this post.

2. The marigold sake shots: I feel like this plot point added to Ben just being an asshole and scapegoat for the entire season, which could benefit from major changes. If left relatively unchanged, the fact that Klaus threw it over his shoulder could have led to greater implications if it landed on an unknown person behind them and gave them powers. This person could have been the subject of an episode or two as they were tracked down when it was necessary.

3. Ben's character: While s3 Sparrow Ben was a dick, he was not as edgy, conceited, or self-absorbed as he was in s4. I think it's fine to start his arc with him leaving prison, but making the crime as major as crypto fraud (just because you think it's funny) makes it much more difficult for him to seem likeable and relateable to Jessica or anyone else. If the crime was something more minor, or he was framed/unfairly jailed it could set up a revenge/redemption arc from the get-go. With his relationship with Jessica, it would have benefited from being more of a slow burn, or if the gradual unnatural obsession had more than 6 episodes to build up.

4. The subway romance: While I can almost understand why it was Five and Lila due to their history working together and especially using time travel together, I think if Five needed a romance (which I don't but show writers can't stand having one member of the main cast never being in a relationship), it should have been someone he met while on that 7 year subway adventure (probably an older woman) and settled with in Strawberry Tradwife timeline while Lila keeps looking for a way out for the sake of her children. Lila would find the journal a few months later and using both it and the subway map, get back to Five because she still needs his powers to get entirely out of the subway system. Could you imagine a scene with Lila trying to convince Five to leave the peaceful Strawberry Tradwife life he's always wanted after dealing with the trauma of being stuck in time twice?

5. Klaus's return to addiction: I think Klaus's arc could have definitely benefited from the season being longer. If there was a slower burn towards his addiction returning and his confrontation with Claire and if she stressed more that he didn't need to go down this path again, it could have really been impactful. The ghost sex trafficking thing was gross but if that was the only way to get him buried alive then so be it, because having him in a situation where he would have to directly face his trauma from the mausoleum and become stronger would be so good for the sendoff of his character. Maybe that could have been the point where he learned how to levitate?

6. Reginald and false memories: Why was the fact that he's literally not human and crafted this timeline so he could have as much power as possible (including a militia town) not explored at all? The plot should have revolved a lot more around at least verifying what he was saying about marigold and durango, if not about handing him a final defeat for this final season. Everything around him killing Ben led to huge plot holes (why wouldn't Klaus know the truth from Ben's ghost? Ben easily could have been spared and only Jessica shot. Why was Jessica being in a squid never explained?). While it's interesting to see the Umbrellas all give a brainwashed explanation for Ben's death, it couldn't be something as blatant as that, because Klaus would have to know even if everyone else was brainwashed. The brainwashing is an idea with promise, but it should have been something like Ben and Jessica being consumed by the giant squid together because Ben went against orders.

What other things could have been changed? I personally liked the CIA subplot, especially as it taught Diego to appreciate his family more. I also found Jean and Gene and the Cleanse conspiracy theorists to be fun new mini-villains.

[alexfierroaf]

For real though. the “happy ending” scene at the end had this surrealist lighting and slightly off-putting music in the background. It gives off major false utopia vibes. It actually makes me feel relieved, because there were two things I was worried about for this finale but the way they wrote it resolves those issues a bit.

First, I was worried that they were going to try to wrap up everything perfectly within the span of this two episode special. There was no way they were going to be able to give all the different plot points and character arcs the closure they needed within that time frame. by leaving us with an open ending, It gives itself room to properly develop and deal with the fallout from this mess slowly over time.

And then, arguably the bigger issue, was Miraculous’ future after season 5. I kept thinking to myself, what are they going to have to do to keep Miraculous interesting after this? Sure we’ve got Lila, or Cerise, or whatever her name is, but everything we’ve been following this series for since the beginning was about to be resolved. Monarch gone. The Agreste arc over. Adrienette canon. What is Miraculous’ sense of identity after this? Do they hit the reset button and retell the story Disney sequel style? Do they force a breakup between Adrienette to keep the romance plot alive? What’s the point of this still VERY fresh reveal of senti-Adrien if Gabriel and his influence is nothing but a distant memory?

But because of the way things went down, none of those things we thought would be resolved actually are. Monarch fucking won. He got what he wanted, and now everyone is living in a world of his image. He’s remembered as a goddamn hero, which is fucking infuriating! And Adrien doesn’t know! Doesn’t know that his dad was a supervillain and terrorist, doesn’t know that he’s a sentimonster, doesn’t fully accept that he’s been abused. And Marinette is keeping all that from him! Probably because she doesn’t want to inflict unnecessary pain on him, but when he finds out he’s going to be an absolute MESS.

Which means the Agreste plot, the family drama, the relationship antics that we’ve been following for all these years will continue as a throughline in the show. It means that there are natural reasons to continue existing conflicts and keep the show running without it feeling contrived. Because none of this is ok, and it’s going to take a lot of time to resolve. A lot of pain, a lot of drama, and a lot of conflict. I wouldn’t be surprised if Adrien and Marinette have major relationship problems over the secrets that she’s keeping from him. The Ladynoir angst from season 4 is back at full force. And you KNOW Cerise is going to zero in on that shit like a moth to a flame. Before this I was fearing a ultra-contrived break up to keep the audience invested in their story, but now I would be totally satisfied with a temporary break up as Marinette’s secrets become too much to keep hidden. 

So yea, I was angry at the season 5 finale. The Gabriel statue made me gag. And I REALLY wanted to see Adrien stick it to his father. But then again, he did in his own way. He pulled one over his father by tricking him into muting his mics, which gave him a chance to strategize with Plagg. He’s the one who decided to play the long game and wait patiently while Plagg found a new holder to defeat Monarch with -- as opposed to rushing in with brute force, which shows significant character growth for him, by the way. I’m proud of him. And I can’t wait to see where his arc goes from here as he continues to explore his own agency and his relationships with people around him.

As for Marinette, I was very satisfied with her face-off against Monarch/Gabriel. The moment he realized his archnemesis was her was priceless. And that piano? God. That was glorious. She was a total badass. And she demonstrated her growth, too. She acted with a lot more maturity than we’ve seen at other points in her story by putting aside her personal vendetta towards Gabriel and Monarch to focus on creating a peaceful solution -- even if it did come back to bite her in the ass hard. 

So the manipulator won. Fitting, because I feel kind of manipulated too. I would’ve never guessed in a million years that Gabriel would actually be able to make his wish in the permanent timeline, or that Miraculous would go down such an unsettling and unsatisfying route (at least in the short term). I’ve gotta respect them for that. All these years we thought we knew how this conflict was going to resolve -- all those dramatic reveals in the Agreste basement, the final battle between Adrien and his piece of shit dad, Adrien breaking out of his control in one decisive and cathartic swoop. Instead, we got something much more sinister, something much more insidious. Whatever is lurking around the corner is bound to have MAJOR repercussions going forward. 

So I’m content to wait and see what happens next. There’s no point in complaining about how a story went when it isn’t even resolved yet. Was it perfect? Nope. Will it be done perfectly in the future? Also no. And that’s ok. Because it never will be perfect, and what we saw here made sense. It was impactful. It creates new opportunities for the characters and their story arcs that didn’t exist before this finale. We are in a new era of Miraculous, and I will be waiting on the edge of my seat to find out what the hell this beautifully unpredictable series is going to evolve into next.

honestly i think (mostly hope) everyones reaction (the salty ones) are the reactions we're supposed to have. like after everything thats happened this is the way it ends for gabriel?? nah pretty sure (not really but i can dream) this finale is supposed to make us mad and suspicious

[thatasianstereotype]

Fuck. I’m Gay.

I’ve been reading a lot of ml salt fics lately (mainly @unmaskedagain which is a literal goldmine of saltiness). And getting into the Damienette ship. Marinette really does deserves better (Fuck Canon) but so does Adrien. He is not a “sidekick”. Chat Noir and Ladybug are partners = equals. So I decided why not write a fic where Adrien gets his own happy ending in the form of a grumpy assassin-turned-vigilante that loves animals more than people. 

Somewhat of a crack writing where creative liberties were definitely taken. 

.

.

.

Lila Rossi is a bitch and everyone knew it. Well, by everyone, Adrien means himself, his good-amazing-make-pastries-for-him friend Marinette, his maybe-not-really-sure friend Chloe and his-not-that-close-really-classmate Nathaniel. 

Yeah. It was a small number. 

But Lila is still a bitch. 

Anyway, Lila’s lies and manipulations have disturbed the status quo and not in a good way. She ended up making the majority of the class fawn over her like she was a perfect goddess and not a pompous-temperamental-hormonal teenager. Teenagers were prone to be gullible; he can understand his classmates being inclined to believe her. But this was utterly ridiculous (man, Chloe is rubbing off on him). No. You know what’s even more ridiculous? Ms. Bustier letting Lila get away with it. She doesn’t even stop the class mistreating Marinette who claimed she was a bully just because of you know who - Fucking Lila Rossi. The audacity of that bitch and her bitchy followers, am I right? 

Growing up he watched the tv shows and the animes. High schools always had their drama but he thought that was to get some plot going on. He didn’t think it was an actual thing that happens in real life. But he was proven wrong. Françoise Dupont High School had their drama and it was way worse than what he watched on screen. 

The worst part was that he couldn’t get away from Lila. Or he’ll be pulled from school (Fuck you Dad). He had to sit next to that bitch and listen to her drone on and on about things they both knew she didn’t do, about things she promised to do for her ever gullible followers friends. And couldn’t say anything against it if he wanted to stay in school. But even his discreet questioning didn’t do that much. It got some of the class to think something’s possibly fishy with her stories but not enough to think Lila was evil. So he just gave up. Because what was even the point? 

He was distancing himself from Alya and Nino. He couldn’t really be friends with people who thought Lila held the sun and moon. They didn’t hang out as much as they used to and he made excuses when they did invite him to stuff. Lately, he was making outrageous excuses - like he had to take his cat to the vet even though he didn’t have a cat - to see if they caught on. They didn’t. It was fun but he didn’t know whether to feel happy or sad about that. But feeling sad-depressed-pain over it was a bitch so he decided to take his victories as they come. 

Chloe had left the school earlier on. Her mom wanted to spend one-on-one time with her daughter (Yeah, Audrey is better at being a mother here). She was completely out of this drama mess. And Nathaniel kept his head down to not paint a target on himself. 

His only consolation and ally in this whole mess was Marinette. His darling angel. His sunshine incarnate. His own goddess (not like that bitch Lila let’s get one thing straight). 

When he was feeling overwhelmed (which was a lot), he spent it at her house. They spent it discussing fashion, trash talking Liar-la and the sheep class, playing video games, and making/eating the best baked goods in all of Paris. If he wasn’t at his photo shoots or at school, he was at her house. And with how often they spent time with each other, it wasn’t long before they accidentally revealed their alter egos to each other. 

(The class’ Everyday Ladybug was actually Ladybug. How amazing is that! Isn’t Marinette the absolute coolest?!) 

Since they outed themselves to each other, they had to give up their miraculous. And new heroes had to be chosen. As the guardian, Marinette decided to give the Ladybug miraculous to herself and the Cat one to Adrien. And make them the superheros of Paris. 

(Just when he thought that Marinette couldn’t get any cooler) 

They both collectively decided that being friends were for the best and put away their obsession crush over the other far far away. Now they were best friends-almost siblings. Oh who was he kidding? He was an honorary Dupain-Cheng. Marinette and her parents said so. And who was he to deny the goddess? 

All was well. 

Until he met this gorgeous boy with raven black hair and piercing green eyes that made him question everything in life. 

Like fuck. His life wasn’t hard enough already? 

.

It was a slow patrol. Just stopped a few petty crimes. No akuma tonight. He wasn’t really expecting much to happen.

Mari said patrolling regularly gives citizens a sense of security and it helps if one of them were on scene if an akuma does appear. 

He didn’t mind. He loved running on the rooftops and feeling the wind in his face. After some time, he stopped and stood on top of one of the tallest buildings. Just soaking the view. The peace and serenity of it all. Seeing the glowing lights of his beloved city. Seeing the Eiffel Tower standing tall and proud. 

(Forget school. Forget Liar-la and her hoard of bitches) 

This was his city. This was why he fights Hawk Moth with Ladybug. They had something precious to protect. 

He was done patrolling the regular routes and all his schoolwork was already finished. He could go to sleep but he didn’t feel that tired. And he really didn’t want to go back home. Mari shared her theory on his dad being Hawk Moth. She had really good reasons and a plethora of proof. If they could switch miraculous, why couldn’t he and Mayura - most likely Nathalie? Which would explain how Gabriel got akumatized.

After all her support with dealing with Lila, he was way more inclined to believe her even without the evidence. But those things just made him more wary of his dad. And he wasn’t too stoked on spending more time than what he can get away with with the guy. Because his dad being Hawk Moth explains why he wants Lila (his strongest supporter - Chameleon and Oni-chan, anyone?) close and makes Adrien play nice with her. And anyone who enables Lila’s bitchiness is on his enemy list. 

Anyway, he was out here to enjoy the good mood not think about evil bitches and evil dads. So he sat himself down and enjoyed the sights. It was more calming than you would think. 

He heard cars blaring and even a dog barking. The slight breeze felt nice. The moon was pretty bright tonight. The stars too. There was a lone couple walking through the park. There was also another teen in black running on rooftops a few buildings away. 

Wait. 

What? 

He blinked and looked again. Huh, there was another teen in black running on rooftops. And it was not a hallucination. 

What the actual fuck?

He was instantly on his feet, baton already in hand as he raced across the roof to reach said stranger. 

“Hey!” 

But because he was the lucky owner of the unlucky miraculous, the moment he said that, the guy was about to jump off a building to presumably roll onto the next one like Chat was watching him do beforehand. But his call made him lose focus and Chat watched horrified as the guy slipped and started falling into the alley. 

Oh fuck! Mari was going to fucking kill this dumbass kitty!

He hoped to everything that Mari thinks is holy that he makes it in time. Extending his baton, he used it as a huge Pogo stick to basically catapult himself towards the stranger and wrapped his arms around him as he braced himself for the full weight of hitting the gravel at this height and speed. But he wasn’t that that concerned. His suit protected him from the majority of the injuries that would’ve occurred if he wasn’t wearing it. It hurt but it isn’t as bad as it could’ve been. Remember earlier? He takes his victories as they come. 

This was not the smartest of ideas, he’ll admit. Mari had the brains to be honest. But it wasn’t bad if he say so. And he does say so. 

He rolled over and immediately looked over the stranger that was remarkably unharmed in this whole mess. 

And oh.

Oh.

The stranger was taller than he was with a lithe and lean frame. He had raven black hair that complimented his tanned skin and gorgeous green eyes that pierced through him, making his heart do funny things. 

He was not expecting him to look as hot as he did. He wore a simply black t-shirt and jeans but he looked like a fucking Adonis, what the fuck.  Even the moon shone down on him, highlighting his handsome features even more.  

He shook himself of those thoughts and focused on what was more important. “I’m so sorry. Are you alright?” 

He was rudely pushed away, but he didn’t take offense. He did cause the guy to fall after all. 

“Do not touch me.” (What kind of accent is that?) “I’m fine. You are truly a moronic imbecile of the highest accord to yell like that. And what are you even supposed to be? Some kind of knock-off Catwoman?” 

At that, Chat looked at Hot-And-Sexy weird. “Are you new here? I’m the superhero Chat Noir. I protect Paris with Ladybug.”

“You’re joking.”

“I know I come off as the goofy hero because I make purr-fect puns all the time but I’m not joking about this.” 

He took out his phone to show the foreign (since he’s obviously not a Parisian) stranger the akuma attacks and Ladybug and Chat Noir being a dynamic duo, saving Paris and beating Hawk Moth. Ok, he showed the stranger a lot of stuff. Sue him. He gets to brag about his Princess. And himself too.

“I never heard about this before.” Hot-And-Sexy (he has got to come up with a better name) said afterward. “3 years this has been going on? Why didn’t you ask for help from the Justice League or other superheros?” 

Chat shrugged. “We tried. But they said we’re obviously pulling a prank and making this all up. So we stopped asking for help.”

For some reason this made Hot-And-Sexy angry. “They ignored your plea for help and left you to fight for yourselves?”

“Pretty much, yea.” 

“You and Ladybug are children.” 

“Excuse me? Are you doubting our ability to protect our city?" He was not apologetic at the sharp edge his voice took. Forget looking hot. How dare he? The audacity really. 

Hot-And-Sexy shook his head. “I’m not. I know some child superheroes who are adequate at their jobs and a few who are remarkable like Robin in Gotham. But the majority of them had adult mentors to guide them. From what you’ve shown me, you and Ladybug had no one. You were left alone to fend for yourself with essentially no help.” 

He never thought of it that way. But hearing it like that made him think: Fuck Adults Who Chose Children to Fight Their War For Them and Fuck Hawk Moth For Putting Them In This Position In The First Place. 

You know what. Just to clear all his bases - Fuck Everyone But The Dupain-Chengs. 

Chat couldn’t help but shrug, not quite knowing what to say to that. “Life is a bitch, I’ve come to find out. But enough of that. Why were you running on rooftops anyway?”

“It calms me down.”

Relatable. 

“Is...Is your tail moving?” 

“Huh?” He looked behind him to see his tail was indeed moving lazily. “Yeah. I’m called Chat Noir for a reason.”

“May I touch them?” Chat was used to people (usually kids) pulling on his tail to see if it was real (It was). And it really hurts because they usually rough. Not that he blames them. Kids don’t know any better. Still, he usually says no when people ask. 

But Hot-And-Sexy had such a sincere expression that he said yes. To his surprise and delight, Hot-And-Sexy was extremely gentle (Can this guy be anymore perfect?) and it felt nice to be petted like that. Curse his touch-starvation (again Fuck you Dad).

Hot-And-Sexy was apparently fascinated by his ears and tail. 

“Are you a meta?” He noticed how Hot-And-Sexy’s voice turned softer and fonder (or was he imagining that?).

“Nah. I’m fully human. I just got powers to transform into this.” He looked down at his phone seeing that the time was nearing 2 am.

“Have you suffered any injuries from your stupid stunt?” 

“Hmm?” Chat looked back at him before gesturing to his body. “Don’t worry. I may not look like it but I can take it.”

He can practically feel Hot-And-Sexy rolling his eyes. “What an utter dolt.” 

But there wasn’t any heat behind it so he didn’t take it to heart. 

“Thanks, babe.” 

“That was an insult.”

“And I’m taking it like a compliment.”

Chat stood up and stretched his limbs. Hot-And-Sexy doing the same but dusting off his clothes instead.

“So, uh, need any help getting home?”

“I am perfectly capable of finding my own way, thanks.” 

“Ok. Have a nice night.” He was about to leave when he was caught off guard by Hot-And-Sexy staring at him for a good few seconds, making his limbs freeze in place at the heavy attention.

Before he said. “You should try contacting the Batfamily in Gotham about Hawk Moth. They’re used to dealing with weird things. I’m sure they won’t turn you or Ladybug away.” 

Chat was a bit distracted by how intensely those green eyes focused on him, making his heart beat faster and his cheeks turn a vibrant red. 

He was so screwed. 

He used his baton to shoot himself up so he can run on rooftops, hurrying to the Dupain-Cheng bakery. 

.

“Mari! I think I’m gay!”

“It’s 2 in the morning, Chaton. Go to sleep and we’ll talk about it in the morning.” 

.

After a good night’s rest (and thank everything that was right in the world that today was a weekend), Adrien told Mari all about Hot-And-Sexy. And yes, he did call the stranger that out loud. His everything-that-actually-matters sister simply took it in stride after giggling a bit. They spent the majority of the day discussing emotions and everything that came with that bundle. 

Before he finally came to a conclusion. 

He is definitely gay (He liked girls but not like like them). And most definitely had a crush on Hot-And-Sexy with the pretty green eyes. 

Good news: He is no longer having a sexuality crisis. 

Bad news: He is going through an emotional crisis. 

Like dealing with these feelings that is making his stomach flip flop over and over again? The only one he ever had to deal with was the one he had on Ladybug and that (he talked with Mari about it months before. She was amazing with these emotional matters) was more of a hero-worship crush than anything really romantic. 

And his crush on Hot-And-Sexy was so much more. 

.

So it’s been about 2 weeks since he encountered Hot-And-Sexy. And he still haven’t figured out what else to call him. But the nickname was growing on him. 

(He also told Mari about asking the Batfam for help but she was a bit apprehensive after the disastrous attempts of convincing the Justice League. He shrugged, trusting her opinion and left it at that) 

Anyway, Lila was being her usual bitchy self. Father was being non-existent like always. Mari was his only source of sanity at school. And Hawk Moth was being a bitch. 

Because of course, the day before they have a huge test, he decides to akumatize someone (in this case, a businessman who was really unhappy with getting fired) and cut in on study time. And this akuma took a while to defeat. Guess he drew a lot of strength from his burning hatred of the failings of the corporate world. 

And just yesterday, a teenager who was upset at being grounded got akumatized and terrorized the city for 3 hours before Ladybug could purify her. It did however confirmed her fears. Hawk Moth was getting stronger. It took longer to defeat his monsters. They needed to find him and ended this fast.��

Adrien landed on Mari’s balcony and slipped in her room, crashing on her big comfy bed, de-transforming on the spot. Plagg sleepily floating and laying next to him on the pillow. He was so tired. And photo shoots and school drama were not helping things.

.

For the record, he was not at all expecting to see Hot-And-Sexy in a bookstore of all places. 

He was so engrossed in looking through the latest Boku no Hero Academia manga (can’t wait until Season 5 comes out) that when someone touched his shoulder, he was not proud to admit he squeaked a bit.

He turned around and his eyes widened his surprise. 

“Hot-And-Sexy!” 

It was indeed the Adonis Adrien had a huge crush on. Today he was wearing a white t-shirt paired with a blue denim jacket and black ripped jeans. Wow. He really can make anything look hot.

No. Bad Adrien. Don’t let him know you actually have a crush on him.

And oh fuck. Hot-And-Sexy was staring at the blonde and Adrien tried not to let himself get flustered. He has a very intense stare. For all he knew, Hot-And-Sexy stares at everyone like that.

Calm the fuck down, heart. You too brain.

He raised a handsome eyebrow in amusement. “Excuse me?”

Adrien felt himself burn with embarrassment, his face turning bright scarlet. No wonder he was fit for the unlucky miraculous or was this just a side-effect? Note to self, ask Mari about this later. 

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t get your name last time. And I just started calling you that in my head. Cause you’re really hot and you have pretty eyes.”

Fuck mouth! Why won’t you stop talking! Please for the love of everything that makes Mari a BAMF stop. Stop digging further into the hole of embarrassment! Abort mission! Abort!

“When did we meet?”

At that, he blink a few times. Oh fuck. He was not Superhero Chat Noir. He was Civilian Adrien Agreste. Mari was definitely murdering his dumbass tonight. Lightning please strike him down right now. Where was an unlucky lightning strike when you need it?

After a few seconds of his horrified silence, Hot-And-Sexy chuckled (he had such a nice laugh). “You are extremely lucky I already figured out your alter ego beforehand, Chaton.”

Before Adrien could even unwrap that statement, he held out a hand and had a dangerously sexy smirk on his face. “My name is Damian Wayne. Would you care to get a cup of coffee with me?”

And Adrien nodded his head, not trusting himself to speak. He can deal with the superhero thing later when he can think straight (hah!) and is not distracted by Damian’s beautiful smile and alluring green eyes and perfect everything.

.

Guess what?

Ya Boi got game.

(At least, he likes to think he does)

After a successful coffee date (was it a date? Please let it be a date), they exchanged numbers (cue internal squealing) and met up a few times afterward to hang out.

Apparently, Dami was here on business to deal with something for Wayne Enterprises.

“Aren’t you 17?”

“Father believes in preparing us when we’re young.”

Dami was amazingly sweet. Arrogant and pretentious with a stick up his ass but sweet. He treats stray animals with such reverence that Adrien’s heart melt every time he sees it.

It was an added bonus when Damian scorned Lila with cruel words and disgusted looks when she tried to cut in Adrien and Dami’s date(?)/meetup(?)/spending-time-together event.

She cried and whined afterwards and Adrien has to endure his father’s lecture. But it was totally worth it.

Oh yeah. Mari was not pleased that he accidentally outed himself to a civilian. But nothing that a couple of sad kitty eyes can’t fix.

“You are so lucky you’re cute, kitty-cat.” Mari grumbled but she was smiling. “I just need to have a good talk with him on the importance of secrecy.”

.

That day Damian Wayne learned to fear a certain Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

.

It was 2 weeks later when Adrien woke up to a package next to his futon in Mari’s room. When he opened it, he saw the Butterfly and Peacock miraculous inside.

There was a card beneath it. And in beautiful cursive script read: 

I dearly hope you enjoy my courting gift, mon amour. Allow me the honor to formally ask you out on a date. I look forward to hearing favorably from you soon.

- Damian Wayne

He couldn’t believe it.

“Mari! Damian likes me back!”

“Chaton, I swear. It is 2 in the morning.”

Next

[allofthefeelings]

Now instead of focusing on bad faith harassers, let's be on brand and talk about Natasha! I'm thinking of how little Nat got a small taste of family experience (even if she knew it was fake), which ended in Alexei and Melina abandoning her back to Red Room torture. In what ways does that trauma play out as she forges found family relationships with Nick, the Bartons, and the Avengers?

Anon, this is mean, and I both like and respect that.

So I was actually really surprised when David Harbour explicitly mentioned that they took the girls out of the Red Room and then put them back, not because we couldn’t figure that out- Nat’s history would be very different if she spent a few years as a murderbaby and then grew up the rest of the way playacting a normal life- but because this isn’t just something we’ll quietly be like “oh fuck” about, it’s going to be, if not an emotional pivot point of the movie, at least something they’re explicitly dealing with.

This- unsurprisingly- gets long.

(Brief digression: It is wild to me that while there has been a lot of speculation and even (supposed) spoilers of plot, I’m still not really sure what Nat’s emotional through-line from the story is, OR major information about how the movie is presenting the Red Room! Obviously some of that is the mystery, but it feels like there’s so much we just don’t have yet, almost 9 months after the movie was supposed to come out. Amazing, and building my anticipation, but also making me even more unsure of my speculation’s grounding!)

So pre-SHIELD, Natasha only knows family as something that gets torn away: her parents, who she never got to know (assuming they don’t retcon that from Endgame), and then this hyperreal family that shatters once the mission is over. And obviously they lose the grown-ups- they’re adult spies- but the evidence seems to indicate that Nat and Yelena didn’t manage to keep their connection either. I mean I realize the Murder Child Factory isn’t like college, where you can periodically message your old classmate on Facebook, but we don’t know- did they try? Were they kept separate by the Red Room? Or did they learn that every connection was dangerous so early that they actively kept separate from each other? No matter what it is, everything Natasha had, she lost.

And how long was the mission? Did she have three or four weeks that they escaped into that stuck so much she came back to it years later, like a deadly summer camp, or was it months or years of her life? This is all SUCH important context: did Nat have so little that a tiny event was all she could cling to, or did she live her life knowing that she could spend so much time on one thing and the second the mission was over it would disappear like it never happened?

But no matter what it is, it puts Nat accepting Clint’s offer in a whole new light; he said “come join our team” after she lost her real family, she lost her fake family, she ran away from the Red Room and spent years as a mercenary- how do you trust that offer when the ground beneath your feet has never been steady? And the answer seems to be Nick and Clint; they were her rock, and they showed her that no matter how much she pushed they weren’t going away.

I want to know how that worked. Did she work to push them away and they refused? Did she try to be exactly who she thought they needed her to be, which we know was her default response as late as Winter Soldier at LEAST?

HORRIBLE DIGRESSION: I’m not sure I buy into this myself, but I wonder if her cold businesslike approach in parts of Iron Man 2 were still her trying to be the perfect objective operative for Nick? Like I really cannot get past that Nat was around 25 IM2, and while we don’t have an age range for the sterilization from AoU, it was Scarlett in young-age makeup and called "graduation”- so coded, what, eighteen years old? Which gives her seven years to have defected (she was clearly not ready to defect before the procedure or she would have), worked as a mercenary, been recruited, and risen in the ranks in SHIELD. Even if she was able to be professionally on point (because the Red Room does not tolerate less than perfection), what if she was still feeling out Natasha As Person by then? I wonder how IM2 holds up under that light, when Professional Nat is Nat She Thinks Nick Wants, and in the four years between that and Cap2 she grows from Professional Nat to the kind of person Nick would have the “keep the circle small” conversation with and I don’t even know if this works but it’s giving me feelings?

And it’s similar with Clint; I’m not sure how to even make the math work where they had more than five years for Nat to not just fight viciously to get him back- we’ve seen she fights for her teams, because it’s the job- but she’s 27 when she shows a ridiculous amount of vulnerability when he comes back (”you know I do”- by then she’s come clean about her past to him).

And Clint’s KIDS, god. We know by the time she’s 30, she’s close enough to his family that Cooper and Lila think of her as an aunt figure and they name Nate after her. And that she lets them? Nat is a character who we know builds up walls, and I don’t think she’d take letting children into her life lightly. It’s not just that Clint trusts her to keep his family secret; she’s attached to them and they to her and she clearly considers Laura and the kids as well as Clint family, when family was something she never had before.

Moreover- based, admittedly, on the tiny slices of life in AoU- her relationship with the Bartons seems pretty normal and healthy. Like, there aren’t artificial boundaries and there also aren’t the weird lack of boundaries that sometimes come from an adult who doesn’t know kids. THAT is what I find myself wondering about a lot: where did she learn that? Was she feeling it out herself? Or did she rely on, say, the way she connected with Nick, as the idea of how a father figure should be?

OH NO NOW I’M THINKING ABOUT ALEXEI AS THE FATHER FIGURE SHE HAD, WHO ABANDONED HER, AND NICK AS THE FATHER FIGURE WHO DIDN’T, AND ALEXEI AS THE RUSSIAN STEVE BUT STEVE DIDN’T ABANDON HER EITHER AND WAS SHE ALWAYS WAITING FOR THE OTHER SHOE TO DROP.

And this is not your question but it just hit me how much, post-snap, when the world was falling apart because half of everyone disappeared, did this feel familiar to Natasha? How much was “Well, of course everyone leaves, it’s amazing it lasted as long as it did?” How much was Natasha not sure of the right way to grieve because she’s never been able to grieve before, losing people was just what happened and you had to push through it? So she just threw herself into her work and threw herself into her work and expected everyone else to also but one by one they peeled away, seeking out ways to escape the darkness, but all she’s ever known is that when you lose your connections you just have to make yourself better and fight harder because that’s all there is left? How much was the idea of bringing family back, even if she couldn’t be part of it, the thing she’d been holding out for forever, since she lost her family and she lost her fake family and she lost the Red Room and Nick and Clint and Laura told her it would be real this time but she was always afraid to believe that was true? How much was this the groundwork that set her up for Endgame?

ANON I AM U P S E T.

[selenityshiroiml]

So...I’ve seen somewhere that, at some point, Chat Noir will not be a part of the show for a bit. And I started to think of a scenario where it would work, but I’m not a massive fic writer and all my ideas are building up into a huge plot but with no major desire to write it. So...massive post-Gabriel/Hawkmoth story idea under the cut

So, I had the idea that the miraculous crew (all reunited for the big event) would find out Gabriel was Hawkmoth and quickly work to take him out. And, yeah, Chat Noir was a bit off during the take down but at least they all stopped Gabriel and got him and Nathalie arrested and they got back the Peacock Miraculous (but the Butterfly got knocked off and is still missing because Butterfly User Lila).

And the crew are all ‘oh shit...what about poor Adrien (who none of us know personally of course) he wasn’t here at the mansion when we ruined his life so we should all split up and go look for him’

(Nino finds him crying on his doorstep)

But then the next day Adrien kind of closes off and goes off radar for a bit because comatose Emilie was found and he’s now splitting time between the hospital and trying to make sure Agreste Fashion doesn’t tank and take all it’s innocent employees with it and a hotel because he is not going back to that mansion. And all his friends are giving him space because they love him and know he’s gone through a lot with his dad and psudo-stepmom being magical terrorists. And maybe they also don’t want to push because they also feel a little guilty for slapping the cuffs on.

In the meantime Chat Noir and Ladybug are still looking for the missing Butterfly but Chat is still off and he asks Ladybug if he can take some time for personal reasons. And Ladybug is all ‘what??? is something wrong?’ and he tells her that a family member is has been ill for a long time and they might need to be transferred for specialist medical treatment. But he’s being sufficiently vague enough that Ladybug assumes he’s been taking care of a family member with cancer or something and ‘OMG how long has he been struggling, was this happening before Hawkmoth??? Did he put off telling her or asking to take time off because he was worried about leaving her alone to deal with the akumas and everything???’

So she’s all ‘of course you can take some time you are my friend and partner and I care about you and I know you’ll be back as soon as you can and I hope everything goes well in your real life’

But what’s really happening is that the Guardian Temple has been in contact with Adrien and are all ‘we can help heal your mother...come to Tibet’ and Adrien is all ‘well...I can’t take the Black Cat Miraculous to Tibet with me because Ladybug might need it to protect her’ so he sends Plagg off with the ring and tells him to take it back to the Guardian (he isn’t truly renouncing it, he’s just being a selfless moron).

Of course, Marinette gets home from school and finds Plagg hissing and spitting at all the Kwami in her room and she realises Plagg is there with the ring and they are both so angry and upset at Chat Noir because ‘how fucking dare he’ and she refuses to put the ring away and no way in HELL is anyone else wearing it. She puts it on a cord around her neck and keeps it under her shirt at all times.

And then a few days later Adrien (who has slowly started messaging his friends back and thanking them for their support) shows up at school to say goodbye for a bit because he’s taking his mother to a specialist in China and everyone is all sad face but hopes everything goes well. (and obviously no one thinks twice about the fact that Adrien is leaving Paris not long after Chat Noir stopped appearing) And Tikki is shoving cheese scones into Plagg’s mouth whilst they hide in Marinette’s bag because she’s afraid he’s gonna shout out for his kitten before he drives off.

But then he’s gone and Marinette misses Chat Noir like anything and she misses Adrien and Alya is all ‘sooooo...can we borrow the ring?’ and Marinette and Plagg are both ‘OVER MY DEAD BODY’.

And then at some point a weird Miraculous user turns up with another strange user acting as a Mandarin-French interpreter and they ask Ladybug for the Peacock to heal Emilie Agreste. And she is all ‘wt actual fuck???’ and is all ‘let me think about it’ because Plagg is hidden in her hair whispering ‘you can trust them...especially the young one’ and she says to come back the next night and she’ll give her answer.

So she does the only thing she can think of to get answers as to why the Peacock might help Emilie. She sneaks into jail and asks Gabriel. And Gabriel, who has had time to think about his defeat and add 2 and 2 together to make 4 has realised that she is Marinette (he’s also worked out that Chat Noir is his son but he’s keeping quiet) and is open with her about how Emilie fell into a coma because of the Peacock and that, yes, it might be used to help her recover but he has no idea how. He also asks pointed questions about Sentimonsters and how she treated the Ladybug Sentimonster as a living being because maybe there might be a repercussion you aren’t willing to be responsible for.

Ladybug agrees to give the Peacock Miraculous to the Guardian Temple representatives on the promise that it is returned to her via Adrien and Emilie Agreste when they return, safe and well, to Paris.

In the meantime the Adrien-less plot ticks away with new Akuma victims showing up (showing that some asshole really DOES have the butterfly) but the motives seem to be less ‘bring me their miraculous’ and more ‘fuck everyone in Paris because i’m angry and upset because no one believes in me or gives me the attention i want’ because fucking Lila.

And at one point Nino, Alya and Marinette go and check out apartments on behalf of Adrien who has shortlisted places from China but wants his friends to check them out physically for him because he trusts them (and they are all ‘oh shit...this is an apartment but it’s like three times the size of all our places combined why is our friend so rich...) because I think that would be cute.

Until one day the news breaks out that Nathalie has disappeared in jail and all that is left is a feather, mostly white but with tints of blue at the edges. Marinette is all ‘shit...that’s an amok thing’ and manages to convince the police to give Ladybug the feather. She purifies the feather and on the otherside of the planet Emilie Agreste wakes up.

(Because Nathalie was a sentimonster that critically ill Emilie made and was filled with her desire to look after her husband and son and the reason why Gabriel didn’t try to destroy Nathalie to help Emilie is because by the time he realised what Nathalie was she was already a real person in his eyes, like the Ladybug Sentimonster, and also she was a part of Emilie and he didn’t want to risk destroying her if it wouldn’t help because she was all he had of his wife and he’s actually sad that Nathalie might be gone, even if it means Emilie wakes)

And then Adrien comes home and Emilie is still weak but hey at least she is there and she pays attention to her son which is more than Gabriel ever did (and it’s kind of weird that she seems to know things that only Nathalie knew...it’s like she saw her son grow up as if watching a movie).

And then Adrien sneaks up on Ladybug whilst she’s out and about (because he knows all her normal patrol spots) in order to return the Peacock. And Ladybug has spent the last while swearing to Plagg that when Chat comes back she is going to say fuck it to the hidden identities because she is going to shove the ring back on his damned finger herself and never let him take it off again. So Plagg has no qualms about zooming out of Ladybug’s hair and smooshing straight into Adrien’s face screaming ‘IF YOU EVER LEAVE ME AGAIN I WILL COUGH UP A CAMEMBERT FLAVOURED HAIRBALL DIRECTLY INTO YOUR MOUTH YOU RAT BASTARD’

And that isn’t how Marinette or Adrien expected the reveal to go but whatever.

(alternatively they could hold out on the reveal and just have a cute Ladrien scene of Adrien thanking Ladybug for helping his mother heal whilst she is all awkwardly all ‘sorry I got your father arrested’ and then when Marinette gets home Plagg is all ‘wow...will you look at the time, I think Chat Noir might be mysteriously ready for me to take my ring back to him’ and then he flies off and two days later Ladybug finds Chat Noir on top of the Montparnasse Tower and she tackle hugs him off the side of the building and they have to quickly stop each other from falling to their deaths via yoyo and staff and they end up tangled together whilst ugly crying because they missed each other SOOOOOO MUCH)

[iridescent-peasant]

my mega-long ADSoM review, copy-pasted in from my goodreads so i can share my dumb opinions

To summarize, this book is as if someone took Six of Crows, Britishiezed it, then slapped a red, white, gray, black filter over it.

When I first picked up the book, I was very intrigued. I LOVE multiverse/dimension traveling and the mix of a gritty magic system and 1810s London? I was very excited. And obviously, I've heard a lot about the author already too so my expectations were high. And then... I didn't read it. for a solid few months I had it on my tbr shelf but I just couldn't make myself read it. BUT HERE WE ARE! I did it, I finished the book! So let me rant about it:

PROS:

the multiple dimensions all interconnected via one city! Like that's so creative!!

the magic system. yes, it is basically Avatar but make it dark, but I honestly don't mind elementally based magic systems. i think the author managed to execute it pretty well.

the opening! THE COAT! It's such a small thing and honestly adds nothing to the plot but I love those little details! it's what makes a plot so rich

the grittiness, I usually don't go for these types of books but I can see why someone who does would like this. the blood and gore isn't minimized. it's just as bad as it would realistically be.

The author definitely wasn't afraid to kill characters. A lot of side characters that I did end up liking (I don't usually even like side characters!) were killed. Very brave and I applaud.

CONS:

the main characters. They were just so... blah. Kell was pretty ok but I could not STAND Lila. Her "I'm not like other girls" thing drove me NUTS. Also, Rye being a semi-main character of color but whose whole personality is just a bisexual stereotype... that ain't cute sis.

I am honestly in awe of how this author managed to write a whole book about 1810s London, one that literally deals with royalty vs. the lower class and pirates and exploring and never ONCE talk about colonialism! How even! honestly, that takes some real talent and some big British propaganda

going back to the characters; Kell and Lila are both as non-diverse as you would expect from a YA protagonist couple. I know Rye I supposed to be the lgbtq+ and POC representation, but *come on* (and he isn't even that much of a main character he is mostly a plot device and he does literally nothing). In the acknowledgments at the end of the book, the author says that the book is about a cross-dressing pirate and such. And... miss Schwab, I don't think that means what you think it means. Your (very clearly) cis woman main character dressing up as a man in order to steal stuff is not the representation you think it is.

I was going to talk about how Kell, Lila, and Rye and basically a watered-down Kaz, Inej, and Jesper... but I won't go into that.

The plot is all over the place; sometimes boringly slow, and sometimes way too fast to be impactful or make sense. Basically, the pacing is off.

so much plot convenience oh my g-d... oh, that guy *happens* to have that thing! oh, that woman *happens* to be willing to help!! It grated on my nerves.

(tw rape and assault) Lila's backstory--of course--revolving around rape and assault. I counted at least four men at different points in the story talk about raping Lila. It was just getting ridiculous and felt unnecessarily triggering. I am 100% here for female characters killing rapists, but it was just too much.

Apparently, I haven't complained about Lila enough, so let me mention the fact that she says that killing makes her feel good... and it's not acknowledged at all. AT ALL. Like dude what?? A lot of the reasons she does kill people are definitely understandable and I can get behind a few of them, but her saying that it makes her feel *good* and then nobody acknowledging how problematic that is felt very iffy.

Some points of the plot felt painfully predictable. (SPOILER) the predictability of putting a man with an extremely powerful artifact in his pocket next to a pocket picker??? I knew Lila was going to steal the stone and I was so annoyed by it that I stopped reading after that bit for a few weeks. ALTHOUGH it could actually be said in *favor* of the author that I felt so strongly about Kell losing the stone, it showed that the author managed to make me care about the stone as much as Kell cared about it so... Props to her actually!! But I do feel like there could have been a less annoying way of making them meet? maybe?

Was I annoyed that there were side characters named Parrish and Calla, both names characters from The Raven Boys, a book published six years before this one? Yes. Am I going to get into it? No.

Literally having a place called "Black London" where everyone there went crazy and killed each other... it didn't bode well but that's not up to me to talk about.

The two major villains both being extremely queercoded? Is definitely up to me to talk about. It was so obvious too!! It wasn't like, the hidden sort of queercoding that you usually see on villains in media, it was right in your face. The guy (whose name I cannot for the life of me remember even though I just finished the book) torturing that boy in a sadistic yet sexualized way, the way Holland talks about how he was controlled and stuff... very much felt like the "older gay man using and abusing younger men" trope. Less so for the girl, (whose name I cannot remember as well). Just something about her felt coded. I think the most obvious part was at the end where she had that fight scene with Lila... it just felt like that idk.

so between the queer-coded villains and the only canonically lgbtq+ character being an insulting bisexual stereotype, Shwab ain't looking so good...

FINAL THOUGHTS:

(spoiler about minor character death)  I was actually really upset about Holland dying. I thought he was a really interesting character and I was really hoping that Kell would free him from the mind-control or something. I really love redemption arcs and redeemed characters and I was really hoping that would happen for Holland because I know there are more books so I was hoping he would be a character that appears later... Also, I was highkey shipping him with Rye (sob)

This is way too long so I'll stop now but generally, I would recommend this book if you like gritty / darker sort of fantasy YA books. I feel kind of neutral about it but I am glad that I read it because it was still an overall okay experience. Also, I'm so glad to have finally finished it.

my goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/118399436-iridescent-peasant

[ofmythsandmadness]

MY THOUGHTS ON TUA SEASON TWO: PART TWO (spoilers)

So...I finished season two.

I’m putting ALL my thoughts under the tab so please, don’t click unless you’ve seen it all, and/or you just....like don’t care about spoilers? But please if you’ve not watched it, watch it first ‘cause it deserves all the hype and attention.

You can read part one to this here.

FIVE HARGREEVES…

I deadass thought he was gonna die.

I thought throughout the entire show that he was going to die, and ESPECIALLY at the end, I thought that was it. I guess I’m glad though that he didn’t die of course. But I was convinced, and glad he didn’t and that there was no shock-value death of a major character. 

(though like maybe one of them should have gotten hit by a bullet in one of those final scenes?? I mean….there were bullets EVERYWHERE. By SO many guns. How did they miss every time????)

Aiden Gallagher did a terrific job with the character. I don’t agree with the things he personally has done but I am convinced on his acting abilities, I mean JEEZ. He sold the act and alongside Diego/David Casteneda, was really one of the best actors on the show. I am thoroughly impressed. I didn’t really like him much in Season One, but he’s sold the role to me now and I’m very impressed.

That being said... I kinda hated Five. That’s it. I liked him in general but some parts, I was so pissed off and just didn’t like. He was an asshole and I know he IS an asshole but it was beyond just being a grumpy old pisspot. And I don’t know really how to feel, because I know being 45 years alone and lost and then becoming the world’s best assassin or whatever will fuck your head up, so it makes sense. I just think there were points where he lost most of his humanity, and then he’d flip-flop back to a more caring being. I sort of just wished there was a clear definition to all of his thoughts and emotions on it all.

But at the same time his character makes sense so I don’t know how to feel??? Maybe I’m just pissed on how he treated Diego and shit. But I’m very very glad he’s not dead!! 

ALLISON HARGREEVES…

Okay, I thought she was REALLY dead in that scene. You know the one I’m talking about.

Holy shit.

I was so scared. And also it was so sudden (and a little cool admittedly how Lila just threw it back at her like that - HOW DO I WORD thAT NON-SEXUALLY) and I was so fucking worried they’d kill her off, because I find sometimes her character comes off a little disposable. Not because I want her gone, more that the show finds her an afterthought and pushes her with someone or ‘silences’ her.

But overall I loved her storyline. I didn’t know if I’d like her just being married, it felt again like an afterthought and she was being pushed to be with someone, but the civil rights movement plot was really well done, in my eyes. I loved too the agony of having such impressive powers, but scared of the effects of doing so and also not wanting to be the person she was before. I felt for her and I was so impressed with her separating herself from her past, trying to push away from being the one who had it all and trying to be her own self. I think that this season did that really well, with all the characters and finding themselves, and I just...I want her to be happy, and successful and I want to see her find a way to use her powers without causing pain to herself or others.

And not be with Luther. Please, anyone who can do a thing about it reading this, do not make her and Luther a thing.

(also - emmy raver lampman is in general so goddamn talented and beautiful and i wish her the best. i just heard her rendition of satisfied and me oh my, that gal deserves so much more love, i hope this show catapults her career even more forward)

VANYA HARGREEVES…

Literally invented cottagecore.

Also, I love her.

I was so impressed with the way they handled her queer storyline. I was so worried about it, admittedly because television shows have a history of handing out stereotypical plotlines and not caring about the depth of them but dear FUCKING heavens, I loved this one. I cried like a baby, and yet I was left almost happy, at the end? Not happy, because they’re apart and Sissy’s stuck in a world that she can’t be herself in, but there was a beautiful bittersweetness that I adored about it. And it was realistic, and they didn’t just follow a trope and leave it there to wither up and die.

Vanya was adorable in this season and while I normally hate the amnesiac storyline, I think it’s an easy way out, I liked it here! Because yeah it was I guess an ‘easy way out’, but it worked and it made Vanya be able to be here and actually start over. I didn’t want to see her so burdened with who she had been and who she was forced to be, I wanted to see her smile and dance and love her siblings and she could and I couldn’t be happier. I mean, when she was just saying how she loved her family and her family was amazing...obviously it’s funny cause the family’s so messed up, but she meant it and I just want so much good for her.

I just love how they naturally developed the idea of the Hargreeves genuinely liking each other. This season really brought them together but unlike the first, it wasn’t necessarily because they had to, but because they wanted to. And I think Vanya did that for them. 

Basically...I don’t know how to put it all into words without making this a 70-page thesis essay. But I love her and want the best for her.

(side note - I really also was impressed with Harlan. I was scared that somehow they were going to do something stupid with him, but he was adorable and I loved him. his character made me tear up a little, too. as someone who has close family with severe autism, it’s rare to see a show that doesn’t make an upsetting and non-accurate portrayal out of someone on the spectrum. but he was so precious and smart and good and Sissy loved him and dammit, I would die for that little family)

I’m ALSO curious if Vanya’s gonna visit Sissy ever? I mean I thought she would have at the end but obviously the cliffhanger didn’t leave room for that...idk know though because I think with multiverse theories and whatnot, she wouldn’t even know her but...eh.

KLAUS HARGREEVES…

I don’t actually have much to say on him, which is shocking because in Season One, I could have written a whole book on his character. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t love him! He’s still one of my favourites, and I wish I could just take away his pain because that boy deserves at least a kernel of good in his life. But truly, there’s just not much I know to say about him??

The scene in the restaurant with Dave and his uncle though hurt. What hurt more though was his nonchalant nature about it, because he’s been through that so many times and he almost expected it, which hurt. It’s expected and I knew he couldn’t just waltz up to Dave and confess his love and they’d be dandy, but as a queer person, it was a punch to the heart just watching him go through that.

I just want him to be happy someday, and bond with his siblings because there’s a deep sadness that lurks with Klaus, and maybe it’s from the actor too but there’s a melancholy that I relate to, which I hate because that melancholy is a heavy burden to carry. A worthlessness, and a deep depression that he’s seemed to have fallen into that’s a bitch to climb out of and I’m scared that he won’t be able to. He covers it up in funny gestures and vices but it’s still destroying him. Even the cult - he lacks any real love and he finds it in meaningless places, never remembering their names or anything about them and coming off as an asshole when really, he’s just looking for someone who truly cares about him, who he is on the inside and listens to him without yknow, becoming brainwashed and treating him like a god.

I’m interested to see where the show takes his character.

BEN HARGREEVES…

This show really said fuck my feelings on this one, huh???

EPISODE NINE MADE ME SO NUMB AND SAD AND JUST - FUCK.

I cried so hard when he got to save the day. He finally could do more than just follow Klaus around, and he finally got to be more than their dead brother. For so long, Ben was just an idea, a memory and I can only imagine the pain of having to deal with that. They touch on it in the show but it’s so much deeper than just being alone with only Klaus to talk to - I mean Ben was literally nothing, to any of the others, aside from being their dead brother. And when he finally got to save them, and save Vanya and fucking HUG HER AS HE PASSES ON TO THE AFTERLIFE….when I tell you I sobbed....

And his hug with Diego, how HAPPY they both were….the way that they both just….:’((

And that scene with young Klaus and Ben....Netflix when I said I wanted more Ben content I don’t know if I meant THIS.

At the same time...it was beautiful and bittersweet because he was happy, almost, moving on to his next life. He was able to do what he needed to and move on and that was beautiful. And, he got to say goodbye to at least some of his siblings, and so I can’t truly be sad about his passing. Even though it made me sob like a newborn babe.

But also...what the fuck was that ending?

And by that I mean, who the fuck signed off on that stupid lil’ haircut??? HUH???? WHY DID HE LOOK LIKE HE WAS WEARING FUCKING FAKE BANG-CLIPONS AOIHWGOIHWOIWHOIGWH

IN CONCLUSION. Fuck Reginald Hargreeves and also just FUCK.

In conclusion, I really loved this season. It ended happier than I expected and that makes me happy, so much more happy then I thought I would have been. TUA has been one of my favourite shows, and I’ve over the past while waiting for S2, developed several strong loves for these characters. More than I’ve ever cared about others. And for the most part, they were given the justice I hoped they would be.

Overall, I am happy. And I hope we get season three, almost entirely just so I can figure out if Ben Hargreeves is wearing fake-bang clip ons or not. And also...like for everything else.

Also, what the fuck is a Sparrow Academy? Whomst??? And where’s miss Lila?? And are they technically related and if so HUH?? And also...no rights to Mr Reginald.

This is such a messy summary, lmao.

But let me know what you think! I’m going to rewatch it soon, probably tonight and I’m so excited to fall even more in love with it. (and them)

[alexannah]

MLB: Yet Another Félix Rewatch

Yep, another Félix rewatch post. I can’t help it—every time I watch that episode, I think of something new to comment on! And since it’s my favourite …

(Previous rewatch posts here and here.)

I’m going to go through it in a nice organised way this time.

Marinette:

I’ve commented before, not specifically about this episode, that people rarely seem to spot an akuma before they actually take a victim. I’ve noticed before that in this episode, Marinette is facing her friends as they are akumatized, and yet doesn’t appear to notice it before it lands on Alya’s tablet.

I’ve always put it down to just most episodes not requiring a moment where the characters notice the akuma before it lands, so it moves the plot on a few seconds faster, and save having to plausibly show a character failing to avoid it.

But in this case, where it seems so obvious, I put it down to Marinette being so distressed by the video, she’s not paying attention beyond trying to persuade her friends that it can’t be Adrien.

Adrien:

I have to wonder if Adrien has never mentioned that he has a cousin, much less than one who looks so much like him they once convinced his parents they were the other? It seems like one of those fun stories you would tell a best friend, and let’s face it, how many fun stories is Adrien likely to have from his childhood? Apart from Marinette—and possibly Luka, though he doesn’t say either way—the others were pretty quick to believe that it was Adrien in the video. I could understand them thinking he was just upset and lashing out because of what day it was, but they clearly think that maybe he wasn’t the person they thought he was.

Most likely the answer here is “because plot”, rather than a reflection on the characters themselves.

Ladybug (and Cat Noir):

I’m not sure the heroes quite understand the meaning of “out of harm’s way”! This is not the first time that one of them has taken someone being targeted by an akumatized villain to a rooftop or other high-up open space, only for said villain to find them. Maybe season four they’ll start preparing secret secure locations in advance?

I’m probably expecting too much with that one.

The Showdown

Another red-edged screen. The only other one I can think of off the top of my head is in Ladybug, when Lila smirks as the people around her are akumatized, which I commented on in my Ladybug rewatch post. If the significance of it then is that Lila has figured out Gabriel is Hawk Moth (my current theory), I wonder what the significance here is? It clearly can’t be the same for Félix.

I shall have to watch all the episodes again to see if it occurs in any other places, and try and figure out the connection. A connection besides the involvement of a potential future Hawk Moth, that is.

Hmm … now I mention that … both those episodes take place after Timetagger, where we learn there is a future Hawk Moth. If my theory about Lila and Gabriel is right, then that shows a pivotal moment—when she moves from pawn to a more powerful piece on the board.

The moment in Félix is when we’re about to see that he is willing to make a deal with a supervillain, potentially risking goodness knows what kind of damage to the world (since the majority of the characters have no idea what Hawk Moth’s plans are, so it’s fair to assume that world domination is a possibility), all for the chance to get a piece (or set) of jewellery for his mother. In the case of both characters, we already know they’re sneaky brats. But those moments reveal them being possibly dangerous.

Of course it could simply be for dramatic effect, with no underlying reason. But I don’t buy that.

Félix:

Why did he wear Adrien’s shoes? He didn’t need to wear his jeans either—the video only showed him from the shoulders up! That kind of thoroughness feels foreboding to me in light of my previous speculation.

Though it could just be to make the animation easier; they just use the Adrien figure rather than creating a second Félix. (I don’t know the technical terms.) But that’s a boring explanation, so …

Hawk Moth:

It initially occurred to me when watching him akumatizing the Punisher’s Trio that that would have been a good opportunity to be Scarlet Moth. Félix had upset more than three people; it just so happened that only three of them were holding the akumatized object. And while he wouldn’t have planned in advance this time, Hawk Moth isn’t exactly one to turn down an opportunity (no matter how pathetic)—this is a guy who akumatized a baby. At least twice. And it’s not because he already knew he needed Nathalie to get Adrien out of harm’s way—because he didn’t think of that until after he’d already send his victims on their way.

But talking of Catalyst, I remembered a moment afterwards why he wouldn’t have done. Because this episode takes place after Ladybug, where Nathalie collapsed. I wonder what could have happened if Nathalie had been able to be Catalyst and the idea had occurred to him? Might make an interesting AU …

It also occurred to me, when watching him address Félix as Hawk Moth, he was literally talking through the Trio’s mouths. None of them say “Hawk Moth says …” and there’s no time for him to say, “Tell him this …” before they speak. So it looks like he has the ability to talk directly through his victims. That’s useful to know.

Also, what need was there for him to move from one to the other between sentences? Show-off.

The Twin Rings:

When Félix and Amelie arrive, Gabriel has his hands behind his back. Am I remembering wrong or is it normal for him to stand like that? But when Félix holds out his hand to shake his, and he just looks it at, you see from the perspective of behind his back. And his hands twitch. He is cupping his left hand, the one with the ring, with the right one, and it looks like a protective twitch to me.

It’s subtle, but there. (I love the little details in this show!)

He already knows that Amelie wants the rings. Let’s say that he’s aware how obviously devoted Félix is to his mother, so he’s reluctant to shake hands—not because he’s “not the physical sort” (which I would quibble …), though that might be part of the reason, but because he’s also aware of Félix’s talents (if Adrien knows he does magic, then it’s safe to assume Gabriel might know) and doesn’t want him to try and take the ring.

Though doing so right when they arrive would be a pretty bold move. Unless Félix is aware that Amelie is only visiting to try and get the rings, and figures once he shows her, they can scarper before Gabriel has the chance to realise it’s missing.

Then, when they’re leaving, Félix offers his hand again, and Gabriel’s hands twitch again.

It’s the same movement. He’s still protective and reluctant. Yet, after a slight pause, he says “Goodbye, Félix”, sounding unusually warm (for him), and actually shakes his hand. Why? Well, considering the speech Félix has just made about being sorry and “coming back a better person”, maybe he decides that Félix is not going to take the ring after all. (Bet he regrets that now.)

Also, comparing Félix’s expressions between the two moments, he does come across as a bit less ... threatening, the second time, doesn’t he? That could also have contributed. Gabriel also looks less wary of his offered hand.

Amelie

When I originally drafted this post (it can take me ages to get around to getting the screenshots), I didn’t have any new Amelie observations to add, surprisingly. However since then, something has occurred to me ...

When Amelie says the words “Now that his father isn’t around to stop him getting into mischief”, I’ve only ever before thought about how lame an excuse that is, and not about her actual intentions behind her words.

Earlier in the episode, Adrien defends his cousin to Plagg, saying how Félix  probably “isn’t himself” because of his dad’s death. But Amelie makes no attempt to defend her son or excuse his actions. She’s attempting to move the blame off of herself. (Pathetically, but that’s not actually my point this time.)  Félix stops her and says he doesn’t deserve forgiveness, completely missing the fact that she wasn’t actually defending him at all! Her view is that the issue isn’t that Félix does bad things; it’s that he’s not being stopped anymore. So that’s actually the opposite of what Adrien was saying, which is that he’s acting out because of losing his dad. According to Amelie, Félix was acting out before. If anything, she’s dropping him more in it, whilst making it sound (at least to him) like she’s trying to let him off the hook. If intentional, this is really twisted parenting.

This is the first time I’ve ever felt even slightly sorry for Félix. He’s clearly devoted to Amelie, but it seems from that moment that maybe it’s a one-way devotion. I’ve read theories that maybe the two of them are meant to hint at the kind of relationship Adrien had with Emilie, and that insight into Amelie definitely supports my interpretation of Emilie’s character.

[zhrx]

Onichan, what an episode.

Spoilers ahead hun, go watch the episode before read this post. Thankyou💕💕

So let's break this episode, kay?

Mainly, i felt two strong emotion regarding this particular episode. The first is a really huge major breakdown and the second is more like between great-but-really?-but-okay kind of thing.

First of i'm going to talk about the second one actually haha

So we get to see Lila first thing the episode air. Not gonna lie, i kinda hate her because of her manipulative behavior and really was annoyed when she pops up. My mood for watch this episode went from "omg there is a new episode omg omg omg" to "ah what a buzzkill, i don't want to watch the rest of it" but well of course i still watch it.

And again, although i don't understand what is she saying, we all know it's lies, sooo yeah. Killjoy.

After that wee see Marinette being her first season behavior, which i kinda, eugh, what is this called, disapointment? Not quite that. But not to Mari, but to the one who wrote the plot instead, like "I thought Mari's not going to be like this again but now we back to square one? Where are the development from season 2? Where are Marinette from the gorizilla i fell in love with? And what is all this jealousy came from?? I mean okay this is a cartoon but pls this is taking too far to the point is not amusing anymore (like the first season)."

So we watched the first quarter of the episode and i'm not amused at all. Great.

But then we saw Kagami. Seriously, i don't hate her for liking (loving?) Adrien. After all the Adrien they saw really is a gentlemen, i mean who wouldn't? They just didn't know the Adrien we all know (Jealous cat, an oblivious sheltered kid, 😭). So really, i still think that this kind of reaction (For all the girls liking Adrien) is still appropriate, just like how we love and support our Oppa ;)

But i did not, i repeat, DID NOT expected her to crying over all of this. I am an Adrienette fangirl, and to the extend, am a love square supporter by heart. Heck, i'm joining this fandom because i'm intrigued by how this love square gonna go. But even i'm still hurt for Kagami's part.

She, unlike other girl, have shared things with Adrien these days. Like how they both go to London and fencing. So for her to really fall in love with Adrien kinda compared to Marinette and her feelings for Luka. What she doesn't see is that, Adrien acts kindly to everyone else he sees. And for Lila's part, Adrien behavior to act kindly to aLL PEOPLE really a perfect opportunities to create drama. So for Kagami to cry over all of this really is really heartbreaking, even tho i'm a HUGE Adrienette shipper.

And then the plot. I don't know if this is a development or what, but now we have to deal with this plot guys. We have to accept the fact that Adrien is seriously putting Kagami before Ladybug (boy omg i'm so mad rn, THATS RUDE BRO, NOT COOL AT ALL). Again, i'm not mad with Kagami. She just a girl with feelings, but Adrien, boi, really, i'm speechless rn. I'm sooooooo disappointed with this kind of behavior.

Andd then we have the more mature marinette's back at the end of episode after they defeated the akuma. Really? So they have a character development, and then the next episode air, she went to square one, and back to character development square again? What is this?? Care to explain it to me ????? :(

Oh, the Adrien and Lila part at the end? Hahah finally. This is what i've been waiting since Chameleon aired. Although again i don't understand France, i still kinda guessed where is this conversation going. Finally. But ah ah, don't feel satisfied, Adrien, you still have a lot more things to do to redeem yourself worthy to my eyes (hahahahhahaha-.-). I'm still mad at you to smiling (even tho that smile is forced but u could have just shoved her or smthing heuh) when lila kiss your cheeks, still mad at you to just rudely doing the bien joue moment.

Again folks, i'm not mad at Kagami, please, she's not the one we should hate for ruining the Adrienette AND Ladynoir ships. I feel like we are all here because of Adrien's doing in Frozer, which is, again, not cool bro. You reallly should ask Mari those question AND make her come to your date ONLY for you ditching Kagami and goes to Mari instead when her fall????????????????? What are you? A two timer? If you are real, you've already hurt two persons heart, Adrien. You hurt Marinette feelings with your obliviousness, and you hurt Kagami's feeling for your behaviour on your own date, ffs why did you do that? And don't get me started with your attitude in Chameleon. Like Nino says, "not cool bro, not cool."

Sorryy OMG i am still salty with Adrien. I mean if Oblivio never appear, i'm seriously considering what i really feels with Adrien character last two season. Okay maybe the producer wants to show us that Adrien is not perfect, but does it really have to take it this far?

Oh and the "everyone chasing Adrien but not moi, chat?" Thing. I feel like i'm going to talk about this topics when i review bakerix soo yeah.

The last part. The deal between two manipulators. So when i'm on ig, i saw that someone translate this scene. And to put it simply, Gabriel and Lila both thought that the others are getting roped into their lies, when in reality they both getting lied and seal a deal with too much lies.

So, the plot we have so far

1. Luka "confessed" to Mari and Mari start to considering some possibilities

2. Adrien start to move on from Ladybug to Kagami

3. The whole "Why is Adrien more loved than Chat" saga

4. Adrien started to have backbone with the whole Lila situation.

5. The deal between two manipulators.

Is there something i missed?

OKAYY onto the heartbreaking part.

Eh, actually it kinda pointed out throughout that rant *cough* thoughts.

So yeah the heartbreaking part is more to the love square shipper tho. I mean, i knew this is going to be happen somewhere between this season, but knowing and actually watching it kinda have a different effects. Because of oni-chan, i'm just, sad, because he went to Kagami instead of Marinette. When i joined this fandom, i thought that this kind of drama will never happen to miraculous ladybug. Guess i was wrong.

See, i'm a person who hates love triangle or love square between 4 people or more. And i obviously hate harem, it's just not my kind of thing. So when i see Adrien and Marinette falling for the more "perfect" side of their selves, well, i thought this is new and exciting. How we ended up like this again is kinda a question.

I believe that every person has their own "wow" moment and their own "human" moment. Like Ladybug is Marinette at her best and Marinette just being her normal human behavior self. If i was a character, is like i am the person who gained the job being a manager at some company, get some responsibilities, and be my best 24/7 when i was working. But after that, after all oh the work, i'm back to my house and be myself 100% without worrying manners, and other people talking.

And Adrien, we all know this, is kinda the reversed situation. Adrien is born with his last name to protect, responsibilities, expectation, and other things normal people get when they got higher responsibilities at their job. But while he is chat, he get to let out all his imperfection, because he can't do that in his Adrien self. So really, human is like that.

OKAYY that was taking too far i wonder if anyone really read this, if you read this until the end, thank you very much for sticking with my poor grammar, because english isn't my first language and i hate grammar :(

[lovesquareshippingtrash]

Chameleon Reaction

An episode that had the fandom up in arms before it aired based on its preview. But did any of it matter?

(Warning: LONG POST. Spoilers below the cut)

I mean you know it didn’t.

So we start straight off with the scene from the preview clip. Marinette is excited to find that many people have swapped seats. From the explanation we’re given, this was a plan made before that school day. So why didn’t anybody tell Marinette about it, especially when the changes affected her more than anyone else, moving her to the back of the class to sit by herself? None of the people actually involved in the plan felt like volunteering then, huh?

Let’s talk about Marinette’s reaction to Lila and everything else going on here. She is a little aggressive towards Lila, pointing out the holes in her story, but she never makes a comment suggesting that she shouldn’t be able to sit at the front. All Marinette asks is why she should have to sit at the back. She’s pretty loose on the details, so it’s hard to read much into what the actual complaint would be there beyond literally not wanting to sit at the back of the class. She says nothing about sitting by herself, and while we could read into her not wanting to be separated from her friends (which is most likely how her classmates take it), I think if someone genuinely needed to be at the front, Marinette would gladly volunteer to move.

This is Marinette. We’ve all seen Copycat and Volpina. We know what this is about. This is about Lila lying. The show has gone to painstaking lengths to show Marinette hates lying. Which would be all well and good, a strongly developed piece of characterisation... except we’ve just had the season 2 finale. We’ve just had Catalyst & Mayura, where the major plot thread in Marinette’s civilian life was her LIE about having a grand picnic prepared for the whole school. And she decided to try to work hard to make it not a lie, and the class forgave her, but we have just had a TWO PARTER that had a plot thread about Marinette lying for no reason other than saving face in front of Chloé. She could have just accepted that people thought her good deed was a little weak - although of course, her classmates would no doubt have remember all of her many good deeds that she does for them constantly, as Adrien pointed out at the end. Marinette just told a giant lie for the most meagre of reasons, and in the multipart story you’d think they’d build on this, have it be an identity crisis for Marinette - but this is Miraculous. We don’t get that level of depth. We aren’t even shown Marinette’s apology - just everyone accepting it and moving on.

This is supposed to be about Chameleon, not Heroes’ Day. The point is, after just giving us a story in which Marinette tells a pointless lie without her suffering any repercussions, ever being expected to make amends, and in which her hatred for lying is directly highlighted by her interactions with Lila, how are we ever expected to care about this part of Marinette’s character again?

Moving on. The already infamous moment of everyone turning to Marinette, featuring Adrien’s absurd look of disgust that is, apparently, an animation error. I’m not concerned about that though. What I am concerned about is the gasps of horror from the rest of the class in that moment. Lila offers to give Marinette her seat - but Marinette never asked her to do that. She never said Lila should have to move, only complained that she should. She didn’t accept Lila’s offer, either. I can understand the class looking at Marinette for her reaction, but they acted like Marinette personally gave Lila tinnitus right there. The reaction was totally uncalled for, and is SUCH an easy audio fix to drastically improve the entire episode. People’s problem with this story going in was the idea that Marinette’s friends would turn against her so easily, and it’s such an easy fix that changes the story in no way to turn that around.

Brief aside (boy I really didn’t think this post would be this long already, sorry...); this episode seems to be setting up Lila to be Marinette’s every day antagonist now that Chloé is getting her redemption. How great would it be if Chloé, trying to be nice and deciding that after what Marinette has done for her lately she dislikes Lila more than she dislikes Marinette, Chloé stood up for her? She could be the one to point out that Jagged has a crocodile, not a kitten. But, of course, again, that would require character and relationship development, and we wouldn’t want that now, would we... Still, with the set up for Lila to be Marinette’s every day villain, maybe this will happen later. It’s notable that Chloé doesn’t have a line in this episode; she’s never fawning over Lila here, even when Sabrina is, and we get no indication that Chloé wants to be her friend, unlike in Volpina. But I digress...

Marinette proves how much better than all of this she is, however, by calming down enough by herself to resist the akuma before it could reach her.

Lunchtime. Nino glosses over Marinette’s story about Lila being a liar to point out the flaw in Marinette’s behaviour. And sure, it wasn’t a great choice, but seriously? And then Alya decides she’s a journalist first and a friend second. Of course, Marinette’s counter here should be that she was in the park and heard Ladybug calling Lila out, but it’s fair that she wouldn’t think like that in the moment - of course, she didn’t overhear that, she said it. Alternatively, Adrien could have popped up here to support Marinette, but we gotta have DRAMA.

Not sure why we should expect any of Marinette’s classmates to think about anything at all, however, because first they think nothing of Lila failing to react in pain until after Marinette speaks, and then they fall for her utter nonsense about the terrible dangers of particularly soft paper. Yeah, Myléne and Kim then yell at Marinette like she’s an enemy instead of just expressing disappointment in her out of character action like a friend, but what does that matter any more. The class aren’t being allowed to have any independent thought in regards to Lila.

Now we get to talk about something that the episode does really well! Hooray! Adrien’s interaction with Lila in the locker room is great. He knows Lila is lying, but when not transformed he has a cool head. He doesn’t know the depths of Lila’s vindictiveness. As far as he can tell, she’s a compulsive liar who could be brought around, not someone who will say whatever it takes to get what she wants. He won’t just blindly trust her after what has happened, but he has such a good heart, he wants to help. Even after Lila throws it back in his face, he’s still willing to help her.

Then Marinette (with Tikki’s encouragement) resists the akuma again, because she is also wonderful. Between this and Zombizou, Hawkmoth should really be getting suspicious about her.

Lila’s response to the akuma is fantastic. Not only being unafraid, but straight up grabbing it out of the air, and then HER giving the introductory spiel back to Hawkmoth. That’s just great. A bit weird that she acts like he wouldn’t remember her after specifically calling on her a second time, and weird that he acts like it’s a big deal that he remembers her. But that’s so minor. It’s also just so thematically strong that, once again, Lila’s powers are based on being fake, this time lying about herself rather than what’s around them.

Plagg decided that Adrien needs an enchanted kiss is such a WONDERFUL moment, it’s so out of the blue, such a diversion, and it’s hilarious. Whoever wrote that scene, assuming they didn’t write the rest of the episode, give them a raise. We need more moments like that.

Cat Noir once again taking the hit for Ladybug and being taken out of the fight. This episode definitely need to have Ladybug be the one in the fight, but one day I just wish they’d let Cat Noir take the spotlight.

A good villain is one who doesn’t just lose or fail for the sake of it. Lila had the opportunity to get a Miraculous, but chose not to due to her own personal feelings about Ladybug. That’s great. What’s not great is that Hawkmoth doesn’t try a similar akuma with a more obedient host.

Frankly, the whole actual fight is great. One thing at which this show always excels is its choreography. The defeat of Chameleon is just sublime, one of the better take-downs of a villain in the entire show. But HOW does Cat Noir not react to Ladybug’s pun here?? Miraculous is always so rushed, especially towards the end of episodes, not letting us have little character moments like that.

Nino completely falling apart without his hat is ridiculous. Alya being more concerned about him falling apart than anything to do with Marinette here is so much more so.

And now we get to the resolution. If Miraculous is bad at its openings, it is appalling at its resolutions.

Hawkmoth gives a speech about how Lila will still help him like this isn’t the third time he’s akumatised her. The specifics of this plot and the dialogue here strongly hint at the setup for Lila to ultimately see Ladybug actually akumatised, but we’ll see if that pays off. One of my predictions for this season going in was that Lila would essentially gain the ability to call on her akuma at will to become Volpina and fight as a recurring enemy in the field. But that would, of course, be far too much of a shake up to the status quo.

Adrien talks to Marinette about Lila! They’re able to talk about how they both know Lila lies. Adrien helps Marinette to understand why what she’s doing won’t help, and able to help Marinette grow as a person! This is great! Already more than I expected to get here! Good start! From how everyone else is acting with Lila, it seems like they might not be apologising any time soon, unfortunately, but Adrien letting Marinette know he’s on her side is good.

And you know, I wouldn’t have been surprised if that had been it. I wouldn’t have even minded that ending. But then THEY RAMP IT UP. First, Adrien gives Marinette such a LOOK. A seeing-her-in-a-whole-new-light kind of look. Of course, he’s given her some similar looks before, I’m definitely not expecting it to mark a change in their interaction. But it makes for great gif/photoset material, you’ll certainly see it on this blog soon.

Then he goes the next step and MOVES TO SIT WITH HER! YES! Adrien ensures that Marinette won’t be left on her own, making a physical statement that he is literally on her side. He makes clear to Marinette both that he is proud of her, and that he is happy to be at the back, giving us a spectacular new status quo set up.

Things seem great! So, of course, we can’t expect it to last. Marinette misses her name on the register, but it hardly seems like her fault, no doubt she’s just confused because Miss Bustier is reading names off in a completely random order. It’s a shame, in Stoneheart the register was read out in proper order; Agreste, Bourgeois, Bruel. But for some reason here it’s going Rossi, Agreste, Kanté, Dupain-Cheng.

Now I’m not sure if Miss Bustier genuinely thinks Marinette couldn’t hear, or she’s using that as an excuse because she knows Marinette is distracted by Adrien - but she was utterly clueless about the social dynamics earlier in the episode. A teacher wouldn’t move a student for mishearing something literally once after they’ve said there’s no issue. If it repeated, yes, but not once.

Still, as disappointing as this is, Marinette being forced to sit beside her enemy could be inte-

OH SORRY COULDN’T FINISH THE SENTENCE BEFORE THAT POTENTIAL SHAKE UP WAS RUINED. Lila claims her tinnitus is cured. And everyone just accepts it. Seriously? That’s the moment everyone should be looking at her with scrutiny, realising that they’d been duped and they should have trusted their “every day Ladybug” after all. Some actual APOLOGIES offered to Marinette. But they all just ignore it. This show’s refusal to use the word SORRY is just awful.

Now Alya... Alya takes it upon herself to act, finally...

“You didn’t think I’d let my BFF sit all by herself, did you?”

EXCUSE ME!? Yes, we most certainly did think you’d do that, because YOU LITERALLY DID EXACTLY THAT. ADRIEN is the one who made sure things changed, he was the one who decided not to leave her on her own. You made the choice on Marinette’s behalf that she would sit at the back so you could sit with Nino. Miss Bustier vaguely mentions people with vision problems needing to sit closer - except that’s exactly what their glasses are for. I’m a teacher, if we have a kid who can’t see the board we’ll move them closer, but that never happens with kids wearing glasses - typically that’s with kids who need glasses but have lost or broken them. First there was her deciding Marinette was clearly just jealous of Lila being close to Adrien in Catalyst, despite the fact that Marinette was much closer to him and showed in Frozer that she wasn’t ruled by jealousy, now this. Do the writers want us to turn against Alya? I’ve seen a theory going around that this episode was going to set up Marinette and Alya having a major fallout. But Alya acts like there’s no problem, and ONCE AGAIN FAILS TO APOLOGISE.

Adrien is great and moves back to Nino, to again say clearly to Marinette and Lila that he is on Marinette’s side. Frankly, I don’t know why Lila even wanted to sit with him again, she knows he’s wise to her crap. But this is followed by literally everyone going back to normal - and they’re all given closeups like they’re in on some great conspiratorial show of support for Marinette, while NOT. SAYING. SORRY. Cannot stress this enough. So now everything is just the same as it was, except Lila sits next to Nathaniel. We had a potential to mix up character and relationship dynamics, but we can’t have any progression now, can we.

This episode had some excellent moments. Adrien was wonderful, and the akuma fight was great. But it was bookended by utter crap and Marinette’s friends were unbearable. Yes, they’re teenagers, they’re not perfect, but this is a kids’ show. If you want to show something like this, impart a life lesson! Have Tikki point out people change as they grow up, or have everyone apologise and realise their mistake, or SOMETHING. But like I said, this show refuses to offer good resolution or progress of any kind besides new teammates and power ups. Its refusal to bend from its rigid episodic structure with monsters of the week keeps it utterly stagnant, and means that many major plot points get ignored for extended periods - I found it rather jarring that Hawkmoth didn’t have his own actual plot in the episode. No development with Gabriel and Nathalie, no suspicion raised about Marinette.

Of course, the dumbest part about the whole episode is that those benches can EASILY fit at least three people, nobody actually needed to move at all.

As ever, my feelings about all this are just that this show has such great potential, wonderful ideas, and strong characters. But it squanders it all, time after time, and I doubt it will ever change... but that’s why I love this fandom so much; because we take all of that, and turn it into so much wonderful art, so many wonderful stories...

[carry-on-my-wayward-hobbit]

I’m super bored so I figured I make a master post thing of all my fic WIPs mainly to help organise my thought and hopefully motivate me to write more, but also just in case people a curious as to what’s knocking about in my noggin

One-shots:

Klaus and Dave spend their first winter together after Vietnam. The snow reminds Klaus of all the winters he spent on the street but Dave is there to make him feel better

Conversation between Allison and Klaus about what he meant when he said ‘confessing my love to a young gay man who doesn’t know he’s gay’ and ‘carrying the touch for a soldier who doesn’t know I exist yet’

Sort of character study - Dave exploring all of Klaus’s scars & tattoos while they’re in Saigon

Klaus and Dave are neighbors and start leaving post-it notes for each other

Sequel to ‘I’m not dead just floating’ - Klaus coming to terms with Dave being alive; lots of fluff including them getting to go on their first proper date; Diego finding out his brother is screwing his ex’s best friend 

2nd sequel to INDJF that’s just emotional smut

Multi-chapter fics:

Rewrite of ‘home is where the heart is’

I haven’t updated this fic in over a year & I wanna redo it in line with S2

Basically Dave lives and Klaus stays. They move into a place in upstate New York, end up adopting 2 kids (Libby & Benji) and basically live in domestic bliss

Sissy is a single mum who lives nearby. Her and Klaus are BFFs. She babysits their kids, Klaus and Dave babysit Harlan & it’s very wholesome

When the rest of siblings time travel after S1 they end scattered across New York in the early 70s. Most of the plot point remains the same - Allison meets Ray who’s a civil rights lawyer/activist; Luther gets involved with the mafia; Diego gets sectioned for going on about how he’s going to time travel and save JFK; Vanya meets sissy & moves in with her

Klaus has a few near misses where he almost finds his siblings (i.e. Dave is reading the article about Diego getting arrest & Klaus jokes about it sounding like his brother. Sissy mentions Vanya living with her/looking for her family - Dave suggest it might Klaus sister but he shuts its down bc how did Vanya time travel??)

Klaus finds Vanya first, but have no idea about that the apocalypse or that their siblings are

Ben gets stuck with another sibling (probably Vanya or Diego) he rips Klaus a new one when they reunite for not wanting to find the rest of their siblings

I don’t really have much of plot details settled but there’s the usual shinanigans of commission and FBI shit. They don’t find Reggie bc someone suggests maybe telling him about the umbrella academy might screw the timeline

I have a few ending including

Super happy ending no ones hurt, Klaus and Dave either stay or go to 2019 but everyone ends on good terms 

Dave get shot again, they all go back the future. It’s a close call but Grace is able to save him. Five gives Klaus the briefcase & the option to stay or go back to the 70′s

Super sad ending of Klaus going back to 2019 to help on the promise he can then go back to 1970′s once apocalypse is stopped but something happens and he gets stranded. He has to deal with the consequences of abandoning Dave and his kids. (Maybe Klaus end up meeting his now-grownup kids. They grew up on stories from Dave about how their dad was a superhero who had to leave to save the world, but hold a lot of resentment against Klaus)

Russian doll AU

This one is actually on AO3 but on an indefinite hiatus

No powers AU - Klaus gets stuck in time loop of constantly dying on his birthday.  He meets Dave who is also stuck in the loop and they team up to try and solve it

Commission AU

Handler finds Klaus after Dave dies but before he leaves Vietnam. She offers him a deal - work for the commission & they’ll save Dave. Klaus and Dave become partners in the commission

The handler sends them to 2019 and manipulates them to help trigger the apocalypse

She basically pits Klaus and Vanya against the others with the intention of getting the Umbrella Academy to kill Dave & triggering Klaus to start the apocalypse 

Post-S2

After a fight with the sparrows the briefcase gets damaged & Klaus ends up in an alternate timeline where Dave wasn’t killed the two of them settled down together.

The longer he stays the more memories he accumulates from this timelines version of himself & the more he forgets about the original timeline (to the point where he convinces himself it’s all just a reoccurring dream)

He runs into Lila who has been hopping across timelines to avoid the sparrows and the umbrellas. She figures out that Klaus is in the wrong timeline but Klaus just brushes her off

The rest of the umbrella academy eventually find him & Klaus has to choose between his siblings and Dave

Vanya & Klaus role-swap AU

Pretty self explanatory set up - Vanya was a full member of the umbrella academy, Klaus grew up thinking the ghost were just hallucinations

Klaus and Dave (ex-soldier) are already in an established relationship

When five turns up in 2019 he has dog tags instead of an eyeball but they’re too damaged to read the full name/ID number

After he gets kidnapped he gets shot by hazel & cha-cha. After he dies he speaks to Reggie before coming back to life

Patch and Dave save him. No one dies or time travels. Klaus finally has a conversation with Ben and tell Dave about his powers

More shinanigans and basically the apocalypse happens when Dave is shot which triggers klaus’ powers

Could also lead into a sequel following season 2 where Dave ends up in Dallas. Klaus has no memory and his only clue is Dave’s dog tags. Dave also has no clue what’s going bc he was unconscious/bleeding out and just wakes up in a hospital in the 1960s

Actor AU

Hargreeves siblings are ex-child stars who all took fame differently and are spread across the spectrum of ‘continued successful career and avoided major scandal’ (Allison) and ‘developed an addiction as a teenager and completely fell off the rails’ (Klaus)

As kids they all stared in a show about the umbrella academy and all reunite to film a gritty reboot (aka things are super meta)

Dave is cast as in a minor role of Klaus’ love interest and they basically end up falling in love on set as well

S1 fix-it

Klaus brings Dave back to the future after he gets shot

The briefcase screws up and they end up in 2018. Basically an excuse for Klaus and Dave to go on a road trip without dealing with the apocalypse

Probably some comical shinanigans involving Klaus and Dave trying to avoid the past versions of Klaus/the rest of the siblings (could get angsty when they find past Klaus and see what an absolutely mess he used to be)

Ben knows and is just kinda done with Klaus shit

[metawitches]

The Passage and Deadly Class are tied for my favorite new shows of the season, and episode 3 of The Passage, That Never Should Have Happened to You, has only made me more excited about it. The way showrunner Liz Heldon and her team are perfectly balancing plot, character and world-building remind me of SYFY and Amazon’s The Expanse, one of the highest quality science fiction shows of this decade.

The Passage may not be a space epic, but it does tell an epic, sweeping story, just as The Expanse does, and it’s carefully arranging all of the necessary elements, while telling an exciting story. The set up for the long-term arc isn’t being rushed, even though in the present day, the end of the world is fast approaching. It’s an incredibly delicate balance to maintain, along with introducing viral vampires who need to be threatening, but not so camp that you can’t take them seriously. So far, based on the books, this adaptation is everything I would wish it to be. I’m just having a hard time not rushing them to the next part of the story!

In this episode, Agent Wolgast and Amy finally reach the Project NOAH compound, we learn more about serum viral #1 Shauna Babcock’s background, and Lila and Lacey attempt to follow through on their promise to let the world know about Project NOAH. Inside the compound, Fanning and Shauna make some plans, while Brad uses his FBI skills to investigate Project NOAH.

Recap

That Never Should Have Happened to You begins with a flashback to seven months ago, when Shauna Babcock was brought to the Project NOAH compound. Though she’s a death row convict, she’s also young, blonde and pretty, so of course her guards decide to rape her on their way inside. Shauna is handcuffed and can’t properly defend herself.

Clark Richards storms outside and fires his gun in the air, then chases off the offending guards. He strikes up a slightly flirtatious conversation with Shauna. She eventually relaxes, and trusts him enough to ask if whatever they’re going to do her inside will hurt. Shauna specifically asks Clark not to lie to her, but he does, and tells her it will be painless. Then he escorts her inside, out of the cold.

Currently, Clark is riding up front in the security van that’s bringing Brad and Amy to the compound. They are seated together in the back. As they arrive at their destination, Brad has Amy go over her instructions one last time:

Brad: “Tell me again, what are we gonna do?”

Amy: “We’re gonna get out of here.”

Brad: “How are we going to do it?”

Amy: “We’re gonna listen more than we talk, we’re gonna notice everything and we’re gonna be ready.”

Brad: “Good. And what are we not gonna do?”

Amy: “Panic.”

And we’ll remember our towels.

The moment they’re released from the van, Amy starts looking around and making connections. She and Brad are quickly separated, but Brad promises that he’ll find her. Amy notices the guilty look on Dr Major Sykes face.

The Project NOAH senior staff and medical teams meet to discuss the incident when Babcock ate Simmons for dinner in episode 2. As usual, Dr Pet is very confident in his expert opinion that she has no higher brain function, and is sure she chose to eat Simmons instead of Grey because of some relatively arbitrary factor, like preferring the way Simmons smelled.

Grey is at the meeting, too, and explains what happened. He suggests that Babcock left him alone because she knows that he belongs to Fanning– er, that is, he works with Fanning, while Simmons worked with her, and abused her the way he’d been abusing Grey. Lear has witnessed some of this behavior, and agrees with Grey, while Dr Pet is offended at the idea that there could be any rational thinking involved.

Dr Pet thinks they should treat Shauna like a zoo animal and euthanize her. Sykes and Lear feel that she’s still part human and part of the study, so they should hold off on such a drastic measure. Richards thinks about the lie he told Shauna, and the way she’s already gotten into his head, and orders them to euthanize her, using the justification that it’s a security issue.

Jonas doesn’t argue with Richards about Babcock, but does tell him that it won’t fix the real problem, which is the nightmares that at least half of the people who work on Level 4B are having. 4B is the floor where the virals are kept. Sykes thinks the nightmares are a normal reaction to the situation, and Pet laughs him off derisively. No one who’s having nightmares, like Richards, will admit to how serious they are, so the issue is put aside as another of Lear’s overreactions.

Amy trashes her room and won’t let anyone touch her, so Sykes is called in to deal with her. She gives Amy a speech that’s a combination of Brad’s sales pitches to the death row inmates and her own speeches to Lear: Amy is the most important girl in the world because she’s going to have save a lot of sick people and Nichole will make sure that nothing bad happens to her. She can trust Nichole to tell her the truth, and even to bring Brad back to her.

During the virals’ feeding time, Richards stands watching Babcock in her cell. He gives one of the guards instructions to prepare for her execution. They’ll gas her in her cell, then move her to another room while she’s unconscious, where they can put her under intense UV lights and fry her. Babcock hears the whole thing, understands what they’re saying and what it means for her.

When the blood pours into her feeding trough, she doesn’t move to eat it. Fanning joins her in the psychic plane, and notes that the renewed death sentence is a tough break. Impulse control is her greatest weakness. He’s there with a plan to help her, but she’s given up. She thinks her life is just a series of things that have happened to her and she can’t change that. He guarantees that it gets better, but she needs to listen to him and stick to the plan. She needs to show her history to Richards, and gain his sympathy.

Lear is observing the virals’ feeding time from the control room, trying to figure out why Babcock and Fanning aren’t eating. He realizes that they must be telepathically communicating.

Brad is being held in one of the common rooms in the main building, watching a TV tuned to the news. Sierra Thompson reports that Brad was killed when he murdered three people in the North Duluth sheriff’s station, where he tried to turn himself in.

It’s a zombie and a vampire story now.

Richards takes Brad into the main corridor of the hotel, where Sykes and Lear are already waiting to meet with him. Sykes tells him about the outbreak of bird flu in Asia, which will reach the US in 60 days or less, and how Amy fits into their attempts to develop a treatment. He sees through her justifications and asks why they aren’t in jail. Brad says that if anything happens to Amy, he’ll come after the three of them.

Richards tosses some threats around to convince Brad to go see Amy. Brad follows, but before he goes into Amy’s room, he has one more thing to say. He reminds Clark, who is his old friend, that he’s already sat helplessly by a hospital bed and watched a child he loved die, and Richards knew it. Brad won’t forget that Richards is putting him and Amy through this experience.

Brad discovers that Amy already has an IV line started in her arm and a chip in her neck. But she also shares the recon she’s done so far, and admits that she behaved badly so they’d bring him to her room.

Sykes follows Brad in, and opens a case with a giant syringe inside. Brad instructs Amy to look at him, not the syringe, as Sykes injects the serum into her IV line. While Amy’s receiving the injection, Grey is standing in front of Fanning’s cage. Fanning can tell Amy is receiving the serum. Grey asks what Fanning is going to do with Amy. He doesn’t get an answer. Yet.

Shauna concentrates on Richards, and figures out how to telepathically send her story to his mind. He spaces out each time she sends him another piece of her life story. She begins with Halloween 2012, when she’d made herself up to look like she’d been shot in the head and was having a friend photograph her. Her dream was to move to LA and do special effects makeup for films. She was saving all of her money for the move.

Shauna and some friends went to a bar, where a guy got overly aggressive with one of her friends. Shauna broke a bottle and sliced the guy’s arm to get him away from her friend, then she snatched some money from the cash register and they took off.

Richards comes back to reality, staring at the coffeemaker.

Amy and Brad are playing poker when a nurse wheels in a cart to check Amy’s vitals. Amy distracts the nurse while Brad steals a medication vial and a syringe from the cart. When the nurse leaves, Amy gets 3 of the 5 numbers in the door lock code. She also tells Brad that she heard a guy talking in the next room. She heard them call him “Anthony.” Brad realizes that Anthony Carter, death row inmate #12, is in the next room.

He gets Amy to bed, including a monster check in the closet and under the bed. Before he knows it, Brad’s waking up again, because Grey is standing in the room, staring at Amy. Brad chases Grey out of the room (giving Brad and Amy another chance to watch someone use the door code).

In the hall, Grey says that he just wanted to warn them that Fanning is going to come for Amy. Brad asks who Fanning is, what he wants, and where to find him. Grey says that Fanning is Patient Zero, he wants everything, he makes you do things and he’s on level 4B, with the rest of them. He tells Brad to get Amy out of there.

A pair of guards force Brad back into the room. He grabs a small flashlight from one of their back pockets.

The morning after the bar fight, Shauna’s mom is angry with her for having to bail her out of jail. Her mother tells her she’ll never amount to anything, there’s no point in her moving to LA, and she’ll just waste the money she’s saving anyway.

Shauna insists that she will make it to LA and amount to something. She goes to her room and hides her cash under the sink. Before long, her stepfather knocks on her door, and tries to intimidate her into letting him in. He says that she used to like him better. She’s able to force him to get out, but it’s clear he won’t forget about this.

Richards comes to his senses in Sykes’ room this time, with her asking what he was thinking about. He asks Sykes how Amy is doing. Nichole says that it’s too early to tell. They added a new prophylactic antiviral to Amy’s treatment that she hopes will help. But she’s worried that it won’t be enough. Clark reassures Nichole that he has faith in her.

Nichole asks if he’s thinking about Babcock’s execution, which is scheduled for midnight. He says that it shouldn’t be a big deal. They’ve already killed her once. Nichole wonders if they’ll be able to lead normal lives after this. Clark tells her it shouldn’t be a problem, since they’ve just been doing their duty.

Brad and Amy are sent into the hall while their room is searched (“room check”). Carter is also out in the hall, and is amused that Brad is now a captive. Brad asks what Carter knows about Fanning. Carter says that Fanning is in his head and in his dreams. “You’d best be on your toes, Agent Wolgast.”

Richards takes Brad for a walk and talk while Amy is sent back into the room. She writes a little note to Carter and sends it under the door that connects their rooms. He responds and sends it back.

Lila calls the prisons which originally housed the death row inmates to ask for information about each one. Each prison refuses to give out any information, until Lila gets to the prison that held Shauna Babcock. At that site, a woman named Darlene answers the phone, and tells Lila that despite the official story, Shauna didn’t die at the prison. She was taken away by federal agents.

Richards asks Brad to confirm some of the details of Babcock’s life, which he’s seen in the visions she’s planting in his head. Once he knows that what he’s seeing is the truth, Richards realizes the angry grudges against aggressive men she’s working with. “You know what I’m starting to think? Nobody gets over anything. They say time helps, but it doesn’t, does it. It’s just another lie.”

Brad wonders what’s up with Richards, who seems to be cracking up. After everything they’ve seen together, he wants to know what it is about this situation that’s tearing Richards apart? Richards tells Brad that he’s being dramatic.

Brad moves in for his real question: “Who’s Fanning? I know he’s Patient Zero. I know I didn’t bring him here and I know that he’s in people’s dreams. What the heck’s going on here and what did you put in that little girl’s arm?”

Brad demands answers, asking what happened to the other people he brought to Project NOAH and what will happen to Amy, but Richards has him dragged away.

Soon after Richards and Brad talk, Lear corners Grey about his dreams. Grey says they started around the time the second or third subject arrived. At first they were wispy pictures, then they got longer and more real as each new subject arrived, eventually becoming movies he couldn’t escape. Fanning started talking to him in the dreams after Babcock was brought in. His most recent message was, “We have work to do.”

Lila tracks down Sierra Thompson, the reporter who covered Brad’s supposed killing spree and death, and tells her Brad is still alive and part of a government conspiracy. Lila explains about the 12 death row inmates who also aren’t really dead, and who are all at the Project NOAH facility in Colorado. As proof, she gives Sierra the information to contact Darlene at the prison Babcock was removed from. Sierra says she’ll look into it and get back to Lila, if she thinks there’s something worth pursuing.

During the night, Brad sits awake, waiting for the right moment. He hears one guard take a bathroom break, and Carter ask the other to get him a drink of water, which means both guards are occupied. (The part with Carter must have been planned.) Brad tells Amy that he’ll be back soon. He’s going to check on the real monsters under the bed.

Brad uses the door code, then heads to the elevator at the end of the hall, where Grey is just getting on. Brad asks for level 4B. Grey tries to resist, but Brad takes out his stolen syringe, prefilled with what must be a sedative from the stolen medication vial, and injects it into Grey. Grey passes out.

When they get to level 4, Brad drags Grey to the retina scanner and holds his eye up to be scanned. He leaves Grey on the floor outside the locked door, but takes Grey’s security pass.

He enters into the area where the virals are held. It’s dark, so he uses his flashlight. The light shines directly on Tim Fanning’s face. Fanning is standing right up against the glass of his cell. Jonas comes through a door at the end of the hall, and says, “I guess now’s a good time to talk.”

He turns the surveillance systems off for 3 minutes. Brad has a brief freak out that he convinced all of the prisoners to take the offer to participate in the program, and now they’re monsters.

Jonas explains that they thought they could cure disease, create immunity, and grant functional immortality. Instead, they created a new species that they don’t understand. The virals seemed catatonic, but now he thinks they’re talking to each other.

When Brad asks, Lear says he doesn’t know what Grey means when he says that Fanning is coming for Amy. He shows Brad which viral is Fanning, and explains that he’s Patient Zero. All of the other virals were created using attenuated, genetically altered versions of his blood.

Brad asks why they don’t call them vampires, when they drink blood and burn to ash in the sun, the basic definition of a vampire. Lear gives a completely logical answer, and shows the downside of science at the same time, “Because we’re scientists, Agent Wolgast, and there’s no such thing as vampires.”

The world will end because the people who ran the facility couldn’t bend their egos and their prewritten rules far enough to allow for what was right in front of them.

Lear, who started the whole thing, is still the only one open-minded enough to understand what’s happening. He says that Fanning gains more power with each new viral that they create. Brad asks what Fanning wants. Lear figures that he wants what any prisoner wants: to be free. Fanning has 12 viral children who were death row inmates. They’ll have a powerful desire to be free.

Somebody didn’t think this whole thing through very well.

Lila returns to her hotel room, where Lacey is loading her guns. She asks if it’s a good idea for Lacey to use firearms while she’s on pain meds, but Lacey replies that she’s not taking the pain meds. She likes to feel it, so she can retain her anger at the people who shot her.

Sierra Thompson calls Lila to say she wants to meet to discuss the story further.

Richards watches Babcock as she’s gassed in preparation for her execution. Babcock looks betrayed when she realizes that he’s still going through with it. She shows him the rest of her story.

One day, she came home work and went to hide her pay with rest of the money she was saving for LA, but her savings were gone. She went to her stepfather and demanded to know where her money was. He tells her that he needed it for something, and she didn’t really need it anyway. Her mother took her stepfather’s side, and even told Shauna that he was a good man. Shauna told her mother that her stepfather had raped her regularly from the age of 8 until she was 16 and made him stop.

Her mother didn’t react when Shauna told her. She already knew, and thought Shauna had wanted it. She blamed Shauna for not saying no. In her rage over losing the money that equaled her dreams and discovering her mother had betrayed her so horribly, so many times over, Shauna took the knife her mother was using to chop vegetables and stabbed her mother in the stomach. Then she went to the living room and killed her stepfather.

While Richards has been seeing and feeling Shauna’s trauma, Shauna has passed out, been brought to the room with the UV light chamber, and had the lights turn on. Now she’s screaming and writhing in pain as the lights burn her.

Richards comes to his senses and turns the UV lights off. Shauna collapses and quickly heals.

Brad returns to his and Amy’s room and tells Amy everything is fine. He falls asleep, then dreams that he’s gotten out of bed and gone out into the hall. Fanning is standing at the end of the hall, silhouetted in front of the stained glass window. He says, “Word to the wise. Stay out of my way, Agent Wolgast.”

Then he lets out a giant, cat-like hiss, showing off his orange eyes and vampire teeth. Brad startles awake.

  Commentary

Clark Richards gets the name Clark from his grandfather, while Shauna gets her name from a stripper her dad knew.

Shauna describes herself as a desert rat from Las Vegas, who’s not used to the cold. Clark is from Philadelphia, where it does get cold.

Babcock’s murder of Simmon’s was the first time one of the virals killed a human at the Project NOAH facility. We don’t know if Fanning killed humans before they realized what had happened to him, when he was still free.

Simmons was Babcock’s first meal of human blood. Besides loving the taste, she enjoyed the feeling of control that the kill gave her, even though she was still imprisoned.

Fanning is training Babcock in the use of her powers, telling her that she’s more powerful than she knows, and she needs to use her power on Richards.

Someone needs to push Dr Pet too close to a cage.

The main corridor of the old hotel simultaneously looks like the corridors in the Overlook Hotel, from The Shining, that other horror story that takes place in the Colorado Rockies, and like the interior of the castles in Nosferatu, the silent film era adaptation of Dracula. Actually, the entire compound is reminiscent of both settings.

The Passage is exploring the rationalizations we use to justify our actions, and the motivations for those actions. These characters frequently lie to themselves and others, or simply don’t think things through so that they don’t have to face the truth. That’s been true of almost every adult character at some point, except for Lacey, who makes a point of facing the truth head on, and Pet, who’s ego makes him incapable of seeing the truth. His idiocy is all about narcissism and stupidity, rather than fear, anxiety or avoidance.

Sykes is the worst culprit, since she’s straight up left reality behind. She knows the truth about the serum, but is lying to herself about it because she can’t face the implications of the bird flu and her own mistakes if Project NOAH fails.

This episode highlights the differences between three different pairs- Brad and Clark, Fanning and Shauna, and Lear and Pet. How well they follow Brad’s rules for Amy (pay attention, don’t panic, etc) determines how well they understand the truth of their situation now. Fanning, Jonas and Brad all made huge mistakes in the beginning, before they had any way of understanding the truth. Now, they’ve learned from their mistakes and are paying closer attention, gathering allies, and being smart and strategic.

Images courtesy of Fox.

The Passage Season 1 Episode 3: That Never Should Have Happened to You Recap The Passage and Deadly Class are tied for my favorite new shows of the season, and episode 3 of The Passage, That Never Should Have Happened to You, has only made me more excited about it.

[sage-nebula]

I agree with you on that; the miraculous creators mentioned they wanted to do the show for an older audience and to tackle complex issues, but corporate said no dice on it. It's that I'm wondering if I'm missing something in being judgmental, since Star has also frustrated me with season two's decisions. I'm not sure about the character development in Miraculous since Marinette remains spiteful and jealous if other girls hit on Adrien, and both Adrien doesn't seem to see what's in front of him.

I really can’t talk about Star vs. the Forces of Evil since that’s not a show I’ve watched or am interested in. Therefore, I really can’t offer commentary on it.

I do remember hearing something about how the PV for the 2D show was darker than what we have now (and also that Chat Noir was originally a character named Felix, who apparently was characterized more along the lines of being an asshole rather than the darling we have now), but at the same time I also feel like even though the show is lighter in tone than what was perhaps originally advertised, they still could handle more complex issues if they wanted to. I will say that I’ve now finished watching “Volpina” and part one of “Origins” (Netflix only has part two in English, for some reason, and I can’t watch it like that, so I’m holding out for French audio at some point down the line), I can definitely see that they’ve finally, finally planted some seeds for a more focused plot, what with the book on the Miraculous wielders and Marinette realizing that the Old Man who healed Tikki was in on the masquerade all along. So it seems as if season two might get a little less “Villain of the Week” … or we’ll have a re-hash of season one where we have a ton of Villains of the Week and only two or three episodes that are actually relevant to the overall plot, a la InuYasha. We’ll see. :/

As far as Marinette’s jealousy goes, I think we can excuse that to a degree because … well, she’s a human teenage girl. Even if she knows that being jealous has caused her to screw up before, she can’t help but feel jealousy when she sees that the boy she likes is potentially interested in / being hit on by someone else. Jealousy is a very human emotion, and when you’re young, it’s an especially hard one to wrangle and get control of. I think that Marinette is still young enough that she’s prone to impulsive actions, particularly when wrestling with a strong emotion like that, and as far as “Volpina” in specific goes, I think it’s important to note that it wasn’t just her jealousy over Adrien that caused her to act—it was also that Lila was lying in her name. “Antibug” established that Marinette has a distaste for liars (true, she also has a distaste for Chloe in general, but the lying did make her think even less of Chloe), and so Marinette having a compounded problem with both Lila’s lying and her jealousy over Adrien is what spurred her to act the way she did. It wasn’t right, and from an audience standpoint we could think, “Shouldn’t she have learned by now that this akumatizes people?” but when you think of it from the perspective of a young girl (who is either in junior high or high school, I honestly can’t tell), I think it’s forgivable that she might make the same mistake more than once. I mean, we’ve all made the same mistake more than once before, haven’t we? We’re only human.

And as far as Adrien’s obliviousness goes, I mean, it’s honestly a wonder that Adrien is as well-socalized as he is. He spent the majority of his life cooped up in the mansion and never had friends outside of Chloe before. I think it’s believable that he could mistake Marinette’s nervousness around him as Marinette simply being Marinette, and might think, “Oh, she just wants to be friends!” when she talks about wanting to spend time around him. Even without growing up sheltered, I think it’s hard sometimes to tell whether someone is into you or whether someone is just being friendly, and Adrien is the type of person who wouldn’t want to assume, I think. He doesn’t want to be an asshole, he doesn’t want to just assume that all girls are into him even though a great deal of them are.

Unless, of course, you’re talking about him not realizing that Marinette = Ladybug, but I honestly think we’re supposed to believe there’s some sort of magic filter going on. Besides, we could turn that around on anyone. How does no one notice who these two are, even when it comes to Marinette’s own parents? I really think that part of the magic of the Miraculouses is that they conceal their bearer’s identities, particularly since Plagg tells Adrien in Origins that no one else can know about it. If the Miraculouses are supposed to be a secret because of Reasons™, then it would make sense for them to have a built-in magical defense mechanism that sort of casts a Jedi mind trick on whoever the Miraculous wielder interacts with while in costume. Sort of a, “You’re looking right at me, but you still can’t see me” kind of thing. It’s the only real way to explain it.