#mlb derision analysis

[ijustliketoreadstuff]

Why it was different with Luka

Knowing what we know now from “Derision”, it makes sense why Marinette didn’t research Luka. Marinette already got to know who Luka was personally under normal means, and because he didn’t have any connection to Chloe, she didn’t need to be as cautious about him.

Back in “Silencer”, Luka had already proven himself to be more than trustworthy as he was someone who would not sit idly by as those with selfish intentions attempted to belittle and wrong her.

But what ultimately made Marinette realize that she did not need to fear a relationship with Luka, was learning that he was somehow always there for her when she had no one to turn to, such as in “Heart Hunter” when the stresses of both her hero and civilian life became to much for her to bare and prevented her from being more open about her struggles, who she was and how she felt. Somehow, Luka had a way of knowing when she was conflicted about something and would waste no time attempting to understand her and her situation before giving her advice no one else knew to give her, even being willing to take action if and when needed. 

Granted, their relationship couldn't work out due to personal matters, but the major difference between her relationship with Luka and Adrien, was that she already got to know who Luka was, but she was still getting to know who Adrien was behind his fame, his rich status, the image of perfection companies advertised him as, and most of all, his friendship with Chloe.

For Marinette, there were things about Adrien that she already knew, but there were also things about him she realized she never knew, such as in "Risk" when she discovered how much he actually hated his life as a model.

Although she and Adrien want to get to know each other better, it was the fear of the unknown that made her wonder if Adrien really was the kind person she thought he was, or if he was just pretending to be nice to her so he could catch her off guard later, like how she thought Kim was only nice to her in the beginning to go along with Chloe's plans later. Despite knowing Adrien loved her and would not intend to bring her any harm, there was still a part of her that couldn’t help but doubt it all and wonder if she was actually good enough for him, after all, if she wasn’t good enough for Kim to hold in higher regard than Chloe, the girl who he favored all along, then how could she be so sure that she was good enough for Adrien(the rich and famous model) to consider over the word of his childhood friend, who was also Chloe. 

Back in "Sand boy, when we discover Marinette's greatest Nightmares was learning that Adrien was in love with Chloe, we only ever assumed it was natural for Marinette to feel this way, but looking back on things now, her fear of Adrien being potentially in love with Chloe had stemmed from her hidden fears of reliving her past mistake of allowing herself to love someone else so easily without being more cautious.

 The level of trust Cat Noir built with Ladybug, is why Marinette was able to accept Adrien’s affection in “Ephemeral”, because no matter what Marinette feared, she was at least able to find comfort in knowing that Adrien really was always there for her and would always be there for her. But with the two of them together now, without knowing each others identities, things are different. Marinette needs time to accept that being with Adrien is nothing to fear, and Adrien in turn was more than willing to be with her through every step of the way.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous tales of ladybug and chat noir #tales of ladybug and cat noir #thomas astruc #ml s5 spoilers #mlb s5 spoilers #mlb s5 analysis #ml derision #mlb derision #ml derision analysis #mlb derision analysis #luka couffaine #ml viperion #marinette dupain cheng #ml ladybug #adrien agreste #ml cat noir #le chien kim #ml king monkey #chloe bourgeois #ml queen bee

[uptoolateart]

I've been saying for years that I think Marinette will wear her hair down when she truly gets together with Adrien. She had it down when he kissed her in Cat Blanc, he was mesmerised by it at the end of Season 3, etc, etc...and then we saw it in Derision.

She obviously copied the pigtails off Socqueline, out of admiration and maybe to channel her friend's power.

I commented before on Adrien's hair changing when he becomes Cat...and the total lack of hair when using the snake, which Thomas himself confirmed was because Adrien knew he was 'doing some bullshit'.

Hair is a classic personality symbol in film, TV, plays, etc. We read a lot into it, whether we're aware of it or not.

Maybe Marinette will wear her own hairstyle when she wholly accepts herself.

#ml derision #mlb derision #ml s5 spoilers #ml s5 #mlb s5 spoilers #mlb s5 #ml spoilers #ml speculation #ml analysis #ml theory #ml marinette #Hair symbolism #ml fandom #marinette dupain cheng

[wield-the-mighty-pen]

For all the people who say that it doesn’t make sense that Marinette easily started a relationship with Adrien in “Chat Blanc” but is having a lot of trouble now in season 5, I think they need to take into account that Marinette has had two failed attempts at relationships since then. 

I think it’s important to note that while the negative experience and trauma Marinette received from Chloe and Kim, had an impact on her future relationships, and it did have an impact earlier in the show (as we can see from her interactions with Adrien going back to season one), this was also compounded by her experience with Luka and Chat Noir.

In other words, yes her experience with Kim gave her trauma and fears for starting a relationship with Adrien, but this trauma was then reinforced not once, but twice. She was fooled and humiliated with a boy she thought she knew, but then this became a repeated pattern in her love life. 

Marinette opened herself up to Luka and watched as that relationship crumbled almost immediately. Marinette fell in love with Chat Noir and took the initiative both by trying to confess as Ladybug and kissing him as Marinette, and in both instances she was rejected. Although both of these failed attempts were due to circumstances beyond her or Luke/Chat Noir’s control, it doesn’t matter, her brain registers them as a failure, and Marinette expresses this feeling best herself in Kwami’s Choice.

The truth is that the stage that she is at with Adrien, the fact that she is even willing to try with him despite her past failures, is a marker of her personal resilience and optimist.

In short, It does make sense that there is a difference in Marinette’s relationship with Adrien between now and “Chat Blanc”, simply because she and the experiences that she has gone through have changed.

#idk but this has always made sense to me #its a behavioral process here complete with reinforcement #marinette is such a fun character to analyze #and of course i am taking a break from studying about trauma to instead be writing about trauma #yep that makes sense #really good break idea #ml analysis #ml meta #marinette dupain cheng #adrinette #ml season 5 #ml season 5 spoilers #ml chat blanc #ml derision #ml transmission #ml kwamis choice #miraculous ladybug #ml #miraculous #mlb #ml leak free #miraculeakless

[kiarabanetmi]

Chloe’s Arc vs Felix’s Arc

Chloe and Felix share many similarities as characters and yet their stories have completely different outcomes and I want to try and analyze why. I think both of them share similar stories with different outcomes to show how different actions taken by similar people can have drastically different results

On a surface level it may seem like Felix and Chloe aren’t similar, and yes they do have many differences between them that make them different people entirely, but they both have many of the same types of background and suffered similar kinds of abuse and developed negative mindsets about the world because of it

They are both rich children both to influential families that shaped their lives. Each of them had an abusive parent but in different ways: Chloe’s mother abandoned her and her father indulged her bad behavior to avoid being abused himself. Felix’s father abused Felix mentally and emotionally and even Physically since he would use Felix’s miraculous to control what he what physically couldn’t and couldn’t do. We don’t know about how his mother raised him, but I saw an interesting post on Twitter analyzing a moment from the play Felix and Kagami did (it’s linked somewhere on Twitter but I’m having trouble finding it so I can’t give credit where it’s due). The bunny that Felix holds at one point is supposed to represent Felix’s mother (there’s a screenshot somewhere of Amelie wearing a rabbit mask) and the moment where the arm is torn represents that his father abused her as well. This may have caused her to be indulgent of her son to try and make him happy, especially after her husband died, since they were both finally free of his abuse and cruelty

They both have incredible power and financial means as well as a warped view of the world due to their upbringing. Chloe sees everyone as beneath her cause that’s how she feels better about herself and how her mother acted and encouraged Chloe to act when she was actually around. Felix suffered abuse from someone who had power over him, developing a cold and closed off personality, putting others down as well, unwilling to allow himself to open himself up to be used and abused again, causing him to look down on others cause he was trying to protect himself (and his mother).

They also both tried to Sabotage Adrien’s relationship’s at some point too. Chloe tried so she could have Adrien, her “prince,” all to herself and could torture Marinette; Felix did this for unknown reasons but I hypothesize it was a combination of trying to get HawkMoth’s attention by making Adrien’s friends angry enough to be akumatized and out of jealousy that Adrien seemed to have loving friends. Or maybe in his head he also thought he was protecting Adrien from people who were just out to use him rather than actually cared about him, since he never really had any friends of his own and couldn’t believe they were genuine (but that’s my own headcannon, there’s no proof of it).

Adrien also both gave them second chances. In Chloe’s case, it started in Season 2 in Despair Bear. Then later in Derision after he learned the Hell she put Marinette through the years before in school (we’ll come back to that one in a bit). In Felix’s debut episode, Adrien did confront him on what he did, and forgave Felix when he apologized, but only after he made it clear that what Felix did was NOT OK and would not forgive him if he did it again.

Here’s where their story lines start to divulge: what they do after Adrien calls each of them out. They both take different routes. Chloe still bullied Marinette’s and the others and tries to keep Adrien to herself (which really only actively starts up again after the Season 3 finale). In the season 4 episode Gabriel Agreste, she plans to reveal to Gabriel the classes attempts to help Adrien escape his home (and by extension reveal Marinette’s feelings) so he’ll take Adrien of school and make sure only she can visit him. In that very same episode Felix comes back.

Now, on the surface, it seems like Felix hasn’t changed. He’s cold and closed off, gives Gabriel a fake ring back, makes fun of Chloe and avoids interacting with everyone else, including Kagami. But here’s the thing no one notices: he’s not actively trying to sabotage Adrien’s relationships this episode. When he and Kagami are alone in the room, he doesn’t say anything to try and manipulate her, not try to make Adrien look bad. Granted, he probably had more important things on his mind, investigating Gabriel, but it’s still a small improvement. Then there’s the BIG moment in the episode where Gabriel tries to trick Felix and akumatize him: Felix flat out REJECTS it.

This is significant for two reasons: at this point in the timeline, this is only the third time we’ve seen a character actually reject an akumatization based on will alone. The first, funnily enough, was Chloe back in season 3, Miraculer. She refused to be Akumatized and manipulated to try and be better per Ladybug’s advice. The second person to do it was Alya in Gang of Secrets earlier in season 4. Felix (at this point) is only the third character to do this. That’s huge

The second reason is he outright refused to be akumatized at all, rejecting any power offer. In his debut episode, it seemed like he wanted to work with HawkMoth, but here he’s not. Outright refused powers from someone who can literally give them. (Side note, Gabriel is also threatening Felix’s life here by threatening to make him disappear, since he had the peacock miraculous repaired now, and I have a theory as to why it broke in the first place). In the previous episode Queen Banana, Chloe even had a conversation with HawkMoth and readily accepted; showing she was no longer just being manipulated when the butterfly came into contact with her. She could have rejected it (and later did in Penalteam), but still accepted the power. Felix didn’t at all. So we start to think, maybe Felix isn’t that bad? Maybe he’s better than Chloe right?

Then he went and betrayed Ladybug and gave Gabriel all the miraculous in exchange for the Peacock. He didn’t care about the people he hurt or betrayed or doomed in pursuit of his own goals, getting his hand on the Peacock miraculous. Chloe, in similar fashion, wanted the Bee Miraculous back, and allied with HawkMoth when he offered it to her in the season 3 finale. And even in his small scene in season 5 episode 2, when he shows up and his mom is shown to have lies to Ladybug and Cat Noir to protect (or enable) her son, our suspicions about his motives and allegiances are confirmed true.

So far, his story is like Chloe’s: a rich, spoiled kid with an abusive parent (father) and the other parent as an enabler, looking down on everyone not at his level, acting cruel for the sake of it,, working with Hawkmoth to get their hands on a miraculous, and not regretting any of his bad choices and acting in his own self interest without caring about how it impacts others around him.

Let’s head back to Chloe for a second since we’ve focused on Felix and there’s a gap between his appearances in season 5. In the episode Derision, Adrien finally learns the true extent of the torture she put a Marinette through. He may not have heard about the smaller stuff from Kim, like leaving bugs in her locker and paint on her seats, but he learned of the horrendous “prank” she and Kim pulled on Marinette and immediately was furious. I mean, he tried to Cataclysm Kim’s face a few minutes later (I don’t blame him).

Adrien finally learned the true extent of Chloe’s cruelty and evil. So he decides to give her one last chance. He tells her to apologize cause he believes she can change. And she’s shown she’s capable of it. But this time, instead of trying to plead his forgiveness, she just laughs in his face now. She refuses to try being good anymore and outright tells Adrien, her “Prince”, the boy she always called her friend and seemed to care for one some real level, wrong and tries to convince him that she is better. She’s completely given up on any semblance of trying to good, or even just acting like she’s doing it to lease Adrien anymore. She’s done. She’s revealed her true colors to him. And Adrien is done with her. She’s not even sad about it anymore, just angry and annoyed that he betrayed her.

We see here that even though it seemed like she did care about Adrien enough to try and change or be better, she no longer does. Maybe she never did. She still sees him as some sort of prop or tool or prize that she deserves. Now let’s head back to Felix and the episode Emotion and how it displays both Felix’s growth and Chloe’s regression

***note, I have a full post on Felix and his actions in the episode Emption as well if you want to read it

Emotion happens and we see the true differences between the characters, and we learn more about Felix here too. Until now it seems like Felix has his own sinister reasons for allying with HawkMoth and is nothing but a male version of Chloe. But we see the differences here now. He tries to talk to Kagami (posing as Adrien) and doesn’t try to ruin their relationship, in fact apologizing when Kagami tells him that since they’re no longer dating the hand kiss was too far (learning about consent is good young man, but you still have to apologize to Ldybug!). He even tries to bond with her. Meanwhile Chloe had unwittingly “befriended” Marinette at the party and insists on showing her around, bragging about servants and robots and money and the like. Then the King and Queen are supposed to dance.

When Marinette reveals herself to them, you can see the differences in their characters in the ways they react. Marinette gives “Adrien” a heartfelt speech, saying she loves him, how she understands why he didn’t tell her about the dance and isn’t mad or betrayed, how she understands his father is forcing hot to do this and doesn’t blame him, and that she trusts him and loves him no matter what. Chloe is obsessed with the fact the baker girl broke into the dance, wanting her kicked out immediately. Felix by contrast is shocked, and then smiles and dances with her. He’s still acting as Adrien so it could be a cover, but I think he was genuinely loved by her words. Until now he’s never interacted with someone who honest, even if it would get them in trouble or hurt them. When Marinette starts getting self conscious and saying they think she’s a monster, he gets angry and says that they are the monsters.

Then Chloe gets so mad that she outright attacks Marinette and Felix then reveals himself. He starts snapping everyone away, but doesn’t do so with Marinette. He takes her away and hides her rather than just snapping her away for later. He doesn’t want to hurt someone who genuinely cares for his cousin. Then after he snaps the rest of the world away except for himself and Kagami (and be believed Marinette) he brings Adrien back and is overjoyed! He is happy cause he thinks he freed them and wants to have them all live together and be free and happy, (like he never was with his father)

Now we see there’s more to him that a cruel Chloe copy: he wants to help those he cares but is INCREDIBLY misguided, he thinks the only way he can think to help is to take the extreme and completely cut off anyone else who they don’t know or could possibly hurt them in the future, that there’s no one else good in the world except for Adrien and his mother (then later Kagami and Marinette). And we also see him regret his actions when he hurt the people he cared about. When he couldn’t bring back Marinette, he panicked and brought back everyone cause he didn’t want to hurt Adrien.

This is another Major difference between Chloe and Felix. Felix’s actions are also undoubtedly selfish and cruel (snapping away the entire world? Damn), but beneath that there’s a twisted and warped sense of protection and care behind it. He did it to save his loved ones. He was incredibly wrong in his approach and actions, but he seemed to genuinely want to help. And when Adrien called him out on it and how he was out of control and actually hurting people and him with his powers, Felix immediately stopped. He could have ignored it and snapped him and Kagami away, living alone in his free world, but he didn’t. By contrast, in the episode Revolution, Chloe gets similar powers to send people away, and when Adrien calls her on it she just sends him away too, without a second thought. Lila didn’t even need to say anything to convince Chloe to do it, that’s how little she cares about Adrien.

And their differences don’t stop at Emotion and how they use similar powers. They continue for the rest of their individual appearances in Season 5.

After the Diamond Dance and Felix snaps away Red Moon, he could have stopped there. After this failure and hearing his mother agree with his sentiments about how cruel everyone else in the world is (his mother being someone he loves and looks up, who is now validating his original beliefs), he could have just stopped right there. Instead, after that, he took an interest in Kagami, and also still tried to look out for/after Adrien. Remember, in the Season 3 finale, ladybug also tried to reach out to Chloe again after she made that mistake, and Chloe outright refused to apologize and turned against Ladybug fully. Felix ended up listening to Ladybug in the end, when she told him winning isn’t always what you want, or something like that. He did end up taking her advice.

Then when he saw Kagami being abused emotionally and verbally by her mother (one step forward, one step back; STALKING IS NOT OK YOUNG MAN), he noted how horrible it was and immediately acted to stop it. He kidnapped her and took her away (bad reaction, make that two steps back), but here he’s genuinely trying to do good. He’s actively trying to change. Kagami even calls him out on his stalking and kidnapping, and he apologizes and explains he didn’t know what else to do cause he knows what it’s like to be abused. Chloe would’ve just laughed at Kagami’s plight: Adrien’s “perfect” friend and ex girlfriend isn’t so perfect and her mother thinks she’s ridiculous too? She would find that utterly amazing and laughable.

Throughout the rest of the episode, Felix’s only plan is to protect Kagami, and even Ladybug and Chat Noir realize this when Kagami tells them so. He doesn’t try to fight them anymore and leaves.

Then through Lila’s manipulations and schemes, Chloe becomes mayor of Paris, and again ally’s with Monarch to gain powers for herself. She’s back to her old tricks, and this time is completely unrestrained by her former attachments to Adrien. One last time, she could have turned him down, but in the end she didn’t. This final choice is the metaphorical nail in Chloe’s coffin.

**I have another link where I try to analyze Chloe’s fall from grace and the reason her story ended the way it did

That’s a fundamental difference between these two characters which such similar backgrounds: it’s how they react to what they did and react to their mistakes and other people calling them out on their actions

Chloe never truly cared that she hurt Adrien despite him being “precious” to her, she never truly accepted responsibility except for that one time with Maledictator, and in the end didn’t see how her mother treated her as wrong. And when being good wasn’t as easy or rewarding as she wanted it to be, she stopped trying.

She found that being cruel and mean was easier for her and more immediately rewarding, so she took the easy way. It’s not that difficult to expect, especially the way she was raised: with a snobby, absentee mother, a weak willed father, and all the power of the city at her beck and call. It takes a lot of strength, will, and determination to try and break that cycle, especially as a kid. We see she’s capable but it’s hard for her to stay the course of good. All we can hope for is one day she’ll see the error of her ways AND get the help she desperately needs to get her out of abusive home and able to learn healthier and kinder ways to live

By contrast, Felix did realize the error of his ways and actively began to try changing, even though it was really hard. No one trusted him, especially not ladybug or Kagami or Adrien, but he still wanted to try. And he did. When confronted by Ladybug and Car Noir again, he didn’t try to fight them, only intending to protect Kagami. When Kagami told him off and what he was doing wrong he apologized and explained himself and what he was trying to do. He also worked to give her freedom again. Being good is not easy for him either, especially with how often he was hurt and abused when he was young, but he’s trying to be better here, and sees that even though it’s hard work, he’s willing to do it. Hopefully he stays on this path.

#mlb season five #mlb season 5 #mlb season 5 spoilers #mlb chloe #mlb felix #chloe bourgeois #felix fathom #mlb s4 #character analysis #mlb risk #mlb strike back #mlb derision #mlp multiplication #mlb emotion #mlb revolution #mlb representation #mlb gabriel

[ijustliketoreadstuff]

Adrien’s friendship with Chloe

As we know, Adrien has previously attempted to confront Chloe about her behavior and misdeeds, but unlike the previous times, his confrontation in “Derision” was different, why?, because everything was different .

At the start of the series, Adrien could not easily accept the idea of Chloe being as bad as everyone said she was, after all, they didn't know her like he did, they didn’t have the bond they shared, and so no matter what he saw Chloe say or do, he could never forget the years they spent together as children. They had a history together, a more positive view of one another which could not be easily set aside, and so to Adrien, this lighter side of Chloe was simply a part of her others did not yet have the chance to see

Adrien had a lifelong friendship with Chloe, unfortunately, it was precisely their friendship which left him no other choice but to use to his advantage in a desperate attempt to make Chloe understand the boundaries he was now willing to set between them. Not only to try and put a halt to her actions, but also reveal to her that there was only so much he could bare to watch her do, before he decided for himself that a friendship with her may not be worth upholding. Something which pained him to say to her in situations such as “Despair bear” and “Queen Banana”, but was a possibility he had no other choice but to consider. After all, the people Chloe acted against, were not just strangers, they were his friends, his schoolmates ,they were good people, all of whom had done nothing to deserve the unfair treatment she continued to give them. But regardless of the situation, Adrien was still willing to be compassionate towards Chloe, vouching for her when needed if anyone doubted her in the most important of situations.

(Adrien tries to vouch for Chloe in “Despair Bear”, attempting to convince everyone that Chloe can also have good intentions and her party is nothing to be suspicious about)

(Cat Noir tries to vouch for Chloe in “Antibug” as he realizes Chloe really was trying to help)

No matter how much others would detest Chloe, Adrien could never accept people telling him Chloe was nothing but useless and cruel, because to him, no one was useless, not even Chloe given the years they spent together as children when he was isolated from the rest of the world. Adrien wanted to believe Chloe could change if she had a little help and support in finding the right path to follow, he wanted to believe that no matter what others thought, she was still the same girl he grew up with and cared for, but much to Adrien's dismay, Chloe had different plans and different choices in mind.

(in “Malediktator”, Adrien explains to Marinette why he does not approve of everyone celebrating Chloe’s departure, believing she is not useless given she was the only good friend he had in his life growing up)

Over the course of the series, Adrien saw Chloe have her moments where she would say and do the right thing, and much like Marinette, Adrien had faith Chloe would strive to improve herself now that she had obtained everything they had hoped would help her realize following a path of change would produce better results in her life. But sadly, those moments they saw Chloe experience would all be taken a step back time and again as they watched her continue to find joy in her old ways, not only forgetting everything she had experienced, but also ignoring the people who were willing to be kind to her and offer her another chance. This loop of faith and disappointment repeated itself, and yet despite this, Adrien still could not bare to officially end things between them, even when she pushed him away in "Queen Banana". However, all this came to an end in “Derision”, when Adrien discovered the true extent of Chloe’s actions and the views she had of the world around her.

(Near the end of “Despair Bear”, “Zombizou”, etc. Adrien watches on as Chloe reverts back to her old ways)

Adrien promised Chloe back in “Despair bear” they would be friends forever as she proved to everyone she could indeed be kind to others, but being kind was something Adrien had inevitably accepted was only a brief moment with her and nothing more. Experiences he felt would help guide her to a better path, were quickly left in the past the moment she realized things could once again return to her favor. And as much as he had hoped her being given a second chance to be Queen Bee would help tip the odds in Chloe realizing she needed to abandon her old ways, to his disappointment, the path Chloe chose for herself did not revolve around selflessness and the lessons she learned with them as heroes, but rather the privileges she believed she was entitled to as a result of her new found title (more here)

Near the end of “Derision”, as Adrien saw Kim accept the error of his ways and apologized to Marinette for the things he had done(more here), he thought of Chloe and what she could do for herself by being offered yet another chance. However, unlike his previous attempts to confront Chloe, this was different, because now, it was no longer just an attempt to confront her, it was a moment of truth. Adrien needed to know once and for all if Chloe was truly the person he always thought she was, and yet despite his attempts to offer Chloe the chance to apologize to Marinette and prove to everyone she always had the honest intention to change, in the end, she refused. Revealing to Adrien the one thing he never wanted to accept but could no longer ignore, Chloe did not want to change who she was. Adrien understood Chloe was perfectly capable of changing just as much as anyone, but despite her experiences, despite the consequences, despite the opportunities and despite the people who were willing to reach out to her, Chloe refused to live a life where she couldn't prioritize herself and be prioritized by others.

(In “Queen Banana”, Adrien attempts to help Chloe understand she has done wrong and suggests she make amends for it by first apologizing to the group. However, the more Chloe had attempted to prioritize herself in situations, regardless of how unfair and unjust it was, the more she pushed Adrien away.)

Adrien grew up with Chloe, but this bond they shared was no longer the same child like friendship they grew up with, they were older now, their views of each other changed, and with the two of them now expecting widely different things from one another, it was in “Derision” that the two of them discovered just how different the paths they chose for themselves truly were.

The person Adrien viewed Chloe as, was the person he wished she would inevitably become if he continued to stick by her side, but his hopes of who Chloe could become were his alone, a reflection of what he believed his kindness and efforts could make way to if he held on just a little longer, supported her just a little further, but this change he hoped for Chloe, was not for him to decide, it was Chloe’s, but she didn't want it if it meant living without the luxuries and privileges she had grown accustomed to, privileges which  included tormenting others she believed were simply beneath her.

As Adrien heard Chloe proclaim those of their status had every right to torment others like Marinette for their own amusement and that a romantic love life was something he owed to her alone, he understood that no matter what he said to her, she found no fault in her way of living despite being aware it was morally frowned upon by him and others. Despite knowing she would risk loosing her friendship with him over continuing to prioritize her selfish ways, over time, it didn't matter, because to her, Adrian was the one in the wrong for not abiding by the rules she believed were set for people like them, and for not accepting the romantic future she believed was predestined for them to live out together.

As Chloe refused to listen and understand Adrien’s reasoning about the reality of her actions, Adrien began to reflect on everything he knew about her, everything he had seen along side her, and everything he had experienced in the world away from her, and in the end, he understood it only mattered to him, but not to her.

(Adrien accepts he was wrong about Chloe)

 It didn’t matter if he and Chloe had known each other since childhood, it didn’t matter what he knew about her that made him feel sympathetic and empathetic towards her, and it didn’t matter what bond they use to share, let alone what his hopes were for her, because all in all, he still had his boundaries and so did everyone else, but it was Chloe who was willing to break the boundaries of what was morally and ethically right time and time again, with little to no remorse, and for this, Adrien had decided to end things between them, not just for Marinette’s sake, but for himself as he refused to continue maintaining an unhealthy friendship with someone who cared only for themselves and found joy in hurting others, and if this meant he would now be considered a traitor through Chloe’s eyes, then so be it.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous tales of ladybug and chat noir #tales of ladybug and cat noir #thomas astruc #ml s5 spoilers #mlb s5 spoilers #ml derision analysis #ml derision #mlb derision #marinette dupain cheng #ml ladybug #cat noir #ml cat noir #chloe bourgeois #ml queen bee #ml fandom #mlb twitter #mlb analysis #ml analysis #mlb derision analysis

[ijustliketoreadstuff]

Adrien was done with Chloe and Lila.

In "Protection", as Lila lies to Kagami, she makes up the lie about experiencing a tragic heartbreak in a previous romantic relationship she once had, saying that the boy she once loved had made the decision to no longer see her. Lila has lied about many things and although we know Lila is lying to Kagami about a past romantic relationship, it's not uncommon for some of her lies to end up being twisted versions of reality.

The "boy" Lila is talking about who left her in so much pain, is obviously Adrien since he is the only boy she has had eyes for since her first introduction in "Volpina". So, perhaps something did happened between her and Adrien, and that something might have occurred not long after Adrien made the decision to end his friendship with Chloe back in "Derision"

In "Derision", as Adrien silently walked away from Chloe, a lot of things must have been running through his mind as he thought about everything in his life and the life he had with Chloe (more here), but among those thoughts, he might have also begun questioning the one other thing that reminded him of his decision to end a friendship with someone, and that was his reasoning for staying friends with the only other person he knew would, and did, hurt the people he loved, Lila.

At the start of the series, Adrien had made attempts to be patient with Lila and her deceitful nature, why? Because no matter how much of a liar Adrien realized Lila was, after learning she was not a descendent of a superhero or saved by Ladybug, part of him could not help but hope that maybe Lila could eventually come around and realize her lies would not give her the life she wanted and would eventually turn others against her rather than give her the connections he thought she was searching for, to give her the love and attention he thought she needed. To Adrien, Lila had the potential to be good just as much as anyone, but she would never learn to be good so long as there were others who would attempt to expose her and humiliate her in front of others. 

(in "Chameleon", Adrien questions Marinette if her attempts to expose Lila in front of everyone was a good idea as doing so would only humiliate and hurt Lila more, pushing her away from following a better path for herself.)

Adrien remembered the way Lila reacted when Ladybug exposed her back in "Volpina", to see Lila cry the way she did after being humiliated made him feel a sense of sympathy as he determined Lila was nothing more than someone who craved attention. 

(Adrien explains his views of Lila in "Oni-chan", believing she was not dangerous and only craved attention)

At the start, Adrien genuinely believed Lila was not dangerous and just needed someone to trust and confide in, someone who would be willing to offer her a helping hand and be that person she could rely on, and he for one was more than willing to be up for the task so long as she was willing to be honest with him. However, over time, Adrien would learn just how dangerous Lila was, the more he saw the full extent of her lies, but more than anything, Adrien would also learn how his kindness for her fooled him into believing she was someone else entirely.

  In "Oni-chan", Adrien did not appreciate Lila deceiving Nathalie and his bodyguard as he knew they would suffer consequences from his father, but despite this, he would later feel hopeful in seeing Lila show a sense of (fake)vulnerability as she clung to Ladybug and expressed how she understood heroes like them were only trying to help her, but it was precisely this moment of potential good that led Adrien to build his understanding of Lila and further imagine the type of person she was, as well as what she could do for herself in the future.

To see Lila have a more positive attitude towards Ladybug amidst Oni-chan's relentless pursuit, was more than enough for him to believe that Lila was coming around and learning that she could rely on others if she was willing to set aside her ways and open up as a more truthful person, that she really was just a girl who needed a little kindness and guidance her way.

(In "Oni-chan", Cat Noir really thought Lila was coming around to accepting Ladybug, a sign that Lila had made steps to being a better person)

Unfortunately, through that one little moment of watching Lila express a sense of "good", Adrien formed a positive view of Lila which had blinded him to the reality of her deceit, all the while he was amidst a fight against Oni-chan. Ladybug knew what Lila was capable of, she knew how much Lila could deceive others because Lila told her in "Chameleon" just how far she was willing to go to ruin another person's life if they did not fall under the line she had set and let her continue to live out the life she had built around her lies.

(Marinette/Ladybug saw Lila for who she was, a bad person).

Adrien on the other hand, could not see the same truth Ladybug saw because it was in his nature to see the good in everyone, to love everyone just as much as they were willing to love him, but the good he believed he saw in Lila was something he wanted to believe Lila would prioritize for herself, however, Lila had no such plans to do so regardless of understanding the harm her lies could cause.

(Lila is perfectly aware of her actions and the lies she is telling other people )

Still, regardless of what Lila did during "Oni-chan" and "Ladybug", Adrien was still not willing to end their friendship, why? Because no matter how cruel Lila appeared to be, Adrien did not have the heart to leave someone, not when he still held out hope that things could change for the better, which is why he didn't officially end his friendship with Chloe back in "Queen Banana", even after he watched her continued cruel actions towards the others over the year.

(Despite their actions in "Ladybug" and "Queen Banana", Adrien could not bring himself to end his friendship with Lila and Chloe and only reminded them of the possibility of doing so if they did not fix what they caused and stopped their ways. Regardless if they did or didn’t, he held out hope they would listen to him and do as he asked, because they we’re friends)

And yet, in some ways, it was as if Adrien thought he understood Lila and her desperation for attention from others, because he too had experienced life where he was all alone and in desperate need of others' attention. Adrien grew up being isolated from the rest of the world, devoid of interacting with others his age. 

Sure, he had Chloe growing up, but it was precisely his experience in having just one person in his life to talk to that made him believe it would be all the difference in others like Lila who had no one. However, to Adrien, it would also be all the more painful if Lila ever lost someone like him who was willing to listen to her. After he became Cat Noir, Adrien even understood what it was like living a life surrounded by lies, lies he knew would hurt him and the good people around him, but was something he would not need to continue in the future if he found ways to improved things for himself, and so odds are, Adrien thought Lila felt the same way, but as we all know, she didn't.

Much like Chloe, Adrien believed Lila's toxic behavior was temporary, that somehow, he could help change her. Adrien never stopped trying to hold out hope that Lila would eventually realize the harm she was causing and learn to make positive changes, all things he had also thought of when it came to facing Chloe. But the more Adrien saw Chloe and Lila continue to fall back into their ways, the more he began to question Lila and Chloe, their actions and whether or not they actually wanted to hold true to their word, to their apologies, as well as their promises and commit to the hard work and sacrifice of bettering themselves, but more than that, Adrien had to question whether or not his kindness and loyalty actually meant anything to them. 

After learning the full extent to Chloe's bullying in "Derision" and knowing that Lila had already succeeded in ruining Marinette's life and reputation in "Ladybug", Adrien had to face the cruel reality of his friendship with Lila and Chloe, as well as his attempts to salvage his friendship with them, time and time again, and the reality of it all was that his friendship with the two of them was not like the friendships he had with the others, it had become toxic and one sided. 

Things he believed Lila and Chloe would never do, were things he would not do himself and only assumed others had the good sense to do the same, but Lila and Chloe had every intention to continue doing what they did, why? Because they did not see the world the same way Adrien did, and to them, they were entitled to more than others and felt justified for much of what they did. 

Adrien had tried to understand how Lila and Chloe felt and thought, but in many ways, those thoughts and feelings were his, not theirs. He tried to find the reason behind their actions, but in many ways, he believed their reasons would be the same as his if he was in their position, but they weren't, their reasons were their own and they took joy for much of what they did, even when they knew it was not morally right in the eyes of others like Adrien.

In the end, as Adrien faced Chloe in Derision and heard her talk about her views of the world (more here), he did not give the same approach he would always give, because for the first time in a long time, Adrien did not see Chloe through his eyes, he saw Chloe through her eyes and understood that no matter what his hopes and expectations were, no matter what opportunities he and others were willing to offer and no matter how much time and dedication he was willing to give, he could not expect another person to decide the path he believed was best for them, they had to decide for themselves if they would take it, and that is exactly what he had to think about when it came to Lila, he had to look at Lila through her own eyes and understand her for who she was, not who he had imagined she would become if he stayed with her long enough.

In one little moment with Chloe in "Derision", Adrien knew he had a choice to make, should he allow one sided friendships with people like Chloe and Lila to continue? To live a life where he would only have brief moments of hope over the possibility that maybe the two could one day give up their ways, as he continued to watch from the sidelines knowing they felt they were entitled to hurt Marinette and others the moment they did something again, OR set his boundaries and stick to them, say enough was enough.

Adrien told Chloe as far back as "Despair bear" that he could not be friends with someone who was cruel to others, he told Lila as far back as "Oni-chan" that she could always rely on him as a friend, but not if she hurt the people he loved.

The day Adrien ended his friendship with Chloe, was likely the day he also decided to end his friendship with Lila, he was done with both of them as he understood that although anyone can change, not everyone wanted to, some people are who they are, and not even he could change that.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous tales of ladybug and chat noir #tales of ladybug and cat noir #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng #mlb ladybug #thomas astruc #cat noir #mlb s5 spoilers #mlb protection #mlb protection analysis #ml protection analysis #lila rossi #chloe bourgeois #ml volpina #ml queen bee #mlb derision analysis #ml s5 analysis #mlb s5 analysis

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Kim chose differently

At the start of the series, Kim’s behavior was noted to be insensitive as he was seen making fun of Ivan for not being able to confess to Mylene back in “Origins part 1”, aiding and siding with Chloe against Alya back in “Lady Wifi”, ridiculing the zookeeper and his panther in “Animan”, etc. (more here) Now, although Kim did express less and less of this behavior as the series progressed, we never actually saw him being confronted about it, even more so was that we never truly saw him look back on his mistakes when situations escalated against him. 

(Kim begs for help as he tries to hide from Animan, never looking back on why he was being pursued) 

In “Derision”,  Kim is finally faced with the reality of his behavior, and it is here where we realize Kim was all in all oblivious to the consequences of the things he says and does, as we not only witness him proclaim his admiration for Chloe’s beauty and sense of humor in front of his girlfriend Ondine, but also finding no fault in the cruel prank he helped carry out with Chloe the year before that humiliated and traumatized Marinette. 

When Ondine shows great disappointment in Kim’s insensitivity and begins informing him of the wrong in both his behavior and actions, Kim is unwilling to be compliant about the situation as he genuinely believed he was not doing anything wrong by simply performing pranks and making jokes, why? because to him, it was only natural to assume everyone around him would share his sense of humor and find his actions just as funny as he did. Up to now, Kim has had the liberty of saying whatever he wanted and doing whatever he felt like, without anyone confronting him about his behavior. 

So to Kim, Ondine wasn’t helping, she was threatening his free spirit, restricting him from speaking his mind and limiting what he could do. Hearing others tell him it wasn’t good to be himself, was an insult to him and his way of life. As a result, through his mind alone, Kim was willing to believe there was no fault with him, everyone else was just in the wrong for not attempting to share his sense of humor and were unwilling to understand that his actions(through his eyes alone) were only ever meant to be " just a joke". However, what ultimately makes Kim reevaluate himself, was coming to terms with what led him to be akumatized into Dark Humor in the first place. Near the end of “Derision”, when Kim is once again faced with the same conversation over his behavior, he looks at the charm Ladybug gave him and is reminded of the little words of wisdom he left her, “May it help you avoid making the same mistakes again”. 

Although Kim was originally angry over Ondine’s words the first time, he understood it was his unwillingness to listen that caused him to be akumatized. Rather than make the same mistake again, Kim decided to take the time to really think about exactly what Ondine was trying to tell him and figure out if what she was saying was true or not, and sure enough, he realized she was right. 

Ondine told him he does awful things even when he isn’t akumatized, and despite him not knowing whether or not his jokes would actually hurt someone, it was no excuse, because although he believed such jokes would be just as entertaining to everyone as it was to him, the fact of the matter was that his jokes were not always morally right. In one little moment, everything he had said and done in his life came flooding back all at once, and for the first time, Kim took the time to really think about what it was like being in the position of those who suffered the pain of his jokes, and thought about what Marinette had to go through as the person she liked not only humiliated her, but broke her heart, a feeling Kim had likely realized he was all to familiar with the day he had attempted to express his own affection to a girl he liked, that girl being of course, Chloe. 

Chloe told him the year before that if you like a girl you should get on one knee, compliment her and give her jewelry, and as we all saw in “Dark Cupid”, that’s exactly what he attempted to do with her when he tried to ask her to be his valentine. The results were of course disastrous as Kim realized he was not only rejected, but humiliated as Chloe took an embarrassing picture of him and shared it with the entire school as a joke. It didn’t matter if Chloe did or didn’t know her little joke would hurt him, the pain was still all to real for him. 

Kim said in the beginning of “Derision” that he is the way he is and he likes it, he had no intention of giving up what he believed was simply a part of who he was, but upon realizing the true pain his sense of humor had inflicted onto the people around him, Kim was willing to accept that living a life where he would continue to hurt others over his jokes for his own amusement, was simply not a way of life he wanted to continue upholding.

Back in “Syren”, when Kim expressed his admiration for the heroes, he explained to Ondine just how much he wanted to be just like them, but because he had no real powers of his own or any way of knowing how to train to be a superhero, Kim decided to instead uphold his life as someone who would help others in his day to day life, just as any hero would. 

In “Party Crasher”, when Kim helped master Fu, Kim explained that he believed being selfless and helping others was something that should be as natural a reflex as it was for fish who would swim in the waters. It was Kim’s aspirations and drive to be selfless that made master Fu decide to entrust him with the powers of the monkey miraculous.

And so, as Kim was faced with the reality of his behavior near the end of “Derision”, the choice was left to him to either continue living as he was, regardless of what others thought of him, and expect others to abide by his views of the world and his sense of humor, or set aside his pride and accept the truth about himself, that he had committed wrong to not just one person, but to many good people. 

Kim ultimately chose to commit himself to changing by making the effort to reevaluate himself and be willing to sacrifice the part of his sense of humor he now realized was never morally correct, not just for the sake of the good people around him, but for himself as he strived to become the hero he always wanted to be. Kim understood he had a lot to make amends for, and although he knew a sincere apology would not erase everything he had done, it was more than enough to let Marinette feel willing to set aside their past and give him another chance to better himself.

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Why Sabine and Tom couldn’t do anything for Marinette

Over the course of the series, most notably in “Were dad” and “Dearest family”, its been made clear that Sabine and Tom are very protective of their daughter, but after we realized the full extent of what Marinette had to go through at school in the years prior, we discover that much like how Marinette had trouble living her day to day life being bullied by Chloe, it was Marinette's parents, Sabine and Tom, who also had the unbearable struggle of not being able to protect their daughter. Sabine and Tom knew Chloe was giving their daughter a hard time, but odds are, this was all Marinette would let them know. Kids tend to live completely different lives at school and outside of home( Lila being the biggest and most extreme example), and although Marinette knows her parents only ever had the best interest for her and would want to help, she couldn’t afford to let them so long as Chloe had the power to not only threaten and fire the teachers at school by using Andre’s power as mayor to her own advantage, but also interfere with other peoples careers and businesses outside of school, just as we saw her do with Clara in “Frightingale”, and Veronique in “Determination”.

For her families sake, Marinette understood that what she was going through, was something she could not afford to let her parents get involved in to much, as it would only risk worsening the situation for all of them. Her only solution to her problem at the time, was to somehow make it to the end of the school year and hope Chloe was not in her class next year.

If and when  Marinette is seen on screen talking about Chloe with her parents, the conversation ends up being short and moments before she has to leave for school, with Marinette only saying simple things such as “I bet you anything Chloe will be in my class again”, but nothing more. 

(Sabine attempting to lift Marinette’s spirits to help her make it through the day)

Anytime Sabine was with Marinette during breakfast, both in “Origins” and the “Derision” flashback, Sabine is never seen pressuring Marinette to tell her more about Chloe as she knew it was a conversation her daughter did not feel comfortable talking about. As a result, Sabine could only do what she could and gave her daughter a few little words of encouragement to help her make it through the day, but just to be sure, she resorted to asking the one person she knew to rely on and look after Marinette, Socqueline, who would attempt to do what she could to help Marinette realize she needed to find and build the confidence necessary to stand up to Chloe in order to change things. 

(Socqueline explains to Marinette she would not be around forever to help protect her.)

Now, given who they are, Sabine and Tom would of course have already made attempts to confront the school long ago, the moment they realized their daughter was struggling, but even if Sabine and Tom attempted to confront the principle about the situation revolving around their daughter, their attempts would have proven useless as there was no real proof of what Chloe was doing to Marinette. Had Sabine and Tom gone to the principle, the staff would have either simply set aside their claims as nothing more than a common personal matter between two students that they could not keep track of, as there are numerous students all having their own individual problems, or simply a bunch of accusations, just as they had  falsely believed Marinette was known for doing, year after year. And although Sabine and Tom could have taken more extreme action against this, any attempts would have proven futile so long as their daughters situation revolved around the Mayors daughter. Justice was not on the Dupain’s side, it was for Andre to control, and that control was primarily decided on by his daughter. 

(Chloe sitting in Andre’s Mayoral seat back in “Determination”, signifies the control she has over her father and his powers as Mayor)

In the end, no matter who was willing to help and no matter who was willing to protect her, it was always left to Marinette to change things by learning to protect herself and defy the injustices around her.

(Marinette finds the confidence to stand up to Chloe in “Origins”)

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Chloe’s views of the world

At the start of the series, when Adrien began attending public school, Chloe had long believed Adrien had much to learn about the world given his isolated life. However, as the series progressed, we find that Chloe’s understanding of the world and those around her, was not just about a difference in wealth, it was about what she believed those of her social class were entitled to.

(In “Origins”, Chloe tells Adrien he has a lot to learn about the world as she attempts to punish another student(Marinette) for not staying within her place)

It's well known Chloe bullied Marinette for quite some time, but as we saw in “Derision”, Chloe’s attempts to primarily target Marinette was not necessarily out of jealousy or spite, but from the belief that Marinette was on the lowest ranks of the social ladder, making her the easiest and most entertaining to target, even more so given Marinette’s lack of self confidence gave Chloe a higher sense of control and power.

Although some like Rose were willing to sympathize with Chloe and understand  her behavior was partly the result of being abandoned by her mother at a young age, it was others like Mylene, who experienced the same situation as a child, who showed great disapproval with Chloe finding joy in bullying others like Marinette, making them all realize that whatever Chloe was dealing with in her life, never meant she was excused to continue hurting them or others. 

In “Queen Wasp” and “Malediktator”, Chloe revealed she was fully aware no one liked her or wanted to befriend her, but despite knowing this, Chloe could not refrain from being cruel to other people, regardless of them being willing to be kind to her and give her another chance to befriend them, not because she couldn't take the chance, but because hurting others like Marinette was something she felt was within her right to do. 

While Chloe had her own personal struggles as she tried to mirror the mother who was not with her most of her life, her attempts in dealing with such emotions no longer became a simple act of mirroring her mother, it led her to find greater comfort and joy in tormenting those whom she believed were simply flawed and imperfect when compared to her, viewing them as simple doormats whom she could step on and  do with whatever she pleased given she was born of a higher pedigree than all of them.

Although Chloe was not very willing to listen to others about her actions, the few whom she was willing to listen to, often times wielded something of value she could not afford to lose. In “Despair bear”, Adrien had attempted to inform Chloe of the wrong in her actions, but despite his efforts, Chloe felt it would only be necessary to comply long enough to prevent Adrien from renouncing their friendship, not necessarily just because she cared for him and didn't want to lose him, but because she believed they had a pre-destined fate neither of them should break away from.

(In “Despair Bear”, after Adrien decides not to end their friendship, Chloe breaths a sigh of relief and quickly returns to insulting the others, viewing her efforts to be kind as only a temporary necessity) 

After having lived her life along side Adrien, Chloe’s had long believed the two of them would be destined to share a romance and would someday live out their lives as the prince and princess she always envisioned them to be. Adrien's love was a privilege she alone felt she was entitled to and was something others like Marinette would not be qualified for. No matter who fawned over Adrien, Chloe believed he would always be meant to be with her, but only she was willing to believe Adrien did not know any better each and every time she saw him show kindness to others not of their background. 

(In "Deflegration", Chloe thought Adrien was pitying Marinette by being nice to her)

(In "Derision", Chloe tells Adrien his views of the world are wrong as he continue to prioritize people like Marinette)

Back in “Animaestro”, Chloe told Marinette that in their world, there are those who shine and those who's sole purpose was to work and cater to the wealthy, this wall between them could never be broken, which is why through Chloe’s eyes, a simple baker girl like Marinette would never be good enough for a prince such as Adrien, and Adrien would in turn think the same.

Of course, the moment Adrien had chosen a love life with Marinette, Chloe viewed Adrien’s choice not just as an insult to her, but to him and his entire way of life. When Adrien renounced his friendship with Chloe near the end of “Derision” and was unwilling to abide by her views of the world, as he considered it cruel and unacceptable, Chloe was quick to consider him a traitor for not only deciding to leave her and look down on everything his name symbolized, but for denying her the love life she felt she had a right to live out with him.

(Chloe now views Adrien as a traitor)

No matter what others were willing to tell her, Chloe could not fully understand the wrong in hurting the good people around her if she was simply doing what she believed was a law of nature among their society.

Now, although Adrien pointed out that Ladybug had her share of moments with Chloe and was even willing to trust her enough to entrust her with the bee miraculous again, those lessons were short lived the more Chloe's aspirations focused on the benefits of a hero. 

(Ladybug decides to give Chloe another chance with the bee miraculous, hoping her experience will give her the motivations to be better, not yet realizing Chloe's experience as Queen Bee would lead her to decide an unfortunate path for herself)

While the other holders strived to do whatever they could to be heroes in their own day to day lives without the use of a miraculous, Chloe felt it was better to lavish in her new found fame, while only taking action in situations she believed would guarantee Ladybug bringing her the miraculous once again.  

To bare the title of a hero after her two successful missions as a miraculous holder, was more than enough for Chloe to feel she had filled the bare minimum and was all she needed to do, meaning she could continue going about her life just as she had always done, without sacrificing anything she was accustomed to. 

( Believing everyone had a duty to show her respect and admiration as she was of a higher pedigree than them in “Catalyst”, enforcing her strict demands onto Sabrina in “Star train”, finding joy in belittling and insulting others in “Stormy weather 2″, were all parts of Chloe’s life she still held onto even after experiencing life as a hero.)

To sacrifice those parts of her life to change who she was, would be unnecessary given she liked who she was and liked the privileges she had grown accustomed to. Although Chloe’s struggles of abandonment had weighed in on her from time to time as she questioned whether or not Ladybug had also abandoned her, her concerns for herself had prevented her from understanding that Ladybug was more than willing to befriend her, but this did not mean the hero’s entire life was now devoted to her. And so, in “Heart Hunter”, the moment Chloe finally understood Ladybug would no longer provide her the power of a miraculous, everything changed.

Its just Like Chloe said in “Derision”, why bother having power if you can’t use it. Without the promise of the miraculous, Chloe no longer had any reason to believe in Ladybug, let alone side with her and find solace in the friendship she obtained with the hero, because if Ladybug was unwilling to prioritize her and provide her the power she assumed should have always been within her right to use (it wasn't), then she had no reason to hold onto that loyalty now that she believed Ladybug had wrongfully taken a privilege from her, a privilege that was in truth never hers to begin with but was something Chloe had sadly refused to accept was never hers to keep. . 

Near the end of "Derision", when Chloe and Adrien were at odds with each other over the good and bad she had done, one thought selflessly and morally, the other was unwilling to listen and think anything but selfishly. Regardless of Adrien's attempts to convince Chloe to take the chance to make amends and apologize for everything she had done to Marinette, Chloe refused, not because she couldn’t, but because apologizing to someone like Marinette in order to seek her forgiveness was something she felt was simply beneath her, after all, to Chloe, Marinette was just a baker girl who stepped into a world she did not belong in.

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Miss Bustier and the teachers responses to Marinette’s struggles with Chloe.

In the “Derision” flashback, we discover that throughout the school years, Marinette had faced a problematic dilemma where the teachers would side with Chloe in any given situation. Of course the biggest question in terms of this was why the teachers were not doing more to tackle the situations surrounding their students. Now, their lack of attempting to properly tackle such situations, had primarily revolved around fear and an unwillingness to spend more time to uncover the hidden truth as their lives revolved around managing numerous students, each one with their own individual issues.

 In the past, Chloe had ensured her actions remained as hidden as possible if and whenever she carried out a plan, something we have also seen her do throughout the series, in the new school year. 

(In “Mr. Pigeon”, Chloe attempted to steal Marinette’s hat design without anyone knowing, but was proven guilty as a result of Marinette sneakily incorporating her signature into the design. )

But in order to ensure the teachers would not consider Marinette’s word in the years prior, we discover that Chloe had spent time building Marinette a reputation where she would always be considered the tardy student who would be quick to disrupt class. Of course, Marinette was tardy and disruptive in class because she had trouble avoiding the pranks Chloe left her. 

(The principle, Mr. Damocles, and teachers like Ms. Mendeleiev, would only see and focus on Marinette, as well as her reaction in any given situation. Chloe would regularly direct the principle in Marinette’s direction anytime she knew her plans would stall Marinette long enough to leave her tardy.)

(Chloe’s pranks would delay Marinette from arriving to class on time while also prompting her to react and appear as the one who was insinuating conflict, leaving Chloe as just another spectator in the crowd for the majority of the time)

If any situation would result in a possible confrontation, Chloe was quick to make up any story necessary to make it seem she was being falsely accused and was not being considered in the matter, but on the chance the teachers did not comply, she was more than willing to threaten to call her father, the mayor, to have them fired through her word alone. 

Although teachers like Miss Bustier attempted to resolve any conflict between her students as best she could, her attempts to correct their behavior primarily revolved around being caring in any situation and finding the positives to things that would ordinarily be wrong through her students eyes. 

(Miss. Bustier  attempted to look at the positive in Chloe drawing on Marinette's handmade gift back in "Zombizou") 

Miss. Bustier is perfectly aware of Chloe's behavior towards others, however, she did not have the heart to be more commanding and strict towards others in order to enforce stricter rules and punishment, instead, her attempts primarily focused on attempting to teach her students compassion and finding a way to defuse a situation before things could spiral. Miss Bustier’s lessons would be upheld by many of her students, but were words Chloe was only rarely willing to take into consideration as she was not very interested in learning to uphold the lessons others taught her in her day to day life.

(In “Zombizou”, Chloe was willing to apologize to Miss. Bustier near the end, but her willingness to apologize to her, did not mean she was willing to do the same for everyone she wronged.)

Knowing that Chloe was not easy to talk to about her behavior and the things she did towards others, as Miss.Bustier explained back in "Zombizou" that people like Chloe only think of themselves and couldn't properly understand the meaning of love, Miss. Bustier had instead focused her attention on the people around Chloe, expecting students such as Marinette to be the bigger person in a situation by being the ones to set an example for others of how to properly behave in situations with people like Chloe. Miss. Bustier's attempts were to inspire students like Marinette to potentially show others like Chloe the wrong in their actions by simultaneously giving a little kindness their way, all in the hopes that people like Marinette could additionally set a good example to those like Chloe and help inspire them to acknowledge their own behavior and be willing to put in the effort and sacrifice to change themselves.

And as we saw throughout the series, Marinette would attempt to take Miss. Bustier’s words and believe in Chloe as best she could. 

Only to realize as time went by that she now faced the same struggles the teachers had as Chloe was not very willing to listen and had continued to prioritize herself despite her moments of good and despite everyone's willingness to give her multiple chances to better herself.

(In “Malediktator”, Marinette attempts to let go of her past with Chloe to give her a chance to better herself by throwing her a party to show her support and kindness. Those who attended were all willing to do the same. Unfortunately, Chloe had decided to  focus on the benefits of a hero rather than the the lessons the heroes taught her, having no interest in committing to the work and sacrifice needed to be better. Instead concluding that the power of the miraculous and her new title as a hero was something she was entitled to and was now her right to use whenever she wished)

For the teachers, Marinette was the easiest to correct and punish, however, Chloe's behavior had sadly become to difficult to correct on their own as Chloe had presented consequences to anyone who attempted to punish her and fail to meet her demands. While teachers like Miss. Bustier attempted to work around those consequences by providing as much love and compassion towards her students as she could, other teachers had accepted that it was simply out of their hands as their attempts to prevent and sort through such situations would only result in them suffering the consequences and potentially loosing their jobs.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous tales of ladybug and chat noir #tales of ladybug and cat noir #thomas astruc #ml s5 spoilers #mlb s5 spoilers #ml s5 analysis #mlb s5 analysis #ml derision #ml derision analysis #mlb derision analysis #marinette dupain cheng #ml ladybug #chloe bourgeois #ml queen bee #caline bustier #ml zombizou #denis damocles

[ijustliketoreadstuff]

Why they didn’t keep in touch

Given we now know Socqueline was a big part of Marinette’s life and was quite possibly the only person in the entire school who did not fear Chloe, its understandable why Marinette wore pigtails similar to Socqueline’s. Marinette respected Socqueline, seeing her as a protector who always fought for what was right, and even though Socqueline was no longer part of  Collège Françoise Dupont, Marinette decided to wear the same pigtails Socqueline was known to have, in an attempt to always remember her and everything she did for her. However, despite their close friendship, we never saw Socqueline or Marinette keep in touch in the new school year, but the reason for their lack of contact was simply a very common change between two friends who inevitably realized they would soon be subjected to the major change of being far apart. 

In Socqueline’s final year at  Françoise Dupont , she and Marinette both came to terms with the fact that they would soon be to far away to be actively part of each others lives.  People lose contact when they're in different schools and lose the convenience of seeing each other every day, but despite the major change of being in different schools, Socqueline never stopped worrying over how Marinette would handle life at school without her, but despite her worry, Marinette understood that Socqueline's life could not revolve around her and protecting her at all times. Marinette felt like a burden to her friend, as a result, she did not attempt to contact Socqueline for fear of being a hindrance to her. Marinette needed to find the courage to defend herself sooner or later, but this was ultimately something she would not yet find within herself until she became Ladybug and learned to help defend others. 

It’s just like Socqueline said, "Every good fight is worth fighting for, we shouldn't be influenced by our chances of winning, but by whether or not it's the right thing to do", you just gotta know when to step in, that's the only way to change things. 

And as we all saw in "Origins", Marinette would take Socqueline's words and learn to do just that, the day she realized she needed to set aside her worries and take a chance to step in and save Alya.

Over the new school year, Marinette would find the courage and confidence to stand up to not just Chloe, but many others as well, why? Because Marinette knew it was the right thing to do and shouldn't be something she should hold off on because she feared her chances of success were low, she had to try . 

But despite everything that happened in the new year, Marinette and Socqueline, did not contact each other once, why? Because in the end, they were both occupied living their own individual lives, they both had their own responsibilities to deal with, their own families to help out, their own relationships to maintain and they both had their own goals in life that they aimed to achieve and focus on, all of which were things that simply did not need the two of them to be together for. 

 Life was busy for them, they were growing up, and sometimes that means growing up without certain friends beside you. When they finally did meet in "Jubilation", they weren't upset for not being in contact more often, they were just happy to see each other after so long.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous tales of ladybug and chat noir #tales of ladybug and cat noir #thomas astruc #ml s5 spoilers #mlb s5 spoilers #ml s5 analysis #ml derision analysis #mlb derision analysis #ml derision #marinette dupain cheng #ml ladybug #socqueline wang #ml fandom #mlb s5 analysis #alya cesaire

[ijustliketoreadstuff]

Reminder alert!

side note: While some moments were intended a little more for laughs, other moments(such as her choice to go to Shanghai) were the result of Marinette loosing control of herself to her emotions, after all, Adrien was her weakness and she grew to learn this well as the series progressed. 

This is a reminder to everyone in the fandom to be cautious of hate blogs and hate bloggers from various social media’s (especially YouTube) spreading misinformation and misinterpretations. Never forget that the internet lies.ALL.THE.TIME.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous tales of ladybug and chat noir #tales of ladybug and cat noir #thomas astruc #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #ml ladybug #ml cat noir #ml s5 spoilers #mlb s5 spoilers #mlb s5 analysis #ml salt #mlb salt #mlb fandom salt #mlb twitter #mlb fandom #mlb derision #ml derision

[ijustliketoreadstuff]

Love those parallels

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[uptoolateart]

Perfection and Migration really got me thinking about Marinette's behaviour and recalling that I went through something similar, as a teenager.

The thing about a fantasy is that, quite often, we're secretly scared of it coming true, because we don't know what to do with it.

When it's all in our heads, we can control everything. I would get crushes on boys and mentally write scripts for them. But if I actually talked to them...there was no script. They were free to say whatever they wanted, and it might not be what I wanted.

Think of Cat Walker - that was Marinette's ideal, handed to her on a plate, and she didn't like it. Fantasies only really work in our minds.

After watching Derision, I want to add to this.

Back when Ephemeral first aired, there was something about the reveal scene in the alleyway that felt like a euphemism for sharing an intimate moment with someone for the first time. It's the way Adrien said he was happy to wait until she was 'ready'. I know, I know, 'it's a children's show', but I think we all can agree that it's written in a way that conveys more grown-up ideas whilst also being something my six-year-old can watch.

The conversation between Adrien and Marinette at the end of Derision felt similar. Ultimately, she was coming to terms with a repressed memory of abuse - specifically, bullying, but it could have been anything. Upon finally facing that memory, she felt able to commit to moving forward. I was pleased to see her refuse his hand again and say she still wasn't 'ready'...because no one just has an epiphany and magically gets over abuse. As in Ephemeral, Adrien said he would wait for her. 'We have time.'

Marinette seems most afraid of physical touch - unless she's behind a mask, where she can pretend it isn't happening to her. This can be explained by the bullying story they showed us, but it's also a clear sign of trauma suffered from prior abuse.

(As an aside, this is definitely the kind of thing someone at their age could be dealing with...sadly.)

Now let's jump back to what she said about refusing to give her heart to another person unless she truly knows everything about them. In Migration, Luka told Adrien that we all basically wear different hats when we're with different people. It's actually impossible to know everything about a person.

What we're all hoping is that behind the too-good-to-be-true facades of the Adriens in our lives, there's a secret Cat Noir waiting to be found...because he's not too-good; he's just good. But we can't know that for sure.

In Derision, Adrien himself admitted he was scared he might hurt her one day - because sometimes we hurt those we love without even meaning to. Little does Adrien know he already has hurt her. Can anyone say Cat Blanc? I mean, if she really knew everything about him, she'd know that potential lies inside him....

So what can we do? Extend trust. This is why we keep seeing Adrien / Cat Noir say things like, 'Do you trust me?' and always with that hand stretched out for her to take.

He has made so many leaps of faith for her, because that's his nature. He's been abused too, though I don't think physically - but he still wears his heart on his sleeve. That's pretty brave...and rare. He's waiting for her to make a leap of faith for him, in return.

When she does, it will signal personal healing for her - not because she needs a boy in her life to be whole but because we all crave connection of some kind. You can't cut everyone out and be happy.

Neither of them realise it (especially him), but this even involves a leap of faith that Adrien will somehow deal with the Cat Blanc inside him. We saw a hint of this when he nearly cataclysmed Kim. Ladybug stopped him and later told him that's why there are two of them - to be there for each other, even if it means saying, 'Hey, you're crossing a line, here.' She knows it's all in there...but she keeps him from going too far. That's trust in his better nature.

To sum up: Marinette is learning what we all must learn - that life is hard and some people are cruel, and the only thing we can do about it is to keep moving forward. To let our abusers / bullies crush our ability to love and trust is to let them win. Fantasies of perfect scenarios are never satisfying. The surprises of real-life interaction are what keep us growing and evolving. Real people are always better than the ones in our heads, even if there's the risk that they might hurt us.

Please no post-Derision spoilers in the comments. I'm watching in order. Thank you :)

#ml derision #mlb derision #ml meta #mlb meta #ml analysis #mlb analysis #ml fandom #ml s5 spoilers #ml s5 #mlb s5 spoilers #mlb s5 #migration spoilers #derision spoilers #ml marinette #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #ml adrien #cat noir #chat noir #ml ladybug #ladybug and cat noir #adrinette #adrienette #ml adrinette #ml adrienette #ml migration #mlb migration #ml perfection #mlb perfection

[abittersweetraisin]

Someone's thoughts after Derision: "it was always kind of a weird, fun fact that Kim was like the only miraculous holder that was never chosen by Ladybug (Fu chose him, not her). and… now…. well……….. yeah…………"

Are we choosing not to see how that was circumstantial? She didn't choose Kim because she was locked inside a magical disco ball. If we had actually seen her hesitating, then we could had said "Oh, yeah. It now makes sense, she wasn't sure because of Kim's pranks on her in the past". Now, Fu chose Kim on that Party Crasher episode. If these Derision episode had been planned since the beginning then she wouldn't had chosen to hand Kim the miraculous again. He left her scarred with such big trauma and that pool prank didn't happened that long ago. Don't tell me she forgot. That would be completely unrealistic. And it's not as if she didn't have any other options. She could had chosen Socqueline, for example.

#mlb salt #mlb derision #mlb analysis

[abittersweetraisin]

Ok... i've been wanting to talk about this scene in that 'fantastic' episode that Derision was.

While i'm of course against bullying, Mylene is wrong in one thing here. Just because one person reacts in a given way to something, that doesn't mean that everyone who goes through the same will or should react in the same way. Think about siblings of any family. They grow up with the same parents, same neighborhood, same school. Yet, they're likely to respond in different ways to a same thing. Let me point the obvious. We all perceive the world differently because we grew up living different experiences. Even something that seems like nothing to us may have left a deep mark on the other person. We should not expect people to think like us, act like us.

I think the writers did wrong shutting up Rose like that. It is the right thing to do trying to understand the other person. Haven't we all had a moment when we were misunderstood? Who wouldn't want to receive the benefit of the doubt, having someone trying to understand us, see things from our perspective?

From the top of my head i can think of three characters who started as evil, but after some blows from life and lots of patience they became better characters and the story wouldn't had unfolded in the same way without them.

#mlb analysis #mlb derision #mlb salt