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immaturityofthomasastruc · 6 months

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IOTA Reviews: Revelation and Confrontation

Well, here we are. The final seven episodes of the season. For the most part, Season 5's episodes have been boring at worst and passable at best, with only about four episodes I'd consider to be outright bad. That pretty much disappears starting here. It's like the writers held back for most of the season, and just as the final arc was about to begin, right when most of the audience was led into a false sense of security, they were like:

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Let's get into the twentieth and twenty-first episodes of Miraculous Ladybug's fifth season: Revelation and Confrontation

So, for an episode titled “Revelation”, you'd assume it would focus on Marinette and Adrien finally learning the other's secret after all these years, right? Nope, it's a Lila episode, as in Lila is the character we follow. How does it open? By revealing that Lila has different moms she's conning into believing she's their daughter.

I believe Linkara best captures my reaction to this.

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YEP. Right out of the gate, we get arguably one of the dumbest plot twists in TV history. For an episode that's supposed to help us learn more about Lila's life, it's only raising more questions than it's answering, and it feels like it was there just for the sake of shocking the audience.

First off, why is she doing this? What does she possibly have to gain living with three random women who, as far as I can tell, have no political, social, or financial power whatsoever? Her entire motivation is lying to make herself look good so she can kiss up to famous people and ride the coattails of their success. Who the hell are these three people and why did Lila chose to pretend to be their daughter? In fact, are any of them even her biological mother?

Second, how did she even pull this off? I can somewhat buy her tricking her peers into believing her lies, but three grown women all believe this person is their daughter? Did she fake a DNA test or something? Did she frame some other kids for murder? Is one of them the kid in Omelas? Did the other moms adopt Lila? They must have, because I'm pretty sure any of them would know they were pregnant, but how did she fake being an orphan? How has she not been caught? The scene establishing this shows her ending a call with one of her mothers right as another one enters her room. You're telling me nobody has ever walked in on Lila talking with one of her mothers?

Third, just how long has she been doing this for? Has she been doing this her entire life? Did she frame her real mother for tax fraud at the age of five so she could explore the world? When the hell did she start doing this, and how did she even get the resources to do it? Does she have more than three moms?

Finally, what the hell does any of this tell us about Lila? We already know she's a liar and a villain, but what does learning she lies about who her mother is accomplish for the narrative. Outside of a single line to Sabine later on that heavily implies she wants to make her her next mother, this scene is entirely pointless. Sure, it shows how effective of a liar she is, but that's what the episode is already setting out to show us! We already know she's manipulative, so what's the point of any of this?!

Jesus Christ, we're only on the first scene, and I'm already pissed off. You see what I mean about these last seven episodes?

After lying some more, Lila learns an update to the Alliance rings has Kagami replace her as the female avatar. When she goes to ask Gabriel why he's cutting off ties with her, we learn just why Gabriel is such a tactical genius.

Gabriel: You were only the face of my brand in exchange for a mission: to monitor my son's relationships and keep him away from bad company. You failed. My son got close to this Marinette Dupain-Cheng who's been nothing but a terrible influence on him. But you did give me one excellent idea: to create a new media-friendly pairing for my son, which is why Kagami Tsurugi will be the new female face of the Gabriel brand. Perfection itself! All that remains to do is perpetuate this facade until it becomes truth in everyone's eyes. And until jealousy eats away at Marinette Dupain-Cheng...

Lila: But... What's to become of me?

Gabriel: You just remain what you are. Nothing.

Because it's not like Lila is easily your most competent ally (at least, by comparison), and is the only one who doesn't hate your guts, right? Seriously, Lila's biggest motivation other than fame is to ruin Marinette's life, and for the most part, as bad as the writing has been, she has been mostly effective in damaging her reputation (Chameleon, Ladybug, Adoration). For God's sake, if it wasn't for her, you would have been exposed as Monarch earlier this season in “Illusion”! Say what you will about Lila as a character and how stupid everyone acts when she's on-screen, but at least she's good at her job.

Lila walks off fuming, and Gabriel considers akumatizing her, but doesn't want to risk it because of how much she hates him... even though multiple Akumas over the course of the show were people who hated Gabriel or wanted revenge on him (The Bubbler, Simon Says, Style Queen, Heart Hunter, Passion, Action). It also doesn't stop him from akumatizing Lila later on in the episode, because her hatred is now directed at Marinette. And as we all know, it's physically impossible to hate more than one person at a time.

After a quick scene showing Marinette and Adrien's relationship is now public knowledge, we cut to class, where Ms. Bustier is handing back tests.

Also, despite being in the second trimester of her pregnancy (which hasn't been mentioned since the New York Special, over two years before this episode premiered), Ms. Bustier is wearing no maternity clothes to speak of, just her usual outfit with a noticeable baby bump.

I'm obviously not an expert, but I don't think that's good for the baby. If anyone reading this has experience with being pregnant, feel free to correct me.

Ms. Bustier points out that Sabrina put her name on both hers and Chloe's. Ms. Bustier naturally wants to know what the hell is going on.

Ms. Bustier: How long has this been going on?

Chloe: Oh, since we learned to write-- I mean, since Sabrina did.

Yep, after almost five seasons, the writers are now officially resorting to making dumb blonde jokes, the only kind of humor rivaled by fart jokes and racist jokes in terms of being overused and unfunny.

Ms. Bustier lets Sabrina off with a warning and decides to help Chloe make up for the lost work and salvage her academic career. For some reason, even though this is a reasonable response to discovering one of your students has been cheating for years, Marintte has a problem with this.

Marinette: Everybody knows that Chloe been cheating, taking advantage of Sabrina and not making any efforts compared to the others... for years! And the only consequence is that she's going to get help?! Of course, we need to support students who have problems, but not when they're the problem!

If you had a problem with Chloe mistreating Sabrina, THEN WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU TELL MS. BUSTIER YOURSELF? Even Lila points out that Marinette should have pointed this out to the teachers as class representative (I'm not sure if that's a thing in French schools, but let's assume it is for this episode's sake), but Marinette herself says she chose not to.

Marinette: Why would I have? She doesn't have difficulties! Only privileges! And if you need proof to see how the teachers will let her get away with anything!

What was it Alya said in “Origins”? Something about evil triumphing if good people do nothing? Eh, I'll think about it later.

Also, who's to say this isn't a punishment? Chloe is still going to have to make up her work, she'll need more attention from the faculty as a result, summer school is most likely on the table now, and who's to say her dad won't have problems with this? Yeah, we know he's a spineless coward, but let's assume he'll actually act like a parent for once, for the sake of argument.

Despite outright saying that she neglected her duties as class representative, Marinette is shocked Lila takes the chance to suggest she replace her for the job. Later at lunch, like what's happened in every other Lila episode, Marinette tries to tell Alya that Lila is a liar, Alya doesn't believe her for a second, and nothing changes. Oh wait, I forgot to mention that this time, Adrien and Nino are there too! That makes it different!

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Seriously, why are we still doing this? It's almost the end of Season 5, and even though Alya is one of Marinette's trusted confidants, the show still needs to have this drama with her not believing her. It honestly feels like a lot of the Lila episodes this season were originally written before Season 4 aired, but something changed, so they just threw them here when it makes no sense for Alya to still doubt Marinette after all this time. It's also why they randomly threw this line in to remind us that Alya knows.

Alya: You know, even Ladybug accepts help from Scarabella every once in a while.

Yeah, mind telling me what happened the last time Alya transformed into Scarabella?

OH RIGHT.

It's during this little conversation where we get the first hint of the episode's moral, and believe me, I'll get to that. Alya tries to reason with Marinette that maybe it's possible for Lila to help Chloe change for the better, which Marinette vehemently refuses to believe. We're clearly supposed to see Alya as being too naive and is oblivious to Lila's true nature, but neither of them know just how bad she really is. We, the audience, know that Lila has worked with Gabriel and Monarch willingly in the past (Heroes' Day, Chameleon, Miraculer, Illusion, Adoration) and that she's living under several fake identities. Yeah, we know Lila hates Marinette and tried to get her expelled in “Ladybug”, but nobody else knows just how bad she is. It doesn't help that Marinette's reasons for Lila only amount to “She's a liar!”, and not “She tried to get me expelled!”, intentionally making her come across as petty so it's easier for Alya to doubt her.

Another thing that makes the whole “Alya thinks Lila can help Chloe change” deal is that we already know Marinette has done nothing to really stop her behavior as class representative or as Ladybug, so it's hard to really act like Marinette contributes a lot to the job, especially when, once again, she willingly admitted to not even trying to reach out to the other teachers about Chloe's grades or how she's using Sabrina to get by in class. Even though Alya doesn't know about Lila's true nature, she's not wrong when it comes to believing someone else could bring something new to the position of class representative.

And this only gets worse, as we see Lila's latest plan to win over the class.

Lila: My dear classmates, I am convinced that even the worst person can change if you reach out to them. And to prove it to you, Chloe, will you be my deputy?

(The whole class gasps in shock)

Chloe: (sighs and walks to the front, putting on a fake smile)

Nino: Wow, is Chloe actually going to be a mere deputy?

Alya: That is so not Chloe!

Rose: Does this mean it's already working?

Mylene: Can Lila actually get her to change?

Marinette: (slams her fists on her table) This is so crazy! It's all lies!

Lila: Poor Marinette... couldn't succeed because she was too busy with her love life, as well as being reminded of her disdain for Chloe. But you know me. You know all about my humanitarian work. I'm used to going into conflict zones. I can do this. There are two weeks left. What do you have to lose? Help me, help Chloe change. Vote for me!

OH, YOU NO GOOD MOTHERFU---

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Sorry, sorry. Had a little... episode there. Where were we?

Okay, first off, wow. Are you trying to seriously piss off your fanbase? The whole argument of being able to appeal to the humanity in the worst person is one of the biggest arguments people in favor of Chloe redemption make, so you know damn well this scene was targeted towards them. What was the original draft for this? A still image of Thomas Astruc flipping off the audience?

Second, once again, Lila isn't wrong. As far as we know, Marinette did nothing to really help or stop Chloe over the school year other than foiling the occasional scheme. While we know it's a lie, can you really blame the rest of the class for believing Lila will actually make things better for them by finding a way to stop Chloe from bullying them? It doesn't help that the case Marinette makes for her class representative campaign is that she's giving up on helping Chloe, saying she sucks, and that she's going to help the rest of the class instead. Because we all know showing blatant bias against one of your classmates is a surefire way to win the favor of your peers, right?

As for the speech itself? Well...

Marinette: My dear friends, of course, you should always do everything in your power to help people. And we all hoped that Chloe would become a better person. Ladybug reached out to her. Ms. Bustier reached out to her. So did Adrien and so did I. You all reached out to her. This proves how big your hearts are. And yet, Chloe remained the same. Why? Because as far as she's concerned, having a big heart is a weakness to be exploited. Chloe already believes she's better than all of us. So... don't be fooled. I, for one, am done wasting my energy in vain. As class representative, I'd much rather help all of you because you deserve it a thousand times more.

So here's the main moral of the episode, kids: If you ever decide to be the bigger person and show kindness to someone who is mean to you, it's going to bite you in the ass sooner or later, so never try helping other people change. I just... what the fuck, Astruc?

Yeah, the show tries to point out that being kind to others is still important, but the context of the episode itself doesn't show any examples. You could have used Kim as an example of someone who has changed his ways, but “Derision” retconned him into not being a bully, and Felix isn't even in this episode, so he can't be used as an example. The episode never really provides an argument showing the difference between people who can change their ways and people who choose not to, which is why the lesson doesn't work. How exactly is a child watching this supposed to tell when they're being taken advantage of for their kindness? For a show with an opening that has the lyrics, “The power of love always so strong”, this episode really isn't doing a lot to encourage its audience to show compassion to others.

And we're not done yet. Lila makes up a sob story relating to getting fired, and tearfully says there's no hope for Chloe. Once again, the writers think by having a villain say stuff certain fans believe in, it's meant to automatically invalidate the argument. What are you going to have Lila say next? “Felix should face consequences for his actions”? “Gabriel is far worse than Chloe will ever be”? “Somehow, Chloe is worse than either of her terrible parents”? I'm all ears here.

The entire story was a gambit by Lila so she'd have a cover story, as she plans to attract an Akuma with her sheer hatred for Marinette. Like I said earlier, Monarch assumes that since Lila hates Marinette at the moment, it's impossible for her to harbor any negative feelings towards his civilian identity, choosing to akumatize her into Hoaxer.

Ignoring the fact that the name sounds like it belongs to an antidepressant, Hoaxer is an okay recolor of Volpina. There's not much else to say visually. Her powers involve brainwashing anyone who hears her lies through the Alliance rings... even though she was already able to manipulate others through lying, so this seems like a redundant power to give her. Sure, she can also teleport through the Alliance rings, but that's just something Lady Wifi could already do. Monarch also gives her the Fox Miraculous' Mirage to use so she can create fake footage to back up her lies... even though she already has the power to make everyone believe her lies. Yeah, this upgrade is kind of pointless, isn't it?

Hoaxer's first lie is to say that Marinette is really Monarch. With the exception of Adrien, Ivan, and Mylene (who don't wear Alliance rings), the entire class is brainwashed into hunting Marinette, believing they'll save Paris if they stop her. After Adrien points out how it wouldn't make sense for Marinette to be Monarch if she wants Lila to expose her secrets, he ducks out to transform into Cat Noir, soon meeting up with Ladybug.

Ladybug and Cat Noir steal an Alliance ring from Officer Roger to learn how this power works, only to learn the brainwashing is only effective as long as the victim is wearing an Alliance ring. Hoaxer senses that one of her victims lost their ring, so she turns the rest of Paris against the two heroes by saying that they're from the planet Saturn and fart bubbles that destroy the ozone layer. Believe me, I wish I was able to come up with a line that stupid.

Ladybug summons her Lucky Charm, and gets a sewing machine. She goes back to her house, only to be ambushed by Alya. Ladybug takes off the ring and detransforms, lending the Ladybug Miraculous to Alya so she can transform into Scarabella as part of her plan. Because even though Alya has already been exposed three times in the past two seasons, the animators paid for the Scarabella model, and goddamn it, they're going to get their money's worth out of it. While Cat Noir fends off some brainwashed civilians, Hoaxer uses her powers on Nathalie to get her to send all of Gabriel's private secrets to her. How Monarch doesn't sense this is anyone's guess. Marinette pretends to appeal to Lila's conscience as part of a plan involving her, Scarabella, and Cat Noir, but Lila then rejects the Akuma with ease.

The Akuma somehow de-evilizes itself, Scarabella makes her only contribution to the fight by using Miraculous Scarabella to fix the damage, Monarch still doesn't know Lila now has intel on his civilian identity when he should have a telepathic link with her, and instead blames Marinette for all of his problems.

Back at school, Adrien apologizes to Marinette for not telling her to act against Lila, something that should be huge. It's just that both of them make it about how bad he feels, not about Marinette.

Adrien: I'm sorry, Marinette. I was wrong. I shouldn't have told you to act against Lila. If you give the slightest opportunity to people like her, they'll grasp at it and cause disasters in no time. And now, you're the one who looks like a bad person.

Marinette: You thought you were doing the right thing. Just like with Chloe. That's another reason why I love you, Adrien. You always want to see the good in other people. But sometimes, the good we think we see in some people is just a reflection of our own, and we end up being fooled by our own kindness. But we'll find a way to expose Lila eventually.

Nevermind the fact that Lila's lies haven't done anything to negatively affect Adrien at school, only Marinette, so his little pity doesn't feel earned. There's a difference between feeling bad about something and making it all about you. Also, once again, the episode's moral still comes across less like “mean people can take advantage of your kindness” and more like “never trust anyone, as your attempts to show kindness can backfire horribly on you”.

Lila is elected class representative, and Alya still believes her over Marinette. How does Marinette respond?

Marinette: I decided to let her have her way so I can finally prove to you all who she really is.

Spoiler alert, next episode, someone other than Marinette does the heavy lifting to expose Lila, and I doubt it was ever part of Marinette's plan.

The episode ends with Lila learning all of Gabriel's secrets, which would have been a much better opportunity for her to learn he's Monarch instead of learning about it off-screen as far back as “Emotion”.

THE BIGGEST IDIOT OF THE EPISODE IS... MARINETTE

Once again, Gabriel was very close to earning the Biggest Idiot Award for the third time for ditching Lila for no reason and later giving her the tools needed to learn his deepest and darkest secrets, but Marinette edged him out here. Not only did Marinette outright admit to neglecting her responsibilities as class representative, blamed Ms. Bustier for not doing anything about Chloe when she hasn't done anything to stop her either, and made a very poor argument for her reelection campaign by saying that being nice is bad. But hey, maybe her genius plan next episode will make up for it.

“Confrontation” starts off with Adrien struggling to fill out an orientation form for what kind of school he wants to go to next year and what he'll study. I'm not really an expert in French schools, but I'll assume this is how things are done there. Either way, Adrien isn't willing to fill out the form because as we saw in “Pretension”, Gabriel is planning on sending him to a private school in London next year. Why Adrien wasn't excused from this assignment is beyond me.

Adrien: If Marinette finds out that my father's decided to send me to a private school in London next year, it will break her heart and mine, too.

Again, it's really funny how a huge portion of his screentime in Season 4 involved being angry at Ladybug for keeping secrets from him, yet now, Adrien sees nothing wrong with keeping secrets from Marinette, even when it's inevitable that she'll find out. Then again, Plagg's response isn't any better.

Plagg: I know how I would feel if I had to be separated from you, Adrien, and there is nothing funny about that at all.

Then why did you force Adrien to give up his Miraculous in “The Kwamis' Choice”?! I'm pretty sure that was all your idea, as was what happened afterwards with Monarch almost winning.

As Marinette worries about the career stuff, but through some flashbacks showing just how selfish and one-dimensional Chloe and Lila are, she's not exactly confident they have her best interests in mind. Also, remember how Marinette said she supposedly let Lila win at the end of the last episode in order to make progress on finding a way to stop her?

Marinette: I feel like I'm betraying our friends by entrusting their forms to such awful girls.

As we'll later learn, while she does come up with a plan to expose Lila, it was after this scene that it happened, so this doesn't really make it look like Marinette has any ideas to stop Lila after she won at the end of the last episode. After the rest of the class fills out their forms, Lila destroys them all so Sabrina can forge their handwriting. Of course, not before we get another “funny” scene where Chloe struggles to understand their own plan.

Lila: After you destroy the forms, you'll fill out new ones using your talent for forging student's handwriting. I'll tell you what to write.

Chloe: Not so fast! You're using too many words to explain your plan!

GET IT? DO YOU GET IT?! SHE'S RICH AND BLONDE, SO THAT MEANS SHE'S STUPID! WHY AREN'T YOU LAUGHING AT THIS COMEDY GOLD?!

Meanwhile, Nino calls for another meeting of the totally useful and not at all irrelevant Resistance, citing an issue. Because they're all planning to go to different schools next year, they're not sure how they can help Ladybug and Cat Noir... other than, oh, I don't know, meeting outside of school? It doesn't matter, because everyone unanimously volunteers to go to the same high school next year. Well, everyone except Nathaniel, but that's not important.

After Marinette gets a call from someone, Mylene suggests that the class go on strike against being forced to decide their careers so early in life. This would have made a lot more sense if you chose to do this before submitting your forms, but hey, whatever floats your boat. Adrien finally figures out what he wants to do, so he hands his form over to Lila. What did he write down?

Lila: (reading the letter) “I've been thinking a lot, and still not know what I would like to do later in life. The only thing I know for sure is that I love Marinette Dupain-Cheng. But I guess that doesn't really help you. I'm sorry. Adrien Agreste.”

Minimum wage at Wendy's it is. Good choice, Adrien.

Yeah, I think now's as good a time as any to talk about how flat Adrien's character has been this season. Even though Adrien has gotten more character focus thanks to not being hampered by loads of other side characters and temp heroes, he hasn't really had a lot of strong moments overall. Scenes that should feel like a big deal, like him accidentally Cataclysming Monarch or realizing he has feelings for Marinette are usually downplayed or brushed off so we can see how those events affect other characters. We don't get any scenes with Adrien feeling guild for possibly condemning a man to death because more focus is given to Gabriel dealing with his impending demise. We don't get any scenes that show how Adrien has come to see Marinette in a romantic light because more focus is given to Marinette struggling to deal with his sudden confession. And here's this scene. Rather than showing Adrien developing an interest in something he wants to do for a career, a huge sign of his growing independence, what do we get? Adrien saying he loves Marinette and admitting he has no goddamn idea what he wants to do with his life. Such a defining moment for one of the two main characters in the show. I'm just saying, if the last season made a big deal about Adrien wanting to be treated more importantly, why is he still getting shafted by the narrative?

And for the umpteenth time this season, because Chloe is the one saying that Adrien's form is “pathetic”, we're supposed to not agree with her, even though this is supposed to be a serious form that your teachers will see. Just what is this show's obsession with using strawmen to try and invalidate criticism? I've seen more nuanced takes from political cartoons.

Lila and Chloe present the forged forms to the teachers, assigning all kinds of inaccurate assignments for careers that the students don't want. Lila manages to get one student in particular held back, Marin—Juleka. Yeah, Juleka, Lila's most hated enemy is being forced to repeat a year. Why didn't Lila try to keep Marinette held back?

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To be fair, Lila's plan is to slander Marinette specifically, but screwing over the entire class feels like a bit of a reach. I don't even know if part of Lila's plan was to attract an Akuma or not. Speaking of, Monarch senses Juleka's negative emotions and sends a Megakuma her way. Because it's a day that ends with a “Y”, the Magical Charm does nothing, so for the sixth time in the series (not counting her brief appearance in “Ladybug”), Juleka is akumatized into Reflekta. I swear, at this point you could make a drinking game for every time an old character model is reused this season.

Reflekta's design is pretty alright. I like the idea of the shy and quiet Juleka getting a brightly colored form that's impossible to ignore, and her power to make everyone else look like her fits her character. Unlike other returning Akumas this season, Reflekta gets a noticeable upgrade to her powers, as now she can essentially create a hive mind with all of her victims on top of getting the Tiger Miraculous' Clout to do some extra damage. Wow, it's almost like the Miraculous powers should actually serve as upgrades to established powers instead of being the only thing that gives the Akuma their powers.

Reflekta goes to town assimilating more victims, Marinette does nothing to get the still pregnant Ms. Bustier to safety so she can dart off and transform into Ladybug. By the time Ladybug and Cat Noir meet up, the city is crawling with Reflektas.

Ladybug summons her Lucky Charm, getting a plastic tape dispenser. Using Cat Noir's staff and the tape, the two put up a fake brick wall poster in an alleyway. The two heroes split up and draw a Reflekta's attention respectively, pretending to be helpless once they reach a “dead end” at the fake brick wall. When the two Reflektas try to use Clout, Ladybug and Cat Noir duck out of the way, letting the two attacks collide.

Ladybug de-evilizes the Megakuma, uses Miraculous Ladybug to fix the damage, and gives Juleka yet another useless Magical Charm.

And while you'd think this is where the episode ends, unfortunately, we're only halfway done. Id anything, this entire fight was pointless, and it's going to lead to a lot of problems with the pacing later on.

Back at school, Lila takes the opportunity to pin the blame on Marinette, though when Marinette points out how good Sabrina is at forging handwriting, Sabrina admits to helping them out. While the blame is still on Marinette, Chloe and Lila follow Sabrina when she runs out of the classroom. In the bathroom, Sabrina is still upset about what she had to do, and when Chloe and Lila confront her and try to keep her in line, only for Sabrina to reveal it was a trap for Chloe and Lila to confess their plan in front of the rest of the class, and one that had been set up a few days ago by Sabrina and Marinette.

So after an episode that went out of its way to show how apologetically irredeemable Chloe and Lila are, Sabrina is the one to ultimately turn a new leaf and is the key player in stopping Chloe and Lila's tyranny. Let's go into all the reasons as to why this failed to be a triumphant moment.

First off, why is Sabrina the key player who helps finally expose Lila? Why not Adrien, or Alya, or anyone else in Marinette's class? Rather than work together with her friends to show she wasn't lying, Marinette only works with Sabrina, and they act like they're the close friends working together. What, you thought Adrien or maybe Alya would help Marinette expose Lila like the end of the last episode hinted at? HA! Of course not.

Second, Sabrina's redemption is forced as hell. I'm not saying Sabrina turning a new leaf is entirely impossible, but the show just expects us to forget all the times she's gone along with Chloe's bullying antics (Origins, Mr. Pigeon, Lady Wifi, Dark Cupid, Horrificator, Darkblade, Reflekta, Zombizou, Stormy Weather 2, Lies, Sole Crusher, Gabriel Agreste, Derision, Adoration), and even in this episode, she still helped forge the new forms for Chloe and Lila. Remember how “Derision” said Chloe's actions couldn't be excused by how poorly she was treated by her mother? Funny how Sabrina's actions can be excused by how poorly she was treated by Chloe. The redemption honestly could have worked if it was Marinette who reached out to Sabrina and saw the good in her, teaching the lesson that while some people refuse to change, that doesn't mean other people can't change either. But instead, Sabrina's just a good guy because the plot said so, a deus ex Sabrina if you will.

Third, this was Marinette's plan to stop Lila? Like I said, while the previous episode made it seem like Marinette had an idea on how to expose Lila, this episode showed that Marinette had absolutely no plans prior Sabrina's call, and she handed over the sheets to Chloe and Lila earlier. What was Marinette even going to do if Sabrina didn't call? This only makes Sabrina's redemption feel even more forced, because that was what led to Chloe and Lila being exposed.

And finally, we don't even get a lot of resolution with Marinette's classmates believing Lila over her once she's exposed.

Yes, there was a deleted scene where Alya and the others apologize to Marinette instead of just Ms. Bustier which was supposedly cut for time constraints, but why would you leave that out when Marinette's friends believing Lila over her has always been a sore spot among viewers? If only there was another scene that could have been cut out of the episode that added nothing to the plot over an important character moment showing how guilty Marinette's friends feel.

Chloe and Lila are expelled by Mr. Damocles, but then he gets a call from Andre ordering him to keep them in and do nothing to change the forged forms. Normally, this would be something to make Andre out to be a bad guy, but like Sabrina, because he's being belittled and ordered around by someone else (in this case, Audrey), we're meant to sympathize with him. Trust me, it gets even worse next episode.

Mr. Damocles is upset enough to attract another Megakuma from Monarch. You would think Marinette would transform into Ladybug and save him,but the episode does something different. Somehow, because of the other students telling him to believe in himself, all of their Magical Charms resonate with Mr. Damocles' Magical Charm. And then, his Magical Charm transforms into a shield which de-evilizes the Akuma as soon as it touches it?

I'm sorry, WHAT!?

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Yeah... that just happened. I'm happy the Magical Charm actually did something for once, but I don't get why this was the climax of the episode. Why did this episode spend more time focusing on Juleka, Sabrina, and Mr. Damocles instead of Marinette's final battle of wits with Lila? Forget it, it's almost over anyway.

Mr. Damocles sends in the correct forms for the students before he resigns as principal, and we then cut to Ms. Bustier realizing that Chloe is pure evil and needs to face consequences for her actions. What does Chloe say that causes her to come to this revelation?

Ms. Bustier: Where's Lila?

Chloe: How should I know? I'm not the betrayer's mother.

Yep. A somewhat rude answer to a question Chloe doesn't even know the answer to is the last straw for Ms. Bustier. Maybe it's the hormones? Ms. Bustier decides to give extra attention to Chloe going forward, and somehow, that's different from Ms. Bustier wanting to help Chloe make up her schoolwork at the beginning of the last episode. But what happened to Lila, you may ask?

Oh my God, she's cosplaying as T'pol from Star Trek: Enterprise! The fiend!

Yep, Lila abandoned her old school and moved onto one of her other lives, now calling herself Cerise. Okay, a few questions.

First, was she wearing makeup as Lila or something? I'm not sure if it's the lighting in this one scene, but I swear, her skin looks lighter than Cerise here.

Second, how is Lila going to blend in under her new identity when for a while, she was the face of the Gabriel brand? What, is she going to claim that “Lila” is her twin sister or something?

Third, if Lila's trying to blend in as Cerise, why did she throw her old wig in the trash, in broad daylight?

Fourth, why wasn't this scene the one used to establish Lila has multiple lives? It actually feels plot-relevant, unlike the revelation of her having three different mothers last episode.

Finally, we're really going to brush over Lila facing any setback to her vague goals? She got expelled, and we don't even get to see her face consequences for her actions after all these years? What a load...

THE BIGGEST IDIOT OF THE EPISODE IS...MARINETTE

Yep, Marinette got the award twice in the same two-parter, and this is her third one at that. Adrien was sort of close to winning it with his stupid application form and not doing anything to stop Lila himself, and even though Marinette's plan to expose Lila worked, I still had to give it to her. She willingly gave her and her friends application forms to Chloe and Lila without any plans in case they tried something bad, had absolutely no plan to stop Lila in general until Sabrina came alone, and didn't think to simply de-evilize a Megakuma targeting her principal when Lila was able to sneak out with no problem.

Anyway, these episodes SUCK. I know it might not seem as noticeable compared to my reviews last season, as I've been trying to not get too angry, but I still couldn't stand these episodes.

As always, Lila's lies are incredibly stupid and don't work under the suspension of disbelief, especially with what we learn about her here. What I don't get is that we still don't know why Lila does what she does. I still don't know why she is so obsessed with getting the better of Marinette and Gabriel outside of being petty, and given what happens by the end of the season, it makes her unclear motivation even less excusable. In a pair of episodes meant to give more focus to Lila as she tries to ruin Marinette's reputation right before the school year ends, we really needed more depth for her character.

Marinette wasn't any better. What should have been a standout moment for her this season, she spent most of these two episodes complaining about Chloe and Lila when she did nothing to really stop them, and only made progress when Sabrina had a change of heart out of nowhere. Hell, even then, Chloe and Lila barely faced any setbacks for their actions. Marinette honestly felt very underutilized in what should have been an important set of episodes for the season.

Adrien didn't fare any better. He barely got to do anything and unlike Marinette, he wasn't even involved with the final plan, despite the ending of “Revelation” hinting that he and Marinette were going to work together to stop Lila. And then there's the form he filled out where he pretty much confirmed that he has no goals in life and that the writers just have no idea what the hell they want to do with him now that he's Marinette's boyfriend.

But let's talk about what I think really killed these two episodes, specifically “Confrontation”: The unnecessary focus on side characters. I can understand why Ms. Bustier needed more focus in these episodes, considering it was focused on the school environment, but I can't give that kind of lenience to “Confrontation”. That episode decided rather than focusing on Marinette finally outsmarting Lila, we needed more focus on Sabrina, Juleka, and Mr. Damocles. Why did we need to give Sabrina a change of heart over Marinette's friends working together to help her expose Lila? Why did we need Juleka to be targeted by Lila and subsequently akumatized by Monarch in a gambit to slander Marinette when all Lila had to do was have it look like Marinette tampered with Chloe's form? Why did we need an extended sequence of Mr. Damocles fending off an Akuma with the help of his class when he had no real presence in this arc, and if anything, took Chloe and Lila's side more often than not (Ladybug, Derision)? I don't get why the writers chose the tail end of the season to actually develop some of its side characters at the expense of major players like Marinette, Adrien, and Lila.

Look, these episodes were just awful, okay? And somehow, things manage to get worse as we get closer and closer to the end of the season.

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celestiall0tus · 2 months

Text

Tales of Bloody Bug and Chat Noir - Chapter 10 - Reflekta

Beginning || Previous || Next

(Before we get into this, a quick amend from canon. In the episode Reflekta, we see when Chat Noir is transformed into a Reflekta, he loses his miraculous. This has been amended so when they are hit, their jewels don't disappear.)

Alix sat on the ground as she watched the class before hers got their photo taken. She listened to the mindless chatter of her peers. Nathaniel mumbled to himself as he took notes for his latest comic idea. Adrien and Nino talked about some new music album. Juleka, Rose, Marinette, and Alya discussed Juleka’s self-inflicted jinx of not having a proper photo taken since she was young.

Alix rolled her eyes as the class ahead of them finished. The photographer set up for her class before he ushered them in. She joined Max, Marinette, Mylene, and Rose on the bench for the bottom row.

“Look, Sabrina, they’re up front in the baby seats. Go on, rugrats, don’t forget-!”

Alix leaned over and locked eyes with Chloe. She snarled and slammed her fist into her hand. Chloe gulped and shut up.

“Seriously, how do you do that? One look and that’s it. Chloe doesn’t say anything else to you,” Marinette remarked.

Alix crossed her arms. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Marinette sighed and faced forward.

The photographer got everyone else into position while Chloe complained the entire time not being next to Adrien. The photographer readied to take the photo until Marinette reminded him of Juleka, who he almost left out. Alix wished they had because the photographer spent too long rearranging them for a simple photo.

“This is ridiculous. My stop is unacceptable!” Chloe yelled.

Alix growled and jumped to her feet. She whirled around and faced Chloe, who tried to push Juleka out of the way. “Shut up! Shut. Up! No one cares what you want! Just stand in your stupid little spot and let’s get this over with!”

Chloe flinched and stood in her spot.

“Alix, my office after this,” Mr. Damocles said.

“Worth it. Someone has to do the job you two refuse to do,” Alix muttered.

Mr. Damocles and Miss Bustier sighed.

“Alright, we’re perfect now. Everyone say, ‘Spaghetti,’” Vincent announced.

“Spaghetti,” everyone said.

Vincent clicked the button as the camera’s battery died. “I don’t believe this. I’m sorry, I have to go fetch another battery. Nobody move!”

Alix let out a groan of frustration. She slipped off the bench onto the ground. “Can I just go to your office now, please?”

“Not until after the photo. Get back into position, Miss Kubdel,” Mr. Damocles said.

Alix huffed. She sat back on the bench as Juleka moved. She listened to Juleka ask to head to the restroom. She rolled her eyes until she heard Chloe mutter to Sabrina to ensure Juleka doesn’t come back.

“Oh, Miss Bustier, I need to go to the bathroom,” Sabrina announced.

Alix turned her head as Sabrina ran off and neither Miss Bustier nor Mr. Damocles stopped her. Didn’t either of them hear Chloe’s remark? She couldn’t have been the only one.

“I have to go to the bathroom too,” Alix announced.

“Alix, no. Stay put,” Mr. Damocles said.

“But it’s an emergency.”

“I don’t care. Stay.”

“It’s a bloody emergency,” Alix growled.

Mr. Damocles sighed. “Fine. Go.”

Alix ran to the girl’s restroom. She burst into the room as Sabrina stuck a chair against the stall door.

“Oh, you fucking bitch!” Alix roared.

Sabrina gasped and screamed. She ducked away from Alix and ran back to the group. Alix snarled and tore the chair away. Juleka burst out of the stall once the chair was gone.

“Let’s go!”

Alix grabbed Juleka arm and yanked her out into the courtyard. Alix yelled out, but the group had their picture taken without them. The class had moved from their spots so the next class could get their photo taken.

“Thank you for trying, Alix, but it wasn’t meant to be.”

“That’s not true. It’s all because of Chloe!”

Juleka frowned. “That’s right. And so long as Chloe is in the picture, I’ll never be seen or heard. I’ll always be invisible.”

Juleka tore her arm away and ran off crying.

Alix reached out in the direction Juleka ran off in. She begged her legs to move, but a sinister rage held her in place. Her stomach knotted and plunged as the sickening familiarity of this all-consuming rage. She took several deep, labored breaths in a desperate attempt to calm herself. She staggered back against a wall before she ran into the locker room. She fumbled with her locker combination before she tore it open.

Alix reached into her backpack for her family heirloom. Tikki looked up in shock at the frenzied panic Alix was in. Alix clutched her heirloom and leaned against the lockers. She clicked down on the heirloom’s lid. It popped up with the hologram. She stared at it as she focused on calming herself.

“Alix, what’s wrong? I’ve never seen you look like that,” Tikki said.

“I felt it rise. That same anger from, well, not too long ago.”

“What kind of anger?”

“Blinding. Dangerous. Murderous. I… I don’t mind my anger, but I despise that side of it. And I felt it again. Almost lost myself. I just might still, and I don’t want to.”

“What triggered it?”

“I… the same that tried it before. Lessons I saw over and over again. Heard time and time again. Don’t let yourself be walked on. Don’t let yourself be taken advantage of. Don’t put up with anyone’s crap! This world will always take advantage of everyone, especially girls. So don’t ever let your guard down. Never let people see you bleed.”

“Alix, that’s-,” Tikki started.

“And I saw it. All the time. People would try to take advantage of her, but she wielded anger like a weapon. She stood her ground, and no one messed with her. That was until the world struck back and she withered away before my eyes. In the end, she just… she stopped… fighting. Her anger dulled and will gone. A-And… I… I just….”

A new anger consumed Alix. This one bittersweet and foul. It mingled with her sorrow as tears gushed from her eyes uncontrollably. She gritted her teeth as she closed her watch and curled into a tight ball. Tikki wormed her way and settled at the nape of Alix’s neck.

“Allow yourself this, Alix. You need to feel,” Tikki said.

“I don’t want to. I don’t want to be reminded of it. I want to forget it and move on. I want-!”

“You can’t keep ignoring the circumstances of your mother’s passing. You’ll need to face it one day. That day need not be today, but for today, let yourself feel.”

Alix whimpered as more tears flooded her eyes. She curled into a tighter ball until she felt a hand on her shoulder. She gasped and scooted away. Her eyes widened seeing Luka, Juleka’s brother.

“Are you… ok?” Luka asked.

“Do I look ok?”

Luka flinched at Alix’s harsh tone. Guilt tore through her that mingled with everything else.

“I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve that. No, I’m not, but it’s ok.”

“What’s… that?” Luka asked as he pointed to Tikki.

“Oh. It’s a prototype I’ve been working on. I want to be an engineer, so I made a little AI creature, bot. I hoped it would be a nice companion, but it’s still in the development stages.”

Alix nudged Tikki, who flew up. Tikki smiled and bowed her head.

“Greetings. I am Proto-Beta, codename: Tikki. Pleasure to make your acquaintance, friend of Alix.”

Luka’s eyes widened. Alix tilted her head seeing the smallest spark of life to his otherwise dull, blue eyes.

“Do… do you think you could… make one for… me too?” Luka asked.

Alix’s jaw dropped. “I-.”

The door to the locker room slammed against the door. Luka recoiled and covered his ears. Panic and dread were plastered on his otherwise stoic face. Alix hid Tikki as a girl in a neon pink jester’s outfit strolled in. Alix curled back her lip at the rubbery look of the jester girl that carried some hint of Juleka’s face.

“Juleka?” Alix and Luka asked.

“Juleka’s gone. My name’s Reflekta and you’re both about to join the ranks of mes.”

Reflekta aimed her right arm at Luka. He fumbled to stand only to fall back to the ground. Alix jumped up and shielded Luka from the attack Reflekta shot out from the trinket on her hand. Alix gagged as her appearance became a mirror image of Reflekta.

“That’s much better. Now, stand aside. It’s time my dear brother got his extreme makeover,” Reflekta demanded.

Alix steadied herself and dropped into a fighting stance. “Make me move.”

“Do you really think you can take me?”

“If I’m stupid enough to face Nathaniel as a villain, what makes you any different? At least he had something useful to keep me at bay. Can you say the same?”

Reflekta hesitated. She stepped back and ran out of the locker room.

“That’s what I thought,” Alix muttered.

“Th-th-that wasn’t… that wasn’t Juleka… was it?” Luka asked.

“It seems so. Look, go hide. Like this, she isn’t herself. You’ll be safer until she’s freed.”

Luka nodded.

Alix smiled and ran out of the locker room. She stopped and gawked at everyone that had been transformed. She looked to the front doors to see them blocked by lockers. She ran upstairs to find an empty classroom. She frowned seeing they all had students in them. She changed course and headed into the library. She ducked behind an isolated bookcase and transformed.

Bloody Bug sighed, relieved to see her normal self and not Reflekta’s image. She ran out of the library in search of Reflekta. She frowned see the countless clones as she worked how to identify the real one.

“Bloody Bug! You’re not Chloe, but you’re just who Hawkmoth wants,” Reflekta yelled.

Bloody Bug looked around as a beam came her away. She ducked before, narrowly missing it. She stood as Reflekta approached her.

“Where’s your precious kitty, Bloody Bug? I’d hate for him to miss out on this wonderful opportunity to receive the facelift of the century with his little Bug.”

Bloody Bug blinked and looked past Reflekta at Chat Noir. He readied himself as he stealthily closed the gap. She snorted as she raised her right hand and waved it around.

“Don’t you think this is all a little extreme?”

“Nothing is too extreme. Not when it comes to Chloe. I’ll make her pay for excluding me. I’ll make her pay for getting rid of me. But only after I’ve dealt with you and claimed your earrings for Hawkmoth.”

Bloody Bug hummed. Chat Noir was in position to take Reflekta by surprise. A thought crossed her mind to help him. She smirked and shrugged.

“Alright. Nice and easy, right?”

“Wait. Just like that? You’ll hand them over?” Reflekta asked.

“Sure. Why not?”

Bloody Bug approached Reflekta, who held out her hand for the earrings. Bloody Bug grabbed Reflekta’s arm and flipped Relekta over her head. Reflekta screeched as she was slammed into the ground. Chat Noir rushed in, grabbed Reflekta’s right arm, and smashed the trinket. The Akuma flew from the remains. Bloody Bug caught and purified it. Reflekta reverted to Juleka along with everyone afflicted.

“What-? What happened? Where am I?” Juleka asked.

“You’re back in your school. After being akumatized,” Bloody Bug answered.

“I… I’m sorry.”

“What happened to push you to accept such a deal?”

“I missed out on the class picture because of Chloe’s pranks. Alix, my classmate, tried to save me, but because of me, we both missed out on it. I felt awful. Not only did my jinx ruin my photo, but my friend’s as well. I felt powerless. No one sees or hears me. The only time they do is when I act like my mom, but I don’t always like acting like my mom. But I have to just to be acknowledged by anyone.”

“Not me,” Luka whispered.

Juleka gasped. They all looked over as Luka shuffled towards them. She burst into sobbing fits as she ran towards Luka. She tackled him in a hug that sent them both to the floor.

“Luka! I’m so sorry! I must have terrified you! I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

Luka shook his head. “Alix protected me from… Reflekta.”

Bloody Bug hummed. She looked out to the courtyard to see Chloe confronting Mr. Damocles. Her eyes widened seeing Marinette getting reprimanded. She started towards them but stopped as the anger nipped at her. She covered her mouth and staggered back.

Chat Noir caught Bloody Bug. “Woah, easy. Are you ok?”

“I… I don’t think I can confront Chloe on her part in this. I’ll…!”

Chat Noir smiled and squeezed Bloody Bug’s shoulders. “You don’t need to. I’m here. Let me handle this.”

Bloody Bug gulped as a tear fell from her eyes. “Thank you. I… I’ll see you later.”

Chat Noir watched Bloody Bug leave before he approached Mr. Damocles, Chloe, and Marinette. He caught snippets of their conversation where Chloe caught Marinette sneaking into Mr. Damocles’s office with video evidence on her phone. He snarled and snatched Chloe’s phone.

“Who dares-!” Chloe started.

Chat Noir snapped the phone in half, then handed it back to her.

“How dare you! I’m friends with Bloody Bug, fleabag, so you better watch yourself. She just might make a rug of you once she hears what you did,” Chloe snapped.

“You think Bug would help someone as vile as you? Not after everything you did to hurt that poor girl that was akumatized?”

“Please. Who are you really going to believe? Some nobody or someone like me.”

“Chat Noir, has the threat been dealt with?” Mr. Damocles asked.

“Reflekta is no longer a problem, but she’s still hurting. There’s still a risk she’d transform again.”

Mr. Damocles stiffened. “Is there something we can do to help her?”

“Yes! Let us take the photo again. Please, for Juleka,” Marinette butted in.

“No way! Besides, aren’t you paying the photographer by the hour?” Chloe reminded.

“What’s another hour compared to another akumatization?” Chat Noir countered.

Mr. Damocles sighed. “Very well, we’ll take the photo again. I’ll let the class and photographer know.”

“What? But-!” Chloe started.

“Face it, Chloe, you’ve lost this one. Bloody Bug isn’t here. Even if she was, she wouldn’t defend you. Not for something like this.”

“That’s not true! She’s my friend!”

Chat Noir snarled, his ears pinned back, and tail lashed. “You don’t deserve to be her friend. You don’t deserve to be her anything. She’s the most amazing person ever and you’re just a little monster. You don’t even need an Akuma to be one.”

“How dare you! You’re going to eat those words, fleabag. Mark my words!”

“Consider them marked,” Chat Noir growled.

Chloe snarled and stormed off. Chat Noir shook his head as he hid away and de-transformed. He snuck around until he found Nino and stayed near Nino but kept his eyes on the photographer. He was relieved to see them set up to have his homeroom class take their picture again. Everyone was arranged as before, except Alix was missing.

“Miss Bustier? Where’s Alix?” Mylene asked.

“She seems to have left school grounds. I’ve already informed her father of this,” Mr. Damocles answered.

Adrien knotted his brow as he looked at Alix’s empty seat. A budding suspicion gnawed away at him. Bloody Bug had left, and Alix was still gone. There were some similarities between the two, but were they the same person?

“Alright, last time we do this. Everyone say, ‘Spaghetti.’”

“Spaghetti!” everyone cheered.

The photographer took the photo and straightened. “Alright. All done.”

Juleka beamed beside Adrien. Marinette, Alya, Mylene, and Rose all hugged her as the final bell rang. Everyone dispersed, gathered their things, and headed out. Adrien took a moment to look around for Alix but didn’t see her anywhere. He hummed as he headed out to his ride.

Adrien got in the car but kept his eyes on the school. He waited to see if Alix would make an appearance at all, but she was still missing. The suspicion gnawed and ate away at him the entire ride home. He headed straight for his room up to his window.

“Uh, what do you think you’re doing?” Plagg asked.

“I’m going to look for Bloody Bug.”

“How? She’s likely out of uniform, going about her life. Just as we should by staying here and eating cheese.”

“No, Plagg. She’s hurting. Something happened and she needs someone. She’s probably alone and suffering. I can’t let that stand. She needs me. Even if she doesn’t, she shouldn’t have to be alone.”

“You don’t even know who she is. How will you find her?”

“I have my suspicions.”

“What? Well, nix them. You two aren’t supposed to know who each other are.”

“Why is that?”

“Because that’s how it is.”

“Well, it’s stupid. Especially when my partner is out there suffering. You want to know what’s stupid? Expecting me to sit by for her to bled because of some rule you can’t even give proper reasoning behind.”

“Look, not everything is going to make sense. Regardless, the rules are there for a reason. Usually to keep you guys safe, but that’s that.”

“Safe from what exactly? What harm could come with us knowing?”

“Well… I mean, your enemy could akumatize one of you and learn who the other is. He may come for either of you directly.”

“Wouldn’t that help us stop him?” Adrien pressed.

“I mean, it could, but it could also put you two in a lot of danger.”

“Maybe so, but you’re running on an assumption that we’d get akumatized in the first place. I know I’d never let our enemy manipulate me, and do you honestly think Blood would fall as easily too?”

“Look, she’s got spunk, but also a temper. She’s wild and impulse, so she’s a risk.”

“You’re wrong. If she’s so much a risk, why isn’t she akumatized right now?”

“Maybe… maybe Hawkmoth didn’t want to use her right now.”

“You’re telling me that someone with such strong emotions with some kind of major trauma isn’t as enticing as say some kids who got humiliated. Sure, it’s no better, but you really think he’d pass up on all that negativity?”

“Well, probably not.”

“Exactly, and right now, she needs me. She needs her best friend.”

“And where are you even going to start looking? Even with your hunch, she could be anywhere.”

Adrien paused. Plagg did have a point. He could end up searching the entire city to never find Bloody Bug. Even if she was Alix, that still didn’t help him as he knew less about Alix than Bloody Bug. Except he knew about Bloody Bug’s late mother. There could be a chance she could be at a graveyard, visiting her mother’s grave. It was a shot in the dark, but it was worth investigating first before he roamed aimlessly.

“Maybe so, but I need to try. I’d rather spend the rest of the day looking for her and not find her than to not try at all.”

Plagg sighed. “There’s no convincing you otherwise, is there?”

“Not at all. Let’s go. Plagg, claws out.”