We were not ready
We started our day by marathoning the most recent episodes of Miraculous, and for most of the rest of the day, we were not okay. I mean, of course, the episodes were a lot of fun, but they just kept getting more and more serious, and by the end...I think we had watched the second to last one when I said, "I don't think I can take it anymore." Of course we watched the last episode anyway, and by the end I was crying because it made me so sad.
The season started with a recap episode, which was pretty hilarious, because it was like, "Finally new Miraculous!" only to have the episode tell us, "Here, have clips from episodes you've seen eight times already!" It was also really funny, because several people in the episode were like, "Things never change!" and much as I love the show, I have to admit that the advances in the plot are very slow. Even when something happens and we're like, "!!!! That's huge!" the status quo generally doesn't change much.
And that's part of the problem! The status quo doesn't change, but now even the characters are getting fed up with that! So stuff keeps happens that allllllmost changes the status quo, but then either they have to undo it, or they have to invent NEW RULES to say, "Just kidding--you know we can't do that for another ten seasons!" ...Okay, maybe not that long, but it sure feels like it (only because we've seen each season almost ten times). What I'm saying is, there's one episode where Adrien almost figures out that Marinette is Ladybug...actually, there are several (and one where he really does; we'll go over that one later)...but in this particular episode, he almost figures it out, but then someone reminds him, "Don't think about it! If you find out each other's secret identities, you'll have to give up your Miraculous!" What!? Since when was that a thing!? The only reason they stopped letting Chloe have her Miraculous is that Hawk Moth knew who she was, and they didn't even really stop giving it to her until she'd already used it three times! EVERYBODY knew her identity!
So we're pretty annoyed about this new rule. We know that the episodes are played out of order, and apparently that's to help little kids feel like they're not missing anything if they jump in at any time, but when we've been watching every episode and not missing a single one, and suddenly there's a new rule we haven't heard about, we feel lost and unamused.
But that's not even the worst part about this new rule! Basically they're saying that as soon as they find out each other's secret identities, which is the one thing we've been desperately waiting for ever since we started watching this show, the show has to end because they have to stop being heroes. And then! they have a time traveler come along and say that Ladybug and Cat Noir are still fighting Hawk Moth into adulthood! They're basically saying they NEVER find out! ...They also said in that episode that the future isn't set in stone, so at least there's that. And! they revealed toward the end that Future Hawk Moth is not Gabriel Agreste, so I was like, "Oh good! They beat Agreste Hawk Moth and they can be in love, right?" Oh wait, there's still the bizarro new rule that didn't exist before!
I don't remember if the rule was mentioned in any other episode, though. We're hoping it was just a weird story element they wanted to try out that they decided to abandon. Or maybe if we listen more carefully to the French, it will turn out to be something more reasonable. ...I mean, at the very least, I think there's a good chance that, regardless of how long into the future Marinette and Adrien are fighting, the storytellers will find some way to get around this annoying new rule.
BUT!!! in the meantime, they sure are working hard to destroy every shred of hope that Adrien and Marinette will end up together. The Cat Blanc episode nearly killed us. Adrien actually figures it out! AAAAHHH!!! ...And that one event basically triggers the apocalypse. Ladybug has to go into the future to de-akumatize Cat Noir, and then come back in time and make sure Adrien (who she still doesn't know is Cat Noir) never finds out the one thing we've been dying for him to find out all along! ...Oh, but if not for the despair this season delivered throughout, I would adore that kind of drama. (In fact, I still do. Now that we know what to expect, we're pretty sure we're going to like that episode a lot on a re-watch.)
But of course the worst was the season finale. Through the whole two episodes, Marinette's all, "Oh, I love Adrien, but I'm sure he'll be better off with Kagami," and she makes bad decisions, and everyone makes bad decisions, and they're all in-character bad decisions, and oh my goodness, she runs into Luka and starts freaking out about how she's just so tired of all the responsibility, and it was such a sad, tragic, beautiful scene, except that it was with Luka and not Adrien. And I have to say, Luka is super amazing and I love him, but I really really really really really really really really want Marinette and Adrien to end up together. And we know they will, but!
The ICE CREAM!!! NOOOOOOOOOO!!!! And Andre the Ice Cream Man knows it's not meant to be! But Marinette chooses to have Adrien and Kagami share the ice cream, and the ICE CREAM! IS! MAGICAL!!! ...Okay, so they never really confirm if the ice cream is magical or just one of those couple jinxes like in anime and manga. Athena points out that...okay, I should maybe explain (assuming anyone can follow this without having seen the series anyway) that the thing about the ice cream is that if a couple shares some ice cream from Andre the Ice Cream Man, they'll be together forever. See? Straight out of shoujo manga. And Athena points out that it's likely that a couple who goes to get ice cream from Andre probably already likes each other enough that they'll end up happy together anyway.
But the point is, at the end of the season finale, Adrien is sharing ice cream with Kagami, and Marinette is sharing ice cream with Luka. And we knew that they had to pair up with the love rivals at some point because that's just how these things go, but after all the ups and downs of these episodes, it hurt to see it. We couldn't take it, and it made us sad all day. Especially because this scene is after Master Fu made Marinette the new Guardian of the Miraculouseseses, and when he did that, he lost all his memories! Like, as far as we can tell, all of them. This is a safety mechanism to ensure that the superheroes' identities stay secret, but now that Marinette is the Guardian, if she gives up Miraculouses, she forgets everything! Including Adrien and Cat Noir! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!
There were also some episodes that ended with victories for some unsavory characters, namely Lila and the new character, Adrien's evil twin cousin Felix. I'm okay with Lila when she's not winning, but when I see her at the very end of an episode babysitting Alya's little sisters, I am not okay with that.
But there were some really great moments, too! Marinette was adorable as Multimouse, and it was neat to see Lady Noire and Mister Bug. Lady Noire had a super long braid like ours! In fact, these episodes gave us a few cosplay options. Even Adrien's mother turned out to be a twin! And she's about our age!
Anyway. After playing a lot of Pokemon, we've finally managed to process everything, and we might be able to function at work tomorrow. We're feeling much better now.
Today I'm thankful for getting to see the latest episodes of Miraculous, having time to recover from the latest episodes of Miraculous, finally making it to a Boutique in Pokemon that has dresses (and they're super cute!), Page keeping us company through the roller coaster ride that was our day, and lyschan being a sympathetic listener.
The season started with a recap episode, which was pretty hilarious, because it was like, "Finally new Miraculous!" only to have the episode tell us, "Here, have clips from episodes you've seen eight times already!" It was also really funny, because several people in the episode were like, "Things never change!" and much as I love the show, I have to admit that the advances in the plot are very slow. Even when something happens and we're like, "!!!! That's huge!" the status quo generally doesn't change much.
And that's part of the problem! The status quo doesn't change, but now even the characters are getting fed up with that! So stuff keeps happens that allllllmost changes the status quo, but then either they have to undo it, or they have to invent NEW RULES to say, "Just kidding--you know we can't do that for another ten seasons!" ...Okay, maybe not that long, but it sure feels like it (only because we've seen each season almost ten times). What I'm saying is, there's one episode where Adrien almost figures out that Marinette is Ladybug...actually, there are several (and one where he really does; we'll go over that one later)...but in this particular episode, he almost figures it out, but then someone reminds him, "Don't think about it! If you find out each other's secret identities, you'll have to give up your Miraculous!" What!? Since when was that a thing!? The only reason they stopped letting Chloe have her Miraculous is that Hawk Moth knew who she was, and they didn't even really stop giving it to her until she'd already used it three times! EVERYBODY knew her identity!
So we're pretty annoyed about this new rule. We know that the episodes are played out of order, and apparently that's to help little kids feel like they're not missing anything if they jump in at any time, but when we've been watching every episode and not missing a single one, and suddenly there's a new rule we haven't heard about, we feel lost and unamused.
But that's not even the worst part about this new rule! Basically they're saying that as soon as they find out each other's secret identities, which is the one thing we've been desperately waiting for ever since we started watching this show, the show has to end because they have to stop being heroes. And then! they have a time traveler come along and say that Ladybug and Cat Noir are still fighting Hawk Moth into adulthood! They're basically saying they NEVER find out! ...They also said in that episode that the future isn't set in stone, so at least there's that. And! they revealed toward the end that Future Hawk Moth is not Gabriel Agreste, so I was like, "Oh good! They beat Agreste Hawk Moth and they can be in love, right?" Oh wait, there's still the bizarro new rule that didn't exist before!
I don't remember if the rule was mentioned in any other episode, though. We're hoping it was just a weird story element they wanted to try out that they decided to abandon. Or maybe if we listen more carefully to the French, it will turn out to be something more reasonable. ...I mean, at the very least, I think there's a good chance that, regardless of how long into the future Marinette and Adrien are fighting, the storytellers will find some way to get around this annoying new rule.
BUT!!! in the meantime, they sure are working hard to destroy every shred of hope that Adrien and Marinette will end up together. The Cat Blanc episode nearly killed us. Adrien actually figures it out! AAAAHHH!!! ...And that one event basically triggers the apocalypse. Ladybug has to go into the future to de-akumatize Cat Noir, and then come back in time and make sure Adrien (who she still doesn't know is Cat Noir) never finds out the one thing we've been dying for him to find out all along! ...Oh, but if not for the despair this season delivered throughout, I would adore that kind of drama. (In fact, I still do. Now that we know what to expect, we're pretty sure we're going to like that episode a lot on a re-watch.)
But of course the worst was the season finale. Through the whole two episodes, Marinette's all, "Oh, I love Adrien, but I'm sure he'll be better off with Kagami," and she makes bad decisions, and everyone makes bad decisions, and they're all in-character bad decisions, and oh my goodness, she runs into Luka and starts freaking out about how she's just so tired of all the responsibility, and it was such a sad, tragic, beautiful scene, except that it was with Luka and not Adrien. And I have to say, Luka is super amazing and I love him, but I really really really really really really really really want Marinette and Adrien to end up together. And we know they will, but!
The ICE CREAM!!! NOOOOOOOOOO!!!! And Andre the Ice Cream Man knows it's not meant to be! But Marinette chooses to have Adrien and Kagami share the ice cream, and the ICE CREAM! IS! MAGICAL!!! ...Okay, so they never really confirm if the ice cream is magical or just one of those couple jinxes like in anime and manga. Athena points out that...okay, I should maybe explain (assuming anyone can follow this without having seen the series anyway) that the thing about the ice cream is that if a couple shares some ice cream from Andre the Ice Cream Man, they'll be together forever. See? Straight out of shoujo manga. And Athena points out that it's likely that a couple who goes to get ice cream from Andre probably already likes each other enough that they'll end up happy together anyway.
But the point is, at the end of the season finale, Adrien is sharing ice cream with Kagami, and Marinette is sharing ice cream with Luka. And we knew that they had to pair up with the love rivals at some point because that's just how these things go, but after all the ups and downs of these episodes, it hurt to see it. We couldn't take it, and it made us sad all day. Especially because this scene is after Master Fu made Marinette the new Guardian of the Miraculouseseses, and when he did that, he lost all his memories! Like, as far as we can tell, all of them. This is a safety mechanism to ensure that the superheroes' identities stay secret, but now that Marinette is the Guardian, if she gives up Miraculouses, she forgets everything! Including Adrien and Cat Noir! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!
There were also some episodes that ended with victories for some unsavory characters, namely Lila and the new character, Adrien's evil twin cousin Felix. I'm okay with Lila when she's not winning, but when I see her at the very end of an episode babysitting Alya's little sisters, I am not okay with that.
But there were some really great moments, too! Marinette was adorable as Multimouse, and it was neat to see Lady Noire and Mister Bug. Lady Noire had a super long braid like ours! In fact, these episodes gave us a few cosplay options. Even Adrien's mother turned out to be a twin! And she's about our age!
Anyway. After playing a lot of Pokemon, we've finally managed to process everything, and we might be able to function at work tomorrow. We're feeling much better now.
Today I'm thankful for getting to see the latest episodes of Miraculous, having time to recover from the latest episodes of Miraculous, finally making it to a Boutique in Pokemon that has dresses (and they're super cute!), Page keeping us company through the roller coaster ride that was our day, and lyschan being a sympathetic listener.