What's Sad Too Is That All Marinette Had Ever Done Was Talk About How Smart And Perfect And Amazing Adrien

What's sad too is that all Marinette had ever done was talk about how smart and perfect and amazing Adrien is without the emotional payoff of actually getting to know him. It's why Gamer was my favorite episode of Season 1 (and likely the whole show) because their interactions were sweet and genuinely heart-fluttering for me. They talked like normal teenagers, the awkwardness between them didn't feel forced, and Marinette's parents actually felt real, embarrassing their daughter at every turn while she tries to talk to her crush.

But then as the seasons pile on, that died away, and the romance didn't feel earned at all. There was this constant underlying connotation that Marinette and Adrien will be endgame anyway, so the journey didn't matter, because that was always always going to be what they become.

I used to love their romance. The love square was amazing to me, it was (for me) a new concept of two people but with four faces, because I wanted to see how it was like for them to see the sides of each other's coins where the sun don't shine. It was actually one of the draws for me. But as the seasons went on, the romance began to feel forced. The point of a romance is to root for the characters, but you might as well have tattooed "ADRIENETTE 4EVER" on their foreheads.

TA said that the main genre was always romance, the main plot point was the romance. But in a story like MLB, with superpowers and secret identities, you can't hold onto the romance genre forever. You need to adapt and grow with the story. Just because the story derails for a moment to become action or mystery or whatever, it doesn't mean the romance disappears.

Unfortunately, that's not what happens, because every interaction from Season 2 onwards (gradually so) begins to feel like an attempt to convince us they're meant to be, without putting in the actual work. So when the switch happened mid-Season 4, I was honestly disgusted, because it didn't feel earned. I wanted to see more of Adrien genuinely struggling with his feelings for Marinette, or Marinette realizing that maybe she might like Cat Noir more than Adrien after all.

I would've liked to see how their relationships survive the overarching plot and how it shapes them, to see the changes and the realizations, and then looking at the end product that finally finished running through the wringer.

Do you think Marinette really loves Adrien or does she loves the idea of him in her head?

Idk but I'm agree with Alya in Elation that you can't really love someone you don't know and Marinette arguably know Adrien only on surface level, either from the magazines or stalking him. We never got a scene where they talk together to get to know each other and then BAM! They just get together.

I also feels like Adrien's love for Marinette also more a rebound than anything. The writers can say anything they want, that Adrien fell in love with Marinette in Pupeteer2. But you don't develop feelings for someone you barely know, especially when in that said episode Adrien still think Marinette hate him. It's just weird. But again, idk, maybe it just me because I don't catch feelings to someone I barely talk to. That's just creepy AF no offense.

It's really hard to say because canon is all over the place when it comes to how close Adrien and Marinette are. Season three and four make them feel like little more than acquaintances, but if you think back to seasons one and two, they legitimately were friends.

Adrien turned to Marinette for dating advice (Frozer). Marinette and Adrien gamed for hours to prepare for a tournament (Gamer). Marinette and Adrien went to a party with their friends and danced together (Despair Bear). Marinette, Adrien, and their friends worked together to make a movie (Horrificator). I could go on, but the general gist is that it feels disingenuous to say that they barely interact. They interact a lot! It's just limited to the first two seasons.

I scanned through the episode list while writing this and seasons one and two have them interact in a meaningful way in about half of the episodes while seasons three and four got distracted by the new love interests, Lila, and the awful broken Ladynoir dynamic, dramatically cutting back on the Adrinette content to the show's detriment.

The other issue is that Marinette's crush is written more and more like a celebrity crush as the seasons go on, making it feel less and less genuine. So it's understandable to feel like she doesn't really love Adrien given how the show presents her, but if you tone down the crush to a non-comedic level, it does feel earned to me and I am also the kind of person that needs to know someone before developing feelings. Celebrity crushes and instant love are things I rarely enjoy in media probably at least in part because I'm ace.

I actually didn't get truly invested in the love square until Origins showed us why they first developed feelings. There's a reason I treat that episode as the golden standard for characterization. It's some of the best writing Miraculous has ever done. The writers crammed an impressive amount of content into 40 minutes and elevated the silly teen crushes into something with real substance. I will forever be sad that the rest of the show falls so short of that episode.

Moving on!

The Puppeteer 2 thing feels like a bad joke and it might be? It's hard to tell given how weird this show can get with its humor. Either way, it would have made a lot more sense and been much cuter if Adrien fell for Marinette when she unknowingly confessed her crush to him Glaciator 2 instead of falling for her after she accidentally forces a kiss on him during a prank gone wrong.

As for the rebound element... yeah, I don't disagree. Everything about the reverse crush was just weird because Ladybug falling for Chat Noir felt way more honest and earned than Adrien falling for Marinette given the way seasons five plays. I mean, the episode right before the reverse saw Ladynoir get married and have children, but Adrien is the one whose feelings are true and Marinette is the one having a rebound? Sure, writers. Sure.

If the reverse had happened right off of the season four finale, though? Then that actually could have worked. In those episodes, Marinette supported Adrien while their friends were oblivious to his true feelings, Adrien finally saw just how much pressure Ladybug was under, and Chat Noir supported Ladybug unconditionally in her darkest hour. I'm personally not a fan of the crushes switching mid-show, but I'd be lying if I said that wasn't a solid setup to lead into it. Adrienette and Ladynoir had never felt closer.

I think it's fair to say that this is why Miraculous is such a complex show for a lot of fans. It has truly spectacular setups, but the payoff always seems to fall flat on its face.

Damn it, listening back on some of the songs in TTPD—really listening—makes me feel like crying. Right now, it's Clara Bow. I read her story (albeit only on Wikipedia) but the song condenses that all into a three and a half minute song and with more punch.

Reminds me also of great american dynasty, retelling the lives of people and drawing parallels between their lives and yours, realizing just how much things have changed and how much had stayed the same.

The contrast is so sad and cruel, but so amazing 😭

Oh my lord 💀

Please don't give me another reason to cry 😭😭😭

https://x.com/taysfavcardigan/status/1782825349530722404?s=46 oh that’s not—

oh this hurts my feelings

TTPD took me on such an emotional rollercoaster listening to the whole album at once that I think I need to listen to each one a little bit more time and truly absorb them all. The absolute rawness of her emotions hit me hard, and I needed time to recover before I came back to listen to the songs one by one.

I just think TTPD is not an album you can understand and fully digest in one listen or even a few listens and that's what makes it so great. It is accessible in terms of its melodies and high-level storytelling but the lyrical details are poetic and complex. I'm really just so excited to spend a lot of time with this album.