Ephemeral Spoilers - Tumblr Posts

I'm sorry, what would the obvious reasons be?

Predictions: Ladybug is tasked with finding out who Chat Noir is, which is why Adrien reveals his identity. Ladybug won’t react very well, bumbling crush and all, which Chat also won’t interpret very well for obvious reasons. Adrien, now feeling isolated, will come across his dad’s shenanigans and not have as much mental resolve to fight off being akumatized, like he did in Chat Blanc.

I can't speak on this confidently, as we haven't seen the episode "Gabriel" yet, but I think Adrien's growing resentment towards Ladybug is meant to parallel Gabriel's pipeline into becoming Hawkmoth.

I have also come to the conclusion that Adrien's whole character arc is revolved around the duality of the power of destruction, which I get is obvious, but hear me out. While destruction can cause chaos and harm to others, it also plays a necessary part in tearing down oppressive forces.

Let's talk about this scene.

What this scene has communicated to us is, despite the two of them having seemingly opposite personalities, Adrien is indeed Gabriel's son. What I mean by this is that the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree; both have a tendency to get caught up on their projected fantasies involving the people they love.

The position Gabriel is in right now, being Hawkmoth and all, is a direct result of him being unable to process his grief. Much like Adrien and his fantasy of Ladybug, Gabriel clings onto the fantasy of a "better world" with Emilie to cope with his grief and reconcile his guilt. Consequently, Gabriel has now become Paris' biggest threat and he's dealing out collateral damage onto his family (i.e. Adrien and Nathalie).

Adrien is at risk of falling down the same path; Adrien's grief has led to him becoming emotionally dependent on his romantic fantasy involving Ladybug. Even after everything he went through in this episode, this poor boy is still clinging to this damn fantasy for dear life.

Right now, even after everything that happened in Glaciator 2.0, Adrien is still stuck on this cycle of hoping Ladybug will one day fall for him, Ladybug rejecting him and inevitably breaking his heart, him getting depressed and lashing out because of it, him and ladybug reconciling, and then Adrien slipping back into the fantasy again to rinse and repeat.

In order for Adrien to truly develop as a character, he needs to break the cycle. He needs to break the cycle of damage his father is doing to the environment (as demonstrated in Mega Leech), he needs to break the cycle of complacency in his life, and he needs to break the cycle of enabling his father's actions. In order to do that, he needs to stand up to his father and get him to break the same cycle within himself.

If Adrien can't break the cycle, he's going to succumb to it and end up just like his father... or worse.

I REALLY want ephemeral to be Chat noir's 'Chat Blanc'. Where he gets the trauma on an identity reveal and has to find a way to deal with things. And he remembers that Shadowmoth is his father, and he has to DEAL with that.

Okay but what if at the end of the episode we hear Little Kitty on a roof all alone without his lady

But this time instead of Adrien singing it...

We hear it from Marinette...

Wait what if the discourse about certain actions was about Marinette not immediately accepting Adrien ad Chat Noir? It took her longer to come around cause you know love square is always a hot topic

Of course it's going to be harder for Marinette? As much as she tries her best to keep Ladybug and her civilian life separated, it's very easy on Adrien’s end to immediately connect the two of them, but Marinette has never been given a chance to even consider that Adrien and Chat are the same people.

She does have a bit of a blind spot with Adrien yes, but at the same time Adrien himself has admitted to not completely being true to himself all times, whether it is as Chat or his civilian self, thanks to years of abuse and neglect. Of course in Marinette's point of view, it's going to be confusing, especially since her heart is full of love for them both in very different ways. But you know what she did, even in all the anxiety? She took a step back and let herself observe and completely come to terms with not "Adrien is like Chat Noir" and not "Chat Noir is like Adrien" but the fact that they're both him, and who he really is is somewhere in the middle. I love that she waited until she was absolutely sure she was ready, for both their sakes.

If anything the discourse probably has to do with what Su Han demanded of Marinette, Marinette trying to erase her knowledge of Chat's identity like that (I know she didn't have bad intentions but it WAS a mistake on her part), Luka just straight up not saying anything about what he knows at all, and....Sentiadrien. which I wish I could stop mentioning.

The boy is ✨ I N L O V E ✨

WHY IS NOBODY TALKING ABOUT HOW AFTER MARINETTE REVEALS HER IDENTITY, ADRIEN GENTLY CARESSES HER CHEEK TO GET HER TO LOOK AT HIM AS HE COMFORTS HER AND SAYS THE LINE “ONE OF MY BEST FRIENDS IS THE PERSON I ADMIRE MORE THAN ANYTHING IN THIS WORLD”?!?!?!

The fact that all Marinette sees when she looks at Adrien after the reveal is Chat Noir, but then she realizes that she loves both sides of him and they show us that by giving us the scene where Chat Noir gives her the umbrella and *thunder claps* to Adrien.

That’s some poetic cinema right there.

No, but seriously, that doesn't make any sense.

Sentimonsters don't have free will when someone is holding their amok. They can't resist or talk back or disobey the way Adrien has been doing since the literal canonical start of the series.

Hell, the first time Adrien tried to run away to school Gabriel explicitly told him not to do that again. And what did Adrien do? He disobeyed.

The only other sentimonster that even attempted to resist was Feast and it could only do that because it's amok was in it's stomach. Touching the damn thing wouldn't make a sentimonster more obedient when you're already holding their "free will" in the palm of your hand. Gabriel fiddles with the ring because it's a physical representation of his obsession with Emilie.

Why wouldn't Adrien follow Gabriel when called? He's Adrien's father sperm donor and this is probably the most Gabriel has talked to him since Glaciator 2.

And Adrien being a sentimonster is literally contradicted by Chat Blanc not listening to Gabriel when he ordered Adrien to ash Ladybug.

Also, I won't be acknowledging tweets from creators that have trolled the fandom for literal years.

(No, I will not be taking constructive criticism at this time.)

"i didn't like it because marinette was so uncomfortable-"

YEAH she was BLINDSIDED by the realization that she had been rejecting catboy for sunshineboi, and all along they were the same person.

but she slowly started to see who adrien and chat noir were and to fall in love all over again in a more complete way. and it was beautiful.

and more importantly, once she realized that being in love with Adrien also meant she was in love with Chat--and once she saw the both of them as the same person--she reached out and showed him who she was in return.

when she said "I'm ready now" she was saying she'd finally accepted that she was in love with Chat Noir too, and she was ready to tell him. if she was STILL UNCOMFORTABLE with that idea, I REALLY DON'T THINK SHE WOULDN'T HAVE DONE THAT.

BTW, I don't know if it's coincidence but she says the same phrase "I'm ready now" in Glaciator 2.0 when she practiced her honest confession to Adrien...with Chat Noir.

je suis prêt. i am ready.

it's very real and tangible. a rare moment when Marienette is open and honest and real about her feelings--not just spouting romantic daydreams and getting worked up over nonsense. but clearly ready to face it.

This was funny to see after spending 3 seasons hearing Adrien talk about how much he hates camembert while plagg just gobbles it up. 😄

His face-

Pretty sure this is the first time we actually see his reaction to eating Camembert.

OOOHH

I like the way your guys' interpretations and I kind of agree with you guys!

I still think that it was mostly because he had a slight confidence/happiness boost as well as Marinette's newfound knowledge that he is Chat Noir and can't stop seeing as Chat Noir and vice versa (we know how the episode beautifully went).

But I mean also remember Adrien in Season 1, when he new to school? He didn't exactly act like he did when he was in Ephemeral, but he did have a few moments here and there of what people would assign that to be "Chat Noir".

Some are freaking out because Adrien acts like Chat in their school.

But I'm wondering, it must be how Adrien acts all the time but because most episodes are focused on Marinette's POV, we can only see what she does. In Ephemeral, she is paying extra close attention to him thus, we see him joking in the class.

Idk. I kept thinking about it.

the way Adrien stuttered like “You want to reveal our identities right n-n-now?” and then his small hopeful smile after the transformation dropped and then the way he had no hard feelings whatsoever towards Ladybug for not wanting to reveal her own identity right away because he knows it’s terrifying and then the way he said “my heart is beating so fast″ and “I hope you’re not too disappointed”

Like compare his actual reaction to the reveal vs the time he said “if you saw me without my mask, you wouldn’t be able to resist me” I’m crying he’s so sweet he just wants Ladybug to like him

As I said before Ephemeral, the whole point of the episode was going to be a checkpoint…where are Marinette and Adrien in terms of their development?

We learned that Marinette is not at the point where she can see Chat Noir for who he really is, nor is she completely ready to be vulnerable with her partner. The “identity reveal” plan proves that, as well as her freakout upon learning his identity.

We learned that, while Adrien is starting to be more comfortable with himself, he’s still got a bit to go. He needs more confidence (and probably more information about potential senti-status) if he wants to stand up to his father for good.

Blind love walked them into Gabriel’s trap in Chat Blanc, but Ephemeral is the extra confirmation that it was never their love that destroyed the world. Ladybug is probably going to come out of it thinking that the identity reveal is the problem, but we still know the truth, especially now that it’s been hammered home again. The show is going to keep hammering it in. It’s always Gabe’s fault.

And the reason we see it again this time? Because we’re still peeling back the layers and trying to uncover all the little secrets Gabriel has, and the true depth of control he has over Adrien. We’re not done learning things about that yet.

Anyway, if anyone still thinks the reset made this episode pointless, I encourage you to rethink the way you view the storytelling in this show.

Literally can’t imagine Luka being anything but a public menace doing bike parkour on his way to the bakery, judging by how he busted down the door

Literally can’t imagine Luka being anything but a public menace doing bike parkour on his way to the bakery, judging by how he busted down the door