like, the thing i loved most about this show (the lovesquare) is gone. it’s so far removed from the central plot that it feels almost inconsequential. in the earlier seasons, i saw so clearly the vision for this to be a story about what it means to love someone’s entire self. the lovesquare was ALWAYS the most unique and compelling aspect of miraculous ladybug—it’s the reason why this show ever became so popular. the central tension of the show was the romance, a tension which would be solved by the revealing of their identities. and maybe this was me getting ahead of myself, but when i became invested in this show at 15, it seemed so clear that this was a story set up to explore what it means to love all the messy, disjointed parts of someone else. by falling in love with both sides of each other, adrien and marinette would fully know and fully love each other. and then the identity reveal would be the final piece that made it all make sense. that type of story seemed so meaningful to me, and i was so excited to watch it play out.
the story of miraculous ladybug now makes me sort of sick to my stomach. it’s not really about romance anymore, or about the tension of secret identities. the story now is about….the moral ambiguity of lying to your boyfriend for the sake of his happiness? the ways that abuse can perpetuate beyond the abuser’s death? exploring the seemingly infinite number of ways that one character can be stripped of agency? i just. i’m not blaming marinette (worth mentioning that she isn’t actually a real person, and that every situation she is placed in is determined by the writers, who are real people) for making the choices she’s made, as it is an impossible situation, but. i also just like…don’t really want her and adrien together anymore. this whole situation makes me feel so icky inside, it feels unjust for his character for him to have to forgive and move on. because everything that everyone close to him is doing right now feels like such a huge violation. it’s not that i don’t find these choices believable for these characters, it’s just that i kind of hate that THIS is the story that the writers chose to tell.
like the question the writers of this show seem to be interested in is, “How badly could a kind and caring person hurt the one person they love most, while having the very best of intentions?” which is like, an interesting question i guess! under other circumstances i would find that sort of story very interesting! it just threw me for a loop when miraculous ladybug, my favorite secret-identity superhero romance story, refocused itself on that question. i don’t want to watch marinette hurt adrien with the best of intentions. and i really don’t want to watch him keep rolling over and taking it. that just seems like a really unhealthy relationship dynamic to me, and makes me not want them to be together. and that just makes me sad. i love adrien and marinette so much. i wish this was not their story