Ten Things They Could’ve Done for the Shanghai Special‘s Opener Instead of What They Actually Did
note: this post does not welcome Marinette salt and is only presenting alternatives to the bad writing; Marinette salters do not interact
Marinette genuinely wanting to learn about her culture and deciding to ask her parents to go; she’s rewarded by the narrative by Adrien coincidentally being there too.
Marinette’s friends meddle in the matter and are the ones who lie to Marinette’s parents in Marinette’s place, talking over Marinette so she can’t get a word in (foreshadowing for the New York special where Alya will be meddling further and actually is there with Marinette to meddle further).
Marinette going to Shanghai for her great-uncle’s birthday (after being semi-guilted by her parents since she’s nervous about going to another country herself, but she does genuinely like her great-uncle) and coincidentally missing Adrien every single time. Neither have any idea the other is in Shanghai and the joke is that they keep almost seeing each other but never do. They’ll have a moment later after they get back like you were in Shanghai too??? I didn’t even see you!!
Marinette hears about Adrien leaving for Shanghai (because he told her since they’re supposed to be friends and he sent out a mass text to let everyone know) and he’s clearly going to be lonely, which gives Marinette an incentive to want to go to Shanghai for him as his friend.
Adrien doesn’t actually go to Shanghai - Gabriel does - and Marinette goes there alongside Sabine for fAmiLY bOnDinG purposes. Wanting Chat Noir to know, Ladybug texts him to tell her where she’s going and Adrien (thinking that something happened and Ladybug might need him) has to balance going back-and-forth between Paris and Shanghai to be ready to help but also make sure that Nathalie and Gorilla suspect nothing.
Marinette’s parents talking about her going to Shanghai for her great-uncle’s birthday and Marinette is understandably unsure (“I don’t even know Chinese!”) until she hears about Adrien going to Shanghai as well. The special ends up being a call out to the show itself her parents for never trying to invest her in Chinese culture, not even teaching her the Chinese language, and then expecting her to want to go with no other incentive.
Marinette venting to Master Fu (placing this special firmly between seasons 2 and 3 without being vague about it) that Adrien is going to Shanghai, which makes Fu realize that Chat Noir is MIA. He gives Marinette the horse miraculous and tells her to “go ahead and go” (without giving further details, pretending like he’s just giving her an offer to see Adrien) because he knows he can’t count on Adrien being able to fly back in time if there’s an akuma alert.
Marinette hears about Adrien leaving and, while having dinner with her parents, sighs to herself about how she “wishes she could go to Shanghai,” which her parents misunderstand and immediately overwhelm her with their shtick about how “they’ve been waiting for this moment” (same as in the original), meaning Marinette can’t get a word in and ultimately decides not to correct them since they’d feel bad. She’s mixed between looking for Adrien and spending time with her great-uncle, but ends up having the most fun experiencing Chinese culture in the end.
Marinette hears about Adrien being in Shanghai and decides to use her space power to go to Shanghai herself without her family knowing (Wang might very well see her while she’s there; cue Marinette sweating profusely when her parents explain that Wang saw someone who “looks just like her”; yeah, how about that?? weird, right???). Shenanigans ensue with her balancing being in Shanghai and going home to make her parents think she never left (probably having to make more space macarons at some point as well, showing that she knows the recipe). Bonus if the ending is her realizing that Adrien isn’t worth this much effort.
Not make a China special that wasn’t going to make anyone happy anyway because they clearly don’t know what they’re doing.