I finally watched the episode, and firstly, Marinette ate with that monologue, and secondly, I still stand by everything I've said prior to seeing the episode. Funnily enough when I made the other post I was referring to both Adrien AND Marinette cause I was seeing posts about Adrien’s therapy making him worse ("progress isn't linear" (and actually therapy can make someone worse initially bc you dig into shit people have likely been avoiding and have them face it and work through it)) and more of the same about Marinette being an irredeemable piece of shit who deserves to be abandoned and fucking killed off on screen in the eyes of some of the fandom ("mistakes are necessary for growth"). But we can see who everyone dogpiled on in the reblogs (thank you, blocked). I also stand by everything I said about the way they are progressing this season. Because, to me, what I saw in this episode is more of Marinette questioning herself and regretting her decision, just like every other fucking episode this season. But as Nathalie said in a prior episode, they've agreed on a truth and have to stick to it, which is the only guidance in this situation that Marinette has had. Nathalie is the only adult she can really go to about what happened, and she has consistently pushed Marinette to keep up the lie. It's blatantly obvious in this episode that this secret is too much for Marinette, and she is struggling to live with it and keep up appearances. And we do get some ominous foreshadowing in the end when Tikki says that she and Adrien can live their happy love story and Marinette is like yeah... right... 🫤 She knows this secret is impacting her relationship, even if anything her enjoyment of it. She feels guilty around him constantly, and it's eating away at her. She is very aware.
I do find it rich that people are throwing around "oh Marinette canonically hates liars but now she is lying" as a big gotcha against her character and using it to call her a hypocrite rather than taking two more seconds to consider that her hatred of lying is exactly why this situation is as fucked up as it is. Marinette DOES hate lying, which is WHY she is being eaten alive by this whole situation. They've harped on this so many times this season now that she hates the lie and wants to make it right but doesn't know how. She has consistently had it thrown in her face and has seen what will happen if even her bff finds out about it. She saw her bff harshly reject her over it, so what do you think you would do in that situation? She's 15 and facing losing her friends and the person she loves and potentially ruining the lives of multiple people she cares about. And the only adult who could guide her is encouraging her to keep up the lie. Any motherfucker in this fandom that thinks they would behave differently in her shoes is lying. Bring yourself back to 15 years old and honestly tell me that if you were facing a situation where you had to lie to someone you love to protect them or risk losing them and ruining their life, and you wanted to tell the truth to the person, but the only other adult in the situation was continuing to tell you to lie about it that you would be able to handle it perfectly. If you were a child who was being blamed for bullshit that grown ass adults threw you into. (Don't even get me started on Kagami's mom telling Ladybug she is an accomplice now too bc bitch it's not the fucking same thing)
I've seen people touting how Marinette lacks empathy (she doesn't (not entirely anyway as I have seen suggested but that's a convo for another day)) but the shit I have seen thrown at her in all the time I have been in this fandom demonstrates this fandom's lack of empathy for young girls. Yes, her actions are wrong. That's the point. This situation is layered, it isn't black and white. It is wrong both from a perspective of how her lying is only making the situation worse and also wrong from the perspective that she is fucking traumatized and should not have to be carrying the weight of her boyfriend's father's villainy and fucking death, which she witnessed! We are supposed to see both wrongs in this scenario. We are supposed to recognize that what Marinette is doing is wrong, AND ALSO feel empathy for her because the situation is tragic and fucked up. She's a young girl! Her brain isn't even fully developed. (And this trauma is likely having a huge impact on her brain development). And it's blatantly obvious that the truth is going to get out. (At least to me it is, apparently not to some of yall). It's obvious that Marinette isn't going to get away with this forever. It's obvious some deep shit is gonna go down. But it's also obvious to me that eventually everything is going to work out. Has the theme song not always pushed the power of love? Has the love square not always been propped up since day 1? Yeah, we are in the fucked up swirly disorienting part of the roller coaster ride that kind of makes you wanna throw up, but eventually there will be a big drop and then a resolution. At least to this conflict. Mind you they want 14 seasons of ML now, so it's not like they don't have time to work through the fallout.
And in complete seriousness, if you only have negative feelings about the show at this point, you don't have to be here. I have been very open about my past experiences with this show. There was once a time where I too was frustrated with the writing, and I was very openly critical of the writing. I was surrounded by a lot of negativity about the show, and I reached a point where every time I came into fandom spaces, I just felt upset and angry. It was impacting not only my enjoyment of the show, but me as a person. I was irritable in my regular life too, and I had a strong negativity bias. And ya know what I did? I sat with myself and reflected and asked myself whether or not I wanted to keep watching the show because I was tired of feeling that way. I looked around at the environment I was in and decided that I didn't want to be in it anymore because I did still like the show, so I distanced from the crowd I was hanging with that was perpetuating negativity and changed the way I was engaging with the show. But had I decided differently and said ya know what? This show actually isn't bringing me joy anymore, I would have fucking left. And I think that is a conversation a lot of people should have with themselves right about now. Do you only sign onto this website to bitch and complain about the show and how you hate the writing and the main character and the direction the show is heading? The answer is simple: Leave. Even if for a little while. Take a break. I have done that. Give yourself distance for a month, two months, a year. You literally do not have to be in a fandom that you don't enjoy. And I can promise you that you will be happier in your life if you quit engaging in things that only upset you. If the show is too much, go find something else that pisses you off less. Some of us want to have a good time without some annoying asshole whining about the show in our ears. Go somewhere else.
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