Zuko got to confront his abuser without being in the final fight against him. Hunter got to confront his abuser despite not being in the final fight against him. Movie!Adrien got to confront Gabriel despite Marinette finishing the fight for them. If the final fight HAD to be Marinette vs Gabriel exclusively, then they could have made that work.
One way could have been delaying Felix's redemption arc by another season. Have Adrien figure out Gabriel is hawkmoth, confront him about the years of abuse, then have Felix come in with his own goals (maybe using the wish to make all the sentikids fully human) and Adrichat then breaks off to fight Feligos. That would evoke the same feelings that the final Agni Kai did, where we are watching two children who should have been allowed to love each other and grow together be forced apart by their abuse. The fight between Zuko and Azula sticks as the most powerful scene in the final battle BECAUSE of the tragedy of these two children being forced apart by their abuser. Adrien and Felix could have a similar theme, with Felix seeing the ability to make the senti kids human as a way to protect them from their abuse, the abuse that made him so jaded and Adrien so easily manipulated. Then Adrien is fighting against that as he knows the cost of the wish - lives would be lost for the two of them to be human.
Or you could have Emilie revive briefly since the theory previously was that she was in a coma, and Adrien drops out of the fight to try to save her...
Or you push off Nathalie's death by a few scenes and have her be the one Adrichat breaks off to fight.
There were so many options to have final girl marinette while allowing adrien to confront his dad and learn the truth.
uncle wang's english speaking skills and comprehension have drastically improved since s1. he's been in shanghai the majority of the past year, so he's either been putting in the work, or the writers didn't feel like dealing with the language barrier again.
I was thinking the same thing! To be fair, we didn’t actually hear much of the real Uncle Wang speaking, so I actually think the better English speaking from Not-Wang was meant to raise the alarm that something isn’t right. If the writers are capable of thinking that out lol.
miraculous s6 finale “Nemesis” (and S7) predictions:
Scenario 1:
Whatever Marinette forgot (that tikki tried to mention) in Secret Protocol will aid in Lila winning in finding out her identity
Marinette will get the Spider-Man Far From Home + No Way Home treatment and Lila will reveal her identity to the whole city, and then Chat Noir will erase that from everyone’s minds (his memory ability was given in Revelator for a reason and I can’t think of a better reason than this). (Whether Lila’s reveal includes everything about Gabriel or not, I’m not sure.) Ladybug is based on Spider-Man, after all. I do think the Great Erasing of the knowledge of her identity won’t apply to everyone, though—it can’t be too NWH. Alya, Luka, and her parents will likely continue to know. Kagami, Felix, Nathalie - probably? Tomoe and Nathalie, probably not. But I don’t know if she’ll be able to be that picky. So maybe everyone will forget except Chat?
Marinette’s identity being revealed will be the end of season 6 and chat fixing everything will be in season 7?
If the Gabriel secret is part of Lila’s reveal, then perhaps Chat fixing everything with memory erasing will be after some sort of Miraculous Civil War type event
If the Gabriel secret is not part of Lila’s reveal, then maybe we’ll finally get a full reveal and Adrien will also reveal his identity to Marinette. And he’ll just erase the memory and fix everything almost right away. And then reveal himself. And actually, I think their identities already being revealed would actually make it easier for Marinette to reveal the whole Gabriel bullshit to Adrien.
Scenario 2:
Alternatively, Nemesis will end in a somewhat win for Marinette, except for that Lila/Chrysalis will reveal that she knows about Gabriel and threaten to either 1) tell everyone or 2) tell Adrien. The end credit scene will then pick up from the end scene of Sadnansi, when Marinette came to Adrien’s door with the intent of telling Adrien everything. That scene will actually take place here, and Marinette will actually walk in and tell Adrien everything to beat Lila to it (because obviously Marinette wants him to find out from her, not anyone else and especially not their enemy).
Except we won’t actually see much of this conversation—the last bit of the episode will be Marinette struggling to find the words, Adrien being like “Marinette what’s going on it’s ok you can tell me anything” and Marinette will take a deep breath and look at him and say “Your father was Monarch.” Cut to black, roll the credits.
The very first episode of S7 will pick up right where that left off. Marinette will give Adrien Gabriel’s letter she hid from him and secret superhero identities will not be revealed on either side.
Either way, I do think S6 has to end with at least one secret being revealed. I do think the Gabriel secret almost has to be part of it solely because 1) the whole season has been building up to that and 2) again, the Sadnansi ending? I don’t think they can leave that hanging until the next season? Like for the flow of the story that would not make any sense and that scene needs a pay off somehow, at some point.
secret protocol was an excellent episode omg I loved it. Thoughts under the cut because I have a lot.
- The suspense was palpable the entire time and the music and the animations were so well done throughout.
- Always love to see Chat Noir going crazy when Marinette is in danger.
- Uncle Wang always calling in the middle of the night to wish Sabine a happy birthday? 10/10 no notes perfect minor detail l. I relate so heavily to this and I expect anyone with elderly family in other parts of the world does too.
- I’m a little disappointed that Feral Chat wasn’t because the truth had been revealed and he was mad at Ladybug but oh well.
- THE ENDING!!! Love love love that she revealed her identity to her parents. Can’t wait to see how they react—hopefully that’ll be the beginning of Nemesis. I know it’s not technically a two parter finale but honestly I’m expected it to essentially function as a two parter regardless. I can’t imagine Nemesis doesn’t pick up right where Secret Protocol left off.
- The dialogue especially did an excellent job of conveying that Not-Wang was, in fact, not Wang. The entire episode I was thinking that his English was too fluent. Previously, Uncle Wang tended to leave out prepositions and things like that and Not-Wang didn’t really seem to be doing that. I suppose it’s believable (in universe) that he’s just gotten more fluent since we saw him last but. Why would he want to lmao. He lives in Shanghai and speaks more than enough English (or French, technically, I guess) to communicate with his niece—if I was him I wouldn’t care to improve my English yk like there’s no need. Point being, that’s something Lila didn’t quite nail with her fake Wang and I bet that fed into Marinette feeling that something isn’t right, even if only subconsciously.
-Speaking of Not-Wang I’m struggling to understand how exactly Lila pulled this off? The only thing I’m sure of is she has at least two other people helping her because I don’t think it’s possible with less than that. My theory is Lila akumatized Helper #1 with the power to change people’s appearances, and Helper #1 then used their powers to transform Helper #2’s appearance to that of Uncle Wang. Helper #2 infiltrated the bakery and Lila then akumatized them etc etc.
- If Wang was the one who looked through Marinette’s room, why was the window open and the snow globe on the floor? I’m thinking Not-Wang was still in there and, when they heard Marinette coming up the stairs, hastily went out the window (knocking the snow globe to the ground) to avoid being seen. Maybe? I don’t know. This is not the biggest question I have from this episode; I’m still more curious about how Lila pulled it off. Maybe we’ll find out in Nemesis, maybe not.
- Tikki was saying that Marinette forgot something and Marinette cut her off so we don’t know what that is. I think this will definitely come back to bite Marinette in Nemesis. I assume Lila’s greater goal was to make Marinette so paranoid that she starts slipping up in haste, in which case mission accomplished!
- Overall this was a great penultimate episode to the season and my only gripe with it is that we were left waiting for it for so long.
I’ve been rewatching all of miraculous (in order of production codes because the episodes are so out of order on disney plus) and I just got to chat blanc, which I don’t think I’ve watched in years because it makes me sad and…
The concept of Gabriel using Adrien’s amok to force Adrien to accept the akuma.
The concept of Chat’s own cataclysm getting him and that’s why he’s so manic.
No way Miraculous Ladybug (and chat noir) S6 has more emotional depth, better plot and stakes, and more queer representation than S5 of Stranger Things
if you’ve seen the thing in tiktok where if you comment “fake ending” a little image pops up, unfortunately it does that with any comment that has the word “ending” in it. It’s not the terms “fake ending” or “byler ending”, it’s just “ending”.
ok here is a massive post of all the evidence i’ve seen for conformitygate on tiktok, twt, tumblr, etc. maybe it’s insane but remember this is just for fun!! lmk if i missed anything :)
interviews/promo
millie said in an interview that the finale would be meta, like a play within a play; we haven’t seen that yet
st twitter posted “vecna WILL pay” after the finale was released. someone asked why they used future tense and they replied “🫢”
wsqk posted that volume 3 is lost
crossword was posted with the words waterfall, goodbye, dragons, believe, and dungeons, all around “graduation”. last letters spell out “lenses,” see below about the graduates in sunglasses
countless cast and crew members said the painting would be addressed and it wasn’t
the duffers were advertising this huge plot twist in the finale and there wasn’t one
wsqk hinted at sm scenes that didn’t happen
the duffers said we would find out how the bolt on the byers door unlocked in s1 but we never did
on twitter, netflix posted like the title screen for every episode and then made a blank post after ep8
when put under a uv light, an official wsqk flashlight sold by netflix reads “vecna lives”
lines/quotes
“your memory of what happened might be foggy, confused”
“no wonder everyone was so clueless, it’s a trance”
“i don’t believe in coincidences. not anymore”
“it’s like there’s a missing of the puzzle. a big piece.” “yeah well the pieces are in vecna’s mind!” (mike sees an incomplete rainbow puzzle in the hospital, he needs to find this piece of himself)
“is this real? is vecna messing with us again?”
“this makes no goddamn sense!”
“i got so turned around i actually ended up right back at the beginning” (max in vecna’s memories) the epilogue is the same scene as the beginning of the show
“everything you see, none of it is real!”
“that’s it? comfort and happiness? could you be more trite?” this is how the duffers ended their show. they’re calling their own ending trite. it’s not the real ending
“this isn’t like one of your campaigns, you don’t get to write the ending” then the epilogue is mike doing literally that
scene details
small details change; max told holly this is a sign they’re in henry’s mind
door handle in the basement is on the other side in the epilogue than it was in the first episode
guy filming graduation is in a shirt that says duffers, the duffers are filming us
in the credits, “JK95” is written. just kidding, episode 9 season 5
steve calls derek “thomas” in the epilogue baseball game. he should know derek’s name. this is a false memory
vecna took 12 kids and exactly 12 graduating students are wearing sunglasses; this may be covering their eyes in a trance or showing that they can’t actually see what’s going on
on her journey, el is in a blue jacket with a yellow backpack facing a rainbow
the electricity dial changed from gray to red, like how the carousel on the playground changed from yellow to gray, it’s a sign of being in vecna’s memories
at graduation, everyone’s hands are positioned like vecna’s, and how billy’s were positioned when he was possessed
in his graduation speech, dustin yells about screwing conformity but the show ends with literally everyone conforming. nancy looks like her mom, mike looks like his dad, max gets angry in dnd and breaks things like billy would, will is in a leather jacket like lonnie and smoking like joyce, etc. they all look like their parents that vecna went to school with. he had clearer images of their parents than them so that’s how they all look in the epilogue
a board game called whatzit is seen in the wheelers’ basement AND hop’s cabin. vecna is still there
heroes has played twice before in the show; when they found wills body and thought he was dead and when they thought hopper was dead. heroes plays again in the credits. it always plays at a fakeout death. vecna didn’t really die
someone is holding up a blank poster at graduation
background characters at enzo’s are watching us, the audience
in their campaign with eddie, they thought they’d killed vecna but they really hadn’t
orange is the schools color when henry went there, but it no longer is. however everyone’s graduation robes are orange. in nancy’s spinoff book it explicitly talks about her graduating in green robes, but vecna would only remember it as orange
in the epilogue, the shot outside the wheelers house of the sprinkler is the exact same as in s1. scenes are being reused, vecna’s making up memories from what he has
in the wsqk, the floor looks just like the chess board that el and henry played on. henry is playing them all like chess pieces
robin describes hawkins we being different than she remembers in the epilogue
robins style completely changes in the epilogue. she doesn’t even look like herself
nancy drops out of emerson, her lifelong dream?
henry breaking the fourth wall at the dining table like we’re the children in his mind
never revealed the significance of november 6
in the epilogue gay bar, lights are flickering behind will.
why do jonathan nancy robin and steve have their whole epilogue scene? that was never really a friend group. but vecna might assume it was because they were all the same year
there is a tick of vecna’s clock then a heartbeat sound before mike hallucinates being in el’s mind
max literally could not have graduated with them
in his coming out scene, will says he likes milkshakes at melvalds but they only had those in vecna’s time. and will says he likes getting lost in the woods. no?? that’s his trauma???
at the baseball game steve is coaching, a banner says 1988, it should be 1989
the gay bar will is at in the epilogue is called the silver bullet, meaning “a simple, seemingly magical solution to a difficult problem.” they won too easily
bts not matching up with actual s5, meaning there’s more scenes we haven’t seen
in a bts shot of joyce at enzo’s she’s wearing a completely different outfit than she is in the finale that we see. this outfit is joyce’s 80s style so it likely wasn’t just winona out of costume
on instagram, noah posted a photo of the dnd binders lined up in a different order than they were in the epilogue. in this order, the letters line up to spell “x a lie,” dimension x is a lie
bts shot of mike giving will the “for will” mixtape that there was sm merch for but it was never in the show, as well as the letter that ends in “love mike”
in a bts shot of will in the gay bar, he has a completely different hairstyle and he has an earring
they announced a soundtrack that included many songs that were never played, like “just like heaven” and “bicycle race”
dnd lore
in the credits, will is listed as an illusionist, not a sorcerer. the wearer of the eye of vecna can see through illusions. will is possessed and vecna is casting illusions through him.
this makes will the eye of vecna. mikes hand is twitching in many shots which could make him the hand of vecna. the holders of the eye and hand are deeply connected, like mike and will
henry is missing an eye when he first arrived in dimension x and he is shot in the hand as a child. the eye and hand of vecna are both significant in dnd, so clearly this was intentional but is never addressed
a false hydra is a monster in dnd that convinces its victims of false memories, and that things that never happened actually did. if mike is its victim, this could explain everything off in the finale and his misguided theory about el’s survival. we need another ep to address this
when you cut off a false hydra’s head, two grow back, and this hurts the dungeon master (mike) the most. joyce cut off vecnas head and mike suffered the most in the epilogue
“if someone known to the target is killed by the false hydra, the target may believe that their deceased acquaintance had merely gone on a journey somewhere far away” this is exactly what mike imagines for el, making him the target
the false hydra was the monster in wills painting
mikes campaign theory
season 5 mirrors mike’s DND campaign from season 1, which dustin explicitly called full of plot holes and with a confusing ending. the duffers are acknowledging that s5 is full of plot holes and had a confusing ending
in s1, mike tells karen they’d been playing for 10 hours then asks for 20 more minutes. season 5 was 10 hours and 20 minutes. this cannot be a coincidence because on 1/1/26, netflix extended runtimes of all vol1 episodes by 3 minutes SO THAT the season would be exactly 10hr20m
the audience is mike who is vecna’d
in e4 when us and mike first see vecna, a clock is ticking, which only happens when vecna is possessing someone
mike is the only one looking at us in promo posters
stranger things insta story said “to our fans, you’re the heart”
lucas says to mike “is this real? is vecna messing with us again? this makes no sense”
robin, lucas, and mike are talking about how vecna’s victims are all in a trance
lucas is fans who figured out the twist, mike is us, robin is the duffers explaining everything in this scene
when will is unconscious on the couch and joyce is with him, we get a shot of lucas behind them and another shot of mike behind them. lucas and mike are standing in the same spot in their respective shots but the background is completely different
robin used the “i think we’re alone now” record to represent holly, which is the same song vecna gave her and knew she loved. how would robin know this? she doesn’t; this is a vecna trance which is how we have this detail
wills song is “should i stay or should i go” by the clash from the combat rock album. robin pulls out london calling by the clash, which is the wrong record for will. mikes memories are getting mixed up
vickie is not in the epilogue and her and robin don’t have their enzo’s date, although joyce and hopper do. the end of rovickie’s relationship is very ambiguous. however if this is all in mikes mind, mike doesn’t know rovickie is dating which is why this wouldn’t be included. and vecna doesn’t know vickie
also there’s no suzie but we never saw her and dustin break up. in the epilogue dustin is flirting with the popular girl at graduation. this girl (sorry i don’t remember her name) was at the snow ball and so was the mindflayer, so he knows her to put in the scene
we all know the mindflayer “likes it cold,” but it’s from dimension x, a desert planet. you would think dimension x would be cold then. it’s not because it’s made up in mikes mind and he didn’t think of that detail in his subconscious
all of netflix’s january 1 releases hint at mike being vecna’d: they are mike epps: delusional, the big fake, the brave, etc
when they came out of the ud and were met with military, a soldier knew mikes name. how is that possible?
there’s so many reasons mike’s perception of el’s death dont make sense. how could she have brought him into her mind when the kryptonite was stifling her powers? how could kali have made an illusion of her when she died from a bullet wound a while before? and even if she hasn’t died from that, the explosion in the upside down started in the lab where kali was so that would’ve killed her too. she would’ve been dead when we’re supposed to believe she was casting an illusion of el.
real finale will be 1/7
netflix posted on vol2 release day saying “your future is on its way. #WhatNext January 7, 2026”
joyce was proven to be right about will not being dead 7 days after he disappeared (1/7 is 7 days after the finale)
in the credits, a dice rolled on a 7
the very first 1on1 mike and will scene is “the roll. it was a 7”
vecna’s victims are under his curse for 7 days before dying
and there’s also just so many more plot holes and things that weren’t addressed that need more screen time to resolve
Ok there was a lot of of poor writing in the finale but you know what I actually think was the worst? That the military/Dr. Kay just… let El (or illusion-El, whatever it was) blow herself up? This whole season they’ve been hunting her because they want her blood. They wanted her alive. Kay had what she wanted standing assumedly defenseless, considering the sonic kryptonite weapons, right in front of her, about to kill heralded, and Kay just let her. The military held back the Party who were actively trying to beg El to reconsider, to drag her away from certain death. El was just standing there, waiting to die, and Kay just watched her. Why not grab her? Why did they let her do that? It makes no goddamn sense.
Now, I’m trying not to get my hopes too high for conformitygate, but I honestly think the this plot hole lends credibility to that, especially if Mike’s the one being Vecna’d. Vecna would want to hurt Mike as much as possible, and restraining him while he’s screaming and crying because El is blowing herself up would be a pretty damn good way to do that. I’m just saying.
(Also, I’m just assuming that every plot hole is evidence of conformitygate to cope with the bad writing. There’s still another day until the seventh. There’s still hope.)
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