Reaction to âEl Toro de Piedrasâ (S6, E7)
After much consideration, Iâve decided to publish reactions based on the .to leaks rather than waiting for the Disney broadcast. While I want to support the official release, the fact is that Disneyâs scheduling of premieres is erratic and unpredictable, and thereâs a strong chance that one new episode, âThe Rulerâ, may never air on Disney at all. And letâs be real: everyone is already watching the French rips on the Tongan site anyway.
RaĂșl makes an immediate and fearful impression, physically taking up the entire screen. His plan to steal the Mona Lisa is a grand spectacle intended not only to reestablish himself as a supervillain but to carry his legacy into a new generation. (Incidentally, the subtitles have RaĂșl calling Ivan âmi miroâ, but this isnât a phrase in Spanish. It appears to be the editorâs mistranslation of âmi mijoâ, or âmy sonâ.)
Gabriel Agreste as we knew him would never surrender the time or the dignity to record a message implanted into a stuffed toy. What happened? Adrien traces the change to when Gabriel started âtravelingâ. It seems Gabriel's obsession with finding a cure for Emilieâs illness, followed by his quest to capture the Miraculous and revive her, caused him to lose sight of and neglect the person at the very heart of it all.
Why hide such an important message in an old photo album? I suspect Gabriel was attempting a combination Batman-Thanatos Gambit. Gabriel anticipated that if he died, a mourning and sentimental Adrien would look through all those boxes, discover the note and its commission while doing so, and in a moment of grief and emotional vulnerability pledge to fulfill his fatherâs mission, bringing both his parents back. Again, Gabriel is not the same person who recorded that message for Froggy.
We only see Luka from the shoulders up, although we know his new look incorporates an open shirt :O
Itâs unclear how Luka can support the Miraculers while in self-imposed exile in Brazil. One thing hasnât changed, however: his empath ability. Heâs the only one who notices somethingâs up with Marinette.
Ivanâs increasingly frantic drumming forms an inadvertent backdrop to the tense conversation between Marinette and Nathalie: a brilliant choice by the writers.
Chronologically, this episode precedes âRevelatorâ (ep 11). Airing that episode first creates the false impression that Alya planted Marinette's initial doubts regarding her secret, whereas in reality Marinette has been pondering the implications since London.
Who was that sitting on the bench outside Maison Agreste as Ivan left, and then approached the menâs room as he went in? Surely this must be Cerise in another brilliant disguise. She was counting on Ivan getting upset enough to warrant akumatization, and when Ivan didnât rise to that level of frustration, she pivoted to RaĂșl.
Um⊠can we talk to whoever within the âNouvelle Chanceâ initiative that assigned a former supervillain to a security detail at a museum housing thousands of priceless objets dâart? They couldnât find him a position on a loading dock somewhere?
Ivan made the best decision he could under the circumstances. Going along with RaĂșlâs plot was never an option, but dropping a dime on him would guarantee his return to prison. Stealing the duffel bag and leaving the note in its place split the difference. Itâs not his fault RaĂșl reacted so badly to it.
Most abusive parents are former abused children. They inflict the same maladaptive parenting styles on their children because itâs all they know⊠and perhaps because the strict parenting âworkedâ somehow, gave them an alleged mental or social advantage that supposedly vindicates and justifies everything they suffered. Hence, RaĂșl must raise Ivan as a âbullâ to keep him from becoming a weak and exploitable âdairy cowâ. (As an aside, Iâm guessing it was Ivanâs maternal grandmother who raised him. Otherwise, he would already exhibit âbullâ tendencies.)
The letter as a prompt for an akumatization is a callback to Ivan becoming Stoneheart during the âOriginsâ two-parter. His first akumatization happened because of the note Kim passed to Ivan taunting him about his feelings for MylĂšne; the second time, the trigger was a crumpled sheet of paper on which Ivan wrote a song for her. And those of you who speak Spanish have already observed the connection between Stoneheart and âEl Toro de Piedrasâ, or âthe bull of stoneâ, who wants his son to have âa heart of stoneâ as well.
Damn, Toro even scares Chrysalis within her own dimensional space!
The tribute to Mayor Bustier testifies to the value of the lessons she tried to impart. Granted, some of her students (i.e., Chloe and Lila) took advantage of her humanistic approach, the same way RaĂșl exploited the Nouvelle Chance program. Itâs the risk you take when you appeal to peopleâs better natures and reach out to âhabitual offendersâ. Sometimes you get tricked, but the difference you make in so many peopleâs lives makes it worth it.
Nathanielâs statement about how Mme. Bustier taught the kids how to âfight for their beliefsâ becomes dangerously relevant in âThe Rulerâ, which broke containment the following week.
Minotaurox summoning Ladybug to the sewers isnât just a matter of convenience. Ivan feels like shit and considers himself a piece of shit.
This may be a French show, but I canât help feeling like this episode was made for the American audience, considering the United States has the highest incarceration rate of any developed country, and five times that of France. That means a lot of kids with a parent in jail, to the point that Sesame Workshop created a toolkit on the subject. Ivanâs struggles are the same ones faced by many children with incarcerated parents: the inherent estrangement, the social stigma, loving the parent but hating their offense, and worrying they too will become a âbadâ person.
Julekaâs another child in her fatherâs shadow, coping with estrangement and the expectations of others. Season 1 Juleka could never have pulled off that solo performance. As her song explains, support from Miss Bustier helped her find a voice, part of the âlegacyâ she created within CollĂšge Françoise Dupont.
Am I the only one who noticed the yellow tint on the fight scene, as if the animators put a Mexican filter on it?
Usually, itâs Ladybug or Chat Noir who breaks the akumatized object. But this time, Ivan did it, breaking both the whip and his fatherâs symbolic control.
This isnât the first time LB has successfully prevented an akumatization victim from getting arrested, as previously seen in âQilinâ. And both times, the cops honor her request. Compare that to first-season episodes like âCopycatâ and âRogercopâ where the police treated Ladybug and Chat Noir like either nuisances or criminals.
So more people besides Tomoe Tsurugi (obviously âthe Machineâ) had interests in Gabriel procuring the two main Miraculous, and theyâre not pleased that Gabriel used them for âselfishâ purposes. Nathalieâs father is a member of âthe Councilâ⊠perhaps this was why Nathalie assented to the custody agreement proposed in âWerepapasâ, so Adrien would not become entangled in the Councilâs machinations or Nathalieâs obligations toward it.
