hii! i don't know if this has been answered, or whether you have anything to say on the matter, but i'd love to know how you would've handled the Agreste arc, especially Gabriel. just an ask to comment on a rewrite you might've done? mayhaps? lol i waited so long for this ask box and i forgot everything i wanted to ask 😭 blessings
I have a "Gabriel deserves better" tag and an "Emilie deserves better" tag that cover a lot of my thoughts on the Agrestes and how they could have been handled better. My favorite pitch is still this one because canon so clearly wants the Agrestes to be tragic figures and I like that approach way more than what canon actually did. Pure evil villains can be a lot of fun, but in long-running stories, I prefer more complexity and nuance.
Quick summary of the linked post: remove the backstory of the Agrestes being selfish idiots who messed with forbidden magic and got what they deserved and replace it with a backstory where Emilie got her hands on the butterfly and the peacock by accident or inheritance. The peacock is still broken, but in this version she knows that and is avoiding using it. Instead, she wields the butterfly.
As a bold, but soft-hearted woman of substantial means, she decides that it is going to be her mission to fix the peacock so she became a world traveler. During her travels, she meets Gabriel and they work together to try to fix the peacock. Then something happens and Emilie is forced (or feels forced) to use the peacock for a reason that isn't a magical slave baby, making her illness and Gabriel's reaction to it infinitely more sympathetic.
Yes, I'm STILL not over canon letting Emilie use the peacock without knowing the consequences. What the hell was that? Why would you do that? That's so much less interesting! Same goes for the magical slave baby. How is that even remotely sympathetic? Yes, infertility is sad. That doesn't change the fact that she decided her want to have a kid was more important than the child having free will. That deeply selfish choice kills any sympathy I might have had for her especially since the butterfly could have gotten her pregnant just as easily and without the nasty consequences for her or Adrien. That makes Emilie dying feel like the natural consequences of her playing God. She picked the wrong miraculous and paid an extremely reasonable price. Something her equally egotistical husband couldn't accept which lead to him also getting his just desserts. If only canon had let Nathalie pay too...
Back to the rewrite!
Once Emilie gets sick, Gabriel would go through a corruption arc where he slowly goes from a genuinely good and loving father to a monster over the course of the story, another thing canon seems to think it pulled off, but didn't. You can't have his corruption all be pre-canon if you want it to compel the audience. You need to actually show it on screen! Season one Gabriel should be a sad mess we all feel sorry for, but he wasn't so no one cares that he's dead now.
Basically, I see the vibes the writers were going for and I am fully on board, I just think they completely failed to actually capture those vibes which is why things like the season five ending failed to land.
Btw, I saw you sent a second ask elaborating on this first one and I'll answer that, too.
