Maledictator really ruined everything for the writers. Of all the episodes that shot them in the foot regarding Chloe this has to be the biggest. It did one thing you never want to prime your audience to do if you wanna play something completely straight, not trust your character’s words and actions at face value.
Because of that, her actions are reinterpreted as not being purely egotistical entitlement, but also a coping mechanism for their greater insecurities. Queen Bee is probably the biggest smoking gun regarding that. Thomas and Co wanted us to believe Chloe viewed it purely as an ego stroking thing, but we were primed to see it as deeper than that considering how she was given the bee originally.
They really had to make her talk about lacking purpose in the same convo where she becomes Queen Bee again. That’s a generational fumble. If she also sees being Queen Bee as her serving a purpose then her insistence on her NEEDING it becomes, still selfish, but interesting. Putting those two subject together made viewers link them together, reasonably so.
We get to Miracle Queen and we still have that link of purpose in our heads. Suddenly our perception of her being manipulated rings of a different tone than intended. It’s not just taking advantage of her ego, but also her abandonment issues, desire for approval, want of a purpose, and care for her parents on some level. Queen’s battle made us consider how her surroundings affects her behavior (Her parents being akumatized and being directly confronted by hawkmoth), while Maledictator made us aware the insecurities (her purpose/usefulness, and Ladybug not conscripting her) that influence her just as much.
Yes, exactly.
