Miraculous Ladybug has some pretty self-contradictory messages when it comes to secrets. We witness Luka and Marinette as well as Kagami and Adrien breaking up because secrets destroyed their relationship (trust issues, lying, etc). We also see that the relationship between Marinette and Alya improves due to sharing secrets.
On the other hand, the entire message of Chat Blanc was that sharing secrets can be extremely disastrous. It destroyed the relationship between Adrien and his father (I believe their relationship is extremely unhealthy since Gabriel is neglectful but I also believe this can be fixed if Gabriel is willing to be a better father). Adrien revealing his identity to Marinette also caused the entire world to collapse, literally. Master Fu also pressed Marinette to choose good allies who can keep a secret. We later learn the rules from the temple are not necessarily sacred, but still. Even Alix from the future tells Ladybug that she was chosen to be a Miraculous holder precisely because she can keep a secret. The Alix from the present presumably hasn’t told anyone she will become a holder in the future either. The impression the audience gets is that keeping a secret is a quality of a good Miraculous holder. Compare that to Chloe, who was considered a bad holder, precisely because she revealed her identity to everyone right away (more specifically, her mother).
In the newest episode (Rocketear), we get the message that DJWifi is a good, healthy relationship because Alya and Nino do not keep secrets from one another. At the end of the episode, Alya tells Nino she is still Rena Rouge. The irony is that by doing so, she is lying to Marinette. The episode even starts with Ladybug asking Rena if she had already told Nino she will never be Rena again. It’s quite ironic, because the DJWifi identity reveal was Laybug’s doing in the first place, though Alya already suspected Nino was Carapace.
The same episode also implies Nino was in the wrong for revealing his and Rena’s identities to Adrien. So is sharing secrets a good idea or not? Or only if a secret is damaging your relationship? If so, why couldn’t Marinette reveal her identity to Luka? Or Adrien his to Kagami? Or maybe even Adrien to his father for all I care, or the other way around perhaps.
The general season 4 vibe is that secrets cause emotional conflict (which I like because plot development!) but also that keeping a secret can cause emotional conflict. There’s no clear moral message, it’s just all over the place. This isn’t helpful to children at all (I believe kids’ shows should have good messages). I understand the storyline and I appreciate the writing, but there is no ‘’red line’’. I enjoy seeing characters making mistakes because it makes them more real and relatable and provides an opportunity for learning, but there is no learning here. These characters do not learn from their mistakes. Keeping a secret is wrong, sharing one is also wrong. What the Hell are they even supposed to do? What is the audience meant to take from this?
The season is also greatly foreshadowing a major emotional conflict of Adrien’s, more specifically the Chat Noir/Ladybug relationship. But we know that no matter what, the conflict can not be resolved by just the two of them talking. Adrien now knows that Ladybug keeps secrets from him, which hurts, but even him learning those secrets hurts too. What is Ladybug supposed to do? From the very beginning she was told by Master Fu to never tell anyone your identity and to never pick an ally who tells anyone their identity. It’s not really properly explained why this rule is supposedly bad. We’re told the identity protection is to protect loved ones. When Marinette breaks the rule a bit, even the guy from the temple admits her new rules work to some degree. However, Alya’s loved ones were in danger in Sentibubbler because Hawk Moth knew her identity. So the rules were actually valid after all? PICK A SIDE
