Episode 2 - The Maelstrom: Part 2

The song I chose for this episode has a double meaning for me. Twisted Mind by Avantasia is a pretty good description (at least to me) of Gabriel Agreste’s behaviour, but the main reason was for what happens to Nathalie at the end of the episode.

Ladybug’s Plan

I’m actually quite proud of Ladybug’s plan in this sequence – taking out Prime Queen dramatically reduces Scarlet Papillon’s influence over the city, and sending Viperion after Climatika (canonically the most dangerous Akuma we’ve seen after Chat Blanc) massively decreases his firepower. Ladybug still makes a couple of mistakes, but given all she’s been through today that’s understandable – the last three episodes and 68% of the one before all took place over less than 24 hours.

Queen Bee and Tangle

Okay, yeah, this finally happened. Technically, it’s a good way to get around Prime Queen – the fact that one of the most famous teenagers/only known superhero in Paris is coming out as bi is definitely going to pull in the ratings. In early drafts, the two of them were already together at this point, but it worked a lot better when the one of them who’s already out is pining for the other.

Remember back in the commentary to False Flag/Road Rage I mentioned how Tangle/Maria have only ever seen Chloé as a hero or when she was deeply upset? That’s definitely feeding a lot of Tangle’s affection for Chloé at this point. The fact that their sprouting relationship is being publicly broadcast to the entirety of Paris can’t possibly come back to bite them, can it?

Swordfighting

I know that Chat Noir is usually quipping and dancing around when he’s fighting, but I really wanted to allow him to explore more of his emotions. This is the first (but not the last) time in Miraculous: Contingency that Chat Noir suddenly goes cold, emotionless, and efficient while fighting against someone – Adrien has grown up with Gabriel and, even if they’ve become distant, it’s still having a huge effect on the boy.

Pitting Scarlet Papillon against Chat Noir and Ryuko was really fun. Those two are some of the best fencers in Paris, as we learned during Kagami’s very first appearance in the show, and I’ve worked on the assumption that Gabriel did fencing when he was young too.

The time-travel beatdown was always planned, and it’s incredibly satisfying. Obviously, Bunnyx could easily end things right now, but that wouldn’t make as good a story, would it? Bunnyx (and Ladybug, to be fair) is massively overpowered – it’s no surprise that the showrunners had to write her out of the plot for Season 5-6 (so far) – I had to work out a way to nerf her in Miraculous: Contingency as well.

Queen Bee and Pegasus

I’ll cover more of this in a later commentary, but this wasn’t always set in stone. I’d decided that Chloé was going to learn another Miraculous’ identity during the Maelstrom, but it wasn’t until I was typing the first draft of this episode that I decided on Pegasus. Interestingly, at least to me, that spur of the moment decision actually generated a large part of the narrative over season 2 and season 3. We’re going to have to see how Chloé deals with this new, privileged information.

The Final Fight

This was different in the original draft; it was less coherent and harder to follow, but the core moments were the same. I really wanted to give Hibou a moment to shine, so The Spoiler had to make a return appearance. The other Akumas who feature in this sequence were almost all very specifically chosen in the second draft.

Ladybug and Chat Noir not actually fighting and just drawing Scarlet Papillon’s attention was always the plan though. Before they defeated Scarlet Papillon by breaking his Cane, this time they had more options available.

Uproar

Honestly, King Monkey is the hardest Miraculous for me to use – I only have him feature in a handful more episodes over the course of Miraculous: Contingency. Kim as a character was a little… boring to me, and then the show episode Dark Humor really soured me on him (side note: that whole flashback sequence with Chloé sneaking bugs into Marinette’s locker and Marinette not being able to say the word ‘love’ subsequently felt so much like a massive ret-con that it didn’t happen in the Miraculous: Contingency timeline)

This is one of the most significant plot points in the whole of Miraculous: Contingency. Prior to this episode, Nathalie would probably have followed the same character redemption arc she had in the show, but what Uproar has done to her is going to make that close to impossible. Actual specifics about what has happened will come up over the rest of Season 2 Part 1, but it was only possible because of a combination of Papillon, King Monkey, and Catalyst’s powers.

Lila

And she’s back. I wasn’t going to mention Lila’s little cameo at the end of this episode until I watched the first broadcast episode of Season 6, Illustrhater. In her little spiel at the end of that episode Lila/Cerise/Chrysalis says “I’m everywhere! I’m nowhere! I’m a Chameleon!” and I literally screamed at the television screen “They’re in my brain!”

Lila stole Tuung, the Chameleon Kwami, in every draft of The Maelstrom: Part 2, which I first wrote back in 2020. It was partially inspired by the episode Chameleon, but Tuung’s powers are completely different from that Akuma’s. Hearing the new version of Lila in the show say those words was a little terrifying.