Episode 1 - The Revelation

I’d originally had a different song picked for this, until my cousin pointed me towards The Stranger by Billy Joel. It’s bizarre how a song written in the 1970s can feel so completely perfect for this story. I used the other song again in Season 4, though.

The Truth

I can’t remember exactly when I decided that I wanted Marinette and Adrien to know the truth, but it was very early on in the writing process, back in 2020 or 2021 somewhere. Having Kagami reveal the truth out of love for the two of them was the only way that I ever really considered it coming out though.

The show has handled this in several different ways over the years but, at time of typing this commentary, hasn’t yet done it in a way that wasn’t walked back in the same episode/two-parter. I get why the show wants them to have the secret identity, but I felt like it was cutting off a lot of the possible narrative options for Miraculous: Contingency, so it was time to expand the scope of the narrative.

Bunnyx Prime

Finally, we’ve got to this point. I’ve explained some of what Bunnyx Prime talks about here, in my spoiler sections on the website, but this was the first point I could work out where to include it in the actual narrative.

Obviously, anything dealing with time travel is going to have a mess of complicated threads to tie-up. The whole of Miraculous: Contingency sprung from Bunnyx Prime triggering The Retailer, at the beginning of Season 1. Now we know why things are different, although not the whole truth of how much things have changed. I’ve used the sequences with Bunnyx Prime and Alix to attempt to clear up any major plot holes between the show and my story (cough New York and Adrien’s age) but I still managed to get a few jokes in there – the Contingency timeline still has Thylacines, and we got a nod to Miraculous: le Film

Bunnyx Prime will make one more appearance in Miraculous: Contingency, I needed her to bookend the whole story, as well as this exposition heavy sequence in the middle. One problem a lot of sci-fi/fantasy stories often struggle with is trying to over-explain or under-explain how some of the magic/science works. I’ve tried to avoid that, but I needed to work out a way to limit Bunnyx’s power without completely crippling the Rabbit Miraculous. I think I’ve done okay.

Drafts

The first draft of this episode was massively different from what I eventually uploaded. Originally there were four separate plot threads – Adrien, Kagami, Tikki, and Plagg talking about the revelation of Ladybug and Chat Noir’s identities, Bunnyx Prime dropping an endless barrel of exposition on Alix, then there was a dream sequence looking into Marinette’s head as she remembered every single time Ladybug and Chat Noir flirted, and a bit where Sass and Calla had a conversation about what was driving the Other Kwamis.

I got rid of the Marinette imagination sequence because it doesn’t really fit the person Marinette has grown into in Miraculous: Contingency. While she still has a few moments of insecurity and spiralling chaos, she’s offset by a healthy relationship and confidence, because of how much stronger she’s been getting now. As an aside, Kagami’s “I’m in love with a pair of idiots” was in both drafts and remains one of my top ten favourite moments in Miraculous: Contingency. I really like the casual way that Marinette, Adrien, and Kagami are just in a settled, happy relationship now.

The other section, with Sass and Calla, just wasn’t necessary anymore. I reused some of the material in the Season 1 short episode, The Kwamis Decide, but most of the information it delivered, I’ve done a better job at integrating into the rest of the narrative over the story.

Gabriel and Nathalie

The encounter between Gabriel and Nathalie wasn’t in the first draft, but the moment when Adrien sees Nathalie leaving was. These two have been dancing around their obvious affection for each other for so long – in the show as well as in Miraculous: Contingency – that when it finally comes to a head, after Tomoe’s threat, it was only ever going to blow up in their faces.

Among the people who read early stages of this story for me, this is the point I’ve always said that tipped Gabriel completely over the edge. Before now, maybe someone would have been able to talk him down, if they were good at psychology and had a lot of luck. After this, he’s too far gone. For the rest of Season 3 and 4, we’re basically watching Gabriel’s descent into madness – he’s learned that his son is protected from magical control somehow, Nathalie has revealed that she’s romantically interested in him (and he knows that he feels the same way, however much he might wish otherwise), and the one lifeline he had, the one chance to finally unmask Ladybug and Chat Noir has been closed off in a very final manner.

Later on in the series, Nathalie will return to the fold, and eventually they will be able to explore their feelings a little more openly, but for most of Season 3, Part 1, Gabriel is on his own and losing the last shreds of his humanity.

I still feel so bad for Adrien, but this time I managed to include the Gorilla, someone who will support Adrien regardless of what’s happening. I also liked adding in a moment of camaraderie between the Gorilla and Nathalie; he still mistrusts her and hates how she’s enabled Gabriel, but the Gorilla wasn’t going to leave her to struggle alone. That’s because the Gorilla is a good person, unlike Gabriel and (this version of) Nathalie.