Episode 6 - The Reporter

It was tricky for me to pick a song for this one, but in the end I went with Mr. Writer by Stereophonics, which was written about a journalist who pretended to be the band’s friend and then wrote a scathing review of their performance. I could see the parallels with how Edmundson was reporting on Heikegana’s activities back in Arizona.

As an aside, I saw Stereophonics for the second time just a couple of weeks ago and I heartily recommend seeing them live

Marinette and Adrien

Like the last episode, I wanted to see a little friction between Adrien and Marinette, the way Kagami and Marinette struggled last episode. Here it’s simply the fact that they’ve never really worked out where the acceptable line is for jokes about Gabriel. It’s a small one, but it’s important. Still, they talk it through in the episode. I keep saying it, but the characters are older now and have had better support structures because the worst of Papillon’s attacks have been spread over more time, allowing them to adjust more easily.

The Last School Year

We’re in the final stretch of the narrative – almost all of the main cast will be turning 18 over this school year, they’re all getting ready for a life after school, whatever that means for them. As Bunnyx Prime said in The Revelation, she’ll be able to make one last appearance just after Alix has graduated, and I’ve confirmed that her last appearance is the end of Miraculous: Contingency.

The Reporter

This Akuma was a silly idea, but I really liked the idea of doing a tribute to old-fashioned comics. The show itself has done references like that, with The Hibou’s appearance being the most obvious, as a nod to the Adam West Batman television show. The Reporter nods to that as well with “Holy obvious bait, Ladybug”

I’ve not done as well as I’d hoped, I didn’t actually read many comics when I was young, and I’ve only followed a few lately. But I got a few silly references in there, and even his real name is a nod to a famous comic character.

The Senti at the end was only added in the second draft. I realised that, although I’d made a big deal out of Mayura being back and now able to act without harming herself, I then basically did nothing with her until the Season 4 finale. Therefore I worked out a way to add a Senti to at least a few episodes in between – we’ve got the robot in this, the school in Regretrix (that was originally all just part of the Akuma), and the Sentivehicles in Munici-Pals.

Exploring the Mansion

In this version of the mansion, Gabriel has had all of Émilie’s rooms blocked off, without Adrien realising. Adrien prefers not to spend time in the mansion, if he can help it, so this isn’t as unlikely as you think. I try to avoid places which remind me of people I’ve lost, even now. The reason Gabriel had them sealed off is mostly out of the sense of loss, but there is a more sinister reason – we’ll find out in All These Lies We’ve Told that there is a power generator in there which Gabriel had installed after the show episode Party Crasher, to prevent power outages threatening Émilie’s safety in future.

As I get close to the second half of Season 3, almost every episode has some plot point which will come up in the overall finale in Season 4. The layout of the mansion is part of it now.

Also, that joke in the last scene really pushes the age-rating a little, but it does fit what Adrien thinks his father and Nathalie’s relationship is, no matter how inaccurate at present.

Alix & Aodh

This was a side plot that I hadn’t really expected, but I kinda enjoy the quasi-antagonistic dynamic they have going. For reference, although Alix is officially Heikegana’s point of contact with the Miraculous, she hasn’t told Aodh that she’s Bunnyx. She’s finding this too much fun. It will lead to a problem in Chlophidian, but it’s not an insurmountable problem.

Chamela vs. Heikegana

These two have a rivalry going all the way through – Heikegana is the only person technically on the heroes’ side who knows her secret identity, but not enough to be able to find her yet. Chamela has to target him to the exclusion of all else for now, but it still takes her almost a year to finally make her move. This is because Lila doesn’t rush into things, she tries to plan for every eventuality (even if she sometimes overlooks something simple)

She’s playing both sides against the middle and, if I’m honest, she might have defeated Gabriel in this story just like she has in the show, but for one last miscalculation.