Episode 2 - Blurgeois

In the first draft of this episode, it was meant to be the first time that Chloé had said she loves Maria, which was half of why I picked Head Over Heels by Tears For Fears for the song. When I worked out the timeline and realised that they’d been together for more than two years now, it seemed unlikely that two teenagers would still be tiptoeing around that word. The other reason I picked the song was because of how Blurgeois and Mayura go tumbling in the fight at the end.

Audrey/Blurgeois

Okay… So Audrey is definitely the character I dislike the most in all of Miraculous. She’s so much of the reason for Chloé’s bad behaviour (although that doesn’t absolve Chloé of the blame), and she’s somehow an even worse parent than Gabriel Agreste. In the first draft, I hadn’t watched an episode with her in for a while, so the episode actually ended with a reconciliation between her and Chloé, and with her giving Chloé and Maria a bangle for their charm bracelets (a platinum lightning bolt, something completely out of keeping with what they wanted to have on there)

I reused the platinum lightning bolt idea to become where the butterfly was hiding in the second draft, but I also decided that Audrey wasn’t going to get a redemption. I also wanted Chloé to have the chance to face Audrey down. I really like the speech that Chloé gives Audrey in the end of the episode, and the self-awareness and growth it represents.

I do kinda ascribe to the ‘nothing is canon until it’s in the story’ principle, but I will categorically state that this is the last time that Chloé ever speaks to Audrey voluntarily, and that she will never again call her ‘mother’. Zoé is a little more patient, but even she will end up cutting Audrey out of her life, after André officially adopts her.

The Rematch

As I mentioned back in season 2’s commentary, I had forgotten how good a fighter Queen Bee is and I had to hastily make some re-writes to season 2 whilst it was uploading when I got reminded (and introduced to savate). It was easier this time around, because I could do the tidying while seasons 2 and 3 were uploading. In the first draft, it was Tangle who went after Mayura alongside Chat Noir, but that didn’t really fit the narrative of the episode. Mayura had tried to turn Queen Bee against her allies (something that the Contingency version of Chloé absolutely dreads), to steal Pollen, and hurt a friend. It made much more sense to send Queen Bee after Mayura, and when I saw the reminder of her first fight with Mayura in Miraculer it made it simple. I even got to bring back the insult “you despicable bird”

I may have overdone it with the references to Queen Bee and Chat Noir’s fighting prowess, but it was necessary because I needed to remind everyone just how dangerous a fighter Mayura is, especially now that Nathalie’s lost a lot of her self-control in her attempt to bring her parasite personalities to heel.

Teamwork

A large part of season 4 is showing just how good the team has got at working together. Even without her Miraculous, Alya manages to keep her sisters as safe as possible, allowing Ladybug, Chat Noir, and Queen Bee to get there. Pegasus is ready at a moment’s notice to rescue Alya (with a wonderful demonstration of physics and magic working together), and even Tangle rushes in at the last minute to help out a little.

Adrien

Of the main characters, Adrien is the one I’ve struggled most with when trying to show his voice. I think I did better in the second draft at remembering to show his point-of-view more often, but in the first draft, this was an episode designed to focus more on him to compensate for how I’d neglected him earlier in the narrative – to be fair, I don’t think that I’ve been as unfair to him as the show has over time.

I love the idea of him studying to become a doctor, so I wanted to show that he’s taking this really seriously. Having him sit next to the blocked off corridor which used to lead to his mother’s drawing room was partially because I needed to remind people that this is a thing, but it also brings home the fact that Adrien is just a young man (at this point in Miraculous: Contingency he is legally 17, but actually 18 because of his time as Aspic) who misses his parents – his mum is dead (as far as he knows), his father has isolated himself, and his de facto step-mother in this timeline has gone the same way as his father.

He has the Gorilla, and Marinette and Kagami’s parents are trying to show him the kindness he deserves, but his sense of abandonment can get overwhelming.

Caline

Following on from needing to remind people about the blocked-off corridor prior to it appearing in The Last Play: All These Lies We’ve Told, I also needed to remind people that Caline Bustier, Adrien and Marinette’s former teacher, knows about Chat Noir. In this sequence, I’m trying to imply that she thinks she has worked out Ladybug and Rena Rouge’s identities as well. With the weakened disguise magic, once she learned about Adrien it would be easier to work out some of the others.

It's important that people remember this about Caline, because it’s going to become vitally important in The Last Play: Who Holds The Cards and the Epilogue because she is going to become one of the Guardians of the Miracle Chests once everything is done.

Cerise

This is the most overt Lila cameo in the season, because I deliberately chose to use her pseudonym from the show. It’s in there both as an easter egg, but also as a clue. If you know the show, you’ll probably pick up on it, but if you don’t then it would slip by. I wanted to give a few clues, while also contradicting them a little (per her in-person cameo next episode) because it would hopefully built a little tension.