Episode 9 - The Last Play

This is a real old-school song, and it’s all about Feeling Good, which was meant to evoke the ending of the story. However I chose the version by Muse because even if things have gone slightly well, it’s not gone completely to plan and Muse’s version has a distorted edge to it, which makes it feel less optimistic.

Super-Sentis (Continued)

We find out in this sequence that what Mayura Reál has done is used the creation of a Senti to act as armour around the Miraculous, so that both the Amok and the Miraculous aren’t easily accessible for cleansing. I struggled to make it clear, even after multiple rewrites, but it’s the Sentis which are actually saying the transformation phrase. Mayura Reál is twisting the power of the Peafowl almost to breaking point to achieve this combination.

The last three Other Kwamis get a proper introduction in this episode:

• Illion, the Octopus Kwami of Communication. She has a Violin as her weapon, which can double-up as a Bow and Arrows if needed. Her power is pretty clearly described by Korvid in this episode.

• Spiike, the Pangolin Kwami of Substitution. This guy took me the longest to work out, but his weapon is an oversized Chakram, which can split into two curved clubs/blades. His usual power is the ability to select some other people and take the hits for them – an interesting side-note, when I worked out this power, I realised that Unifying Spiike and Caarcon would be ludicrously overpowered, so I came up with the character detail that the two of them don’t get on and really resist any attempt to Unify them – it’ll hopefully make for some good characterisation in Miraculous: Legion.

• Eddge, the Scorpion Kwami of Mediation. We’ve actually seen the other co-leader of the Chest’s power before, because Gabriel (as Clawstrike) used the power to heal Nathalie between Renégadaire and Chamela. Eddge’s weapon is a Spear whose head looks like a set of scales. The healing power of Contrapoint is indiscriminate, whoever fuses with Eddge creates a bubble around themselves which heals everyone inside, whether they’re on your side or not.

Time-Travelling Interference

As seen in any amount of media shows, looking too closely into how time-travel works quickly unravels the ‘logic’. Star Trek, Doctor Who, the MCU, Back to the Future, if you look too closely into any of them, the plot holes get huge. We ignore that because we get good stories from them, and it’s fun.

Adult Bunnyx is interfering here, because she knows that things have to happen a specific way. She’s only telling people part of the truth at any time – even to Younger Bunnyx, she’s telling almost everything, but leaving out some points. I’ve tried to balance giving an explanation with keeping it vague enough that I don’t write myself into a corner later on. I’ll have to rely on the readers to let me know if I’ve succeeded with that or not.

You’ve also got the hint that at some point in the future Max knows what Adult Bunnyx did, and apparently hasn’t forgiven her – because of what she told him to do, Mayura Reál was able to use Pegasus to send monsters around the whole world.

Pegasus/Mayura Reál

This was something I originally only introduced at the very end of the first draft, in Blurgeois and in this episode – I only added it into Blurgeois because I’d planned this moment in the finale and didn’t want the concept to come out of nowhere. Considering how major it is in terms of plot, I made a point of introducing the concept in Mayura 2 in the second draft as well, so that people have more chance to get used to it.

What Mayura/Mayura Reál do when they apply this hypnotic effect is to amplify a particular emotion and guide their victim’s response to it. She doesn’t get complete direct control, but her suggestions will be followed in most circumstances, unless they would result in the victim being injured in some way.

Cataclysm

Well. This moment. I was really nervous that it might be too dark to include. But when I finished writing it out, it felt so right, and so scary in the moment.

It came from a discussion with my cousin about how I was going to resolve this final confrontation between father and son. I tried to make Chat Noir colder in the second draft, I wanted there to be a question about how far Gabriel had pushed him over the last six years. It’s clear that at least Queen Bee and Carapace were worried that Chat Noir might actually go through with using Cataclysm on his own father, and while they’d deny it, I think even Ladybug and Ryuko had a little uncertainty too.

Chat Noir originally just said “You’re right” in response to Gabriel croaking “you won’t do it, you’re a good man”. It didn’t feel like enough, this was meant to be a cathartic, deeply painful moment. So that speech got bigger. “I am a good man, despite what you taught me” hit Gabriel hard.

In the first draft, after the Tiepin fell to the ground, Chat Noir kicked it away and Mayura Reál & Chamela fumbled it through the portal as they each tried to claim it for themselves. I had a bad habit of forgetting about the Kwamis’ agency in the first draft. That’s why I came up with this new idea, where it’s Nooroo making the choice to flee. I felt so bad, knowing what’s coming in the Epilogue.

Gabriel

In the first draft and the second draft, originally, Gabriel just considered stabbing Chat Noir, then got caught by the Gorilla before he could. When my editor, Lee, read the sequence he said “I kinda wish Gabriel had gone through with it and failed” and I had to admit, it made the story more compelling. So I rewrote the sequence to make it more obvious what Gabriel was trying to do – take Chat Noir’s Ring and stab Adrien, using the distraction to steal Ladybug’s Earrings. Then, in the new version, he actually stabs his son but doesn’t manage to take the Ring first. Then the Gorilla gets his moment in the spotlight.

I don’t think this would have worked if he hadn’t realised what he’d done afterwards. At this point, Gabriel has finally realised how broken he has become, and what he was willing to do to achieve his twisted goals.

Side note: I’ve described the Miraculous as being “almost-invulnerable” all the way through Miraculous: Contingency. Mayura Reál was able to slice through King Monkey’s supersuit last episode with ease, but she was super charged by Biquué. The fight between Ladybug and Gabriel, I’d kinda decided that I wanted to have some higher stakes. So, Ladybug was able to make Papillon bleed, because they’re both Miraculous and equally matched, and Papillon cut her face because he used the weapon of a Miraculous. I really wanted to leave Marinette with a scar afterwards, but there was no way I could really square that with using the Miraculous Ladybugs at the end.

Lila

The three-directional fight between Chamela, Papillon, and Ladybug was emblematic of what I wanted to achieve with the narrative throughout Miraculous: Contingency. I still don’t think I fully succeeded in the story as a whole, but in this episode, I loved the moment. Even though I really don’t like her, I feel bad that Chamela becomes a footnote in the fight, even if she successfully prevents Ladybug from capturing Mayura Reál or her. Even if she’s not the Miraculous’ priority, she undeniably has altered their futures.

Interestingly, at this point I know where almost all of the Super-Sentis, Nooroo, Mayura Reál, and Chamela ended up by going through the Voyages, while I’m leaving the others vague for now, to leave myself some wiggle room. Some (but not all) examples are:

• Chamela ended up on the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca in South America

• Nooroo travelled to the Gobi Desert, in Mongolia

• Faalse (Eddge) has hidden himself in a glacier in Iceland

The New Guardians

As I’ve mentioned before, I hadn’t decided who was going to be the Guardian until I got to The Last Play. In the end, I kinda cheated. Although Caline become Master Caline here, later on (which I haven’t communicated very well, but there was no real time to) the Gorilla becomes Master Gorilla and Guardian of the Minor/Other/Second Miracle Chest.

I really wanted the moment to feel more tender than it appeared at the end of Miracle Queen. I actually expanded the sequence a lot, brought in Zoé, and made it clearer what was happening. It allowed Marinette and Fu to have a moment of closure, for all the Kwamis to say goodbye to the man who’d protected them for centuries, and also a nice moment of inclusion when the Kwamis of the Chinese Miracle Chest welcome three Other Kwamis into their farewell.

Caline accepting the responsibility is going to have consequences, but she’s officially a Guardian now, and she’s going to be a major player in Miraculous: Legion.

The Legion

I guess there’s a lot of influence from The Avengers in the idea of forming an official team, but I wanted them to be more accountable – the Accords are built into the foundation, the Legion is going to employ dozens of people to negotiate agreements around the world about how to help them. I freely admit this is a bit ‘route one’ superhero story, but it was the story I wanted to tell. I would point out that I’d forgotten about the Iron Legion from Avengers: (Weekend) Age of Ultron when I named the Legion, I was 100% thinking about the very first episode of Miraculous: Contingency I ever wrote. It felt like coming full-circle

I’m looking forward to exploring the world of Miraculous: Legion and working out how to incorporate such a change in the format of the show/Miraculous: Contingency.

The Dance

This scene is brand new. In the original draft it ended on the moment that Ladybug announced the founding of the Legion, but that felt really abrupt. I know I had the Epilogue coming next, but this is really the end of the story, so I wanted it to feel more happy.

I wrote out the whole dance section before I started the second draft of The Last Play: You Or Me? so that I’d know how it was looking for the word count. Then I realised I had no chance of sticking to the word count and this became the longest single episode in Miraculous: Contingency by a long way. I think it’s worth it, we’ve got so much happening in here, but I think it all adds to the narrative.

I liked the dance all taking place from Marinette’s point of view as she made the rounds with her friends, Miraculous or otherwise, but also getting to see all the team finally able to relax and not panic about their secret identities. Zoé has kinda come out as Vesperia in this sequence, if people look at the dress combination between her, Chloé, and Pollen, and I really wanted to give her a nice moment with Marinette, even if it’s not a partnership.

The sequence was partially based on the dance at the Eiffel Tower in the Season 5 episode of the show, but I wanted it to be more uplifting and cheerful than that one turned out to be. And I really wanted to end the story on a really stupid pun…