SO! In light of the new episode Papa Garou (which is on YouTube now if you guys wanna watch), a lot of people have been expressing their feelings regarding Chat’s rejection of Marinette’s “affection” and Sabrine telling him that he shouldn’t be blamed for his feelings, ect.
And watching the character progression of both Marinette and Adrien regarding their crushes is a lot to decode… [good thing I took psych. Yeesh]
First, we have to take into account that the creators of this show are trying to give these characters a chance to change and grow throughout the show (change doesn’t happen overnight folks). They’re only teenagers (15?) and I remember when I had crushes at their age. Its obsessive and messy because they’re kids, and are just figuring out what love is (not to mention, the poor babies are probably exploding with hormones). So of course Marinette has an absurd amount of pictures of Adrien and of course Chat tries again and again to win Ladybug over. I’m not saying either of these things are healthy, but they’re completely normal.
Second, and more importantly, when a person at their age has a crush on someone, it tends to be hyper-focused. The person sometimes sees their crush as unattainable and/or that they can do no wrong. These are presented in both Marinette’s crush on Adrien and Chat’s crush on Ladybug respectively. Both Mairnette and Chat have put their crushes on pedestals.
In Marinette’s case, she sees Adrien as the famous model he is, and isn’t really being a true friend because of it. Now I get it, she’s nervous around him; but her seeing him as a perfect boy who can do no wrong is kind of hindering. And because of this, she ends up going to great lengths to try and trick Adrien into going out with her. I mean its not completely tricking him, but she tries to manipulate situations into giving her the opportunity to ask him out. If she just saw him as an actual human being, and maybe asked him out for a smoothie, things would definitely go smoother.
For Chat, its a different problem. True, he puts Ladybug on a pedestal and gets nervous around her out of costume, but this is because they’re superheroes. Out of costume, hes just a vulnerable civilian, whereas transformed, he’s a little more on her level. He tries again and again to win her over, and has been upset once or twice when she rejected him. He’s grown attached to her because of their close, trusting relationship, so I can imagine its hard for him to think that there’s someone closer to her than him. Lots of people give him hate for being upset, and are even bringing up how writing Chat as constantly going after Ladybug is going to teach young boys that pursuing a girl who isn’t interested is ok.
But these things are exactly why i think Sabrine’s line to Chat is so very important.
“Never apologize for your feelings.” This seems to be what most people are getting upset over. “He didn’t need to hear that!” “It wasn’t a good moment!” “Marinette should be the one to hear/say that!”
Listen up kids. He did need to hear it, and he needed to hear it from a motherly figure. Think about this; when faced with the fact that Adrien wanted to ask out another girl, Marinette was mature about it and offered to help. Meanwhile, Chat was sad/moody over the fact that Ladybug had eyes for someone else. So he did need to hear this. Its also important coming from a mother (something he hasn’t had in a while) because I’m sure Chat sees the loving and trustworthy relationship the Dupain-Chengs have.
Here’s what I think is going to happen. Ladybug (now definitely knowing that Chat is genuinely in love with her) will try her best to reject him gently; similarly to how he rejected Marinette. She will apologize, explaining that she hopes this doesn’t hurt their partnership. Instead of being upset, Chat will smile, saying “Never apologize for your feelings.”
Thus, we will get a lovely parallel. Ladybug will get to hear the advice, Chat Noir will begin his acceptance arc, and maybe the these two love-sick idiots will start to see one another in a different light.
SOOO to recap. I think this episode is foreshadowing for a future episode. Ladybug will reject Chat, Chat will accept it, and both characters will begin maturing.
Right after they start seeing each other as actually human beings [I’m serious about the pedestal thing. Its a problem on both sides].
(also go check out the comic I made on the post just before this one. Its funny, I promise)
