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ijustliketoreadstuff · 14 days

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The days Zoe loved Marinette

In "Adoration", Zoe reveals to Marinette she had been secretly in love with her since the day they met. Marinette might have felt surprised to learn that she was the ninth grader Zoe was in love with all along, but it wasn’t long before Marinette's moment of surprise quickly turned to realization as she thought back to the time they shared together and realized it was obvious from the start that Zoe was in love with her, it’s just that no one thought to take notice.

Aside from Andre, no one else knew Zoe was in love with Marinette, but looking back, a lot of things that happened around Zoe in past episodes, make a lot more sense now.

Zoe met Marinette the day she arrived to Paris in "Sole Crusher," and at the time, no one knew who she was, making it all the more pleasant for Zoe as it was a brief window of opportunity to show her real personality, before having to hide it to fit the standards of the Bourgeois. Meeting Marinette was a complete contrast to what Zoe normally experienced, but was overall a moment Zoe felt she could genuinely just talk to someone without fearing the consequences that would come from allowing herself to be vulnerable enough to act more like herself.

Obviously Chloe did not hesitate to judge Zoe the moment they met, even threatening to send her back to New York if she didn't fit the family standards, while Audrey in turn saw nothing wrong in Chloe's methods and was more than willing to agree with Chloe for the same reasons. But with Marinette, everything was different. Marinette didn't judge Zoe, she looked at her with honest eyes and noticed she had her unique qualities, but also her share of struggles, all things Chloe and Audrey were quick to reject and ignore, from the unique shoes on her feet, to the way she hinted about her life in New York being anything but happy. Marinette listened to Zoe, she wanted to understand her, and despite not knowing much about her, there she was ready and willing to not only gift Zoe pastries as a way of welcoming her to Paris, but to also ensure the two of them would keep in touch by exchanging numbers.

Marinette gave Zoe her number on a box of macaroons, but it was her heart felt attempts to keep Zoe's number as close to her as possible, on the palm of her hand, that truly made Zoe realize Marinette was a kind and considerate person who wanted to befriend her, rather than expect her to be a certain way in order to obtain that friendship. But in actuality, this little moment always had more to it than the start of a friendship, it was the start of something more. Not long after Zoe wrote her phone number on Marinette's palm, Zoe BLUSHES, hinting she was not only falling for Marinette the moment they met, but that this new love she felt would grow the more Marinette reached out to her and saw through her attempts to fit in with her family, understanding there was something holding het back from being who she truly wanted to be.

(In "Sole Crusher", Zoe blushed at Marinette, revealing the beginning of her love towards Marinette.)

(In Sole Crusher, after Zoe arrived at the Collège Françoise Dupont and felt compelled to insult Marinette to please Chloe, it was Marinette, the one girl who actually got to know her, who understood something was wrong and who was unwilling to push her away without hearing her out.)

Although Zoe believed she had no other choice but to accept the same fate Andre had, as he too accepted long ago that he would need to abandon his dreams and much of who he was so he could shape himself to fit the standards of the Bourgeois family, it was Marinette who once again tried to reach out to her and told her what she was too afraid to tell herself, that no matter the consequences she feared, she always had a choice to just be herself.

After Zoe was akumatized into Sole Crusher, Shadowmoth pointed out that Zoe was weakening the more she listened to Marinette's words, and of course she did, this one girl(Marinette) whom she had fallen in love with, knew exactly how she was feeling, how frustrated she was to have to hide herself from others and constantly put on a show to pretend her life was fine. And of course Marinette understood how Zoe felt as well as the life Zoe was living, because she too was living that very struggle everyday of her life as Ladybug, and had already known all too well what it was like to have to live a life where she was controlled and judged by Chloe, who expected her to fit the role she had made for her.

(Back in "Heart Hunter", Marinette opened up about her frustrations, one of which was being unable to just be herself, of always having to pretend she was fine for fear of the consequences.)

Marinette didn't want Zoe to live with the same lonely struggle she had, to constantly hide from others, which is why she was so determined to reach Zoe/Sole Crusher and tell her she didn't have to hide her true self while in Paris.

Marinette did say there would always be someone there to help Zoe up when she is down, if she took that chance to open up to people who actually cared about others, and at the very least, Zoe could place her faith in knowing that someone like Marinette, who never gave up on trying to reach out to her, really would always be there for her, and she was, from the very moment they met.

At the end of "Sole Crusher'', when Zoe shared the macaroons Marinette gifted her with everyone at Anarka's boat, who welcomed her with open arms, there was a subtle moment where Zoe's eye's remained focused on Marinette, that look was not just out of friendship, it was out of love for the girl who gave her the life she never thought she could have.

We even see Nino pointing to a rainbow on the title screen as Zoe happily stood beside him, a hint that Zoe was LGBTQ+. Zoe loved Marinette the day they met, but there was just one problem, it was entirely one sided as Marinette was already in love with Adrien.

Back in "Transmission", when Zoe found out that Marinette was struggling with her love life, she did not hesitate to reach out to her to help. Of course, the situation surrounding Marinette and Adrien's love life was no easy matter to sort through and understand on account of their secret lives as heroes, but out of everyone in their social circle, it was Zoe who said she knew perfectly well just how complicated love can be. She knew because she was secretly facing a complicated love of her own, towards Marinette, that entire time.

And sure, Zoe still had her issues with her family to sort through, but it was precisely her love for Marinette that eventually helped her find the courage she always had to stand up to all of them, and learn to not let their threats continue to control her.

To be the one whom her family mistreated was one thing, but to watch her family mistreat the girl she loved was not something she could bare to stand and watch, which is why in "Deflagration", Zoe took any fear and doubt she had over facing Chloe, and threw it straight out the window, refusing to stand by any longer as Chloe attempted to humiliate Marinette during her special lunch with Adrien. Chloe's threats might have proven effective in the past to make Zoe grovel for forgiveness, but in that moment, Zoe could care less, she’d rather get sent back to New York than have to stand by and watch the girl she loved cry.

(In Transmission", Zoe found the courage to stand up to Chloe for Marinette's sake, and even though she quickly realized she may have to face severe consequences for it later, to see Marinette smile happily at her, thanking her for what she did, made it feel it was all worth while if it meant she helped the girl she loved.)

As tough as it must have been watching Marinette fall head over heels for Adrien, even helping in any plans to help her get closer to him, the one thing Zoe had that likely eased her heartache, was knowing that Marinette was still part of her life and had found happiness with someone who loved her just as much as she did.

In "Adoration", Zoe saw picture after picture of Adrien that Marinette owned, she saw Marinette's constant flustering and embarrassment towards him, her little sketches, her writings and talks about what their future together would be like, Zoe watched it all, and even though she knew every action and every word that came out of Marinette was for someone else, Zoe never reacted negatively towards it, instead, she smiled, smiled at how all those things made Marinette happy and larger than life. At the end of "Adoration", Zoe said she felt there was no point in telling Marinette she loved her if she was already in love with someone else, that doing so would only change, or even ruin, things between them, but thankfully, Marinette thought otherwise

In many ways, Marinette knew the kind of heartache Zoe felt, because she faced the same thing in the season 3 finale, when she tried to give up on telling Adrien she loved him and instead watched him drift towards Kagami, someone she thought Adrien loved and would love him just as much as she did in return.

Yeah, Marinette's situation with Adrien wound up working out as she realized he always loved her, but had she been in the same position Zoe was in, then she would have wanted to take the chance to tell the person she loved how she felt if they were willing to give her that chance, to finally have that weight lifted from her shoulders and allow her to move on with her life, and that is exactly what she gave Zoe, a chance in knowing the person she loved would be willing to listen to her confession.

At the end of "Adoration", Marinette gave Zoe the chance to speak her feelings, and despite Zoe's fears over what could have changed between them as friends in the process, thankfully, nothing did. If anything, the only change that did occur between them, was added respect towards one another in knowing they had both grown as people. Marinette never made any elaborate plans when she thought Zoe was in love with Adrien, and Zoe never broke the boundaries of their friendship to try and make Marinette fall in love with her. The two of them never lost sight of each other and accepted they both needed to be considerate of one another and be clear on how they felt. Marinette couldn’t reciprocate Zoe’s feelings, but this didn’t change the fact that she still loved her just as much as any other good person in her life, she loved everything Zoe did to make her feel better and appreciated everything Zoe did to look out for her in her most dire of times, such as when Chloe blamed her for stealing. Instead of ignoring Zoe’s confession, Marinette chose to acknowledge Zoe's feelings, giving her a proper rejection.

(Despite not feeling romantically drawn to Zoe, Marinette was still flattered by someone as wonderful as Zoe would fall in love with her.)

Zoe was always aware her love towards Marinette was entirely one sided, and even though she knew a romantic future with Marinette would never be possible, to know that Marinette valued her so much and thought so highly of her, meant more to her than anything, giving her the peace she never knew she wanted, and the confidence she needed to keep being that amazing girl Marinette said anyone would be honored to be loved by.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous tales of ladybug and chat noir #tales of ladybug and cat noir #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng #mlb ladybug #thomas astruc #ml ladybug #cat noir #mlb s5 spoilers #zoe lee #mlb vesperia #mlb Adoration analysis #mlb sole crusher analysis #mlb s5 analysis #ml s5 analysis #ml Adoration analysis #zoenette

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character-fan19 · 2 years

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MLB Season 4 Character Analysis: "Sole Crusher"

Introduction

Hey Reddit, I'm back with a new MLB Season 4 Character Analysis and this time for episode 7. In this series I analyze the emotions, motivations and thought processes of the characters of MLB in every individual episode of season 4, outlining their overall journey in the season to help the fandom understand what their going through and today it's "Sole Crusher".

Up till this point in season 4, we haven't really gotten much of Chloe after her fall from grace in "Miracle Queen" and now in the episode we've get to see her again, we are introduced to a character who essentially the "nice Chloe" and now Chloe is back to square one of her character like her development in season 2 and 3 never happened, turning her into a one-dimensional character. Because of that she won't be getting her own section in this analysis but I'll think about giving her one in future posts but for now we're just doing two characters: Zoe herself and Andre.

Character POVs

Zoe

"At first I... I wanted to be an actress. I'm good at acting. But then I found myself acting all the time, playing these different roles, trying to please everyone until I couldn't do it anymore. I just want to accepted for being me, the real me, and now it's happening all over again. I just can't..."

Let's start with the main focus of this episode: Zoe. She may have been shoehorned into the show due to the writers realizing they no longer had a Queen Bee after destroying Chloe's redemption arc but they did try to make it feel like she wasn't shoehorned in by giving her a one-episode character arc and that sparks my interest even though it's just a one-episode character arc.

Arriving at Paris after leaving her boarding school where she was bullied by the kids there when she revealed to them her true self, she has to do the same thing again when she goes to face her mother and half-sister because all she wants is to be accepted by her family at the very least and she knows from before that being herself doesn't work from her boarding school due to all the kids starting to bully her.

When she meets Marinette and Marinette sees the kindness in her, she tried to find out what was wrong with Zoe when she started acting mean all of a sudden and when Chloe catches her texting Chloe's rival she is furious and Zoe has to pretend that it is all just an elaborate scheme to humiliate her so that Chloe won't hate her. Ironically, the only person she opens up to is her stepfather when you'd expect it would be the other way around. They relate to each other on the basis of having to give up their dreams to be accepted by the people they want to be accepted by and Zoe finally breaks down which causes her to vulnerable to Shadow Moth and turns her into Sole Crusher, a supervillain resembling her half-sister with the ability to grow whenever the soles of her shoes touch someone.

After her de-akumatization, she is able to open to the rest of Marinette's class and they all accept her with open arms, well at least Ivan does, literally and thus her arc is completed, making her eligible to be a Miraculous holder.

2. Andre B.

"When I was young, I wanted to make movies, tell stories. Ah, that was the real me. But it was made very clear to me that in order to earn my place I have to let certain dreams go."

A lot of people seem to hate on this guy for telling Zoe to give up her dreams and lock them away to please her family but I kinda get where he's coming from. He was in a no better position than Zoe. For once, he seems to be a nice guy who actually has a good heart. He was basically a second Zoe in this situation but grown up and from his perspective he feels as though the only way to be accepted by your family is to do what they want you to do and he's just giving Zoe advice based on his experience with these sort of things and he hasn't had a good experience so it's not him who is to blame. It's his family.

We've seen how desperate he is in trying to get their approval, becoming mayor, getting them gifts, etc. especially in "Malediktator". So, yeah.

Conclusion

That's all I've got for "Sole Crusher" and tbh I think this was a pretty solid analysis compared to my past few posts. So let me know your thoughts on my analysis and let me know if I missed anything about any of the characters this episode.

#mlb characterization #ml character analysis #zoe lee #andre bourgeois #ml sole crusher #ml season 4

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kasienda · 3 years

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What do you think about the juxtaposition between Marinette and Zoe? Zoe seems like a very similar character to Marinette pre-ladybug but more forgiving. Honestly she has such a similar arc to ladybug its messing me up.

Hey anon! Thanks for the ask! I honestly hadn't really drawn the parallels between Marinette and Zoe until I saw others posting about it (I made the connection to Adrien immediately, but this is likely just because I connect very strongly with Adrien, and Marinette not as much), and even then my thought was mostly to nod and say, yeah, I can see it. But I didn't think about it too deeply. BUT your ask made me consider it more and I realized there was more here than I realized. After pondering if for a few hours, here's my additions: 1) Both Zoe and Marinette have survived similar types of abuse. Origins established that Chloé had been bullying Marinette for three years. For Zoe more of it has likely been from Audrey. 2) They coped with that abuse in similar ways. The impression I get about Marinette pre-Origins is that she became quiet and withdrawn and she doubted her self worth a lot. And we see something similar in Zoe - when she's around her mother or sister she tends to be withdrawn and she's quiet until she puts on her act. Her body language shows Zoe caving in on herself a bit as she's just absorbing whatever her mother or Chloé is saying.

3) Marinette didn't want the miraculous at first either. She didn't think she was cut out to be a hero. And when Zoe says this to Ladybug, Ladybug smiles. I imagine she related a LOT to Zoe in that moment. But with the help of Alya and her role as Ladybug, Marinette was able to find her voice again. And I think that she thinks Zoe can as well, and that she can help by being Zoe's friend AND by letting Zoe gain some confidence using the miraculous.

As I mentioned, Zoe also has a lot of parallels with Adrien (like the acting and tons of masks). And perhaps, she is a character that will help Marinette and Adrien understand each other better. And maybe not in any active or intentional way on Zoe's part. But maybe Marinette recognizing Zoe's struggle will make her more ready to notice her partner's similar struggles. And maybe watching Marinette adopt Zoe under her wing, will help Adrien come to trust her at a deeper emotional level as well.

In any case, these two are adorable!!

Look at Marinette there! So quick to reassure her. They are all so precious!!

#marinette dupain cheng #zoe lee #queen banana #sole crusher #miraculous season 4 spoilers #ml spoilers #character analysis #ask answered #ask me anything #give me excuses to talk about these cuties #mlb meta

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