Lobster is the new

I was a little wary to check out the episodes since I'd seen a few negative reactions online, but there were a lot of little details in both of these episodes that actually delighted me.

First of all with the Kwami Swapping plot, I thought that was actually a really clever way to use Reflekta's powers and conveniently cover for their otherwise exposed civilian identities.

I WAS SUPER STOKED TO SEE LADY NOIR'S GREEN CAT EYES--this was one of those continuity things I'd hope they'd cover since fandom would make their own rules about whether CatNoir!Marinette would have blue or green eyes. I had suspected that Plagg's green cat eyes would show over the true eye color of whoever was under the miraculous.

But then Mr. Bug comes in and... he has green eyes? I was surprised for this only because a few of the earliest episodes I could swear Marinette's eyes were brighter as Ladybug, but because she and Tikki share the same eye color, I wasn't sure if the same rule applied (and if they WERE a different shade of blue, I could y'know, forgive Adrien for not recognizing Marinette as Ladybug when they have the same hair AND eye colors exactly).

I've also had minor headcanons about how Cat Noir's flirting is influenced by Plagg himself, same with Ladybug's calm rationale being something of Tikki's influence. I know the show has done some stuff to show that Marinette is actually pretty capable without the miraculous (at least in episodes like Oblivio it's more apparent that Ladybug's super complicated solutions have more of a basis in Marinette's creative problem solving), but I do think some part of her no-nonsense approach and leadership gets a push from Tikki when Marinette can be prone to jumping ahead when she's in a panic.

Ever since the episode where the kwami's try to contact Nooroo on his birthday, and we see Plagg teasing and flirting with Tikki by calling her Surgarcube and Tikki rebuffing his jokes, I just wanted to this to be more solidified during an actual Kwami Swap episode.

In all though, I think it made some lines blurrier. Adrien is still quick to find a solution and jump head in without trying to strategize first--this is emphasized again with his appearance as Aspic and his relentless attempts to do-over the failed situations. So maybe Cat Noir's personality just gets pushed into that cartoonish realm because Adrien's impulses get amplified when paired with Plagg, also impulsive and whimsical.

Marinette as Lady Noir (okay, that is weird to keep typing that an not refer to the shipname lol) was still matter-of-factly, practically lecturing Mr. Bug through their swapped transformations. She just gets a tad sassier with nicknames but honestly, she's pretty sassy/flirty with Cat Noir normally when they're in an advantageous situations--she just gets particularly stern when it seems like Cat Noir is gonna screw up her plans, not like the fanfic way of writing her to Always be exasperated by Cat Noir no matter what.

Do I have some nitpicks over Desperada? Yeah, but they're not as extreme as the majority of the fandom seems to make it out to be. The biggest one for me is how blatant it is that the episode orders are screwed up--Party Crasher got on Netflix first and we got to see Viperion (and Pegasus *cough*) before his actual introduction??

I know that level of episode order is only a small dent in the fact that we are 3 seasons deep into plot now so Marinette should still feel a bit differently around Luka, especially if the events are after Silencer. But I honestly think the episode order is pretty borked and I haven't found an official list that focuses on plot-related events over just air dates.

Marinette meets Luka about halfway through Season 2, and just isn't as single-target-minded about him the way she is with Adrien who sits in her classes all day every weekday. Adrien is a fixture for Marinette and has been ever since he joined their school. Marinette does actually berate herself for how she acts once Desperada shows up, so there's some awareness there.

Adrien though, lets talk about how irresponsible he was to ditch Plagg all to get some Ladybug validation, yikes. That one quip that became infamous too, Ladybug saying they don't need Cat Noir I mean... I wish the writers also hadn't made this something I kind of agree with--there's been episodes that Cat Noir has done absolutely *nothing* to help solve the Akuma issue or was akumatized himself. Do I think that's fair of Ladybug to say that? It's still a bit harsh but true, but I hope it serves as a push for them get over their weaknesses as a team (Ladybug thinks she's right ALL the time and... this will have to backfire again if she keeps dismissing Cat Noir).

Seems like Adrien did go through some level of PTSD by the time he rejects the snake miraculous after failing for a month straight just on the desperate attempt to save Ladybug while she knew he was really Adrien under the mask. Oof, not liking this track record looking at father and son and what lengths they'll go for love, it could've really turned out badly for Adrien if he didn't have a magic reset button.

That's all the thoughts I can get out now before I need to sleep, may have to prune this later.