[S4E15] Dearest Family ((FULL))

Voyager's bridge crew begin to speculate on the contents of the transmission. Chakotay refers to the Bajoran wormhole discovered in the Gamma Quadrant and wonders if Starfleet has found a similar phenomenon that could help Voyager shorten its journey home. The crew discusses their new-found optimism and the possibility that many of their friends and family might have given up on them, mourned, proceeded with their lives, and found some kind of resolution. Now they will have received word that the crew is alive but so far away that they might as well be dead. Janeway expresses her hope that they might be able to stay in constant contact with home.

[S4E15] Dearest Family

Neelix is entrusted with delivery of the first batch of letters retrieved. As he leaves to make his rounds, Seven discovers a latent, heavily encrypted data stream, containing a large block of text and possibly maps, buried under the message but she can't retrieve it until more of the letters have been cleared out. Janeway expresses cautious optimism that it might contain a plan for bringing Voyager back to the Alpha Quadrant and asks Seven what she thinks of recent events. Seven says it lacks any emotional resonance for her, since she's never even been to Earth but Janeway points out it's possible she has family there. Seven is taken aback, admitting that thought hadn't occurred to her.

Maybe the biggest problem outside the bad plotting and dialogue is that this cast of characters feels so forced. Why are they even together? Why are they a group? At least with the Clark family we had an interesting dynamic between all the characters. The way the Clarks and the Salazars and Strand all came together made sense. They weren't all best buddies right away either, and in Season 3 they weren't even all on the same side the whole time. Now what are we left with? A bloated cast that barely resembles the core group.

Back down at the Dupain-Cheng Bakery, Tom and Rolland work together to bake the galettes while Sabine packs them in boxes. She puts them out at the window where a few Parisians standing outside stare in excitement. Marinette opens the door while rubbing her eye and greeting the three of them. She also asks them if she can have a tiny piece of galette. Tom is about to cut a slice of galette for Marinette but suddenly, Rolland snatches it away and says that it was not how it was done and the tradition was that they were supposed to sell all the galettes first, then the last one is for the family to share. From Marinette's purse, Tikki sniffs the galette and admires it while Marinette laughs and Tom gives her croissants instead. Marinette thanks her father and walks away.

At the stairway, Tikki apologizes to Marinette and says that the distribution of the galette samples took too long and the smell was too good for her to resist eating it, while Marinette runs down the stairs. Marinette told her not to worry, saying that there would be enough galette for everybody and there was no need to react like the other kwamis did. Marinette opens the door to see Rolland and the mayor, André, fighting over a box of galette. Rolland grabs a baguette to hit André while he shouted at him, saying that the last piece of galette was for the family to enjoy it together. He then chased André out of the bakery. He then asks Tom, Sabine and Marinette if they wanted to enjoy the last piece of galette, but then, a sound came from outside that attracted their attention. Outside was Gina on a motorcycle while in the background, Chloé whined to her father. Tom, Rolland and Sabine ran out and while Marinette was about to follow them, Tikki stopped her and asked her what she was about to do with the galette. Marinette replied that she would take a piece for her and the others later on, and then ran out.

Outside, Tom, Rolland, Sabine and Marinette stand outside the bakery in shock. Gina tells Marinette happy birthday with a motorbike with a ribbon on it beside her. Tom runs toward her and tells her that Marinette's last birthday was only a few months ago, and she was there. Gina laughed and put a hand in her hair, saying that the year had gone by a little fast. Rolland runs toward them, asking how someone could have their head so far up in the clouds and shouting to Gina that Marinette's birthday was one day, and galettes day was another. Gina replies, asking who cared and said that at parties, they party and they could put candles on the galette and Marinette would get her present earlier, then says happy birthday to Marinette again. Tom, Rolland and Sabine sigh and shake their heads. Gina goes on explaining how great the motorbike was, and Rolland responds that Marinette was only a child and they start fighting over what was best for Marinette. Marinette, however, looks away and sees Wayzz and Barkk hiding behind a pole with panicked faces. Marinette looks back at the bakery and sees Tikki opening the box of galette, preparing to eat it. Marinette gasps and runs inside to grab the box. She asks Tikki what she was doing. Tikki replied, saying that she was just trying to get a sniff of the galette. Tikki then sees Tom, Rolland, Sabine and Gina entering, so she flies into Marinette's purse. The bell rings as Sabine opens the door. Marinette jumps in shock, the box of galette almost flying. She says that she was just trying to bring the galette to the living room so they could eat it as a family. The four gasp.

Bakerix uses his big fists to try to hit Ladybug. However, Ladybug manages to dodge it in time. Bakerix orders her to give him her miraculous, but she refuses and they start fighting. Bakerix falls and Ladybug starts eating the galettes, saying that she couldn't stop because it was too good. Bakerix shouted at her, saying that galettes were not to be stolen, but to be eaten together as a family, while dragging Ladybug by her leg. He also says that the miraculous was his. While holding Ladybug captive, he tries to get her miraculous while Ladybug continues chewing the galette. Cat Noir arrives in the nick of time, and uses his staff to seperate the two. Bakerix falls back and Cat Noir says that the galette looked delicious and asks Ladybug to leave a piece for him. Ladybug refuses but thanks him for his help. She also says that Cat Noir had to deal with Bakerix as she had an emergency. Cat Noir agreed and called the task a piece of cake. Ladybug leaves, carrying a few pieces of galette.

Marinette runs around in the park and finally finds Tikki. A man runs away and Marinette sees Tikki eating galette. Marinette calls for Tikki and warns her that she could not stay there as nobody was supposed to see her. Tikki apologises and tells her that she just cannot help herself. Marinette says that she has to try to keep herself together, and that her family has been reakumatized and she needed her. Tikki moans and says that there was only one piece left, and if she ate it, it meant there would be no more, but she knew how to get more. Marinette tries to stop her because she knew that a kwami who uses their power without and owner always ends up in a disaster. Tikki did not heed Marinette's advice and used her Lucky Charm.

Meanwhile, Dearest Family is still arguing. They look back and suddenly realize Marinette disappeared. They jump down, looking for her. Cat Noir stays on a roof and Ladybug jumps down. She thanks him for the help with the galette and Cat Noir asks her about her kwami. Ladybug assures Cat Noir that it would not happen again, and Cat Noir asks how the four were akumatized even after Ladybug gave them all magical charms. Ladybug says that he might have found a way of overpowering the magic, but it was not going to stop them from saving the Dupain-Cheng family again. Ladybug and Cat Noir jump down with confidence, and Bakerix throws three cars at them. They dodge swiftly, and Cat Noir fights Qilin. Weredad jumps in, but they both jump away in time. Ladybug tells Cat Noir that they had to find where Shadow Moth hid the akuma. Befana tries to shoot them, but they dodge. Ladybug uses her yo-yo to tie her legs together and Cat Noir punches her stomach. Befana hits Bakerix, and the both of them fall together. Ladybug grabs Bakerix's yeast canteen before Bakerix can take it, and she throws it on the floor. To her surprise, no akuma came out. She tells Cat Noir there was nothing and Cat Noir picks Befana's candy box up and throws it on the floor. It breaks, but there was no akuma in it either. Cat Noir shrugs and jumps away before Befana can shoot him. Gina says that Ladybug and Cat Noir would not stop them from getting Marinette the freedom she needed. Ladybug pulls Befana aside and Bakerix stars fighting Ladybug, while saying that there would be no freedom for Marinette without discipline. Weredad fights Cat Noir while saying that Marinette was his baby. Qilin jumps down on him and says that Marinette was old enough to know what was right for her and that the only one she needed was her. Ladybug and Cat Noir stand back to back while Ladybug swings her yo-yo in the back. She tells Cat Noir that the akuma must have been in an object that was the same for all for villains. Cat Noir said that they had better find it quickly, and Ladybug uses her Lucky Charm. She gets a crown and immediately realizes that the akuma was in the galette at home. Cat Noir asks her what she meant by at home, and Ladybug says that she meant the Dupain-Cheng family's home and that they ate galette and the akuma must be in the leftover galette. She then added that it was just a guess and tells Cat Noir to stop them from following her. Cat Noir puts a hand on his face and sighs.

Ladybug gives the four of them each a magical charm and says that it will not guarantee that they will not be a victim of Shadow Moth again, but it would help them eat their galette in peace. They both left the building and Ladybug secretly went to her balcony. She slides down the stairs while detransforming and gives the kwamis each a small piece of galette to taste. They hesitate because Tikki was there too, and Marinette says that Tikki was controlling herself very well. They take it away and excitedly eat them. Tikki apologizes and says that she never expected to have a craving again, but the galette Marinette's family created was too good. Marinette laughs and forgives her, but also asks her what they were going to do the next year on galettes day. Tikki says that she gave it some thought, and decided that she would manage to reduce her cravings if she just ate galette more often. Marinette laughs and gives her the last piece of galette, which Tikki takes and eats happily. 041b061a72