You're not done with Volpina yet, Ladybug! You haven't seen the last of her!
"Volpina. I am Hawk Moth. I'm giving you the power of illusion. From now on your lies will come to life. Gain Ladybug and Cat Noir's trust, and convince them you're a real superhero, then betray them and bring me their Miraculous!"
—Hawk Moth
Lila, a new student, arrives at the collège, and Ladybug makes herself a mortal enemy by humiliating her. Akumatized, Lila becomes Volpina, master of illusions.
Tropes:
- Asshole Victim: The narrative presents Ladybug as being in the wrong for calling out Lila so harshly. Lila had already lied about Ladybug, both to the Ladyblog and to Adrien; tried to pass herself off as a superheroine; stolen Adrien's dad's book in order to manipulate him further; and shown absolutely no hesitation in doing any of that. She was already a Jerkass before Ladybug antagonized her further.
- Bathroom Break-Out: Like in "Simon Says", Adrien has to use his bathroom for quick switches to and from Cat Noir.
- Blinded by the Light: Ladybug's Lucky Charm produces an ice cream bar with a foil wrapper, which she uses to shine light in the eyes of Volpina and her illusion clones. The real one flinches.
- Both Sides Have a Point: Inverted, with both sides being wrong. While Lila is lying through her teeth to be popular and get close to Adrien, Marinette makes the wrong choice by exposing Lila's falsehoods and embarrassing her out of raw jealousy when the gentler approach would have been to do so in private.
- Call-Back: Cat Noir quickly turns on the shower to stop Ladybug from walking into Adrien's bathroom and discovering his secret identity, a trick he used in "Simon Says". Ladybug's reaction shows that she hasn't forgotten what happened either, slamming the door back shut in embarrassment.
- Celebrity Lie: Lila goes through a whole parade of these to make herself seem popular, but she bites off more than she can chew when she tells Adrien that she is best friends with Ladybug and is a fellow superheroine herself. She even buys a fox tail pendant to pass off as her Miraculous. Ladybug angrily blows the ruse out of jealousy.
- Concealing Canvas: The fan theory that Gabriel is hiding something behind the portrait of his wife in his office is confirmed. Adrien and Plagg find a safe containing a tome about the Miraculouses... and Failed a Spot Check for the Peacock Miraculous.
- Continuity Nod: One of the celebrities that Lila claims to know is Prince Ali from "Princess Fragrance".
- Didn't Think This Through: Lila's claim that she knows Ladybug seems rather short-sighted considering the heroine herself is in the city, has saved the entire class from akuma corruption, and has given an interview to Alya before.
- Door-Closes Ending: The episode (and the season chronologically) ends with the door of Master Fu's room closing behind Marinette.
- Double Standard: For all the reasons to dislike Lila, no one calls her out on draping herself over Adrien, who is clearly uncomfortable and trying to nudge her away without appearing rude. If their genders had been reversed, maybe someone in the school would have put up a fuss.
- Enhance Button: Marinette is able to use her phone to zoom in to the necklace Lila bought while hiding behind a tree several meters away.
- Evil Knockoff: Volpina's fox theme and illusion powers make her an evil version of the Fox Miraculous hero, even before the real thing has shown up.
- Evil Laugh: When she thinks Ladybug and Cat Noir are falling for her trap, Volpina laughs evilly.
- Failed a Spot Check:
- Marinette avoids detection by Adrien and Lila even though the hiding places she picks are rather inadequate.
- Not only does Plagg fail to notice that the Peacock Miraculous is in Gabriel's safe, he dismisses the familiarity of the Miraculous Book because of his craving for camembert.
- Both Marinette and Adrien heard Lila calling herself Volpina, and yet when Volpina appears as an akuma, Cat Noir falls for the illusion whereas Ladybug is suspicious for the wrong reasons.
- Fake Danger Gambit: Volpina uses an illusion of herself stopping a meteor to pretend to be a hero, thereby gaining the trust of Cat Noir and Ladybug.
- Fake Ultimate Hero: Volpina repeatedly tries to convince people that she's the strongest and most popular hero there is. Lila's Celebrity Lies might also count.
- Flying Brick: Volpina tries to pass herself off as capable of flight and super strength, but it's just an illusion of her.
- Foreshadowing:
- Most Akuma victims seem confused but no longer angry after they are cured. Lila, however, seems just as upset as she was before her corruption. Almost as if she was Not Brainwashed...
- When tearing through his room to find the Grimore, Adrien worries that his father's wrath will be a bigger monster than Hawk Moth. Oh, Adrien, you will not know the irony...
- In Gabriel's safe, a jewel resembling the Peacock Miraculous can seen in front of a picture of Adrien's mother.
- Great Big Book of Everything: Gabriel's book about Miraculous is this, according to Tikki.
- Green-Eyed Monster:
- The entire reason why Marinette follows Lila and Adrien into the library, even before Lila tells Adrien she knows Ladybug. Tikki even asks if Marinette is jealous.
- Lila appears peeved when Adrien mentions Ladybug with a moonstruck expression, which is likely her incentive to lie about having a Heroic Lineage.
- Marinette transforms into Ladybug to embarrass Lila, who was claiming to know Ladybug to get close to Adrien. Though this might have been equally because Lila was both lying and also saying disparaging things about Ladybug to further promote "Volpina".
- In story, Volpina pretends this is the reason why Ladybug dislikes her and tried to sabotage her "date" with Adrien.
- Hard Truth Aesop: Don't be cruel to someone no matter how much they might deserve it, because it could make things worse. Lila, from what we see of her, is a Consummate Liar and an Alpha Bitch who has no problems making false promises note , potentially ruining people's reputations note as well as theft and attempted destruction of propertynote , putting people downnote and sexually harassing and attempting to manipulate her crush into a relationship with her. However, Marinette going out of her way to chastise and humiliate Lila in front of Adrien as Ladybug was still in poor taste because it not only resulted in Lila's akumatizion, but also making an enemy out of her.
- Hostage for MacGuffin: Volpina tries this twice, first by threatening the citizens of Paris and second by threatening Adrien. A pigeon screws up the first one by betraying the illusion, and Cat Noir obviously knows she's bluffing the second time and calls it.
- Internal Reveal: Marinette discovers that Master Fu is more than a simple vet.
- Lying Finger Cross: On her video in the Ladyblog, Lila actually does this gesture to illustrate her so-called closeness with Ladybug. But, suitably, it looks much like the lying finger cross.
- Macross Missile Massacre: Volpina trains a large group of missiles on Ladybug in an effort to get her Miraculous. Once Ladybug figures out that they're fake, she dispels them all.
- Master of Illusion: Volpina's powers are illusion-based.
- Morality Pet: Adrien tries to be this to Lila/Volpina, even confronting her as himself rather than Cat Noir. It doesn't work.
- Near-Villain Victory: Twice, Ladybug was willing to hand over her Miraculous to save a civilian from an illusory attack, stopped only when the illusions were broken by a pigeon and Cat Noir.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Humiliating Lila causes her to get akumatized. Even after her defeat Lila is so upset that she refuses to forgive Ladybug, developes a deep grudge against her and craves revenge at all costs. Marinette really messed up and made a dangerous enemy on this day.
- Though this could also be a case of Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Lila had already shown that she was more ruthless than an average liar before Ladybug called her out, and a later gentler confrontation with Adrien showed Lila will be angry no matter who is calling her out or how. So no matter how Ladybug approached Lila, it would likely have been only a matter of time before they became enemies.
- The Nose Knows: When Volpina runs off with an illusion of Adrien, Cat Noir claims that it's fake because he can smell the difference. Ladybug doesn't buy it since Adrien is no longer in the bathroom, and Cat Noir can't explain that one away.
- No Sense of Personal Space: Lila has none where Adrien is concerned, even though he's very uncomfortable.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
- When Volpina threatens to toss a hostage off the Eiffel Tower, Cat Noir is perfectly willing to call her bluff at the apparent risk of the hostage's life. Of course, as both Cat and the audience know full well, there's no way her hostage is real, not when it's Adrien Agreste.
- You know Ladybug messed up when Adrien calls her out on her behavior — gently, to be sure, but when it comes to Ladybug, even a little disapproval from Adrien is a shock.
- You can see that Ladybug and Cat Noir's teamwork has taken a hit when he immediately believes a complete stranger (Volpina) over Ladybug. Of course, Cat Noir flirting with Volpina right away, when previously he's seen to have a Single-Target Sexuality towards Ladybug, is an even earlier indicator.
- Tikki is extremely proactive in trying to get the Miraculous book, which shows just how important it is.
- Personality Powers: As Volpina, Lila has powers to create illusions or in another words make convincing lies. Ladybug even lampshades that when she figures it out.
- Properly Paranoid: Ladybug finds it a little suspicious that a new hero would show up just in time to stop a meteor, and voices more suspicions that she just happened to have spotted Hawk Moth out in the open. She is entirely right to be suspicious.
- Rejected Apology: After Lila is freed from the akuma, Ladybug tries to apologize, but Lila refuses to accept it.
- Separated by the Wall: Ladybug and Cat Noir (pretending to be Adrien) have a moment of this with the bathroom door.
- Sequel Hook: Hawk Moth notes that Lila hasn't gotten over her anger and may be vulnerable again, while Marinette is set to learn the secrets of the Miraculous from Master Fu.
- She Is Not My Girlfriend: Adrien sheepishly makes it clear that he wasn't on date with Lila.
- Shoot the Hostage: A variant: Cat Noir tosses his staff at the illusion version of Adrien when Ladybug's about to surrender her Miraculous to Volpina. Ladybug's quite horrified.
- Shout-Out: Fox-themed Volpina with illusion powers resembling mythical kitsune, often uses them to create one or numerous copies of herself. Shadow Clone Jutsu, if you prefer.
- Slasher Smile: Just before transforming, Lila makes a pretty disturbing one
◊.- Volpina makes another one when Ladybug is about to remove her Miraculous, immediately followed of Hawk Moth flashing an even bigger one.
- Volpina makes another one
- Spanner in the Works:
- Volpina comes closer than anyone to take Ladybug's miraculous and she would have succeeded too...if it wasn't for a pigeon flying too close to her illusion.
- She also seems to have successfully threatened Ladybug and Cat Noir's teamwork: Cat Noir flirted with Volpina, while he had previously only flirted with Ladybug; he didn't call Volpina/Lila out on her lies at any point and in fact believed her over Ladybug right away; and the episode notably didn't end with Ladybug and Cat Noir/Adrien mending their connection, instead being separated by a closed door and both notably saddened.
- Her plan to create an illusion of Adrien to use as hostage against Ladybug and Cat Noir might have worked if not for the fact that Cat Noir is Adrien.
- Subverted when Ladybug could have been the spanner. Her calling out Lila for lying about knowing her in front of Adrien after Lila had just been claiming to be Volpina should have been an immediate warning to Cat Noir when Volpina showed up later, but it wasn't! Instead, Cat Noir dismissed Ladybug's valid suspicions as jealousy.
- Standard Female Grab Area: Volpina holds an illusion of Adrien by the arm when holding him hostage. Of course, since he's an illusion controlled by Volpina in the first place, he's exactly as helpless as she wants him to be.
- Stock Footage: It's very brief, but a shot of Ladybug slamming the bathroom door shut when she thinks Adrien is in the shower is reused from "Simon Says".
- That Liar Lies: Ladybug engages in that when confronting first Lila and then some through the rest of the episode, even calling her "Super Liar" mockingly.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Debatably. Marinette going Green-Eyed Monster creates the akumatized villain of the week, OR Lila did it to herself by lying and deceiving so shamelessly (and not only about Ladybug), causing Ladybug to lose her temper.
- Villain Teleportation: Invoked by Volpina; it appears that Hawk Moth has the ability to teleport in a violet blur from one spot to another, just ahead of the heroes, but this is an illusion meant to split the two apart by having them chase separate copies.
- We Need a Distraction: Volpina conjures copies of Hawk Moth which teleport from building to building, leading Cat Noir and Ladybug in different directions so Volpina can corner the latter.
- Wham Episode: Probably the biggest one of the series so far in terms of plot advancement. Both the audience and the characters start to learn more about the lore of the Miraculouses, and we get our first glimpse at the potential powers of one of the remaining ones, the Fox Miraculous. We also find out that not only is Gabriel Agreste apparently researching the Miraculouses, he already has one: the Peacock Miraculous stored in his safe. The episode ends with Adrien beginning to have doubts about his father's intentions and Marinette being lead by Tikki to Master Fu in order to learn the secrets of the Miraculouses.
- The episode also introduces Lila Rossi.
- Wham Line:
- When Ladybug tries to apologize to Lila:Lila: Forget it Ladybug, you were right. We'll never be friends.
- The very last line of the episode.Master Fu: Hello, Ladybug.
- When Ladybug tries to apologize to Lila:
- Wham Shot:
- When Adrien gets into his father's safe, the Peacock Miraculous (or a convincing copy) can be seen on the upper shelf. Sort of a meta example, as both Adrien and Plagg ignore the item; the wham is mostly for the audience.
- When Lila picks up the Miraculous book, she opens it and comes across the Fox Miraculous's pages, revealing its existence to the audience."A vixen superheroine? Hmm, interesting."
- What the Hell, Hero?: Adrien calls out Ladybug for her overly harsh method of confronting Lila about her lies.
