... but why not? After all, what could be more emotionally powerful than a baby throwing a giant temper tantrum?!
Uh... this wasn't what I had in mind!
— Hawk Moth
Today is a great day for Marinette: she and her friends Mylène, Rose, Juleka, Alix and, of course, Alya, have come up with a flawless plan to help Marinette propose a romantic stroll to Adrien. What Could Possibly Go Wrong? Try a baby getting Akumatized over a lollipop, and maybe our heroes'll have their work cut out for them.
Tropes:
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Gorilla gets a fine "for a parking violation, for non-compliance with orders and for infuriating a usually cheerful police officer."
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: A baby, in this case.
- Bad Boss: Gabriel, being Hawk Moth, proves himself to be this when he tries to akumatize Adrien's bodyguard.
- Bait-and-Switch: At first it looks as though the Gorilla will be akumatized… then the akuma switches targets and heads for August who just happens to be throwing a tantrum over his mother not getting him a lollipop. The look on Hawk Moth's face is pure gold.
- Beware the Quiet Ones: Played for Laughs. While executing Marinette's insane plan, Juleka's role goes wrong and she winds up talking to Officer Roger instead of Mylène. At first, her shy incoherent mumbling couldn't get Roger to move the Gorilla from his parking spot until she practically yells at him to the point that Roger was nearly blown back.
- Breather Episode: With the focus on Marinette's Zany Scheme falling apart, an innocuous villain making the stakes less dire than usual and Hawk Moth reaching his wit's end from the antics of said villain, this episode is very lighthearted and comical.
- Brick Joke: Marinette's plan involves Alix waiting on the bridge to throw flower petals on her and Adrien. The plan does not work out, and Alix spends the whole episode waiting. At the end, she returns to the squad and throws petals on Marinette with a deadpan expression on her face.
- The Comically Serious: Hawk Moth here, trying to make the Akumatized baby understand that he's supposed to get the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous.
- Complexity Addiction:
- Marinette's plan to ask Adrien out involves several classmates, codenames, law enforcement, several parking tickets, some Recurring Extras, and a rickshaw.
- Ladybug's plan to defeat Gigantitan (lure him to the Eiffel Tower and trap him with her yoyo) is also needlessly complex, as pointed out.
- The episode's Aesop is that sometimes, you just have to get straight to the point.
- Deadpan Snarker: Alix becomes very sarcastic in the face of Marinette's insane plan.
- Deathbringer the Adorable: "Gigantitan" sounds like a name for someone like, say, the Gorilla transformed into a really scary and dangerous villain. Actually, it's a regular baby, transformed into a really big baby. Of course, Hawk Moth's intended target was the Gorilla, so possibly he was just too flabbergasted by accidentally akumatizing a baby to come up with a new name on the spot.
- Delicious Distraction: Since what August/Gigantitan wanted from the beginning was a lollipop, Ladybug and Cat Noir get close enough to break his akumatized bracelet by disguising a lamppost as a lollipop with gift wrap, with Ladybug hidden under the wrap.
- Didn't Think This Through:
- Marinette's plan would have worked better had the girls not insisted on giving the codename "Rose" to a girl other than the team member whose real name is "Rose".
- Ladybug's first plan is to use the Eiffel Tower and her yo-yo to make an improvised pen for Gigantitan. She fails to consider that her unbreakable string combined with Gigantitan's strength would overwhelm the supports. The result is that a little tugging cuts down the Eiffel Tower and they have to think of something else.
- Dudley Do-Right Stops to Help: Marinette almost ruins her own plan when she goes to help Baby Auguste and his mother at the stairway.
- Everybody Knew Already: This episode confirms how obvious Marinette's feelings for Adrien are by the girls of their class, excluding Chloé and Sabrina. However, when Marinette fears the possibility that Adrien might already know after finding out how obvious she is, Rose says Adrien and the boys are unlikely to pick up on such romantic things.
- Floral Theme Naming: Invoked with "Operation Secret Garden", where Alya and Marinette give themselves, the other girls, and Adrien flowers as codenames.
- Friend to All Children: Cat Noir shows amazing aptitude in taking care of Gigantitan, luring the baby away with his cat bell and distracting him with a car as he loved playing with toy cars when he was August's age. Even Ladybug is impressed by how good his parenting is, which is quite interesting considering who his father really is.
- Gibberish of Love: Lampshaded by Alix, when girls plan Marinette's conversation with Adrien. She proves to be right by the end of episode.
- Gone Horribly Wrong: At least for Hawk Moth's plans: Adrien's bodyguard becomes a prime target when annoyed by the girls inadvertently getting him parking tickets. However, he calms down before he can be akumatized. The akuma then transforms a nearby baby boy who is crying for a lollipop, and Hawk Moth is left trying to get an easily-distracted infant to perform a somewhat complex task.
- Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Hawk Moth, of all people. His initial plan to akumatize Adrien's bodyguard swiftly goes pear-shaped when the Akuma instead goes for baby August after the bodyguard recovers and he's seen to be getting more and more frustrated as the episode goes on as Gigantitan completely ignores his commands.
- New Job as the Plot Demands: Théo is seen driving a rickshaw, as part of Marinette's plan.
- Obliviously Evil: Gigantitan is just a baby, and is only dangerous because he's a baby the size of a building with limitless strength.
- Oh, Crap!: Hawk Moth's face when the Akuma goes for August instead of Adrien's bodyguard paints an absolute picture. Complete with Twitchy Eye!
- Only Sane Man: Downplayed with Alix. She's the only one who mentions, albeit briefly, how creepy Marinette's pull-down calendar of Adrien's schedule is.
- Operation: [Blank]: Marinette's plan for a romantic time with Adrien is called 'Operation Secret Garden'.
- Pet the Dog: The Gorilla calms down when he sees that Adrien is alright, suggesting that he genuinely does care about Adrien.
- Shout-Out: Alya begins briefing her friends on Operation: Secret Garden using a rather familiar turn of phrase:Alya: Your mission, should you choose to accept it...
- Stalker with a Crush: Alix is a little unsettled by how much Marinette knows about Adrien and his routine.Alix: She knows everything about Adrien. Creepy, no?
Rose: Yeah! It's so romantic! - Thinks Like a Romance Novel: Marinette and her 'ideal date' with Adrien; all the girls find the whole idea quite romantic, except Alix, and even she goes along with the plan.
- Unspoken Plan Guarantee: Ladybug's silent plan utilizing her Lucky Charm goes off without a hitch, unlike her earlier overwrought attempts.
- Villainous Breakdown: Hawk Moth's no stranger to these, but this entire episode is just one long one for him as he struggles and fails to keep Gigantitan on-task, to his ever-mounting frustration.
- Who's on First?: Marinette's Zany Scheme assigns all of the girls a flower-themed codename, but Juleka is given "Rose" while Rose is given "Tulip". When Rose protests, she is told that she can't have "Rose" specifically because it's her real name, and therefore wouldn't be a codename if she had it. This naturally leads to much confusion as Rose keeps answering to "Rose" regardless of which Rose is actually being addressed, and the whole plan goes south primarily because of it.
- Women Are Wiser: Invoked by Rose after Alya and Marinette learn the other girls know how Marinette feels about Adrien. Rose doesn't expect boys to pick up on those things.
- Xanatos Speed Chess: Hilariously subverted. Poor Hawk Moth tries to roll with inadvertently akumatizing a baby, but anyone who has ever tried to get an easily distracted baby to follow instructions can tell you how well that works.
- Zany Scheme: The first few minutes of the episode is spent detailing Marinette's latest plan to ask Adrien out. You can almost hear the metaphorical train wreck happening as it gets more and more convoluted.
