"Crocoduel, I am Shadow Moth. I'm giving you the power to get back together — to better tear each other apart! You finally have the chance to prove to the other that you were right! All I ask in return is that one of you bring me Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculous! May the best rocker win..."
—Shadow Moth
Marinette has been avoiding Luka at all costs since she broke up with him due to her duties as Ladybug, but her friends are convinced it is because she likes Adrien more than Luka. They decide to help Marinette and Luka talk at Juleka’s birthday party, but the plan goes so wrong that two people end up akumatized! With the warring parents turning Paris into their own personal battlefield, Ladybug must recruit a new hero to help save these musical malefactors!
Tropes:
- Amicable Exes: Luka and Marinette decide that they don't let their break-up ruin their friendship and at the end of the episode they are on good terms. Jagged and Anarka also agree to give it a try and get along for the sake of their kids.
- Apologetic Attacker: Purple Tigress apologizes to her parents before using Clout on them while telling them to talk it out instead of arguing.
- Audible Sharpness: Purple Tigress' Miraculous manifests as a clawed gauntlet in its activated state, to the point where the air slashes she performs can be heard.
- Better as Friends: At the end of the episode, Luka and Marinette talk things over and acknowledge that, while Luka still has feelings for Marinette that she doesn't reciprocate, there's still mutual fondness and there's no reason they can't still be friends.
- A Birthday, Not a Break: It's Juleka and Luka's shared birthday, but their parents both get akumatized thanks to their squabbling. However, this is how Juleka gets recruited as Purple Tigress.
- Both Sides Have a Point: Anarka has every right to be furious at Jagged for walking out on her when she got pregnant to pursue his own musical career, causing her to tank her own musical career when she had to raise their kids alone, and it definitely doesn't look good that he came back into their lives once they became mostly self-sufficient teens. However, Jagged also acknowledges that he was wrong to leave them and is trying to make up for lost time by being present in their lives now, and her trying to ban him from seeing them on their birthday isn't helping. They're both wrong to argue about it in front of the kids during their birthday party, though, rather than making peace and talking about it another time. It takes Juleka finding her voice to tell them off to get them both to realize that the conflict isn't as one-sided as they think it is.
- Breaking Old Trends:
- This is the first time in which two (or more) akumatized villains are more motivated to fight each other rather than work together to fight Ladybug.
- The akumatized object is the vinyl record for Crocoduo that Jagged and Anarka broke in two during their argument aboard the Liberty. Because they broke it as they were being akumatized, the akuma is not in either of the halves but within the whole vinyl. Thus Ladybug needs to repair the broken vinyl before she can release the akuma.
- Call-Back:
- Marinette remarks that Luka akumatized two times because of her.
- Marinette notes that she hasn't spoken to Luka since they broke up back in "Truth" (even mentioning that he was akumatized as a result), and has been actively avoiding him since. Naturally, she can't avoid him at Juleka's party because a) it's his birthday too, and b) he lives there.
- Children Raise You: It takes Juleka finding her voice in order to tell her parents to stop bickering like kids and be actual parents and role models for their actual kids.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Rose pretends that Marinette can't see Luka because she needs to take care of her "aqua-pony". Luka clearly doesn't buy it. Bad Liar? No, she actually believed aqua-ponies were a thing.
- Cruel to Be Kind: Marinette thinks she's sparing Luka from the pain of seeing her again by avoiding him, though averted as Luka tells her near the end of the episode that it actually hurts more not to see her at all.
- Didn't Think This Through: Akumatizing two people who're arguing to give them the power to defeat each other, in exchange for them eventually finding time to take Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculouses, works about as well as you'd expect. Shadow Moth even lampshades what a bad idea this was after they repeatedly ignore Ladybug and Cat Noir to focus on fighting each other.
- Differing Priorities Breakup: Jagged Stone's Self-Serving Memory implies that he didn't walk out on Anarka when she got pregnant so much as she gained a Surprise Pregnancy early in their relationship and musical career, but he wasn't ready to be a father while she wanted to keep the kids, she chose to leave him and their band to raise the kids.
- Dismantled MacGuffin: Jagged and Anarka break the record in half just as the akuma enters it but before either of them are akumatized. This results in breaking either half of the record doing nothing. Ladybug has to reassemble the record with tape then have Cat Noir destroy the entire object with his Cataclysm.
- Dramatic Irony:
- Shadow Moth tries to target Juleka, unaware that she was given a Magical Charm by Ladybug in "Guiltrip". Marinette manages to make Juleka feels better before the charm comes into play.
- After Ladybug and Cat Noir save both Luka and Juleka, Ladybug comments Jagged and Anarka used to be in love, to what Luka answers the love is over. Ladybug adds that even if they don't love each other anymore, they still need to talk...which is exactly what Marinette has shied away from with Luka.
- Evil Versus Evil: For the first time Shadow Moth creates two supervillains who are mad at each other. In result Guitar Villain and Captain Hardrock fight each other as much as they fight Ladybug and Cat Noir.
- Face Palm:
- This is Shadow Moth's reaction to his repeated failures to akumatize a target.
- Ladybug does this when Cat Noir lampshades the obvious costume similarities between himself and Purple Tigress.
- Fastball Special: Ladybug has Cat Noir throw herself and Purple Tigress into the sky at the villains by extending his staff to building length and launching them like a catapult.
- Faux Shadowing: The episode initially acts as though either Luka or Juleka will be the akuma of the episode (provided they didn't suss out the misdirection from the title), putting a lot of emphasis on the powderkeg of Luka and Marinette meeting, and the increasing stress that Juleka is under due to party schemes and her insecurity about Jagged, only for both of them to work through their issues on their own just before Shadow Moth can get them and their parents to suddenly swoop into focus instead. The subversion gets played with by Shadow Moth himself, in an amusing scene where initially does attempt to corrupt them only to be left desperately trying to find someone to akumatize when the opportunity he thought was happening fizzles out.
- Forgot About His Powers: When villains fly off to continue their fight in the sky, Cat Noir complains that they don't have wings, apparently forgetting that he and Ladybug could simply turn into Astrocat and Cosmobug using their Power-Up Food.
- Hypocrite: In yet another display of his utter lack of self-awareness, Shadow Moth tries to akumatize Juleka because "What could be worse than not being loved by your own father?". He himself regularly neglects Adrien, and is cold and aloof in the rare instance he does spend some time with his son.
- Incompatible Orientation: Downplayed. As usual with most of the female Miraculous holders, Cat Noir attempts to flirt with Purple Tigress. As the audience, we know that Juleka is a lesbian and currently with Rose through
Word of God. Her reaction to Cat Noir's attempts shows that she isn't interested. - Internal Reveal: The rest of the teens learn that Jagged Stone is the father of Luka and Juleka.
- Irony: As Hawk Moth notes, normally a party full of teenagers where there's unresolved tension (like two awkward exes attending, or two kids with a Disappeared Dad who seems to favor one over the other showing up), would be rife for drama and akumatization. However, the teens always manage to talk their feelings out and lift each other up before he can properly akumatize anyone. It's the only two grown ups at the party who let their bickering and negativity get the best of them, which sets up the Villain of the Week.
- Jaw Drop: Cat Noir can only stare slack-jawed after seeing Purple Tigress punch Captain Hardrock's galleon into the sky.
- Jerkass Realization: Marinette tells Juleka to prevent Luka, her brother, from being in his house for his birthday party just so she wouldn't have to awkwardly deal with him after their breakup. Marinette later realizes what an ass she has been after seeing Juleka run away crying.
- Just Friends: At the end of the episode, Marinette and Luka have a heart to heart, following Luka and Juleka's talk earlier on. Luka tells her that he knows she has feelings for Adrien still, and as a result he knows that ultimately he can't stand in the way of that if that is what she wants. There is nothing stopping him from being friends with her, however, to which Marinette readily agrees.
- Megaton Punch: The Tiger Miraculous gives the wielder the power of "Clout": They can turn their feelings into strength for a single blow, befitting the dual meaning of Clout - both exceptional strength and social influence. In this case, Purple Tigress channels all of her fury at her parents' bickering into a punch that knocks Captain Hardrock's galleon clean into the sky, taking Guitar Villain and his dragon with it.
- Mundane Utility: Marinette uses the same Sherlock Scan she uses to figure out how to use her lucky charms to figure out her friends were using Juleka's birthday as an excuse to make her talk to Luka.
- New Powers as the Plot Demands: Captain Hardrock's ship can fly now.
- Panthera Awesome: Juleka is given the Tiger Miraculous, becoming "Purple Tigress".
- Person of Mass Destruction: Captain Hardrock and Guitar Villain are shown to be incredibly destructive as the attacks they throw at each other end up landing all over Paris putting innocent civilians in grave danger.
- Self-Serving Memory: Anarka is rightly angry at Jagged Stone for leaving her to raise their two children by herself while he pursued his musical career. However, Jagged seems to remember it differently, as he claims that she broke his heart by leaving him and their band.
- Ship Sinking: Marinette had broken up with Luka as soon as the first episode of the season, then showed no regret about it since Mr Pigeon 72. Here, she is reluctant to see Luka again, states she does not feels the same for him, and loves Adrien (which was the case from the very beginning). An explicit comparison is made with Luka's parents, who are feuding exes and whose "passion had died long ago". To emphasize this, Luka plays the Shipper on Deck in the very end, asking Marinette if she confessed to Adrien yet.
- Shrinking Violet: Juleka as usual. Wielding the Tiger Miraculous forces her to find her voice, or as Roaar puts it, "her inner tiger". This lets her tell her parents off for their continued bickering after they are deakumatized, shaming them into making up over the split of Crocoduo, although they will still bicker because they are parents after all.
- Sixth Ranger: Juleka becomes the latest classmate to join the team this season, after Zoé (Vesperia), Mylène (Polymouse) and Rose (Pigella). It is also the fourth new hero in the last five episodes, with the sole exception being "Gabriel Agreste".
- Start X to Stop X: Because the akumatized record was broken during the process of akumatization, it has to be repaired before it can be broken to release the akuma.
- Struggling Single Mother: Anarka is not happy to see Jagged Stone since she really struggled to raise the twins (they live on a houseboat, after all).
- The Unfavorite: Juleka believes that she's this where Jagged Stone is concerned, since he seems to get along with Luka so well. She sees him hand Luka a guitar case and tell him "don't tell your sister", making her believe that he's getting expensive presents of the sort she's not getting. But then it's revealed that the guitar case holds a bass guitar, intended as a present for Juleka herself.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Marinette's girl-squad call her out on continuing to hurt Luka's feelings by avoiding him just because she doesn't want to have an awkward conversation. (Especially by refusing to come to own birthday party!)
- We Need a Distraction: Marinette tasks Alya with distracting their friends with a fake injury so she can slip away and become Ladybug.
- With Catlike Tread: Downplayed when Jagged Stone enters on Anarka's ship through the window, which is sneaky enough. Parking his tour bus in front of it, not so much.
- Wrong Assumption: Shadow Moth instantly believes that the kids will feel crushed and betrayed after learning that Jagged Stone is Juleka and Luka's father without their knowing. He's instantly proven wrong when they celebrate the fact that their friends are related to a big shot celebrity.
