Tear Jerker / Miraculous Ladybug

As a Moments subpage, all spoilers will remain unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

General

• Adrien's home life. His mother is missing. His father is absent most of the time (and heavily implied to have turned emotionally abusive as well as the outright shown Parental Neglect after losing his wife). And he has no friends other than Chloé. And despite all of that, Adrien is still a sweet and kind person. Someone give this poor soul a big hug.
  • In the French dub, he addresses his father using the formal form of "you", which is normally used for strangers.
  • And the life he lives? It protects him from being akumatized...because he's used to being disappointed. Our poor kitty has gotten let down by his father so many times, being unsurprised by it happening again makes a superpower!
• Sabrina's relationship with Chloé. The poor girl seems to think that friendship means completely subsuming herself to her "friend" and always comes back to Chloé no matter how much abuse the Alpha Bitch throws at her. Even Chloé's Pet the Dog moments can be read as her simply reasserting her control. In other words, if this were a romantic relationship, Sabrina would fit all the requirements for being a Love Martyr.
• In the past, the Miraculouses were surely involved in spilling some blood, and not all of the past holders had a happy ending.
  • Joan of Arc really did receive a message of "divine intervention", this being the power of the Ladybug Miraculous. After fighting for her people —the French— she gets accused of heresy by the English, is unable to get herself out of her trial, and is burnt at the stake at the age of nineteen—not much older than Marinette. Only posthumously was she acknowledged for her heroism. She never killed anyone in her entire life. One wonders what Tikki's thoughts on the entire ordeal were.
  • Hippolyta, during Herakles' nine labors, is mainly said by myth to have either been killed, abducted, eloped to wed with Theseus and was seen as a traitor to her people, or eloped and was cheated on by Theseus—to which she responded by sicc-ing her Amazons on Theseus and co.—but was still killed. No Wonder Woman incarnation as far as we know.
• Whilst it had been theorised long beforehand, it's finally confirmed in "Style Queen" that Gabriel is seeking the Miraculous because his wife is being kept in a stasis chamber underneath Agreste Mansion, either deathly ill or flat out dead, and he wants to use the ultimate power to save/revive her. The series Big Bad is really just a desperate man trying to pull his family back together.

Season 1

Stormy Weather

• Aurore Beauréal loses the contest and is very upset because of this. Being mocked by Alec just makes things worse.

The Bubbler

• Adrien is a walking Tearjerker when it's his birthday but only one person remembered to give him a present and he doesn't know who, his father rejects his request for a birthday party, and his best friend turns into a villain on his behalf. His Eating Lunch Alone scene at home sells it, with Adrien looking like a kicked puppy.
  • The fact that Adrien chose to temporarily leave his best friend in the hands of Hawk Moth in order to finally have a birthday party and he's actually the only one to show, albeit briefly, actual enjoyment during it should speak volumes about the two Agreste's relationship.
• Adrien's father assigned his assistant to buy Adrien a birthday present; his father couldn't be bothered to choose a present ahead of time. Ouch.
• Nathalie callously taking Marinette's signature off the present for Adrien.
• Marinette's transformation sequence after seeing her parents being abducted by the Bubbler. The stock footage has been modified to give her distressed facial expressions rather than the heroic and perky face she usually has. It's easy to miss on the first watch, especially since this was first episode aired in the States.
• Marinette argues with The Bubbler that adults love their children and care for them, to which Cat Noir mutters, "Most of them anyway." Hoo boy. Just who could he be alluding to?

Timebreaker

• Alix breaks down upon seeing her pocket watch destroyed, and angrily puts the blame on her friends before leaving, despite their attempts to console her.
  Alix: You're all to blame!
  • The second time is probably even worse: after putting the blame on Ladybug, Alix kneels down, visibly as broken as her watch, and angrily cries on its pieces. She doesn't even make an attempt to flee, after Future-Ladybug told the classmates to go away from Future-Timebreaker, leaving herself vulnerable to the akuma.
• During her rampage, Timebreaker is about to take Ladybug's energy... when Cat Noir jumps between them to protect Ladybug, thus taking the hit for himself. While Timebreaker gloats at getting his energy. Ladybug lets out a Big "NO!" and tearfully embraces his fading body before angrily glaring at her and resuming the fight.
  • What's more, he had very little time to act, so it's likely he acted wholly on reflex, which is how he had the time to put himself in the position he was in, rather than just putting his body between Ladybug and Timebreaker. He's kneeling in front of her, hugging her, with his eyes closed and looking like he's about to cry himself. Only way he could have had the time to place himself like that is if he moved without thinking about anything except her safety.

Evillustrator

• Chloé bullying Nathanael and Sabrina especially when later on Sabrina reveals she has no idea what true friendship is, concludes that Marinette is not so different from Chloé during a Not What It Looks Like moment and goes back to Chloé when the latter lends her a nice beret.
• Evillustrator's heartbreak when he realizes that Marinette only went on a date with him so as to help Cat Noir revert him to normal.
• Adrien's surprise when Marinette tells him that he is cooler than Cat Noir. What makes this sad? In the Webisodes, Cat has admitted that he only gets to be himself when he's Cat Noir. In a nutshell, Marinette likes the mask (when he's "unmasked") rather than the actual person.

Rogercop

• Cat Noir's reaction when Ladybug falls from the flying car, several hundred feet in the air. He shouts her name, and for a moment when Rogercop grabs him he goes completely limp, as if he's lost the will to fight.
  • Even worse - as she was falling, she threw out her yo-yo and called for him to catch her. He failed. If Ladybug hadn't caught herself on the way down, Cat Noir would have absoulutely blamed himself for the results.

Dark Cupid

• To say that Kim was upset after Chloé humiliated him is an understatement.

Darkblade

• Armand D'Argencourt losing the the election that badly is hurtful enough. Being ridiculed for the defeat on TV makes it even worse.

The Gamer

• Max trying and failing to be a Graceful Loser about losing his spot in a gaming tournament, after having practiced all year to participate. His transformation by an akuma doesn't help matters.
  • This is one of the few times that one of Marinette's wild schemes to hang out with Adrien gets called out by both Tikki and Alya, because Marinette impulsively drerailed Max's hard work. Alya's mention of "representing the school" also has a bit of a darker connotation - that Marinette denied one of the school's few black kids the opportunity to represent the school.
• Adrien smiling on seeing how "invasive" Marinette's parents are, and how eager they are to please. It's a stark contrast to his home life, so that when Marinette complains about them, he doesn't invoke Misery Poker.
• Adrien letting his Stepford Smiler persona slip after playing with Marinette. He admits he doesn't think he's as cool as she is. Marinette, who adores Adrien, is shocked and tells him You Are Better Than You Think You Are.

Animan

• During the episode's final confrontation, Ladybug appears to get eaten by a T. rex. The look on Cat Noir's face is heartbreaking.

Antibug

• Chloé's Kick the Dog moment towards Sabrina for embarrassing her.
• Sabrina's trauma after she's turned back to normal. My God, What Have I Done? is in full swing.
• Given her general attitude, it's hard to feel too sorry for Chloé, but after being embarrassed on TV in front of her favorite rock star, and later getting told off by her idol and called a liar, Chloé first reacts with anger, declaring she is no longer Ladybug's fan, but then begins crying. It's a rare moment where we see Chloé like that.

The Puppeteer

• Marinette never letting Manon win during their plushie fights. Manon points out the unfairness. The look of realization on Marinette's face when Manon calls her out just makes it all the more poignant.
• Cat Noir freaking out at the thought of the Puppeteer controlling him. He likely flashes back to nearly killing Ladybug in "Dark Cupid".

Reflekta

• Poor Juleka crying in the washroom after Sabrina and Chloé's cruel trick excludes her from the class picture. Not even sweet Rose, her best friend, can convince Juleka that she's not just an eyesore. It really hits home for anyone who's ever felt ignored or undesirable in the eyes of their peers.

Simon Says

• It's quite sad to see how much Adrien misses his mother and how surprised he is when his father hugs him. Gabriel then ruins the moment by asking about Adrien's ring, reminding his son how little attention he receives from his father.
• While Adrien is looking at pictures of him and his mom, Plagg is sitting on his shoulder, giving him a look of sympathy. Plagg, the little comical Kwami that's a bit of a jerk to Adrien, is feeling bad for him and his situation with his family.
• Marinette gets punished for missing school. She was not doing it deliberately; it was because of her superhero duties as Ladybug. What's more is that after Marinette's parents pronounce punishment on her, they look very sad and it is clear that they hate doing that.

Princess Fragrance

• When Chloé tears up Rose's letter to Prince Ali, the poor girl is heartbroken.
  • When she drops the torn pieces to the ground and Rose bends down to retrieve them, there is a brief second where it looks like Sabrina is considering helping her. Instead, Sabrina just walks away.
• Marinette tries to get entry into the Bourgeois' hotel by claiming to be Chloé's friend from school. The doorman promptly states that Chloé has no friends. Alpha Bitch or not, that's pretty sad.
• Tikki's sick throughout the whole episode. Compared to her usual perky sweet self, the poor little fairy looks exhausted, perhaps even on the verge of dying. The way she insists in a tiny voice that she needs to transform with Marinette despite clearly being in no shape to do so is heartbreaking.

Volpina

• Even if Lila deserves to be called out for her lies, she didn't deserve to be humiliated so harshly by Ladybug that she run away crying and got akumatized...
• The defeated look on Ladybug's face while she's reaching for her earrings to save Adrien.
• Even after her deakumatization, Lila is still so hurt and upset that she rejects Ladybug's apology and developes a grudge against her.
• After Lila is purified from the akuma, Ladybug is soon to detransform due to her use of the Lucky Charm, but still checks out Adrien's room first to see if he's okay. He, as Cat Noir, is in his bathroom, and turns the shower on to discourage Ladybug from entering, while pretending to be Adrien. After reassuring each other, Ladybug and Cat Noir lean their heads on the door and sadly sigh in unison; and when Ladybug leaves the house, Cat Noir exits the bathroom and forlornly stares at the window.

Origins, Part 1 - Ladybug & Cat Noir

• Marinette's whole way of being after she messes up her first run as Ladybug; she was shown from the beginning of the episode to have horrible self-esteem issues (not helped by four years of Chloé bullying her), and when she fails to catch the black butterfly, she refuses to believe she's good for anything except being a klutz. Adrien isn't much better since he's trapped in his own house with no friends at all, and his father is even worse at listening to him than in the present day.
  • Same for Nino when we see him in this episode, he just seems so depressed and isolated compared to the future when he's all smiles. It shows that his friendship with Adrien helped him as much as it helped Adrien.
• After Adrien argues with his father concerning wanting to attend public school, he runs past a portrait containing both his parents and himself, most likely done before his mother vanished. If you look carefully, Gabriel has a hand on Adrien's shoulder and even appears to be smiling or at least content. It's a heartbreaking implication of the impact Adrien's mother's disappearance has had on both Adrien and his father.
  • Worse in comparison to the giant portrait of Adrien and his father in the front hall; all in black, sad Adrien and Gabriel, who look more possessive than supportive.
    • Imagine eating (all alone) across the old family portrait and having to watch the new painting on the way to your room. Every single day.
    • Adrien runs off to his bedroom. There, we see his school supplies sprawled on the floor, and the next shot of him lying on his bed with his face in a pillow, apparently crying.
  • Makes things even sadder, being that Gabriel is actually Hawk Moth. The reason why he captured a kwami, forced him to use his power for evil and turned humans – among them innocent children – evil, because his heart was broken when he lost the person he loved the most.
• This one is sort of a Fridge Tear Jerker: Marinette's best friends are Alya and Adrien (usually as Cat Noir), both of whom just recently joined the school. Who were Marinette's friends before they came?

Origins, Part 2 - Stoneheart

• Adrien finally makes it to school and everyone seems happy to see him, especially Chloé. But then he greets Nino, who coldly asks him if he's Chloé's friend, ignoring Adrien's extended hand. Then, Marinette comes in a moment too late and sees what appears to be Adrien sticking gum on her seat (really him trying to undo a hurtful prank by Chloé to "put Alya and Marinette in their place" for "being rude to her") and refusing to believe anything he says for the same reason Nino treated him coldly. Given the close friendship Adrien eventually shares with both Nino and Marinette, it hurts to watch them treat him that way.
• Chloé's treatment of both Ivan and Alya after the "Stoneheart" fiasco, cheerily calling after a fleeing Ivan that they're safer without him.
• Mylène's apparent fear of Ivan, when all he wants is to confess his feelings.

Season 2

The Collector

• Adrien is devastated when his father tells him that he's pulling him from school and the reactions of his friends aren't any better.
• Adrien, as Cat Noir, is also devastated over the assertion that his father is Hawk Moth, but he can't let Ladybug know how deeply it affects him, lest he let the Cat out of the bag!
• Adrien's panic over his father possibly being Hawk Moth is heartrending and even after his name is "cleared", fans are probably squirming uncomfortably at the idea that Gabriel has totally played both his son and Marinette and that he shows little concern over the various akumatees who have nearly killed both kids.
  • And Nathalie is in on the whole thing!
• Despite being the Big Bad and putting innocent lives in danger near-daily—especially in this episode, where his Akuma could have killed his own son without him realizing it—he genuinely does love his son and wife, with the heavy implication being that he believes his actions are within their best interest. When will he realize that this isn't the way to go about things?
  Gabriel: My son is the most important to me.

Despair Bear

• Chloé manages to garner a lot of sympathy this episode, surprisingly. First, Adrien threatens to end their friendship when she calls the fire department out of spite for Marinette and her father being in the spotlight instead of her. She is clearly shocked at this. Then, we find out that she seemed to have actually been very nice as a little kid through some flashbacks, one of which shows her mother leaving, and crying while she cuddles her teddy bear for comfort. And yeah, Adrien really was her only friend growing up. Beneath the spoiled Alpha Bitch exterior, Chloé can actually be a nice person. She's just horribly out of practice, likely due to her father spoiling her selfish whims.
• A subtle moment is when Adrien is chewing Chloé out. He doesn't explode on her, he doesn't even raise his voice. It just sounds like it hurts him to say it. It really underscores that, for the longest time, she was his only friend, and as much as that conversation had to happen, it's one he never wanted to have.
• There's something really cruel about Chloé firing Jean (the Butler). The poor guy genuinely wanted to help and encourage Chloé to do her best.

La Befana

• Gina is legitimately heartbroken when Marinette leaves her to go to the party.

Robostus

• Monsieur Damocles does not just deny Markov his sentience by insisting he is a toy, he confiscates him away from Max, who Markov has never been separated from in his existence. It is genuinely distressing to hear Markov pleading him to bring him back to Max. The poor thing even whimpers in fear shortly after Damocles steps into the office.

Dark Owl

• When Hawk Moth discovers the Miraculouses he just got are fakes, his triumphant smile falls into a look of genuine heartbreak and he lets out a Howl of Sorrow. It strangely tugs at your heartstrings, more so with the heavy hints of what he wants the ultimate power for.
• A Fridge one: Tikki and Plagg now know who is behind the mask of the other hero. Plagg knows who is really the girl Adrien is madly in love with and Tikki now knows that the boy Marinette loves deeply is the one always helping her in her heroics, but both know that, for the greater good, they have to keep this secret. Both hold the key to their wielder's happiness, but cannot do anything about it.
• Mr. Damocles is genuinely ashamed of himself after having his failure of identity exposed and made fun of in social media. He's even seen sadly whimpering in his office before Hawk Moth corrupts him.

Glaciator

• Cat Noir in this episode is the source of most of the heartache in general.
  • He gets Stood Up by the girl he loves (or feels like it since Ladybug never really agreed to it) and becomes downright depressed by it, blowing out the candles one by one saying how much Ladybug loves him and says she doesn't love him at all on the last candle. He can't even bring himself to blow it out.
  • His talk with Marinette on her balcony has him telling her his feelings for Ladybug and Marinette even feels bad for the poor guy as she realizes that all the flirting wasn't just bluster.
  • When he takes Marinette to see the surprise he had for Ladybug, the camera turns to him and he's huddled over the rail looking at a candle, depressed that his lady never came.
  • Finally, we have his utter bitterness towards Ladybug when they meet up to fight Glaciator. It's probably the only time Cat has intentionally been antagonistic towards Ladybug and after seeing what Cat did as Marinette, Ladybug spends a good part of the fight just trying to make up with Cat, only working when he himself realizes what an idiot he's being.
  • To make things a little worse, before Adrien leaves for the 'date', he's waiting for his father to have dinner with him. Instead, Gabriel just decides to eat in his office and only tells his son to practice piano before bed. Adrien's bitterness was unjustified, but it's not hard to think that part of it was Adrien feeling lonelier than usual.
• Marinette's plotline in the episode is less overtly heartbreaking, but it's still hard not to feel sorry for her. She's surrounded by happy couples, and all André's obsessing over romance seems to do is remind her that she's alone. It really does feel like Marinette's starting to give up on any hope she might have that Adrien could feel the same way about her.
• Dramatic Irony just makes the balcony scene worse. Cat Noir and Marinette are lamenting their loneliness, not knowing the person they wish to be with is right next to them. Cat Noir has no idea he's pouring his heart out to Ladybug and Marinette has no idea that at this moment, she's spending time with Adrien just as she hoped she would earlier.

Gorizilla

• Adrien seems close to tears when he tells his father that he feels he's always too busy to talk to him.

Zombizou

• At the beginning of the episode, Sabrina tries to defend Chloé by saying that she's not good at remembering birthdays, like her mom was. As soon as Sabrina says that, Chloé cuts her off, saying that she doesn't need Sabrina telling her life story. While it's a small moment, it's a pretty serious hint at just how badly Audrey's departure affected Chloé.
• Ladybug looks like she's on the verge of tears when Alya is infected, and decides to stay behind.
  Cat Noir: There's nothing we can do for her!
  Alya: He's right... [stands on her knees, and smiles at Ladybug] Just go, and save us all.
  • And then, Nino decides to stay with Alya, despite knowing that he's going to be infected as well. The last image the group (especially an upset Ladybug) sees of him is him smiling at them and tipping his cap. What a devoted boyfriend...
    Nino: This isn't the first time we got in trouble together...
    Alya: [lifts her head with her eyes turned purple] Kissou!
    [Alya then hugs Nino and kisses him. He then proceeds to hug her back]
• Hawk Moth's comment that if true love truly conquers all, in the end he will win. This seems confirmation that he is seeking out the Ultimate Power to save someone he loves.
  • Later episodes would confirm that Gabriel is seeking out the Miraculous so that he may revive his comatose wife, Emilie.
• Ms. Bustier is one of the few people we see fully reacting to the realization that they've been akumatized, and it's not pretty. For a moment, she hits the Despair Event Horizon after giving into Hawk Moth and hurting so many people, and fills with total self-loathing until Chloé takes responsibility for what happened - to see the person whose wonderful nature we saw the entire class gush about in the beginning of the episode on the verge of tears believing herself to be a terrible person is painful to watch.
• Marinette does not take Ms. Bustier being akumatized in front of her well. To the extent that unlike most every other time she transforms into Ladybug, this time she looks visibly distressed. The difference is subtle, but undeniable.

Syren

• Adrien/Cat Noir getting fed up with Ladybug keeping secrets from him. He nearly quits being Cat Noir until Plagg tells him that while Cat Noir can be replaced, Adrien can't.
• Kim's clueless rejection of Ondine is heartbreaking. Hawk Moth proceeds to weaponize it. The flood that submerges Paris? Her tears.

Frightningale

• Clara Nightningale's breakdown after she's forbidden to shoot her music video in Paris thanks to Chloé. Her crying sounds so genuine it's upsetting.

Troublemaker

• When Penny shoves Bob, Alec, Jagged and the other camera men out of the Dupain-Cheng's living room, the other men head downstairs muttering to themselves, while Jagged stares back at the door like a kicked puppy.

Reverser

• Marc's heartbroken reaction after Nathaniel, who thought he and Marinette used his crush on Ladybug to pull a bad prank on him, destroyed his notebook out of rage.

Sandboy

• We're shown just how bad Nooroo's situation is: the magic binding him to his master is so strong that he can't even leave the room and can even be kept from speaking if Gabriel wishes it. It's only slightly worse than how he treats his own son.
• Adrien's nightmare is being trapped in his room; he's surrounded by iron bars and desperately crying out for his father. It's made worse by the fact that his father is indirectly responsible for causing this living nightmare in the first place, and is off being evil in some other part of the house while his son is crying for help.
  • It's subtle, but listen carefully to who Adrien calls out for help first. He calls out Nathalie's name before his father. While it's somewhat sweet that Adrien subconsciously sees Nathalie as a surrogate mother, it also just paints another layer on how damaged his relationship with Gabriel is. To put it bluntly — when Adrien was living through his nightmare, the first he yelled for help wasn't the man the who gave life to him, but his father's assistant. Because, on some level, Adrien believes that if he were in danger, his father wouldn't come as quickly as Nathalie.
• Ladybug's nightmare is losing her powers and becoming useless and clumsy again. Cat Noir's nightmare is Ladybug hating him and becoming evil.
• Even the generally unflappable Master Fu isn't immune; look past the narmy bedsheet ghosts and you see a man who is still tormented by his accidental destruction of everyone he knew and loved.

Style Queen

• Knowing that his son was turned into a gold statue by Style Queen as a revenge for him not showing up due to him giving her a second row seat at his fashion show, Hawk Moth/Gabriel has no other choice but keep reminding her to take Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculouses to prevent her from destroying Adrien.
• Chloé tries to aid Ladybug to save both her mother and Adrien by offering to be Style Queen's assistant, help her to locate Gabriel and find both Ladybug and Cat Noir at the Eiffel Tower. Knowing how unstoppable her akumatized mother is, and as she begins to pull a Darkest Hour to draw Gabriel out, Chloé desperately begs Adrien to wake up and repeatedly knocks the force field around him. When Chloé notices Ladybug above her, she begs her to hurry to save them before Style Queen becomes aware of her arrival or Adrien dissolves.

Queen Wasp

• Hawk Moth suffering a Villainous BSoD after the failure of Style Queen. It would be cathartic to see the Big Bad who's callously corrupted so many innocent civilians into super-villains finally break down...except that Gabriel's standing before the cryogenic capsule containing his dead(?) wife, apologizing to her for not being able to succeed in his plan to bring her back.
  • In the French dub in particular, Gabriel sounds like he's barely holding back tears when he's apologizing to Emilie.
  • Later, when discussing the matter with Nathalie, Gabriel/Hawk Moth admits that He's Back! mainly because he can't give up - he misses his wife too much to stop now.
  • Take note of the look on Nathalie's face afterwards - she might be helping Hawk Moth, but it's implied she'd be happier if he just walked away from it all.
• More insight into Chloé's relationship with her mother comes up in this episode - namely that she doesn't have one. Audrey Bourgeois abandoned her to pursue her career as a fashion critic in New York, and after seeing Marinette's design work, Mrs. Bourgeois intends to bring Marinette back to the Big Apple with her to work on her dream of becoming a fashion designer. Said invitation does not include Chloé, who's deeply upset by this.
• Chloé might deserve the chewing out she gets from Ladybug, the media, and her own mother for her misuse of a Miraculous, but when she flees back to her apartment, she lets her haughty mask slip into an expression of regret.
• After being brought back to her senses, Chloé notices the destroyed akuma-object (her Miraculous) and cradles it to her chest, looking miserable. Luckily, Ladybug's Lucky Charm restores it.
  • This leads to another tearjerker, as Chloé begs Ladybug and Cat Noir for another chance, only to be gently reminded that it takes a lot more to be a hero than she's ready for.
• What Chloé says in the final few minutes of the episode drive home how hurt and broken she truly is over her mother's abandonment.
  Chloé: Why don't you love me, mom?
• It's subtle, but Chloé essentially says Sabrina is her Only Friend in her conversation with Audrey, ignoring her longtime friendship with Adrien. So either Chloé no longer considers Adrien a friend, or she believes that Adrien no longer considers her a friend. Given what happens in "Malediktator", it's most likely the latter.

Malediktator

• This episode shows that André learned his lesson in "Rogercop" and stopped abusing his powers. However, Chloé and Audrey storm into his office and order him to do exactly that by closing the school forever and banishing Marinette from Paris. He refuses to do so, so they berate him for being incapable of using his powers and eventually decide to abandon him and move to New York without a second thought. Even though André desperately tries to beg for his wife and daughter to stay, they both criticize him for not being able to satisfy his beloved daughter's needs. It leads to this exchange:
  Chloé: What kind of daddy are you when you can't even get me what I want?
  (Chloé and Audrey leave André.)
  André: But... what more can I do?
• After Chloé and Audrey board the helicopter and leave, André tries to run after them yelling a Big "NO!" before collapsing to the floor and sobbing in despair. To make things worse, his grief and hopelessness make him Hawk Moth's newest target.
• When Chloé boasts that she's leaving in front of the entire school, they all start rejoicing and throwing a party. When Adrien hears the news, he is distraught. He tells Marinette that Chloé was his Only Friend when Gabriel wouldn't allow him out as a child, which makes Marinette understand and regret her harsh actions.
  Adrien: Chloé left? For good?
  Marinette: Yeah! Isn't it great?
  Adrien: Er... no. I think it's terrible. How can we celebrate a thing like that?
  Marinette: Er... Chloé's a total brat to everyone. She was useless anyway.
  Adrien: Nobody's useless. Not even Chloé. When I was little, I wasn't allowed out. She was the Only Friend I had.
  Marinette: Oh...well...uh... shoot.
  Adrien: She left angry and unhappy. I can't celebrate that... (he leaves)
  Marinette: I'm really sorry, Adrien.
• Chloé meets Ladybug, who asks her about why Malediktator was so angry. At first, Chloé puts on her usual Never My Fault front and blames Marinette for being mean to her as well as her father for being angry all by himself. When her attitude starts to slip, Ladybug gently reassures her that she can trust her, which causes Chloé to reveal her hidden vulnerable side, admitting with tears in her eyes that she thinks she has no reason to stay in Paris as she's aware that she has no friends and she thinks of herself as useless. Ladybug reassures her that she can serve a purpose if she wants to, and gifts her the Bee Miraculous knowing that she can finally trust her to use her powers as Queen Bee responsibly.

Frozer

• We get the double emotional whammy of Cat Noir despairing that Ladybug will never love him back, and Marinette thinking that Adrien will never love her back.
  Ladybug: I told you already, I'm in love with someone else.
  Cat Noir: I know m'lady, but, if he weren't here, would things be different between us?
  Ladybug: Well...you know, I can't even begin to imagine him not being here. (camera pans out to a bunch of Adrien advertisements in full Dramatic Irony mode)
• Marinette thinking that Adrien is confessing he likes her only to find out he's talking about Kagami.
• In a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, when Marinette is suggesting that maybe she should give up on pursuing Adrien because she fears there's no future in a relationship where she can barely communicate, Juleka (who has a speech impediment) can be seen looking uncertainly towards Rose.
• Marinette having an emotional breakdown when she can't choose between Adrien and Luka, plus seeing Adrien with Kagami.
  • When she takes too long to choose between Adrien and Luka, Kagami swoops in and picks her up and bluntly tells her that she hesitates too much.
• When Ladybug and Cat Noir meet up to face Frozer, Cat Noir is still hurt about Ladybug rejecting his rose and insists that he wants to try things on his own for a while. Thankfully, he comes to his senses soon afterwards.

Catalyst

• It turns out that Lila has stayed at home for several months and had a permanent Face–Heel Turn ever since Ladybug destroyed her psyche back in 'Volpina'. She's excited when Hawk Moth gives her a chance to do evil again as Volpina and tarnish Ladybug's reputation when doing so. Had Ladybug not crossed the Moral Event Horizon in Lila's point of view, sure, she would still be a Consummate Liar, but at least she wouldn't have become the bitter and vengeful villain she is now.
• To inspire fear and despair in Paris, Hawk Moth makes it look like he's akumatized Ladybug and has her kill Cat Noir with his own Cataclysm with Volpina's help.
  • The way everyone saw the incident. They're horrified when they see Ladybug, their savior from the akumas, turning into an akuma herself. However, they're even more horrified when she kills Cat Noir with his own Cataclysm, suggesting that they care about Cat Noir's heroism just as much as Ladybug. It gets even worse when suddenly akumas are everywhere and a whole army of supervillains lead by Hawk Moth himself appears.

Mayura

• Hawk Moth, of all people, gets one when he realizes that Nathalie has taken up the Peacock Miraculous to become Mayura in order to save him from the heroes. Even under the present circumstances, you can tell that it wasn't what he wanted.
  Hawk Moth: No! Don't do that!
  • Worth noting that it's after Mayura vows that his despair will be embodied in a guardian spirit that Hawk Moth collapses to his knees. Before, when watching as Ladybug and the heroes closed in, he was wary, but not especially despairing. It was likely the realization that Nathalie was putting herself in danger for his sake which put him at the Despair Event Horizon.
  • Another possibility: when Hawk Moth first feels the Peacock wielder making contact with him, he might have instantly thought of his wife Emilie, since she would most likely have once communicated with him in this same way when she was the Peacock holder.
• Later, after managing to escape, Gabriel is seen tending to a visibly-exhausted Nathalie, reminding her that the Peacock Miraculous is damaged, thus its power being Cast from Hit Points. The worry in his voice makes it clear that he didn't want her to put herself in harm's way, even though he was cornered.
  • Overlaps with a heartwarming moment when Nathalie declares that it was Worth It to protect him. Hawk Moth is visibly moved by this.
• At the end of the episode, while Marinette's classmates enjoy a picnic, Chloé refuses Sabrina's cake in her usual manner. Poor Sabrina burst into tears, and goes on for a while. Worse, absolutely nobody seems to notice it, especially since the attention is soon drawn to Adrien's entrance.

Season 3

Chameleon

• Lila lies about having a hearing condition as an excuse to sit with Adrien, forcing Marinette to sit at the back. Marinette points out that she isn't comfortable with how she has to move to the back against her own will, so Adrien decides to move in order to accompany her. Then, Lila plays a Wounded Gazelle Gambit to make herself look sympathetic and shift the blame on Marinette, causing all of her classmates (including the nicest ones) to give her dirty looks. What makes this scene even worse is that in the previous episode, the class arranged a picnic for Marinette to celebrate how nice and helpful she was, but it didn't last long after Lila endangered her reputation. That was enough to give Marinette plenty of negativity for Hawk Moth to seek out, but luckily she was able to calm down when Ms. Bustier started her lesson.
• After Lila paints Marinette as the villain once again, the latter storms off to the bathrooms. When Lila comes in, she tries to get Marinette to lower her guard only to be called out for all of the lies she told to the class. Eventually, Lila takes off her facade and threatens Marinette that she'll turn her friends against her and there's nothing she can do. This causes poor Mari to feel even worse than before, admitting that Lila is worse than Chloé and expressing her frustration before crying in helplessness. While Marinette has crossed the Despair Event Horizon on a few occasions, she hasn't gotten to the point where she began to cry up until now.
  • Marinette tried to expose Lila on several occasions. As retaliation, Lila threatened to take the most appreciated person in the class, destroy her reputation and make her end up all alone. At the end of the episode she declares war on Marinette.
• Speaking of Kick the Dog, Lila later gets akumatized into the shapeshifter Chameleon, and her first act with her new powers is to transform into Adrien and act like a complete jerk to Nino, Adrien's best friend. The illusion is immediately debunked when "Adrien" leaps from the second floor, but imagine Nino's shattered relationship with Adrien had Chameleon kept the ruse up...

Animaestro

• Thomas Astruc is frequently looked down on and dismissed, even though he directed the movie. His humiliation comes to a head when he get an allergic reaction from mistakenly eating a special macaroon Marinette baked for Adrien.

Bakerix

• Rolland hasn't seen his son or his family for 20 years because of a petty grudge about bread. He has also never met his granddaughter before.
• A close look at Tom and Sabine's wedding picture only has Gina in it with them. Likely meaning that Rolland didn't attend his son's wedding.

Backwarder

• Due to a misunderstanding Marianne believes that Master Fu has moved on and is no longer in love with her. It breaks her heart.

Reflekdoll

• When Juleka is in front of the camera, the poor shy girl has a panic attack, and when she gets replaced by Marinette, she becomes so disappointed and upset that she gets akumatized and amokized.

Weredad

• Adrien eating in the dining room alone since his father is too busy to have lunch with him. Again. And his next scheduled meal with his father is next week.
• While fighting Marinette's akumatized father, coming from personal experience, Adrien as Cat Noir actually vents his true feelings to Weredad about keeping Marinette a prisoner and being all alone and miserable as he can't protect her from that.

Silencer

• When Bob Roth calls his own son talentless during his gloating, XY is visibly hurt.

Onichan

• It is clear that Lila suffers a lot because of the constant absence of her mother and that she doesn't get to see her very often. It does not excuse her actions but it explains a lot.
  Benigna Rossi: Hi, darling. Your breakfast is on the table, your lunch is in a bag, and your dinner is in the fridge. I'll be home late tonight again, but I'll do my best to be there this weekend.
• When Kagami sees Lila's photo (of her supposedly kissing Adrien) she is completely heartbroken and even starts crying. Regardless of if you ship her with Adrien or not, it's particularly sad to see a normally stoic girl like Kagami break down.

Miraculer

• When Chloé is ignored once again by Ladybug, she's so upset that she lashes out at Sabrina, who then tearfully runs off.
• Chloé's reaction to being told she can no longer be Queen Bee because of the threat to her and her family's safety. Uncharacteristic of known temper tantrum queen Chloé Bourgeois, she calmly detransforms and hands over the Bee Miraculous, it's clear how hurt she is. What is even worse is that she seems to have lost her faith in Ladybug; she does no longer want to play as her and even rips the photo apart.

Desperada

• Aspik trying to protect Ladybug from Desperada's attacks for several months and failing 25,913 times.
  • This deserves further elaboration. Adrien said he had been trying for months, and a little math proves he wasn't lying. He could've gone as much as 90 days. Damn. Someone needs to give this kid a hug. ^{For those who care} This is taking the aforementioned 25,913 tries. Given the explanation of a maximum five minutes per attempt, That's a total of 129,565 minutes, or 89.975 days, provided he was close to the max on each try.

Startrain

• When Adrien has to leave the trip early, Marinette is visibly disappointed. Thankfully, Alya managed to take a photo of Marinette and Adrien sleeping beside each other during the train ride.

Kwamibuster

• Tikki having to lie to Marinette. She does it to protect her and her secret identity, but she still feels awful about it.
• Ms. Mendeleiev being mocked and laughed at on TV for her discovery.

Feast

• Master Fu created a sentimonster that destroyed the temple and devoured all the monks and most of the Miraculouses. Since this day he had to live with this guilt.
• Adrien gets worried and visibly upset over Nathalie starting to suffer fainting spells like his mother did before she supposedly died. He clearly misses her as well.
• Marinette pleading with Master Fu not to take away her Miraculous and let her and Cat Noir fight the sentimonster. It looks like she convinces him, and then he has Wayzz sneak into her and Adrien's bedrooms to steal the Miraculous while they slept.

Gamer 2.0

• Ladybug and Cat Noir have to compete in a videogame tournament with their former akumatized villains as their fighters in order to free them. Most of those fighters are sympathetic people, many of them are their friends, some are part of Ladybug's family.
• When Ladybug and Cat Noir are forced to compete against each other, Cat Noir does not fight. Instead, he throws himself out the arena without hesitation and keeping a smile on his face during his fall . Ladybug's understandable shock and Big "NO!" probably seal it.

Stormy Weather 2

• Chloé bullying Aurore Beauréal about her grades and her past akumatizations. She is so upset that she gets akumatized again.

Ikari Gozen

• Kagami depreciates herself and considers herself unworthy on several occasions.
• Marinette realizes that Kagami has no friends and was trying to become hers. She then feels horrible for how she's treated Kagami all day.
• When Kagami is using Marinette’s phone, she accidentally sees a message from Alya in which she not only reveals that Marinette tried to make her fail, but she also expresses sympathy to Marinette for being “stuck” with Kagami. Kagami is so hurt that she almost gets akumatized.
• As soon as Kagami realizes that her mother has caught onto her the poor girl is terrified.
• Tomoe says that friendships can prove disappointing sometimes, implying that she had bad experiences.

Timetagger

• Marinette suddenly loses the confidence in defeating Timetagger after having sent so many people back in time.
  • There's also the act she puts up when surrendering (even though it's fake). Everyone is convinced. It's not like the time when she and Cat Noir surrendered in "Dark Owl", she really had no chance in the present to stop Timetagger as he was just too powerful. If you look back, future Ladybug and Cat Noir were the real ones to put an end to him by following Ladybugs plan while they just managed to free the Akuma.
• The fact that Bunnyx holds Cat Noir in low esteem, either not acknowledging him or constantly blaming him for damaging her Miraculous.
• The titular villain reveals to Hawk Moth, after remarking that the Miraculouses aren't for him, but for the Future Hawk Moth instead. Gabriel is so distraught that he doesn't even comment on anything else in the battle, nor does he give his We Will Meet Again speech. He just quietly closes his window, de-transforms, and doesn't even raise his voice at Nooroo. He just sadly leaves, lamenting that he has already lost. Even with Nathalie telling him he could have won, the look on his face is still full of distraught. Villain or not, it's hard not to feel sorry for him.

Party Crasher

• Markov accidentally redirects all of the power in Agreste Mansion to the music system, including the power going to Emilie’s life support and the elevator to Hawk Moth's lair. Adrien’s mom almost dies and Gabriel is powerless to do anything about it directly because he is trapped.
• Wayhem becoming heartbroken after thinking that Adrien lied to him.

The Puppeteer 2

• Adrien thinks that Marinette is upset with him for some reason and feels very bad about it. It's just sad how quickly he assumes she hates him without any explanation, and accepts without a scrap of proof or context that it was probably his own fault that she feels that way.
• Manon is ignored several times, much to her dismay. When she is left alone, she is so upset that she starts crying and gets akumatized.
• Marinette realizes that Adrien is in love with another girl. The fact that she doesn't even know that it's her alter ego makes things worse.

Cat Blanc

• In the Bad Future, Paris is flooded and in ruins, while all that is left of the Parisians are statues. Doubles as Nightmare Fuel due to how freakishly-powerful an akumatized Cat Noir could be.
• As unsettling as his character is, Cat Blanc is nothing more than a broken and traumatized teenager who wants to atone for his mistakes by taking Ladybug's Miraculous so he can fix them and be able to be loved again. For the standard of akumatized villains, Cat Blanc is an unique case.
• Although Cat Blanc suffers nasty episodes of mental instability and constantly changes his behavior due to the akuma's side effects, it's still heartbreaking when he is shown shedding a Single Tear, quietly and sincerely telling Ladybug to save him.
  • This also can be doubled as part of Tears of Remorse and Broken Tears after we see what already happened at him. At the moment where he is able to calm down and control his emotions, Cat Blanc realizes how screwed up he is.
  • Ladybug then comforts him by wiping his tears and asking him if he still remembers his akuma located. Unfortunately, Cat Blanc snaps once again with a terrifying expression on his face, places her hand on his chest and tells her that the akuma is in his heart, but it's already broken. In the French version, he says that she already broke it.
  • Sure, his manic expressions are undoubtedly creepy, but if you look at his Wide Eyes and Shrunken Irises closely, his pupils are still dilated. In real-life, cats with dilated pupils/irises is a sign of excitement and fear. Likewise, Cat Blanc in his crazed state shows excitement over the return of "his lady", so he can get her Miraculous and fix everything. At the same time, he also shows fear over what he has already done to the world and Ladybug's refusal to take off her Miraculous.
  • Word of God confirms that Cat Blanc spent months alone in the ruins of Paris, waiting for his lady.
• Despite Adrien clearly being happy with Marinette, his father still tries to divide the couple by blackmailing Marinette to break up with his son so that he can akumatize the crying, devastated and heartbroken girl. It almost works, too. Adrien is just as heartbroken as Marinette as he begs his bodyguard to allow him to chase Marinette, with tears pouring down his cheeks.
  Adrien: Please let me through, it can't end like this! It can't end at all! I love her! [...] I beg you! Please!
• When Nathalie learns that Adrien is Cat Noir, she is visibly shocked and shows regret.
  • As soon as he learns that his son is Cat Noir, Gabriel plans to akumatize him so that he can get his Miraculous. And unlike Nathalie, he goes through with his plan without any regrets or qualms. If there were any doubts about Gabriel truly being a bad person, let this moment alone vanquish them all.
• Adrien learns that his mother is still alive and that his father is Hawk Moth. He is incredibly furious, hurt and devastated about these revelations, and gets akumatized as a consequence. Unfortunately, the trauma becomes so great, it overloads his Cataclysm, reducing Paris to a flooded wasteland and all the citizens are turned into lifeless statues. Basically, Adrien, in his grief and confusion, killed everyone he had ever loved.
  • There's also the fact that, with his Mega-Cataclysm overloading, he was unwilling to hurt either his father or Ladybug, and actually tried to turn the power inward on himself, essentially being Driven to Suicide.
  • Moments before her death, Ladybug still tries to calm Cat Blanc down and reaches out for him, calling him "My prince" just before being killed.
• After learning the reason why Cat Noir got akumatized by Hawk Moth, Bunnyx becomes very worried and afraid that Ladybug could be unable to save him.
  • Her expression is also heartbreaking. At first, she keeps her composure and focus, but her expression drops and she becomes panicked after knowing the truth behind Cat Blanc's akumatization.
    Bunnyx: Fix this nightmare, Ladybug! Please!
• Cat Blanc loses his trust in Ladybug after he believes she no longer loves him all because she questions his actions after seeing the Parisians (including his timeline's Ladybug and Hawk Moth) now as lifeless statues. The biggest Dramatic Irony part of this moment is that he absolutely has no idea that she is not his timeline's Ladybug. Judging by his first statement when the main timeline's Ladybug calls him from afar, Cat Blanc believes that his Ladybug has gone missing, instead of knowing that she became one of his first victims. His response after Ladybug questioned his actions? Yelling at her and threatening to destroy everything with a galaxy-sized Cataclysm that could potentially trigger the end of the universe all because he couldn't handle more "betrayal" from his beloved one.
  Cat Blanc: I didn't mean to. Why won't you try and help me fix it? The simple truth is you don’t love me anymore! So I might as well destroy you, me, our memories, EVERYTHING!
• The biggest tear-jerker of them all, however, is the ending. Ladybug knows that if she uses her Miraculous Ladybug to undo everything in the future, Hawk Moth will still come after Marinette and Adrien now that he knows they're Ladybug and Cat Noir. So, she has to undo the one thing that sets off this future: Adrien finally realizing Marinette and Ladybug are the same person.
• The mere fact that as long as Gabriel as Hawk Moth is still at large, Ladybug and Cat Noir can't reveal their identities or even be together as a couple is heartbreaking in and of itself.
  • Even worse is the reveal that Adrien can't be romantically involved with anyone at all, let alone Marinette, because Gabriel would force him to break up with his partner solely for a chance to akumatize them.

Félix

• Adrien is initially delighted to see his cousin Félix again. Unfortunately, Félix has turned into a Manipulative Bastard (or maybe that was how he always was), and Adrien never gets the chance to just enjoy some time together.
• The look on Plagg's face when he went too far and accidentally hurt Adrien's feelings when the latter tries to excuse Félix's behavior on the death of his father.
  Plagg: I'm sorry, but there's just no excuse! You never touch my cheese, and yet, you just lost your mother not so long ago, right? [Adrien looks down, saddened, and Plagg realizes he went too far] Please forgive me, Adrien, I didn't mean to.
• Adrien's friends all record video messages for him, in an attempt to comfort him, but Félix deletes the messages before Adrien can see them.
  • Chloé's message is one of the few times her facade drops and she actually reaches out to help Adrien. Unfortunately, Félix deleted the message before Adrien could see it, and then sent a fake video mocking her.
    Chloé: When my mother left for New York, I felt so sad. It felt like she was... [sighs, becoming sincere] She came back, and I know how lucky I am. So, you can count on me, my Adrikins.
• Félix pretends to be Adrien and sends a very nasty video to Adrien's friends. They are clearly upset, and Alya, Juleka and Rose even get akumatized.
• Adrien apologizes to Félix for not being able to go at his dad's funeral. Even for Félix, this is quite sad, considering that the show is aimed mainly at kids.
• Gabriel may be a villain, but Félix stealing his wedding ring is still pretty cruel.

Ladybug

• When Marinette and the "injured" Lila are in Mr. Damocles office to clear up the situation, Lila's parents do not show up. Once again, the implication is given that Lila has come to not care about anyone but herself because her own parents have never properly cared for her.
• Mayura using the Ladybug Sentimonster to manipulate Cat Noir's feelings and steal his miraculous. The poor boy was finally getting his crush to love him back, and was seconds away from kissing her, just to realize that it was just a huge lie. His expression afterwards is heartbreaking.
• The Ladybug Sentimonster is revealed to be Forced into Evil, with her own personality and willing to side with the heroes against Mayura. The latter then proceeds to destroy her on the spot, and Ladybug and Cat Noir can't do anything to save her; basically seeing Ladybug (a sentient being) 'dying' in front of them. This makes Cat Noir so furious that he'd have seriously injured Mayura if Hawk Moth hadn't arrived on time.

Heart Hunter

• Cat Noir tells Ladybug that even though he knows she can't be in love with him, it still hurts.
• When Marinette realizes how close Adrien and Kagami are, she is heartbroken but withdraws so that she won't be in their way.
  • Made especially sad because it's obvious from their expressions of hope, then of disappointment as she tries to decide what ice cream flavors she wants, showing that they were quite willing to continue as a trio.
• Ladybug continues to ignore Chloé which clearly upsets her greatly. When her own parents get akumatized and Ladybug ignores her offer to help once again, she finally snaps.
• Gabriel has done some terrible things, both as a supervillain and a parent. However, there's something truly upsetting about him tearing away all the progress Chloé has made, even if her doing the right thing is sometimes for the wrong reason. Even before this Chloé has started to resent Ladybug so much that Hawk Moth's manipulations are enough that she willingly joins him and allows herself to get akumatized. She swears revenge on the heroes.
  • When Pollen tries to talk her down, Chloé immediately shuts her up harshly. The little Kwami even looks upset about the downfall of her queen.
• At the end of the episode, Marinette finally breaks, tired and overwhelmed from always having to put up a front. And all this happens while she cries on Luka's chest.

Miracle Queen

• The desperate Ladybug is blaming herself for everything that happened and even calls herself a failure several times.
• Chloé has genuinely turned on Ladybug and joined Hawk Moth, and regrets nothing.
  • When Ladybug realizes this and confronts her, their falling-out is not pretty.
• Many of the heroes might have to retire for good as Hawk Moth knows their identity now. As long as Hawk Moth is around, it is unlikely that we will see them again.
• Master Fu sacrificing his memories and leaving Paris for good.
  • When Dragon Bug calls to Fu, asking for his advice, he answers and tells her that she "holds all the keys" and that she always has. Moments later, he affirms that she'll be a magnificent Guardian. The Kwamis all call out, realizing what he's about to do before he names Marinette the Guardian, and loses his memories.
• The kwamis, especially Pollen and Wayzz, have to suffer a lot in this episode since they lose their Guardian. Wayzz couldn't even properly say goodbye to Master Fu, and Pollen had to witness Chloé's downfall, her angry rant, and her departure without even acknowledging her.
• The ending. Good GOD, the ending.

Season 4

Truth

• In the beginning, Duusu is relieved his Miraculous is fixed and says he feels he thought he was in a nightmare, in bad hands. Nooroo, much to his chagrin, tells him it's real.
• Marinette having to constantly interrupt her dates with Luka to stop Shadow Moth's continuous rampages on Paris.
• Luka progressively getting sadder whenever Marinette has to ditch him, giving lame excuses that only get her further in trouble. Thankfully, he's not one to hold a grudge.
• Luka reveals he never knew his dad while taking Marinette under a bridge, somewhere he hangs out to hear the water when he feels troubled.
  • Upon speaking out, Luka asks Marinette where she goes to when she disappears. Marinette has no choice but to tell him she can't tell him the truth. This actually devastates Luka, enough so that he's vulnerable to Shadow Moth's powers.
    • Despite his best efforts to resist, Luka succumbs to Shadow Moth's power. Even as he tells her to run, he can't fight it.
• Truth loses it upon attacking his own friends, sister, and mother when he gets none of the answers he wishes for. The kicker? His mom does give him an answer: his dad is none other than Jagged Stone.
• Truth gets actually so enraged upon hearing Jagged admit he's Luka's real dad, he angrily asks him why he was never there, to be told given Jagged's lifestyle, he could never raise a kid. Just as he tries to smooth things over with his son, Truth sends him off the roof.
• Marinette breaking up with Luka once they understand their relationship can't work, especially with Marinette's feelings for Adrien and her Ladybug duties.
• Luka is meeting up with Jagged at the pier. He forgot what he did as an Akuma, but Jagged hasn't.
• The episode ends with Marinette being a crying mess on her bed, mourning the fact she can't have anything—no friends, no dates, nothing—while Shadow Moth is running loose. In short, her life is basically taken from her. Delves into Heartwarming when the Kwamis come to give her a hug.

Lies

• Kagami loves drawing, but her (blind) mother unfortunately doesn't consider her to be good enough.
• Kagami realizing that Adrien keeps lying to her. You can clearly see how hurt she is and it gets even worse when she's akumatized and is completely ignored after the battle.
  Kagami: You know, I lied too. I lied to my mother so that we could see each other. I even lied to her when I said you came here with me tonight. I lied at every fencing lesson so we could spend more time together. You see, we're both a couple of liars. Except I lie because I want to be with you. [points at him accusingly] You lie… because you don't want to be with me.
• Adrien and Kagami breaking up on pretty bad terms. Even their friendship is at least extremely strained which clearly upsets them.
• Throughout this episode, one thing is made pretty clear: Marinette/Luka and Adrien/Kagami could never work, even without all the lies Marinette and Adrien have to tell to protect their secret identities.
  • Early on, we get a glimpse into Marinette's day. When she sees a news report about Adrien, she gushes about how awesome his life is, wearing the same dreamy expression she always wears when talking about him. Keep in mind that this takes place simultaneously with the events in "Truth", meaning that at this point she's still dating Luka.
  • Meanwhile, Adrien tries to show his true, goofy self to Kagami, only for her to tell him to stop acting like a clown. When Adrien quietly says that maybe the "clown" is who he really is, Kagami refutes it, saying that she knows who he is: the quiet, perfect boy she fell in love with.
  • One for Kagami: she has lied to be able to sneak out and be with Adrien, but he keeps disappearing on her because of his heroic duties. To add to the sadness, when he's not on duty, he keeps transforming into Cat Noir in hopes of there being an Akuma so he can spend time with Ladybug. Even while he's dating Kagami.

Gang of Secrets

• Even though Ladybug's rant at the cinema is hilarious on its own, it shows just how deeply the events of the past few episodes have affected her if a silly romantic comedy about a heroine who leads a double life can get to her like that.
• Marinette's breakdown after she ends up driving her friends away from her room for fear of them discovering the Miracle Box.
  "At least now I won't have to lie anymore, since, there'll be no one to lie to."
  • Even before that, Marinette basically spends the first part of the episode continuously breaking down, the weight of everything and the need to lie to those she cares about getting to her more and more. Driving her friends away is just that entire mess peaking.
• While it's mixed with heartwarming, seeing an emotionally drained Marinette finally reveal her identity as Ladybug to Alya is absolutely heart-tugging. Even before she confesses, Marinette is clearly agonizing over whether or not to tell Alya the truth, and the ramifications it could have on their friendship.

Psycomedian

• Harry Clown is devastated after Bob Roth both refuses his pitch for a serious movie and tears up the script Harry wrote for it.
• After failing to make Adrien laugh, Marinette runs away to find a place to cry by herself. Harry finds her but is unable to help her out as he's needed on stage.
  Marinette: It was a total disaster. The worst day of my life. Adrien didn't laugh once. He must've thought I was so lame! Your meeting didn't go well either?
  Audience: Harry! Harry! Harry! Harry!
  Stage manager: Harry, it's time!
  Harry: (sadly) I'm sorry, Marinette. The show must go on.

Furious Fu

• The Kwamis (especially Wayzz) are clearly missing Master Fu.
• Marinette is doubting that she is a fitting guardian and is considering to give the Miracle Box to Su-Han, even if it means losing her memories.

Sole Crusher

• Zoé struggling to fit in with her maternal family. She's forced to put up a bratty facade by her half-sister, an act that clearly makes her uncomfortable.
• When they first meet, Zoé sullenly admits to Marinette that she only had one friend while she lived in New York.
• The fact that Zoé was conceived from an affair Audrey had while she was in New York. Given how close in age Chloé and Zoé are, it's very likely this happened not long after she married Mayor Bourgeois and left Chloé for New York when she was just an infant.

Queen Banana

• When Adrien asks the furious Chloé to apologize to the others, she gets so mad that she actually ends their friendship.
  Adrien: Hey, wait!
  Chloé: Adrikins! It's sweet of you to want to console me, but I'm fine—I'm going to get my revenge and send Zoé back to New York!
  Adrien: Actually, I came to suggest that you apologize to everyone.
  Chloé: Are you ill?! They ruined my film!
  Adrien: It was never your film, Chloé. It belonged to the group. You promised me you'd make an effort to stop being mean to everyone. I warned you that if you didn't, then we can no longer be friends.
  Chloé: You're as ridiculous that film! It's over! You're no longer my Adrikins! You're Adri-nothing!
• In the end, Chloé still hates Zoé and swears revenge on her.

Gabriel Agreste

• Félix's thoughts about his mother the moment Senti-Gabriel angers him by threatening his life and his mother by extension. The feeling of absolute helplessness against a corrupt authority figure can be felt by anyone, anywhere, and at any time.

Mega Leech

• Mylène and Ivan have been protesting the construction of the Oxygen Tower for months, but they were ignored until it was almost too late to save the trees from being cut down.
• Adrien is chastised by his abusive father for siding with the protestors and is told to go to his room. Worse, his passive acceptance of the punishment implies that this isn't the first time it's happened.

Guiltrip

• Juleka stressing out over Rose's reoccurring illness. The poor girl gets so overwhelmed that she runs and hides in the school's boiler room to get away from everything.
• Reflekta becoming Guiltrip's first victim. The sadness and guilt Juleka felt is so intense, not even Akumatization could change her mood.
• Guiltrip's bubbles cause those it touches to become extremely depressed and voice the things they feel guilty about. It weighs on them so heavily that they can't even move, causing them to transform into catatonic clones of Reflekta.
  • When Ladybug and Cat Noir pass by Ivan, he's crying about how it's his fault everyone got captured.
  • Miss Mendeliev laments how she wasn't able to protect her students.
  • Nino, under the effects of Guiltrip's power, mentions how he feels like he's a terrible friend for not being able to help Adrien confront his strict father. Cat Noir takes notice, which leaves him vulnerable to the guilt bubbles, and he almost uses Cataclysm on himself over it.

Crocoduel

• Some people might have a hard time watching Jagged and Anarka arguing in front of their kids. It's kinda hard not to feel sorry for Luka and Juleka. Really, it's a bad situation all around and it's made worst with them getting Akumatizied.
• Juleka gets overwhelmed by everything going on - her brother and her friend Marinette's conflicting hopes and demands that they put on her, and the belief that her newly-discovered father Jagged only loves Luka and not her. It gets resolved by the end, but it's rough to watch her go through it even knowing she has the anti-akuma charm now.
• Luka’s role in this episode is just down right sad. It’s revealed that after Luka and Marinette’s break up, Marinette has been purposefully avoiding Luka due to being too embarrassed to see him, and Luka picks up on this pretty quickly, despite the others telling him otherwise to protect his feelings.
  • Later on in the episode, Marinette tries to persuade Juleka into uninviting Luka to his own party. And while Juleka doesn’t end up telling him, when Marinette finds him at the party, she runs away and hides with embarrassment. In Luka’s eyes, Marinette is avoiding him because she doesn’t want to be his friend anymore, leading to him being emotionally wounded at his own party.

Optigami

• Just the look on Cat Noir's face when he realizes he just missed the Akuma fight, especially made worse when he finds out that Rena Rouge and Carapace were both present.
• Alya is seriously broken by the reveal that not only did she fail to notice Nino was a Sentimonster, but she almost handed victory to Shadow Moth by choosing to take Nino's Miraculous along despite not being told to. She practically collapses on the spot.

Sentibubbler

• The stresses of being the Guardian and the choices she has to make still weigh heavily upon Marinette so much so that she has nightmares about Shadow Moth.
  • Cat Blanc showing up in her nightmare is both this and Nightmare Fuel. It's very clear that the events of the Bad Future she went to are still affecting her greatly. When Cat Blanc approaches her, talking sweetly to her the whole time, poor Marinette can only whimper in terror at the sight of her beloved partner corrupted into darkness.
• Cat Noir breaking a chimney out of frustration that he is repeatedly getting sidelined in favour of Rena Rouge.

Glaciator 2

• Due to being shown out of order, we saw that Adrien's mental health had take a turn for the worse in 'Rocketear' and 'Wishmaker'; now we know why: Cat Noir being told his constant pestering of his beloved is annoying and she has finally had enough. With all the crap he has gone through in this season, Kagami breaking up with him, his friends being targeted, and then the whole Sentibubbler situation where he got left out of the mission, it's no wonder the guy fell into hopelessness.
• Of particular note is the scene where Adrien can't help but break into tears while riding home in the car from fencing class. He has his bodyguard pull over so he can go cry on a park bench, with the implication being that he feels better or safer crying in public than in his own home. His devastation over trying to give up his dream of Ladybug's love is so intense that it attracts Hawk Moth's attention for akumatization, but luckily Gabriel isn't up to akumatizing his own son in this particular instance.
• There's also the fact that both Gabriel and Marinette (the people who supposedly love him most) take notice of Adrien's sadness in this moment, but the first instinct both of them have is to take advantage of it for their own ends - Gabriel getting another akuma victim, Marinette getting closer to Adrien. Morphs into bittersweet Heartwarming when they both try genuinely (though misguidedly) to help him feel better, but neither succeed; Marinette accidentally ruined it with her awkwardness, and Adrien understandably has absolutely no trust in his father to talk about his feelings, and says in flat, dead voice that he's fine, while sporting Dull Eyes of Unhappiness.
• As he told Marinette later on, Cat Noir apparently thought he'd crossed a line with his flirting and believed Ladybug straight-up hated him now, and his guilt only added to his heartbreak.
• His depression stemming from heartbreak above all else, everyone around him can see the two are great together except Ladybug. This tipped him over the edge into his self destructive spiral, first destroying all the billboards, then his actions in later episodes.
• As Plagg sardonically remarks, Gabriel's attempt at being a good parent is speaking three whole sentences in a row to Adrien.
• The ray of hope for him at the end, is that he hears Marinette's heartfelt declaration to Buttercup, telling him that at first "he" was pretentious and superficial, but after getting to know him she found his inner qualities, his altruism and helpfulness, they are what she loves about him. Cat is moved by her words, but still doesn't realize that the "lucky guy" (his words) she's talking about is him.

Hack-San

• Cat Noir goes through the wringer yet again, with him believing that either someone has stolen the Miraculous of Ladybug, it's a villain in the style of Ladybug, or it's another Sentimonster. You can feel the anger and rage in his voice when he speaks to Scarabella.
• It'a also pretty sad from Alya's point of view. She's really only seen Cat Noir's fun, jokey, helpful hero side, and is shocked by how coldly he treats her at first. This contributes to her doubting her abilities, but luckily Cat Noir eventually gets his act together and encourages her when she needs it most.
• His chat with Ladybug at the end of the episode is not filled with anger or even frustration, but rather dejection and inevitability. The only saving grace is that despite his belief that should Ladybug leave he will no longer see her again, she confirms that she will never abandon him.

Rocketear

• Nino's heartbroken expression when he thinks Alya has fallen for Cat Noir.
• Nino telling Adrien that Cat Noir is "annoying", unaware that Adrien is Cat Noir. He also says that Ladybug will never love Cat Noir because of this.
• Adrien's expression when Nino starts spilling the beans. He learns in quick succession that: Nino is irritated by Cat Noir, that Alya is Rena Rouge and Nino is Carapace, that the two of them know each other's identities and that Ladybug was the one who who revealed their secret, and that despite all that, they're still working alongside each other. Later, he can only dejectedly mumble to Plagg that the rule of secrecy apparently applies only to him and Ladybug.
• It's also pretty rough to watch the fight between Rocketear and Cat Noir. After the above revelations, Adrien transforms with a distraught expression, and then doesn't even attempt to fight back, merely dodging explosions and trying to reason with Nino. He knows full well this is his best friend trying to kill him, and he ends up blasted into the side of a van, weakly pleading with Nino just to talk.
• The fact that Rocketear's main way of attacking is flinging his own tears around.

Wishmaker

• When Adrien is trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life, Plagg suggests that he and Adrien can continue being a team with Ladybug. Adrien quietly replies that pretty soon Ladybug won't be needing Cat Noir since she's been handing Miraculouses to so many others lately.
  • What's worse is that Adrien isn't angry at the prospect of Ladybug no longer needing him, he's just... resigned to it.
• We found now why Alec is being a No Sympathy TV host: back when he was young, he used to have a large afro, but was bullied for it. As a result, he shaved his head and became the person that mocked people's dreams to inflict his own pain on others.
• While others have their own childhood dreams, Adrien can't remember his own. Because of it, he can't concentrate in battle and falls for Wishmaker's trap, and after he got hit, he remembers what he wanted: he wants to be what his parents want him to be, which makes it even sadder.
  • It gets worse. The image that crops up is Adrien in a cradle, looked over by Emilee and Gabriel, the latter having brown hair. He has basically had one goal growing up - be what his parents want him to be and do what they want him to do. The poor boy has had no independence whatsoever and has no ambitions for his future.
• Luka discovers Ladybug and Cat Noir's identities through use of Second Chances. While it means he understands why Marinette lies to him and their friends, it also means he has almost zero chance of the two getting together again because her soulmate is also her superhero partner.

Simpleman

• Marinette reveals her Complexity Addiction towards Adrien stems from the fear that, if she just comes out and tells him how she feels, he'll reject her. Unfortunately, given that he's still in love with Ladybug at this point, she is probably right. He's Adrien, so he'll likely do it in the nicest way possible, but rejection is still rejection. In addition, Marinette has shown to be the kind of person who takes any kind of failure to heart, so being rejected by someone she loved for so long would do a number on her already fairly low self-esteem, not to mention how it might damage her friendship with him. After all, she had loved Luka for a comparatively short time and while they remained friends afterwards, their split still left her trying to avoid him at all costs (at least at first).
• While the episode is still mostly comedic, it's hard not to feel for Rolland and his (perceived) inability to "get with the times". Even if they aren't at his age just yet, anyone in the audience can relate to the pains of growing older and leaving "the good old days" behind, as well as the fear that one day society will change so much and so fast that it's practically unrecognizable, and those who can't adapt will simply be left in the dust.

Qilin

• Seeing a character as nice as Sabine be treated so abhorrently is painful, to say the least.

Dearest Family

• Tikki admitting that she was ashamed and scared to tell Marinette the truth about her addictions to super-delicious sweets, believing that doing so would cause Marinette to lose respect and admiration for her. this actually quite understandable from Tikki's point of view: she's spent a lot of her existence priding herself as one of the wisest, most-sensible, and level-headed kwamis around, and she and Marinette have become very close overtime. So close that Tikki feared her one great flaw might end up changing their relationship for the worse. Fortunately for her, Marinette isn't the type to judge people on their personal flaws.

Ephemeral

• As with any episode that involves the identities of the duo, Adrien's happiness is short-lasting. He discovers who his beloved lady is and is on Cloud 9 with her. And the only thing that took all of that away from him was Adrien calling Marinette "M'Lady", just as Gabriel was standing outside his door. Realizing that his son is Cat Noir, Gabriel calls Adrien in the morning just as he's waking up and tells him to follow him to the underground elevator. Adrien discovers his mother's comatose body and finds out that his father kept her status a secret from him.
• Adrien's akumatization. The poor boy is trying so hard to resist it, because he knows that his father will hurt Marinette. All it takes is Gabriel rubbing where his ring should be with an angry "Obey" for Adrien to just... give up. There's no screaming in anguish. There's no shout of "No!". Adrien just... gets a brief look of fear as he loses all control and gives up his Miraculous. And what's worse is that he knows what's happening during his akumatization. He solemnly reassures Ladybug that her loss will be quick, and we don't even see his reaction when his father basically erases everyone for his mother to come back.

Kuro Neko

• When Adrien watched TV and heard that Ladybug only sees him as another partner and not an important one, he immediately felt what Ladybug says is true and loses his spirits.
• After Plagg encourages Adrien to transform into Cat Noir and find the akumatized victim, he realizes he was too late. He watches somberly Ladybug and the others cheerfully say "Pound it!" without him, but forcefully puts on a cheery smile when Ryuko calls out to him and tries to act like his usual goofy self.
• When everyone except Ladybug leaves because they need to transform back, Cat Noir asks if she's mad only to respond that she's fine. He tries to be useful and helpful towards Ladybug only to be told that he shouldn't waste her time. That really hurts Adrien, and he immediately yells that she can take back his Cat Miraculous because he's done being Cat Noir. Ladybug didn't realize he actually meant it, only realizing it when it was too late.
• Plagg is really upset with Ladybug not realizing that she hurt Cat Noir to his limits and believing she didn't do anything wrong, and immediately and rightfully chews her out of her actions.
• Seeing Adrien in his Despair Event Horizon is really heartbreaking, especially when he throws away all the memorabilia from his time as Cat Noir, including Plagg's cheese, and spends the next day moping in his room without the energy to do anything.
  • Not to mention, Nathalie notices this and worries about him. She tells Gabriel about this, only to be told that Adrien is an Agreste and that he can manage it. While it's really nice to see Nathalie worrying about Adrien, it's still sad and frustrating that Gabriel didn't comfort his son about it.
• When Adrien goes by the new identity of Cat Walker in order to help Ladybug on her new mission, he immediately does lots of things from observing the enemy to using his plan while acting serious, professional and "perfect". This actually makes Ladybug unable to focus on the mission. As it turns out, she isn't so much into the goofy Cat Noir as she is into the formal and charming Cat Walker, blushing and being overall distracted by his perfection. Considering that for Adrien to be "perfect" isn't really himself; but it is an attitude that is forced to adopt to please others, especially his father, the fact that Ladybug mainly sees Cat Walker's perfection as his best quality shows that she isn't that different from Lila, Chloé, and Kagami: loving Adrien for the perfect idealization they have of him.
• The parallels between Ladybug and the little girl, the amok was powered by a girl's despair that her cat had run away and abandoned her, with her later being promised a new, better one only for them to realize that it isn't the same and what she really wants is her kitty back, and feeling that her cat leaving was her fault for not being a good enough friend. Marinette's expression says it all. It's made even more clear with the way she empathizes with the girl.

Risk

• Risk's power makes people take more...well...risks in life. And one of them happens to be the emotional risks as well. Under Risk's influence, Adrien reveals to Marinette that he absolutely hates the life of a model, the endless photoshoots, the fans who don't get him, him being forced to go on a trip with Lila and away from his friends. But most of all, he hates his father's cold attitude toward him. But even under Risk's influence, he can't call Gabriel off and it frustrates him to no end.
• Félix's reaction to seeing the body of his aunt in the pod is understandable. He's been told she was dead, but here she is, alive but in a coma, underneath his uncle's mansion. One can only imagine how his mother will react when he tells her the bad news.

Strike Back

• Under Risk's influence, Cat Noir drops the Sad Clown façade and vents his true anger and frustration with Ladybug for not trusting him and pushing him away for no good reason (as far as he knows, anyway).
  • The reason Ladybug has been keeping Cat Noir at arm's length? The possibility that he might be akumatized into Cat Blanc. In other words, she's mistrusting him for something that he hasn't actually done and, depending on how the Awful Truth about Adrien's family comes to light, might never even happen in this timeline.
• Since Alya feels that she let Ladybug down she renounces Trixx and gives her Miraculous back (at the worst possible time). And she's just as upset as Ladybug about this.
• The pressure of being a Guardian and the events of the series catch up to Marinette in quite possibly the worst way imaginable. Upon realizing she just accidentally gave a Miraculous with the power to steal objects to Félix, who is untrustworthy and scheming, her yo-yo is stolen by him, and with it the portal to the Miracle Box. While Gabriel steals all the unused Miraculouses, sans the Peacock he renounces to his nephew, Marinette has a full-blown panic attack (even worse than Juleka's in "Reflekdoll"). In fact, she doesn't think to de-transform immediately, and by the time Adrien has gotten her to the privacy of his bathroom, Gabriel has his hands on all the other Miraculouses, giving him 16 total powers to her two. It's doubly jarring when you consider one of the scenes prior to it has Cat proudly stating he would never get akumatized, triggering Ladybug's Cat Blanc PTSD once more.
  • Speaking of Gabriel, he now has 16 slaves doomed to suffer from his abuse. And since Ladybug has no more Miraculouses she can give out, her teammates are retired for the foreseeable future.
  • Later on, we see Ladybug sobbing on the rooftop, blaming herself for everything that went wrong in this episode.

Season 5

Evolution

• Gabriel choosing a chance to get revenge on Ladybug over the chance to save Emilie. Not only does he fail and lose his most important Miraculous, he also completely alienates Nathalie, who calls him out for his idiocy and quits. In the end he is in his lair once again and furiously blames Ladybug for his own actions. It is sad to see how low he has fallen.
  • Even sadder is that he does try to choose the latter... before the Friend-or-Idol Decision interrupts him, and his darker side wins out.
• Alim Kudbel having to say goodbye to Alix. While he's proud of Alix for being a superhero and for all that she will see and accomplish, he knows that he's not going to see his beloved daughter for a long time.
  • Alix having to leave her family and all her friends behind for her mission.
• In a bittersweet way, listening to Wang Fu's dialogue about how Ladybug must choose a proper ally for the mission again. It's a nice callback to when Master Fu was still the guardian and we use to hear this almost once per episode, and a sad reminder of all the things Hawk Moth has taken from our heroes.

Multiplication

• Marinette is still blaming herself for losing all the Miraculouses. She decides to give up on Adrien once and for all to avoid any future distractions and mistakes.
• The absence of the Kwamis is clearly noticeable and Marinette is missing them dearly.

Destruction

• Monarch forces Cat Noir to catacalysm him as part of his Deliberate Injury Gambit, which greatly shocks Cat Noir. Cat Noir is filled with guilt, saying even though Monarch was a villain he was still a person, and since Monarch took the Lucky Charm with him, the cataclysm can't be reversed.
• We see Monarch disintegrating all of the Miraculouses, turning unique pieces of Jewelry into generic rings, while the Kwamis are locked up in orbs unable to do anything.

Jubilation

• When Ladybug realizes the Lotus-Eater Machine dream isn't real, she starts to cry. When she shows Cat Noir that they are dreaming, his first instinct is to avoid waking up. He laments that he doesn't want to lose what they have in the dream. Ladybug agrees, but says that they need to wake up. They share one last kiss in the dream before Ladybug disappears, leaving Cat Noir crying alone.
• Upon waking up, Cat Noir is so furious at having their feelings played with that he holds nothing back against Darker Owl. Cat then tries to use Cataclysm on him after Darker Owl is already down. He just barely relents when Ladybug tells him to stop. This is only one episode after Cat Noir broke down upon accidentally using Cataclysm on Monarch. That goes to show how much he was affected by the dream.
• Even after winning the battle, Ladybug and Cat Noir are clearly not okay. Ladybug immediately checks Mr. Damocles's pocket, clearly hoping that the dream would come true. She then sadly gives out a Magical Charm and fixes the damage without her usually cheer. The episode ends with the duo talking about what happened, but clearly in denial about their feelings.

Passion

• Both Gabriel and Nathalie are Secretly Dying, and if they don't find a way to fix it, Adrien will be left all alone.
• Emilie's video to Nathalie, where she tell her to stop Gabriel from obsessing over the Miraculous and to move on, while saying Nathalie would make a good mother to Adrien. Nathalie can only sob due to how much she failed Emilie.
• It's implied in the flashback that Nathalie loves Gabriel, but didn't want to come between him and her best friend. And Emilie knew this, which is why she chose Nathalie to take care of Gabriel and Adrien and to move on without her. Which makes the above all the more painful because Nathalie chose to listen to Gabriel instead on the slim chance that they could bring Emilie back (which Gabriel colossally screwed up in Evolution).

Reunion

• Jalil has been negatively influenced by all the social media hatred against Ladybug and Cat Noir because he thinks they somehow tricked Alix into signing up to become Bunnyx and leave all her family behind. He's so desperate to rescue his beloved little sister from that fate that he willingly summons Monarch and asks for the power to defeat the heroes.
• Jeanne's recounting of the love story between herself and Dark Grimalkin. They fought on opposite sides during the 100 Year War, but ended up falling in love after they found and protected a group of children orphaned from the war. Even though they tried to keep their love a secret from everyone else, they were eventually found out and condemned as traitors to their respective monarchs. They managed to escape execution (which, in Jeanne's case, was a pretty close call), but they had to give up their Miraculous in order to live a normal life. Perhaps the saddest part is that Jeanne's apparition doesn't know whether they got a Happily Ever After or not after all they went through to be together. After hearing all this, Marinette wonders whether the same fate will befall her and Cat Noir.

Elation

• When André says that Cat Noir loves Ladybug and Marinette loves Adrien, Cat Noir and Marinette simultaneously deny it, then look at each other with absolutely heartbroken expressions. This is especially painful for Adrien, as this is the first time he finds out that Marinette had feelings for him, and he instantly learns that he missed his chance with her.
• This episode contains one of the most tear-inducing scenes in the entire show: Cat Noir rejecting Marinette.
  • He doesn't do it because he doesn't like her, he does it because she doesn't know his true identity and he worries that he's taking advantage of her. Since he doesn't know that she's Ladybug, he doesn't understand why she has such strong feelings for him.
  • Remember, Marinette is so scared of rejection that she never confessed to Adrien in 4 whole seasons. Here, Cat Noir expresses his feelings to her, takes her on a date, kisses her, and then rejects her, making it even more painful for her. When added on top of her previous failed romances, it's no surprise she almost gets Akumatized.
  • Marinette's final scene in the episode is her breaking down crying, and wondering if she'll ever have the chance to truly be in love.

Transmission (The Kwamis' Choice Part 1)

• Marinette and Adrien are both at their breaking points and fully depressed over being unable to be together.
• Tikki and Plagg are just as heartbroken to lose their best friend and holder each, even knowing it's for the greater good.

Deflagration (The Kwamis' Choice - Part 2)

• Tikki and Plagg try to resist being captured to Monarch. Plagg tells Tikki they'll see each other again as they are one and can never be apart. He also tells her to do a Lucky Charm for Ladybug.
• Plagg sacrificing himself to keep Monarch from using the Cat Miraculous.

Perfection

• Kagami, thanks to Lila's manipulation, ends up crying after believing that she's not worthy or perfect enough to be Marinette's friend. And if she's not worthy or perfect enough of being Marinette's friend, Kagami can't be anybody's friend until she's perfect enough, thus she will go back to isolating herself and be that perfect person she's pressured to be.

Migration

• Luka having to leave Paris until Monarch is defeated now that he is a target.

Derision

• A year prior to the series, Marinette was the victim of Chloé's constant and relentless bullying.
• The origins of Marinette's Can't Spit It Out tendencies - she had a crush on Kim and was fully prepared to admit to these feelings to him, but Chloé got wind of it and convinced Kim that it would be funny to give Marinette a box of live spiders as a gift. The spiders came out of the box and scared Marinette so badly that she fell into a pool, and Chloé filmed the whole thing and was prepared to upload it to the Internet so that Marinette would never be able to live it down. Only the intervention of Socqueline prevented Chloé from uploading, and she got her revenge by having Socqueline banished from school. After all that, Marinette swore that she'd never fall in love again unless she was absolutely certain she knew everything about her potential love interest, which is an assurance that she can't have with Adrien because he lives a double life.
• As Adrien breaks things off with Chloé and Chloé defiantly delivers a Motive Rant about how other people are beneath her and suitable only to be mocked for her amusement, Sabrina glares at her and there is a noticable change in the way she paints Chloé's nails - whereas before she was being the devoted servant, now she acts like she's doing a job. Chloé is too pigheaded to realize it, but she's actually lost two friends in this scene.

Protection

• Gabriel forbidding Adrien from having any kind of relationship with Marinette.
• Kagami, thanks to Lila's manipulation (again), her mother pressuring her to be perfect and encouraging her to take Adrien for herself again, her conflicting feelings for Adrien (romantically) and Marinette (being her best friend), and Adrien defending Marinette from Lila's accusations and why he loves her, breaks down and cries after her deakumatization. Adrien and Marinette comfort Kagami. After Kagami apologizes for being weak about not being able to control her emotions, they tell her she isn't and to rather embrace her emotions and feelings instead of hiding them as her mother suggest. She falls to her knees and sobs again. As Adrien and Marinette embrace her again, she admits that seeing them so in love hurts her but knows it's not either one of their faults.
• Adrien and Marinette break off their date early, no thanks to Gabriel.

Emotion

• Argos crying after he releases "his sister", the Red Moon, from existence, after realizing his horrible mistake.

Pretension

• Adrien not having the heart to tell Marinette about his father sending him to London.
• Tomoe asking for Kagami's ring bearing their family crest after calling her a weak disappointment for allowing her emotions to control her.

Confrontation

• Even before Lila and Chloé messed with the school forms, the students were facing the prospect of getting separated, as Nathaniel notes that his intended career path will require him going to a different school from the others.
• Lila and Chloé locking Sabrina into her locker and forcing her to forge their classmates' school forms. Chloé takes away Sabrina's whistle and says that Sabrina has to forge the forms to see it again.
• Juleka's form has her repeat the year, and she is so distressed that she is akumatized once again into Reflekta. Even after her de-akumatization, she doesn't get any calmer until the forms are discovered to be fake.

Collusion

• With Gabriel and Tsurugi trying to bully him into replacing the police with robots, which even he realizes is a terrible idea, it truly sinks in for Mayor Bougeois just how much of a mess he's made of his life, as he's stuck in a job he hates and for which he's ill-suited, trying to impress a wife and daughter who do not love or even respect him, at the cost of having to do favors for "friends" who he increasingly regrets knowing. And then Gabriel exploits his Engineered Public Confession to paint him as even corrupt than he already is. When Ms. Sans-Culotte shows up to depose him by force, he readily surrenders, having realized that he does not deserve to be Mayor anymore.
• Miss. Bustier having to depart from her class, who are crying at the sight of her leaving.
• Adrien's worried face as he still doesn't know how to tell Marinette about his departure for London.

Revolution

• Ladybug and Cat Noir briefly losing hope and resigning themselves to have their identities exposed to each other and every Parisian in sight, before their friends' heroic actions give a fortunate and strong Heroic Second Wind to get back in the fight.
• The entire sequence in which Marinette and Adrien are forced apart, but in particular:
  • The look on Adrien's face after Gabriel yells at him to go get ready to leave for London when he tries to object, wanting to go to the end-of-the-school year dance.
  • Plagg tries to cheer him up, calling him stronger like his powers but Adrien doesn't believe so.
  • Nathalie's last words to Adrien; knowing she can't stop Gabriel from sending Adrien away.
  Nathalie: You cannot disobey your father, but don't let anyone stop you from loving who you want.
  • Adrien tearfully being forced to leave Paris for London by his father, saying his mother would have this. Try as he might, Adrien cannot get his cold-hearted father to change his mind or remind him his mom would want him to be happy, and his attempt to escape is futile.
  • The video call, in which Adrien is forced to relay to Marinette the bad news. He apologizes for not being worthy of her love and for hurting her, which drives her in turn to tears and leaves Tikki shocked. A tear falls on the lucky charm bracelet Adrien gave her for her birthday. Fortunately, Marinette, even in depression, is not one to leave Adrien broken-hearted, and manages to drive her mini-scooter past airport security to give Adrien a long due Big Damn Kiss in a mix of Heartwarming and this.
  • Even the Gorilla had tears in his eyes when escorting Adrien back to his seat on the plane after being forced to break up their kiss.
  • Adrien crying and clutching the lucky charm bracelet Marinette gave him.
  • Marinette watching his plane depart.
• Chloé even gets a minor one after being reduced to tears after her parting shot at Marinette backfires. Even in spite of everything she's done, especially after her fall as a hero, in this moment, Chloé has both her long-standing pride and arrogant spirit shattered and lets the audience see what's truly underneath her mask of entitled brattiness: a lonely and broken teenager who has finally realized that her actions have cost her everyone and everything she's ever cared about, and landed her in a situation akin to her worst nightmares: being left alone, powerless, and under the thumb of someone much worse than her.
  • Of note, before this, at her darkest hour the first thing she does is almost call Sabrina, with a look of genuine regret and sadness. It really looks like she almost realised what she'd done and lost, and tried to make amends with the only person who might forgive her. But she chose to lash out at Marinette instead, burning her bridges forever. Just like Hawk Moth at the start of the season, she just couldn't put her grudge aside and ended up losing everything.

Representation

• Adrien watching a press release of his and Kagami's virtual avatars saying they are a perfect couple in love with each other. Kagami is not happy about it either, and is even ready to throw something at the television.
• Marinette is in a pitiful state at the end-of-the-school-year dance, trying to put on a brave face for her friends.
• Gabriel takes back the other ring he entrusted Nathalie to, believing she had something to do with Adrien's departure from London. Since both rings contain the amok used to create him, Gabriel now has full control over Adrien.
• Félix and Kagami manipulate Marinette in order to lead her away from the school dance and over to the school. On the one hand, it's necessary, because Marinette needs to know the truth about Adrien and his father if she's to have any chance of saving him from Gabriel (and it has to be her, because even if they'd known that Adrien is Cat Noir, as long as Gabriel has the rings, he would have control over Adrien.) It's also the only hope Kagami has of being free from her mother once and for all. On the other hand, their plan still requires them to take Marinette while she's in a vulnerable state and do even more emotional harm to her, and they can't even comfort her afterwards because nobody can know that they're in Paris.
• Cat Noir overhears his friends talking about how much control Gabriel has over Adrien's life and why he didn't tell them about being forced to leave. Even worse, he had just missed Marinette when it was really Félix she started chasing.
• Marinette breaks down and cries again after seeing a drawing of her and Adrien. Even Duusu feels sorry for Marinette while watching this.
• Some sad truths from Kagami and Félix's play:
  • Both Emilie and Amelie were infertile and couldn't have children, even with the best medical treatments their parents could afford for them, resulting in Emilie and Colt using the broken Peacock Miraculous.
  • Amelie being arranged by her parents to marry the rich but cold Colt Fathom, and she did it just to please them.
  • Colt abused Félix; forcing him to obey his every order and command until his death.
    • There is a Domestic Abuse implication that Amelie herself was abused by Colt as Félix accounted in his play that "if he became a fond of anyone who displeases his father", and it showed an arm of a stuffed bunny being ripped and in "Gabriel Agreste", Amelie also wore a bunny mask in the party.
  • He constantly called Félix a monster and during one of his fits of rage, he cracked the ring containing his amok when he hit it with too much force, making Félix faint and realizing his life was linked to his father's ring.
    • Had it cracked a little bit harder, Colt could have killed Félix.
    • Marinette started to feel sorry for Félix.
• Gabriel Agreste akumatizes himself as the Nightormentor as a way to severely punish Adrien for running away from London to be with Marinette again in Paris. From the look on Nooroo's face before Gabriel did this, even he knew his holder had become unhinged.
• Rose, Juleka, and Adrien suffer from their worst nightmares after being hit by Nightormentor's attacks: Rose's nightmare is to witness an unicorn in pain, Juleka's is her father Jagged Stone destroying her guitar, and worst of all, Adrien's is to see himself as an akumatized version of Cat Noir in the middle of a destroyed Paris, cradling the crumbling remains of Ladybug.
  • Before Cat Noir attempted to use Cataclysm on Nightormentor, saying to feel sorry for his son, the latter tells the former that he shouldn't since his son is very happy, shocking Cat Noir.
  • And since Ladybug didn't do her Miraculous Ladybug to fix the effects, the nightmare is still there. It also makes him realize he can't tell Marinette his secret identity or disobey his father.
  • And he'd just miss Marinette. Again.
• Ladybug doing her and Cat Noir's pound it alone without him.
• Adrien and Kagami being put in white solitary confinement rooms in the post-credits.

Conformation

• Gabriel admits to having little time left and that he has sacrificed everything, even his morals, if that means bringing Emilie back. He knew there was no going back.
• The nightmares people are having around the world.
• Nathalie's death, despite her having been Gabriel's accomplice all along, is very sad to see.
  • Not to mention, Adrien's possible reaction if he was informed about this.
• Adrien renounces his Miraculous for now, knowing he's not in the right state of mind, due to the nightmares inflicted by Nightormentor (his own father, no less), and has zero chance to escape from his prison cell.
  • He and Plagg bid adieu for now with the hopes of seeing each other again.
• Ladybug having to face a bunch of Miraculized villains all by herself who think she and Cat Noir have kidnapped Adrien and Kagami.
• Plagg learning that Gabriel Agreste is Monarch. Also meaning that his enslaved Kwami siblings were under the same roof as him and he had no idea.

Re-creation

• Bug Noire discovering Adrien's comatose mother and just how far Monarch is willing to go to cause this level of destruction, lost lives, and collateral damage to get what he wants.
• Even with the Resistance, United Heroez, Ladydragon, The Order of the Guardians, and citizens fighting the Miraculized army, they just keep coming out of nowhere.
  • At one point, Knightowl is knocked into a ferris wheel while Zoé and Nathaniel were protecting a paralyzed Marc, causing it to go off the rails when one uses Clout on her.
  • Ladydragon and Jagged Stone are paralyzed by them via Venom en masse.
  • Luka has a nightmare when surrounded by them.
  • Majestia can't find Ladybug and Cat Noir.
  • Alya wants to know what Ladybug is doing and keeps calling Marinette, but it goes to voicemail every time.
• During Bug Noire and Monarch's battle in the basement, when the latter tells the former he's doing this for Adrien's happiness and that he do the same for his father, Bug Noire bluntly tells Monarch that Adrien is not only nothing like his father but his own son means nothing to him anymore: he locked Adrien away from the world while pushing him away after Emilie's passing, into the Alliance rings, and controllled him into being his perfect puppet that he no longer actually cares about Adrien as a person and now only uses him as an excuse to justifiy his insanity. The same with Emilie.
• Bug Noire finally defeats Monarch and makes a point about being able to repair the damage he's caused thanks to her Miraculous Ladybug, free the Kwamis from his captivity, she and Cat Noir will work together again, and everything will go back to normal but she won't be able to repair the fact that he only has little time left.
• Gabriel finally watches Emilie's recordings and it made him realize that he's ruined everything, especially for Adrien.
  • He then talks about how he and Emilie thought they would never be able to have children until she used the broken Peacock Miraculous to create Adrien. There are even flashbacks of Adrien growing up.
• Marinette was willing to come up with a solution with Gabriel, only for her to be paralyzed by Venom.
  • In a zig-zag way, Gabriel uses the Ultimate Miraculous Absolute Power to sacrifice himself to heal Nathalie and reunite with Emilie in the afterlife to balance the universe. Before doing so, he asks Marinette to keep all of this a secret from Adrien, rather wanting his son to remember him as trying to be a good father to him.
• All the Kwamis are free from Monarch except for poor Nooroo, whose Miraculous is now in the hands of a far worse new owner: Lila/Cerise.
  • Marinette, Alya, and Su-Han sadly looking at the last empty Miraculous box intended for the Butterfly Miraculous.
• With Gabriel confirmed dead and Emilie very likely truly dead now, Adrien is now an orphan.

Specials

"A Special Christmas"

• The teaser trailer alone already is depressing. In summary, Adrien is so distraught over the fact this will be his first Christmas without his mother, he turns into Cat Noir and runs away from home.
• The song A Cat In The Night. In here, Adrien (as Cat Noir) sings his pain due to his mother's disappearance and the Parental Neglect from his father during the holidays. In fact, he's distraught enough to try to destroy the Christmas tree in front of the city hall with his Cataclysm, but the memories of his mother manage to snap him back to his senses at the last moment, and instead, he destroys an advertisement of his own face. However, this is immediately followed by Brand New Day, a sad reprise of the upbeat precedent song where he sings about how he regrets his anger-driven decision, and wants to go back home. Watching Cat Noir singing these two songs then falling to his knees before turning back to Adrien can really bring the urge to giving him a warm hug.
  • After detransforming, Adrien realizes that his actions really tired out Plagg, leaving him hungry and barely conscious in the snow. Thankfully, Adrien had the good idea to put him in the Christmas hat Marinette offered to him before searching for cheese.
• In the next scene, Gabriel decides to visit Adrien, smiling and carrying a present, only to find that he's gone and the only clue is an open window, prompting him to drop his stoic demeanor and panic over his son's disappearance. Keith Silverstein's delivery made Gabriel sound genuinely terrified as he screamed Adrien's name.
  • Even worse, consider Gabriel's thoughts upon finding the open window. Assuming he is unaware that Adrien is Cat Noir, he can only believe that there was no way that Adrien could have survived escaping from the window, and considering all the family issues he's going through, there could be only one reason why he took that opening...
  Gabriel: Adrien. (realizes that Adrien is gone) Adrien?! ADRIEN!! [Nathalie and the bodyguard come in] Go and find him immediately! IMMEDIATELY!
• The circumstances of the Villain of the Week's akumatization. After the local Santa has returned Adrien back home, Ladybug assumes that Santa is an akumatised villain and he was the cause of Adrien's disappearance. Adrien tries to tell her that she's got the wrong idea (and he obviously hasn't been brainwashed by the "villain") but Ladybug ignores him and knocks Santa off his sleigh. Eventually, Santa is understandably pissed at Ladybug for assuming he was a supervillain, so Hawk Moth gave him a chance to become the supervillain she assumed him to be.
• Surprisingly enough, seeing Gabriel silently gazing at the portrait of his wife alone in the room can be this. Even not knowing the context behind it and despite the heavy implications he could be Hawk Moth, it's still quite clear he's not taking Mrs. Agreste's disappearance any better than Adrien is.

"World: New York – United HeroeZ"

• Chloé is clearly still upset by the the events of "Miracle Queen", so much so, that she initially refuses to go on the trip to New York with her class (likely because she's not going to stay in New York permanently). When she is forced to go anyways due to her parents already giving her permission without telling her and her failing to change their minds, she spends nearly the entire stay in New York sulking and hiding in her room and/or refusing to have any fun.
• When the class learns that Miss Mendeliev will be chaperoning the field trip instead of Miss Bustier, Kim loudly complains that Miss Mendeliev never lets them do anything fun and that the trip will be a huge drag. Miss Mendeliev pops her head into the room just as he says this, then quickly leaves with a dejected look on her face.
• It may be her own fault but Lila is the only student of her class who misses the trip to New York.
• Cat Noir accidentally uses Cataclysm on Uncanny Valley and kills her. While the Lucky Charm can fix her, he is still devastated by what he has done and even temporarily gives up his Miraculous so he can't harm his loved ones. This devastates Marinette in turn, as she feels like she can't be Ladybug without him at her side.
  • Seeing Majestia crying at Uncanny Valley is heartbreaking, especially since both of them have mother and daughter bonds instead of the hero and her sidekick.
  • Plagg is devastated over Adrien renouncing the Cat Miraculous.
    Plagg: This is all my fault. [cries] I should've stopped him from leaving!
• Liiri seems to be very close to the last wearer of the Eagle Miraculous, Gilbert. When he comes out of the Miraculous, he has no idea that centuries have passed and Gilbert is long dead. Even worse, his new Master is Gabriel Agreste who clearly has evil intentions. The little Kwami is terrified.
• Gabriel forces Adrien to leave New York and Marinette fails to convince him to stay. When she finally tries to stop him and confess, it is already too late. Now she's lost both Cat Noir and Adrien.

"World: Shanghai - The Legend of Lady Dragon"

• Fei's backstory. A baby without a family, she was adopted by Wu until he was later killed, orphaning her once again. Now she just wants revenge on his killers and has become a thief, betraying all the values she believed in. She loathes herself for what she has become.
• Marinette only now learning her mother's birth name, which she changed when she moved to France. People with foreign names such as immigrants sometimes change their names to make it easier to pronounce and to avoid being made fun of for having so-called weird names, changing their identities to fit in a new place away from home.
  • And along with that, Marinette doesn't know a lot about her Chinese ancestry, implying Sabine didn't raise her in it.

"World: Paris - Tales of Shadybug and Claw Noir"

• The contrasts in Shadybug and Claw Noir's lives from that of their heroic counterparts.
  • Both have Friendless Backgrounds, with the former never getting a chance to make friends due to Chloé's bullying while the latter never seeming to get a chance to get to know people to befriend.
  • It's implied that Shadybug either doesn't have loving parents, or just doesn't have parents at all.
  • Claw Noir deeply misses his mother and is upset at the fact that his father has moved on from his own pain rather that hold on to it like he did.
• Alternate Plagg and Tikki being forced by their owners to use their powers for evil, like main universe Nooroo. And when both Alternate Marinette and Adrien detransform, the poor kwamis are revealed to have a magical seal which prevents them from talking, something that not even main universe Gabriel was willing to do to his own kwami, save for a few seconds in "Sandboy".
• While talking down Claw Noir, Adrien mentions that he has considered stealing Ladybug's miraculous and wishing for his mother back. He's never acted on it, but its a sign of just how deep his grief actually goes.

Webisodes

• In "Adrien's Double Life", we find out that Adrien's mother disappeared from a passing remark. He may not have elaborated much on it, but the absence may have affected him more than he's admitting, judging from how he acts sometimes when alone with Plagg.
  • On a related note, Adrien in the same sentence comments how Gabriel hasn't been the same since his mother vanished and that's why he tries to be there for him. At the time of writing, the full meaning of what Adrien is saying is unknown. But the implication of the comment is enough to hint the relationship between Adrien and Gabriel in present day may not have always been the case in the past.

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