What An Idiot / Miraculous Ladybug

Marinette/Ladybug might be smart enough to find ways to use items that wouldn’t work in normal scenarios, but she, her friends, and her enemies are not immune to the effects of plain stupidity.

General

• Gabriel Argeste the show's Big Bad, wants the Miraculous that Ladybug and Cat Noir wield. To this end, he uses the Butterfly Miraculous to corrupt people suffering a Moment of Weakness as Hawk Moth, turning them into villians that terrorize Paris.
  You'd Expect: Hawk Moth would insist on his villians to fulfill their end of the bargain first. Besides taking back their powers, and had outright that he torture them on a whim like with the Pixelator, so it's not like they're in a position to refuse.
  Instead: Once he corrupts someone, he mostly lets them do as they please and demands they honor the deal when a good opportunity comes up. While they do need to create enough of a disturbance to get the attention of Ladybug and Cat Noir, there are several occasions where his villains let their own petty desires jeopardize Hawk Moth's goals. This lack of oversight is most prominent with Nino as "the Bubbler," who defies orders and sends Ladybug and Cat Noir away in a bubble, and Nathanael as "Evillustrator," who only wants to go on a date with Marinette, though there are numerous other instances. This gradully becomes justified as the series progresses in season 2 and it's shown just how little control Hawk Moth really has over his victims. The most prominent cases in season 2 being "Robustus" who outright attacks Hawk Moth and "Gigantitan" who ignores Hawk Moth to the point that Hawk Moth throws a tantrum of impotence.
• Adding to the above, the butterfly Miraculous allows anyone affected to gain any sort of powers that help with the target's goals. It's also never stated that there's anything keeping his wife from being healed through any other force than the cat and ladybug miraculouses.
  You'd Expect: Gabriel would show Adrien his mother and then give him an Akuma, then give Adrien extraordinary healing abilities so he can awaken his mother without Gabriel ever having to become a villain in the first place. Even if it doesn't work, nothing is lost by trying.
  Alternatively: If, say, he doesn't want to bring Adrien into this, he could simply akumatise himself or Nathalie, the former of which is something that "Collector" has proven is very possible, and give said akuma said extraordinary healing powers.
  Instead: He becomes Hawk Moth and terrorizes Paris, which will make it much harder to get her back and end with him going to prison if he's ever caught.
• Chloé, the local Alpha Bitch, has managed to turn over twenty and counting people into akuma with her bratty behavior. More than one of them have made attempts on her life, including Evillustrator and Kung Food.
  You'd Expect: At some point for Chloé to realize that changing her attitude and treating people better might keep her alive, especially since she's had some near misses.
  Instead: Chloé never learns, and in any episode where she causes an akuma she suffers embarrassments or near-death experiences. When Ladybug saves her, say in "Evillustrator" and "Kung Food," Chloé proceeds to act like an Ungrateful Bastard, which makes Ladybug more inclined to Poke the Poodle with her, say by dropping her unceremoniously. It takes Adrien telling her she's a total jerk and threatening to end their friendship in Season 2 to even remotely dent her.
  To Make Matters Worse: While it seem Chloé showed some repentence in "Zombizou", she gets Aesop Amnesia upon obtaining the Bee Miraculous and boasts about it on television. This leads to Hawk Moth corrupting her, which reveals to everyone that Hawk Moth can corrupt Miraculous holders. And even after Hawk Moth placed her life in danger countless times, and Ladybug has saved her every time, she still openly agrees that Ladybug has done "nothing" for her in ignoring her for other heroes. This leads to her becoming a willing ally to Hawk Moth as he transitions to Shadow Moth and then Monarch.
  And As If That Weren't Bad Enough: Chloé is talked into a partnership with Lila Rossi, who hates both Marinette and Ladybug, and is coerced into going scorched earth on everyone after breaking ties with her only friends in Dupont.
  Result: Chloé goes too far with one Akumatization and is sent away with her mother to live in New York.

• Sometimes the akuma go after certain people that crossed them. Chloé's not the only intended target; sometimes her father, celebrities and teenagers like Marinette have been targets too. Cat Noir and Ladybug then go out of their way to warn the target and order them to go into hiding or get protection.
  You'd Expect: For these targets to take the threat seriously, the way someone like Marinette does. Cat Noir and Ladybug are renowned throughout the city and have the most experience dealing with akuma.
  Instead: With a few exceptions like Jagged Stone, the intended victims do not take any precautions and sometimes even mock the notion that someone with weird powers wants to attack them. They tend to then suffer near-death experiences: Rock singer XY, for example, nearly falls off the Eiffel Tower while being forced to Walk the Plank. Though there might be an element of denial here and the fact XY neither particularly humble nor the sharpest tool in the shed. While Gabriel also got targeted by a villain he created, he only allowed himself to be compelled to jump off a roof to maintain his cover.
  
• Hawk Moth has to send out an akuma to create each supervillain.
  You'd Expect: The heroes teach civilians how to recognize and stop an akuma: Stay calm, break any object it infects, trap it in a nearby container, and contact Ladybug for purification and repairs.
  You'd Also Expect: Someone makes a system to track akumas and alert civilians before any villain appears. Also, a database of information on akumas' direction of approach could reveal Hawk Moth's base of operations.
  Instead: No such real proactive measures are taken and Paris got as far to develop an akuma detection system in the fifth season to alert people of a nearby akuma.

Season 1

The Bubbler

• It's Adrien's birthday, and his friends want to wish him or attend a party. Thing is that Adrien's father has refused to let his son have a birthday party, because he thinks the idea is superfluous.
  You'd Expect: If Adrien really wants a party, then just arrange one with his friends. He may be on a tight schedule, but surely he could set something up in his spare time.
  You'd Also Expect: His friends would remember his birthday party and plan accordingly.
  Instead: Everyone except Marinette forgets to get a present for Adrien, including his father who leaves the job to his Beleaguered Assistant Nathalie, and no one thinks to throw a party except his best friend turned supervillain. Chloé has no excuse since she's on her smartphone all the time, and blames Sabrina for forgetting. It's a small wonder that Adrien looks like a kicked puppy for most of the episode and has a Moment of Weakness about attending the Bubbler's party. ^note  The best possible explanation is that Adrien had just started going to actual school, so very few people would have known his birthday and prepared for it.
• At the Bubbler's party, the kids are reluctantly dancing and hide when the villain spirits off Ladybug and Cat Noir, for fear of getting trapped in bubbles.
  You'd Expect: They would keep hiding until the akuma is uncorrupted, since it usually takes a while for Cat Noir and Ladybug to initiate their World-Healing Wave.
  Instead: When the duo gives their Rousing Speech, the students come out and cheer. Unsurprisingly, the Bubbler captures all of them. Once again, the only good explanation is the possibility that this episode takes place early in the timeline and they don't have a lot of experience with supervillains.

Mr. Pigeon

• Whoever Chloé hired to copy Marinette's hat design left Marinette's signature on it.
  You'd Expect: They would leave out the signature. Even if Marinette pointed out the signature on her hat, there would be no proof she didn't just copy Chloé's design and add a signature.
  Instead: They copied Marinette's hat design perfectly, including a signature that is someone else's name. ^note To be fair, the signature is supposed to be hidden in the embroidery so that you can only see it when you're looking at the hat from a certain angle and if you know you're looking for it, but we don't really get a good look at the band and how it would look to someone else before Marinette points it out. What makes it more confusing is that it's pretty hard to make out any signature at all on the sketch that Chloé's people were working from. However, the one who copied the hat might've done that intentionally to get Chloé her just rewards...

Lady WiFi

• Alya theorizes that someone in her class could be Ladybug. Also, Ladybug is outside fighting an akuma with Cat Noir.
  You'd Expect: Alya would do the opposite of what she does, and figure out who was absent from school and class. Marinette is notably absent, for example.
  Instead: She tries to compare her classmates' faces against Ladybug's body, and decides Chloé is the best possible candidate.
• Eventually Alya shares her theory with Nino. After Nino stops laughing, he says that Chloé is too selfish to be Ladybug, even if she has Ladybug merchandise.
  You'd Expect: Alya would listen to Nino and realize that he has a point. Also, that if she's going to pursue the theory that she doesn't do anything that earns Chloé's wrath, since the latter gets away with pretty much anything due to her father being the Mayor of Paris.
  Instead: Alya takes pictures of the inside of Chloé's locker, gets caught and suspended due to Chloé demanding excessive punishment. When Hawk Moth corrupts her into an akuma, she gets humiliated on realizing that Chloé was a Red Herring right as the real Ladybug shows up.
• During the villain fight, Lady WiFi succeeds in trapping Cat Noir in a freezer and has pinned Ladybug to the wall. She finds that Ladybug's mask can't be removed, however, due to it being magic.
  You'd Expect: Hawk Moth would tell Lady WiFi to take the Miraculous earrings, since it would power down Ladybug's transformation and give them both what they want. And once that's done, move on to Cat Noir in the freezer.
  Instead: He tells Lady WiFi to free Ladybug and force her to use her Lucky Charm to save Cat and exhaust the transformation while watching with a camera. Cat simply covers up the camera when Ladybug frees him.
  This was glaring enough that in "Evolution", this moment is the first stop in his attempts to Make Wrong What Once Went Right.

Kung Food

• Marinette's uncle Master Cheng is participating in a cooking competition where Chloé's father is one of the judges. Chloé happens to be in the building, and starts to heckle Marinette about her uncle. Adrien, who's serving as a translator for Master Cheng, chides Chloé for being politically incorrect in assuming a Chinese chef would make Japanese sushi.
  You'd Expect: Chloé with her crush on Adrien would Verbal Backspace and at least put on a pretense of butt-kissing, so as to not lose favor with him.
  Instead: Chloé refuses to retract her racist remarks, and proceeds to sabotage Master Cheng's soup out of spite towards Marinette. By the end of the episode Adrien has her banned from the jury for her actions and makes it clear that he won't tolerate her remarks, especially in Marinette's presence. The fact that a corrupted Cheng nearly cooked Chloé is an unfortunate side effect.

Animan

• Animan's special power is that he can change into any animal he wants, even if it's an extinct species, as well as control other animals.
  You'd Expect: That he would change into an animal with opposable thumbs, such as a baboon or chimpanzee, to steal Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculouses for Hawk Moth. Or even better, command such a creature to do it for him while he keeps the heroes distracted.
  Instead: He never once thinks to do this, with his biggest plan being to change into a T-REX, which can't hold anything in its tiny arms, let alone two tiny pieces of jewlery.

Simon Says

• A television game show revolving around getting people with various skills (such as musical composition or hypnotism) using them on celebrities over broadcast. It goes awry when the celebrity chosen for the hypnotist Simon — one Gabriel Agreste — decides not to play along and hangs up, causing Simon's disqualification.
  You'd Expect: That such a game show would get binding agreements from their celebrity guests to actually participate.
  You'd Further Expect: That there would be some forgiveness for a celebrity guest completely refusing to participate since that's a failure on the part of the show's hosts rather than the contestant.
  Instead: It's clear that Gabriel has no clue what the heck is going on with the call and has not been consulted on his participation, and when he hangs up, Simon is simply told that he has been disqualified due to circumstances that are in no way his doing. The way he's told so casually indicates that he's not the first contestant to be disqualified in such a fashion either. How does this show stay on the air? ^note  Though it's likely that Gabriel did make an agreement with the game show and purposely hung up on them to use the opportunity to make Simon upset and Akumatize him, considering he's right in front of the portrait of his wife which leads to his lair where he sends out his Akumas, unless, of course, he's not using a background filter

The Puppeteer

• The Puppeteer can control anyone as long as she has the corresponding doll.
  You'd Expect: Since she took control of the Evillustrator, for her to order him to make a Ladybug doll. Easy win.
  You Might Also Expect: For the Puppeteer to at some point attempt to raid a toy store or even a factory. When your main power relies on the amount of toys you own, there's no excuse not to collect more toys, and there might even be a Ladybug doll.
  You'd Definitely Expect: For Hawk Moth, knowing that he is dealing with a child who might not be intellectually capable of coming up with ideas like this on her own, to suggest one or both of them to her.
  Instead: She sends all of her minions to take the Ladybug doll, thus giving our heroine time to defeat her, while Hawk Moth just watches her uselessly.

Antibug

• Someone is attacking Chloé, an invisible person who's making her life miserable. Akumas tend to hold a grudge, so Ladybug and Cat Noir ask if anything had happened over the past few days.
  You'd Expect: Chloé to be completely honest with Ladybug about who she might have angered or who might have angered her, recounting the fight she had with Sabrina. In addition, you'd think she'd follow orders and stay put in once place, so that the akumatized Sabrina won't attack her. She wants to look good in front of her idol, and her life could be in danger again from an akuma that she helped create.
  Instead: Chloé is so self-centered and selfish that she doesn't tell them about her fight with Sabrina, and says Sabrina is too spineless to attack her when the Butler tells the heroic duo what happened. Once she's proven wrong, she puts on her own Ladybug costume and jumps into the fray, acting as The Millstone. Needless to say, Ladybug treats Chloé as an unreliable source and a Consummate Liar when Chloé actually figures out where the akuma is on Sabrina. Though a lot of this might be trying not to look bad in front of her idol, and then trying to win back favor.
• During the battle, Ladybug realizes that Chloé was right about where the akuma was. She's also fed up with Chloé for her actions. Chloé is peeved because Ladybug won't acknowledge that she helped a little, which Cat notices.
  You'd Expect: She would tell Chloé to her face what she told Cat: that Chloé had lied to them earlier and defied orders to stay put, could have been killed in her father's house, and has a track record of indirectly getting people corrupted. If Chloé really wants to help, she ought to treat people better, be more honest and know when a situation is dangerous. You build trust by showing that you are a trustworthy person, and Ladybug can pull out a Long List of times that Chloé has been untrustworthy. Sure, Chloé might still not listen, but at least Ladybug would try to reason with her and potentially lead to a Heel Realization.
  Instead: Ladybug is too fed up with Chloé to give her the What the Hell, Hero? speech to her face and tells Cat instead, focusing on getting a traumatized Sabrina outside to potential paramedics. Chloé, self-absorbed as she is, takes offense after seeing this rant on camera, allowing Hawk Moth to corrupt her. Cat and Ladybug then have a second akuma to deal with right when Ladybug needs to recharge. Cat and Tikki say that it's Ladybug's fault for not acknowledging Chloé's help earlier, but it was more that Ladybug didn't tell Chloé to her face what she did wrong. She may also not have wanted to try to lecture Chloé while angry at her, as she might have ended up making things worse, and she'd know that causing strong negative emotions is practically asking for an Akumatized maniac running around.

Volpina

• A new girl, Lila, has come to school with one Celebrity Lie after another.
  You'd Expect: For the people hearing her lies to at least question their validity, or maybe do some research into them.
  Instead: They unquestioningly believe everything that she says.
  For Additional Stupidity Points: They've met several of the people she's lying about (Marinette and Rose are personally acquainted with Jagged Stone and Prince Ali, respectively, and everyone in Bustier's class has met Ladybug at least once), making it seem odd that they're all so impressed at the fact Lila supposedly has.

• Marinette becomes a Green-Eyed Monster over how Lila fawns over Adrien, and the Ladybug lie is the last straw.
  You'd Expect: For Marinette to let it go, since an entire class of students who have seen Ladybug up close would eventually out Lila as a liar (though to be fair, the entire class as of Season 4 still hasn't). Also, Adrien has been fending off Chloé for half the season and has been spending more time with Marinette. She could also reduce her anger to venting to Tikki, who always reminds about Comes Great Responsibility and being the better person.
  Instead: Marinette turns into Ladybug and harshly humiliates Lila by outing her. Though it was only after she witnessed Lila steal the Miraculous Grimoire, toss it in the trash once getting what she wanted, and lied of being hero to Adrien to cement her previous lie of being Ladybug's bestie.

The Result: Akumatization aside, Lila vows revenge on Ladybug and becomes a willing accomplice of Hawk Moth before eventually succeeding him through a series of events in later seasons.

• And on yet another note: Cat Noir is immediately drawn in by Volpina's charm.
  You'd Expect: He would remember either the charm necklace Lila showed him or the name "Volpina" that Lila had mentioned, and also that Ladybug had called her out on being a liar, as well as also question why a meteorite, Hawk Moth, and a new Miraculous are all showing up on the same day.
  Instead: He flirts with Volpina over their cute outfits and questions Ladybug immediately when she is rightly suspicious. He's been working with Ladybug long enough that even if he disagreed with her jealous display earlier, he shouldn't be so quick to dismiss her and believe a relative stranger.
  Also: He scolds Ladybug for being overly harsh with Lila, rather than process that he was this close to believing a complete stranger about being a superhero, not to mention that said stranger was painting a giant target on her back by claiming to be "Ladybug's BFF" (when she wasn't badmouthing Ladybug to Adrien).

Season 2

Despair Bear

• Chloé is bored during a cooking lesson from Marinette's father.
  You'd Expect: Her to just keep badmouthing Marinette and her dad.
  Instead: She calls the fire department and when the "culprit" won't fess up, leading the principal to punish everyone, neatly blackmails him into not punishing her. Then when Adrien confronts her about it, she claims everyone should be thanking her, which causes Adrien to threaten to end their friendship.

Prime Queen

• During a live interview, Nadia Chamack asks Ladybug and Cat Noir to confirm that they are a couple. Ladybug vociferously denies any romantic relationship between the pair, and is visibly agitated.
  You'd Expect: Nadia to back off and try asking about something else. After all, even if they are a couple, Ladybug clearly isn't ready to admit it.
  Instead: She continues pestering Ladybug until the latter flips out, declares the interview over, and walks off.

Riposte

• During Adrien and Kagami's unhooked duel, they end up moving so fast the only person who manages to see the end of it is Marinette, who only recently learned the rules of fencing and isn't entirely sure who won.
  You'd Expect: D'Argencourt would make them have a rematch, possibly hooked up to the machine or at least restricted to one room to make it easier to referee.
  Instead: He gushes about how this is fencing as it should be, even though he can't tell who's won, and trusts Marinette's judgement even though she herself is openly doubtful as to whether or not it actually was Adrien who won. Naturally, Kagami's humiliation results in her being targeted by Hawk Moth.
• While Marinette gives the victory to Adrien, he and Kagami proved themselves to be beyond terrific fencers who would be an asset for any team.
  You'd Expect: D'Argencourt to make the logical choice and allow Kagami to join his academy.
  Instead: He just ignores Kagami while she leaves. If it wasn't for Adrien, Kagami would never have been part of the team.

Robustus

• Hawk Moth akumatizes a robot who is angry at being called just a robot and gives him the power to control other machines so that he can get vengeance on all of humanity.
  You'd Expect: That Hawk Moth, being human himself, would remember he has a security system capable of firing rockets installed in his lair, and take some kind of measures to prevent Robustus from being able to take it over. For example, he might try to avoid provoking his new villain's anger.
  Instead: When Robustus decides he wants the Miraculous for himself, Hawk Moth tries to rudely assert dominance over him by declaring the Miraculous are his and his alone, and then threatening to take Robustus's powers away if he does not comply. Naturally, Robustus takes over Hawk Moth's security system and turns it on him, leaving Hawk Moth to fend for his life, all while too busy to take away Robustus's superpowers.
  For Additional Stupidity Points: Hawk Moth did not have to tell Robustus about the wish-granting powers of the Cat and Ladybug Miraculouses. He could've simply said that they were powerful magical weapons used by Ladybug and Cat Noir, then tell Robustus that he wants to study the jewels out of curiosity.

Gigantitan

• Marinette and her friends plan a Zany Scheme to set up Marinette's date with Adrien. They have different codenames to describe the mission; Adrien is Buttercup, Alya is Tiger Lily, Alix is Violet, Mylène is Sunflower, Juleka is Rose and Rose herself is Tulip. As Rose's real name was used for Juleka's codename, she gets confused over the One-Steve Limit being broken.
  You'd Expect: Marinette and Alya to decide on a new flower name so it won't be so confusing, such as Iris or Daffodil.
  Alternatively You'd Expect: They would have no need to use code names since it's a date, not a serious mission.
  Instead: They don't even bother to think about it, despite how the actual Rose is clearly confused.
  The Result: When the plan takes place, Marinette hears Juleka struggling to work up the confidence to speak up to Roger, so she tells "Rose" that she can do it now. The actual Rose misinterprets that Marinette was talking to her, so she signals Théo to move earlier than planned and the scheme is almost thrown out of whack.
• Hawk Moth senses the Gorilla's negative emotions over his frustration over receiving parking tickets from Officer Roger, and sends an akuma after him. However, the Gorilla calms down when he sees Adrien and the akuma targets baby August instead.
  You'd Expect: Hawk Moth has threatened to take away his villains' powers in the past, so he could just recall the akuma with ease and send it after someone else.
  Instead: He thinks that an easily-distracted baby who is too young to understand anything around him let alone speak is definitely going to work out for him.
  The Result: He akumatises August into Gigantitan without even considering once that the akumatized baby will only be a hindrance, and never tries to take away his powers no matter how frustrated he gets. This results in Gigantitan being uncontrollable and desiring to play rather than obeying his master, while Hawk Moth gets into a tirade of frustration and Comical Overreacting.
  But Wait! It Gets Worse!: He learns nothing from this experience, and goes after him again offscreen in the leadup to "Weredad".

Gorizilla

• Hawk Moth has suspected that his son is Cat Noir ever since spotting the ring on Adrien's finger back during "Simon Says". The ring may carry a powerful Miraculous and gives the wearer extraordinary powers. Also, it's one MacGuffin that Hawk Moth needs, ostensibly to resurrect or restore his wife.
  You'd Expect: Gabriel would try to corrupt Adrien into an akuma. This would go well for him regardless of what happens: if Miraculous holders can be akumatized, he could just order Adrien to hand over the Miraculous before going after Ladybug. If not, he finds out that his son has some immunity to it. Even in the counterfactual that Adrien isn't actually Cat Noir, Hawk Moth could still do his usual Monster of the Week thing with him. It could even help draw attention further away from Gabriel, since nobody would corrupt their own flesh and blood, right?
  Alternatively You'd Expect: Maybe Gabriel would, in fact, never corrupt his own flesh and blood. In that case, given that he already knows Adrien wears the ring, a simple solution would be to find an excuse to examine or steal the ring, or switch it with an exact replica. Then he can figure out if the ring is a Miraculous, and then he has half his goal accomplished! Gabriel is a fashion designer worth millions, so he could easily commission a clever fake without anyone asking too many questions.
  Instead: Gabriel corrupts Adrien's bodyguard into an akuma and orders Gorizilla to kidnap his son. While Adrien is running from paparazzi, has just found a fan that dresses exactly like him that can serve as a Body Double, and has developed a healthy survival instinct due to his fencing classes.
  The Result: Adrien has to jump off a building to keep Hawk Moth from defeating Ladybug, and is able to protect his secret identity when Hawk Moth flinches first and orders Gorizilla to let Ladybug rescue him. Without intending or even knowing it, Adrien has convinced Gabriel that he is not Cat Noir.

Captain Hardrock

• Anarka is hosting her daughter's band and friends on her houseboat for the music festival. When they test-play, the music is so loud that it flips cars on the nearby street. Naturally Officer Roger shows up with a noise complaint, and tells Anarka that the noise is louder than a jet engine.
  You'd Expect: Anarka to turn the music down. In addition to flipping cars, it could be dangerous to the kids on the houseboat to be around such decibels, and Roger's just showing up to give her a warning. She's not in trouble yet. Even the kids agree they need to turn things down.
  Instead: Anarka not only refuses Roger's multiple points and the kids wanting to turn the music down in favor of her houseboat being her domain where she can do what she wants, but so insults him that he looks into the boat...which is lacking permits and breaking other regulations that he'd never have noticed if she hadn't fought him on the noise thing.
  The Result: Anarka is written up for all the laws she's breaking and is so upset at being embarrassed and undermined in front of the kids that she's easy prey for Hawk Moth.
  

Zombizou

• Miss Bustier has just spotted an akuma that was going after Marinette. While she's managed to calm Marinette's negative emotions, her own fear of her student getting akumatized has made her the evil butterfly's next target, and when she throws her lipstick at it, the akuma infests it.
  You'd Expect: That Marinette, using the precious seconds granted by Miss Bustier resisting Hawk Moth, quickly runs to the infested lipstick and destroys it immediately. Akumas seem to be common knowledge by now, so it's not like this would out her as Ladybug or anything.
  Instead: She just kinda, stands there. Yes, she encourages Miss Bustier to resist, which is all well and good, but it doesn't work, while releasing the akuma immediately would definitely free her.
  The Result: The entire rest of the episode. Which is, of course, exactly the reason she didn't do the smart thing.

Troublemaker

• While filming a reality TV show at Tom & Sabine's bakery, Jagged Stone has a bag of flour dumped over his head by accident and Penny asks where the restroom is so he can wash up before the show resumes filming. Marinette tells him there's one upstairs.
  You'd Expect: That Jagged Stone would check all the doors of the second floor to find which one leads to the restroom.
  You'd Further Expect: That the crew filming the show would wait for Jagged to return or send a runner to find out what's taking so long and help him out.
  Additionally, You'd Expect: That the film crew would take the day's footage back to the studio for editing before airing it rather than just filming a live show in someone's house.
  Instead: He follows the stairs all the way to the top floor - the fourth floor - which is Marinette's bedroom and gets distracted by her sketches and pictures of himself and Adrien. The film crew also follows him up to resume filming sooner for live TV.
  The Result: Marinette's bedroom, and consequently her 'crush shrine' of Adrien, are broadcast to all of Paris (perhaps even all of France), embarrassing her on a national level.

Syren

• The entire city has been flooded and Marinette and her friends quickly get to the top of the Movie Theater. Kim thinks of swimming in it.
  You'd Expect: Kim to realize that this is obviously the result of another Akumatized villain sent by Hawk Moth and stay on the surface where it's safe so Ladybug and Cat Noir can deal with the situation.
  Instead: He decides to go take a dip in the water not even noticing the shark like fin heading towards him.
  The Result: He gets captured by the titular villain and needs to be saved by Ladybug and Cat Noir.
  

Anansi

• Anansi, a spider-themed villain has Alya trapped in a giant web. Ladybug and Cat Noir agree that she will fight and distract Anansi, while he will save Alya.
  You'd Expect: Cat to quickly Cataclysm the web, grab Alya and find a way to de-transform and re-transform quickly.
  Instead: He gets caught in the sticky web.
  The Result: Cat is left out of the battle, almost getting his Miraculous taken, and forcing Nino to become Carapace.
  

Malediktator

• The titular villain of the episode has placed Cat Noir under his control when he tried charging against him when Ladybug figured out the abacus summoned in her Lucky Charm power means to go to Master Fu for help.
  You'd Expect: Malediktator would order Cat Noir to hand over his Miraculous for Hawk Moth.
  Instead: He orders him to act like a cat which makes his task to get his Miraculous difficult with Cat Noir hissing at him whenever he tries to make his advance for it.
  The Result: The feline Cat Noir eventually comes back to bite him when Ladybug receives a laser pointer with her Lucky Charm. She uses the laser pointer to distract the big kitty and maneuver him to take out Malediktator's guards, leaving him vulnerable to Ladybug and Queen Bee. Thanks to his poor decision, Malediktator effectively set up his own downfall.

Catalyst

• Hawk Moth has been empowered by his newest villain Catalyst, and unleashes a swarm of red akuma on the citizens of Paris after falling into a Despair Event Horizon when they think their heroes are no more. The school is attacked by the red akuma and the students and teachers are aware of the dangers that the akuma face (as most of them know they were akumatized before).
  You'd Expect: Everyone who knows about the Deadline News report, and particularly when Nadja, Jagged and Clara have been re-akumatized all at once, to evacuate school grounds or find a secure hiding spot.
  Instead: They just stay where they are and helplessly try to fend off the akumas. Mr. Damocles, the school principal, decides to dress up as The Owl and fires a toy weapon (with no avail) when his students are in real danger.
  The Result: They are akumatized one by one, and become part of Hawk Moth's army of Catalyst-powered villains.

Mayura

• During the fight against the reakumatized villains, Rena Rouge witnesses Dark Cupid about to shoot his arrow towards Carapace.
  You'd Expect: She would grab hold of the shield that was below the ground near her and throw it towards him, so that he could catch it just in time to defend himself from the attack. After all, they need each other to avoid getting themselves akumatized if anything happens to the other.
  Instead: She takes the blow in his stead, resulting in filling herself with hatred and after a few seconds of trying to fight it, quickly turning against Carapace.

Season 3

Chameleon

• Lila returns, and she's still lying about herself, with only Marinette and Adrien realizing that she is.
  You'd Expect: The rest of the class to start getting suspicious of her by now, especially since All-Loving Hero Marinette (who they expressed their admiration for in the previous episode) seems to dislike her for some reason.
  Instead: They still unquestioningly believe everything she says, with Marinette's own decisions regarding the matter (see below) and Adrien's unwillingness to expose her not helping a bit.
  The Result: Lila's complete control over the entire class is what puts pretty much everything that happens in this episode into motion.
  For Additional Stupidity Points: Upon catching a napkin Marinette threw at her, Lila tells the glasses-wearing Max (who is standing up while Lila is sitting) that, by catching it, she just saved his eyes from harm. He buys it.
• Marinette wants to expose Lila as a liar, thus saving her friends from being taken in by her.
  You'd Expect: That after seeing how easily Lila won everyone over the first time, and how prepared she has been to counter previous accusations, that Marinette would take the time to make sure her accusations were as solid as possible.
  Instead: Marinette is caught flat-footed when she realizes that much of the reasons she knows Lila is lying involve secrets she isn't willing to reveal.
  The Result: Marinette comes across to everyone but Adrien as having an irrational dislike of Lila, who intends to make her life miserable.
  Alternately, You'd Expect: She'd start by trying to discredit Lila's story about how she got tinnitus by using her own connections with Jagged Stone.
  Instead: She doesn't, and no one ever suggests the option.

Animaestro

• Animaestro is a shape-shifting villain who cannot move if he’s not seen.
  You’d Expect: Him to not use a form that relies on being hidden.
  Instead: He becomes a Gratuitous Ninja and throws down a smoke bomb to conceal himself.
  The Result: He freezes, and with the help of Ladybug's Lucky Charm, the heroes figure out he can only move while seen.
  For Extra Stupidity Points: He has a kaiju form, both highly-visible and appropriately powerful, and yet he barely uses it.

Oni-Chan

• Lila is able to convince Nathalie to let her enter the Agreste Mansion under the pretext of helping Adrien with his grades. When Gabriel learns about this he wants to make sure it won't happen again.
  You'd Expect: For him to give Nathalie clear instructions not to let Lila enter without his permission.
  Instead: He akumatizes Kagami into Oni-Chan with the specific purpose of going after Lila. Soon Lila has a horn on her head which gives her away every time she lies.
  The Result: Lila's cunning plan to separate Ladybug and Cat Noir so that Ladybug fights alone and gets defeated fails because of that horn. Because Hawk Moth sabotaged Lila he doesn't get the Miraculouses once again. What's worse, Cat Noir stops trusting Lila, making it much harder for her to fool the heroes again. Hawk Moth did Lila and therefore himself a great disservice.
• Adrien has previously stated that it doesn't really matter if Lila lies, as long as he and Marinette know the truth. Then, he realizes during the fight that Lila lied to him in order to leave Ladybug alone with Oni-chan, so that Ladybug would be either killed or have her Miraculous stolen and be revealed to Hawk Moth - and Lila wasn't even Akumatized to do this.
  You'd Expect: Adrien would realize that Lila is dangerous and decide to either tell an adult or warn his friends (at very least Nino and Alya) about Lila's habit of lying.
  Instead: He does NOT warn any of his friends about Lila's lying, nor does he find Marinette to validate her worries. Instead, he decides to warn Lila privately not to harm the people he loves.
  The Result: Lila eventually gets Marinette expelled.

Weredad

• Marinette falsely confesses to Cat Noir in order to divert him from deducing her secret identity. Her father Tom overhears this, goes into full Shipper on Deck mode, invites him over for breakfast, and spends the whole morning gushing about their match. Cat Noir arrives, and after an awkward breakfast he shoots Marinette down.
  You'd Expect: Marinette to play the part of a Graceful Loser, note how she should have known a "celebrity crush" wouldn't work out, and maybe start going on about a certain blond in her class, mitigating the damage Tom will suffer when his efforts are wasted.
  Instead: Marinette goes into full melodramatic breakdown mode and acts heartbroken enough that someone who didn't know any better might think she was a fat juicy target for an akuma.
  The Result: Tom is utterly crushed and blames Cat Noir for destroying his daughter's heart, and his head is handed to Hawk Moth on a silver platter.
• Tom invites Cat Noir over for a 'get to know you' brunch, being super excited that his daughter (supposedly) has a superhero boyfriend.
  You'd Expect: For Tom to actually try and get to know Cat Noir as a person and see if he and Marinette are a good fit romantically.
  Instead: He becomes incredibly overbearing in his excitement over his daughter's (supposed) relationship that he completely talks over everything Cat Noir says and begins planning their future together without any regard for what Cat or even his daughter might actually want.
  The Result: When Cat finally gets out that he isn't in love with Marinette and only came to be polite and set the record straight, Tom gets akumatized over it.

Backwarder

• Marinette has to deliver three letters - a love letter to Adrien, a love letter from Master Fu to his old love Marianne, and a prescription for medicine that Master Fu needs. You can probably figure out where this one is going.
  You'd Expect: For Marinette to mark each letter so she can distinguish them, or at least double-check that she's delivering the right letter to the right recipient.
  Instead: Marinette does no such thing. Predictably, the letters get jumbled, and Marinette not only flushes an opportunity to confess to Adrien down the drain but also enables Hawk Moth to akumatize someone who knows the guardian.

Stormy Weather 2

• Marinette works up the courage to write "See you tomorrow at school. Love, your friend, Marinette." on a post-it note she put on Adrien's homework. Adrien pulls out an old valentine he found, compares the handwriting, and sees they are identical.
  You'd Expect: Adrien to realize that Marinette is in love with him, and didn't just put "Love" for no reason.
  Instead: He assumes that the love letter is from someone else with similar handwriting. It doesn't help that Marinette's frequent denials, like the clip shown from "Troublemaker", as well as Adrien thinking that she might have a thing for Luka with their ice-skating scene from "Frozer", have convinced him that Marinette doesn't see him in a romantic sense.

Silencer

• Bob Roth is taken to a place with a camera so Silencer can force him to confess he and XY stole the idea presented as the latter's before Ladybug as Cat Noir rescue him.
  You'd Expect: Bob Roth to be careful what he says once he's back there after the akuma is defeated.
  Instead: He gloats about how Luka and his friends won't be able to do anything about the fact he stole their work and only then notices the others' smiles and notices the camera is still on.
• Luka is akumatized into Silencer, and intends to get revenge on Bob Roth for stealing his music and for hurting Marinette.
  You'd Expect: Bob to let Ladybug handle everything and not get in her way. Ladybug has dealt with numerous supervillians, so he should hide somewhere away from Silencer, and even if Silencer goes after him, Ladybug can stop him and battle him for his akuma.
  Instead: Bob demands Ladybug save him first, even pushing her to fight Silencer. Later, when Ladybug is working out her Lucky Charm he ridicules her for literally every move she makes. He gets what he deserves when the heroes reveal his plagiarist ways on live television.
• Marinette and her friends find out that their song and clip has been ripped off by one of the most well-known stars in Paris.
  You'd Expect: They can easily prove that their version of the song and clip is the original one. They recorded everything digitally and XY is a digital "artist", so they could easily go public and challenge XY and Bob Roth to produce anything created before Marinette's recording.
  Instead: They confront Bob Roth in person and get brushed off, which causes Luka to become angry enough to be akumatized.

Miraculer

• Hawk Moth creates an akumatized villain who can not only steal the powers from Miraculous holders, but pass them on to others, and she quickly steals Ladybug and Cat Noir's. Plus, since the two just took down a sentimonster, they are forced to leave to recharge.
  You’d Expect: Hawk Moth to have her give the powers to him or Mayura as quickly as possible.
  Instead: He has her wasting time trying to make Chloé have a Face–Heel Turn. This is completely redundant when he has access to the powers.
  And So: Miraculer stays in public, letting the heroes return with backup and ultimately defeat her.
• Shortly after showing up, Miraculer steals Cat Noir's powers and hits him with his own Cataclysm.
  You'd Expect: Hawk Moth to instruct her to take Cat Noir's ring while he's depowered and injured.
  Instead: He tells her to leave and go after Chloé.
• Chloé has Mayura right where she wants her and is about to take her Miraculous.
  You’d Expect: For her to venom Mayura before taking the Miraculous.
  Instead: She doesn’t and Mayura gets away.

Desperada

• Jagged Stone needs a guitarist to perform with him. Alya prompts Marinette to suggest Luka, not expecting her to volunteer Adrien instead (despite the fact that he's not a guitarist - yeah, they kind of play hacky-sack with the ball in this scene).
  You'd Expect: Someone else would volunteer Luka.
  Instead: The girls keep pushing Marinette, who continues to miss their point entirely and suggest a visibly upset Luka lend Adrien his guitar.

Kwamibuster

• Ms. Mendeleiev makes repeated observations of a phenomenon (the existence of Kwamis) that, if proved, would turn established science on its head, but her initial attempts to document it fail to show the crucial details.
  You'd Expect: She’d attempt to redesign her experiment to see if other anomalous measurements can be captured, and if that failed, get some other scientists to observe directly alongside her and provide corroborating evidence, before submitting her findings to an established peer-review journal.
  Instead: She makes the announcement of her discovery on a trashy game show where the other contestants include Cloudcuckoolander Jalil Kubdel, presenting as evidence a video that looks like crude stop-motion animation and truly inept sketches of the kwamis that only their owners are able to recognize as such.

Ikari Gozen

• Ikari Gozen has almost won, having captured Cat and Ryuko is surrendering after escaping with the power of a new and incredibly powerful Miraculous, that she used to give quite a fight.
  You'd Expect: Her to do something as simple as take Ryuko's Miraculous, which would leave her helpless and possibly use Cat and Kagami as hostages, to force Ladybug to surrender.
  Instead: She lets Ryuko keep the Miraculous, with no attempt to remove it, and no question as to why her daughter, who had been fighting her just a few seconds ago, is now surrendering.
  The Result: Ryuko uses another power of the Miraculous and the Lucky Charm, and escapes with Cat Noir, giving him the perfect opportunity to Cataclysm her bokken, leaving her powerless.
  For Additional Stupidity Points: Ryuko had used the Miraculous to escape minutes ago, and she had not used up all of its abilities.

Félix

• Rose Lavillant is akumatized into Princess Fragrance again.
  You'd Expect: Her to try to spray her mind-control perfume as much as possible. In fact, this strategy has been proven effective, allowing her to cut off a pursuing Ladybug.
  Instead: She just shoots like she's using a normal gun, even in a closed room which would make the strategy above even more effective.
  The Result: She and other two of the "Punishers Trio" are easily overpowered by Nathalie and later Félix, two normal civilians.
• Félix, for unknown reasons, he seems to want Gabriel's wedding ring.
  You'd Expect: For him to try to do it in secret.
  Instead: He tries to make a deal with Hawk Moth (who, ironically, is Gabriel himself) to steal a certain piece of jewelry. He says it out loud in public, with five other witnesses, one of whom is Cat Noir (who, more ironically, is Gabriel's son).
  The Result: When Gabriel notices his ring is missing, he immediately realizes the culprit.
  For Additional Stupidity Points: Gabriel is not just a famous fashion designer, he is also Hawk Moth, who is a supervillain driven by love for his wife. So the furious face he makes at the end shows that he won't let Félix. While Félix did steal the ring, it was also a Bait-and-Switch as he never specifically mentioned what jewelry he was actually after.

Ladybug

• Marinette is suspected of cheating after an anonymous note accuses her of stealing test answers and the missing answer sheet is found in her bag.
  You'd expect: For Ms. Bustier, Marinette's classmates, or Marinette herself, to point out the exam was only a mock exam. There's no reason for anyone, let alone a top student like Marinette, to do something as risky as stealing an answer sheet just to get a perfect score on a test that isn't even for a grade.
  You'd further expect: For them to realize that if Marinette had stolen the test answers, she would have gotten rid of the answer sheet immediately after the exam rather than still keep it in her bag long after the mock exam is over.
  You might also expect: For them to grow suspicious of the timing of these events. Whoever left the anonymous note didn't bother reporting Marinette and the theft before the exam, when the alleged cheating could've actually been prevented, and instead waited until the day the graded exams were to be passed back, when it would've been too late. Moreover, flashbacks indicate that Lila was the one who actually stole the answer sheet after class as everyone was leaving the classroom, and that she then planted them in Marinette's backpack shortly afterwards. All this should've happened the day before the graded exams were passed back, since Lila's clearly very impatient and there'd be no reason for her to wait a day or more before framing Marinette. Thus, the answer sheet didn't go missing until after the exam, which Ms. Bustier should've noticed, since the answer sheet was one of the few items on her desk and was even placed in plain sight when Lila stole it. If Ms. Bustier had realized the answer sheet only went missing after the mock exams were over, it would vindicate Marinette and prove the anonymous informer was lying and likely the one who actually stole the test answers to frame Marinette.
  Instead: No one realizes or points out any of this.
  The Result: Marinette isn't able to properly defend herself against the accusations or convince the adults she's being framed.
• Lila walks down the stairs, lies on the floor and accuses Marinette of pushing her down the stairs.
  You'd expect: For the school nurse or a paramedic to check her body for injuries, considering that she supposedly fell down a story's worth of stairs and would be seriously injured as a result.
  Instead: No one thinks to do that, and only her knee is treated.
  The Result: Everyone believes Marinette pushed her, putting her one step closer to expulsion.
• Lila claims that Marinette stole her necklace and put it in her locker.
  You'd Expect: For Marinette to tell everyone that there's been a mistake and that the necklace in her locker is actually from a jewelry store in Paris, as she saw Lila stopping by one before showing the foxtail pendant to Adrien. Furthermore, Lila's necklace is actually a mass-produced piece from Gabriel's jewelry line, something that Adrien should recognize. It'd be a perfectly plausible explanation for both Marinette and Lila to have identical necklaces.

You might also expect: People to ask how Lila knows Marinette put it in her locker without actually seeing her do it. Furthermore, they would notice that Marinette's locker has no lock, meaning it would be easy to plant something within it. Not to mention, the whole sudden Orgy of Evidence that makes Marinette look guilty for all these different things would seem rather suspicious...
Instead: Most of the room buys that Marinette stole the necklace, leaving them open for a mass-Akumatization.

• Adrien knows Lila is lying, has seen evidence that she would go to great lengths to see Ladybug harmed, and is seeing her in the process of getting one of his best friends expelled - and then nearly causes a mass Akumatization!
  You'd expect: The minute the threat of mass-Akumatization ends, he would out Lila as a liar before she can harm more people and state Marinette's innocence to prevent her from being expelled (or even worse, Akumatized). Or, if not that, then later tell his friends that Lila IS lying and that she tried to get Marinette expelled on purpose, so that they can offer Marinette support. Or at least check up on Marinette himself to make sure she's not still at risk of Akumatization.
  Instead: He lurks around school after the mass-Akumatization scare doing nothing useful (at one point eavesdropping on Alya, listening in on her conversation rather than, maybe, telling her that Lila is a liar) until the Ladybug doppelgänger fight, then later pressures Lila to lie to get Marinette back in school using his friendship (and the benefits she gets from it) as a bribe.
  The Result: Lila does a photoshoot with Adrien, giving her the fame and admiration that she wants, and giving her absolutely no consequences nor any reason to stop bullying Marinette. Not to mention, now it looks like he's publicly siding with Marinette's bully.

Heart Hunter

• Ladybug attempts to approach Master Fu for an ally after being back into a wall against Heart Hunter.
  You'd Expect: For her to remember to transform back into Marinette. After all, she realized Mayura has been following her in order to get to Fu.
  Instead: She forgets to transform back as she goes to Fu, allowing Hawk Moth and Mayura to locate him and steal his Miracle Box.
• As for Ladybug given a choice for an ally in this episode...
  You'd Expect: Her to give Chloé the Bee Miraculous for this mission. After all, it's her parents who are akumatized, and she deserves to be involved in hopes of purifying them.
  Instead: She chooses to give Kagami the Dragon Miraculous in an attempt to separate her from Adrien after witnessing them being lovey-dovey with each other on her way to Fu.
  Result: Chloé is convinced by Hawk Moth that Ladybug will never entrust her with the Bee Miraculous again no matter what she does, so she willingly join forces with him to take Ladybug down as Miracle Queen.
  For Additional Stupidity Points: Marinette's ostensible reason for kicking Chloé off the team was because her lack of a secret identity would put her family in danger. Who does she recruit at a time when Chloé's family is already in danger? The only other hero whose identity is public knowledge. She couldn't have done a better job of driving Chloé into Hawk Moth's arms if she tried. And even worse, she continues to make use of the other heroes even after they are all outed to Hawk Moth, rendering the whole plotline moot. One wonders if it would have been smarter to boot Chloé for conduct unbecoming...

Miracle Queen

• Master Fu is confronted by Hawk Moth, who later is joined by Mayura. Luckily, he activates Shellter on time to create a temporary hideout.
  You'd Expect: For him to immediately try to contact Ladybug and Cat Noir for help. The tools can function as a phone (and even if his shield can't, he still has his normal mobile phone). At the very least, he can warn them.
  Instead: He does nothing above.
  Result: Ladybug and Cat Noir don't know what is going on until they see the bee swarm. They wouldn't have escaped if not for the sacrifices of Luka and Kagami.
• Miracle Queen controls almost everybody in Paris (including every hero except Ladybug and Cat Noir) and also has 12 Miraculouses at her disposal.
  You'd Expect: For her to use the gigantic army under her control to attack and capture Ladybug and Cat Noir as soon as they show up. She also has 12 heroes under her command, which includes experienced fighters like Nino and Kagami.
  Instead: She uses only 4 heroes and wastes Nino and Kagami as servants instead of giving them a Miraculous. She also starts gloating and doesn't pay attention to the battle.
  Result: She is defeated rather quickly without ever using her real potential.
• Hawk Moth has managed to get the Miracle Box and no less than 12 Miraculouses.
  You'd Expect: For him to take the Miraculouses which Miracle Queen doesn't use for himself. If she fails he still has 8 very powerful Miraculouses as a consolation prize (among them the Bunny Miraculous).
  Instead: He leaves every Miraculous with Chloé, who is defeated and embarrasses herself afterwards because she has no idea how to use them.
  The Result: Hawk Moth loses every Miraculous he gained in "Heart Hunter".
  For Additional Stupidity Points: Master Fu is unconscious, lies right in front of Hawk Moth and still wears the Turtle Miraculous. Instead of just taking it without any resistance, Hawk Moth leaves it behind and flees with Mayura.
• Chloé is left alone by the other villains and tells Ladybug she'll keep the Bee Miraculous for good this time.
  You'd Expect: For her to at least try to flee so Ladybug won't try to take it from her even if she has to hide since Ladybug knows where she lives.
  Instead: She approaches Ladybug to tell it to her face.
  Result: Ladybug takes advantage of this to pull the Bee Miraculous from her head, making Chloé leave empty-handed.

Season 4

Gang of Secrets

• Marinette keeps the Miracle Box at a new hiding spot in the start of the episode.
  You'd Expect: Marinette to have chosen a better, more secure, hiding spot for the Box so that none of her parents or friends would reach it. Especially considering how the villain Truth was close to finding the egg when it was hidden out in the open a few episodes ago.
  Instead: She hides it inside a fragile dollhouse and has it placed in her room where anyone can see and touch it. Case in point with Rose lifting the top of the dollhouse.
  Result: She yells at her friends and denounces their friendships, which make them emotionally vulnerable for akumatization.
  For Additional Stupidity Points: She already had the secret compartment that would secure the Miracle Box so there's no reason why she couldn't have placed it inside the sewing box to begin with.

Hack-San

• Marinette is leaving Paris for a bit and has decided to entrust her Miraculous to Alya while she's gone.
  You'd Expect: For her to let Cat Noir know she's having someone temporarily fill in for her.
  Instead: It slips her mind completely.
  Result: When Cat sees Scarabella for the first time, he immediately assumes she's an akuma or sentimonster and attacks her.
  You'd Also Expect: Even if she finds it safer to leave the Ladybug Miraculous with Alya, Marinette would bring the Horse to teleport back or away in case of emergency.
  Instead: She once again ignores the same contingency plan that she wanted to use in "Startrain".
  Result: During the akuma attack, Marinette is stuck on the train, and her brainwashed parents upload her to Robostus's digital stasis.

• Scarabella threatens to have Cat Noir destroy her earrings in order to get Robustus to listen to her requests.
  You'd Expect: The bionic villain, or even Shadow Moth, to have one of his brainwashed minions silently sneak up behind the heroes to capture them while they're negotiating. Especially considering that they were completely surrounded.
  Instead: They follow through with Scarabella's requests of freeing the precious items (and Marinette) in exchange for her capture.
  Result: Robustus is instantly knocked out thanks to Marinette pulling a Rapunzel on him.

Rocketear

• Nino asks Ladybug, and later Alya, as to why the latter doesn't appear anymore as Rena Rouge.
  You'd Expect: For either girl to explain that it's become too dangerous for Alya to become Rena since Shadow Moth targeted her. Especially since her family, including Nino, were recently abducted to force Alya into betraying Ladybug.
  Instead: They dance around the issue without giving a genuine reason.
  Result: Nino begins having paranoid thoughts about his girlfriend which would lead to him deducing that she's cheating on him with Cat Noir.

Dearest Family

• The Kwamis try to warn Marinette about how dangerous Tikki can become when her cravings get out of control.
  You'd Expect: Marinette acknowledges that the other Kwamis have known Tikki for much longer than she has (thousands of years to be more exact) asks them for advice on how to properly deal with the situation.
  Instead: Marinette downplays the Kwamis' concerns and blindly trusts Tikki.

Ephemeral

• Su-Han is angry that Ladybug can't contact Cat Noir in an emergency and issues an ultimatum - he wants his identity or his ring. Ladybug agrees to find out and enlists the aid of Luka/Viperion, who is coincidentally with her at the time.
  You'd Expect: Viperion to nod, act like he's rewound time, and then give Su-Han Cat's identity since he found out in "Wishmaker".
  Instead: He goes along with the complicated scheme.

• Ladybug comes with a plan to convince Cat Noir to reveal his identity, harnessing the power of Viperion so that he will be the only one to remember it. Establishing that If they know each other's identity, all would take is just for one to be akumatized to betray the other.
  You'd Expect: Ladybug remains adamant that what she said. Especially since she has seen with her own eyes the consequences of both knowing their identities and she still has nightmares about Cat Blanc.
  Instead: Ladybug finds out that Cat Noir is the boy she has a crush on, and asks Viperion not to SC it, just out of her curiosity to see what's gonna happen.
  Result: Gabriel finally obtains both Miraculouses and makes his wish, and Luka and Sass have to push the Snake's Time Travel to the max to undo this.

Penalteam

• Ladybug sees Penalty warp her akumatized object into a floating force field.^note She is and has been looking upwards after Penalty uses this power, suggesting she can see the distant force fields. Otherwise, she'd be excused for not knowing where the object ended up.
  You'd Expect: As Pegabug, she portals into the force field and purifies the akuma without a fight — like her own escape from a floating bubble in "Sentibubbler".
  Instead: Ladybug insists on beating Penalteam at their own game to frustrate Penalty into deakumatizing herself. When Cat Noir reveals he can't play soccer, Ladybug doubles down using other Miraculous.
  Result: To build a capable rival team, Ladybug distributes every Miraculous she can, including four that have never been in play before. This stakes virtually every Miraculous and superhero on a soccer game.

Risk

• Alya has been skeptical (like everyone else, aside from Adrien) of Marinette's claims that Lila is an unrepentant liar. In "Chameleon", she asks Marinette for proof that Lila isn't friends with Ladybug. At the time, Marinette is unable to provide this evidence. In "Gang of Secrets", Alya discovers that Marinette is Ladybug.
  You'd Expect: She'd finally realize that Lila was lying about being friends with Ladybug — obviously, Marinette hates her — and it might start to dawn on her that, if Lila was lying about that, she may be lying about a lot of other things.
  Instead: Alya still won't take seriously the idea that Lila is anything more than a scam artist or that Marinette's dislike of her is rooted in anything other than jealousy.

• Félix hates Shadowmoth/Gabriel Agreste, but doesn't see an opportunity for him to steal the Peacock Miraculous, so he settles for trading Gabriel's wedding ring for it while sweetening the pot with the other Miraculouses.
  You'd Expect: He'd still try to double-cross his uncle (who expected it) or negotiate the best possible deal in some way, like finding out which Miraculous Shadow Moth values more and exchange the Peacock Miraculous for that.
  Instead: He gives Gabriel every single Miraculous he could get his hands on, rendering his enemy unnecessarily powerful in the process.
  Result: Félix makes Gabriel more dangerous as Monarch and it comes back to bite Félix after an eventual attempt on his uncle's life that puts him in Monarch's crosshairs. He faces a villian who has four different Miraculous' powers she can use because of his actions, with Félix only surviving thanks to Ladybug's and Cat Noir's hesitance to allow anyone to get hurt, even someone like Félix who played them for his own self interests.

Season 5

• The season as a whole was a big "What An Idiot" moment for Gabriel. And it begins when Nathalie convinces him to use the Rabbit Miraculous to give his past self a USB drive with the means of repairing the Peacock Miraculous. And he had a clear shot while the heroes were setting a obivious trap for him in another time period.
  You'd Expect: For him to actually do it, saving Emilie and Nathalie as the result of altering the past.
  Instead: He grabs a firm hold on the Villain Ball and walks into trap. He loses the Rabbit Miraculous and Nathalie's friendship, blaming Ladybug for his mistake as he decides to have the Kwami take him to where she lives.
  You'd Expect: For him to quickly deduce Marinette is Ladybug.
  Instead: He lets himself get suckered into a wild goose chase that ends with him ending up in another obvious trap by Ladybug and Cat Noir, forcing him escape by tanking a Cataclysm that is gradually killing him.
  You'd Expect: For him to listen to Nathalie and use his remaining time to spend time with Adrien and make arrangements for someone to look after him.
  Instead: He becomes more controlling of his son, arranging him to be in a relationship with Kagami per his arrangement with Tomoe as part of their masterplan to get the heroes' Miraculouses. In the process, Gabriel alienates Nathalie further and makes an enemy out of Lila Rossi. Then he learns of Adrien's feelings for Marinette.
  You'd Expect: For him to be understanding of his son since he came from humble beginings like Marinette.
  Instead: He refuses to acknowledge Marinette, threatens to ruin any chance of her getting a career in fashion, and ultimately sends Adrien away to London with Kagami before proceeding with his masterplan.
  Result: By keeping Adrien and Marinette apart, inflicting them with nightmares with the rest of the world, he caused the former to sent his Miraculous for the latter's use. In the end, his obession with beating Ladybug at any cost was his undoing.
  For Additional Stupidity Points: He also has the Snake Miraculous, another time manipulating Miraculous, which he could have used at any point during his time travel escapades to undo any counterattack Ladybug and Cat Noir try on him, or to prevent the heroes from trapping him. Guess what he does with it? By the time he does use it after the events of "Destruction" to give his villians an advantage, it ends up worsening his condition and further shortening his life. He also failed to utilize it to prevent Marinette from becoming Bug Noir, the form she uses to defeat him.

Evolution

• Ladybug and Rabbit Noir corner Monarch in Paris during World War II where he ultimately collapses from exhaustion.
  You'd Expect: For either of them to take as many of his stolen Miraculous as they could before he wakes up or they're caught by the Nazi patrol officers.
  Instead: Ladybug only goes for the Rabbit Miraculous which is instantly taken from her when Monarch uses Fetch.
  Additionally: The two heroes literally saw Monarch touch the Rabbit Miraculous with the Dog Ball, meaning that he'd be able to reclaim it. So you'd have expected them to also take the Dog Miraculous.
  Result: Monarch reclaims the Rabbit and escapes into another time period.

• Gabriel has all of the Miraculouses at his disposal, including the Rabbit Miraculous, which allows him to time travel. Naturally, he decides to use it.
  You'd Expect: For him to immediately go back in time and prevent his wife from falling into her coma, something that Nathalie points out later in the episode.
  Instead: He grabs a firm hold on the Villain Ball and tries to discover Ladybug and Cat Noir's identities first, even though it might not even matter in a timeline where his wife is still around.
  Additionally: Eventually, he does get a clear shot at giving his past self the USB that'll help prevent his wife's coma, but he gives it up in favor of chasing after an incredibly obvious trap set by the heroes.
  Result: Thanks to a combination of his boneheaded actions and him discovering the downside of wielding too many Miraculouses the hard way, the heroes manage to take back the Rabbit from him, meaning he can't try this plan again. Additionally, his refusal to immediately cure his wife or Nathalie with this power ends up being The Last Straw for the latter, who quits working for him.
  For Additional Stupidity Points: He also has the Snake Miraculous, another time manipulating Miraculous, which he could have used at any point during his time travel escapades to undo any counterattack Ladybug and Cat Noir try on him. Guess what he does with it?

Destruction

• Ladybug and Cat Noir have Monarch at a stalemate. They've made it clear that if he tries anything, Cat Noir will Cataclysm him.
  You'd Expect: The heroes immediately start removing Monarch's jewels. Even if they can't retrieve every Miraculous, it's better than nothing. Since they're following an established plan to capture Monarch, they could've prioritized which Miraculous to take first.
  Instead: Having learned nothing from "Evolution", Ladybug again wastes time monologuing about her plan and taunting Monarch. This doesn't even benefit the audience; the rest of the episode reviews her plan in full detail.
  Result: Monarch evaluates how much he stands to lose if he doesn't escape. He tanks the Cataclysm and uses Voyage to leave.
  However: The portal stays open long enough for all the kwamis to be drawn inside, despite their resistance.
  You'd Then Expect: Ladybug and Cat Noir to follow him through the portal before it closes. On top of giving them another chance against a freshly wounded and bound Monarch, the portal's destination could yield valuable information like Monarch's identity.
  Or: Ladybug could catch the kwamis with her yo-yo, getting Monarch out of their earshot so he can't give orders or use them to power the Miraculous. The retrieved kwamis could return to Marinette's and use their powers without a holder in times of need.
  Or: As a last resort, Ladybug, still being the Guardian, could command kwamis to use their powers on the spot.^examplesClout would further incapacitate Monarch. Venom would paralyze him. Uproar would disrupt his powers, disabling at least his akumatization and teleportation, if not the powers of every Miraculous he has. Fetch could retrieve a Miraculous, or bring back Monarch himself from the other side of the portal. Second Chance would give the heroes a do-over, though it's unclear if their memories from the undone timeline would be preserved. The magical disaster could hopefully be undone with a separate Lucky Charm, as in "Ephemeral", with the main concern being the power affecting one of the heroes.
  Instead: Both heroes freeze, losing Monarch.
  Result: Monarch recovers from the initial pain of the Cataclysm wound. He then modifies the stolen Miraculous to power up akumatized civilians so he doesn't need to keep going back into public. Once again — and moreso than ever now that he sends out megakumas through Voyage — the heroes can no longer track Monarch, let alone defeat him.
  Worse: Although the heroes are torn about hurting him, Ladybug cannot undo the damage since Monarch took the Lucky Charm with him. Furthermore, Monarch's wound is slowly killing him and makes him more danagerously driven as a result.

Perfection

• Gabriel senses negative emotions from Kagami and decides to akumatize her.
  You'd Expect: For him to send the Akuma to any other object apart from her family's ring which is heavily hinted to be the object that holds her Amok.
  Instead: He sends the Akuma into her family ring.
  Result: Her existence is placed in danger followed by an enraged Tsurugi (his partner-in-crime and benefactor for his Alliance tech) attacking him for almost killing his daughter.

Migration

• Bob Roth wants to sign Kitty Section on to his record label.
  You'd Expect: For Kitty Section to treat this with a lot of skepticism; after all, Roth has previously proven himself to be corrupt and unscrupulous, even plagiarizing one of their songs for his son back in "Silencer".
  Instead: They agree and sign the contract without reading it over.
  Result: They only find out after signing it that the contract forces them to split up and Luka to perform solo, making him mad enough to attract Monarch's attention. Monarch learns that Luka knows the heroes' identities, forcing Luka to flee the country.

Intuition

• Monarch sticks his hand into the Shellter bubble holding Astro Cat which leads to the hero getting a good hold on his hand.
  You'd Expect: For Astrocat to swipe as many of the Miraculous Rings as he can to take away some of Monarch's powers, including the Snake Ring.
  Instead: He just presses on the Snake Ring to give him and Cosmo Bug a Second Chance. This is particularly egregious as Cat Noir has previously used the Snake Miraculous and should be aware of all it's effects, including that only the bearer retains their memory, not anyone else.
  Result: Time is reset and Monarch uses Venom to immobilize Astro Cat ensuring that he doesn't get the chance to steal or use his rings against him.

• Monarch's plan to deal with Astro Cat in general: capturing him in a Shellter bubble, then sticking his hand in to take the ring.
  You'd Expect: He would trap Astro Cat in a larger bubble, then come in himself to take the ring.
  Instead: He just traps Astro Cat in a bubble barely larger than the boy, forcing him to open a portal only big enough for one hand to pass. He cannot see what's going on in the other side.
  Result: Astro Cat gets a hold of his hands. If not for the WAI moment above (like father like son?), Monarch would have lost many of his Miraculous Rings.

Protection

• Lila tries to manipulate Kagami into believing that Marinette is the manipulative liar.
  You'd Expect: For Kagami to doubt this claim. While their friendship had a rocky start, Marinette has since apologized for her initial jealousy and been consistently nice to her.
  Additionally: Lila tried the exact same tactic a couple of episodes ago in "Perfection" and was ultimately proven wrong, so Kagami has less of a reason to believe her here.
  Instead: Kagami believes her.
  Result: Monarch, through Lila contacting him as Gabriel about Kagami's state of mind, homes on Kagami's resultant jealousy of Marinette and akumatizes her to ruin Marinette and Adrien's date. And while she does berate Lila for lying to her and tell her not to involve her in her grudge against Marinette afterwards, she still chooses to remain friends with the liar.

• Earlier in the episode, Lila calls Gabriel to inform him that Kagami is in emotional distress and is vulnerable to akumatization.
  You'd Expect: For him to show some caution given how convenient the situation is and how Lila decided to call him about Kagami.
  Instead: He doesn't bother thinking about the implications and decides to akumatize Kagami just to ruin his son's date.
  Result: This strengthens Lila's deductions of him being Monarch.

Revelation

• Gabriel fires Lila from his brand for failing to keep Adrien from "bad influences" (Marinette) and replaces her with Kagami.
  You'd Expect: For him to recognize Lila as a risk like Félix and piece together that she might know too much about his true intentions.
  Instead: He completely washes his hands of Lila and deems her irreverent while bragging about it to her face.
  Result: Gabriel fails to realize he made a powerful enemy who could ruin his plans as she exploits being akumatized by him to secretly gather blackmail on him.

• Marinette once again tells Alya and Nino that Lila is a liar; this time, she has Adrien backing her up.
  You'd Expect: For Alya at least to treat the claim with some seriousness, especially since one of Lila's bigger lies (her being Ladybug's best friend) has long been debunked for her.
  Instead: She brushes off Marinette's claims and insists Adrien is only backing her up because he's dating her.
  Result: Alya and Nino believe all of Lila's statements alongside the rest of the class, ensuring that she ends the episode completely victorious.

Confrontation

• Sabrina, having enough of being an accessory to Lila and Chloé's vendetta against Marinette, confesses to have forged their classes' papers in a scheme to discredit Marinette.
  You'd Expect: Lila to figure something is off by Marinette being nonchalant and create a lie that would discredit both her and Sabrina.
  Instead: She focuses on intimidating Sabrina when she follows after her to what she assumed was a private area where she freely admits to having skipped several days of school and tried to get Marinette expelled.
  Result: Lila falls for Marinette's trap, with their classmates finally realizing her lies and forcing her to leave Dupont on her own whim and discard the Lila Rossi identity she made there.
  For Additional Stupidity Points: Lila, now going by Cerise, later arranges to attend the same high school as Marinette under another fake name to get her revenge.

Revolution

• Chloé, setting up an "anti-super" policy as acting mayor of Paris, is approached by Monarch who offers her super powers. Chloé is hesitant as Cerise convinces her to accept while Monarch offers a discreet method of having the robots channel her powers.
  You'd Expect: Chloé to follow her gut and refuse.
  Instead: Her dependency on Cerise and the thought of beating the heroes while keeping her public image convinces her to accept the deal and be akumatized to Queen Mayor, abusing her power while turning Paris into a dictator state. Chloé, when it seemed that she got Marinette and Cat Noir in a bind, then makes the mistake of blurting out that she is akumatized in a lapse of judgement.
  Result: Chloé loses whatever support she had left as the public turn against her and storm the stage to force her back to normal.

• Chloé, having lost, abandoned by Cerise, and being exiled, checks her Alliance Ring and sees Sabrina on her contact list with an upset look on her face.
  You'd Expect: Chloé to apologize to Sabrina to at least have one person in Paris who misses her.
  Instead: She scrolls to Marinette and calls her in one final act of spite to cheer herself up.
  Result: Chloé's last attempt to hurt Marinette backfires and she is the one left crying.

Conformation

• With nothing left to lose, spurred by her nightmare, Nathalie grabs her crossbow with the intent to kill Gabriel while she is still physically able to.
  You'd Expect: For her to just kill him with a bolt to the head while he was talking to Emilie and be done with it.
  Instead: She alerted Gabriel to her presence and was distracted by his words long enough to be quickly disarmed at the first sign of her body faltering.
  Result: Nathalie loses her only chance as her body begins failing her, Gabriel taking her back to her room before resuming his plan unopposed.
  

Re-creation

• Marinette tries to get through to Gabriel by revealing the videos of Emilie to him.
  You'd Expect: For her to be at least a little bit skeptical or doubtful of Gabriel's shocked reaction.
  Instead: She completely believes him. Worse still, she detransforms to extend an olive branch, and looks away from him when the kwamis (rightfully) doubt what she's doing.
  Result: Even if this was not his original idea, Gabriel uses Venom on her, takes the Ladybug and Cat Miraculouses, and makes his wish with the ultimate Miraculous power.
  For Additional Stupidity Points: Her Lucky Vision had her acknowledge that she needed to remove the Bee Ring from his grasp. Apparently she just forgot.

Specials

Santa Claws

• Cat Noir, while feeling lonely and heartbroken on Christmas, nearly destroys a local tree, but instead turns his Cataclysm on one of his own modelling posters. Ladybug, having learned that Adrien is missing, shows up here later and recognises the effects of Cataclysm, and then finds the Christmas card she gave Adrien as Marinette in the snow, Adrien and the Santa hat she made him nowhere in sight. She then proceeds to sing about how Adrien disappears and then Cat Noir appears.
  You'd Expect: Ladybug to make the obvious conclusion: that Adrien is Cat Noir.
  Instead: She assumes an akuma is after Adrien, and that Cat Noir is trying to protect him. Specifically, she assumes it's the Santa Claus who has befriended him, despite seeing them together back at the Agreste mansion, and despite Adrien himself telling her he's not akumatised.
  Result: She chases him down and attacks him with her yoyo, and by the time she realizes her mistake and apologizes, she's already pissed him off enough to make him vulnerable to Hawk Moth. Cue Marinette creating what may be her first akuma (chronologically at least) and endangering the city.

Miraculous World: Shanghai — The Legend of Lady Dragon

• Marinette wants to go to China to spy on Adrien and speaks very little Mandarin, and she's going to be with her uncle who she barely knows.
  You'd expect: Tikki to tell Marinette how stupid it is to go to another country just to stalk a guy that she can't effectively speak to. Especially when that country's main language is one that you barely speak.
  Instead: Marinette lies about wanting to connect with her roots, and nobody, not even Tikki, calls her on it.
  The Result: Marinette ends up lost and her phone and purse containing Tikki are stolen, leaving her with no money, and no way to contact her family.
  For Additional Stupidity Points: Marinette made no significant attempt to learn Mandarin, even though she's had months to learn and Tikki, who speaks Mandarin, was perfectly able to teach her in the months after she first met her uncle.

Miraculous World: New York — United HeroeZ

• Marinette and her class are set to take a field trip to New York. Marinette is worried about leaving Paris with only Cat Noir to protect it.
  You'd Expect: Marinette to take the Horse Miraculous with her so she can teleport back in an emergency, exactly what was done in the exact same situation in "Startrain".
  Instead: She does no such thing.
  The Result: A combination of Marinette's lack of foresight and an unrelated bonehead play from Adrien allows Paris to be leveled by a Sentimonster unimpeded.
• Cat Noir has been tasked with protecting Paris in Ladybug's absence and is expecting to be forbidden from accompanying his class on the trip to New York, but Gabriel has an unforeseeable change of heart and sends Adrien on the trip.
  You'd Expect: Plagg, either on his own initiative or at Adrien's orders, to contact Ladybug and warn her of the sudden change in plans so she can prepare accordingly.
  Instead: The two adopt a "what she doesn't know won't hurt her" attitude.
  The Result: A combination of Adrien's bonehead play and an unrelated lack of foresight from Marinette allows Paris to be leveled by a Sentimonster unimpeded, and Ladybug reads Cat Noir the riot act when they unexpectedly reunite in New York.
• Alya, Nino, Jess and Aeon want to create a plan to get Adrien and Marinette to become closer.
  You'd Expect: Alya and Nino (best friends of Marinette and Adrien) to review Marinette and Adrien's interests and see what they have in common and help Jess and Aeon plan accordingly.
  Instead: Jess and Aeon, who know nothing about Marinette and Adrien, plan to create a scenario where they make the pair think that they are in a life-threatening situation, just to get the two to confess their feelings.
  Result: The plan has Marinette and Adrien confused and terrified, only for a real villain to attack.
  For Additional Stupidity Points: At this point in the story nobody involved knows that Marinette and Adrien are superheroes, so for all they know they are potentially traumatizing two high-school students just so that they will possibly fall in love, also Alya and Nino (who were brought together partially due to a villain attack), never question if they are the exception that proves the rule, or if this might not work due to their classmates being akumatized constantly and are probably desensitized to being in somewhat dangerous scenarios.
• During the first fight with Technolyzer, Ladybug finds out that Cat Noir has joined the fight, instead of guarding Paris like she'd asked him to. While she has every right to be taken aback:
  You'd Expect: She would stay focused on bringing down the akuma and then get an explanation from Cat Noir afterwards.
  Instead: She spends the rest of the battle calling out Cat Noir for leaving Paris undefended.
  As Result: Cat Noir gets distracted and disheartened by her words, which leads to him accidentally killing Uncanny Valley (she gets better), the American heroes calling the duo out on their poor performance, and a guilt-ridden Cat (temporarily) renouncing his Miraculous.

Miraculous World: Paris — Shadybug and Claw Noir

• Marinette has a diary where she writes out her personal life and her adventures and knowledge as Ladybug.
  You'd Expect: For her not do that given how Properly Paranoid she is with keeping her Secret Identity a secret.
  Instead: She writes everything in the diary; from her partnership with Tikki and Cat Noir to her knowing about the forbidden wish.
  Result: Shadybug finds the diary, learns her identity and how to make a wish using the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous.

• Ladybug has Betterfly kamikotize her so she can travel throughout the multiverse to stop Monarch from getting his hands on any set of Ladybug and Cat Miraculous.
  You'd Expect: For Ladybug to take the opportunity during each of those fight segments to reclaim any of the stolen Miraculous in his possession.
  Instead: She just beats him in order to force him back to their original universe.
  Result: No Miraculous are recovered and they're set to be destroyed and turned into Alliance Rings.
  For Additional Stupidity Points: Ladybug doesn't consider following Monarch to his secret lair in spite of her dimension hopping powers.

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