The Hot Mess that is Miraculous Ladybug
Season 3
In Season 2, the theme was mainly
centered on growth and heroism. However, the theme for season 3 seems to be
relationships and much like the relationships in the show this season is a
disjointed mess that’s all over the place and really doesn’t understand what
it’s trying to say. This is the season where the show kind of falls in on
itself as continuity now played a larger role in the show than ever before, but
thanks to numerous production issues the order that they premiere makes the
least amount of sense.
Season 3 feels like a step back as
it sets out to reinvent older characters/villains rather than advance the
characters we already have. The characters this season feel like they’re
actually regressing as many of them, especially Marinette and Chloe feel worse
in this season than any other. That
doesn’t even go into the numerous production mistakes and continuity errors in
this season as the episode air in such a confusing order that it’s nearly impossible
to tell what the best order to watch them in is. However, I think I managed to arrange this
list in an order that would be the best to view them in even if it’s not how I
watched them.
1. Chameleon:
Rating:
Bad
The season premiere does a lot to set
up the season’s expectations. When I first saw it I was still riding the hype
from the season 2 finale, but now I realize how much this episode contradicts it.
After Marinette spent so much time earning the respect of her classmates it’s
almost entirely undone due to a returning villain.
Lila is one of my favorite villains
on the show mainly because of even when de-akumatized she still causes problems
for the heroes. Nevertheless, one of her biggest flaws is just how everyone
believes her lies no matter how outlandish they are. Still this episode does a
great job at creating tension and setting up Lila’s arc for the rest of the
season.
However, the rest of the episode is
riddled with problems. The class turns on Marinette way too quickly and feel
like all their character got watered down so this plot could work. Lila’s new
powers are dumb as well. As Volpina, she could create as many illusions as she
wants and had an appearance that reflected the other heroes, but as Chameleon,
Lila can only take the appearance of the people she kisses.
It
just feels like Lila got a downgrade since last time and unfortunately this
will become a trend for the rest of the season. Overall, Chameleon does manage
to hype up the season, but it’s not that good and relies much more on
manipulating the fans emotions, than being well-written.
2. Animaestro:
Rating:
Bad
This
episode’s main claim to fame was having the creator of the series cameo as an
unappreciated director who gets turned into Animaestro, a villain who can turn
into various different cartoons. I admit I was excited for it, but now it just
doesn’t sit as well. Still it was nice the fight with him was cool especially
with all the animation homages he turns into.
However,
the rest of the episode flopped hard. Marinette is a colossal klutz in this
episode whose motivations are entirely selfish. Chloe is also back to usual
schemes she did in season 1, but now it’s worse because she has her experience
as Queen Bee under her belt. But the icing on the macaroon has to be how Chloe
convinces Marinette to join her in humiliating Kagami by quoting one of the
best lines in the origins special.
This
whole plot line just has both of these ‘Heroes’ act awful and for once they’re
both to blame for the villains creation. Marinette should be the one convincing
Chloe not to humiliate Kagami, but instead she acts like Kagami, who has only
appeared in 4 episodes prior to this one, is worse than the girl who has the
most akumatization under her belt. I don’t care if Kagami is another love rival
for Adrien, that’s no excuse for having Marinette team up with her most
obnoxious rival against her, especially when they act worse than Kagami is. Still
this episodes did have a couple funny jokes such as Kagami telling Chloe off,
or Animaestro being unable to handle constructive criticism, just like the real
life Thomas Astruc.
3. Bakerix
Rating:
Decent
Bakerix
feels like an episode from season 1 in the sense that it’s light-hearted,
stands on its own, and has a simple plot that works. I noticed that in season
3, episodes are trying both to stand on their own and set up a lasting
narrative at the same time, but because of that it doesn’t accomplish either
well. Here by focusing entirely on Marinette’s relationship with her family and
trying to fix her father and grandfather’s relationship it gives the episode
some much needed focus. Overall, while there’s not much to go in depth into
here it’s nice just having episode be simple for a change rather than try being
cluttered with the shows usual antics.
4. Backwarder
Rating:
Good
There’s
a lot going on in this episode, but I like it. The plot has Marinette worrying
about Adrien and Kagami going to London together for the weekend. After
discussion what shenanigans she should try, Marinette finally decides to tell
Adrien how she feels. Of course she does this via letter so she can mix it up
with the other two messages she has to deliver later, thus creating our
fantastic villain.
Backwarder
might have dumb name and design, but her powers are intimidating and her
backstory makes her one of the more interesting minor characters. I’m glad they
gave Fu a love interest and gave us a better insight into his past. Still, this
episode feels a bit cluttered with everything that’s going on, but it still
manages to have fun with it.
I
really enjoyed seeing all the craziness Backwarder’s able to pull off, and the
convoluted way she’s beaten, but the funniest part would have to be Gabriel
doing his whole Hawkmoth shtick from the bathroom of the train. Adrien nearly walks
in on him as well which would have been the funniest way they could’ve exposed
his identity. All I have to say is those are some sound tight bathrooms.
5. Weredad
Rating:
Bad
While
seeing Marinette’s father get akumatized is fun, I really don’t like this
episode. For starters, it starts with them fighting Gigantitan again. Like why
would Hawkmoth even think using a giant BABY would work a SECOND time? But,
then after the fight Cat Noir runs into Marinette after she just transform back
and so he won’t get suspicious, confesses her love to him.
AAARRRGGGHHH!!!
Just no! This whole plot is stupid and forced. Cat Noir and Marinette have a
great dynamic, but this episode just tries and make things awkward again
because that makes good romantic tension and all great relationships are built
on tension right? (Face Palms) I am so done with constant miscommunication of
this series and I’m tired of it. Still it was nice to see Cat Noir fight off a
villain on his own for once, or watch Marinette try to save the day without
powers. I just wish it was written better.
6. Christmaster
Rating:
Decent
This
is better Holiday episode than the Christmas special and it shows. The magic of
Hawkmoth’s latest akuma brings Santa to town and gives the titular villain an
army of sentient toys. This makes for a really fun scenario that Cat Noir and
Ladybug has to fight through and even if it can seem silly at times it’s still
enjoyable.
The
episode is full of top paced action, but it doesn’t really contribute much to
the series overall. It’s an additional Christmas episode in the middle of the
season that introduces Nino’s little brother. No matter where you put it in the
episode line-up it’s going to feel out of place. Still it’s better to have an
episode that’s just focused on main conflict with the villain of the week than
having Marinette be awkward around Adrien again.
7. Silencer
Rating:
Bad
This
episode is just boring and ridiculous. Silencer’s design may have slightly a
cool look to it, but it’s completely ruined by the hand puppets he uses to
talk. Not to mention Luka’s confession of love is just incredibly under-hyped
and there really doesn’t seem to be any chemistry between him and Marinette at
all.
Overall,
this episode doesn’t have much going for it. It plays so by the numbers you
manage well skip it. XY’s Sleazy Dad holds a contest to steal some music for
his son, and because it was Marinette’s friend’s band, she and Luka go confront
him only for Silencer to be created after Bob Ross threatens her. A fight
happens and Silencer and his stupid hand puppets get defeated, Bob Ross’ lie is
exposed and Kitty Section gets to perform on TV. It just feels like no effort
was put into this episode’s writing at all and there’s no reason to want to
watch this episode over any other episode of the show.
8. Oni-chan
Rating:
Good
This
is another episode that has Marinette do some morally questionable things, but
considering how the rest of this episode plays out I might be able to ignore it.
I mean she steals her friend’s bike and attempts to break into Adrien’s house,
but in the end she does learn to trust him, which isn’t the best arc she could
have but isn’t really that bad. Oni-chan mainly follows Lila and showcases just
how good a liar she really is. Before, Lila’s lies could be seen outlandish and
hard to believe, but here she makes each lie serve a purpose all just to get
closer to Adrien.
I
love how much this episode expands not only Lila’s character, but Kagami as
well. The two both have lonely upbringing, but while Lila manipulates others
into liking her by telling lies, Kagami has a sense of honor and dedication.
However, both are relentless when pursuing a goal whether it be Adrien’s
affection or Ladybug’s downfall.
This
episode also actually succeeds where Silencer fails, as Kagami admits her
feelings for Adrien while fighting Cat Noir. Adrien uses this revelation to his
advantage as at the end he declares he’s going to work to be worthy of her
feelings. Gabriel also goes through some growth this episode as initially he
wanted to use Oni-chan to drive Lila away from Adrien, but in the end realizes
that she’d make a better ally as both of them are possessive of Adrien and hate
Ladybug even more.
9. Feast
Rating:
Good
This
episode is an excellent introduction to Senti-monsters and does a lot to pan
out Fu’s backstory. It starts with Alya showing Marinette more of her research
into the miraculous and how she discovered the Order of Guardians from images
of past miraculous users. Marinette goes to Fu and learns that the statue is
actually a senti-monster he created that destroyed the guardian’s temple.
I
love how this episode pans out and what it adds to Fu’s character. Marinette’s
mentor takes back her and Cat Noir’s powers out shame, all the while refusing
to let anyone else face his mistake. However, as expected the heroes refuse to
sit the battle out even without their powers, giving Fu the courage to finally
stop running and fight Feast head on.
This
episode changes everything as Marinette is now considered a full fledge
ladybug, with Fu promising to help her train to be the next guardian instead,
building up to the finale. The Order of Guardians are also back which sets up
future conflict in the next season and Fu has to go on the run after Hawkmoth
discovers his identity. I also like how big of a presence the villains have in
this episode as they also reflect on their own history with miraculous and
Adrien’s mom. Overall, this was an enjoyable episode that does an excellent job
of progressing the overall narrative, and it certainly does better job at
introducing Senti-monsters than Reflekdoll.
10. Miraculer
Rating:
Very Good
This
is my favorite episode of the season as it features a lot of the most prominent
characters. All the heroes built up to in Season 2 are on point this episode
and are actively fighting all the major villains. It totally makes up for their
minor roles in the last season finale and I love how both sides display how
they work together as a team.
It
really goes to show how much their fighting style contrasts to one another.
Hawkmoth manipulates situations from afar and positions his allies like pieces
on a board while Ladybug would rather work together with people she trusts. Hawkmoth
and Mayura main goal here though is to try and turn Queen Bee towards their
side, knowing just how bratty Chloe can be at times and uses Lila to do it. I
love how Gabriel can use Lila to manipulate others without letting her know it.
Miraculer
is also a much more intimidating villain than Vanisher was, especially since
the latter never even got an episode to herself. Sabrina feels like the only
recurring character left out of hero team, so having the ability to steal their
powers seems like a natural fit for her. It shows that she can be just a major
threat and has a lot of potential to grow.
What
I don’t like about this episode is Chloe’s main conflict as this episode begins
undoing her redemption in Season 2. By the end Chloe no longer holds ladybug on
a pedestal and this is presented as a bad thing when it doesn’t have to be.
Chloe works best as a rival to Marinette as while she works to be good and
honest to people, Chloe is mean, manipulative, and sometimes cruel. Overall
Chloe challenges Marinette’s world view as last season showed that she’s
capable of defying those expectations and being better. Denying Chloe her
powers, and making revert back to her self-centered nature doesn’t seem like
the most inspirational decision.
11. Oblivo
Rating:
Bad
This
is the amnesia episode where the show lets them figure out their identities
only to undo it at the end. Like other episodes this season, Oblivo present a
scenario that is pointless fan service by having Ladybug and Cat Noir fight in
their civilian modes while powerless. The only fun I had watching this episode
was seeing the heroes interact without the awkward things like secret
identities or feelings in the way. Adrien and Marinette are able to fight as a
team and protect each other while being comfortable with one another for what
seems like the first time ever.
The
Villain though is really bad. Oblivo’s design is just a purple silhouette with
a gun arm. Their blast takes away people’s memories and they have the absolute
worst dialogue of any villain on the show. Like how did they know they were
Ladybug and Cat Noir’s best friend if they didn’t knew their identity! That
doesn’t even mention how they spend the entire episode trying to be as
intimidating as possible and failing at it.
The
twist on them being both Alya and Nino is also real dumb and makes no sense.
Like they’re embaressed enough by being caught by playing a baby game to become
a supervillain but when they’re back to normal nobody seems care at all. I know
Marinette has the nicest classmates ever, (Chloe and Lila excluded) but at this
point it really seems like the writers just got lazy.
12. Reflekdoll
Rating:
Awful
Much
like Oblivo and future episodes this season, this episode is just an excuse for
fan service. A popular story premise is seeing what would happen if Ladybug and
Cat Noir swapped powers and how would it tie into the typical episode format.
This episode attempts to answer that question, but in a way that’s not really
satisfying.
The
powers are swapped entirely because of a coincidence, and it feels really
disconnected from Hawkmoth’s latest attack. Not to mention that this episode
was supposed to introduce Mayura’s powers, but Ladybug is the one who has to
explain it, which is odd considering that she should be just as clueless. The
swap also does nothing but distracts the heroes from the battle as they mess
around with reversed roles and different power set.
Reflekdoll
is also super lame as it’s just a giant mech for Reflekta and doesn’t improve
her overall effectiveness. It even have the same powers so it just becomes
redundant. I love Juleka’s design but Reflekta just never works as a villain
and has one of the worse designs on the show. Overall, this episode is rather
pointless.
13. Gamer 2.0
Rating:
Decent
I
wish this episode was a video game because it be way more fun than watching
this. The plot here is that Max gets akumatized after no one wants to play the
game he designed (not even the robot he built to be his friend). So when he
turns back into the gamer, he forces Ladybug and Cat Noir to play it instead;
bringing back a ton of past villains to use as character selection.
It’s
fun to see all the villains back again, but the battles with them feel a little
rushed like more could’ve been done with them. However, the fight at the end
was awesome, especially with Gamer and Ladybug using the items they won off of
their previous fights against each other. Still this episode feels pretty
average and probably could’ve been done better.
14. Desperada
Rating:
Bad
This
episode feels like a sequel to Silencer. After firing his guitarist Jagged
Stone comes to ask Luka’s mom for help but when she refuses Marinette naturally
suggests Adrien even though Luka is a better fit. Meanwhile the guitarist he
fired becomes Desperada who can summon any instrument from her case that she
can use as weapons. When she shoots somebody they become a sticker on her case,
and her skills makes her quite intimidating.
The
villain is my favorite thing about this episode, not just because of how big a
threat she is, but also because she’s voiced by the talented Morgan Berry, and
I love her voice acting. Still despite that, this episode is terrible because
it shows that when it comes between choosing Adrien or Luka, Marinette would
pick Adrien every time. This just ruins Lukanette as ship because we all know
Marinette is never going to stop liking Adrien.
The
Guy confesses his love for her, and Marinette just pushes him aside until
somebody points out that he’s the best option in this situation, which is
obvious. Too make matters worse Marinette obsession with Adrien really puts a
hinder on this episode as both a friend and superhero. Adrien uses the snake’s
do over powers over 25,913 times which means that’s how long he kept failing
her, really portraying just how bad a match they are currently. Overall this is
episode is just awful with heroes acting like idiots who can’t see when they’re
making a clear mistake.
15. Kwamibuster
Rating:
Awful
This
episode is a complete and total waste of time. The premise has Tikki and Plagg
seen by Ms. Mendeleiev who tries to use their existence to get academically
publish by going on one of the dumbest shows within the show I ever seen.
Miraculous Ladybug has a lot of crazy programming in it, but Alternative Truth
takes the cake. Why would anyone watch a show about trying to convince a
plagiarist, a banana, and a little girl of dumb theories with minimum proof to
go on? Not to mention Marinette’s entire class watches the show and only our
two protagonist react to nervously, even though several of Marinette’s
classmates, including Chloe, have owned their own kwami’s at one point and
should know what they are.
That’s
not even the worst part of the episode as they’re constantly repeating the same
lines over and over again like, “If you find out each other’s identities you
would have to give back your Miraculous” or “Nobody ever wore that many
miraculous before.” SINCE WHEN? I get that it’s a rule of the show, but if the
writers really wanted to keep to this rule, but THEN THEY SHOULD STOP PUTTING
THEIR IDENTIES IN JEPODARY TO BEGIN WITH!! It’s not compelling, it’s just
annoying, and it just makes the show worse.
16. Startrain
Rating:
Bad
Ladybug
and Cat Noir fight a magic train in space and it’s boring. How do you make that
boring? This episode has a lot of interesting points that just seem wasted.
Ladybug and Cat noir go into space, but are confined fighting off a bunch of
rooms, The class heads on a trip to England, but we barely get any time there,
Max gets a miraculous, but the episode doesn’t feel any different than normal.
That’s
my main problem with this episode. Startrain feels like a typical episode of
the series, but so much stuff happens in it that it shouldn’t feel this way. We
get another episode centered on Max, this time with him getting a miraculous,
but it doesn’t feel earned and more like Ladybug gave him the miraculous out of
necessity instead of him being worthy.
At
this point these episodes focusing on Marinette’s classmates kind of blur
together as characters like Rose, Juleka, Kim, and Alex just kind of feel like
they take turns being relevant to the plot. Maybe I’m nitpicking but
considering how little focus they get when compared to characters like Alya,
Nino, or Chloe, it just seems hard to justify giving them powers other than to
see these powers in action. I mean these are some pretty cool powers, but they’re
never permanent and after it happens everyone just pretends it didn’t until the
next time they need to play superheroes.
17. The Puppeteer 2
Rating:
Awful
This
episode is nearly the worst in the season and is painful to sit through.
Basically Alya and Nino go on another double date with Adrien and Marinette,
except both of them have other obligations. Adrien has to pose for a new wax
statue of him and Marinette is babysitting Manon again. So both wind up putting
off their responsibilities just to spend time with each other, like that’s more
important than the right thing.
And
that doesn’t even get into all the crazy stuff that doesn’t make sense in this
episode. Like why does Adrien question if Marinette likes him if everything in
this episode makes it painfully clear that she has a crush on him? Why does
Alya and Nino think bringing Manon to a wax museum and ignoring her is a good
idea? And most importantly WHY DOES THE STATUE SCENE EVEN EXISTS?!?
This
episode is just one big wasted opportunity that makes all of our heroes look
awful. Adrien and Marinette’s entire interactions throughout the episode is
just them being awkward or misunderstanding one another and then at the end, they’re
back where they started. However, the real tragedy is that this plot did have
potential, but because everyone focuses on the wrong things it makes this one
of worst episodes of the entire show.
18. Ikari Gozen
Rating:
Good
This
is actually pretty good Kagami episode, arguably one of the best. We start with
Marinette and her friends partaking in a friendship game, where the prize of
course is Adrien. Naturally when Marinette finds out Kagami is her partner she
freaks out and almost quits before deciding it’d would actually be better to
sabotage Kagami instead.
Pitting
Kagami and Marinette against each other this season has done nothing but ruin
Marinette’s character, making her seem like a possessive stalker who’d gladly
break rules and hurt others to make sure she’d get Adrien all to herself.
However, this episode actually makes her face the consequences of her action as
she realizes just how much she hurt Kagami and tries to make it up to her. I
enjoyed seeing Marinette apologize for her awful behavior and actually become
friends with Kagami to make it up to her.
I also like just how vulnerable Kagami is in
this episode as oppose to her usual stoic demeanor that can be a little hard to
read sometimes.Up until now Kagami has been hard to figure out, but this
episode really shows off her humanity and her desire for friendship. Kagami
actually feels like she earned her miraculous as oppose to characters like
Pegasus and Monkey king. I also enjoyed seeing how Ryuko acted as hero, rather
being a lone wolf who fights one on one, but is willing to listen to Ladybug
when she made a mistake.
19. Timetagger
Rating:
Good
This
episode gives us a sneak peek into the future as Ladybug and Cat Noir are
attacked by Timetagger whose been sent from the future to steal their
miraculous. However, they have help in the form of Bunnyx, a hero with the
power to time travel. I loved seeing Bunnyx in action because as a time
traveling heroine she acts just like you expect of her.
Bunnyx
takes the safeguarding of time and space seriously and definitely proves
herself in the fight against Timetagger. Being from the future also makes her
much different from ladybug’s other allies as she’s literally a different
version of Alix, instead of just being given powers for the sake of convenience.
Still even with the awesome time fight, Bunnyx is unable to defeat Timetagger
without Ladybug’s solution, further highlighting one of her best qualities.
I
also enjoyed just how much this episode implied about the characters future.
Ladybug and Cat Noir continuing to fight as heroes into adulthood, and new Hawkmoth
creating villains, with a tease that her identity might be Lila. It really
shows that the future might be bright, but currently the heroes still have a
lot of growing still left to do.
20. Stormy weather 2
Rating:
The Worst
I
had to design a new rank of scaling because how bad this episode is. This is
one of the worst clip shows I ever seen. Throughout the episodes everyone just
monologues over old clips while just repeating everything we already know.
Everybody talks about how much they’ve grown or highlight their
accomplishments, but nobody actually does anything.
Literally
nothing happens in this episode and the main conflict takes a back seat to
people talking over old clips. Which is sad cause Stormy Weather was one of the
best villains from season one, but here she’s the exact opposite of her
original appearance. In the original episode, Stormy Weather was incredibly
intimating, had great motivation, and her battle with Ladybug and Cat Noir was
amazingly animated. However, in this episode half the fight is off screen, her
plan is stupid, and she’s just another victim of Chloe’s bullying. It’s
pathetic.
The
animation here is janky and bad, but’s that to be expected from something as
effortless as a clip show. Not to mention, despite highlighting how much each
character has already changed no one actually address how much growth they
still need to undergo. It’s like everyone on the show is stuck following the
same outline over and over again and never allow to change from their
experiences; and this makes the show feel unrealistic. This episode is the peak
of that problem.
21. Party Crasher
Rating:
Awful
Another
episode that premiered out of order and one where Marinette breaks into
Adrien’s house. Party Crasher feels like a big waste of time and has most of
the characters being horrible all while justifying it with helping cheer up
Adrien. It feels like the writers just wanted to have an excuse to do a
bro-party episode and executed in the worst way.
Nino
and the guys notice that Gabriel is supposed to be out of town and decides to
seize the opportunity to throw a party at Adrien’s place, despite their prior
commitments to help plant trees with the girls. They do this all just cheer
Adrien up, even though he said at the start that while, it’s a nice gesture
ultimately a party at his house is more trouble than it’s worth. He’s right as
Gabriel’s trip was a ruse so he could harvest new butterflies for his lair and
notices the party when it causes his power to go out.
Gabriel
creates the villain to break up the party, but he winds up being so competent
that he nearly catches both Ladybug and Cat Noir. Master Fu has to send in back
up bringing back past male miraculous holders and even giving Kim the monkey
Miraculous for the first time. Like with Startrain, this episode just feels
cluttered with circumstances just to show off a new miraculous.
However,
while the characters do realize they were wrong in the end, it doesn’t feel
like they realize the extensity of their mistakes. It’s wrong to lie to get out
of your obligations, it’s wrong to throw a party at you’re your friend’s house
unannounced, especially when their parents are out, and it’s wrong to disguise
yourself to break into your crushes’ house when other people are throwing him a
party. The show keeps having our protagonists like Marinette do questionable
things and makes it harder to justify their actions, especially when they use
Adrien’s miserable home life as an excuse. It’s all just gotten stale by now.
22. Felix
Rating:
Bad
This
episode feels like a bad fanfiction, but to add context it takes Adrien’s
original design and makes it a new character. On the anniversary of his
mother’s disappearance, Adrien’s Aunt, Amelie and identical cousin, Felix comes
to visit. Meanwhile, Adrien’s friends all prepare video messages for him to
cheer him up. Felix discovers the messages and sends one of his own, prompting
Hawkmoth to akumatize Ayla, Juleka, and Rose to punish him.
While
it is nice to learn more about Adrien’s extended family, Felix feels like a
waste of time. The character himself is interesting in concept being a dark
reflection of Adrien, who enjoys manipulating and hurting others for fun while
also being goal driven like Hawkmoth, However, what they do with him here just
seems very predictable and he doesn’t really have a greater impact on the show.
Not
to mention the Punisher Trio are super lame as they’re just old villains we’ve
already seen before. Their powers don’t even help that much as two regular
civilians are able to fight them off easily. Still, with some minor changes
this episode could have been a lot better, but overall just feels dumb.
23. Ladybug
Rating:
Bad
This
episode is the culmination of Lila’s arc in the season. One thing fans wanted
to know is what would it take to akumatize Marinette or Adrien? Here Lila
attempts to answer that question by framing Marinette so she’d get expelled.
Still this episode is riddled with problems and just seems like it could have
been written way better.
No
time is wasted in setting up Marinette getting expelled, especially the
motivations behind why the villains would want to get her expelled. However,
right as Marinette is about to surrender her Miraculous, Natalie collapses
almost like the plot can’t let that happen yet. Instead she sets out to prove
she can still help Gabriel by creating a ladybug clone in order to steal Cat
Noir’s Miraculous. Meanwhile the Lila plot is put on the back burner only to be
resolved in the most unsatisfying way possible.
Considering
how much Lila was hyped up this season only to be have this as the ending to
her arc is extremely frustrating. Marinette getting akuamtized is an
interesting premise, but this just feels like they’re teasing us now. Still
even if this episode backed down it could have still worked if they just made a
few changes.
For
example, have it be Alya who gets Lila to reinstate Marinette instead of
Adrien. Marinette already asked her to investigate Lila so to uncover her lies,
only for her to come up fruitless. This could’ve been Alya’s time to shine,
especially since she’s known for her reporter skills. Alya is the perfect one
to confront Lila, but NO Adrien has to be the one to do it. WHY? Adrien should
be comforting Marinette, Gabriel should be trying to recover his plan while he
can, this episode should be doing more and if extended into two parts could’ve
made a better finale than the one we got.
24. Heart Hunter (BFTM part 1)
Rating:
Awful
As
part one of the finale to the season, this episode is horrible, but I
understand what they were trying to do. The Battle for the Miraculous not only
wraps up Chloe’s and Fu’s plotlines, but also the overall message on
relationships. However, it’s that message that is the worst part of the
episode.
Heart
Hunter focuses a lot on where the characters stand with the relationships they
developed over the season. Luka goes out of the way to help Marinette, who is
his inspiration. Meanwhile, Cat Noir gets rejected by Ladybug again, only for
him to have better time with Kagami and Marinette. In the end it’s ultimately
Marinette’s choice as she sacrifices her own happiness so that Kagami and
Adrien can be together.
This
is just the first in a series of mistakes she makes in these episodes. From
going to visit Fu without transforming back, to picking Kagami over Chloe,
Marinette just makes mistake after mistake in this episode all leading into the
actual battle in part two. Still that doesn’t make it bad, just frustrating.
The
bad part is towards the end. Hawkmoth’s grand scheme is seriously dumb, but
effective. Heart Hunter has to be one of the laziest designs in the entire
show, but I can see why a villain like that would make Ladybug slip up. Still,
he did all this just to turn Chloe to his side, even though Lila would have
been the better option. Chloe has proven herself a hero in the past, and was
very devoted to what Ladybug stood for.
However,
this season ignores all that, literally, as Ladybug ignores her desire to help,
because she’s too wrapped up in the relationship drama. The episode even ends
by showing the two ships they’ve been building all season sharing a forced
romantic moment. Overall, I found this entire episode really highlights
everything wrong with the season.
25. Miracle Queen (BFTM part 2)
Rating:
Awful
This
episode continues where the last ends as Chloe uses her new powers to gain
control of all of Paris, putting Ladybug allies in a zombie like state where
they reveal all their identities to the villains and become Chloe’s own
personal army. Ladybug and Cat Noir once again are all on their own to save
their friends and Master Fu from Hawkmoth as well as all of Paris. However, the
battle really wasn’t that impressive.
Dragonbug
and Snake Noir only really fight for a few minutes and Hawkmoth doesn’t even
participate. I was just hoping for more from the finale, but instead we focus
more on the evil villain monologues. Still, it does fit with the theme of this
season of putting relationships first and hero work second, but that’s why it’s
bad to begin with.
Even,
the start is awful as both Marinette and Adrien immediately backtrack from the
positions they were in at the end of last episode. Marinette recovers from an
emotional breakdown like it’s nothing, and Adrien is suddenly not ready to kiss
Kagami even though he was at the end of last episode. Then, suddenly both have
to leap into action as the serious superhero battle actually begins.
The
shipping drama and the superhero plot are constantly distracting from one another
and that’s what causes the giant mess that is this episode. This is especially
prominent in the fight against Miracle Queen as after Ladybug deakumatizes her
all the other heroes who were just here seem to vanish entirely. Still, the
status quo has shifted and now like Fu, Marinette is in charge of the miracle
box after a major mistake cost her, her mentor; while Hawkmoth now has access
to the grimoire and has repaired the peacock miraculous.
26. Cat Blanc
Rating:
Alright
I
think this episode’s premise is actually a better finale than what we actually
got. It’s certainly the most intense episode of the season, and while that does
keep it from being bad, it doesn’t make good. While, teasing the grand reveal
has become a habit I actually like it here because once the reveal happens
everything changes and the tone becomes incredibly serious.
After
making a mistake that exposes identity to Adrien, Ladybug is taken to the
future to fight Cat Blanc. Meanwhile Bunnyx watches the events leading up to
the new apocalyptic future of Cat Blanc, so to figure out how to fix things. I
love Cat Blanc’s character as he’s definitely the most intense villain Hawkmoth
ever created, even more so than himself. He relentlessly pursues Ladybug and is
able to anticipate nearly her every move, while also displaying the ability and
willingness to literally destroy everything. Plus it’s nice after seeing the deterioration
Marinette’s character went through this season, Cat Blanc almost parallels that
with Adrien.
Adrien
becomes Cat Blanc when he falls for Marinette just because she’s Ladybug and
when he reveals his identity to her and unknowingly Hawkmoth, he leaves himself
vulnerable to his father’s manipulation. This behavior mirrors how Marinette
was acting at the start as she was once again obsessing over him and broke into
his house again, this time as ladybug. The show tries to convince you it’s
their love that destroyed Paris, when it was really their obsession with each
other and that’s what gets on my nerves.
This
episode is too fast pace to let anything set in, and if it was divided into
multiple parts it would’ve been way better. I also don’t like the reactions in
this episode as their also too fast. Bunnyx only thought of seeing Marinette
and Adiren together in the past is “This is worse than I thought;” while after
Hawkmoth learns of Cat Noir’s identity his only thought is “Victory will soon
be mine.” They should be reeling from these revelations but there’s just not
enough time in the episode. Still, this episode is a fine and is quite
entertaining.
Overall
Thoughts on the Season:
I feel that this season really
highlighted some of the flaws in the show overall. Not just the numerous
production issues or in the misguided focus, but the writing itself is an
issue. Season 3 is chopped fill of cool concepts and action that falls flat because
the character don’t properly react to these actions nor do we see how they feel
from these actions. Instead each action leads to actions of another character
even if that action would contradict a past action.
Oblivo and Cat Blanc are prime
examples of this as each episodes show their identities being revealed in
different ways and both getting undone in the end, but in Oblivo we see the
characters work together while Cat Blanc is more of a chain of events that lead
to destruction. If people aren’t allowed to show emotion it’s hard to make them
feel alive, literally. That’s one of the show’s biggest fault; I mean how do
you even write relationships without talking about feelings? Well according to
ladybug by overreacting to everything.
Adrien and Marinette are awful in
this entire season as they constantly do the same stuff over and over again.
Marinette’s obsession with a boy drives her to almost Chloe level of terrible
as she tries to break into Adrien house on multiple occasions, sabotage
Kagami’s chances with him, and lies to his face. Meanwhile, Adrien acts as a
clueless idiot who everyone dotes on for having an abusive family. I have no
idea what Adrien actually wants at the end of the season, and his friends do
some pretty illegal stuff just to cheer him up.
However, as re-watched the series
I’ve noticed some reoccurring themes in each season. Season 2 had the
characters figuring out what it means to be a hero, while Season 3 had them
focus on their relationships. This leads me to believe that if season 4 is to
be successful it needs to focus on change and have the characters undergo
growth from episode to episode. The show needs to break their status quo and
actually have characters address their own inner turmoil and make progress to grow
so they can learn to handle more responsiblities.
