Miraculous Ladybug Review Part 2: The Hot Mess that is Season 3

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.