“Modernity consists in a revolt against the prevailing style, an unyielding rage against the official order."
"Bakerix. I am Hawk Moth, and I see that you're hungry for power. Well, I'm giving you the ability to serve punishments to anyone who doesn't do things like they should be done."
— Hawk Moth
Ladybug challenges her own grandfather who is obsessed with the past and keeping things as they were back then. Frustrated by her efforts and transformed into Bakerix, he wants to destroy what he deems too modern to get back the Paris of his time.
Tropes:
- Birthday Episode: This time, it's Marinette's father, Tom.
- Bland-Name Product: The Startrain, a train that allows for travel between France and the UK via an undersea tunnel, is an obvious standin for the real life Eurostar train route via the Channel Tunnel.
- Call-Back: Chloé once more expresses her desire to become Queen Bee.
- Catch-22 Dilemma: When Marinette asks her mom about her estranged grandfather, she tells her to ask her dad. Her dad tells her to ask her grandmother and her grandmother tells her to ask her parents.
- Character Catchphrase: Marinette's grandfather as himself and while akumatized in response to modern things.Bakerix: That's not how it's done!
- Delivery Guy Infiltration: Marinette sneaks into her grandfather's house by taking the sack of flour and hat from a delivery driver and claiming she's the driver's cousin.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: While it's not said out loud, the estrangement between Tom and Rolland is very reminiscent of a falling out over Tom marrying an Asian woman. Rolland is a hyper-traditional and very proud Frenchman who rants about the ancient history of his family. And the stated cause of their division is that Tom 'corrupted' their family's bread recipe by introducing a new ingredient (specifically rice, which is Asian in origin). The family's obvious discomfort in talking about the issue might even reflect the showrunners' reluctance about dealing with such a heavy subject in a children's cartoon (hence the symbolic treatment).
- Dramatic Drop: Tom drops his rolling pin when he sees that his estranged father is visiting the bakery.
- Fish out of Temporal Water: Prior to this episode, Tikki never heard of the Channel Tunnel and, when she first hears of it, she's so out of touch with how technology marched on she assumes it's not possible to build it without help from superheroes.
- Foreign Queasine: Rolland's attitude towards pizza. One does not put tomato sauce on bread! Of course, Ladybug crosses the line when she goes out of her way to make a disgusting sandwich.
- Foreshadowing: The Startrain is introduced in this episode and will play an important role soon.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: When Marinette looks at Rolland's TV, a Minitel
can be briefly seen on the set (the Minitel was a French ancestor to the Internet, which was discontinued in 2012, 2 years before the date where the show takes place). - Grumpy Old Man: Rolland, with his constant complaints about how things aren't like the old days. "That's not how it's done."
- Honor Before Reason: Rolland despises all modern innovations, even ones that are more efficient and less obstructive; he believes buses should make noise and foul, choking smoke and that if you want to cross the English Channel you should take a boat and get seasickness.
- Irony: Rolland seems to hold a grudge against elements of Italian culture like the Romans and pizza, yet he married an Italian woman.
- It Runs in the Family: Singing snatches of opera from your country of origin as you go about your business. Rolland, Tom and Marinette vocalise the first four lines of the Habanera Aria from Carmen while kneading bread. Gina sings (a filk of) the first couplet of La Donna e Mobile from Rigoletto whilst swooping around on her flying bike as Befana.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Marinette gets through her grandfather's tough defenses in the end.
- Logic Bomb: Marinette asks her mom what caused her father and grandfather to become estranged. Sabine says it's complicated and tells her to ask her father. Tom says it's complicated and she should ask her grandma. Gina tells her it's complicated and she should ask her mom or dad.
- Mundane Solution: When Bakerix traps the heroes under the Louvre Pyramid, Cat Noir wants to destroy it with his Cataclysm, but Ladybug spots a manhole and points out they can get out by going through the sewers.
- Nice Mice: Rolland's only real companions since shutting out his family are three mice who help with his baking.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Roland is a man obsessed with the way things used to be and Marinette is a young teen of the modern age. While they're shown as differing in most respects throughout the episode, they do show a distinct similarity when they recruit Cat Noir to taste their bread:Cat Noir: Do you have any jam?
Roland & Marinette (in unison): That's not how you taste bread! - Out of Focus: Once again, Adrien only appears briefly before turning into Cat Noir.
- Serious Business: Rolland takes baking very seriously.
- Stock Footage: The animation of Bakerix's muscles growing is repeated each time he drinks his potion.
- Shout-Out:
- The name and appearance of Bakerix seems to be a tribute to Asterix, a famous French comic-book hero. His stories are set in the time of the Roman conquest of Gaul (France), and he gains superhuman strength by drinking a magic potion supplied by a druid in his village.
- Rolland tapping his head and saying "The internet will make you crazy!" may be a reference to the catchphrase from the Asterix comics, "These Romans are crazy."
- He even makes many references like his indomitable ancestor who lived in a village in Armorica, Vercingetorix and the Battle of Alesia which are important themes in the comics.
- Something Only They Would Say: Rolland figures out Marinette is his granddaughter when she sings the song her dad learned from him.
