Recap / Miraculous Ladybug S03E07 "Silencer"

"Speech is silver, silence is golden."

"Silencer, I am Hawk Moth. This man is the voice of evil. I'm giving you the power to silence him for good. All I ask of you in return are Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculous."

— Hawk Moth

Ladybug and Cat Noir challenge Luka, who is akumatized into Silencer. Ready to make your voice heard?

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Tropes:

• Anti-Villain: Silencer only targets Bob Roth and XY. Everyone else he attacks are people Bob Roth threw into his path, either vocally or physically. It's also worth noting that it's Silencer's methods the heroes have a problem with, not his goal, which they willingly help him achieve when he's no longer akumatized.
  Cat Noir: We usually save good guys from the baddies, but I've got my doubts about this one.
• Asshole Victim: Bob Roth, and to a lesser extent, XY. Both are complicit in plagiarizing Kitty Section's song and style, leading to Luka's akumatization. Then Bob Roth uses Ladybug as a Human Shield, which results in her losing her voice and ability to call her Lucky Charm or even detransform. Even after the heroes whisk him out from under Silencer's nose, he won't stop complaining about how stupid they are and how lame their plan is. Ladybug actually gets fed up enough to tape him to a chair and abandon him in a dressing room.
  Cat Noir: You sure he hasn't been akumatized?
  Ladybug: Nope. He's like that all the time.
• Bad "Bad Acting": Rose, Juleka and Ivan fake an akumatization in order to get into the station to confront Bob Roth and XY. The guards don't believe the kids, but it's enough of a distraction to allow Marinette and Luka to sneak behind them and get inside.
• Beware the Nice Ones: NEVER threaten Marinette in front of Luka.
• By the Power of Grayskull!: This episode reveals that neither hero can use their powers without invoking them aloud. Ladybug can't even detransform.
• Creative Sterility: XY's inability to come up with anything new is the impetus for Bob Roth to come up with a plan to steal music, which sets this episode's events in motion.
• Comically Missing the Point: Roger tries to use a megaphone in spite of no longer having his voice and, when it fails, he acts like it's because there's something wrong with the megaphone.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Bob Roth posts a video calling for acts, which he then uses to steal a song and style for XY.
• Cute Mute: How Cat Noir sees the muted Ladybug at first, much to her chagrin.
• Dirty Coward: Bob Roth actively holds Ladybug in front of him to avoid being the one Silencer shushes. He earlier did the same thing with Marinette.
• Dope Slap: When Cat Noir mentions that a mute Ladybug won't be able to make fun of his jokes, she responds by lightly smacking him upside the head with her yo-yo.
• Engineered Public Confession: Roth arrogantly mocks Luka over the fact that he plagiarized him and can easily get away with it, unaware that Cat Noir has turned a camera on him and is broadcasting his every word to the Parisian public.
• Failed a Spot Check: Bob Roth is so focused on taunting a freshly de-evilized Luka that he fails to notice Cat Noir pointing a camera at him.
  • A close look at Ladybug's fake Lucky Charm reveals that it's far from a perfect imitation. Had Silencer looked a little closer, he might have caught on to the plan and refrained from saying the trigger words.
• Guile Hero: Ladybug paints an ordinary lamp red with black spots to get Silencer to say her magic words for her. Cat Noir is also part of the trick, calling out for Ladybug to get Silencer to use her voice in hope that Silencer will still have that voice the next time he speaks.
• Hand Puppet: Silencer uses his gloved hands to speak with the voices he has captured, in an imitation of the popular Blah, Blah, Blah gesture.
• Impossible Thief: Silencer is able to steal people's voices, physically represented by small levitating jellyfish which he can suck up in order to use their voices for himself.
• Is This Thing Still On?: Bob Roth goes to mock Luka again, not realizing that Cat Noir has turned the still rolling camera on him.
• "Just Joking" Justification: Upon realizing his rant was caught on live TV, Bob Roth says he was just joking and he'll offer Luka's band a contract. The continued booing from the crowd of watching Parisans suggests that they aren't buying it.
• Logical Weakness:
  • Ladybug and Cat Noir cannot use their powers if they've lost their voices, nor can they undo their transformation.
  • Ladybug's Lucky Charm is a vacuum cleaner that thwarts further voice theft from Silencer by sucking up the voices he pulls out of people before he can.
• Loophole Abuse: Ladybug needs to actually say the words "Lucky Charm" to summon the item in question. Luckily, going through the motions while Silencer uses her stolen voice to say the words counts.
• Lost Voice Plot: The core problem for Ladybug in this episode, disabling all of her voice-activated powers.
• Love Confession: After the akuma is defeated, Marinette checks with Luka to find out if he meant what he said to her while he was akumatized. He doesn't remember, but when he repeats exactly the same words she knows it's a real declaration of love.
• Lyrical Dissonance: Kitty Section sings a hard rock song about how much they love unicorns.
• Never My Fault: Bob Roth blames the whole mess on the kids who made a fuss over having their work stolen by him.
• Nonverbal Miscommunication: Subverted, when Cat Noir has a hard time understanding a mute Ladybug, she just texts him.
• Not So Above It All: After Cat Noir has his voice stolen and Ladybug gets hers back, she remarks to the newly-mute Cat that the situation does have its advantages.
• Oh, Crap!: Even with a mask on that covers most of his face, Silencer manages to pull off this expression about two seconds after saying, "Lucky Charm".
• Out of Focus: Cat Noir appears as Adrien for less than a minute. The episode is instead focused on Marinette's relationship with Luka and his band Kitty Section.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Ivan uses his Kitty Section costume to pretend he's been akumatized. It's not very convincing, but it is distracting enough for Luka and Marinette to sneak past security.
• Plausible Deniability: After Bob Roth makes makes one too many disparaging remarks about Cat Noir and Ladybug, Ladybug sets down her fake Lucky Charm and picks up a roll of tape. After Silencer is finally defeated, Bob appears, securely taped to a chair and claiming that Ladybug is responsible. Ladybug is quick to point out that such a petty stunt doesn't sound like something she would do.
• Plagiarism in Fiction: Bob Roth and XY stage a music video contest so they can steal the winner's song and designs; the fact that they chose to plagiarize Kitty Section is what leads to Luka's akumatization. They plagiarize so often XY once copied something he forgot he had already copied last year. Bob Roth says it's okay since people wouldn't remember. Even though Bob makes a point of selling an image, their imitation of Marinette's designs look shoddily made from cheap materials like cardboard boxes.
• Police Are Useless: Roger gets fooled by Silencer into delivering Roth to him and then he's easily gotten rid of by being pushed into an elevator. He's later seen trying to threaten Silencer by using a megaphone, despite having his voice stolen.
• Refuse to Rescue the Disliked: Subverted. When Silencer is about to coerce a confession out of Bob Roth, Cat Noir suggests he and Ladybug wait until it's done but Ladybug doesn't believe in forced confessions (which would be meaningless anyway).
  Ladybug: It would be revenge, not justice.
• The Reveal: XY's name is Xavier Yves and is Bob Roth's son.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Roth and XY's father-son relationship means that they can get away with plagiarism all they want. Roth even says "Don't touch me! I'm warning you, I have connections!" when Silencer goes after him. They're also close friends with Mayor Bourgeois.
• Shapeshifter Guilt Trip: Voiceshifter Guilt Trip in Silencer's case, when he threatens Bob Roth to tell the truth by imitating everyone's voices to explain how they could ruin his business, his family and his life.
• Shipper on Deck: Judging by their reactions to the live broadcast, a lot of Parisians support Ladynoir.
• Shout-Out:
  • The way Ladybug puts an attached vacuum cleaner to her back makes it look like a proton pack.
  • Ladybug isn't the only one who'd use a vacuum cleaner to fight.
• The Speechless: Silencer's victims are unable to speak once their voices are stolen.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Bob Roth and XY were already jerks, but this episode reveals that they are a father-son pair who blatantly steal from genuinely talented artists, then deny any wrongdoing and threaten legal action against anyone who tries to complain about it.
• Unspoken Plan Guarantee: Literally. Ladybug only texts her plan to Cat Noir and he never bothers to read her messages out loud.
• Villainous Crush: Silencer not only assures Marinette that he won't hurt her, but when she begs him not to ally with Hawk Moth, he confesses to her, and makes her a Declaration of Protection.
  Luka/Silencer: You're an extraordinary girl, Marinette. As clear as a musical note, and as sincere as a melody. You are the song that has been playing inside my head since the first day we met. I won't let anyone hurt you.
• Voice Changeling: One of Silencer's abilities is to steal voices, the other is to use the voices he's already stolen. He's also able to use more than one voice at a time.
• The Voiceless: Silencer doesn't have a voice himself, only shushing people or using others' voices.
• We Need a Distraction: In order to let Marinette and Luka sneak past the security guards at the TV studio, Rose, Juleka, and Ivan stage a fake akuma attack.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Silencer wants justice for Bob Roth and XY's plagiarism, but he uses brute force and impersonation to get it. Ladybug sympathizes but says revenge is not justice.
• Wham Line: Luka's Love Confession to Marinette, first as Silencer, then repeated word for word at the end of the episode when Marinette asks if he meant it, confirming that his feelings are sincere.
• "Yes"/"No" Answer Interpretation: When akumatizing Silencer, Hawk Moth asks if he agrees to his terms, to which he responds by putting on the akumatized mask. Hawk Moth takes this as a "yes".

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