Recap / Miraculous Ladybug S04E08 "Queen Banana"

You who I called sister. How could you have come to hate me so? Is this what you wanted?

"Queen Banana. I am Shadow Moth. Once again they refuse to recognize your true talent. So I give you the power to show them who the real star of Paris is!"

— Shadow Moth

Thomas Astruc enlists the Dupont High School Art dept in shooting an amateur movie, to the consternation of Chloé Bourgeois who isn't included as lead actress. This leads to Chloé being akumatized into Queen Banana - a femme fatale with a banana obsession, accompanied by her giant Kong sentimonster and an array of banana themed tools at her disposal!

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Tropes:

• All-Loving Hero: The hero Zoé plays in the movie is this in contrast to the villain's Humans Are Bastards mentality. In her speech at the end she claims she still loves the villain as well even though she's Hated by All.
• Badass Normal: Even before she gains the Bee Miraculous, Zoé stands up to Queen Banana and tries to talk her sister down.
• Blinded by Rage: Vesperia provokes Queen Banana by rubbing in how she's been replaced as the bee heroine, enraging her enough to let Ladybug go in her desire to attack her. While she's distracted, Ladybug fills Queen Banana's holster with glue so her banana gun will get stuck when she puts it back.
• Briar Patching: Zoé pretends the Magical Charm meant to protect Chloé was something Audrey gave her, knowing Chloé will demand to wear it just to spite Zoé.
• Cain and Abel: Chloé grows to despise her half-sister and wants her shipped away, while Zoé is the White Sheep of the family.
• Call-Back:
  • When Adrien confronts Chloé about her behavior regarding the movie shoot, he reminds her of the promise he made to her back in "Despair Bear", where he threatened to end their friendship if she couldn't learn to be nicer. This time, though, Chloé renounces to their friendship in her tantrum.
    • Another minor one to "Despair Bear"; one of Chloé's initial reasons for refusing to participate in the student play is that "Mylène's sweater is too ugly", which was when she made fun of Mylène at the party before backtracking.
• The Cameo: In-universe, the costume designer Marinette cameos in the film as one of the civilians who is put to sleep by Destroica.
• Cannot Tell Fiction from Reality: Given Chloé’s comments, she assumes that the big movies use actual giant gorillas, rather than guys in ape suits. As such, she’s annoyed by how poorly realised the giant yellow dynamite slinging gorilla she demanded is.
• Chair Reveal: When students are shown Bob Roth's office, they find Chloé in his chair revealing that she's now in charge of their movie.
• Contrasting Replacement Character: In contrast to Chloé's mostly yellow with black accented 'Queen Bee' outfit, Zoé's 'Vesperia' outfit is black with yellow accents. As a further counterpoint, Queen Bee is named after a bee (generally seen as good) and Vesperia is named after Wasps (generally seen as bad). Plagg even points this out.
  Plagg: That Vesperia is to Queen Bee as Fourme D'Ambert is to Roquefort: sweeter, more refined, and much nicer.
• Continuity Nod: Mayor Bourgeois mentions having his limousine painted pink due to Chloé's latest whim.
• Deflector Shields: Ladybug's anti-akuma charm is shown to physically repel akuma with a pink barrier, even if the person would be otherwise vulnerable to it.
• Dispense with the Pleasantries: Chloé is so used to Shadow Moth's routine that she cuts his speech off in the middle and demands to put the show on the road.
• Dramatic Irony: Chloé says that "baker girl" Marinette has no idea what it's like to be a hero.
• Entitled Bitch: Chloé is still in denial over the fact she lost the privilege of being Queen Bee and still believes she deserves the Bee Miraculous.
• Even Evil Can Be Loved: Zoé tells Chloé that she will always love her, even if the whole world hates her.
• Evil Is Petty: Chloé didn't even want to be in the movie at first. She only wrecking-balled her way into the starring role because she didn't want to be upstaged in any way by Zoé, who genuinely wants to be an actress. She then takes great pains to invoked have the movie's script, set and props gutted like a fish to suit her slightest whims with everyone else powerless to stop her. It gets so bad that by the next day, they petitioned Gabriel to help fund the rest of their movie just so they wouldn't have to listen to her anymore, this being what gets her akumatized.
• Executive Meddling: In-Universe, Chloé makes one change after another to her class' movie. They never even get through the first scene.
• Facepalm:
  • Zoé is seen facepalming after yet another demand from Chloé to change the script, this time to include an "interesting villain".
  • Ladybug does one when seeing Cat Noir missed Queen Banana and Cataclysmed the sentimonster instead.
• Failed a Spot Check: In order to make an excuse to go away and transform, Marinette tells Zoé she'll be "looking for an exit"... when they're standing right next to the exit (which Zoé uses to go out and confront Queen Banana later).
• Foreshadowing: Chloé doesn't accept the anti-akuma charm of her own free will, but is tricked into taking it, thinking it a gift from her mother. And the ending card shows her side-glaring enviously at the heroes while she's bathed in purple light, hinting that her dealings with Shadow Moth won't end here.
• Grew a Spine: Mayor Bourgeois gives in to most of Chloé's demands, but he draws the line at punishing Zoé just because Chloé didn't get what she wanted.
  Mayor Bourgeois: Zoé is right, Chloé. You can ask me for a new cell phone or to paint the limousine pink, but you can't ask me to hurt your sister.
• Gun Twirling: Chloé does it a lot as Queen Banana, followed by holstering her gun. It ends up being used against her.
• Head Desk: A variant; Nino smacks his head on the camera when Chloé demands that he rewrite the script again.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Vesperia taunts Queen Banana and gets her to take aim at her so Ladybug can glue up her holster. Vesperia gets turned into a banana as a result, but once Queen Banana reholsters her weapon, it's stuck, and she's helpless against Ladybug and Cat Noir, who defeat her and quickly restore Vesperia and the rest of the city.
• Hero with an F in Good: Chloé shows how little her time as Queen Bee really changed her by saying that her made-up "superheroine" Queen Banana wouldn't want to help a bunch of unconscious people (which the original script had the original heroine do) but throw them into the trash instead. She demands Adrien be included as someone worth saving.
• Humans Are Bastards: The villain in the class's movie believe this because humans have polluted the Earth.
• I Kiss Your Hand: Cat Noir does this with Vesperia after their formal introduction. She looks confused by the gesture before getting back to the task at hand.
• I Shall Taunt You: Vesperia's way of drawing Queen Banana's attention is to push all her buttons by reminding her how un-heroic she was as Queen Bee.
• Internal Reveal: Shadow Moth doesn't know about Magical Charms, but as of this episode he realizes that something is preventing him from akumatizing people again.
• It's All About Me: Chloé is in full force this episode.
  • Chloé originally wanted nothing to do with the film, even though her own father was assisting in directing it. Once she finds out Zoé got top billing, however, she demands to be the star of the movie instead of her sister or she will pull the plug on development of the film.
  • After the original script gets shot anyway, with Gabriel Agreste financing, she starts throwing a tantrum about how "her" movie was ruined. Adrien is forced to remind her that it was never just "her" movie, something she considers such a betrayal that she's willing to end her friendship with him.
  • She refuses to accept that there could be another Bee Miraculous holder, stating that she's the only one who deserves to be Queen Bee, despite her betrayal and Ladybug making it clear she isn't going to be a hero anymore.
• Left Hanging: In-universe, Chloé has a tantrum and runs off, leaving Adrien literally hanging from a helicopter in a cage. Her version of the movie is never finished.
• Leitmotif: Vesperia gets one that plays not only while she transforms, but in pretty much every scene she's on camera.
• Line-of-Sight Name: Chloé comes up with the Queen Banana persona as a quick Verbal Backspace after being called out as being so un-heroic that Ladybug would never let her become Queen Bee again.
• Maniac Monkeys: One of many changes Chloé demands for the movie is a better villain for her to fight. She dismisses all ideas like a galactic emperor, giant octopus from outer space, and fire breathing dragon in favor of "giant yellow gorilla that throws exploding bananas". And then gets upset about the fake one because she wants a real one.
• Mass "Oh, Crap!": When Queen Banana breaks the movie theater ceiling with Banana Boom Boom and demands Zoé, everyone in the room has this expression.
• Mean Character, Nice Actor: Destroica, the Big Bad of the movie Marinette's class films, is played by the kind-hearted Mylène.
• Meaningful Echo:
  • "You may hate me, but I love you, and I always will." Said by Zoé's character in the film to Mylène (playing her sister), and later said by Zoé to her actual sister.
  • "It's for the good of the film." This was initially said whenever the script needed to be revised at Chloé's request. Marinette then says it to Chloé after they filmed the movie at night without her.
• Not Brainwashed: Chloé asks for specific powers from Shadow Moth and says that she already knows the drill and she's going to get Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculouses for him before he can even finish, so she's most likely voluntarily akumatized and retains memories of her actions as Queen Banana.
• Oh, No... Not Again!: Queen Banana says this almost word-for-word when she realizes that she's been once again deprived of her weapon and is about to be defeated by Ladybug and Cat Noir. Once again she tries to run away only to be stopped by Ladybug's yoyo and once again she lands on her face.
• Poke the Poodle: Bob Roth has a little too much fun meddling with the movie and rubbing it into Marinette's face. He also literally shoves Marinette and Zoé out of his bureau.
• The Prima Donna: Chloé not only demands to be cast as the lead of the students' film, she makes all sorts of insane demands to retool it to her liking, invoking her father to enforce the changes. She eventually loses her patience and walks off set when they can't keep up. Marinette takes the opportunity to convince her friends to shoot the original script now that Chloé's given them the chance, which Gabriel Agreste backs up, further fueling her ire because she's been cut out of the loop and can't invoke her father to get her way.
• Produce Pelting: Chloé is eating a banana while watching the news and pelts her TV with the peel upon seeing Zoé on the screen.
• Rummage Sale Reject: Chloé disparages Marinette’s superhero costume and puts together he own replacement, consisting of a yellow and black leotard with a skirt, a wide brimmed hat and a tacky looking belt with a banana sticking out.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Chloé manages to force her way into the film by threatening Bob Roth's income through her father. This then gets used against her when Gabriel independently finances the original version of the film, cutting both her and Mayor Bourgeois out of the equation.
• Shout-Out: At one point, Ladybug does the same motorcycle slide as in AKIRA.
• Subtext: As Zoé recites her lines on the news, she says "You may hate me, but I love you and I always will." and the scene cuts to Chloé watching the news and angrily pelting the television screen with a banana peel out of envy of Zoé getting to be the movie's star.
• Summon Bigger Fish: Mayor Bourgeois may be a big deal in Paris, but not as big a deal as world-renowned fashion designer Gabriel Agreste. Chloé has her father strong-arm Bob Roth, the producer, into giving her the leading role in the film when it's the city's money bankrolling him, but when Gabriel finances the original project after seeing the finished film with Adrien in it, Chloé is hung out to dry because Bob is loyal to the money.
• Superior Successor: Vesperia is a much worthier holder of the Bee Miraculous, something that is lampshaded first by Plagg, and later Ladybug and Cat Noir.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Queen Banana's sentimonster is basically a yellow Gorizilla. Presumably, Shadow Moth is taking inspiration from his own creation.
• Thememobile: Chloé demands that she gets one in the movie despite that her character can fly. She also receives another one in her akumatized form, a flying banana-themed car with matching banana-transforming weapons.
• This Cannot Be!: Shadow Moth is caught off-guard by his akuma being unable to reach Chloé a second time, not realizing that Zoé tricked Chloé into wearing an anti-akuma charm, which is also something he doesn't know Ladybug is capable of creating.
• Took a Level in Jerkass:
  • Chloé's fury has grown so much that even Adrien cannot reason with her anymore. She even ends her once treasured friendship with him when he tries.
  • Chloé was willing to ignore Zoé and wait until she returns to New York before, now she swears revenge on her.
• Unpleasant Animal Counterpart: Inverted with Zoé as Vesperia, who is named after wasps (Vespa is the genus of hornets as well as being the Latin and Italian word for wasp). She is far more pleasant than Chloé was as Queen Bee.
• Wag the Director: In-universe, Chloé wastes no time usurping creative control of the movie and turning it into her own Power Fantasy.

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