"Rena Rouge, I am Shadow Moth. [...] You've probably realized by now that you'll have to obey me if you want to see your loved ones again. [...] I want you to betray Ladybug!"
— Shadow Moth
Marinette has a nightmare of Alya betraying her to Shadow Moth, so she goes to retrieve the Fox Miraculous from her, after entrusting it to her in Optigami. Meanwhile, Shadow Moth sets his plan into motion, targeting her friends and family with a Sentimonster version of her boyfriend's akuma - The Bubbler. With Marinette trapped and unable to help, Alya has to use all of her wits to defeat Shadow Moth, particularly when he comes to get her personally.
Tropes:
- And Your Little Dog, Too!: Sentibubbler bubbles everyone in Alya's house, including their pet tarantula.
- Anxiety Dreams: Marinette's doubts about letting Alya keep the Fox Miraculous cause her to have a nightmare in which Alya told everyone her secret, even Shadow Moth.
- Bait-and-Switch: When Marinette shows up at Alya's house, everyone is looking for a small fuzzy animal that Otis (hyperbolically) claims can walk through walls. Marinette freaks out, thinking they know about Trixx, but they're actually looking for an escaped tarantula.
- Been There, Shaped History: Trixx was responsible for the legend of the Loch Ness monster.
- Bond Villain Stupidity: Shadow Moth has such tunnel vision regarding his plan that he doesn't notice that he has Cat Noir completely at his mercy after Cat Noir wastes his Cataclysm.
- Breaking Old Trends: While it initially looks like the Bubbler has been recreated, instead it's just a sentimonster copy of him with the same powers. No one gets akumatized this episode, and Shadow Moth chooses to dispel his amok instead of having it defeated.
- Bruce Wayne Held Hostage: Shadow Moth has Alya's friends and family captured in the hopes of luring out Ladybug and Cat Noir to steal their Miraculous. Unfortunately for him, one of his prisoners include Marinette.
- Catapult Nightmare: Marinette has one such nightmare, detailing a potential chain of events that leads Alya to betray her and give Shadow Moth the Miracle Box. The nightmare includes Alya telling her family she is Rena Rouge, including Nino and Chloé, as well as having Trixx eat at the table, then Alya opens the balcony to let Shadow Moth enter the dining room, Miracle Box in hand. As Ladybug goes to transform, Tikki tells her it is pointless, which is echoed by Cat Blanc who leads the entire room in a zombie walk towards a now defenseless Marinette.
- Costume Evolution: Starting from this episode, Alya wears a fanny pack to carry Trixx around.
- Dangerous Forbidden Technique: At one point, Marinette considers publicly transforming into Ladybug and later undoing the whole thing using the Rabbit Miraculous before deciding that "time travel is never a good idea".
- A Day In The Lime Light: The episode heavily focuses on Alya.
- Didn't See That Coming: Shadow Moth is totally blindsided by Pegabug portaling right on top of him, unaware that she's had a bird's-eye view the entire time. This plays into his rage at the end, as Ladybug so easily getting the better of him convinces him that she's far more competent than she is in reality.
- Didn't Think This Through:
- Shadowmoth is 100% blindsided when presented with the sight of Ladybug telling Alya that she can never be Rena Rouge again, showing that he never considered that as a possibility, and has to scramble to think of a way to salvage his plan.
- Cat Noir uses his Cataclysm to escape one of Sentibubbler's bubbles, only to be immediately captured in another because he lost his staff moments before and can only fall in one direction.
- Disappointed by the Motive: When Alya mistakes Sentibubbler for Nino, she's more disappointed at how he apparently got himself akumatized just because she wanted to talk with Marinette in private rather than horrified at the fact that Nino was seemingly akumatized again.
- Et Tu, Brute?: Marinette has a nightmare about Alya betraying her for Shadow Moth, and delivering the Miracle Box to him.
- Evil Phone: Ayla and Marinette gradually become aware that something is wrong when the phone rings and rings in the background and nobody picks up. When Alya finally does, it's Shadow Moth.
- Evil Twin: At first, it looks like Nino has been akumatised again, only for Shadow Moth to prompt Alya to look out her window, showing that in addition to her family being threatened, her best friends Marinette and Nino are there too. The news even notices, Nadja asking how it is possible for The Bubbler to have captured his civilian self.
- Failed a Spot Check: For her first illusion, Rena Rouge creates a copy of her civilian self that places a bowl on the counter before going to the bathroom, after which she dispels the illusion and the bowl along with it. Since the bowl is behind Sentibubbler, he doesn't see it disappear. She forgets to recreate this detail for her next illusion, but fortunately Shadow Moth is too invested in his plan to notice.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: While Alya and Marinette are talking, the phone keeps ringing outside but nobody is answering the call. When Alya is finally fed up and does it herself, she realizes that she is speaking with Shadow Moth and that her family already has been captured.
- Foreshadowing: Despite the heavy focus on Alya and her ingenuity, two things stand out: Marinette's nightmare about Cat Blanc, and Cat Noir's anger after Rena Rouge tells him that she and Ladybug can handle the situation and he's not needed. These set up the conflict for the second half of the season.
- Friend-or-Idol Decision: Pegabug hesitates to take Shadow Moth's coffee cup (the friend option as it would save Alya's family and Nino from their bubble prisons) because she notices his Miraculous and contemplates taking it (the idol option). She ultimately goes for the cup.
- Fusion Dance: Marinette fuses the Ladybug and Horse Miraculous to become Pegabug.
- Guile Hero: Alya is able to effectively use her illusions to trick Shadow Moth a grand total of three times throughout the episode. Marinette even compliments her on her resourcefulness.
- First, she creates a distraction to momentarily hide herself so she can transform. She then quickly conjures a Mirage of herself to lead Sentibubbler astray, in order to get to her room for a private chat with Cat Noir, making sure he doesn't interfere with her illusions and knows that the villain is a sentimonster.
- Next, she creates a dual illusion of both herself and Ladybug. This version of Ladybug tells "Alya" that she can no longer be Rena Rouge — a completely believable deceit, given Chloé received the exact same treatment — guaranteeing that Shadow Moth will leave her alone for a while, while Ladybug will enlist the aid of someone else using a more powerful Miraculous. Shadow Moth can't complain about this turn of events because his ruse relies on Ladybug being ignorant of his deceit, so Alya won't be punished for things not going according to plan. The false Ladybug then heads out and is followed by Shadow Moth, only for her to disappear after ducking into an alley.
- After Sentibubbler traps Cat Noir in a bubble and makes him waste his Cataclysm, Alya creates a third illusion of Marinette in her bubble overlayed on the real one, to hide the real Marinette as she transforms and summons Kaalki to become Pegabug and save the day.
- Heel–Face Turn: Just like in "Ladybug", once Pegabug gets hold of the amokized object, the Sentimonster is more than willing to help the heroes. Because Shadow Moth holds the Peacock Miraculous, he just dispels Sentibubbler as Mayura did.
- Hostage for MacGuffin: Shadow Moth takes Alya's family and closest friends hostage, demanding she help him steal the Ladybug and Cat Miraculouses for their safe return.
- I Have Your Wife: Shadow Moth takes Alya's entire family, plus Nino and Marinette, hostage to force her to betray Ladybug.
- Imagination-Based Superpower: Shadow Moth recreates the Bubbler, complete with all his superpowers, not from an annoyed Nino but using a common cup of coffee. It makes one wonder why he bothers with akumas anymore if he can conjure any past villain he wants on demand and control them from a safe distance.
- Like Parent, Like Child: Both Adrien and his father are shown to destroy public property out of frustration. Adrien destroys a chimney when Rena tells him that he isn't needed and Gabriel punches a wall when he loses track of the fake Ladybug.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Rena Rouge has to keep Cat Noir in the dark about her plans against Sentibubbler, as she has to protect Marinette's identity while maintaining the pretense that Ladybug is involved in the plan. He takes being left out of the team badly, smashing a chimney in anger. He casually notes that it's fine as Ladybug will just repair it later, but it demonstrates that Ladybug sidelining him in favor of Rena for the past few episodes is taking its toll on him.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Alya's plan is to engineer a scenario in which Shadow Moth has no reason to hold her family hostage, by creating a Mirage of herself and Ladybug in which Ladybug refuses to involve her any longer because Shadow Moth is targeting her as such. However, because she has to keep Marinette's identity a secret, she isn't able to explain the plan to Cat Noir, only asking that he trust she and Ladybug have one. When Cat Noir and Marinette see an illusion of Ladybug being pursued by Sentibubbler, they agree that having him intercept Sentibubbler will help the fake Ladybug escape. This provides Shadow Moth with an alternate means of coercing Ladybug's obedience through Cat Noir's capture.
- Nothing Is the Same Anymore: As part of her deception, Alya makes Shadow Moth believe that Ladybug has permanently retired her as Rena Rouge, so Rena Rouge will no longer be able to be seen in public. That said, she still plans to be Rena and help Ladybug, just from behind the scenes.
- Once an Episode: Averted. For the first time in the series, no one gets akumatized. Sentibubbler, being an identical copy of Nino's akumatized form, effectively fills out the role of the villain.note
- Opening Shout-Out: In Marinette's nightmare at the start of the episode, when Alya calls her "Ladybug", Marinette tries to deny this by saying "I'm not Ladybug. I'm Marinette. Just a normal girl with a normal life."
- Pajama-Clad Hero: Marinette wears her pajamas for the entirety of the episode, not counting her hero outfits of course.
- Potty Emergency: Alya fakes this to go back inside the house and "accidentally" flips over the table, giving her an opportunity to transform and send out an illusion of herself to distract Sentibubbler.
- Punch a Wall:
- Cat Noir angrily smashes a chimney when Rena Rouge tells him the plan doesn't require his help.
- Shadow Moth punches a wall after chasing and then losing the illusion of Ladybug created by Rena Rouge.
- Sadistic Choice: Shadow Moth gives Alya a difficult ultimatum over the phone: betray Ladybug's trust and help him capture her and Cat Noir, or refuse and allow her family to be sent into space by Sentibubbler. Alya instead chooses to trick Shadow Moth into believing that she is never getting the Fox Miraculous again for her own good, depriving him of his leverage.
- Shout-Out: The food Trixx eats to replenish himself is grapes, referencing the Aesop fable "The Fox and the Grapes". This is an apt reference, besides the title itself, since that story involves being unable to acquire something you can see, which perfectly applies to a misdirecting illusionist.
- Spanner in the Works:
- Shadow Moth's plan is undone because Alya already has the Fox Miraculous, rather than being loaned it on an as-needed basis.
- Cat Noir messes up Alya's plan by attacking Sentibubbler to keep him from pursuing her Ladybug illusion, partly because he's annoyed at being left out and partly because Marinette encourages him to help out of ignorance.
- The Stinger: Gabriel has a scene following the end card. This time, he expresses frustration and rage at Ladybug foiling his plans, going so far as to crack his tablet in anger. The fury in his face at being outplayed again leads him to state Ladybug doesn't make a single mistake. Nathalie comforts him, assuring Gabriel that no one is flawless and Ladybug will eventually and inevitably misstep.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Nino spends the whole episode being afraid of the Césaire family's tarantula.
