Recap / Miraculous Ladybug S04E25 "Risk (Shadow Moth's Final Attack Part 1)"

Like an old Scottish duck once said, "No good ever came from a creepy child singing".

"Ladybug, Cat Noir. Whoever you are, wherever you're hiding, you are now bearing the mark of Risk. Of course I have no idea what mistake you're going to make or how you'll make it, but I do know that the beating of my wings have sown the seeds of recklessness. And now I just have to wait then harvest your downfall."

— Shadow Moth

After yet another failed plan, Shadow Moth realizes he needs to take a risk by making everyone in Paris take risks.

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Tropes:

• Ambiguously Evil: Félix's motives for coming to Paris are not entirely clear. On the one hand, he seems to genuinely care about Adrien's situation and his offer to help his cousin sounds sincere. On the other hand, however, he very clearly has his own agenda and borrows Adrien's identity in order to investigate the mansion and find Gabriel's secrets.
• "Avoid This Area" Effect: When Shadow Moth is feeling around for a potential victim, Mr. Ramier can be heard complaining about the "anti-pigeon spikes" that have recently been added to benches.
• Blatant Lies: Adrien tells Félix that he will be fine going on the trip to Paris. Obviously, Félix sees right through this lie.
• Bathos: Shadow Moth unleashes the titan Strike Back to destroy the city and force Ladybug to make a mistake. As the rampage begins, all the influenced civilians act eager and excited about the sentimonster attacking. André the ice cream man even offers a personalized dessert to Strike Back.
• Call-Back:
  • Based on their talk in "Penalteam", Lila and Chloé showcase their new alliance by signaling each other to interfere with Marinette's confession.
  • Marinette brings up the fairy tale illustrations Marc and Nathaniel gave her in "Gabriel Agreste".
  • Félix finds the decoy Butterfly and Peacock Miraculouses in the secret safe.
• Cassandra Truth: Marinette's friends don't believe her when she tells them Adrien doesn't want to go on a months-long modeling trip around the world and that he doesn't want to be a model.
• Cliffhanger: Shadow Moth begins the next phase of his scheme by summoning the behemoth Strike Back to terrorize the city, Marinette gets the big idea of using the Horse Miraculous to bring "Adrien" back to Paris despite Tikki's protests, and the last scene has Adrien entering Gabriel's office and finding the spy monocle Félix hastily left behind.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Tikki warns Marinette that there's always been consequences whenever she tries to use Ladybug to solve her personal problems.
  • Gabriel still uses robots from "Gabriel Agreste".
• Control Freak: Discussed. Alya refuses to help Marinette stop Adrien from going on a trip, believing she is trying to control his life.
• Cruel to Be Kind:
  • While Gabriel sends Adrien on a tour that will last several months without discussing it with him beforehand and doesn't want to listen to a word of protest, he has a "good" reason for it - he's trying to keep him out of Paris before his fight with Ladybug commences.
  • Kagami delivers a brutal speech to Adrien about letting others control his life and never thinking about cutting his strings that she ends with apologizing if she hurt him. Adrien agrees that she's right and that he needed to hear it.
• Dare to Be Badass: Félix and Marinette tell Adrien at different points that he needs to stand up to his father, but he admits that he can't, even though he desperately wants to. It takes Kagami yelling at him that he needs to stop being a puppet and should "dare to cut [his] strings" and take control of his own life for Adrien to finally muster the (Risk-aided) courage to confront his father.
• Didn't Think This Through: Lila pretends she has "ballophobia" to get out of playing dodgeball. Unfortunately for her, Marinette was running late so D'Argencourt puts Marinette on Adrien's team which Lila was supposed to be in, though she quickly finds another way to come between her and Adrien.
• Dramatic Irony:
  • The audience knows that Félix and Adrien have switched places and the former is about to travel with Lila, but Marinette is completely unaware of all of this.
  • Neither Ladybug nor Cat Noir realize that Risk is riding around and causing everyone to take risks.
• Electronic Eyes: Downplayed - Félix has a red-tinted monocle that allows him to see fingerprints and look into Gabriel's safe's door. He takes it off and tosses it under some steps when Gabriel and Nathalie are about to find him.
• "Eureka!" Moment:
  • Gabriel gets one when he realizes that Ladybug never makes mistakes because she never takes risks. This leads to him running off to find a victim that can force people to take risks.
  • Near the end, Tikki tries to console Marinette by saying that Adrien will be back from his voyage. This triggers Marinette into realizing that she can use Kaalki to venture to the train and make another effort to bring back "Adrien".
• Even Evil Has Standards: Félix is morally ambiguous at best, but he's absolutely horrified when he finds his aunt Emilie's cryogenic pod.
• Failed a Spot Check: This episode makes it extremely clear that Alya hasn't yet put together that Lila is a liar. She has it on her own blog that Lila claims to be Ladybug's best friend, and yet Alya now knows that Marinette is Ladybug. That she immediately accuses Marinette of being jealous of Lila instead of considering that 1) Marinette may have valid concerns about Lila considering that Lila has told lies about her, 2) Marinette has been shown to prioritize Adrien's happiness over her own when it comes to other girls i.e. Kagami, and/or 3) Marinette specifically said that Adrien himself told her he was miserable is... concerning, to say the least.
• Fakin' MacGuffin: Gabriel keeps fake Butterfly and Peacock Miraculouses in his hidden safe. Félix manages to break in and steal them, believing them to be the real ones and therefore proof Gabriel is Shadow Moth (which he is).
• Foreshadowing: The code for Gabriel's safe is Hawk Moth wins this time. This time he actually does.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus:
  • There's a brief shot of Nathalie's neck when she's packing her bags, showing that she's been marked by Risk's power.
  • When Félix hacks Gabriel's safe, his device reads "hMk win =Z; this (time);".
• Hoist by His Own Petard: By unleashing Risk, Shadow Moth sets in motion the events that will lead to his downfall (or at least a heavy breach of security); an emboldened Adrien switches places with Félix, allowing the latter access to Gabriel's sanctum.
• If I Do Not Return: A villainous example. Knowing how risky and dangerous his latest plan is, Gabriel gives his wedding ring to Nathalie to take care of while entrusting her to watch over Adrien.
• Internal Reveal: Félix discovers the hidden sanctum with Emilie's pod.
• It's All My Fault: Gabriel still blames himself for Nathalie's condition in spite of the fact she willingly chose to use a damaged Miraculous.
• Jerkass Ball: Since Adrien is marked by Risk and extremely upset because of his father's neglect he acts noticeably more hostile towards Lila and Félix. However he doesn't treat his other friends any differently.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Despite manipulating Adrien, Félix is right when he tells Adrien that he has to stop doing everything his father says (which is Adrien's biggest flaw) and stand up to him more.
  Felix: Freedom is something you make, Adrien. For starters, you gonna stop doing everything your father tells you to.
  Adrien: I can't disobey him.
  Felix: You can't, but I can. Remember how we'd pretended to be each other when we were little? We're gonna do the same thing. Because unlike you, I can say no to your father.
  Adrien: I know my father. He'll never give in.
  Felix: Or maybe your fear keeps you from seeing a hidden side of him.
• Manipulative Bastard: Gabriel as usual, but he takes it to a new level. This time he has a new goal in mind, forcing Ladybug to make a mistake that he can take advantage of. So rather than go through the normal Monster of the Week formula by selecting a victim at random and giving them a power they want, he creates Risk by specifically searching for a victim whom he can give the power of suppressing the sense of caution and concern of everyone in the city in order to force everyone, including Ladybug, to be impulsive and careless. When he selects his victim and akumatizes them into Risk, he makes sure that Risk's akumatized form doesn't look too different from how he looks normally, to ensure that Risk remains incognito and that Ladybug won't catch on to the fact that a villain is loose in the city. And instructs him to hide his akuma to ensure that Ladybug can't de-akumatize him even if she does catch on.
• Moment Killer:
  • Adrien takes Marinette's hand after confiding in her about not wanting to go on the world trip. Marinette, however, does the unselfish thing and insists that he has to talk to his father about this which causes him to let go before he vents about his difficulties more.
  • Thirty-seconds later, Risk's power seems set to cause Marinette to make a Love Confession to Adrien but Lila was watching them and pops in to interrupt her under the guise of wanting to start public goodbyes for her and Adrien as they leave to go on their commercial World Tour.
  • A bit more than another thirty-seconds after that, Marinette tries to run over to Adrien and do the same again before Adrien gets in his car, but Chloé rushes after Marinette and pushes her over right after she only manages to say "Adrien!..." to him.
• My God, What Have I Done?: In anger, Gabriel accidentally causes Emilie's pod to crack. He's horrified by it.
• Oh, Crap!: Félix has one when he sees his comatose aunt in a cryogenic chamber.
• Ominous Music Box Tune: Whenever a person is influenced into taking a risk, the music box version of Froggy's theme song can be heard playing.
• Palette Swap: Gabriel's new line of clothes worn by Adrien and Lila are actually just their regular outfits colored white.
• Pet the Dog: While Félix's main goal is getting Gabriel's Miraculouses, he still tries to talk to him on Adrien's behalf even though this doesn't help his plans in any way.
• Race for Your Love: Ladybug tries to catch up to Adrien before he leaves Paris to convince him to stay. She manages to reach him (actually Félix) but fails to convince him.
• The Reveal: While looking for a perfect victim for his risk-taking scheme, we see how Shadow Moth is able to telepathically identify people's emotions, and that he's able to choose someone experiencing a specific emotion to target with his akumas.
• Running Gag: When Shadow Moth searches for the right akumatization victim, naturally one of the potential targets he senses is Mr. Ramier.
• Shout-Out:
  • Marinette and Alya go to the cinema to watch United HeroeZ: The Final End Fight.
  • Strike Back looks like something between Destroyer and Laputa Robot.
• Spanner in the Works: Gabriel tells Nathalie that due to the nature of Risk's power, there's no telling what could go wrong and in what fashion, so he needs to be able to make plans on the fly. What he never accounted for, however, was Félix's presence in Paris.
• Swiss-Army Weapon: It's revealed that Rena Furtive's flute can also be used as a telescope.
• That Man Is Dead: Averted. Froggy never calls himself Risk. In fact, he still introduces himself as Froggy in his song that he keeps singing.
• They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: The average akuma of the day, while harrowing, are very easily noticeable and can be quickly defeated by Ladybug and Cat Noir on a daily basis. Risk, on the other hand, is a frog-loving boy who casually rides his bicycle while encouraging everyone to take risks...which is what makes him so dangerous as no one, not even our two heroes, notice that he's been akumatized due to bearing a less than recognizable appearance when Shadow Moth akumatized him and he's already influenced everyone in Paris into becoming bolder in their daily lives. And that includes the Miraculous duo themselves.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: The beginning is pretty optimistic for both main heroes. Cat Noir gets a kiss on a cheek from Ladybug and assurance that he's her favorite Miraculous holder while Ladybug herself deals with her hero duties faster and more efficiently thanks to Rena Furtive's help. Her reaction to learning she has time to catch a movie says it all.
  Marinette: Are you saying for once we'll actually see the beginning of a movie?
• Trailers Always Spoil: The episode's trailer from Globo revealed that Félix would be appearing in this episode dressed in Adrien's clothing.
• Trigger Phrase: Everyone marked with Risk's frog-footprint tattoo needs to hear his song only once in order for his power to take effect. After it's activated, the affected person's inhibitions will disappear and they will continue taking risks, regardless of whether Froggy is near them or not.
• Twin Switch: Félix convinces Adrien to trade places with him so he won't have to go through with the world tour photo shoot. Of course, it's just an elaborate ruse so the devilish cousin can sneak around the mansion and uncover his uncle's darkest secrets.
• The Unfought: Risk is one of the very few villains that Gabriel didn't create for the purpose of fighting and defeating Ladybug and Cat Noir. As result, the heroes don't even know about his existence, let alone fight him.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Under the influence of Froggy's spell, Kagami calls Adrien to yell at him for going through with the world tour photo shoot even though he doesn't want to. She also gets mad when he reveals that his cousin Félix is going to talk to his emotionally abusive and busy father.
  Kagami: This just keeps getting better. You're letting your cousin do things for you now? Who's pulling the strings of your life? Your cousin? Your father? Me when we were together?! It's never you! You're only good at doing what other people tell you to do! Dare to cut your strings Adrien! ...Forgive me if I hurt you.
• World Tour: Gabriel's newest commercial will involve Adrien and Lila traveling the world for photo sessions. While his school friends are ecstatic that their once imprisoned friend is going to see the world, Adrien hates it because he's being forced to spend several months away from his friends and loved ones.

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