Following directly after his deal with Félix in "Strike Back", Gabriel utilizes the Rabbit Miraculous' ability to time travel to save Emilie without using the Miraculous Wish, but Bunnyx arrives to stop him.
Tropes:
- All Animals Are Dogs: There's a quick shot of Bunnyx in the past getting licked by a T. Rex.
- All Your Colors Combined: Gabriel's new transformed appearance as Monarch is purple in palette, including his skin, except for his lapels which have a multicolored stained glass design that indicate which Miraculous he currently has active.
- All Your Powers Combined: Gabriel has the power of all but three Miraculouses and is more dangerous than ever. Fittingly, he redubs himself "Monarch" to suit his power boost. This comes with a drawback, however; as Marinette previously experienced, wielding so many Miraculous at once is physically taxing, and Gabriel only makes the situation worse by invoking more and more powers to keep up with the heroes, compared to Marinette using the Mouse Miraculous to divide herself and wielding no more than two at a time per copy. Gabriel can barely stand after a while, and yells at the kwamis for not warning him. They respond that the pain will only worsen the more he does it, forcing him to be selective with the Miraculous he activates.
- Ascended Meme: A commonly mocked Idiot Ball from "Lady Wi-Fi" is that Hawk Moth could’ve simply had the titular villain grab the Miraculous off Ladybug while she was restrained. Once he unlocks the power of time travel, guess what Gabriel’s initial scheme is.
- Batman Gambit: Ladybug leaves her Lucky Charm Miraculous Box in the Burrow, betting that Monarch will recognize it, ignore whatever he's doing and chase her down instead, falling right into her trap.
- Beyond the Impossible: In a fit of righteous fury, Cat Noir manages to shatter Monarch's Shelter dome using only his staff.
- Breaking Old Trends:
- This is the very first episode that doesn't feature a new or returning akumatized villain or sentimonster as the main antagonist.
- This season, starting with this episode, ends the trend of episodes being named after their primary villain. Instead, all of them are related to whichever Miraculous power is being focused on, in this case the power of evolution granted by Fluff.
- The Bus Came Back: In order to get the Dog Miraculous, they borrow it from Master Fu back during World War 2, just after he split from Marianne.
- Continuity Cavalcade: Given the heavy usage of time travel, the heroes chase after Monarch through various plot events that took place throughout the four seasons.
- Monarch attempts to take Ladybug's earrings while she's restrained by Lady Wifi.
- The heroes manage to stop Monarch from ambushing Cat Noir while he's watching Ladybug fight Riposte.
- Monarch tries, and fails, to catch the heroes when they were cursed by Reverser.
- The Free-Fall Fight presumably takes place during Bubbler's debut.
- One of the past moments that the group passes through is Alya and Nino's First Kiss while stuck at the zoo.
- The heroes and Monarch wind up in Paris during World War II.
- Ladybug's plan to catch Monarch and steal the Rabbit Miraculous takes place during the Heroes' Day War. Ladybug's Lucky Charm is the same box she gained from said war, and her plan relies on Monarch recognizing it and figuring out that she's gone there. She bases her trap around the part where Scarlet Moth tries to get the jump on the duo with an illusion of himself.
- Crazy-Prepared: Nathalie always carries a USB drive with information regarding the Miraculous and the Grimoire. And after learning that Gabriel is in possession of a time traveling Miraculous, she immediately hits on the idea of delivering it to his past self and averting the very tragedy he is trying to rectify.
- A Day in the Limelight: Alix. Not only is she recruited in this episode (for the Dog no less) but she also gets to unify with the Rabbit, and finally gets to keep the Rabbit full time, closing the Stable Time Loop.
- The Dog Bites Back: After spending four seasons being Gabriel's lovesick servant, committing immoral acts and damaging her own health out of those feelings, hearing that he chose petty revenge instead of saving Emilie or herself, finally opens Nathalie’s eyes to what a power-hungry madman he truly is, leading her to furiously quit his services.
- Doppelgänger Spin: Monarch uses the Fox Miraculous to create illusions of himself during his battle against the heroes, allowing him to sneak up on Bunnyx during the confusion and paralyze her with Venom.
- Double-Meaning Title: The Miraculous that gets the bulk of the focus in this episode is the Miraculous of Evolution, and this is also the episode that debuts the next evolution of Gabriel's power, into Monarch.
- Even Evil Has Standards: The moment that Nathalie learns that Gabriel cares more about power than her and his wife is when she draws the line and decides to no longer help him.
- Evil Will Fail: Monarch is about to give his past self the USB and Ladybug is completely unable to prevent it. But when he sees her Lucky Charm sitting in the middle of the Burrow and realizes where she's gone, he just can't help himself and goes after Ladybug instead, giving away his victory because of his obsession.
- Failed a Spot Check: While stuck in Paris during WWII, Ladybug and Cat Noir don't notice Monarch touching the Rabbit Miraculous with the Dog ball despite doing it in front of them. Given he collapses moments later, they likely assumed that he would be too weak to activate the Fetch ability in that moment, and didn't anticipate him waking up quite so quickly.
- Fighting Across Time and Space: Ladybug and Cat Noir fight Monarch while time traveling to several events of the series, among them their first fight against Riposte and the events of Heroes Day.
- Forgot About His Powers: Despite having a variety of powers to exploit, Monarch never once thinks about using the Snake Miraculous in order to undo any surprise attacks Ladybug and Cat Noir throw at him.
- Free-Fall Fight: Monarch and the heroes have one while falling down the Eiffel Tower.
- Friend-or-Idol Decision: Monarch gets to pick between leaving a thumb drive for his past self to be able to fix the Peacock Miraculous (the "friend" choice, since it will let him save his wife), or to ambush (or so he thinks) Ladybug and Rabbit Noir (the "idol" choice, as he thinks it will help him get their Miraculous). He chooses the latter, which bites him hard, especially when Nathalie angrily tells him that she quits being his servant for not going along with the plan.
- Fusion Dance: Three notable ones: Gabriel wears all the Miraculous to become "Monarch" (invoking specific fusions as needed), Cat Noir unifies the Cat and Rabbit Miraculous after Bunnyx gets struck with Venom, and Alix unifies the Dog and Rabbit Miraculous (stolen from Monarch) in order to escape Monarch's Fetch ability.
- Godzilla Threshold: Since Monarch decides to use the Rabbit Miraculous to rewrite history, Bunnyx immediately shows up to help the heroes stop him.
- Grandfather Paradox:
- Attempted by Monarch. He travels back in time to when Lady Wifi had Ladybug at her mercy, and freezes the villain so he can unmask the hero. Bunnyx arrives to stop him, saving the timeline by preventing him from altering events. He later prepares to do the same thing by giving his younger self a USB stick containing information on how to fix the Peacock Miraculous so that Emilie doesn't get sick, which would completely change the established show canon up to this point, but he is foiled this time by his own desire for power.
- Monarch thinks this is the case when he finds Ladybug's Lucky Charm in the Burrow. Recognizing it from Heroes Day, he sees them lying in wait for his past self and tries to ambush them. What he fails to realize is that they're actually the bait, and it's Canigirl who ambushes him when he appears, taking the Rabbit Miraculous from him.
- Guile Hero: Ladybug uses her Lucky Charm to tempt Monarch into coming after her. It works and he walks right into the trap she prepared for him, losing the Rabbit Miraculous as a consequence.
- Happily Married: Gabriel and Emilie were clearly very happy together
. - History Repeats: Gabriel obtains a large number of Kwamis but ultimately loses Nathalie as a result. The same thing happened to Marinette in the Season 4 opener "Truth", losing Luka after the new responsibilities of being the Guardian weighed on her.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Monarch uses Fetch to make sure he can recall the Rabbit Miraculous if it's taken from him. Alix, using the Dog Miraculous, uses the same power to steal the Rabbit Miraculous from him, unifies with it, then jumps into the Burrow faster than he can use Fetch to steal it back.
- Hope Spot: Despite losing the Rabbit Miraculous to Alix, Monarch decides to make the most of his situation of being stuck during Heroes' Day by using his future knowledge to triumph over Ladybug and Cat Noir. Thankfully, Future Bunnyx shows up and portals him back to the present before he can do anything.
- Humiliation Conga: Monarch just can't catch a break in this episode. Ladybug and Rabbit Noir keep outsmarting him at every turn while fighting and chasing him through time, he suffers a lot of physical abuse and also the consequences of using so many Miraculouses at once, he wastes his one great chance to save Emilie because of his obsession, he lets the powerful Rabbit Miraculous get stolen right under his nose and fails to get it back, he barely manages to escape, and after all this humiliation, Nathalie calls him out and quits.
- Immediate Sequel: The episode immediately picks up with Ladybug and Cat Noir on the rooftop and regaining the resolve to confront Hawk Moth/Monarch. The entire episode happens between the final Ladynoir scene from "Strike Back", and Lila interacting with Nathalie on the Startrain.
- Internal Reveal: One of Gabriel's goals with using the Rabbit Miraculous: he attempts to visit time periods when he knows Ladybug and Cat Noir were forced to detransform in order to learn the identities of Ladybug and Cat Noir by spying on them via the Burrow. Never quite gets there, though.
- Ironic Echo Cut: As Gabriel monologues about being victorious while ordering the Kwamis to be silent, Ladybug and Cat Noir give a speech to Paris declaring that Hawk Moth is not victorious and they won't be silent.
- Kick the Dog: Gabriel wastes no time in verbally abusing the Kwamis by forcing them to accept their hopeless positions. He even has the audacity to call them stupid creatures.
- Kick the Morality Pet: Gabriel decides to pursue Ladybug instead of doing the bare minimum of effort to save his wife and Nathalie.
- Logical Weakness: As it turns out, while adults can use their power without losing their transformation and repeatedly, they can't spam them endlessly without weakening and Monarch's constant power use exhausts both the Kwami's and himself. They warn him he needs to break the transformation and feed them or else he will die.
- Long Last Look: Alix gives one to her dad, knowing that it'll be a long while before she can see him again after her time traveling mission.
- Loophole Abuse: Supposedly the reason that Rabbit Noir can travel through time more than once is because the Rabbit Miraculous is based on time manipulation, meaning that it isn't bound by the five minute timer like the other Miraculous.
- Make Wrong What Once Went Right: After losing the Rabbit Miraculous and being stuck in the events of Heroes Day, Monarch decides to make the best of the situation and interfere. Before he can even get started, Future Bunnyx pops in and sends him back to the present.
- Meaningful Echo: Cat Noir offers Ladybug the Rabbit Miraculous to use, but she refuses and gives it to him instead. When he hesitates and expresses his surprise at this, she repeats what he told her in "Strike Back": "It's you and me".
- Meaningful Rename: Since possessing all the Miraculous makes Gabriel stronger than ever, he decides to adopt "Monarch" as his name while donning all of them.
- Mirror Match:
- Slightly, but Cat Noir unifies the Cat Miraculous with Bunnyx's Rabbit Miraculous to combat Monarch's Rabbit Miraculous, leading to them Fighting Across Time and Space.
- Similarly, after Monarch uses the power of the Dog Miraculous to make sure the heroes can't steal the Rabbit Miraculous from him, Ladybug and Rabbit Noir use the World War II era copy of the Dog Miraculous so Alix can use its power to steal the Rabbit Miraculous from him faster than he can use the same power to recall it.
- My Future Self and Me: Future Bunnyx assures her mini self that she'll be traveling alongside her to not only keep the timeline in check but to go on fun adventures across the space-time continuum.
- Never My Fault: Gabriel is all too quick to blame Ladybug for making him not give himself the USB drive that would have saved his comatose wife, even though he chose to follow the spotted hero instead.
- Nothing Is the Same Anymore:
- Alix is made a permanent wielder of the Rabbit Miraculous.
- Nathalie, Gabriel's devoted right-hand woman, decides to cut ties with her former boss after hearing how he didn't follow through with her simple plan to save Emilie.Nathalie: You had the time Miraculous! You could've chosen to save Emilie, you could've chosen to save me. (coughs) But instead, you chose your obsession with Ladybug and Cat Noir! You're insane, Gabriel!
Gabriel: It wasn't my fault, it was Ladybug!
Nathalie: You don't deserve my help. You don't deserve anyone's help!
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Gabriel's whole stated MO from day one has been to use the power of the Miraculous to cure his wife. When Nathalie gives him a plan that would not only cure his wife (and by extension, her), but effectively allow him to get back all the years he spent trying to cure her (barring a possible paradox), he ends up blowing it because he prioritizes a chance at defeating Ladybug and Cat Noir over the guaranteed outcome of saving his wife. It’s this that makes Nathalie, who had up to this point committed immoral acts in his service without remorse because of this noble goal, realizes that he cares more about power than saving his wife or her health and angrily denounces him.
- No Name Given: Alix's fusion of Dog and Rabbit Miraculous uncharacteristically goes unnamed. Ancillary materials give it the name “Bunnydog”.
- Now You Tell Me: Monarch is infuriated that the Kwamis didn't tell him about the consequences of using too many Miraculous at once. Of course, the only reason they couldn't tell him is because he forcibly silenced them but this goes over his head.
- Ominous Message from the Future: Monarch tries to give his past self a USB stick with information on how he can prevent losing Emilie. Unfortunately, his obsession with getting the better of Ladybug ruins that plan.
- Once More, with Clarity:
- Early into the episode, the heroes see Monarch falling out of a Burrow and escaping through another one while chased by another Ladybug and Cat Noir, the latter also wearing a Rabbit Miraculous. Later we see the same scene again, this time from future Ladybug and Cat Noir's point of view.
- Back in "Reverser" the temporarily cowardly Cat Noir accused someone who as far as we know was driving normally of being a public health hazard. While it was played off as him having become a Lovable Coward at the time, this time we see that the driver saw Monarch approaching near the end of the route and sped up accordingly.
- Once per Episode: Averted. This episode heavily strays away from show's usual Strictly Formula, most notably in that Gabriel doesn't create a single supervillain or sentimonster for heroes to fight. The only akumatized villains that appear are brief cameos from the previous episodes as the heroes chase Monarch across time.
- Orcus on His Throne: Defied; Monarch not only unifies the Rabbit and Butterfly, but wears and utilizes every Miraculous at his disposal in his fight between Ladybug, Cat Noir and Bunnyx. Considering his goals in this episode, it makes sense for him to do this himself.
- The Paralyzer: Monarch manages to defeat Bunnyx with Venom.
- Party in My Pocket: As Monarch, Gabriel keeps all his captive Kwami in his cane, releasing them as needed for transformations.
- Power at a Price: By wielding all the Miraculous, Monarch can swap powers on the fly simply by calling out whichever he needs at the moment. However, wielding too many at once drains him, such that he nearly defeats himself by overdoing it.
- Power-Strain Blackout: As a result of merging multiple Miraculous together, Monarch starts getting painful energy shocks. After one too many merges, he collapses in front of Ladybug and Rabbit Noir. They think it is a feint, but he is genuinely hurt, and after he teleports away with his last bit of strength, he collapses once more from the strain.
- Pyrrhic Victory: Monarch's big victory from the previous episode is reduced to this by this one's end due to his choices: yes, he manages to keep most of the Miraculous he stole from Ladybug, but has lost the most powerful and important one (the Rabbit) to the heroes, completely blown his chances to save his wife and Nathalie from their illness, and has been denounced and disavowed by the latter for his selfish actions.
- Quaking with Fear: The poor Kwamis are terrified of their new master.
- Rage Breaking Point: Nathalie reaches hers when Gabriel confesses that he didn't go through with her plan to save Emilie as he was too caught up in trying to one up Ladybug.
- The Reveal: Alim Kubdel, Alix's father, knew exactly what the pocket watch was when he gave it to her, showing her the pictures of the woman who revealed it to him — adult Alix. In turn, this shows that he always knew she would get the Rabbit Miraculous, because of these photos. He even knows the precise date and time, as he's expecting Ladybug and Rabbit Noir when they arrive.
- Revenge Before Reason: Gabriel squanders a golden opportunity to retroactively save his wife and complete his mission in order to try to attack Ladybug and Rabbit Noir. This costs him the Rabbit Miraculous and his formerly faithful Dragon.
- Rule of Symbolism: For the first (and last) time, Master Fu gives both Ladybug and Bunny Noir the Comes Great Responsibility speech, showing that they're finally equal partners. Likewise, Ladybug repeating the words alongside him shows how she's finally grown from his student to his successor.
- Say My Name: The ending has Gabriel calling Ladybug's name in anger for his many losses.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Nathalie decides that she's done being involved in Gabriel's nonsense when he squanders an opportunity to save both Emilie and her just for another shot at Ladybug, declaring that he doesn't deserve hers or anyone's help.
- Sdrawkcab Speech: As Cat Noir learns the hard way, one side of the side effects of using the Rabbit Miraculous too much is temporarily speaking in reverse.
- Secret-Keeper: Alim counts as this as Future Alix told him via postcards about her destiny as the wielder of the Rabbit Miraculous. He also doubles as a Secret Secret-Keeper retroactively.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: One of Gabriel's two goals with using the Rabbit Miraculous: if he can get a USB to his younger self containing the instructions to repair the Peacock, Emilee doesn't get sick. He's seconds away from doing it, but to his detriment the opportunity to ambush Ladybug and Rabbit Noir in the present proves too big a temptation, ultimately costing him both.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: None of the Parisian citizens are phased by Monarch's declaration of war as they simply boo and pelt trash at his enlarged head.
- Shoot the Mage First: During the first fight in the Burrow, Monarch uses Venom on Bunnyx and encases them both in Shellter, intending to neutralize her so Ladybug and Cat Noir won't be able to follow him through time. Cat Noir shatters the barrier with his Cataclysm and snags Bunnyx's Rabbit Miraculous, allowing them to continue the chase.
- Speak in Unison: Ladybug does this with Past Fu as he recites his monologue of using the Miraculous for good.
- Stable Time Loop:
- While contemplating how to stop Monarch, the heroes witness the villain being chased by themselves through a time portal. This would clue them in on what Monarch is planning along with Cat Noir being allowed to use the Rabbit Miraculous.
- Master Fu gave Marinette and Adrien the Miraculouses because he already met them in the past and knew he would do it.
- The Rabbit Miraculous finally makes it to the present-day Alix, who is given it on a permanent basis, ending the loop started in "Timetagger".note
- Stating the Simple Solution: Unlike Gabriel, who makes the convoluted effort of trying to discover Ladybug and Cat Noir's identities through past instances where they were vulnerable, Nathalie suggests using the Rabbit Miraculous to send himself a USB drive with information on how to repair the Peacock Miraculous, thereby saving Emilie and by extension herself from its detrimental effects. That he can't follow through on such a simple task is the last straw for her.
- Suddenly Speaking: After having voiceless appearances throughout the show, Emile is shown speaking for the first time.
- This Cannot Be!: Monarch is utterly stupefied after Alix manages to steal his Rabbit Miraculous and get away before he can reclaim it.
- Too Powerful to Live: Understandably, Monarch having unfettered access to all of space and time is far too powerful an ability to let him keep, so it's the first one that gets taken from him.
- Transformation Is a Free Action:
- Monarch changes which Kwamis he uses several times over the episode, each time requiring him to call out every single Kwami he intends to unify, with even Rabbit Noir lampshading how long it takes. Despite that, the heroes never try interrupting him. The first time they could be taken by surprise and at one point heroes arguably allowed Monarch to use too many Miraculous on purpose to let him over-exhaust himself, but both times he uses Wind Dragon to escape could be easily prevented.
- After Canigirl steals Monarch's Rabbit Miraculous using her Dog Miraculous, she has time to Unify both and then open, jump through, and close the Burrow behind her, all before Monarch can invoke Fetch to steal the Rabbit Miraculous back from her.
- Villain Ball: Gabriel grabs the ball hard this episode, squandering a chance to rescue his wife in favor of trying to get revenge on the heroes. Even when he has a clear shot at giving his past self the information needed to save Emilie and the heroes aren't present to stop him, he abandons it in favor of going after Ladybug and Rabbit Noir again.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: When Ladybug finally manages to capture Monarch, he uses Lightning Dragon to escape. Twice, no less.
- Villainous Breakdown: Gabriel gets one near the end after losing the Rabbit Miraculous and sulking for wasting his chance in saving his comatose wife. It gets worse for him when Nathalie chews him out for allowing his obsession to cloud his judgement while declaring that she will no longer support him and his cockamamie schemes.
- Villainous RRoD: As was warned by Master Fu all the way back in "Kwamibuster", using too many Miraculous at once has a detrimental effect on the user. Monarch suffers excruciating pain when he merges four at once and invoking six cripples him at a crucial moment, nearly letting the heroes capture him and all the Miraculouses.
- Wake Up, Go to School & Save the World: Averted. Ladybug and Cat Noir don't even de-transform into their civilian identities (well, the present-day ones at least don't) let alone engage in any matters related to their personal life.
- Wham Episode: Monarch loses the most important and powerful Miraculous he possesses. His incredibly loyal assistant Nathalie has enough and quits. Finally, Alix gets the Rabbit Miraculous on a permanent basis.
- What You Are in the Dark: Gabriel wastes the golden chance to spare Emilie from her terrible fate—by simply delivering a USB stick with intel on the Miraculous—because he's too obsessed with chasing Ladybug, losing the trust of his closest ally, Nathalie, in the process. Despite his insistence on his ultimate goal being to save his wife, he proved his lust for power is far greater.
- Write Back to the Future: Alix sent messages to her father from all the points in history she visited during her time as Bunnyx, revealing to him that she was destined to receive the Rabbit Miraculous. Thanks to these messages, Alim knows that Alix will be alright, even if he can't be with her for a while.
- You Can't Go Home Again: The current fate of Alix. Now that Monarch is more dangerous than ever, Alix will need to be using the Rabbit Miraculous to navigate the streams of time to keep things in check and help out Ladybug and Cat Noir as needed. This also means that she can't go home to her dad until all the Miraculous are returned and Monarch is defeated.
- You're Insane!: Nathalie calls Gabriel crazy for forgoing an easy chance to save Emilie and herself just for the chance to snatch Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculouses, realizing that he has finally succumbed to power madness.
