Year produced: 2022
Original air date: 4/1/23 (TV), 3/8/23 (Disney+)
Production code: 111
Following her mother’s advice, Lunella uses her face and voice as Moon Girl to promote an upcoming LES remodeling and improvement campaign headed by Marty and Marcy Muzzler. But when the inventor couple prove to have less than noble intentions for the LES, Lunella must work with her mother and the rest of the community to rectify her mistake and save her home.
Tropes:
- An Aesop:
- There is a difference between improving things for the better and changing everything that matters. Gentrification, the latter, is known to take away the diversity and culture of what makes a place unique and special.
- When you have a public platform, be careful how you use your voice. Sometimes the wrong word or action can have lasting consequences.
- All There in the Script: The fox-bat villain the duo quickly defeat doesn't give her name. The credits call her "Flying Fox".
- Broken Pedestal: At the beginning of the episode, Adria was one of Moon Girl's biggest supporters and has been for quite some time. However, when the Lower East Side is transformed due to the Muzzlers' modifications; she loses any respect that she has for the superhero, especially after she was told that the annual block party was cancelled. Thankfully, it didn't last long.
- Chekhov's Gun: The episode opens with Moon Girl hacking into a runaway driverless car, later revealed as one of the Muzzlers' inventions, to stop it. Later, she uses the same device to disable the Muzzlers' supersuits.
- Disappointed in You: After her block party is canceled, Adria tells off Moon Girl for endorsing the Muzzlers’ initiative, saying that she expected more of her.
- Foreshadowing:
- One of the first shots of the episode shows a mural. Later, when Moon Girl and Casey admire an electronic billboard of the Muzzlers' initiative, they realize it's on the same spot the mural used to be, the first hint of the Muzzlers' real intentions.
- The Beyonder explains the Muzzlers' backstory soon after they're introduced, something that he only did for supervillains in prior episodes.
- Grayscale of Evil: While everyone is vibrantly colorful during the episode's musical number, the Muzzlers are a palette of black and gray, with only the glow of their tech remaining pale blue. When they activate their mega muzzler, it turns everything the same shades to emphasize the silence it's imposing on the LES.
- Ink-Suit Actor: President Pena is voiced by Luis Guzman, and his animated self looks a lot like the actor.
- Ninja Prop: To combat the mega muzzler the LES residents start stomping and banging objects to make noise, illustrated by a colored waveform appearing against the background matching their sounds. Moon Girl runs along this waveform to take on the mega muzzler directly, dodging its peaks and valleys like obstacles.
- Nondescript, Nasty, Nutritious: One of the many transgressions of the Muzzlers' gentrification is replacing all food vendors with vending machines selling "Digestible Food-Based Product".
- Oblivious to Their Own Description: At the end, Adria wonders out loud how Moon Girl's parents let her go around fighting crime, making Lunella very nervous.
- Painting the Medium: The episode has one of the show's trademark Disney Acid Sequence fight scenes but when the Muzzlers use their noise-canceling equipment, the music and dialogue go silent (except for the Muzzlers' laughs) and the colors turn black.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: The Muzzlers are a middle-aged white couple whose idea of improving the LES is to suppress the culture of the diverse residents who live there.
- Recycled Villain Scheme: The Muzzlers' sound-dampening tech is decades ahead; the whole near-silent fight is very reminiscent of The Tomorrow Knight's first encounter with Shriek.
- Shout-Out: One of the food truck vendors is a dead ringer for Sanji from One Piece.
- Sickeningly Sweethearts: The Muzzlers have matching names, matching outfits, and a tendency to smooch each other frequently.
- Sudden Soundtrack Stop: The Muzzlers use a giant Muzzler device to silence not only Lunella’s soundtrack, but Lunella and all the protestors at the block party. Luckily, everyone finds other ways to make noise and fight back, soon able to destroy the machine.
- Villainous Gentrification: The Muzzlers’ “improvements” to the LES actually take away the elements that make it special.
- Villain with Good Publicity: The Muzzlers are well known as inventors who create helpful home gadgets, but their intentions for the LES are less than noble.
- What the Hell, Hero?: A furious Adria confronts Moon Girl for selling out the Lower East Side for Marcy and Marty's own personal needs.
- World of Silence: The Muzzlers want to use their technology to turn the LES into this, stripping away its distinctive art, music, and culture into generic, ascetic, utilitarian outlets.
