Episode 41
- Zombizou - Tales of Caline the Teacher
Adrien meets with Master Fu, who explains that he's been researching whether or not the Bee or Cat have any "extra" powers. What he's found so far is unclear; apparently, powers can manifest during "times of great need," but he doesn't have anything more solid than that. Noticing that Adrien seems distracted, he asks what's on his mind; Adrien waves him off, thanking him for the update.
As they leave the tea shop, Plagg notes that Adrien didn't bring up his suspicions about Marigold's secret identity. That's for the best; according to the Order's rules, if he did manage to figure out who she was, he'd be forced to give up his Miraculous. Adrien remarks how stupid and disastrous it would be to pass the Black Cat Ring to some newbie at this stage... and anyway, it's not like he has any proof, so there's no need to involve Master Fu.
(Meanwhile, Marinette asks Pollen whether she should try to figure out who Chat Noir is, with the Kwami blithely chirping "Whatever you think is best!")
The following day happens to be Mme. Bustier's birthday, and most of the class is eager to celebrate. Nathaniel shows off a picture he drew depicting their teacher as a superhero while Nino quips that he wishes her solutions involved less hugging. Mylène wants to thank her for their meditation breaks, and Kim chimes in that "Free nap time is awesome!" Lila declares how much she loves their morning compliment time as a flashback shows her and Chloé exchanging insults disguised as compliments in front of their beaming, oblivious teacher.
Marinette got Bustier her favorite shade of lip balm, storing it in a customized makeup bag embroidered with the first lesson Mme. Bustier ever taught them: "If we want to change the world, we must all learn to love each other." While Adrien and several other peers are touched, Alya notes how oddly juvenile that sounds; Marinette explains that she's been teaching some of them since they were six.
Sabrina knowingly asks Chloé what she got for their teacher. Marinette lightly chides Sabrina for the barb; they all know that Chloé hasn't given Bustier anything since Cours Préparatoire. Chloé dismissively sneers about how utterly, utterly ridiculous all that lovey-dovey nonsense is. Marinette quips that "Caring about someone other than herself would require Chloé to have a heart," to which Chloé declares that she could buy Marinette's heart if she wanted.
Chloé promptly vandalizes the makeup bag, scribbling over the embroidery and adding a crude mockery of Marinette's face. Marinette's understandably furious when the sabotage is discovered; though Bustier weakly protests that they don't know it was Chloé, the blonde isn't even bothering to hide it. And why should she when Caline not only refuses to punish her but declares her vandalism makes it a gift from both of them?
Marinette's utterly incredulous, all the more so when Caline makes her step outside for a moment so they can speak privately. While the rest of the class glares at Chloé, Marinette asks, "Chloé vandalized my work and I'm getting punished?"
Caline reassures her that's not the case, yet Marinette points out how it feels like a punishment. After how hard she worked, Chloé not only ruined her makeup bag but is being treated like she helped with it rather than childishly scribbled all over it.
Pausing briefly, Caline then declares that since Marinette is their class representative, she's counting on her to "lead by example." Though she acknowledges that Chloé only thinks about herself, she insists that's merely because she doesn't know how to love—but that's okay, because Marinette can show her how by forgiving her!
"ARE YOU ACTUALLY KIDDING ME?!" Marinette demands. Chloé's not even remotely sorry for what she did, yet she's expected to swallow her feelings and let her bully get away with spitting on her hard work? As Caline tries to reprimand Marinette, her student angrily declares that if she doesn't want to bother doing her job, then that's fine. She can't force her teacher to do anything about Chloé, just like how Bustier can't force her to pretend that Chloé isn't the worst person she's ever had to deal with. Over Caline's angry protests, she storms off, declaring that "All it takes for evil to succeed is for good people to do nothing. And you did nothing, Mme. Bustier."
Back in the classroom, everyone's yelling at the completely unrepentant Chloé. Not even Alix's assertion that she's caused half the akumas in Paris phases her as she retorts, "Is it my fault that I'm better than all of you?"
Then Sabrina declares that Chloé has no right to take out her frustrations over her own mother forgetting her birthday on Marinette and Mme. Bustier. That strikes a nerve, and she orders Sabrina to keep her big mouth shut before storming out of class, bumping into Marinette on her way out.
Outside, she witnesses their teacher talking to Hawkmoth. As Caline declares that she won't stop until everyone on Earth "feels the love," Chloé tiptoes past her but freezes upon hearing that her teacher plans to start with Marinette Dupain-Cheng.
Zombizou sashays back into class, declaring that "From now on, everyone is going to hug and kiss and feel the love!" As a cringing Alix hopes that she doesn't mean that literally, Zombizou blows a kiss towards her favorite role model. Marinette dodges, and Zombizou is hit by a barrage of thrown bags and lunchboxes before everyone runs for it. Unfortunately, she manages to tag the back of Sabrina's neck with one of her kisses.
Sabrina slows down, complaining about how hot it suddenly seems. Adrien and Lila encourage her to keep going; if she can at least make it to the nurse's office—but then she pins Lila to the floor. As she showers her with kisses, Lila screams at her to stop smearing her lip gloss everywhere and that "Now's not the time to realize how amazing I am!"
The newly converted Lila then lunges at Mylène; witnessing this, Ivan blocks the bottom of the stairs, preventing the three girls from being able to follow the rest of the class up immediately. While they run for it, Nathaniel tries to warn another class about the akuma, only for Zombizou to catch him in the act. Adrien fakes being infected in order to break away from his friends while Zombizou declares that she'll find Marinette sooner or later and that her student will have to accept her love whether she likes it or not.
As the survivors try to figure out where to hide, Scarlet Lady abruptly exits a locker, startling Marinette. Brushing off her question about why she was inside there in the first place, she declares that they've got to escape onto the roof. Alya suspiciously wonders why she's being so helpful right now; unseen by the others, Scarlet Lady smiles evilly, musing that she needs to stick with her classmates in order to ensure she gets a front-row seat when Marinette is caught.
Chat Noir arrives on the rooftop while Alya and Marinette catch the news on the latter's phone. Nadja warns that the hordes of kissing zombies are spreading through the streets of Paris; she then gets caught by Zombizou herself, who declares that she's coming for Marinette alongside their three defenders. Marinette's horrified; Scarlet Lady suggests that they should give her up, only to be shouted down by both her irate classmates and Chat Noir, who hisses "Come near her and I'll throw you to the zombies myself!"
The zombies start clambering onto the roof; Marinette spots a bus and asks whether Chat Noir can drive. He says he can manage just as well as anyone else, but they need to set up a line. Scarlet Lady volunteers to help by catching his belt, which Chat Noir and Marinette agree is incredibly suspicious. But there's no time to question too much; as Max is caught, he pleads with them to hit Zombizou extra hard for being top tier uncomfortable.
Kim then throws Marinette down the zipline, unintentionally robbing Scarlet Lady of her chance to toss her to the zombies. He then shoves her off the roof next, ordering her to "HURRY UP AND SAVE EVERYONE ALREADY!"
Down below, Rose is grabbed by one of the zombies, but Juleka punches them away. Unfortunately, the sweet heart still left their mark, and as the group makes their way towards the Eiffel Tower, Juleka's scream alerts them to how Rose has succumbed to the infection. Alix blocks her off from reaching the rest, declaring that she's trusting them to protect Marinette and get back at Hawkmoth and Zombizou for causing this whole nightmare in the first place.
Alya is the next to fall as the group reaches their destination; she calls the elevator down, only to be caught by the sweet heart zombies that were lurking within. Resisting the infection as best she can, she encourages Marinette to keep going, asserting that "Chat Noir and Marigold will save us. So keep yourself safe." Nino agrees, revealing that he's going to stay with Alya and asking Chat Noir to take care of Marinette. Chat solemnly agrees, ignoring Scarlet Lady poutily pointing out that she's still there. As Alya embraces him, Nino notes that it's hardly the first time they've been in trouble together.
Marinette breaks down crying, wondering why none of her friends protected themselves. Chat Noir reassures her that nobody saw it as a sacrifice; all of them helped because they love her, which is why he's going to keep her safe as well... even as he privately warns her to stay on guard because he has no faith in Scar's "helpfulness."
Upon discovering that a few zombies are already at the top of the tower, Scarlet Lady makes her move, attempting to snare Marinette with her yo-yo. Chat Noir blocks the attack and gets swarmed. Marinette pleads with him not to leave her; holding back the horde as best he can, he reassures her that Marigold will beat Zombizou and Scar will fix everything with her Miraculous Cure. Tearfully, Marinette asks how he can have such faith in Marigold when he hasn't heard a word from her this whole time.
"She's the best partner in the world, Marinette. Believe in her like I do."
Scarlet Lady steps in, sneering that all of the roadblocks are out of the way—Marinette will finally get what she deserves for "making fun of Chloé." As the heroine moves to restrain her, Marinette dodges, furiously demanding to know where her priorities are. Scarlet gloats that she'll hand her over to the grossest zombie she can find... right before Chat Noir kisses her cheek.
As Scarlet Lady screeches about cat lips, Marinette ducks behind for cover, numbly calling upon Pollen to transform even as the horrifying implications sink in. Scarlet Lady was infected. No Scarlet Lady means no Miraculous Cure. No Miraculous Cure means everyone's screwed.
Outside, Zombizou laughs triumphantly, calling for Marinette and Marigold to come out and witness the final triumph of love before she claims the Miraculous for Hawkmoth. Marigold's panicked breaths blend into the buzz rising around her as she frantically questions what she can possibly do. There has to be something! She has to— she has to—
She screams, and golden light streams through the windows, temporarily blinding Zombizou and the sweet hearts surrounding her. As they kneel on the ground, rubbing at their eyes, the door swings open and Marigold emerges. Her suit has changed, and all the yellow sections are glowing as she unleashes her new power, Bee Balm, sending a cascade of bees flying everywhere.
As the light fades, Zombizou taunts Marigold, claiming it did nothing—but she speaks far too soon and is interrupted by the confused questions of her former sweet hearts. Both Zombizou and Hawkmoth are aghast; Marigold's new power freed all of the akuma's victims from her mind control. Not only that, Marigold still has her Venom, stinging the distracted Zombizou and freezing her in place.
Scarlet Lady protests Marigold getting a new look while Chat Noir praises her for unlocking a new power, peppering her with questions about how she managed it. Mutely, Marigold makes her way over to him, hiding her face against his chest before she starts shaking and sniffling, overwhelmed by emotion at just how close they came to losing everything.
As she comes back to herself, Caline realizes what happened and declares that letting her negative feelings get the better of her makes her a terrible person. Marigold idly remarks that by following that logic, nearly all of her students are "terrible." Caline reflexively leaps to their defense; Marigold cuts her off, explaining that having a full range of emotions, good and bad alike, is normal. It's how you handle them that matters... and ultimately, Hawkmoth is the one who takes things too far, twisting them for his own nefarious ends.
While the other heroes head off, Caline stops Scarlet Lady, asking if she's really friends with Chloé. She then thanks the heroine for being a good influence, admitting that she was worried: Chloé's other friends weren't being very nice lately (in that they stopped being Extreme Doormats), so she was worried. Embracing Scarlet Lady, she declares how thankful she is that the heroine's ensuring Chloé hasn't been left completely alone.
The next day, Marinette brings some baked goods for her classmates, thanking them for how hard they worked to protect her from Zombizou. She also apologizes, explaining how she went off on Mme. Bustier after their teacher pulled her out of class, making it her fault that she was akumatized.
But none of the others see it that way. In fact, her admission sparks stars in several of her friends' eyes as they gush over how awesome that was. Turns out, she's far from the only one who noticed Bustier's less than stellar teaching skills: Juleka points out how she refused to stop the class picture despite knowing she was still in the bathroom while Sabrina reveals Bustier knew for years that she was handling all of Chloé's homework for her but refused to intervene. Ivan notes that she's quick to send anyone else to the principal for the slightest of infractions but feared that if he ever pointed out any of her issues, he'd just look like a jerk picking on the "nice teacher."
Adrien, Nino and the rest reassure her that nobody blames her for calling Caline out, especially when she was letting Chloé get away with her bullying again. In fact, they'd happily dive in front of a hundred akumas in order to protect their friend—to which Marinette can only declare "Thanks, but please don't!"
Meanwhile, a small jewelry case sits in front of Caline Bustier's computer, with a card bearing Chloé's name resting on top. A small consolation gift to the teacher for being Chloé's biggest enabler.
This episode contains examples of:
- 11th-Hour Superpower: Marigold's Traumatic Superpower Awakening grants her Bee Balm, which allows her to cure people like the Miraculous Cure does but on a smaller scale.
- Abilene Paradox: It turns out most of the class realized long ago that Mme. Bustier isn't the best authority figure but kept their mouths shut about it because they were all afraid of criticizing the "nice" teacher. They finally start speaking up after Marinette calls their teacher out.
- Accomplice by Inaction: Marinette accuses Bustier of being this due to her teacher's refusal to do anything about Chloé. The end of the episode reveals that most of the class arrived at the same conclusion a while ago.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: In canon, Bustier's students genuinely consider her to be a Cool Teacher. Here, there's a lot of resentment towards her for enabling Chloé, though nobody feels comfortable expressing it because of her reputation as the "nice" teacher, at least until Marinette calls her out on it.
- Adaptational Badass: Downplayed. Here, the class all throw their bags at Zombizou before rushing out of the room. This is mostly due to need as there aren't any superheroes present to distract the akuma for them.
- Adaptational Explanation: Whereas Nathaniel suddenly disappeared from the class in the show as they're running away, here, it's shown he split off from the group to warn the Art Club, only to fall victim to Zombizou soon after.
- Adaptational Intelligence: Zigzagged. Canonically, up until the Season 5 episode "Revelation," Mme. Bustier was oblivious to the fact that Chloé had been making Sabrina do all her schoolwork since grade school despite apparently having had the two as her students the entire time and Chloé having even openly bragged about her plagiarism. When she did find out, though, she at least had enough sense to tell Sabrina to never do it again. Here, Mme. Bustier is aware of Chloé's plagiarism and has known for years but still chose not to do anything. In fact,
Word of God hints that Mme. Bustier outright encouraged Sabrina to do Chloé's homework for her, insisting that it'll help Chloé learn the material. - Adaptational Jerkass: Downplayed. Here, Mme. Bustier's presented as having latent Control Freak tendencies, which she often vents out by getting her students (other than Chloé) to behave how she wants them to via Passive-Aggressive Kombat. In addition, she gets akumatized because she couldn't handle Marinette calling her out on her ineffective teaching methods rather than for trying to protect Marinette from akumatization.
- Adaptational Sympathy: Inverted. Mme. Bustier is portrayed as a Misplaced Kindergarten Teacher and Chloé's biggest enabler instead of the passionate and universally beloved Cool Teacher she is in canon. Marinette gives her a scathing "The Reason You Suck" Speech when the latter tries to convince her to forgive Chloé for ruining her gift, and Marigold later tells Mme. Bustier how misguided the latter's belief that negative emotions must be avoided is. Afterwards, most of the class is revealed to consider Mme. Bustier a prime example of how Adults Are Useless, and it's revealed that she knew about Sabrina being Chloé's Homework Slave for years and didn't do anything about it.
- Adaptational Villainy: Downplayed. Caline doesn't attempt to protect Marinette from being akumatized, here.
- Adaptational Wimp: Downplayed, but Mme. Bustier somehow has even less of a backbone when it comes to disciplining Chloé than she does canonically. In the show, though she refused to properly punish Chloé when she finally learns about Sabrina being Chloé's Homework Slave, Bustier still told Sabrina to never do Chloé's homework for her again and Chloé that she will have to make up all the assignments she never actually did. The webcomic, however, reveals that Bustier found out years ago that Sabrina was doing all of Chloé's schoolwork but refused to intervene at all.
- Adults Are Useless: Caline, Caline, Caline. Not only does she outright refuse to punish Chloé for any of her bullying, it's revealed that she's known for years that Sabrina was doing all of Chloé's schoolwork for her and never stepped in. Juleka also notes that Mme. Bustier didn't do anything to prevent the class's picture from being taken despite knowing that Juleka was in the bathroom at the time.
- Ambiguous Situation: It's unclear just how accurate Sabrina's theory about why Chloé is acting up is. While she's clearly upset by her former friend revealing Audrey's Parental Neglect, there's no real indication that she's even thinking about her own birthday woes before then. Her vandalization of the makeup bag seems to be driven by her usual desire to "remind Dupain-Cheng of her place" and purely impulsive.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Subverted during the confrontation in the hall. While Marinette repeatedly questions why Caline is punishing her instead of doing anything about how Chloé hurt her, the most reaction she gets is Caline briefly pausing before continuing to insist that she should forgive her tormentor and later snapping at her student for getting increasingly upset.
- Armor-Piercing Response: When Caline declares that letting her negative emotions take over makes her a terrible person, Marigold idly remarks, "Then I guess that means nearly all of your students are 'terrible,' given how many of them were also akumatized." Caline immediately protests, giving Marigold an opening to point out how such feelings are perfectly normal. Unfortunately, Caline still fails to comprehend that this means her students' dislike of Chloé may in fact be justified.
- Birthday Party Goes Wrong: The class celebration of Mme. Bustier's birthday goes off the rails when Chloé sabotages Marinette's gift, leading to Caline getting called out on her Double Standards, becoming akumatized, and losing her reputation as the "nice" teacher.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Downplayed. Some of the tactics Caline uses to control her students (other than Chloé) fall under Passive-Aggressive Kombat, and it's shown that Mme. Bustier's akumatization into Zombizou simply amplified existing Control Freak tendencies of hers that she hid under her "nice" persona. When Marinette finally calls her out on her damaging and ineffective policies, Bustier doesn't handle it well at all, raising her voice, snapping at her student, and getting so upset over it that she becomes an akuma with the goal of making everyone "feel the love" whether they want to or not, particularly Marinette, the one who called her out in the first place. Ivan later also notes that Mme. B
- Blaming the Victim: Despite denying that she's doing this, Caline scolds Marinette for daring to be upset over Chloé vandalizing her work and being a completely unrepentant bully.
- Book Ends: After the brief scene with Master Fu, the episode proper starts with everyone aside from Chloé getting their gifts ready and gushing over Mme. Bustier. Chloé disdainfully insults her methods instead. During the denouncement, the roles are flipped: the rest of the class admits how frustrated they are by Bustier's bad habits and oversights while Chloé gets her a gift as thanks for the concern she expressed over her and her alone.
- Broken Pedestal:
- Any regard Marinette held for her long-time teacher crumbles in the face of her not only refusing to do anything about Chloé but putting the onus on Marinette to try and change her by becoming an Extreme Doormat.
- Downplayed with the rest of the class by the end; several of them admit that they already had issues with Mme. Bustier's Skewed Priorities and teaching methods but were afraid of openly expressing their concerns since Bustier had already proven herself to be unwilling to adapt and they didn't want to be shamed for criticizing the "nice" teacher.
- Broken Tears:
- Marinette has a moment of Ocular Gushers as she breaks down over her friends sacrificing themselves to save her.
- When the day is finally saved, Marigold takes a moment to cry into Chat Noir's chest.
- Can't Take Criticism: Marinette calling her teacher out on her refusal to do anything about Chloé leads to Caline getting akumatized.
- Collective Death Glare: Chloé gets one from the rest of the class while Caline takes Marinette out to speak with her privately.
- Comically Missing the Point:
- Kim doesn't understand that their "Meditation Minutes" aren't meant to be a free nap time.
- Mme. Bustier's shown standing by beaming while Lila and Chloé throw Stealth Insults back and forth at each other.
- As a zombified Sabrina starts kissing her, Lila yells, "Now's not the time to realize how amazing I am!"
- Control Freak: For all that she pretends to be a Reasonable Authority Figure, Caline can't handle being called out on how damaging and unhelpful her policies are, raising her voice and snapping at Marinette when the latter finally does so. Getting akumatized amplifies this trait, with Zombizou constantly gloating about how her "sweet hearts" are completely under her control and targeting Marinette specifically because she wants to force the student who called her out to submit and conform.
- Deadline News: Nadja gets caught and kissed by Zombizou herself while warning Paris about the spreading hordes. Zombizou then brags to the camera about her intentions.
- Didn't See That Coming: Caline's so used to her students going along with her favoritism towards Chloé that she's shocked when Marinette angrily refuses to forgive the class bully in "Zombizou" after Chloé ruins Marinette's gift for Bustier.
- Double Standard: Caline's are heavily highlighted.
- She insists that Chloé and other bullies can't be made to change their ways, yet expects her other students to adjust their behavior in order to cater to their tormentors.
- She's also outraged by Marinette standing up to her—so much so that she gets akumatized over it—and is intent upon forcing Marinette to bow to her will.
- As Ivan points out, Caline is more than happy to send him or anyone else who "messes up a little" straight to the principal yet balks at the notion of doing anything about Chloé.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The episode makes clear just how deeply uncomfortable Zombizou's insistence on forcing everyone to share her ideas of love is. The bonus panel of her declaring that Marinette will have to accept her love regardless of whether or not she wants it is subtitled, "Yes, this one right here Officer."
- Dramatic Irony: After Zombizou is defeated, Caline thanks Scarlet Lady for being there for Chloé and ensuring that the latter isn't completely alone. Of course, Chloé truly is alone because she is Scarlet Lady.
- Dramatically Missing the Point: A Running Theme with Bustier:
- She declares that Marinette just has to work harder at "setting a good example" and brushes over everything Marinette says about how her teacher's punishing her by giving Chloé credit for all of her hard work.
- While she outright admits that Chloé only cares about herself, she asserts that it's up to Marinette and everyone else to teach her how to love others while glossing over just how they're meant to accomplish that when Chloé doesn't respect or give a damn about anyone else.
- When she laments giving in to her negative emotions, Marigold and Chat Noir reassure her that such feelings are normal and nothing to be ashamed of. Yet she still refuses to acknowledge that any of the negativity her other students feel towards their long-time bully might be valid.
- Caline also tells Scarlet Lady that Chloé's "friends" (namely Adrien and Sabrina) "aren't being very nice to her right now," showing that she still doesn't understand that Chloé is the one driving everyone away through her toxicity and selfishness and that coddling her doesn't help anybody.
- Dwindling Party: One by one, the group is whittled down until only Marinette, Chat Noir, and Scarlet Lady are left. Then the latter two fall as well.
- Foreshadowing: Master Fu explains at the start of the episode that the Miraculous hold more power than what the heroes can currently access but that these abilities only manifest during "times of great need." Marinette proceeds to go through a Traumatic Superpower Awakening.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Sabrina asserts that Chloé is lashing out due to her mother forgetting about her own birthday, declaring that doesn't give her the right to hurt anyone else.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Many of Marinette's classmates do this to prevent the "sweet hearts" from catching and turning Marinette into one of them. Most importantly, as pointed out by the fans, this is the first time in the comic Chat Noir sacrifices himself (something that his canon self does regularly) to protect someone else.
- Hoist by His Own Petard:
- As a result of her scheming against Marinette, Scarlet Lady gets Chat Noir caught and infected. Chat Noir then returns the favor by kissing the Ladybug heroine on the cheek.
- Caline spent years encouraging her students to love and care about each other. While her personal definition of love is decidedly juvenile, toxic and filled with unfortunate implications, most of her class have translated her lessons in a much healthier way. Their compassion, care and concern for each other ultimately carries the day, triumphing over Zombizou's twisted and toxic 'love'.
- Hourglass Plot: Chloé scornfully dismisses Mme. Bustier's birthday while the rest of the class is eager to celebrate. By the end of the episode, everyone else is much more willing to criticize their teacher's failures while Chloé rewards her for being such an enabler and putting her ahead of everyone else.
- Ignored Aesop: After Mme. Bustier is cleansed, Marigold and Chat Noir explain to her that having negative emotions is perfectly normal and doesn't make someone a bad person. Yet almost immediately afterwards, Caline approaches Scarlet Lady and thanks her for being there for Chloé, whose friends Adrien and Sabrina "aren't being very nice right now" (as in, they've broken off their friendships with Chloé due to having grown tired of her taking them for granted), showing she hasn't internalized the lesson and realized that Chloé is the one who's driving people away with her selfish behavior and that the rest of her students are completely justified in their dislike of their bully.
- In Spite of a Nail: Chloé isn't Zombizou's target here and wasn't even in the classroom when Zombizou first appeared. Nevertheless, Sabrina (whom Chloé used as a Human Shield in canon) still ends up being the akuma's first victim. The author even Lampshades this.
- In-Universe Catharsis: Marinette was originally in danger of being akumatized after her birthday present for Mme. Bustier gets ruined by Chloé. However, when her teacher responds to this by telling Marinette to forgive Chloé, Marinette hits her Rage Breaking Point and rants at her teacher for refusing to do anything about Chloé, allowing her to vent out enough of her frustration to avoid the akuma butterfly.
- Ironic Echo: Marinette's final blow in her "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Caline is one of the "life lessons" Caline herself gave to her students, emphasizing how the teacher is a Hypocrite for letting Chloé's evil behavior go unchecked and unchallenged.
- It's All My Fault:
- Caline is mortified upon realizing she was akumatized, declaring that letting her negative emotions get the better of her makes her a terrible person. Marigold and Chat Noir reassure her that's not the case; the only one responsible for the problems she caused as Zombizou is Hawkmoth.
- Marinette similarly blames herself for causing their teacher's akumatization by calling her out. None of her peers agree; in fact, they praise her for standing up for herself against Mme. Bustier.
- Karma Houdini: Discussed and Deconstructed. By regularly allowing Chloé to get away with her bad behavior, Caline has heavily contributed to her becoming a massive Spoiled Brat. This has also resulted in Chloé's growing isolation; before the series began, Sabrina and Adrien were her Only Friends, and both have broken away from her toxic influence. While Chloé has suffered plenty of Laser-Guided Karma, Bustier's continued coddling helps ensure that she learns nothing from any of these experiences, fostering further resentment towards her as she keeps going unpunished for her crimes in the classroom.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Scarlet Lady is hellbent upon ensuring everyone's efforts to protect Marinette are All for Nothing. As she ties Marinette up, declaring her intent to hand her over to the grossest zombie she can find, she gets kissed herself by Chat Noir, somebody she considers to be one of the grossest options imaginable for her.
- Love Freak: While Zombizou is an obvious example, Caline herself also shows signs of this, with Alya pointing out how juvenile her "everyone should love each other" philosophy sounds.
- Misplaced Kindergarten Teacher: Justified and Deconstructed. Caline's been teaching several of her students since they were six years old, but her teaching methods have not grown and matured alongside her charges. Her soft touch contributed to Chloé becoming a Spoiled Brat due to the latter being used to never being punished for her cruelty and Bustier forcing the rest of the class to cater to her and include her in things.
- Moral Myopia: Caline gets upset over Marinette refusing to listen to her while completely ignoring how she set her student off in the first place by completely refusing to listen to her or acknowledge how hurt she was.
- Near-Villain Victory: Once Chat Noir and Scarlet Lady were converted into sweet hearts, Zombizou had effectively won. If she hadn't been focused on ensuring Marinette fell under her control and Hawkmoth hadn't gotten greedy and decided to secure the Bee Miraculous as well, they could have gotten away with both of his original targets.
- Next Tier Power-Up: The stress of the situation helps Marigold unlock Bee Balm, undergoing a literal Costume Evolution in the process.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
- Mme. Bustier gets akumatized into Zombizou after receiving a scathing "The Reason You Suck" Speech from Marinette, who accuses her teacher of being Chloé's enabler. The class doesn't blame Marinette for it, though, reassuring her that her anger was justified and that they're also aware of their teacher's shortcomings.
- Chat Noir and the class's refusal to just give Marinette up to Zombizou prevents Marinette from running off to transform into Marigold until just about everyone else has been infected. On the other hand, their actions were instrumental to her unlocking Bee Balm, her Next Tier Power-Up.
- Scarlet Lady attempting to push Marinette into some of the zombies results in Chat Noir becoming a victim while protecting her. This also leads to Scar herself getting kissed by Chat Noir when she's too focused on trying to get Marinette infected, leading to a Near-Villain Victory.
- Parental Neglect: According to Sabrina, Audrey never does anything to celebrate her daughter's birthday.
- Passive-Aggressive Kombat:
- Lila and Chloé lob Stealth Insults at each other during their "Morning Compliment Time."
- Caline also specializes in this; she tries to get the class to calm down by saying "We don't want to be upset on my birthday, do we?" and pressures Marinette to forgive Chloé by insisting she needs to "set a good example."
- Power Glows: Marigold's stress-induced power-up is heralded by a blinding golden light; her suit is still glowing as she emerges and unleashes Bee Balm.
- The Power of Love: Ironically, Marinette and her classmates demonstrate this far more effectively than Zombizou. While she forces her twisted definition of "Love" upon all of her "sweet hearts," Chat Noir and the rest of Marinette's friends protect her. Marinette in turn unlocks the power of Bee Balm out of her desperation to save everyone from Zombizou and Hawkmoth.
- Pragmatic Villainy:
- Downplayed once again with Hawkmoth. As in "Troublemaker," he considers akumatizing Marinette but expresses relief when another viable target arises in Mme. Bustier, feeling it's less dangerous to akumatize somebody who merely wants to target Marinette instead of akumatizing Marinette herself and risking the full force of Chat Noir's wrath.
- Scarlet Lady actually sticks close to the class and offers helpful advice during Zombizou's attack. However, it's only because she wants a front row seat for when the akuma finally gets to Marinette.
- Rage Breaking Point:
- Marinette hits hers when Caline completely ignores how hurt she is by Chloé's latest cruelty and lectures her about how she needs to forgive her lifelong bully.
- Caline, in turn, snaps when one of her "best-behaved" students abruptly stops listening to her and points out how incredibly hollow her "everyone should love each other" philosophy is when she won't do anything about Chloé.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Marinette calls out Caline for her failures as a teacher, particularly how she pressures victims to "be nicer" to their bullies while refusing to address the actual problems at hand.Marinette: NO! Chloé did this maliciously and she's not even sorry! All "forgiving" her does is tell her that no matter how awful she is, she'll get away with it! Or even be praised for it!
Caline: That's—
Marinette: And what about me?! Why should I ever do nice things when I'm told to suck it up when my efforts are spat on?! Why do Chloé's feelings matter more than mine, the wronged party?!
Caline: Now listen here—
Marinette: Well, I'm done! If you don't want to punish Chloé, fine, I can't make you! Just like you can't make me pretend Chloé isn't the meanest, rudest, most despicable person I've ever met!
Caline: Marinette Dupain-Cheng!
Marinette: All that is necessary for evil to succeed, is for good people to do nothing. And you did nothing, Mme. Bustier. - Refuse to Rescue the Disliked: Inverted to an extreme level. While walking away, not only does Chloé stop dead in her tracks the moment she hears Caline declare that she's going to target Marinette first, she proceeds to "help" the class with every intention of ensuring Marinette is caught.
- Right Behind Me: Played for Drama when Nathaniel attempts to warn another class about Zombizou, only for her to rest a hand on his shoulder while encouraging him to "Tell us all about the akuma."
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: After getting deakumatized, Caline blames herself for what happened. Unfortunately, she only holds herself at fault for succumbing to her negative emotions rather than for creating an unhealthy environment for her students with her misguided philosophies and being unable to accept criticism for it and change.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Subverted. Chloé starts to tiptoe away as she sees Mme. Bustier getting akumatized but turns back when she hears that her teacher intends to go after Marinette.
- Selective Obliviousness:
- For all that she frets about Chloé being hurt by her classmates disliking and excluding her, Caline refuses to acknowledge how Marinette or anyone else is hurt by Chloé's bullying. Even when Marinette tells her outright how upset she is by having her gift vandalized, her teacher completely glosses over that and continues to insist that she has to show Chloé how to love by forgiving every transgression.
- Caline is fully aware that Chloé is a self-absorbed Spoiled Brat but refuses to acknowledge she won't care about her peers "leading by example" due to her Lack of Empathy.
- She also reveals that she's aware Sabrina and Adrien have grown distant from their (former) "friend" Chloé but acts oblivious as to why.
- Furthermore, Sabrina reveals that Caline knew for years that Chloé had been forcing Sabrina to do her homework for her but opted not to intervene, ignoring the obvious problems with that.
- Skewed Priorities:
- Caline is all about sparing Chloé's feelings at the expense of everyone else's.
- When Sabrina pins Lila down, Lila accuses her of this, declaring this isn't the time for her friend to realize just how amazing she is.
- Played for Drama and horror with how Scarlet Lady is obsessed with ensuring Marinette is captured and converted by Zombizou, which leads directly to her own conversion.
- After Marigold cures everyone, Scarlet Lady immediately notices how the Bee heroine's costume has changed and complains about her getting a new look.
- Significant Wardrobe Shift: Marigold's super suit changes after she unlocks Bee Balm; the puffs on her wrists and ankles swap colors, she loses the black "gloves" in favor of boot-like markings, and her top gains more definition, looking more like a short-sleeved jacket.
- Spanner in the Works: Caline unknowingly foils Hawkmoth's plan to akumatize Marinette with her misguided belief that model students like Marinette should Turn the Other Cheek and forgive bullies like Chloé to set a good example for them. Her responding this way to Chloé ruining Marinette's gift angers Marinette so much that she goes on a tirade against Bustier for Blaming the Victim and being Chloé's Accomplice by Inaction, allowing the teen enough In-Universe Catharsis to escape akumatization. Unfortunately for her, though, this ends up leaving her teacher open to akumatization instead.
- Stupid Good: Ultimately, Caline cares more about being a "nice" teacher than an effective one, preferring to punish the victims rather than deal with the students who are actually causing problems. She also likes sending others off to Principal Damocles so that he can handle disciplinary problems while she doesn't have to deal with them herself.
- Traumatic Superpower Awakening: The horror and stress of being the Final Girl, coupled with despair over Scarlet Lady being converted and seemingly stealing away all hope of healing everyone, causes a swell of power that helps Marinette unlock Bee Balm, which is like a lower-level Miraculous Cure.
- Turn the Other Cheek: Like in canon, Caline believes that her more well-behaved students should do this in response to bullies so as to "lead by example." Marinette, though, brutally deconstructs this after hitting her Rage Breaking Point with her teacher, retorting that this completely invalidates the victims' feelings and that such methods won't work for people like Chloé who don't care about or respect anyone other than themselves. Instead, it just tells them that they'll never face consequences for their selfish actions and will even get rewarded for it.
- The Unapologetic: Chloé makes no effort whatsoever to hide how she was responsible for vandalizing Marinette's gift and dismisses her classmates' declaration that she's worse than Hawkmoth.
- Unintentional Backup Plan: Hawkmoth initially planned on akumatizing Marinette in after the latter had her present for Mme. Bustier ruined by Chloé, but Bustier refusing to punish Chloé and instead telling Marinette to forgive her bully causes Marinette to hit her Rage Breaking Point and deliver a scathing "The Reason You Suck" Speech at her teacher, achieving enough In-Universe Catharsis in the process to avoid the akuma. However, Caline reacting poorly to getting called out on her ineffectiveness as a teacher just ends up making her a perfect candidate for akumatization.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- Marinette gives this to Bustier for refusing to do anything about Chloé and just expecting all her victims to forgive her.
- She later angrily demands to know where Scarlet Lady's priorities lie and calls her a menace when the heroine attempts to tie her up.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Chat Noir encourages Marinette to keep going on in spite of everything. The second time, he heavily implies he knows she's Marigold.
