Scarlet Lady
Catharsis Factor in this series.
- Anytime Chloé faces humiliation and digs herself deeper into trouble with her classmates is more satisfying than her Karma Houdini status in the early seasons of the show:
- A good number of examples involve Sabrina gradually learning to stand up for herself against Chloé:
- A variant in "Rogercop" when Sabrina spirals into a Heroic BSoD upon seeing her "best friend" seemingly get Sabrina's father fired. While it's sad to see her in such a pitiful state, many found it quite refreshing to see Sabrina actually react to her father's firing, which she apparently just shrugged off in the show.
- Sabrina finally crosses her Rage Breaking Point when Chloé forces her to steal Marinette's diary, only for the box Marinette's diary is inside to snap over Sabarina's wrist when she reaches for it. Still recovering from seeing her father get fired in front of her own eyes because of her "best friend," Sabrina mouths off at Chloé (likely for the first time ever) and then yells at her when the latter refuses to believe Sabrina about what happened, even though the box is visibly latched to Sabrina's wrist.
- Sabrina's reaction to Chloé proclaiming to be her Only Friend definitely counts. Sabrina gives a "The Reason You Suck" Speech and has to be restrained from physically attacking Chloé. So is her getting revenge against Chloé as an akuma and then breaking off their "friendship" after being abused and bullied by Chloé for so long.
- Chloé gets a rude wake-up call that her father's not an Ultimate Authority Mayor when she threatens Officer Raincomprix's job (again) in "Captain Hardrock": Roger smugly informs her that he and Sabrina looked into things and discovered the mayor doesn't actually have the power to fire him.
- Due to how she mistreated him, seeing Chat Noir taunt Scarlet Lady over that fact that he and Marigold know things she doesn't is beyond fun.
- Both Tikki and Adrien's fan club call Chloé "pathetic" for forging his signature on a poster just so she could fool others into thinking she's his valentine.
- "Despair Bear" has several:
- Adrien tells Chloé straight to her face that she's the complete opposite to what a friend should be and that he can't be friends with someone that acts like she does. Chloé's face when Adrien tells her this is epic.
- Even better, when she tries to throw a party as a cheap way of atonement, she's met with a Blunt "No" when she asks if Adrien forgives her.
- Likewise, everyone at the party turning her down for a dance is both funny and satisfying.
- Lastly, Chloé severely damages her superhero reputation by claiming she is friends with Chloé while in her Scarlet Lady guise. She also embarrasses herself during the fight against Despair Bear when she pawns off the actual work on Chat Noir and Marigold and gets hypnotized by the akuma's power.
- "Desperada" sees Adrien get the Snake Miraculous like he did in canon... and, knowing that everything will be fine thanks to Second Chance, promptly spends time loop after time loop deliberately shoving Scarlet Lady into the titular villain's attacks, topping it off by revealing to her (who knows he's Adrien) that he's also Chat Noir just to see the look on her face. Considering how much of her abuse he had to put up with beforehand, it is amazingly satisfying.
- A good number of examples involve Sabrina gradually learning to stand up for herself against Chloé:
- It's also extremely cathartic whenever Gabriel faces some much deserved karma for being a villain and Control Freak Abusive Parent:
- When Gabriel declares he's pulling Adrien out of school for stealing and losing the Grimoire, the latter responds by threatening to cause a PR nightmare for his father by notifying the media via his friends (one of whom knows news reporter Nadja Chamack) that Gabriel is essentially holding him prisoner in the manor over something minor. Gabriel is forced to awkwardly backpedal his son's punishment to being grounded for a month while Adrien remarks that his father now almost sounds like an actual parent.
- The scene where Simon Says hypnotizes him into acting like a butterfly on live TV is gut-bustingly hilarious.
- Scarlet Lady is a terrible hero, but seeing her hit The Collector/Gabriel/Hawk Moth with a bike pedal is very satisfying after all the things he's pulled.
- Seeing him getting Dope Slapped by an annoyed Nathalie at the end of "The Collector" is also very cathartic.
- The ending of "Gorizilla" has Adrien bluntly shut down Gabriel's attempt to convince him that he was responsible for his own misfortune, reminding Gabriel that he did try to ask his father for permission to go see his mother's movie at the theater and was completely ignored. He then tells his father outright that Gabriel hasn't given him any reason to trust him and gets the Control Freak to drop the matter when he asks his father point-blank just what kind of things Gabriel is supposedly imagining about him.
- Anyone frustrated with how Marinette was canonically portrayed as being in the wrong in "The Gamer" for entering the video game tournament just to spend time with Adrien probably rejoiced when in the comic, she instead argues back that she would only get to spend time with him by actually proving she's the best to represent the school and earning a spot in the tournament fairly. They likely felt the same when multiple characters point out to Max that he lost to two people, not just Marinette, and when Max apologizes to Marinette at the end for his poor sportsmanship after having a Jerkass Realization.
- Given how easily he was fooled by her in canon, it's immensely gratifying to see Adrien Spotting the Thread in Lila's lies and call her out on it.
- Marinette becomes Marigold in "Vanisher" so she can officially fight alongside Chat Noir; she quickly proves to be just the help he needs.
- Intermission is an akuma-free episode, finally giving Marinette and Adrien a much-needed break from the drama of their superheroing and letting them hang out with their classmates.
- Like in canon, Bob Roth ends up confessing about his plagiarism of Kitty Section due to an Engineered Public Confession and has to offer the band a record deal to make up for it. However, he later also has to deal with a furious Jagged Stone, who is not happy that Bob threatened Marinette (Jagged's favorite designer) and Kitty Section (which has Jagged's two children among its members). He even uses a Dramatic Spotlight just to scare his producer.
- Jagged finally quits Bob Roth's record company in "Crocoduel," which Bob seemed desperate to prevent previously. After several episodes showcasing Bob's most sleazy acts and him getting a slap on the wrist each time, once Jagged and Anarka realize he's the one who orchestrated their break-up and left their family torn for who-knows how long, it's the straw that breaks the camel's back. The fact that Jagged does so when Bob was just about to eat at a fancy restaurant (and thus about to run a Shockingly Expensive Bill right before his record firm suffers a great loss) makes it all the more hilarious.
- Many instances in "Prime Queen":
- Nadja gets called out on her unprofessional behavior, ambushing Chat Noir and Marigold and pushing the "romantic angle" despite their clear discomfort.
- The episode also marks the beginning of the end for Scarlet Lady, as she shows her true colors by declaring on live TV that she has no problem in letting people die, since she can just bring them back.
- Chat Noir proclaims to Marigold that he's in love with Marinette Dupain-Cheng and that he sees Marinette everyday, not realizing that he actually confessed to Marinette herself. Marinette realizes that Chat Noir must be someone she knows well while Adrien notes how odd it is that Marigold didn't appear jealous when he told her he was in love with someone else.
- Marinette calling Mme. Bustier out in "Zombizou" when she hits her Rage Breaking Point over the teacher ignoring Chloé's horrible behavior. The next day, many of her classmates also point out Mme. Bustier's shortcomings as an authority figure, albeit not to their teacher's face.
- Seeing someone destroy their own akumatized object in "Sandboy" is immensely satisfying. It's quite a treat to see someone reject Hawk Moth's influence for once.
- Tikki Death Glaring Chloé into submission when the latter reveals she doesn't want Hawk Moth to be discovered is perfect.
- Alya telling Marinette at the end of "Party Crasher" how her search for Hawkmoth has led her to Gabriel Agreste.
- After all the pain they went through in canon, seeing Adrien and Marinette ask each other out in "Frozer" feels amazing.
- In "Frightingale" Scarlet Lady is ignored in Clara's music video about the Heroes of Paris, and Lila gets the chance to explain why by declaring on camera that Scarlet Lady is no hero, also bringing evidence to support her claim.
- When Mayor Bourgeois claims Clara can't shoot the video, Sabrina (who up until a few months before would have not thought of contradicting Chloé) confronts the man and makes it obvious to all and sundry that he's outright making up the rule, clearly intent on keeping Chloé from ruining yet another person's work.
