I won't stop until everyone on Earth feels the love.
"Zombizou. I'm giving you the power to spread love and compassion. Thanks to you, the whole world will be one big embrace! In return, bring me Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculous."
— Hawk Moth
On her birthday, Miss Bustier is corrupted into Zombizou, who wants the whole city to love each other, whether they want to or not.
Tropes:
- Affectionate Parody: Of zombie films. The Villain of the Week, Zombizou, uses an Emotion Bomb to turn citizens into mindless zombie-like creatures intent on spreading love. Some trademark tropes of the genre appear — Our Zombies Are Different, Dwindling Party, Zombie Infectee, Heroic Sacrifice, and so on, but are played with the series's lighthearted aplomb.
- Almost Kiss: Between Cat Noir and Chloé while under the effect of Zombizou's virus, before the World-Healing Wave cures them and Chloé shoves him off. He did technically kiss her before, but that was on the neck.
- Ambiguous Situation: Because Ms. Bustier steps in to stop the akuma from getting to Marinette, it's left unclear whether or not it would have affected her.
- The Bait: Ladybug slowly loses classmates in her attempt to use Chloé to lure Zombizou out in the open.
- Bait-and-Switch: Marinette gets mad enough for Hawk Moth to akumatize her, but Miss Bustier talks her down before it can happen and becomes the target instead out of fear for her student.
- A Birthday, Not a Break: Miss Bustier is akumatized on her birthday.
- Call-Back:
- Nino, staying behind with an infected Alya, playfully points out that it's not the first time they've been in danger together, referencing the events of "Animan".
- Chloé taunts Kim by saying he won't get a kiss from her, referencing that he used to have a crush on her in "Dark Cupid".
- Cooldown Hug: Downplayed. When Ms Bustier hugs Chloé after she apologizes, she is first surprised and then clearly enjoys it before deciding to end it.
- Compliment Backfire: Chloé actually gets offended by Rose saying that her hair looks nice today, because that implies it doesn't look great everyday.
- Continuity Nod: Chloé admits she is bad at remembering birthdays in general, something implied in the first season when she was caught by surprise for Adrien’s birthday.
- The Corruptor: Hawk Moth, as always, but since this is the first time we see an akuma victim trying to resist him, it is also an opportunity for him to show his skill at this: when Miss Bustier tries to fight him by saying she does not want to hurt anyone, he instantly offers her to spread love instead to get through to her.
- Covered in Kisses: Cat Noir winds up covered in kiss marks when he holds off a group of zombies atop the Eiffel Tower.
- Deadline News: Zombizou invades the news station (and turns Nadja into a zombie) to give Chloé an ultimatum.
- Driving Stick: Cat Noir claims he can drive a bus. When he finally gets behind the wheel, he has no idea what he's doing and it lurches forward in spurts. He does eventually get the hang of it.
- Dwindling Party: Starting with Sabrina, the class falls to the zombie kisses one by one, until Marinette is the only one left. Fortunately, she's able to fix it with her yo-yo.
- Episode of the Dead: Zombizou's power is essentially a zombie virus spread through kissing, and the plot features parodies of many common zombie apocalypse tropes.
- Failed a Spot Check: When Adrien pops out of his locker, Ladybug doesn't notice that he lacks the zombies' purple eyes. In her defense, she was probably too focused on avoiding infection to look too closely.
- Foreshadowing:
- Sabrina casually mentions that Chloé's mother forgets her birthdays, a sore point that will come to the fore in a few episodes' time.
- Miss Bustier tells Marinette that Chloé is not a fundamentally bad person and has it in her to do great things; Chloé's actions later in the episode will prove this true. But she also mentions that Chloé is not the sort of person to change on her own, and will need a good role model; sure enough, Chloé is still set in her ways and has a long way to go.
- Funny Background Event: Invoked in the class Photo Montage with Marinette blissfully watching Adrien work on a chemical experiment while ignorantly messing up her own and Alya panicking over theirs.
- Genre Savvy: Not only is Miss Bustier able to recognise an akuma and tries to fight it, but she also instantly deduces that she has been akumatised after waking up in a completely different environment with Ladybug and Cat Noir around.
- Go Through Me: Miss Bustier notices the akuma and tries to shield Marinette from it. Unfortunately, that fear is strong enough to make her a valid target.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Quite a few:
- Miss Bustier steps in to protect Marinette from being akumatized, and her fear is enough for the akuma to make her a target instead.
- When Sabrina and Mylène become the first zombies, Ivan stays behind to hold them off and lets the others escape.
- Max shields Chloé from the zombies on the roof, and Kim sends Chloé ahead of him to the bus when there isn't enough time for both to make it.
- Alix stops Rose and Juleka from infecting everyone on the bus, Rose having been unknowingly kissed on the leg by a zombie while rescuing Chloé.
- Cat Noir stops a large group of zombies at the top of the Eiffel Tower so Ladybug can hide Chloé.
- Finally, Chloé grabs Cat Noir when he's trying to kiss Ladybug, providing enough of a distraction for Ladybug to defeat Zombizou.
- Heroic Willpower: Miss Bustier makes an admirable attempt to fight off Hawk Moth's influence when the akuma infects her lipstick, being the first person in the show to demonstrate any resistance at all, but ultimately he's able to talk her into accepting his power.
- Human Shield: When Zombizou shoots her kiss at Chloé, Chloé's first instinct is to use Sabrina to intercept it.
- I Know Mortal Kombat: Subverted. Cat Noir insists he can drive a bus, but when he fails miserably, he admits buses are not among the vehicles available in the video games he plays.
- It's All My Fault: Chloé owns up to her part in causing the mess and even makes a Heroic Sacrifice.
- I Will Only Slow You Down: Chloé takes this position once she and Ladybug are all that are left against Zombizou.
- Improvised Zipline: Cat Noir uses his staff as the wire and his detachable belt tail as the zipline.
- Kiss of Death: Zombizou's "zombie virus" is transmitted via kissing.
- Lampshade Hanging: Chloé's track record of getting people akumatized. By this point, her entire class is so sick of her they seriously consider handing her over to Zombizou.Alya: That girl is worse than Hawk Moth!
Alix: At least half the city has gotten akumatized because of her! - The Last Straw: Marinette loses it when she finds out that Chloé defaced her gift to Miss Bustier, nearly getting akumatized over it.
- The Load: Chloé needs to be assisted and saved through most of the episode, because Ladybug is using her as bait for Zombizou. She ends up being the only non-brainwashed student besides Marinette, thanks to her classmates' sacrifices.
- Logical Weakness: Since Zombizou's power comes from her lipstick, she can't use it without reapplying it every so often. Ladybug is able to exploit this by using makeup remover generated by her Lucky Charm and a scarf to wipe off Zombizou's lipstick. She then steals the lipstick when Zombizou tries to put it back on.
- Mind-Control Eyes: The zombies have purple eyes, regardless of their natural color.
- Near-Villain Victory: Hawk Moth's attempt to akumatize Marinette would have effortlessly netted him the Ladybug Miraculous, completely unintentionally! Fortunately, Miss Bustier derails that particular outcome.
- Never My Fault: Chloé spends the entire episode refusing to admit ever doing anything wrong (even when nearly the whole class gangs up on her for her actions), lashing out at the people around her over every foible and embarrassment. She eventually does apologize to Miss Bustier at the end of the episode when she thinks all of her classmates are not there to see (since she did not know that Marinette and Adrien were watching), admitting she was feeling guilty for forgetting Miss Bustier's birthday and not getting her a gift.
- Punny Name: Perhaps Lost in Translation, but Zombizou's name is a portmanteau of "Zombie" and "Bizou", the French word for "kiss". Appropriate, since the zombie-like state is passed through kissing.
- Obfuscating Disability: Adrien fakes having been infected by the zombies so Ladybug will leave him in his locker, allowing him to transform without anyone thinking to look for him.
- Our Zombies Are Different: Zombizou's victims single-mindedly attempt to kiss anyone that isn't already a zombie, but retain some intelligence. Cat Noir is at least smart enough to use his Cataclysm to break into a room Ladybug had blocked from the inside.
- Person as Verb: Marinette describes Chloé's latest act of pettiness as "Chloé pulling another Chloé".
- Photo Montage: Used around the beginning of the episode, which detailed some of Marinette's class's activities prior to meeting back in Ms. Bustier's classroom.
- Projectile Kiss: Weaponized by Zombizou, who can blow kisses at her victims to infect them. The zombies are forced to do so with direct contact.
- Purple Is the New Black: Zombizou's outfit is mostly shades of purple with some black thrown in.
- Status Quo Is God: A minor one, played for a gag. Under the influence of Zombizou, Mylène and Ivan hug and kiss. The butterflies come by to cure them, after which they repeat their hug and kiss in the exact same manner.
- There Was a Door: Zombizou kicks in pretty much every door that gets in her way; when she does this in Principal Damocles' office (breaking the door in half), he's more concerned by this than the obvious supervillain right in front of him.Damocles: Excuse me, didn't anyone teach you to knock?!
- Together in Death: A non-fatal example. Nino decides to stay behind with Alya after the latter was infected, and gets kissed into a zombie for his efforts.
- Tsundere: It takes getting her entire class getting zombified, but Chloé is willing to admit she was wrong and even leaves Miss Bustier a gift at the end. She just tries to make sure no one (except Ladybug and Cat Noir) actually sees her do it.
- Transformation Sequence: Marinette encouraged her teacher to resist the akumatization and feels so helpless and deeply sorry it failed. More, Ms Bustier is the best teacher ever in Marinette's eyes, and it is while trying to protect her pupil from the akuma that she ended up being the target. All that makes Marinette especially sorry and she shows an unusual sad face during her transformation sequence.
- Twisted Ankle: Chloé suffers from it at one point, forcing Rose to carry her to the bus.
- Universally Beloved Leader: All of Miss Bustier's students love her, even Chloé.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Nathaniel is seen running away with the rest of the class when Zombizou first attacks, but once they regroup with Ladybug he's nowhere to be found.
- Wide Eyes and Shrunken Irises: Alya has these after Ladybug and Nino pull a couple zombies off her, only to see she's been infected.
- Zombie Apocalypse: Non-fatal of course, but otherwise uses all the tropes one would expect, with people sacrificing themselves to the infected, moaning and hunched gait, the classmates slowly dwindling as they're infected one by one leaving Marinette as the only survivor, Alya telling Ladybug to go on and save them all while Nino decides to stay with her until the end. If it weren't for the Reset Button and everyone knowing it's temporary, it would be rather depressing.
- Zombie Infectee: While rescuing Chloé, a zombie grabs Rose's leg just as Ladybug swings in to save them both. She seems fine, then the camera pans down to reveal that the zombie kissed her on the leg before being thrown off. She turns while on the bus and takes out Juleka and Alix before Ladybug restrains her.
