Keeping Secrets Sucks. A few episodes ago, Marinette had to break up with her boyfriend when she couldn't properly explain why she had to keep disappearing whenever Akumas happened, and now her new responsibilities are interfering with her other friendships, when she's forced to roughly shoo Alya, Alix, Juleka, Mylène, and Rose out of her room when they come to confront her. And as they sit together, reflecting on Marinette's friendship bracelet, Shadow Moth senses a rare opportunity. Five people, feeling the same thing, with emotions all connected to a single emotionally significant object, combine for an opportunity for him to Akumatize all of them at once, as the Gang of Secrets, with each girl once again taking on their iconic Akuma form- Lady Wifi, Timebreaker, Reflekta, Horrificator, and Princess Fragrance respectively.
Lady Wifi takes the first initiative by cornering Marinette in her room, prompting Trixx to use Mirage in order to give Marinette the opportunity to escape. The ensuing side effect of a dancing Eiffel Tower alerts Plagg that something's up, allowing Cat Noir to join the fight.
The five villains search the city for Marinette in order to force her to reveal her secrets. Ladybug notices and captures Lady Wifi for an "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight, reminding her of her service as Rena Rouge, which prompts Alya to make her own record by becoming the second person to fight off Akumatization by sheer force of will (after Chloé in Miraculer), and the first to do so post-Akumatization. With the Fox Miraculous already there and the other four villains still on the loose, Ladybug decides to let Alya be Rena Rouge again.
Rena helps out against the rest of the Gang of Secrets by creating a Mirage of Marinette. As Marinette is the subject of the villains' obsession, they immediately chase after her to the exclusion of all else— including, much to Shadow Moth's frustration, their fight with the heroes. Cat Noir manages to subdue Timebreaker, who carried the Akumatized object, and Ladybug purifies the Akuma.
The villains are dealt with, but the original problem has not— Marinette is still cracking under the pressure of keeping secrets. Which is why she invites Alya over to her house and tells her that she's Ladybug.
Roll credits.
Tropes:
- Catch-22 Dilemma: Early in the episode, the kwamis are trying to convince Ladybug to detransform and rest, but they quickly realize that the only one she'll hear that from is Tikki... who is, of course, occupied powering Ladybug's transformation. Trixx solves the problem by convincing her to detransform for Tikki's sake.
- Central Theme: The burden of carrying secrets and how they can eventually crush the spirit of the person carrying them.
- Chekhov's Skill: "Zombizou" showed that Hawk Moth can akumatize people through an object that they've recently touched. In this episode he uses this to akumatize five people at once.
- Death Glare: Wayzz and Barkk glare at Trixx when he downplays the effects his power of illusion can cause in its raw form.Trixx: Oh come on. Her Miraculous Ladybug will make everything alright anyway... I hope.
- Deconstruction: Of the Secret Identity. Marinette has had to keep her secret from every single person in her life and having to lie to her friends, family, love interests and even fellow heroes. Having to hide this has done horribly on her mental health and self esteem to the point she forces her friends out of her life and thinks it would be better if she was only Ladybug.
- Despair Event Horizon: After her break-up with Luka in "Truth", Marinette has reached this point. Her attempts at pretending everything is fine only leads to her friends and Cat Noir seeing how much pain she is in. She stays as Ladybug claiming that she just wants to be prepared when she clearly just doesn't want to be Marinette and even decides that it would be best for everyone if she cut off all emotional ties.
- Dramatic Irony: Marinette thinks that her being Ladybug and keeping secrets is bound to destroy any chance of a relationship she might possibly have with Adrien... aka Cat Noir, who has more than once expressed his desire for them to know each other's civilian identities.
- False Reassurance: Trixx assures Ladybug that since his power creates illusions, he can't cause any real harm. Ladybug believes it... until she steps outside and sees the Eiffel Tower wobbling around.
- Get Out!: Marinette evicts all her friends from her room when they almost reveal the Miracle Box hidden in her new "dollhouse". She quickly builds a more secure hiding place that looks like a thread container.
- Gilligan Cut: Ladybug denies anything being wrong after her outburst at the theater and says she's going to the pool. The scene then cuts to her returning home, in her Aqua form and wearing a towel, indicating she really went there in full costume.
- Godzilla Threshold: Trixx uses Mirage on his own because Lady WiFi is about to capture Marinette and coerce her to reveal her secrets. Wayzz and Barkk warn him that it's dangerous, but let him do it because there's no other way for Marinette to escape.
- Guile Hero: When Ladybug refuses to detransform, saying that she needs to be at the ready in case Shadow Moth attacks again, Trixx guilt-trips her by saying that even though (she says) she's fine, Tikki might want to rest for a while or eat something. It works like a charm.
- Heroes Gone Fishing: Ladybug and Cat Noir go to the cinema and attempt to watch a movie. Cat Noir is enjoying himself; Ladybug, not so much.
- Heroic BSoD: Marinette hits this again after she broke up with Luka. She then believes it wouldn't have worked out with Adrien since she can't be honest with anyone in her life about her secret identity as Ladybug.
- Heroic Willpower: Ladybug is able to talk Lady Wi-Fi into rebelling against Shadow Moth, using the fact that she's Rena Rouge to help tip the scales. It works, and Alya becomes the second character in the show (after Chloé in "Miraculer") to break akumatization through sheer force of will, and the first to do so after already having been fully akumatized.
- Innocently Insensitive: Cat Noir takes Ladybug to the cinema, but the movie is a rom-com with the female lead living a double-life. This hits too close to home for Ladybug, and triggers a rant about how The Masquerade Will Kill Your Dating Life.
- Internal Reveal: Ladybug tells Alya that she's the new guardian, but makes her promise not to mention that on the Ladyblog. Then, at the end of the episode, a distraught Marinette finally admits to Alya that she is Ladybug.
- Knows a Guy Who Knows a Guy: Surprisingly, Played for Drama. Alya only learned that her best friend broke up with her boyfriend not from Marinette herself but after Luka told Juleka, who told Rose, who told Mylène, who told Alix who told her.
- Lured into a Trap: Ladybug has Rena Rouge create a Mirage of Marinette to distract the villains from Cat Noir, then shows herself so all but Timebreaker focus on her. Timebreaker chases her into the public pool, where Cat Noir is waiting to capture her and break the akumatized object.
- New Powers as the Plot Demands: Now that she's the guardian of the Miraculous, Ladybug's yo-yo links directly to the Miracle Box, allowing her to pull out any Miraculous she needs on demand.
- Noodle Incident: Barkk alludes to the last time Trixx used his powers without a holder, but doesn't reveal any details.
- Nothing Is the Same Anymore: Alya becomes the first person that Marinette reveals her secret identity to. She even says that "things will never be the same between us ever again."
- Obviously Not Fine: Marinette/Ladybug is obviously troubled, even though she's feigning her usual cheerfulness. Her friends notice and try to talk to her about it, but she refuses to confide in Cat Noir (as Ladybug), and in Alya, Mylène, Rose, Juleka, and Alix (as Marinette). Even when she does concede her obvious problems to the group when they're turned back to normal, Alya can still tell something is bothering her, which convinces Marinette to spill everything, which ends with Marinette revealing that she is Ladybug.
- Plot Armor: Marinette spends the first half of the episode in a major depressive bout, yet at no point does Hawk Moth try to Akumatize her.
- Power Incontinence: As warned in previous episodes (and seen when Plagg used Cataclysm in "Style Queen"), kwamis' powers are unrestricted without an owner. When Trixx uses a Mirage on his own, he creates an illusion of Marinette fleeing while hiding the real one, but also creates an illusion over the Eiffel Tower that makes it wobble around as though made of rubber, which Plagg is able to recognize as being Trixx's work.
- Power of Trust: Ladybug convinces Lady Wi-Fi that she has full trust in her despite keeping secrets from her and even unties her while she's still akumatized. With her support, Alya becomes the first person in the series to reverse full akumatization.
- Rage Breaking Point: The pressures of her duties as both a superheroine and the new guardian of the miracle box coupled with her depression after breaking up with Luka in "Truth" and the fact that she has no one to turn to without exposing her secret identity triggers an explosive rant out of Ladybug while watching a movie with Cat Noir about a superheroine leading a double life. Cat Noir is forced by the situation to escort Ladybug out of the theatre while she continues ranting.
- Secret-Keeper: Alya has been promoted to one for Ladybug after Marinette's Wham Line.
- Ship Sinking: Tikki's statement that kwamis don't fall in love confirms that Tikki/Plagg won't be happening, nor will any other ship involving kwamis.
- Shoot the Mage First: Ladybug tells Cat Noir to take out Timebreaker first otherwise she could undo any progress they could make through time travel.
- Skewed Priorities: The Gang is angry at Marinette, so when a Mirage of Marinette appears before them when they have Cat Noir at their mercy, they all drop what they're doing to chase her, even as Shadow Moth begs them not to.
- This Cannot Be!: Shadow Moth can't believe Alya could break her transformation through force of will.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Marinette's attempts to keep her secrets hidden from her friends cause them to get akumatized. Cat Noir even lampshades how surprisingly often she ends up hunted by supervillains in-spite of her being Loved by All.
- Wham Episode: This episode features Marinette telling Alya that she is Ladybug, completely shattering the status quo of their friendship and giving Marinette someone (mostly) outside her superhero life to confide in.
- Wham Line: Marinette to Alya: "And I... am Ladybug."
- Your Television Hates You: Or your cinema in this case. Cat Noir takes Ladybug to a romantic comedy movie that happens to be about its heroine hiding secrets from her Love Interest.
