Like Grandma Césaire always says, "Let's not wait for the storm to pass but learn to dance in the rain instead."
Shadow Moth: Mr. Pigeon. I am Shadow Moth. Since humans and pigeons cannot live together in harmony...
Mr. Pigeon: I will turn every human into a pigeon!
Mr. Pigeon: I will turn every human into a pigeon!
Mr. Ramier is akumatized into Mr. Pigeon for the seventy-second time. This time, however, he has a nasty new trick up his sleeve— he can turn people into evil pigeons!
Tropes:
- Artistic License – Ornithology: The episode's plot is kicked off by trouble over substituting pigeons for doves in a photoshoot... even though pigeons and doves are entirely synonymous
; the species of pigeon most city-dwellers are familiar with is in fact called the rock dove. One would think Mr. Ramier of all people would know that and not take offense to his pigeons being called doves. Of course, when most people ask for doves, they don't mean the rock doves that infest city streets. - Bag of Holding: When Marinette tries finding something to camouflage her and Kagami, some of the items in her bag include a pink tennis racket, a fishing lure, swimsuits, a ballgown (carefully folded in a plastic bag) and an umbrella too big to possibly fit in it. Kagami lampshades it by asking if she always carries these things around and Marinette says that she does just in case.
- Beware the Silly Ones: After being relegated to a joke in his last few appearances, Mr. Pigeon is actually a serious threat this time. His transforming pigeon flock makes confronting him directly impossible. Ladybug and Rena Rouge have to spend the whole fight taking shelter from the pigeons and fighting him remotely with illusions and a trap. In fact, if Alya hadn't been brought into Marinette's fold last episode and therefore learned how to retrieve the Fox Miraculous herself, defeating him would have been near impossible. Cat Noir, with his direct contact powers, wouldn't have been able to fight Mr. Pigeon at all even if he hadn't been immediately turned into a pigeon.
- Big "NO!": Shadow Moth roars one out when he realizes he's been fooled by Rena Rouge's Mirage.
- Bruce Wayne Held Hostage: Adrien is one of the people turned into a pigeon by Mr. Pigeon. Plagg is then forced to tell Ladybug the simple truth: Cat Noir won't be helping today.
- Call-Back:
- During their conversation at the beginning, Marinette tells Alya about numerous akumatized villains and Shadow Moth's activities.
- While discussing Marinette's board of repeat Akuma victims, Alya points out that she has become Lady Wifi a total of four times, referring to the episodes "Lady Wifi", "The Puppeteer", "Félix", and "Gang of Secrets".
- The Umbrella of Togetherness scene at the end is similar to the one Marinette and Adrien shared way back in "Origins, Part 2", except this time both are trapped inside the umbrella when it accidentally closes, and it's Marinette who giggles when Adrien starts acting clumsily.
- While neither of them are aware of it, Adrien turning down Marinette's offer to walk home because he has to follow his schedule Gabriel sets for him is a reminder to the audience that as shown in "Cat Blanc", Gabriel is the biggest obstacle to them getting together.
- Closest Thing We Got: Roth employs Mr. Ramier to direct his pigeons for the commercial even though Gabriel specified doves, apparently too cheap to find someone that could train the real deal.note Adrien's pigeon allergy screws up the shoot and leads to Mr. Ramier getting akumatized when Roth blames him.
- Continuity Nod: Alya reminds Marinette of her plan to have three kids and a hamster with Adrien.
- Cutting Corners: Roth says that the reason he's using pigeons instead of doves is because on his end "...[Gabriel]'s paying me a lot of money", which implies he's not springing for actual doves (leaving aside the fact that pigeons are doves already in ornithological terms...) so he can pocket more of his pay.
- The Drag-Along: Throughout the episode, Kagami has to be dragged reluctantly by Marinette, to the point where the latter ends up grabbing her ankle to prevent her from leaving the pool.
- Explosive Results: Every time Ladybug tries adding a new ingredient to her potions results in an explosion that shakes the house. As far as her parents know, she's working on a science experiment, but they admit the noise and shaking is getting them worried.
- Fakin' MacGuffin: Rena Rouge's illusions of Ladybug and Cat Noir decide they're in over their heads and remove their Miraculous (resulting in fake alter-egos of the heroes as part of the illusion). They then throw their Miraculous into the pool. Mr. Pigeon dives in... only for Plagg to nab his whistle on the way down. Rena Rouge then waits until Mr. Pigeon gets close to the fake Miraculous before dispelling the illusion, granting Plagg some extra time to flee.
- Funny Background Event: While Marinette is telling Alya about Hawk Moth re-akumatizing people, two kwamis can be seen levitating a hat. Another kwami then takes from them and the two chase after them, going in and out of view a few times until the kwami finally puts the hat down in a corner of Marinette's bedroom.
- Glamour: When Shadow Moth sees the illusionary civilian identities that Rena Rouge creates, which don't resemble the heroes at all in features or stature, he is delighted to see what they "really look like", referring to the "quantum masking" that prevents people from recognizing Miraculous users out of costume.
- The Glomp: Performed by Marinette on Kagami, much to her annoyance.
- Happy Rain: At the end, Marinette quotes back to Tikki, "Apparently life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, but learning to dance in the rain!" She's so happy at her breakthrough in confidence with Adrien (inviting him to walk home with her, etc.) that she whoops, laughs, and leaps among the rain puddles.
- Hologram: This episode shows that, since Rena Rouge's flute is too thin and narrow to include a screen unlike Ladybug and Cat Noir's weapons, her flute instead projects an holographic screen whenever it's used as a communicator.
- Imagination-Based Superpower: Rena Rouge convinces Ladybug to try surpassing the limitations of the Grimoire (which is more of a descriptive text than a book of exact rules), and to create her own magic. Ladybug finds she is able to create Magic Charms that protect a person from being akumatized again.
- Implausible Deniability: Marinette denies being in love with Adrien while there are photos of him spread all over the floor, her walls are decorated with even more photos of him, and she has a photo of him stuck on her forearm.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Marinette spends the first half of the episode trying to fix Kagami back up with Adrien, saying he's perfect for her. Kagami turns the tables on her: near the end of the episode, she says Adrien is perfect for Marinette.
- Kick the Dog: When Bob Roth fires Mr. Ramier he tells him that he will convince the mayor to banish pigeons from Paris.
- Let No Crisis Go to Waste: Gabriel is annoyed at Roth screwing up the commercial, but it provides an opportunity to akumatize Mr. Ramier again so it's not a total loss.
- Literally Falling in Love: Marinette accidentally collides into Adrien on the diving board, and they both fall in the water below, taking with them the poor Edgar and its red rose. Complete with romantic music.
- Misplaced Retribution: Roth goes off on Mr. Ramier when the shoot goes wrong, never mind the fact that the problems stem from either his own ignoring Adrien's complaints that he is allergic to pigeons or Marinette crashing the shoot.
- Never My Fault: Roth blames Mr. Ramier for screwing up the shoot, even though the problems with it are primarily Roth's fault for being too lazy or cheap to hire a dove trainer like he was supposed to.
- Never Recycle Your Schemes: Averted. Hawk Moth goes after his previous victims more often specifically because he gets to know them better making it easier to manipulate them.
- Next Tier Powerup: With some encouragement from Rena Rouge, Ladybug learns how to use her powers to create an anti-Akuma charm.
- Noodle Incident: It's revealed that most akumatized villains on the show have been resummoned more than once outside of their respective episodes. Alya herself says that she's been akumatized into Lady WiFi four times even though we've only seen that happen three times onscreen (unless she's referring to when she was under the Puppeteer's control).
- Opportunistic Bastard: While Shadow Moth is the villain like usual, Gabriel's plan that day was in fact just to shoot a legitimate commercial that Marinette inadvertently ruined and not a plan to upset Ramier so he'd be vulnerable to him again. As he's retreating to his lair to prepare to take advantage of Ramier's inevitable anger he's rather frustrated that the commercial became such a disaster.
- Out-of-Character Moment: Marinette's first reaction to hearing that Adrien and Kagami broke up? Saying that she needs to console Kagami rather than being interested in going to Adrien. Naturally, Alya is shocked and states her suspicion that the magical fumes in her room must have gone to her brain...and this gets followed about thirty seconds later with Marinette claiming she doesn't love Adrien anymore! However, it does turn out quickly that she's going over to Kagami to try to get Kagami and Adrien back together again due to projecting her feelings for Adrien onto Kagami.
- Out of Focus: Like "Style Queen" before it, this episode does not feature Cat Noir (in person; Rena Rouge fakes his presence with an illusion).
- Recurring Boss: This episode marks the seventy-second time Mr. Ramier has been akumatized. Since Ladybug works out how to make a special charm that will prevent future akumatizations, it will hopefully be the last.
- Romantic Rain: The ending scene, with Marinette realizing this moment looks like the one when she fell in love in Adrien, allowing the Umbrella of Togetherness that ensues.
- Running Gag Stumbles: Mr. Ramier being akumatized on a regular basis was a gag used often during the past couple seasons, to the point that this is the 72nd time he's been akumatized. At the end of the episode, Ladybug gives him a magic charm that will shield him from future akumatizations, putting this gag to rest… until Hawk Moth gets a power up.
- Psychological Projection: It's painfully obvious that Marinette is projecting her feelings for Adrien onto Kagami in her misguided attempt to get the two of them to reconcile. Kagami herself lampshades this at the end.
- Shipper on Deck:
- Marinette tries her best to get Adrien and Kagami back together, despite Kagami's obvious reluctance.
- In a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, Alya/Rena Rouge shows how much of a LadyNoir shipper she is by having her illusion of Ladybug lean on illusionary Cat Noir's shoulder while they're taunting Mr. Pigeon.
- Despite the fact that she has been Marinette's love rival for much of the series, Kagami in the end decides to support Marinette being with Adrien, even going as far to declare that they're "made for each other".Kagami: You're right, Adrien is perfect. Perfect for you.
- Ship Sinking: As if their breakup two episodes ago wasn't enough, not only does Kagami insist numerous times that she doesn't want to get back with Adrien, but claims that Marinette is a better match for him, meaning Kagami and Adrien are over for good.
- Sixth Ranger: While she was always this to an extent, as Marinette's new confidant Alya is a much bigger part of the team now. While she still can't keep her Miraculous with her (Shadow Moth knowing likely makes it too big a risk) as shown in the climax Alya can retrieve it from the box whenever she needs to making her the only one of the minor heroes who doesn't need to rely on Ladybug handing it out to her. Trixx even spends most of the episode hovering over her shoulder like Tikki and Plagg often do for their holders.
- Something about a Rose: Invoked in commercial Bob Roth is filming. Gabriel suggests that Adrien receives a rose from the dove during his jump to emphasize "romantic" part of the commercial.
- Stalking is Love: Kagami lists Marinette knowing Adrien's plan for the next three years as an example why she's perfect for him.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: After terrorizing Paris as Mr. Pigeon 72 times, Ladybug gives Mr. Ramier a magical charm that will protect him from further akumatizations. The poor man is overjoyed to finally be safe from Shadow Moth.
- Took a Level in Badass: Mr. Pigeon has had the same powers across all his appearances. This is the first time he's gotten an upgrade, being able to turn people into pigeons (and doing so to Adrien before he can get away to transform).
- Umbrella of Togetherness: Marinette and Adrien briefly share one towards the end of the episode, only for it to snap shut on them, much like it did to Marinette back in "Origins".
- Un-Installment: This is the second episode starring Mr. Pigeon as the main villain, not the seventy-second. Ladybug has fought him seventy-two times by now, but the vast majority of those fights happened off-screen.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: Shooting an advertisement at the pool, Adrien spends the majority of the episode shirtless. It says something that Marinette is (somewhat) functional at the sight of that now compared to earlier seasons.
- Walking Swimsuit Scene: Adrien, Marinette, and Kagami spend most of the episode in their swimwear, because they're at a pool.
- We Need a Distraction: To get into the pool, which is being guarded by the Gorilla, Marinette makes a social media post about Adrien doing a shoot so Adrien's fans will mob the Gorilla and she can sneak in with Kagami while he's distracted.
