"Reflekta, I am Shadow Moth. Why let yourself be eaten up by such intense feelings of guilt when you can turn them — against all of those who didn't keep their word!"
— Shadow Moth
Marinette and her class discover a secret about Rose from Juleka, upsetting Rose when she finds out that it leaked. Juleka is devastated about this and Shadow Moth takes the opportunity to akumatize her and bring a sentimonster… of which Reflekta quickly loses control.
Tropes:
- Assimilation Plot: Guiltrip is capable of transforming others into Reflekta by intensifying their feelings of negativity and guilt. Guiltrip itself was supposed to be controlled by an assimilated Juleka/Reflekta, but Shadow Moth didn't anticipate her being drawn into Guiltrip by her own guilt.
- Birds of a Feather: Rose and Daizi bond almost immediately upon first meeting, calling each other cute at the same time.
- Break the Cutie: Poor Juleka becomes so overwhelmed when finding out that Rose is at a hospital due to the latter's illness that Marinette's slightly misguided attempt to joke about Rose's euphemisms was enough to reduce the former to a crying mess. It doesn't help that Juleka kept Rose's illness a secret for many years before it proved to be too much for her to bear alone.
- Cerebus Retcon: Rose's eternal cheerfulness and optimism take a whole different meaning with the reveal that it's her coping mechanism for being ill.
- Despair Event Horizon: Guiltrip's power is to amplify the regrets and the guilt of those trapped inside it until they're overcome by those emotions. When the victims fully give into their despair, they're turned into copies of Reflekta.
- Didn't Think This Through: Shadow Moth creates a sentimonster that amplifies guilt without considering its effect on the person he created it from. Reflekta immediately falls victim to her own sentimonster and loses control of it after throwing her cellphone (where the amok was) in the trash.
- The Disease That Shall Not Be Named: Rose is revealed to have some sort of illness that she developed as a child, and it's apparently chronic since she regularly goes to the hospital when the symptoms kick in. It's not clear what kind of illness she has, only that chronic headaches are one of the symptoms she experiences and that the illness could return at any moment.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Rose "got sick" as a child, and even though she overcame her illness she still suffers from headaches which are worrisome enough that she always goes to the hospital when the symptoms appear. And Juleka says that although Rose is fine now, the illness can come back at any moment. Nobody actually names Rose's illness, but it's not too hard to guess what it might be.
- Driven to Suicide:
- Juleka's feelings of guilt are so strong that, upon being akumatized and granted a sentimonster, she instantly submits herself to Guiltrip's power rather than cooperate with Shadow Moth's plan.
- Under Guiltrip's influence, Cat Noir attempts to use Cataclysm on himself. Fortunately, Ladybug intervenes.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Shadow Moth is shocked when his first attempt to akumatize Juleka fails, wondering how her deep loneliness could go away so quickly. Guess The Power of Friendship is a foreign concept to him.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: When seemingly the entire class rushes out of Ms. Mendeleiev's classroom to rescue Juleka, a very brief shot of the classroom afterward reveals that Chloé, Sabrina and Lila remained in their seats.
- History Repeats: This is the second time Juleka has been akumatized into Reflekta, been given a sentimonster that transforms people into Reflekta clones to help, and then lost control of said Sentimonster, which then becomes the final threat. It's also the last time because this time Ladybug gives Juleka a magical charm that'll prevent akumas from targeting her in the future.
- I'm a Doctor, Not a Placeholder: When Rose cries for help because Juleka's about to be akumatized, Ms. Mendeleiev responds that she's a science teacher, not a superhero.
- Innocently Insensitive: Marinette cracks a joke about the different "Mr. and Miss" pet names Rose makes to Juleka, not realizing the significance behind them. This causes Juleka to flee the cafeteria in tears and hide in the boiler room.
- It's All My Fault: Juleka feels guilty about revealing to the class that Rose suffers from some sort of recurring disease, because doing so causes the class to treat Rose with special care, which upsets the latter. The sentimonster weaponizes this by increasing its victims' remorse to a debilitating point.
- Living Emotional Crutch: It's shown, once again, that Cat Noir is this for Ladybug. In the past, whenever Ladybug came close to giving up because of her failures, Cat Noir was always able to cheer her up and restore her determination and faith in herself. Here, when Cat Noir crosses the DEH, Ladybug is unable to pull him out of his funk and nearly gives into despair herself.
- Madness Mantra: Guiltrip's victims voice their greatest regret over and over.
- Ivan: It's his fault everyone got captured, because he pried opened the bathroom stall door and exposed Guiltrip.
- Ms. Mendeleiev: She should have kept her students in the classroom, where they would've been safe from the sentimonster.
- Kim: If he'd been faster, he could have saved everyone.
- Mylène: She never should have let go of Ivan's hand.
- Nino: He's a terrible friend because he can't help Adrien stand up to his father.
- Juleka: Everyone is feeling guilty because she couldn't keep Rose's secret.
- Near-Villain Victory: Cat Noir and Ladybug fall victim to Guiltrip's power and give up fighting; Cat Noir even nearly Cataclysms himself before Ladybug stops him. If not for Rose showing the heroes they could overcome their despair, Shadow Moth would have won.
- New Powers as the Plot Demands: Those who were previously transformed into Reflekta clones did not have her powers, but they do this time. Possibly justified as they were transformed by Guiltrip rather than Reflekta herself.
- No-Sell: Rose is so positive that Guiltrip can't affect her. This inspires Ladybug to fight against the effect and ultimately give Rose the Pig Miraculous so she can help stop Reflekta.
- Oh, Crap!: When Rose sees the Akuma and Amok and knows that it's after Juleka, she bangs on the bathroom door even more and desperately tells her best friend not to listen to Shadow Moth.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Cat Noir, who's always smiling and joking around, gives into despair when he sees Nino lamenting his failure to help his best friend confront his father. His despair nearly drives Ladybug past the Despair Event Horizon, too, until Rose finds them and shows them that they can overcome Guiltrip's power through positive thinking.
- Pet the Dog: Sabrina is one of the only people (along with Chloé and Lila) who don't follow Juleka to the bathroom after her breakdown but she sends messages to her like everybody else.
- Poor Communication Kills: Surprisingly subverted twice. Juleka becomes vulnerable to akumatization no less than three different times, but the first two occasions (caused by this trope) are foiled when Marinette and her friends actually attempt to speak with Juleka and comfort her. The third occasion is caused by the class' well-meaningness towards Rose spiraling out of control.
- Prison Dimension: Guiltrip has a pocket dimension inside itself where it can trap its victims and attack them with guilt-enhancing bubbles.
- Ship Tease: In the very first episodes of the season, Marinette complained that because of her responsibilities it would be impossible for her to have a boyfriend and decided to swear off dating entirely. While her crush on Adrien is still here, he seems to warm up to Marinette as well, maybe starting to see her as more than "just a friend".
- Soap Opera Disease: The only known symptom of Rose’s illness is headaches, which are described secondhand.
- Stationary Boss: Unlike other sentimonsters, Guiltrip can't move or really anything but open itself to trap people in its pocket dimension.
- The Unfought: Zigzagged. Juleka, who is the original Reflekta, does not fight the heroes, since she's literally trapped in her own guilt and is immediately freed by Pigella's power when found. However, the Reflekta clones can still act without the original due to Guiltrip being the one that created them and Juleka having dropped her phone before being sucked in, meaning she can't command the sentimonster.
- Unusual Euphemism: Whenever Rose gets sick, she uses a pet name for the headache she develops. Only Juleka and Miss Bustier seem to understand its meaning.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: We never do find out where the Akuma sent after Juleka in the fake out Akumatization went off to, or if they affected anyone else.
- Your Heart's Desire: Pigella has a positive, heroic version: her Gift power shows the target their most heartfelt desire, filling them with joy. Reflekta is shown her desire to be back with her friends and them all treating Rose normally, and breaks her out of her cluster of negative-feeling bubbles, gladly allowing Cat Noir to break her akumatized glove and return her to normal.
