Shadow Moth: Unravelder, I am Shadow Moth.
Rolland: Unravelder? What kind of complicated name is that?
Shadow Moth: Well, uh... Doctor Obsolete?
Rolland: I'm not a doctor!
Shadow Moth: (groans) How about Simpleman? Will that do?
Rolland: There! Now that's simple!
Shadow Moth: Well, then, Simpleman, Ladybug and Cat Noir are also complicating my life. That's why I'm giving you the power to simplify everything.
Rolland: Unravelder? What kind of complicated name is that?
Shadow Moth: Well, uh... Doctor Obsolete?
Rolland: I'm not a doctor!
Shadow Moth: (groans) How about Simpleman? Will that do?
Rolland: There! Now that's simple!
Shadow Moth: Well, then, Simpleman, Ladybug and Cat Noir are also complicating my life. That's why I'm giving you the power to simplify everything.
Marinette gets roped into babysitting not one but four rambunctious children over the weekend. But once she gets an emergency call from her beloved Adrien to help him with an upcoming photo shoot, she decides to dump the pint-sized terrors at her traditionalist grandpa's house. And with the old man being driven to insanity as he fails to make sense of today's kids, Shadow Moth uses this as an opportunity to turn Rolland into a supervillain who can make the world as simple as he wants.
Tropes:
- Anti-Villain: As far as akumatized villains go, Simpleman is notably friendly, especially towards the kids he was babysitting. He allows them to hang out with him, lets them stop for ice cream, and even protects them from falling pizzas. He also spares them from the simplifying wave until they openly explain and try to help Ladybug and Cat Noir.
- Armor-Piercing Question: When Shadow Moth says he'll remove Simpleman's power for affecting him with it, Simpleman makes him change his mind by asking if he wants the Miraculouses or not.
- Atrocious Alias: Rolland rejects Shadow Moth’s proposed aliases of “Unravelder” and “Dr. Obsolete”.
- Beware the Silly Ones: As Ladybug and Cat Noir acknowledge, Simpleman was one of the closest villains to defeat them...and he accomplished it by simply making them dumb enough to accept a bribe of candy in exchange for their Miraculouses. If the kids hadn’t been there to stop them from taking them off, Shadow Moth would’ve won.
- Breather Episode: After the majority of episodes (especially the previous one) have focused on more serious storylines, this episode is more light-hearted, getting a lot of comedy out of the entire cast including Shadow Moth being reduced to childlike intellect, and the heroes being seconds from being defeated by a bribe of candy.
- Call-Back: Just like in his episode debut, Rolland still prefers his Good Old Ways and embraces his inner villain in order to create a simpler world.
- Captain Patriotic: Simplifier's costume is an extremely basic "S" icon on the front of his woolen apron, with a mask and a cape in the colours of the French flag. His baker's peel is also in the colours of the Tricolor.
- Comically Small Bribe: Simpleman convinces Ladybug and Cat Noir to give up their Miraculouses in exchange for one small piece of candy each. When the battle is over, Ladybug and Cat Noir are visibly shaken that this of all things was the closest they've ever come to being defeated.
- Complexity Addiction: Marinette once again comes up with an overly complicated plan to ask Adrien out. She is the only character who actually benefits from being Simplified as she ditches her plans and comes this close to telling Adrien that she loves him. Later, Marinette admits that she comes with plans that delay her confessing her feelings to Adrien out of fear that he will reject her.
- Continuity Nod: During the episode, Marinette's grandmother is visiting China and learning kung fu from Fei.
- *Crack!* "Oh, My Back!": Unlike Bakerix, Simpleman looks a lot like Rolland...and judging by how he does this trope, he probably didn't change much physically either.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Rolland has trouble with this trope, failing to comprehend how Cat Noir can be a good guy in the Ladybug anime while he's dressed in black and has the power to destroy things. This ends up being Disaster Dominoes for him since his confusion makes him want to show the kids another VHS tape instead, but he doesn't know how to use it with the laptop or turn the movie they were watching back on, causing the kids to get rambunctious and leading him to get akumatized from the stress.
- A Day in the Limelight: Manon, Etta, Ella and Chris are given the spotlight as they unintentionally push the old coot to akumatization and do what they can to help Ladybug and Cat Noir. Roland has his own share too, where he has to deal with his own struggles with the complex modern world.
- Didn't Think This Through: Happens once again with Shadow Moth. He fails to take into account that he too could be affected by Simpleman's power, which fires a wave with a wide range that doesn't discriminate targets, meaning Shadow Moth gets caught in the wake.
- Simplified Ladybug and Cat Noir come to the conclusion that the logical way to stop Shadow Moth once and for all would be to go right to him and defeat him, which isn't wrong...but they have no idea who or where he is, so they're just left comically running around on the streets yelling out for him to come over and fight them.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?:
- In a dumber state, Ladybug and Cat Noir are bribed into handing over their Miraculous to Simpleman and he'll give them candy in exchange. Although it's a completely different scenario, some may get a chill when they remember what's usually associated with shifty adults offering children candy. Manon even Lampshades this.
- Marinette being incapable of confessing, says that she wants it to be at the perfect moment, and doing Zany Scheme and elaborate scenarios to get there. Given that Most Writers Are Writers, you might wonder if it reflects the scenarists's concern about how they'll render The Reveal's scene, the very anticipated climax of the series, and whether they'll be able to do it justice (especially since tons of fanworks already did it brilliantly).
- Face Palm: Manon, Etta, Ella and Chris do this when they see Ladybug and Cat Noir utterly fail at using their powers.
- Fanboy: Chris owns a Cat Noir backpack and is invested in the Ladybug anime.
- Fangirl: Manon, Etta and Ella are fans of the Miraculous heroes with Manon having a Ladybug backpack and the twins having their own Rena Rouge backpacks.
- Generation Xerox: Implied when Rolland says that the cartoon Ladybug reminds him a lot of Gina in her personality.
- Magic Staff: Simpleman uses his baker's peel to unleash a magical wave that simplifies people and all of Paris.
- Mirror Character: Marinette and Roland. Both are highly stubborn individuals and resistent to try things differently, but, while Roland refuses to adapt himself to the modern and complex ways, his granddaughter refuses to think in more simple solutions.
- Mundane Solution: The kids come up with a circuitous way to use the Lucky Charm ball to defeat Simpleman as Ladybug usually does (deflate it, attach a tube and a bicycle pump to it, then re-inflate it while it's under Simpleman's baker peel to make it bounce away from him). Simplified Ladybug ends up cutting out most of that to do the real point of it - tossing the ball under Simpleman's baker's peel before he hits the haft on the ground so it'll bounce off and cause him to lose his grip of it.
- Shaped Like Itself: As Simpleman rhetorically asked: "You see how simple life can be when nothing's complicated?"
- Stupidity-Inducing Attack: Simpleman's magic seems to simplify the minds of teenagers and adults who were affected by his energy wave. For example, Ladybug and Cat Noir forget how to fight and are easily suckered into giving up their Miraculous for candy.
- Take That, Audience!:
Word of God has it that this episode is a criticism of the fans who focus solely on going through complicated steps to put their ships front and centre when watching the show. - Third Time's The Charm: Roland's akumatized self rejects the first two name ideas Shadow Moth suggested for him but accepts the third one.
- Tickle Torture: Manon, Etta and Ella tickle Marinette on the belly, the armpits and the ribs in order to know what is in the sewing box.
- What Does This Button Do?: A news helicopter pilot pushes a Big Red Button on the copter after being simplified. It shuts off the helicopter, making it crash.
- Wimp Fight: Despite his power, Simpleman is still an old man suffering from back pain and Simplified Ladybug and Cat Noir can't even use their weapons properly. Needless to say, their fight ends up being much less exciting than Manon, Etta, Ella and Chris hoped it would be.
