In this special episode, Marinette, Adrien, and friends tackle the problem of plastic pollution.
The special can be viewed here
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Tropes:
- As You Know: Nino starts the episode telling Marinette and Adrien (and the audience) about the sudden rise of pollution in the Seine and how Anarka modified her houseboat to collect the trash.
- Bait-and-Switch: At first it looks like one of Bertrand's goons sees through Nino's disguise and approaches him with ominous intentions. He then reveals he was actually talking to Adrien.
- Blatant Lies: After Marinette reveals the pollution problem caused by Bertrand's company (which Gabriel and André were affiliated with) on TV, Gabriel and André save face by announcing on TV that they were completely unaware of the problem. The truth is that the kids had told them about the problem and asked them to help them do something about it, but they both turned them down, due to the plastic fans making Gabriel money and promoting André.
- The Cameo:
- Fei Wu, Jessica Keynes, and Aeon appear as part of Marinette's broadcast regarding the dangers of plastic.
- Chloé makes a silent cameo while watching the broadcast.
- Chekhov's Gun: The start of the episode explains how Anarka's boat can't handle so much pollution intake which results in an explosion of plastic. Ladybug uses this to overpower King of Plastic and take his staff.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Bertrand King, whose fortune is based on the endless cycle of people buying single-use plastic items, throwing them away, and buying more, not caring that they damage the environment. He changes his ways in the end, though.
- Dirty Coward: After being cornered by King of Plastic, André begs to be spared and offers to have the vending machines returned.
- Do Not Adjust Your Set: Marinette has Max and Markov hijack Nadja's television show so she and her friends can deliver their message on anti-pollution.
- Double-Meaning Title: Monarch grants King of Plastic the Miraculous power of Action, which allows him to paralyze anyone his staff touches. Additionally, Marinette and her friends take action to stop the rise in plastic pollution before it endangers the Seine of Paris.
- Edutainment Show: The first episode of the series that was deliberately designed as edutainment, with worksheets being released to complement it.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Ladybug discovers the solution to defeating King of Plastic after his staff has zero effect on her Lucky Charm which turned into a plastic bag.
- Faux Horrific: Mylène comes close to fainting after hearing how much plastic Tom uses for his bake sales.
- Green Aesop: Naturally. Several lines of dialogue are basically an educational script about plastic pollution.
- Heel–Face Turn:
- Downplayed, but Gabriel and André abandon Bertrand's side after speeches from the kids. Monarch does Akumatize Bertrand, but it seems more out of opportunity than shared belief.
- Bertrand himself sees the error of his ways after being surrounded by plastic trash and decides to make some honorable changes to his company's practices.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Ladybug uses King of Plastic's love of plastic by using Anarka's pirate boat to unleash a huge explosion of collected plastic to overwhelm the supervillain.
- It's All About Me: When the kids tell Bertrand King about how his plastic fans are bad for the environment, he refuses to make his company more eco-friendly and tells them he only cares that his plastic products make him rich. He changes his point of view in the end, though.
- Karma Houdini: Gabriel and André refuse to help the kids fix the pollution problem caused by Bertrand's company, due to the two of them benefiting from the plastic fan sales. Then when the kids reveal the problem to the public, Gabriel and André keep their reputations from being besmirched by lying that they were unaware of the problem and washing their hands of Bertrand's company. Gabriel also gets no punishment for Akumatizing Bertrand and unleashing him to wreak havoc.
- Not Helping Your Case: Bertrand manages to counter the Resistance's presentation by pointing out how just about everything in their daily lives (from their pens to their Alliance rings) is made of plastic.
- Refusal of the Call: Nadja declines Marinette's request to do an anti-plastic broadcast as doing so would anger Bertrand, who is a huge benefactor of her TV studio, and can cost her her job. And as a single mother, she doesn't want to take the risk and endanger her daughter.
- Series Continuity Error: Despite taking place after "Revelation" at the earliest (Adrien and Kagami are shown as the Alliance avatars), Marinette is shown to stutter around Adrien in the first scene, despite getting over this in "Derision".
- Sure, Let's Go with That: When the stooge working for Bertrand recognizes Adrien as the model for his boss' commercials, Marinette weaves a lie saying that Adrien has a meeting with Bertrand which will allow the Resistance to have a one-on-one chat with the head honcho himself.
- Take That!: The episode takes jabs at the role corporations have in the environmental crisis.
- Villain Respect: Despite it not changing his mind, Bertrand compliments the group’s anti-pollution presentation as one of the best presentations he’s ever seen.
