Episode 6
- Copycat - Tales of Théo the Admirer
Tikki notices that Chloé's in a suspiciously good mood, primping, preening, and spraying herself with perfume. So what's up? Chloé declares that she's obviously getting ready for the big unveiling in the park; a statue was commissioned in honor of Paris's new protectors, and she gloats about how the city is "finally recognizing my greatness." She tunes Tikki out as the Kwami berates her—true heroes don't care about such things! Besides, she'll be wearing a mask, so there's no need for her to spend so much time "perfecting" her makeup!
Meanwhile, Mayor André compliments the sculptor; he's certain that Théo has outdone himself. Showing off the picture that inspired the work, Théo expresses his hope that she'll sign it for him, gushing over how amazing and wonderful she is. Listening to this, André feels a sudden surge of inexplicible protectiveness, eyes narrowing as he asks the artist just how old he is.
Marinette and Alya are up in the former's loft bedroom, trying—and failing—to reach Adrien. Consulting her whiteboard, Marinette recalls that he's got fencing after class; when Alya implies that there's something strange about her knowing where he's at, Marinette points out that she has everybody's schedules listed before pointing out that the aspiring journalist forgot about the statue unveiling.
Adrien, for his part, didn't forget... but his fencing instructor, D'Argencourt, refuses to let him duck out to "get some water." Thanks to his exhausting double life, Adrien's been struggling to maintain his usual level of poise during his lessons, and D'Argencourt insists on addressing the matter personally with some one-on-one training. Which sucks for Adrien, as he'd been looking forward to actually enjoying some time out as Chat Noir for a change...
Scarlet Lady makes a grand entrance, dismissing her partner's absence as no big deal. After all, she is the leader. As the statue is revealed, showing her vaulting over a crouching Chat Noir, Marinette and Alya gush over the impressive detail work while Scarlet Lady hums, musing that it should have been made of gold. Afterwards, Marinette heads to the Louvre to share the photos she snapped with Nathaniel, as he wasn't able to make it, while Alya heads home to work on the Ladyblog.
Théo gets to meet his idol, only for Scarlet Lady to casually declare that she's taller than Chat Noir. She also scoffs at his declaration of love, calling him "gross." Ah, but it's not entirely his fault, she "reassures" him; after all, he simply can't complete with her true love. As she gushes over the object of her affection, describing his pretty green eyes and shiny blond hair, Théo concludes that she must be talking about Chat Noir. He also declares her affections are shallow, fuming over how he could easily prove himself to be so much better if he just had the chance—!
Naturally, Hawk Moth offers him the opportunity to do so, suggesting that he can simply replace Chat Noir outright. Oh, but real quick: just how old is he again?
Rushing to the scene, Adrien arrives after the crowds have completely dispersed. Studying the sculpture, he notes that even as a statue, he's pulling all the weight. Meanwhile, Copycat casually strides through the Louvre and plucks the Mona Lisa right off the wall. Marinette furiously declares that he's not Chat Noir, pointing out that he's still got the same lollipop stick she'd noticed the sculptor sucking on during the unveiling. Sadly, this just convinces Copycat to steal her alongside the painting, much to Adrien's horror when he witnesses this on the news.
Meanwhile, Tikki's busy berating Chloé for how she treated Théo. Upon seeing the breaking news, Chloé sneers that her partner must be jealous and transforms, declaring they've got a cat to catch... once she's done laughing over his struggles to evade the police.
Fortunately, Chat Noir manages to shake them off before running into Alya, who's got an exclusive scoop for him: while Copycat cuffed Marinette's hands, he didn't think to take her phone, and she's posted their location online along with hashtags declaring Chat Noir's innocence and warning about traps. Though Copycat catches on and ties her up tighter, once Chat Noir arrives, she's able to slip free of her gag and shout a timely warning, preventing the hero from being snared... and from being brained when the akuma sneaks up behind him.
As the two face off, Chat Noir demands to know just what his deal is. Copycat reveals that Scarlet Lady rejected his love in favor of her "dream guy"—"Green eyes, blond hair, beloved by all of Paris?!" That has to be the Cat hero! Chat Noir snaps back that it better NOT be!
Then Scarlet Lady arrives, having used her yo-yo to track down her partner, only to find two of them instead of one. Confused and frustrated, she declares that she'll just have to haul both of them in. Copycat reiterates his love, insisting that he'd be much better for her than her "useless sidekick," making Chat Noir snarl in disgust while Scarlet Lady huffs, dismissively declaring that he's not even worth defeating herself, ordering Chat Noir to handle him. As Copycat realizes just what kind of person he's been fawning over, Marinette exploits his distraction to grab his copy of Chat Noir's baton before telling the Ladybug heroine to hurry up and summon her Lucky Charm. Scarlet bristles at being ordered to use her powers but calls her Lucky Charm anyway when Marinette questions whether she wants to deal with a knockoff of Chat Noir chasing after her forever.
To Scarlet's annoyance, her Lucky Charm manifests as a simple spoon. But Marinette declares it to be perfect, snatching it out of the heroine's hand and tying it to the fake baton, creating an improvised fishing pole. A well-aimed cast snags in the back of the imposter's belt, and he shouts in dismay as he's yanked back, the butterfly-possessed photograph landing right in Chat Noir's hands. Grinning, Chat Noir declares, "See ya, handsome!" as he rips the photo in half.
As the Miraculous Cure works its magic, Chat Noir apologizes to Théo for not being able to make it to the unveiling ceremony. Théo shrugs it off, saying he understands how civilian life can get in the way. Besides, that had nothing to do with his akumatization; he was just shocked to learn how he and Scarlet Lady were in love. Something that comes as news to Chat Noir; as he whirls around to confront Scarlet Lady, she insists she never said anything like that.
She goes on to sneer about how it's hardly her fault that the sculptor couldn't handle rejection and that he should try aiming for somebody more in his league. Marinette rises to Théo's defense, snapping about how his sculpture was frankly far better than somebody like Scarlet deserved. Watching her berate his former crush, Théo starts blushing... before Chat Noir steps in and bluntly shuts that idea down with a decisive "NO."
Sometime later, Adrien's making plans to meet up with Nino and the girls when he catches sight of a familiar face. But what on earth is Théo doing at their school? Why, he's a fellow student, of course! Both Adrien and Alya are caught off-guard, but Marinette and Nino casually confirm that he's the same age as them. His studio actually belongs to his parents, and he works multiple jobs so he can afford all his art supplies. Oh, and as for the goatee?
Mme. Mendeleiev leans over a railing over their heads, angrily reminding Théo that she'd told him to shave that thing off. Théo snaps back that it's the only reason any of his clients respect him, begging her to leave him be and let him live!
This episode contains examples of:
- Abhorrent Admirer: Chloé sees Théo as one while Adrien feels this way about Scarlet Lady.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Marinette gets Scarlet Lady to shut up and use her Lucky Charm by asking whether she wants a knockoff Chat Noir chasing after her forever.
- Big "NO!": Copycat gets one when he finds himself hauled up off his feet by Marinette's improvised fishing pole.
- Bound and Gagged: Copycat doesn't bother with this at first but ties Marinette up after discovering she leaked his location.
- Broken Pedestal: Théo is heartbroken by Scarlet Lady's callous dismissal of his feelings and disappointed by how shallow her attraction to Chat Noir (actually Adrien) seems to be. He then gets hit by this again as Copycat upon witnessing how she actually treats her partner.Copycat: ...This is who I've been fawning over?
- Clear My Name: Chat Noir finds himself framed for kidnapping and theft and gets pursued by the police while trying to track his doppelganger down.
- Crazy Jealous Guy:
- Théo becomes akumatized because he's jealous of whom Scarlet Lady is in love with.
- Chat Noir shuts Théo's incipient crush on Marinette down hard.
- Crazy-Prepared: Marinette's class coordinated schedule shows up for the first time.
- Crush Blush: Théo gets one while watching Marinette chew out Scarlet Lady in his defense.
- Cutting the Knot: Played darkly; rather than trying to figure out which Chat Noir is the real deal, Scarlet Lady declares that she'll simply capture and turn both of them over to the police, not caring whether this leads to her innocent partner winding up in jail.
- Didn't Think This Through:
- Marinette confronts and calls out Copycat for being a fake, pointing out evidence of his deception. He promptly kidnaps her in order to keep his identity secret.
- Copycat then takes her straight to his hideout but assumes that just cuffing her in place will render her helpless and doesn't bother checking to ensure she doesn't have a cell phone or any way of contacting others for help. By the time he catches on, she's already revealed their location on social media.
- Marinette also mentally notes that Copycat apparently wanted Chat Noir to show up, given how much time he spent setting up traps, but hadn't laid any clues pointing towards the studio, wondering how he expected his counterpart to find him in the first place.
- Dramatic Irony: Théo gets akumatized due to mistaking Scarlet Lady's descriptions of Adrien as her gushing over Chat Noir. The reader, naturally, knows that they're one and the same.
- Driven by Envy: Chloé suggests this is why "Chat Noir" went rogue. Ironically, she's partially right, as jealousy is what drove Copycat's creation.
- Entitled Bitch: It says a lot that Scarlet Lady sincerely believes that she can order Chat Noir to take care of Copycat for her after she'd already declared her intention to haul them both off to the police.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Even Hawk Moth is put off by Théo's interest in Scarlet Lady, not knowing that sculptor is actually also a teenager.
- Everybody Knew Already: Downplayed; Marinette and Nino are familiar with Théo while recent arrivals Alya and Adrien had no idea he attended their school.
- #HashtagForLaughs: Marinette's post revealing her and Copycat's location is heavily labeled:#Bad@Villaining #TheSculptorDidIt #ChatIsInnocent #BewareOfTraps
- Lame Pun Reaction: Marinette states that she may not be able to take Copycat down—but she can take him up with her improvised fishing pole. Scarlet Lady just boos at her.
- Never My Fault: Scarlet Lady dismisses the notion that she should be blamed for Théo's akumatization, declaring that he's just Not Good with Rejection.
- Nightmare Face: Chat Noir shuts down Théo's nascent crush on Marinette hard with one of these.
- Not Worth Killing: Downplayed and Played With; Scarlet Lady decides that Copycat simply isn't worth the effort of dealing with herself, ordering Chat Noir to handle him instead. She reconsiders this after Marinette points out that the alternative is dealing with a knockoff Chat Noir pursuing her forever.
- Papa Wolf: Even though the Mayor doesn't know that his daughter is Scarlet Lady, he's still put off by Theo (who he doesn't know is a teenager) fawning over her and makes it his personal responsibility to make sure no one in the crowd gets too close to the "hero".
- Phrase Catcher: Théo is repeatedly asked, "How old are you again?"
- Rule of Symbolism: The statue features Scarlet Lady vaulting over Chat Noir; as Adrien Lampshades, his counterpart is completely supporting her, as she's practically standing on his back.
- Skewed Priorities: Rather than capture or help Chat Noir when the police go after him, Scarlet Lady instead takes some time laughing at his misfortune.
- Social Media Before Reason: Inverted; Marinette uses an Instagram Expy to reveal Copycat's location along with his identity.
- Spot the Imposter: Marinette does so successfully; Chloé doesn't care enough to even try.
- Spotting the Thread: Marinette recognizes that the lollipop stick in Copycat's mouth is the same kind the sculptor had back in the park.
- Verbal Backspace: Scarlet Lady starts to call the mayor "Dad" before catching herself and referring to him as his title instead.
- Wrong Assumption: Not only does Théo mistake Scarlet Lady's gushing over Adrien as her describing Chat Noir, he thinks that Chat Noir is admired by all of Paris. Apparently, he hasn't seen any of Scarlet Lady's interviews where she casually undermines Chat Noir, painting him as her Bumbling Sidekick.
- Younger Than They Look: Despite appearances, Théo is actually a student at Françoise Dupont. He actually strives to seem older, declaring that his goatee is the only reason any of his clients respect him.
