Recap / Scarlet Lady S2 E10: Evillustrator

Episode 20 - Evillustrator - Tales of Nathaniel the Artist

Nathaniel gets caught drawing a comic by Mlle. Mendeleiev in the middle of class, and the teacher sends him to the principal's office. When he trips over someone else's bag, his sketchbook flies out of his own and gets snatched by Chloé, who promptly reveals to everyone that he's been drawing himself as a superhero saving Marinette. When Nathaniel tries to snatch it back, Chloé semi-accidentally rips the page with his latest work. As Alya gently ribs Marinette for having an admirer, Adrien glares jealously at Nathaniel.

Nathaniel gets so worked up over the humiliation that Hawkmoth is able to akumatize him. The villain even comments on how early it is and also that Chloé is (once more) the cause of the akuma.

At the end of class, the teacher assigns groups for their physics report: Adrien, Nino, and Alya are assigned to the same group... while Marinette complains about having to deal with Sabrina and Chloé. Her complaint is well founded when she finds Chloé claiming she is too busy to do her part of the work (though all she planned to do was find pictures of Scarlet Lady on the internet) and foisting it onto Sabrina instead. When Chloé tries to put Sabrina in her place by claiming that she's Sabrina's Only Friend, Sabrina explodes, pointing out that the rest of the class has been better friends to her than Chloé has in spite of all the things she's done as Chloé's Beta Bitch. She even attempts to start a fistfight with Chloé, though Marinette holds her back and warns Chloé to be at the library if she wants her name on the report.

Chloé does end up showing up to the library... and promptly reveals she's still missing the point when she tries to bribe Sabrina by offering to lend her a beret. The discussion is cut short when Nathaniel—or, rather, Evillustrator—attacks by creating a giant hairdryer and having it go after Chloé. Not wanting to get involved in this, Marinette brings Sabrina to her house so they can work on their project.

Chat Noir quickly arrives and destroys the hairdryer, spotting Evillustrator and punning at him, which prompts the akuma to leave (if only so he won't have to deal with the puns). Chloé tries to con Chat Noir into doing her homework for her, but Chat Noir doesn't fall for it and leaves, calling Scarlet Lady to warn her about the akuma.

Evillustrator then shows up at Marinette's house, where, much to her shock, the akuma states he wants to invite her to his birthday party! Marinette agrees to go in exchange for Chloé's safety, which he grants before leaving. Sabrina—who accidentally witnessed everything—asks her friend what she intends to do. Marinette states she has to figure out how to contact Chat Noir... who promptly enters throw the hole in her window that Evillustrator created before leaving. He chats with the two girls for a bit, though he's unimpressed when he finds out Marinette agreeing to a date with the akuma.

Meanwhile, Alix tries to find Nathaniel, whom she seems to have made plans with, but no one's seen him since that morning.

Hawkmoth attempts to berate Evillustrator for not focusing on his objective of getting the Miraculous, but he gets interrupted by Marinette's arrival to the party. Unbeknownst to them, though, a jealous Chat Noir is watching from afar, ready to jump in when he is needed. Marinette eventually asks Evillustrator if she can draw something with his stylus, which he agrees... only for Marinette to run away with the tool while Chat Noir blocks the akuma from following. Betrayed, Evillustrator angrily states she's just like Chloé, prompting Marinette to turn back and glare at Evillustrator for comparing her to her bully.

As the fight is going on, Chloé is lazing about in her room, ignoring both the physics project and the akuma fight.

Unfortunately, Marinette's impulsive reaction allows Evillustrator to knock the stylus out of her hand and regain it. The akuma then traps Chat Noir and Marinette in a box that gets stuck to the boat they're on, which he sinks, before stating that, since Marinette broke her promise, he will now attack Chloé. Chat Noir starts having a panic attack due to his claustrophobia, but Marinette manages to help him use his baton to free the two of them, and they reach the dock before it's too late.

Marinette is then shocked when Chat Noir gives her a hug, scared out of his mind about just how close he was to losing her again. Then he begs her to promise him something: "No more akumas." Though it breaks her heart, she agrees to stop helping.

As Chat Noir leaves to stop the akuma, Master Fu approaches Marinette to speak with her. Marinette realizes through their conversation that she's in love with Chat Noir... and breaks down crying because she knows she will only want to help him more, even though she just promised she wouldn't.

As Evillustrator arrives outside her room, Chloé plans out what excuse she'll use for not doing her work. Just before the akuma erases the door, Chloé transforms, and Chat Noir show up soon afterwards to fight, angrily glaring at Evillustrator for endangering Marinette. When Scarlet Lady summons the Lucky Charm (a bouncy ball), Chat Noir grabs it and hurls it with all his strength at Evillustrator, knocking him out and allowing the heroes to purify the akuma.

The next day, as Chloé tells Alya her (highly skewed) account of the event, Adrien surprises Marinette and asks about her encounter with Chat Noir, though he's caught off guard when Marinette bursts into tears over the promise she had to make to the superhero.

Nathaniel watches this from afar, not knowing what to do, when Sabrina suddenly appears behind him and catches him staring at Marinette. Sabrina then proceeds to tease him over how he asked Marinette out to his birthday party as an akuma, much to his chagrin. Alix then suddenly shows up behind Nathaniel as well, demanding to know where Nathaniel went off to yesterday when they had made plans together. She quickly forgives him when he explains he'd been akumatized, though.

Chloé approaches Sabrina and offers her the beret from yesterday, excusing herself for not doing her part of the project by mentioning the akuma attack. Sabrina accepts the excuse... but warns Chloé that this is her last chance.

Elsewhere in the city, Fu checks the Miraculous Box, trying to decided which Miraculous he should give to Marinette. She has proven herself to be a heroine, and this way, the heroes will have someone else to help stop Hawkmoth. Wayzz asks if he plans to put the Miraculous in Marinette's purse again, which Fu promptly denies.

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This episode contains examples of the following:

• Adaptational Expansion: Before the episode concludes, we follow up on Nathaniel, who's nervous about approaching Marinette out of fear he may have hurt her while akumatized and hilariously mortified once he learns he asked Marinette out on a date as an akuma. Additionally, the comic reveals that Nathaniel had made birthday plans with Alix, only to forget and unknowingly ditch her after he became Evillustrator. She ends up confronting him about it the next day.
• Adaptational Explanation: When Marinette asks Evillustrator why she's only now hearing about his birthday party despite them being friends and classmates, he informs her that he doesn't tell most people about his birthday due to not wanting all the attention, which also explains why he and Marinette are the only guests.
• Adaptational Wimp: Heavily downplayed with Adrien/Chat Noir, who really does have claustrophobia here and can't focus properly when the villain traps him and Marinette in a glass box, even when she tells him how they can escape.
• Adults Are Useless: Mlle. Mendeleiev puts Marinette in the same group for the physics report as Chloé and Sabrina and apparently doesn't even realize due to her Selective Obliviousness that Marinette is Chloé's favorite bullying victim while Sabrina is Chloé's lackey.
• And Here He Comes Now: After the encounter with Evillustrator, Marinette says she has to contact Chat Noir... who immediately shows up, having seen Evillustrator leaving the house through Marinette's window.
• Awesomeness Is a Force: Chat Noir's Death Glare alone makes Evillustrator flinch.
• Badass Normal: Marinette's status as this gets deconstructed: even though she's capable of providing great help against akumas, without a Miraculous, she's still putting herself in way too much danger. Thus, Chat Noir makes her promise to stay away from akuma fights from now on. Fortunately, it looks like Fu doesn't intend for her to remain "Normal" for long.
• Berserk Button:
  • Evillustrator hits one of Marinette's: comparing her to Chloé.
  • Evillustrator attempting to hurt (or worse, drown) Marinette is what triggers Chat Noir's fury during the fight in Chloé's room.
• A Birthday, Not a Break: Like in canon, Nathaniel is akumatized on his birthday after getting humiliated in class. Alix even jokingly welcomes him to The Birthday Akuma Club.
• Birthday Party Goes Wrong: Evillustrator invites Marinette to his birthday party, hoping it'll be the perfect opportunity to romance her. When she betrays him, though, he attempts to drown her instead and leaves to get revenge on Chloé, whom he had earlier promised not to hurt.
• Blatant Lies:
  • Chloé claims she's too busy to do her part of the report. The next panel reveals she planned on spending the afternoon searching for pictures of Scarlet Lady on the internet.
  • The day after the akuma attack, Chloé presents her usual skewed report to paint her alter ego in the best light, claiming that "Scarlet Lady handled it perfectly while Chat Noir wrecked [her] room!"
  • When Marinette asks Adrien if he was hiding in a locker to surprise her, he says he wasn't, but Marinette can tell he's lying.
• Break Her Heart to Save Her: After the fight with Evillustrator goes pear-shaped, Chat Noir begs Marinette to stop trying to help him fight akumas.
• Broken Tears: Marinette breaks down crying when she realizes that she's in love with Chat Noir—right on the heels of promising him that she would stay away from akuma attacks.
• The Bus Came Back: Lila appears in a cameo sitting next to Nathaniel, showing that she has returned to school after winter break; in canon, it took a whole season.
• Call-Back:
  • When Sabrina states that the rest of the class has treated her well and been there for her in spite of everything she's done as Chloé's minion, the panel shows Alix, Nino, and Rose: the latter two helped her in "The Bubbler," and the former defended her in "Darkblade" and got her to join the class photo in "Reflekta." Thanks to them and the rest of the class, Sabrina is no longer afraid of being friendless without Chloé and thus doesn't just put with Chloé's abuse like she used to.
  • After escaping Evillustrator's trap, Chat Noir mentions losing Marinette again, in reference to how La Befana transformed her into a coal statue. He cites both these events as reasons why she needs to stop involving herself in akuma attacks.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Averted. Unlike in canon, Sabrina witnesses Evillustrator's birthday party invitation, so she knows Marinette isn't making excuses to avoid working on their physics report. Additionally, because other members of the class have already reached out to her, Sabrina doesn't act needy and clingy to Marinette and consider her a new BFF.
• Comically Missing the Point: When Tikki points out how Mlle. Mendeleiev won't buy her "traumatized by hairdryers" excuse, Chloé states that she's right—an army of hairdryers couldn't dull her beauty.
• Comically Small Bribe: Chloé's idea of compensating Sabrina for doing all of Chloé's share of the work for the physics report is to loan her a beret.
• Compliment Fishing:
  • Inverted when Chloé mocks Nathaniel's drawings and expects Sabrina to follow her lead. To Chloé's frustration, her friend instead praises their classmate's artwork.
  • Adrien attempts this the morning after Evillustrator's defeated, only for it to backfire because Marinette breaks down crying over her promise to Chat Noir.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Nathaniel's comic features fictional versions of Stromy Weather and Lady Wifi.
  • Chat Noir leaves a message for Scarlet Lady that her supposed "best friend" is being targeted and that she "might want to pretend to care for 5 minutes." This is based on his impression of the heroine after Scar failed to show up in time to save Chloé from Kung Food's soup. This comes up again later when Chat Noir is surprised to find Scar facing off against the akuma at the hotel. When she proclaims, "Obviously! My best friend, Chloé Bourgeois was in danger!" Chat replies, "Is that why you almost let her become soup last week?" This causes her to break out in a nervous sweat.
  • Wayzz asks Fu if he intends to put Marinette's Miraculous in her purse again.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: Adrien snaps a tablet pen in his clenched fist when he learns Nathaniel is crushing on Marinette. Later, when keeping an eye on Marinette (who got dressed up for the occasion) during Evillustrator's party, he tells himself that her looks are completely wasted on the akuma.
• Crocodile Tears: Chloé fakes tears while convincing Sabrina to let her bum off their project, claiming she was traumatized by Evillustrator's attack. She palms an eyedropper just out of Sabrina's line of sight.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: The fight in Chloé's room is this in Chat Noir's favor. It probably helped that the akuma had earlier pushed the Cat hero's biggest Berserk Button (harming Marinette).
• Deadpan Snarker: Sabrina when she lightheartedly teases Nathaniel about asking Marinette on a date while akumatized:
  Sabrina: You were pretty calm for an akuma. From what I saw.
  Nathaniel: Really?
  Sabrina: Yes, you very calmly asked Marinette out to your birthday party, alone, just the two of you.
  Nathaniel: Ughhhh, leave me here to die.
• Death Glare: Chat Noir makes Evillustrator flinch with one.
• Description Cut: Evillustrator claims he always keeps his promises. The next panel shows Alix complaining that Nathaniel is (apparently) blowing off their birthday plans.
  Caption: SURE YOU DO NATHANIEL.
• Dramatic Irony: Despite vowing to be more careful with her sources after posting Lila's Celebrity Lies on the Ladyblog, at the end of the episode, Alya interviews Chloé about Evillustrator and gets a hilariously biased version of events.
• Dramatically Missing the Point: Chloé utterly fails to understand why Sabrina is angry at her for refusing to pull her weight for their group's physics report, thinking that bribing Sabrina by offering to lend her a beret is enough to fix things. When Sabrina later agrees to give her one Last-Second Chance, Chloé still doesn't realize that Sabrina is serious about possibly ending their friendship and just brushes it off with a "Yeah, sure, whatever!"
• Easily Forgiven: Despite how angry she was that Nathaniel seemingly ditched her and didn't even respond to her texts, once she hears that he had been akumatized, she just happily fistbumps him while welcoming him to the Birthday Akuma Club.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • Played for Laughs when neither Evillustrator nor Chloé can stand Chat Noir's puns.
  • Evillustrator had every intention of keeping his promise to not harm Chloé up until Marinette broke her end of the agreement by betraying him.
• Fangirl: Sabrina acts this way when Marinette introduces her to Chat Noir. Not only is she delighted to meet a superhero, he even knows her name and remembers that she helped Myl`ne.
• Fantastically Indifferent: Neither Tikki nor Chloé react much to the discovery that Evillustrator is right outside the latter's room. Interestingly, this was averted earlier when Marinette, Chat Noir, and Sabrina all panicked at seeing Evillustrator approach Marinette.
• Flat "What": Chat Noir's reaction to learning that Marinette agreed to a date with Evillustrator.
• Foreshadowing: At the end of the episode, Sabrina says she will give Chloé and their friendship one last chance. The next episode is "Vanisher," in which Sabrina gets akumatized after falling out with Chloé again and ultimately ends their friendship for good.
• Fearless Fool: Deconstructed. Marinette constantly throwing herself into akuma fights has resulted in her nearly dying twice. Chat Noir can't bear seeing her in danger again and begs her to stay way from akumas from now on.
• A Friend in Need:
  • Sabrina declares she does have friends other than Chloé: her classmates have been there for her when Chloé abandoned and abused her.
  • Alix also expresses some concern that Nathaniel has seemingly vanished on his birthday, though this may be more because they made plans together.
• Grew a Spine: Sabrina continues to rebel against Chloé, praising Nathaniel's artwork rather than follow her friend's lead to insult him. She later refuses to let Chloé shirk her share of the workload for their physics report and grows infuriated when Chloé claims to be her Only Friend, even giving Chloé a "The Reason You Suck" Speech and needing to be held her back to prevent a fistfight from breaking out. While she "reconciles" with Chloé by the end of the episode, she declares this will be Chloé's final chance.
• Head Desk: Marinette slams her face on the table when she's put in the same group as Chloé and Sabrina for the physics report.
• Her Code Name Was "Mary Sue": Nathaniel's comic contains him as a superhero that easily defeats akumas and gets the love of Marinette, his Love Interest.
• Hidden Eyes: When Sabrina extends Chloé a Last-Second Chance regarding their frienship, the panel is zoomed in on the former's face so her eyes can't be seen, giving an ominous effect that heavily implies Chloé will waste this chance.
• Horrifying the Horror: When Marinette betrays Evillustrator, the akuma declares that she is just like Chloé, thus pressing one of Marinette's Berserk Buttons. The Nightmare Face Marinette makes in response causes Evillustrator to cower in fear.
• I Gave My Word: Evillustrator is serious about keeping his promises, though he feels no obligation to honor any agreement that the other side already broke.
• In Spite of a Nail:
  • Chat Noir refuses to do Chloé's physics homework for her here (in canon he was nearly tricked into doing it), so she quickly drives him off. In canon he left after a call from Ladybug, who doesn't exist in this universe. In both cases, he leaves without doing Chloé's work for her.
  • Marinette doesn't have the Ladybug yo-yo phone, but she is still able to tell Chat Noir about Evillustrator's invitation. Chat simply comes to her when he spots the akuma leaving from her window.
• In-Universe Catharsis: Sabrina seems get a small amount of this based on her "Ha!" when Chloé is attacked by Evillustrator's giant hairdryers.
• It's Not You, It's My Enemies: Chat Noir reluctantly begs Marinette to promise to stop involving herself in akuma fights out of fear of losing her in one of them.
• Jerkass Has a Point: While she went about it rather harshly, Mlle. Mendeleiev is right to scold Nathaniel for drawing in her class instead of paying attention to the lecture, especially since this isn't the first time it's happened.
• Lame Pun Reaction: Chat Noir gets two in a row from Chloé and Evillustrator. The latter even leaves just so he won't have to put up with more bad puns from the superhero.
• Last-Second Chance: Sabrina agrees to extend one to Chloé. Chloé, however, doesn't seem to be taking it seriously, and it's strongly implied she'll soon waste it.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Hawkmoth comments on how early he's akumatizing his Victim of the Week.
• Let Me at Her!: Marinette has to restrain Sabrina to keep her form beating up Chloé.
  Caption: Sabrina's gone full feral on you now.
• Love Epiphany: Marinette realizes she's in love with Chat Noir... right after promising she wouldn't try to help him stop akumas anymore.
• Mundane Utility: Tikki uses her intangibility to check outside Chloé's room and foil Evillustator's ambush, surprising him long enough for Chat to arrive.
• Mustache Vandalism: Chloé adds a mustache, a goatee, and glasses to Nathaniel's drawing of Marinette.
• Never My Fault: Chloé insists she has no idea why the akuma would be after her since everyone adores her.
• No Sympathy: Neither Marinette nor Sabrina express much concern when Chloé is attacked in the library, with the latter even laughing, "Ha!" They soon decide to go to Marinette's house to work on their report rather than help Chloé like they do most akuma targets.
• Noble Demon: For all his faults, Evillustrator will not break a promise (at least not intentionally), as long as the other side upholds their end of the deal.
• Non-Lethal K.O.: Happens to Evillustrator when Chat Noir hurls the Lucky Charm bouncy ball at the akuma's head.
• Not So Above It All: Hawkmoth is rather giddy when he notes how fun akumas caused by Chloé are.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Evillustrator claims this about Chloé and Marinette when the latter betrays him. Marinette doesn't take it too well, to say the least.
• Nightmare Face:
  • Sabrina has one when she's being held back from attacking Chloé by Marinette.
  • Both Marinette and Chat Noir sport one after Evillustrator punches their respective Berserk Buttons.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Marinette and Sabrina both have this reaction when Evillustrator enters Marinette's room and approaches her.
  • Evillustrator himself reacts this way when confronted with Chat Noir's Death Glare after the akuma nearly caused Marinette to drown (thus pressing the hero's Berserk Button).
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: Wayzz once again reminds Master Fu how he messed up the first time he tried to give Marinette a Miraculous, asking the Guardian if he intends to put the new one in her purse, too.
• Only Friend: Chloé claims she's this to Sabrina. Sabrina, however, retorts that it isn't true: the rest of the class treat her with more kindness and respect than her so-called "best friend" and have been there for her when Chloé wasn't.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Evillustrator doesn't go after Chat Noir or Scarlet Lady's Miraculous due to being preoccupied with romancing Marinette and getting revenge on Chloé.
• Rage Breaking Point: Chloé and Sabrina get into an argument when Chloé claims she's too busy to work on the report and tries to make Sabrina do her share of the work. Sabrina finally explodes when Chloé declares Sabrina has no friends other than her and angrily points out that's not true since the rest of the class are so much nicer than Chloé. Marinette even has to hold her back to keep her from pummeling Chloé into the ground.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Sabrina goes on an epic rant about how she's sick of Chloé demeaning the rest of the class when they've all been far better friends to her than Chloé has.
• Running Gag:
  • Once again, Chloé displays her Skewed Priorities over her hair, this time while being attacked by giant hairdryers.
  • Chat Noir's biggest Berserk Button is pressed when Evillustrator nearly causes Marinette to drown. The Cat hero then curb-stomps the akuma by hitting him in the head with the Lucky Charm object.
  • Within the episode, Nathaniel endures two Stealth Hi/Byes in quick succession from Sabrina and Alix, respectively. He even lampshades this.
    Nathaniel: [reacting to Alix yanking his scarf from the back] Ah! Why does this keep happening?!
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
  • When Evillustrator attacks Chloé with a giant hairdryer, Marinette and Sabrina opt to get the heck out of dodge.
    Marinette: Um so, wanna finish at my house?
    Sabrina: U-huh.
    Caption: Better not to involve ourselves honestly...
  • Evillustrator then leaves himself after getting annoyed by Chat Noir's puns.
    Evillustrator: Ugh, I don't have to sit here and put up with your puns.
• Secret Test of Character: Master Fu does this when he approaches Marinette directly and offers to walk her home after Chat Noir leaves to finish off Evillustrator.
• Seen It All:
  • After phasing through the wall, Tikki nonchalantly informs Chloé that the akuma is outside her room. Chloé in turn just shrugs, "Fine, you know the drill."
  • When Nathaniel tells Alix he spent most of his birthday as an akuma, she immediately welcomes him to the Birthday Akuma Club.
• Selective Obliviousness: The tags state that Mlle. Mendeleiev suffers from this regarding the relationships her students have to one another based on her decision to put Marinette in a group with Chloé.
  Tags: #I get the feeling mendeleiev is just willfully ignorant of the relationships of her students #because no other reason justifies making one group of best friends and another group of a bully and her victim #'deal with it' lol
• Serious Business: Evillustrator certainly seems to feel this way about promises. The only times he doesn't keep his promise are when he forgot (like with Alix) or when the other side broke their end of the deal first.
• Shoo the Dog: Chat Noir tells Marinette to stay away from him when he's fighting akumas for her own safety.
• Shrinking Violet: Nathaniel seems to be this. He barely tells anyone about his birthday because he dislikes being the center of attention, and after being deakumatized, he's nervous about approaching Marinette, fearing he may have hurt her.
• Skewed Priorities: From Hawkmoth's perspective, anyway. He has to remind Evillustrator to get the Miraculous when the akuma gets sidetracked by his plan to romance Marinette.
• Sneeze Cut: Sabrina declares "Day 1 of No Chloé" to be awesome. The story cuts to Chloé sneezing.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: Nathaniel jumps in fright when he notices Sabrina standing behind him as he was staring at Marinette and Adrien. A short while later, he gets startled again by Alix pulling the back of his scarf.
• This Is Gonna Suck: As mentioned under Head Desk, Marinette is not happy about being put in a group with Chloé for the physics report.
• A Tragedy of Impulsiveness: When Marinette snatches his stylus, Evillustrator angrily compares her to Chloé, hitting her Berserk Button hard. This causes her to approach him rather than run away, enabling him to recover his stylus, trap her alongside Chat Noir, and return to his original plan of getting revenge on Chloé.
• Weaksauce Weakness: Due to being claustrophobic, Chat Noir is barely able to follow instructions when trapped inside a box by Evillustrator.
• Wham Line: After the scare on the boat, Chat Noir begs Marinette to promise him something:
  Chat Noir: Please, Marinette. Promise me. No more akumas.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Adrien has claustrophobia, which causes him (as Chat Noir) to have a panic attack when Evillustrator encloses him and Marinette in a box on a sinking boat.

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